Let us also prove the suffering of the Son, both caused by the Father and caused by the Son. The Father causes the suffering of the Son: He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all. The Son also causes His own suffering: He who loved me and gave Himself up for me. The Father handed over the Son, the Son handed over Himself. This suffering was effected for one, but by both. Therefore, just as with the birth, so it is with the suffering of Christ; neither the Father did it without the Son, nor the Son without the Father. The Father handed over the Son, the Son handed over Himself. What did Judas do here, except sin? Let us move on, and from here come to the resurrection.
The same is proved concerning the resurrection of Christ.
Let us see the Son indeed, not the Father, rising, but both the Father and the Son making the resurrection of the Son. The Father works the resurrection of the Son. For this reason, He exalted Him from the dead and gave Him the name which is above every name. Therefore, the Father raised the Son, exalting Him and rousing Him from the dead. Does the Son also raise Himself? Clearly, He raised Himself. In reference to the figure of His body, He said about the temple: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Finally, just as laying down one's life pertains to the passion, so taking up one's life again pertains to the resurrection: let us see if the Son indeed laid down His life, and the Father restored His life to Him, not He to Himself. For it is evident that the Father restored it. For this reason, the Psalm says: Raise me up, and I will repay them. But because the Son also restored His life to Himself, what do you expect from us? Let Him speak Himself: I have the power to lay down my life. I have not yet said what I promised. I said to lay it down: but now you have cried out because you are eager. Instructed indeed in the school of the heavenly Teacher, as though listening intently to lectures, piously responding, you are not ignorant of what follows. He says, I have the power to lay down my life, and I have the power to take it up again. No one takes it from me: but I lay it down of my own accord, and I take it up again.
The explained teaching is set forth again.
We have fulfilled what we promised: we have proved our propositions with the strongest, as I believe, documents of testimony. Hold on to what you have heard. I briefly repeat, and I commend to your minds a matter most useful, as I consider. The Father was not born of a virgin: yet both the Father and the Son brought about this birth of the Son from a virgin. The Father did not suffer on the cross: yet both the Father and the Son brought about the suffering of the Son. The Father did not rise from the dead: yet both the Father and the Son brought about the resurrection of the Son. You have the distinction of persons, and the inseparability of their operation. Therefore, let us not say that the Father works anything without the Son, or the Son without the Father. Or do the miracles which Jesus performed move you, lest perhaps He did some things which the Father did not do? And where is it: The Father who dwells in me, he does his works? What we have said was clear, they only needed to be said: there was no need to labor to understand them, but care must be taken to remember them.
God is not to be thought of in bodily terms with respect to space.
Something I still want to say, where I genuinely require your more acute attention and devotion to God. For indeed, only bodies are confined and occupied by corporal places. Beyond corporal places is divinity. Let no one seek it as though in space. It is invisibly and inseparably present everywhere: not greater in one part, lesser in another; but whole everywhere, divided nowhere. Who sees this? Who comprehends this? Let us restrain ourselves: let us remember who we are, whence we speak. That and that, whatever it is that God is, let it be believed piously, thought of holy; and as much as is given, as much as possible, let it be understood ineffably. Let words fall silent, let the tongue cease; let the heart be stirred, let the heart be lifted there. For it is not such that it ascends into the heart of man, but that into which the heart of man ascends. Let us attend to creation: For the invisible things of Him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; lest perhaps in these things which God has made, with which we have a certain familiarity of custom, we may find some likeness, whereby we may prove that there are some three things, which are separately brought forth, inseparably operate.
God is incomprehensible.
Hey, brothers, be present with all your mind. See first what I promise; lest perchance I find it in a creature, because the Creator is exalted above us. And perhaps any one of us, whose mind is struck by some flash of truth, can say those words: "I said in my ecstasy." In your ecstasy, what did you say? "I am cast out from the sight of your eyes." For indeed, it seems to me that the one who said this had lifted up his soul to God and poured out his soul over himself when it was said to him daily, "Where is your God?" He had reached by a certain spiritual contact to that unchangeable light, and because of the weakness of his vision, he could not bear it; and in his own affliction and languor, he again fell back, and compared himself to it, and realized that the sharpness of his mind could not yet be tempered to the light of the wisdom of God. And because he did this in ecstasy, having been taken away from the senses of the body and drawn up into God, when somehow he was recalled from God to man, he said: "I said in my ecstasy." For I saw something in ecstasy, which I could not bear for long; and returned to mortal members, and bound by many mortal thoughts from the body that burdens the soul, I said, "What? I am cast out from the sight of your eyes." You are far above, I am far below. What then shall we say, brothers, about God? For if what you wish to say, if you have grasped it, it is not God: if you could comprehend it, you have comprehended something else instead of God. If you thought you could comprehend it, you deceived yourself with your thought. Therefore, it is not what you have comprehended: but if it is this, you have not comprehended it. What then do you wish to say, which you could not comprehend?
The likeness of God is to be sought within ourselves.
Let us see, then, whether we might find something in creation where we may prove that certain three things can be demonstrated separately and operate inseparably. Where shall we go? To the heavens, to discuss the sun and the moon and the stars? To the earth, perhaps to talk about plants, trees, and animals that fill the earth? Or about the very heavens, or the earth itself, which contain all things in heaven and earth? How long will man roam around creation? Return to yourself, see yourself, inspect yourself, examine yourself. You seek certain three things in creation that are to be demonstrated separately and work inseparably; if you seek in creation, first seek in yourself. For you are not without being a creation. You seek a likeness. Will you seek among beasts? For you spoke about God, when you sought some likeness. You spoke about the Trinity of ineffable Majesty; and because you failed in divine matters, and confessed your weakness with due humility, you have come to human matters; examine there. Do you seek among beasts, among the sun, among the stars? For of what among these things is made in the image and likeness of God? Truly, you will seek among men something more familiar and better. For God made man in His image and likeness. Seek in yourself, lest perhaps the image of the Trinity may have some trace of the Trinity. And what is it? An image made far distant: but still a likeness and image far distant, not as the image the Son is of the Father. For the image is different in the son, different in the mirror. There's a great difference. In the son, your image is yourself. For the son is what you are by nature. The substance is what you are, but another person than you. Therefore, man is not an image as the Only-begotten Son, but made to some image and likeness. Let him seek in himself something, if he might find, and certain three things which might be pronounced separately, and operate inseparably. Let me seek, seek with me. Not I in you, but you in you, and I in me. Let us seek together, and together consider the common nature and substance.
Our soul is made in the image of God.
See, O man, observe if what I say is true. Do you have a body, do you have flesh? "I do," you say. For how else are you in a place, how else do you move from place to place? How else do you hear words spoken, except through the ear of the flesh? How else do you see a mouth speaking, except through the eyes of the flesh? You possess it, it is evident, and there is no need to labor long over what is manifest. See something else, see what operates through the flesh. For you hear with the ear, but it is not through the ear that you hear. There is another within who hears through the ear. You see through the eye; consider that very eye. Did you recognize the house, but neglect the dweller? Does the eye see by itself? Is it not another who sees through the eye? I do not say that the eye of the dead does not see, of which it is certain that the dweller has left the body: but the eye of one thinking about something else does not see the face of the present. Therefore, look upon your inner man. For there, a likeness is more properly to be sought of certain things shown separately, working inseparably. What does your mind have? Perhaps if I ask, I find many things; but there is something nearby that is more easily understood. What does your soul have? I remind you internally, recall it. For what I am about to say, I do not ask that it be believed in me: do not accept it, if you do not find it within yourself. Therefore, consider. But first, let us see what had been forgotten: whether man is not the image of the Son alone, or the image of the Father alone, but of the Father and the Son; and consequently, of the Holy Spirit as well. Genesis speaks: "Let us make," it says, "man in our image and likeness." Therefore, the Father does not make without the Son, nor the Son without the Father. "Let us make man in our image and likeness." "Let us make," not "I will make," or "make," or "let him make": but "let us make." In our image, not "your" or "my," but "our."
The likeness of the Trinity in man.
Therefore I ask, I speak of a dissimilar matter. Let no one say: Behold what he has compared to God. I have already spoken, and forewarned, and rendered cautious, and have been cautious myself. These things are far apart, the lowest from the highest, the changeable from the unchanging, the created from the creator, the human from the divine. Behold, first I commend this, because what I am about to say is far distant, let no one dispute with me. Therefore, lest I perhaps also seek ears and he prepares teeth, I have promised to present this, demonstrating three things separately, acting inseparably. How these are similar or dissimilar to the omnipotent Trinity, I do not discuss now: but in the very lowly and changeable creature we find some three things, which can be demonstrated separately, and act inseparably. O carnal thought, and persistent and unfaithful conscience! Why do you doubt about that ineffable Majesty in that matter, which you could find in yourself? Behold, I speak, behold I ask: Man, do you have memory? If you do not have it, how did you retain what I said? But perhaps now, you have already forgotten what I said a little while ago. This very thing I say, I said; you would not hold these two syllables unless through memory. For how would you know there are two, if, with the second sounding, you forgot the first? Why then further? Why am I thus urged? Why am I thus compelled to convince? It is manifest, you have memory. I ask another: Do you have understanding? You say, I do. For if you did not have memory, you would not hold what I said: if you did not have understanding, you would not recognize what you held. You have this too. You recall your understanding to that which you hold within, and you see, and by seeing you are formed, so that you may be called knowing. I ask a third: You have memory, wherewith you hold what is said; you have understanding, whereby you understand what is held; from these two I inquire of you, did you hold and understand willingly? Clearly, you say. Therefore, you have will. These are the three things which I promised to present to your ears and minds. These three which are in you, which you can count, and cannot separate. Therefore, observe these three, memory, understanding, and will; these, I say, three pronounced separately, work inseparably.
Memory, understanding, and will are shown separately and work inseparably.
The Lord will be present, and I see that He is present: I understand from your understanding that He is present. For from these your words, just as you have understood, I notice; I presume that He will help, so that you may understand everything. I promised three things to be separately demonstrated, to operate inseparably. Behold, I did not know what was in your mind, you demonstrated it to me by saying, "Memory." This word, this sound, this voice proceeded to my ears from your mind. For what memory is, you were thinking silently and not saying. It was in you, and had not yet come to me. But so that what was in you might be brought forth to me, you said this name itself, that is, "Memory." I heard: I heard these four syllables in the name of memory. It is the name of four syllables, it is a voice, it sounded, it proceeded to my ear, it insinuated something to my mind. What sounded has passed away, whence it was insinuated and what was insinuated remains. But I ask this, when you said this name "memory," you certainly see that this name pertains only to memory. For the other two have their own names. For one is called intellect, not memory; another is called will, not memory; but one is called memory. But to say this, to produce these four syllables, where did you operate from? This name which pertains solely to memory was operated in you by memory, to hold what you said; and by intellect, to know what you held; and by will, to bring forth what you knew. Thanks to our Lord God. He has helped us, both in you and in us. Truly, I say to your Charity, I approached this with great trepidation to be discussed and insinuated. For I feared lest perhaps I might delight a capable understanding, and cause great tedium for the slower ones. But now I see that you have not only received what was said with the attention of listening and swiftness of understanding, but have even anticipated what would be said: Thanks to the Lord.
The mystery of the Trinity is somewhat illustrated by these three abilities.
Therefore, see, I now safely commend what you have understood; I do not inculcate the unknown, but recommending I repeat what has been perceived. Behold, out of those three, one thing has been named, the name of one thing has been spoken: Memory is the name of one of those three, and yet the name of one of those three performed all three themselves. It could not be called "memory" alone except by the working of will, understanding, and memory. "Understanding" cannot be called alone except by the working of memory, will, and understanding. Nor can "will" alone be called except by the working of memory and understanding and will. Those things which were promised are explained, as I think: what I have pronounced separately, I have considered inseparably. One of these names made three: but still, this one thing which the three made does not pertain to three, but to one. The three made the name "memory": but this pertains only to memory itself. The three made the name "understanding": but this pertains only to understanding itself. The three made the name "will": but this pertains only to will itself. Thus the Trinity made the flesh of Christ: but it pertains only to Christ himself. The Trinity made the dove from heaven: but it pertains only to the Holy Spirit himself. The Trinity made the voice from heaven: but the voice pertains only to the Father himself.
What of these three pertains to the Father, what to the Son, what to the Holy Spirit.
Therefore let no one speak to me, let no one slanderously try to press me in my weakness: What then in these three things which you have shown to be in our mind or in the soul, what of these three pertains to the Father, that is, as to a likeness to the Father, what of these to the Son, what of these to the Holy Spirit? I cannot say, I cannot explain. Let us leave something also to those who think, let us grant something also to silence. Return to yourself and take yourself away from all noise. Look within yourself to see if you have there any sweet chamber of your conscience where you do not make noise, where you do not quarrel or prepare disputes, where you do not meditate on dissensions and stubbornness. Be gentle in hearing the word, so that you may understand. You might say: You will give me joy and gladness in hearing, and the humble bones will rejoice, not "the exalted" ones.
From this, it is understood that the Persons of the Trinity can both be shown separately and act inseparably.
It is sufficient, therefore, that we have shown that three certain things are demonstrated separately, yet operate inseparably. If you have found this in yourself, if in man, if in a certain person walking on the earth, still bearing a fragile body that weighs down the soul: believe that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit can be separately demonstrated by certain visible things, by certain forms of assumed creature, and can operate inseparably. This is sufficient. I do not say, the Father is memory, the Son is intellect, the Spirit is will: I do not say, let it be understood as it pleases, I do not dare. Let us keep higher matters for those capable, what we can for the weak, as the weak. I do not say these things are to be equated to that Trinity, as if directed to analogy, that is, to a certain rational comparison: I do not say this. But what do I say? Behold, I found in you three things demonstrated separately, operated inseparably; and each name of the three done by the three, which nevertheless pertains not to three, but to one thing of these three. Believe already in what you cannot see there, if here you have listened and seen and held on to. For what is in you, you can know: what is in Him who made you, whatever it is, when can you know? And if you can, yet you cannot still know. And yet, when you can, will you be able to know God in the way God knows Himself? Therefore, let it suffice for your Charity: what we could, we have said; we have delivered the promises to those demanding them: seek the rest that needs to be added, so that your sense may be improved, from the Lord.