VOX PATRUM 34 (2014) t. 61
Eirini ARTEMI*
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD
ACCORDING TO ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM
1. The Τriune God. One God in Trinity and Three Persons in one God.
The Trinitarian teaching is the central doctrine of the Christian religion. The
Christians believe in one God who has three persons. The truth that in the unity
of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
these Three Persons being truly distinct one from another. Our faith in the
Triune God is not a man-made discovery, but revelation from God. He who is
unapproachable for man, reveals Himself to man and becomes approachable.
Isidore of Pelusium strongly underlines that, the hypostases of the three
Persons of God are equal, because “one being a substance of the divine
Trinity”1. The Triune God is known “in their own hypostases”2. The divine
nature doesn’t exist outside the hypostases of the Holy Trinity, nor vice versa,
and they do not exist without the knowledge at their own nature. The revelation
of the three divine Persons of the Triune God, each person is a perfect God,
refutes the heretical beliefs of Montanus and of Sabellius. Montanus claimed
that he was the organ of the Paraclete3. Also, Sabelius taught that there is one
God in three hypostases but a “triprosopos Hypostasis”, so he negated the
existence of the three divine persons4. Isidore wants to exercise controversy
to the remaining of supporters of various sects, such as the Arians, Sabellians,
Apollinaristes and several others. He points out that the essence of the Godhead
is one and the three persons of the Holy Trinity have the same essence,
but the hypostasis is something different, and every person has the divine own
substance5. It is therefore a big mistake if someone refers to “the shrinkage of
hypostasis as a compound of substance”6. Anyhow, Christ revealed the divine
* Eirini Artemi – Theologist & Classical Philologist, MA & Ph.D. of Theology of National and
Capodistrian University of Athens, email: eartemi@theol.uoa.gr.
1 Isidorus Pelusiota, Epistula I 59 (Gorgonio), PG 78, 220C.
2 Idem, Epistula I 67 (Timotheo Lectori), PG 78, 228A.
3 Cf. idem, Epistula I 243 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 332A-B.
4 Cf. idem, Epistula I 247 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 332D.
5 Cf. idem, Epistula I 247 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 332D - 333A; C. Fouskas, Isidore’s of
Pelusium Theology, Athens 1967, 12.
6 Isidorus Palusiota, Epistula I, 247 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 332D.
328 EIRINI ARTEMI
truths and He defined “in name of the divine Trinity it is pointing out that the
word substance would mean the union”7.
The Pelusiote writes that God is not only the Father, as the Jews supports,
but the Triune God is the three consubstantial Persons. The Triune God can
be understood only if “He expands in three Persons and He «shrinks» in one
God as far as the oÙs…a – nature”8. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the saint
Father notes, is spread out through the Old Testament9 and it was used even by
Philo. The latter attempted to do a sort of “spiritual interpretation” of the Old
Testament in his works10.
Isidore is of the opinion to distinguish nature and hypostasis to the Triune
God, so he justifies the existence of the singular in the Bible when he refers
to God: “and the Lord rained down burning asphalt from the skies”11 and “the
Lord, our God, is one Lord”12. Already in the Old Testament the Triune God appears
as the Creator of man and the entire world. He is created not by the Father
alone, but from the Father through the Son and is perfected “in the Holy Spirit”,
with one will and one energy. “In the beginning God created the Heaven and
the earth […] and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the water”, the
Old Testament tells us characteristically, using in Hebrew the word Elohim for
God, which is a plural form. At the same time, he explains when in the Bible,
instead of the singular plural is used, the reference is made to hypostases of
Godhead13: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”14.
This phrase, which comes from that passage of man’s creation, reveals the existence
of the three persons of God. The plural of the phrase “let us make” is
not considered as plural form of politeness, but it shows the identity of the will
and energy of hypostases. At the same time, the phrase is filled with the singular
form of the phrase “in the image” of God, states the substance identity of the
persons of the Triune God. The meaning of “in our image” (imago Dei) refers
to the “inner man” because God is unformed, indestructible and intangible. It
involves the rationality which the Creator gave as dowry to the spiritual nature
of man and its necessary complement, the independent element of the human
nature, with which the human is a moral personality, susceptible of any progress
and that the man may become a “partaker of the divine nature”.
Any suspicion of many Gods’ existence or about being a person to God
in Jewish conception is rebutted because “While the identity of nature is divided
into hypostases and the property of concluded”. Any suspicion of many
7 Idem, Epistula Ι 20 (Hieraci Clarissimo), PG 78, 196Α.
8 Idem, Epistula ΙΙ 142 (Paulo), PG 78, 585Α. Cf. idem Epistula ΙIΙ 27 (Agatho Presbytero),
PG 78, 748D - 749Α.
9 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙΙ 143 (Paulo), PG 78, 585B.
10 Cf. ibidem, PG 78, 585B-C.
11 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 112 (Alypio), PG 78, 817C (cf. Gen 19, 24).
12 Ibidem (cf. Deut 6, 4).
13 Cf. ibidem, PG 78, 817A.
14 Ibidem, PG 78, 817C (cf. Gen 1, 26). Cf. idem, Epistula ΙΙ 143 (Paulo), PG 78, 588B.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 329
Gods or about being a person into God in Jewish conception is rebutted because
“While the identity of nature into hypostases is divided, and the property
(„diÒthj) of hypostases is united to a substance”15.
Compelling argument on which the above view is corroborated, they
are the God’s word: “there is no God but me: I am the Lord, and there is no
other”16. With these words, God reveals the common substance between the
divine persons, and, at the same time, He stresses that there is no hierarchy
or series between the divine existences, because God is superior to numbers
and to times17. The Holy Father drew the conclusion that “The first and second
number or the first and the second series have no place on the venerable and
royal Trinity”18. In another letter, he returns to toggle the use between singular
and plural number, thus underlining the consubstantial divine Persons,
namely the identity of nature and at the same time the distinction of hypostases:
“Those, which exceed the singular number in the Holy Scriptures, express
the difference of hypostases but the singular number expresses the identity of
nature”19. Ηe notes with emphasis that we sometimes refer to God with singular
or with plural number. This breaks down the various teaching of heretics,
like Sabellius, of Arius, Eunomius of the oldest prevailing views about God.,
such as the absolute monotheism of the Jews or the crowded pantheon of the
pagans, here Isidore means mainly the religious views of the ancient Greeks
and Romans20. It is worth mentioning that Isidore specifically names those
heretics who troubled the congregation of the Church with their teaching in the
order that they appeared on the scene of history. Thereby indirectly he shows
that he is aware of the church history as well as of the role that the heretics they
had played to their day.
God is one and at the same time Trinity because, “if the divinity divided into
properties („diÒthtej), but He concludes in value and in oÙs…a”21. Here, Isidore
identifies the meaning of the word “properties” („diÒthtej), with the sense of
the term existence (oÙs…a). He underlines that God is One and the Persons have
the same power (ÐmodÚnama), consubstantial and equal among them. While,
therefore, the deity is distinguished in hypostases, but he does not cease to be
a God, because the hypostases are united in substance, and they have the same
“value”, so there is one God with three consubstantial and eternal persons22.
15 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 112 (Alypio), PG 78, 817B.
16 Ibidem (cf. Is 45, 6).
17 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙΙI 63 (Theopompo), PG 78, 772D; idem, Epistula ΙΙI 18 (Agatho Presbytero),
PG 78, 744D - 745A.
18 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 18 (Agatho Presbytero), PG 78, 744D. Cf. idem Epistula ΙΙI 63 (Theopompo),
PG 78, 772D.
19 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 27 (Agatho Presbytero), PG 78, 748D.
20 Cf. ibidem PG 78, 748D - 749Α.
21 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 149 (Eutonio Diacono), PG 78, 841B.
22 Cf. ibidem: “The divinity is widen in hypostases and He concluded in the substance and his
value follows”; idem, Epistula ΙΙ 143 (Paulo), PG 78, 589B.
330 EIRINI ARTEMI
God is a plurality in unity. The unity of nature, the same substance of the Persons,
implies the same power of them (ÐmodÚnamo). The same substance of
the Persons is the base for the unitary and the simplicity (¢sÚnqeto) of God.
Isidore pointed out, finally, and for once again, that the things refer to the Triune
God should not be delivered in silence or be forgotten by the Christians. By this
he pointed how momentous is ultimately the truth of theology.
2. The nature and the acts of the Triune God according to Isidore’s of
Pelusiote teaching. There are numerous passages in the work of Isidore that
teach that God, the Father, God, the Son, and God, the Holy Spirit are distinct
persons and yet each hold the attributes of deity. The orthodox Christian
theology has always affirmed that the one true God is triune in nature – three
co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial persons in the Godhead. Isidore underlined
that the divine nature is eternal and immortal. He observed: “in God
the eternity means that God is always and with no beginning”23 and he added
that the properties of immortality, which is attributed to God differ from those
which attached to created beings. “These beings as the angels and the soul
are better than the others which were created in spoilage”24. Isidore insists
that it is important for Christians and generally for people to have constantly
in mind that when they speak for God, they use words from the finite human
vocabulary, because “the divine is above any number, any time highest of any
concept”25. Nothing, therefore, is so special feature for God “as the eternal”26.
Therefore, His infinity is not subject to any alteration, development and progress
which characterize only the creation and not the Creator27:
“God is without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreate,
unchangeable, invariable, simple, uncompound, incorporeal. He cannot have
any good or bad change in His nature, For I, the Lord, do not change, but although
He is unchangeable, He has the power to improve and to put in a better
situation anyone who prays to God”28.
The divine nature who is without beginning, without end, infinite, eternal
and everlasting, uncreate and unchangeable29 is beyond time and place. For
this reason we should not seek to know “how” the Godhead actives, because
He is omnipotent as God and acts “well and in order to give hope to human
being”30. The divine nature is “light being interceptor”31 is considered, Isidore
23 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI 149 (Eutonio Diacono), PG 78, 841B.
24 Ibidem.
25 Ibidem.
26 Idem, Epistula ΙΙI, 18 (Eutonio Diacono), PG 78, 744C.
27 Cf. idem, Epistula V 349 (Jacobo Lectori), PG 78, 1541C - 1544Α.
28 Ibidem (cf. Mal 3, 6).
29 Cf. idem, Epistula IV 124 (Aigyptio Presbytero), PG 78, 1197Β.
30 Idem, Epistula IV 183 (Paulo Diacono), PG 78, 1276Α.
31 Idem, Epistula I 248 (Dracontio Presbytero), PG 78, 333Α.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 331
said again, infinite, without beginning, and without end32. God’s nature resembles
eternal light which illuminates and brightens humanity33. The eternity
of the divine nature is synonymous here with immortality34. Thus, Isidore characterized
the divine nature as immortal and showed their difference between
Creator and creature.
God then is infinite and incomprehensible and all that is comprehensible
about Him is His infinity and incomprehensibility. But all that we can affirm
concerning God does not show forth God’s nature, but only the qualities of His
nature35. The deity should be accepted only by his existence and his actions.
Also, no one should make the slightest effort to investigate the essence of
God36. This is impossible either to humans no to angels. The discourse of the
essence of God is “unachievable and without any manner pregnable”37. Here
Isidore had been influenced by John’s Chrysostom work. “The nature of God is
incomprehensible, according to Chrysostom, not only His oÙs…a (substance)
alone, but his wisdom also is incomprehensible even to the prophets. He is not
to be compared even to the supernal virtues or to anything else; it is crime and
folly to presume curiously to explore his nature; he is incomprehensible even
to the angels, and so forth”38. The discourse of God’s essence “unachievable
and with no way pregnable”39. The dominant view about God is His description
as “Lord and Creator and Superintendent and He who knows beforehand
the things and guardians”40. Our faith for God must be demonstrated in practice
by our works, otherwise it has no value to God41.
The divine nature is often likened to fire: “For our God is a consuming
fire”42, because the fire scatters much light around it and cleaned everything
that will come to her way. Fire is the basis of material and technical Culture and
protects humans from the incursions of wild animals. Similar to fire the divine
nature illuminates with heavenly light the souls of all those who fight for the
purity in their lives. God makes these people like stars, which they have no own
32 Cf. ibidem.
33 Cf. bidem.
34 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙΙI 63 (Theopompo), PG 78, 772D.
35 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙΙI 214 (Lampetio Episcopo), PG 78, 893C.
36 Cf. ibidem.
37 Ibidem.
38 Joannes Chrysostomus, De incomprehensibili Dei natura II 3, PG 48, 714A-B.
39 Isidorus Pelusiota, Epistula ΙΙ 299 (Theodosio Scholastico), PG 78, 725D.
40 Ibidem.
41 Cf. idem, Epistula IΙΙ 158 (Casio Magistratum Gerenti), PG 78, 853B. Cf. Is 19, 23: “Wherefore
the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do
honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the
precept of men” and Mt 15, 8-9: “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth
me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men” (Biblical texts are cited according to the King James Bible).
42 Idem, Epistula Ι 2 (Dorotheo Monacho), PG 78, 181A (cf. Deut 4, 24; Heb 12, 29).
332 EIRINI ARTEMI
light, but they manage to make the world bright. God prevents people’s souls
from Satan’s arrows. The divine nature becomes the foundation for building
a better world that will be the antechamber of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The pride is foreign to the divine nature. Although God could be bragging
compared with all logic creatures, visible and invisible, because He is the creator
of all creation, the absolute master of the whole universe, “the supervisor
on the earth”43 He makes the earth to shake, “He looketh on the earth, and
it trembleth”44 and He is superior to everyone and everything45. Through the
making of creation someone can see and realize the omnipotence of God.
He created the angels, “But I the Lord, your God, founded the heaven and
built the earth, whose hands built the entire army of angels in the heaven”46,
water and nebula, “and the water above the heavens praises the name of the
Lord, that he said and it became”47. He placed the clouds as a garment around
the sea48. He created animals, and with wisdom He equipped them all, in order
to continue to perpetuate their species49. Finally, on top of creature, God put
the man50 and made him king51 and ruler of nature52. So God created man in his
own image, in the image of God created he him, in order to become with his
option equal to God. So the exhortation of Christ put into practice: “To become
similar to your Father in heaven”, because the creature ensures “in the image”
and the option the “likeness of itself”53.
The three persons of the Holy Trinity “anointed” man as king of all creation,
which is work of their hands, “With glory and honor You, God, crowned him
and You make him to rule over the works of Your hands”54 As it be mentioned
above, God made man “in His image and His likeness”, providing him the opportunity
and the power, so he can freely choose the virtue, in order to be equal
to God, man’s creator55. The Triune God as omnipotent and creator, knows the
most innermost thoughts of his creation, of his creature and sees in his heart,
“God knows the human heart, because He is the only creator of hearts”56. The
God does not deprive any man to have the opportunity to put into practice his
thoughts, otherwise the God would deprive from His perfect creature the ability
43 Idem, Epistula Ι 99 (Gelasio Duci), PG 78, 249C.
44 Idem, Epistula IV 107 (Theodosio), PG 78, 1173A (cf. Ps 103, 32).
45 Cf. idem, Epistula V 506 (Alypio), PG 78, 1617B.
46 Idem, Epistula Ι 343 (Silvano), PG 78, 380A (cf. Hos 13, 4).
47 Ibidem, (cf. Ps 148, 4).
48 Cf. ibidem (cf. Job 38, 9).
49 Cf. idem, Epistula IΙ 119 (Ophelio Grammatico), PG 78, 560Β.
50 Cf. idem, Epistula IIΙ 95 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 804Α.
51 Cf. idem, Epistula IΙ 115 (Dorotheo), PG 78, 556C.
52 Cf. idem, Epistula IIΙ 208 (Petro Monacho), PG 78, 889C-D.
53 Idem, Epistula IIΙ 95 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 804Α (cf. Mt 5, 48).
54 Ibidem, PG 78, 801C (cf. Ps 8, 6-7).
55 Cf. idem (cf. Gen 1, 26).
56 Idem, Epistula Ι 17 (Paulo), PG 78, 192A.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 333
of choice. Moreover the three Persons of God endowed man with an immortal
soul, “which is not consubstantial with pre-eternal, no beginning and creative
holly nature”57. The adjective immortal for human soul is misused, because,
once, the soul was created and did not pre-exist. On the other hand the term immortal
is taken literally meaning only for the eternal and pre-existing God.
Isidore underlines that the Triune God exists “beyond” of the world and
therefore the human being fails to know Him through his own forces. God
reveals His idioms but He never reveals His oÙs…a – nature. Isidore urges
that the deity should be accepted only by His existence and actions, and the
human should not make any effort to investigated God’s substance, because
it is impossible for people and for the heavenly hosts too. Isidore teaches that
the Immaculate and ineffable divine nature is far from any time and place, so
there is no significance into the numeric “order” of the persons of the Trinity.
3. Epiphany – Revelation of the God Father. The word “epiphany”
comes from two Greek words, the preposition “™p…” and the verb “faine‹n”,
and can variously mean, “to shine upon”, “to reveal”, or “to appear, manifest”.
In the Old Testament, there are crowd of epiphanies of God Father. Sometimes,
he appears as an angel58, sometimes as a fire59. There are times that the Father
shows Himself with various other ways. So He makes “visible” His presence in
57 Idem, Epistula V 187 (Aegypto Presbytero), ed. M.P. Évieux, SCh 454, Paris 2000, 128, line
2 (= PG 78, 1444C).
58 Cf. Gen 6, 7-14: “And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness,
by the fountain in the way to Shur. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and
whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the angel of the
Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the
Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt
call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his
hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence
of all his brethren. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest
me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called
Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram
called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael”; Gen 32, 24-30: „And Jacob was left alone; and
there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not
against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as
he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee
go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and
with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he
said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved”.
59 Cf. Ex 3, 2: “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst
of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed”;
Ex 19, 18: “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire:
and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly”.
334 EIRINI ARTEMI
the world. He reveals His will midst of the prophets and His Epiphany and allow
people to know Him midst of his actions, because nobody can ever see God’s
face and then he can live by anyone live, as God told Moses: “And he said, thou
canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Ex 33, 20).
In the New Testament the Father makes a manifest midst of the Second
Person of the Holy Trinity, revealing His will and declares unequivocally, “He
who has seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14, 9). Anyhow, the Son is the enhypostatic
icon of the Father. At this point, the Psalmist’s words put into practice:
“The light of thy countenance O Lord, is signed upon us” (Ps 4, 7).
Isidore notes that God the Father was revealed to Jacob and fought with
him. However, He did not reveal His name. In this way Isidore explains that
the name of God is not under the law and beyond the law60. God appears Himself
to mane people who live in God and God lives in them: “and it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2, 20).
Isidore emphasizes that God didn’t talk to righteous people midst writings
of the Old Testament “to the olds”61, but He spoke to them directly, “by Himself,
He finds the pure and unimpeded opinion to them without mediators’ teaching”62.
To document the above opinion, Isidore brings the facts about Noah63 and Abraham64
as examples. In the first, God reveals Himself and advises him to build
an ark, by which Noah and his family and all kinds of animals in pairs would be
saved by the upcoming Cataclysm. After the flood of forty days, God concluded
a covenant with Noah, giving the promise that He will never again destroy the
creation of World with Cataclysm. On the other hand, with regard to Abraham,
God talks to him and promises him that his descendants would become whatsoever
in number the stars of the sky and grains of sand of the sea65, while He
foretells the birth of his son Isaac from his decrepit wife Sarah66.
The Father revealed himself in an indirect way, midst the Cherubim, that
were over the ark of the covenant, testament. The Cherubim, “Being the
60 Cf. Isidorus Pelusiota, Epistula Ι 453 (Theodosio), PG 78, 432Β (cf. Gen 30, 32).
61 Idem, Epistula IIΙ 106 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 812Α.
62 Ibidem.
63 Cf. ibidem. Cf. Gen 7, 1: “And the Lord said to Noah, Take all your family and go into the
ark, for you only in this generation have I seen to be upright”.
64 Cf. idem, Epistula IIΙ 106 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 812Α. Cf. Gen 12, 1-4: “Now the Lord
said to Abram, Go out from your country and from your family and from your father’s house, into
the land to which I will be your guide. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and
curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed,
as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old
when he departed out of Haran”.
65 Cf. idem, Epistula IIΙ 296 (Agatho Presbytero), PG 78, 972Α (cf. Gen 15, 5; 16, 10).
66 Cf. ibidem. Cf. Gen 17, 19: “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and
thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant,
and with his seed after him”.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 335
chariot ant the throne of God”67. They revealed Him for whom the Ark of the
Covenant and the Temple of Solomon were constructed “He who has His seat
on the winged ones (Cherubims), let His glory be seen”68. By this way, they
proclaim that the God is inseparable and unformed. Further They emphasize
that the God is the ruler and poet all and, simultaneously, “beyond any kind
of nature and human contemplation”69. Finally, the God speaks to the Jewish
people midst of Moses and the other prophets and thus He reveals His will
every time70.
In the New Testament, the God Father, as He revealed Himself through
Jesus Christ, is the beginning and the end of all Virtues: “Therefore you shall
be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”71. Midst of the Holy Spirit,
the Father will reveal His will to His apostles and He will recall all to them72.
Generally, the Pelousiote father points out that in the Old Testament the
Father God reveals Himself to various people of the Israel with direct and indirect
way. People like Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses had the opportunity
to “Know” the God the Father who He is revealed. These people worked as
the means midst of whose the plan of God for the salvation of man would be
revealed to chosen people of Israel. The father, however, reveals Himself by
an indirect way, through the words of the prophets, who were enlightened by
the Holy Spirit. They seem His will. Finally, in the New Testament, the Father
is revealed through the Son’s Incarnation.
4. Epiphany – Revelation of the God Word. The Epiphany of the God
Word directly related to the fleshless revelation, as the Word of God, and the
incarnate one as Logos became man. In the Old Testament, God’s Word is initially
fleshless. In no way He presented as independent person and entity, but
only He reveals Himself during His contact with the world, when He reveals
His existence.
The verb “™pifa…nei” as well as the noun „™pif£neia” both occur in the
Greek New Testament. In 2 Timothy joyously declares:
“God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life-not because of anything
we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was
given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been
revealed through the appearing [™pif£neia] of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who
67 Idem, Epistula ΙV 73 (Eusebio Episcopo), PG 78, 1133Α.
68 Ibidem (cf. Ps 80, 1).
69 Ibidem.
70 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙV 205 (Olympio Presbytero Scholastico), ed. M.P. Évieux, SCh 422, Paris
1997, 284, lines 64-67 (= PG 78, 1296C).
71 Idem, Epistula IIΙ 95 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 804B-C (cf. Mt 5, 48).
72 Cf. ibidem, PG 78, 812B. Cf. Jn 14, 26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you”.
336 EIRINI ARTEMI
has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel” (2Tim 1, 8-10).
In the Old Testament, the Word of God does not only reveal the will of
the Father but He shows His creative abilities. He creates the world visible
and invisible and shapes man together with the other two Persons of the Trinity.
Isidore underlines that Isaiah saw “incarnation” of Savior73. In the New
Testament, the pre-eternal Logos, consubstantial with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, becomes perfect man and remains, at the same time, and perfect God.
He incarnated in order to free people from the bondage of the original sin and
to reunite man with God the Creator. By this way the incarnate Word of God
reveals Himself throughout the world, calling people to repentance and moral
perfection. So the human race could achieve their subjective salvation.
The Son appeared to the human race as man with hymns of victory celebration74.
Of course, Isidore means, the fact of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem,
in the course of which Angels were going up and down from the sky and were
chanting “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men” (Lk 2, 14). By this way they were confirming this supernatural event to
the simple and humble shepherds. They, with a pure heart and a sincere intention,
accepted without any cunning and frankly this divine revelation.
The appearance of the Son to people, as one of them, was happened because
of the charity of the Creator Father. By the theophany of Logos in the
earth, the veil of Love was spread in the whole Creation75. As clean and living
water of truth, the Lord blotted man, the image of God, from the dirt of sin,
which marred the beauty of human nature. He gave, therefore, the ability to
people to get rid of tunics of sin and togged “kosmhqoàn” again with the virtues
of their situation before the fall. So, when the King of Heaven appeared
in the earth, He established doctrines, which would be a compass for people
in order live an angelic lifestyle on earth76. Thus, God’s revelation in history
and His “incorporation-™nswm£twsh” into the existence of the fallen man, in
other words His Incarnation, He alters the fallen man to a “new man”.
Christ, however, revealed His divine glory by his Metamorphosis on
Mount Thabor. There, He revealed to His reputable disciples the uncreated
light of His glory. The latter will be fully revealed at the Second Coming of
Christ on earth. At the same time, by the presence of Moses and Elijah, Christ
affirmed his sovereignty over the living and the dead people, over the past, the
present and the future77.
73 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙV 154 (Anatolio Diacono), SCh 422, 356, lines 7-9 (= PG 78, 1240Β).
Cf. Is 26, 9.
74 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 436 (Zosimo), PG 78, 421D.
75 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙV 15 (Epimacho Lectori), SCh 454, 446, line 10 (= PG 78, 1064Β).
76 Cf. idem, Epistula ΙV 103 (Dionysio Scholastico), SCh 422, 486, lines 17-21 (= PG 78,
1104Β-C).
77 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 239 (Alphio Presbytero), PG 78, 329Β. Cf. Lk 9, 28-31: “And it came
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 337
Generally, Isidore focuses the spotlight on the fact that, in the Old Testament,
Logos is revealed, mainly through the making of creation and reveals
His will to the righteous of the Old Testament. The fleshless Word reveals the
Triune God and His will to Patriarchs, Prophets, Judges. In the New Testament,
the Word manifested as a incarnated. He is who became from fleshless
incarnated. As incarnated he would redeem the human leavens from the shackles
of Satan and restore the broken relationship between God and man. By the
illumination of the uncreated light of the divine glory, during His Transfiguration
on Mount Thabor, Christ revealed that He is the only God and He has
power to life and death.
5. Epiphany – Revelation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals
Himself to man from the time of creation of the universe until the end of the
world. In his letters, Isidore of Pelusium notes that the Holy Spirit is manifested
through oral and written revelation gradually and progressively. The
progressive revelation of the triune Godhead, firstly of God Father, then of
God Son and, later of God Holy Spirit, is a process of God’s condescension to
people’s inability to understand the mystery of the Godhead.
In the Old Testament, as someone can see from the Psalms and prophets,
there is a knowledge of the Divine Word and the Spirit of God. There is no
knowledge of the Divine Word and the Divine Spirit as hypostasis. These two
persons were considered as energies, because the world of the Old Testament
was narrowly enclosed within the boundaries of one God. This point of view
was provided in the sense not of the Christian monotheism, but of the sense
beyond the Christian “™noqeŽsmoà”, that One God in One Hypostasis “™n m…v
Øpost£sei”78. In the Old Testament, which typically it is regarded as the first
stage of the divine revelation, the reference to Holy Spirit’s person and action
was hidden79. The action of the Holy Spirit has no source outside of the divine
nature of Spirit. Nor does He act independently of the Father and the Son.
Among the three divine hypostases there is unity of volition and actions. The
actions of the Spirit is uncreated and eternal, as the other persons’ of the Holy
Trinity actions.
Ηoly Isidore spoke in his letters about the Holy Spirit’s theophany midst
of his actions. He knew that the actions of the third hypostasis of the Triune
God bestows at creation and rational beings, but they do not limited there. His
to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into
a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment
was white and glistering. And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem”. Also
cf. Mt 17, 2-3; Mk 9, 3-4.
78 Sophronius Sacharoph, Principles of orthodox asceticism, transl. in Russian and French text
from monk Zacharia, Essex 1996, 111.
79 Cf. Isidorus Pelusiota, Epistula ΙI 143 (Paulo), PG 78, 589A.
338 EIRINI ARTEMI
actions play an important role to Word’s of God incarnation. In particular, in
several letters of Isidore, he supports the doctrine of seedless Conception of
Jesus Christ and notes that Holy Spirit played an important role in the incarnation
of the divine Logos: “By Holy Spirit there is Word as infant enfleshed
(sesarkomšnoj) in Virgin’s womb”80. He expresses the view that it is difficult
to be understood the way that Theotokos conceived. This is characterized as
“god-like […] and not conceived in human’s mind”81. The Spirit is the One
which, by attending the Baptism of the Lord confirms the ÐmoousiÒthta of
the Son with the Spirit and the Father. He provided the testimony of the divinity
of Incarnate Word82.
Also, the fact of God’s speaking through the fire of the fuming Mount Sinai
(cf. Ex 19, 19) is paralleled by Isidore with the descent of the Holy Spirit to
the Apostles (Acts 2, 1-4) on the day of Pentecost. All of these examples indicates
that everything happened “in order to be known that God is one and the
same into both Testaments, although the second one has many differences to
the first”83. By this parallelism Isidore achieved to present that both Testaments
have common base the revelation of God and His plan of salvation of mankind,
and, moreover, Isidore makes an evidence that the Holy Spirit is God, too.
The Holy Spirit, however, “the heavenly force”, as Isidore taught, has
“active presentation” after Christ’s Ascension. By this way, Christ’s disciple
would have companion and assistant in the preaching of the Gospel, that “He
always memorises everything to you”84. Characteristically, their master had
promised to them that “the divine Spirit would descend upon the twelfth Apostles
the tenth day after Christ’s Ascension, and the whole fifty days between
after His Resurrection day, as Lord announced a few days after his promise
that He would be transferred to heaven”85.
The day of Pentecost is the fullness of time for the mission of the Holy
Spirit to the Apostles. They will cultivate the souls of all people, by the teaching
and the preaching of the Word Incarnate. By this way, people will have the
opportunity perform spiritual fruits. The revelation of the Spirit to students on
the day of Pentecost appeared unto them “cloven tongues”86 like as of fire, and
it sat upon each of them. The tongues are not from fire but they look like fire,
but it looks like fire. The “like” helps us to realize that the Spirit is beyond
aesthetic perception, because He is neither fire nor wind, nor dove, nor anything
that has a material substance. The fire, after all, is an often way for God’s
revelation. The result of the revelation of Holy Spirit on Pentecost is the same
80 Idem, Epistula Ι 18 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 193A (cf. Mt 1, 20).
81 Ibidem.
82 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 67 (Timotheo Lectori), PG 78, 228A.
83 Idem, Epistula Ι 494 (Timotheo Lectori), PG 78, 452A.
84 Idem, Epistula IΙI 106 (Isidoro Diacono), PG 78, 812Β (cf. Jn 14, 2-6).
85 Idem, Epistula Ι 400 (Archiae), PG 78, 453Β-C (cf. Acts 2, 4-8).
86 Idem, Epistula IV 66 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 1124A (cf. Acts 2, 3).
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 339
Holy Spirit like fire Who continues to burn and brighten people’s souls. Their
lighting is the only way for the conquest of their heavenly salvation.
On the day of Pentecost, therefore, the Holy Spirit illuminates and teaches
(dadouce‹) Lord’s disciples, in order to understand fully what they were
taught by Christ and to preach them to all over the world. By this way, They
became brighten lighthouses. By the light of the saviour preaching, they would
chases away the darkness of the devil’s delusion. On this day, Pentecost, the
whole action of the Spirit will be granted. This action brings the kingdom of
God to the hearts of people of all nations. The Holy Spirit, as Alexandrian Father
highlighted features, “by fire He was given to Apostles”87. Isidore stresses
emphatically that the Spirit appeared unto the Disciples of Christ on the day
of Pentecost. By this teaching, he refutes Montanus. The latter taught that the
Spirit had not descended to the Disciples of Christ at Pentecost, but later only
to him. He argues that he claimed this theophany, without doing anything important,
but because he recognized his dissolute life in public88.
Isidore likened the Spirit’s revelation like a fire from an oil lamp, from
which many candles are illuminated. The ardency, that comes from the Spirit’s
fire, gives impetus to every faithful man to look to the sky and break the shackles
of sin which keeps him tethered to earth. The Spirit permutes man, He
redeems him, He takes him to deification. We must not, of course, forget that
the Holy Spirit acts in the Church because of Christ’s redemption. This faith
is a necessary and a fundamental prerequisite for the intake of human being to
the new creation and base of the creation by the believers in the Holy Spirit.
The believers should accept continually the divine Spirit’s donation in order to
be rendered Spiritual (pneumatofÒroi). Of course, we must not forget that the
grace of the Spirit is not a permanent and inalienable possession of the faithful
men and women. In contrast, the energy and sanctification of the Spirit are
solely charismatic gifts of God, which always are reallocated to the believers,
but they remain eternally in Church.
Isidore, however, returns to ™pifwt…sewj fact, to the descent of the Spirit
to the Lord’s disciples in the form of fire, because by this form, God Father
had spoken to Moses89, in order to show the consubstantiality of the Spirit
with God Father. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the apostles made them
look drunk in the eyes of those who knew them, according to the testimony of
Luke in the Acts90. The Apostles, that moment, felt the sweetness of the grace
of the Spirit. For this reason they felt a sober drunkenness, the living of the
true life, the deification of man, the communion with God. The same Holy
Spirit was the instrument that turned them inside, empowered them spiritually
and enabled them from simple fishermen in order to become preachers of the
87 Idem, Epistula Ι 494 (Timotheo Lectori), PG 78, 453A.
88 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 243 (Hermino Comiti), PG 78, 332Α.
89 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 494 (Timotheo Lectori), PG 78, 453A (cf. Ex 24, 17).
90 Cf. idem, Epistula Ι 168 (Zoilo Presbytero), PG 78, 293Β (cf. Acts 2, 13).
340 EIRINI ARTEMI
Gospel to all mankind. And the communion with God begins – for everyone
of us – with the sacrament of baptism.
The Holy father generally characterized the Divine as a fire and, in particular,
the Holy Spirit. This can be justified because Isidore remains faith in the
Holy Bible, which often bear witness that the Divine reveals to man by the image
of fire, like in the revelation of God to Moses through the burning bush (Ex
24, 17), as it was mentioned before. Then, a conclusion can be drawn that, as
fire purifies everything that gets in her way, so the Holy Spirit sanctifies a man
and turns him from burden of the earth to citizen of the kingdom of God. The
Spirit removes the rust of sin, like fire exempts iron from the rust. The fire burns
the waste, but it purifies the gold. Another characteristic feature of the fire is its
move upwards, towards the sky. For this reason, the fire is one of the most appropriate
types, in order the Third Person of the Holy Trinity to make His presence
felt in the world. His main concern is to lead man upwards, to make him
equal to God. At this point, Holy Isidore might imply that, as the Holy Spirit
appeared in the form of fire at Pentecost, so the preaching of the Apostles, resembles
fire, which spread to the world, to cleanse from sin and to transform it.
The Holy Spirit is revealed through the Scriptures. The research of the
Divine Scriptures, “it has as message the precise knowledge of God”91 and reveals
“the will of the Spirit”92. The Spirit “searches all things, even the depths
of God”93, He knows the most accurate knowledge of God with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, and He declare it”94, as He is Himself one of the three Person
of the Holy Trinity. The above passage of the first epistle to Corinthians is paralleled
to the one of the Romans, which notes “He who searches our hearts”95,
in order to show the consubstantiality of the Spirit to the Father. Isidore exports
the conclusion that midst of the Spirit believers are enabled to acquire “precise
attention” for the Father and for the Holy Spirit Himself96. From this conclusion,
Isidore does not exclude the Son from having the accurate knowledge for
the Triune God. Neither does he leave the slightest heretic suspicion. The latter
would happen, if there was the use of the adverb “only” in the clause, which
refers to the possession of the perfect knowledge of the Father and the Spirit.
***
The holy Isidore supports the progressive revelation of the Triune God,
which begins with the revelation of God Father, in the Old Testament, it continues
with the revelation of His incarnate in the New Testament, and finally,
91 Idem, Epistula ΙΙΙ 92 (Ophelio Grammatico), PG 78, 796D.
92 Ibidem, PG 78, 796D - 797A.
93 Ibidem, PG 78, 797A (cf. 1Cor 2, 10).
94 Ibidem.
95 Ibidem (cf. Rom 8, 27).
96 Cf. ibidem.
THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRIUNE GOD 341
after the day of Pentecost by the Holy Spirit’s relevance. In these three periods
of human history, the Holy Spirit always plays an active and important role. He
creates the first man along with the other two persons of the Triune God. He is
revealed “mist of clouds” in the Old Testament. He makes His revelation into
the events of Christ’s arrest, into Incarnate Word and the baptism. Still, it is the
“finger” with which Christ cast out demons. Finally, after the Ascension, the
Lord becomes the driver and the assistant in order to preach this divine word
everywhere of the world and prepare people to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Pelousiote Father, referring to the dynamic revelation of the Spirit in the
Historical “mainstream”, he combated all falsehoods of Montanus and heretical
beliefs in the letters of falsehoods Montanus. And other heretical beliefs
of “Πνευματομάχων: who impugned the Divinity of the Holy Ghost” and they
had survived to his day. Although, as we noted above into letters of Isidore,
he did not deal with the dogmatic teaching of the Church in detail. However,
Isidore seems, to know very well about the issues and doctrines. He trackers
on theology of earlier church fathers, who left an indelible mark on the formulation
of doctrine.
Isidore agrees that the knowledge about God transcends to every human’s
thought and word and it (knowledge) is based entirely on the fact of God’s
revelation, which can be understood only through the grace of the Holy Spirit.
He accounts for the people to know that God exists and not to seek “what by
nature is” our God. Consequently, Isidore makes some effort to explain, that if
the teaching of the Church for the Triune God, on Christ and on the Holy Spirit
is based solely on logic, it is doomed to fail but to lure them into the deception
of heresy, together with those who share their views. For this reason, the heretics,
although they read the Bible, they do not let themselves be filled with the
true light of the Third Person of the Trinity, so does not this lead to good faith,
thus he will be cut off from the Body of Christ the church. The correct faith
will help the knowledge of God, since the first is the key to enter the mystery
of the Holy Trinity.
Isidore converged on the view that knowledge of God cannot be achieved
by relying solely on finite human intellection, without even the assistance is
provided by the same Triune God and phase in history. Otherwise, the Spirit
will reveal the uncreated truth by shadow. Only has Christ the ability, as good
sewer to sow in the hearts of those who are worthy, as the disciples and Apostles,
the exact knowledge of the doctrines and to desire any good thing, such
as giving the opportunity to every man who feels thirsty for the divine truth.
Consequently, the Knowledge for the Christ Christognosia is closely associated
with the Triadognosia and it should provide the knowledge of the Divine
Incarnation of the Logos. The latter is the revelation of the Trinity in Christ
and Christ is revealed as one of the Trinity.
342 EIRINI ARTEMI
WIEDZA O TRÓJJEDYNYM BOGU WEDŁUG IZYDORA Z PELUZJUM
(Streszczenie)
Bóg jest niepojęty i ten fakt musi być zaakceptowany przez każdy umysł ludzki.
Możliwe jest jednak poznanie Go poprzez Jego dzieła, ale do tego niezbędny jest
wolny od grzechu umysł i posiadanie takich cnót, jak mądrość, sprawiedliwość,
miłość i wiara. Tylko wtedy Bóg będzie mógł „mieszkać” i „przechadzać się” w nas,
i da nam szansę spotkania Go. Izydor z Peluzjum porównuje prawdziwą wiedzę
o Bogu do „wina”, co wynika z obecności wcielonego Boga Logosu na Ziemi
i objawienia jego nauczania. Ponieważ Pan opisuje siebie jako winorośl, pewność
wiedzy o Nim jest nazywana „winem”. Bóg jest Jeden i Trójjedyny. Dowód ten
pochodzi z Biblii. Peluzjota wyjaśnia, że liczba pojedyncza w Biblii, która jest
używana odnośnie Boga, odnosi się do wszystkich trzech Osób Bożych, które są
współistotne, liczba mnoga zaś odnosi się do hipostazy Boga w Trójcy Jedynego.
Izydor podkreśla, że znajomość Boga wymaga wielkiej dojrzałości duchowej
i mądrości. Wiara ludzi we wcielone Słowo Boże objawia się pośród Boga w Trójcy
Jedynego i pomaga racjonalnemu stworzeniu wspiąć się do rzeczywistości niebieskiej
i „rozmawiać” z Bogiem. Osoba przyodziana godłem prawdziwej wiedzy
o Bogu, danej jej przez światło Ducha Świętego, czyni ją zdolną do walki z tymi,
którzy nadużywają prawd doktryny Kościoła.
Key words: Isidore of Pelusium, Triune God, Christus, knowledge of God,
oÙs…a, ™pif£neia, sesarkwmšnoj.
Słowa kluczowe: Izydor z Peluzjum, Trójjedyny Bóg, Chrystus, wiedza
o Bogu, oÙs…a, ™pif£neia, sesarkwmšnoj.
