Light, splendour, grace in the Trinity and from the
Trinity.
It will not be irrelevant to examine the ancient tradition and the doctrine
and the faith of the Catholic Church, which, as we know, the Lord handed
down, the apostles preached and the fathers preserved. For on this
tradition the Church is founded, and if anyone abandons it, he cannot be
a Christian nor have any right to the name.
And so the Trinity, which is recognized in the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, is holy and perfect, and has no adulteration of that which
is foreign or external. Nor is it compounded of creator and created
matter, but it is endowed with the complete power of creating and energizing;
its mature also is consistent with itself and undivided, and its energy
and activity is one. For the Father makes all things through the
Word in the Holy Spirit, and in that way the unity of the Holy Trinity
is preserved. Thus in the Church one God is preached, who is ‘above
all things and through all things and in all things’. Yes, certainly,
‘above all things’ as the Father, the first principle and origin; and truly
‘through all things’, that is through the Word, and finally ‘in all things’
in the Holy Spirit.
When Saint Paul was writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters,
he traced all things back to one God the Father as to the fountain-head
in these words: ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord: and there are varieties
of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.’
The gifts which the Spirit distributes to individuals are given by the
Father through the Word. For all things which belong to the Father
likewise belong to the Son: so that those things which are given by the
Son in the Spirit, are true gifts of the Father. Similarly when the
Spirit is in us, the Word by whom we receive him is also in us, and in
the Word is also the Father, and this is the meaning of the text: ‘We (that
is, my Father and I) will come to him and make our home with him.”
For where there is light, there also is brilliance, and where there is
brilliance, there the power and the glory of the light shines out.
Paul also in the second letter to the Corinthians gives the same teaching
in these words: ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’ For grace
and the gift which is given in the Trinity is given by the Father through
the Son in the Holy Spirit. For just as grace is given from the Father
through the Son, so within us the fellowship in the gift cannot be brought
about except in the Holy Spirit. If we have received the Spirit,
then we have the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship
of the Spirit himself.
