The Trinity And Plato

Πορφύριος γάρ φησι, Πλάτωνος ἐκτιθέμενος δόξαν, ἄχρι τριῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν τοῦ θείου προελθεῖν οὐσίαν, εἶναι δὲ τὸν μὲν ἀνωτάτω θεὸν τἀγαθόν, μετ' αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ δεύτερον τὸν δημιουργόν, τρίτον δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν· ἄχρι γὰρ ψυχῆς τὴν θειότητα προελθεῖν. Ἰδοὺ δὴ σαφῶς ἐν τούτοις ἄχρι τριῶν ὑποστάσεων τὴν τοῦ θείου προελθεῖν οὐσίαν ἰσχυρίζεται· εἷς μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, κατευρύνεται δὲ ὥσπερ ἡ περὶ αὐτοῦ γνῶσις εἰς ἁγίαν τε καὶ ὁμοούσιον Τριάδα, εἴς τε Πατέρα φημὶ καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, ὃ καὶ ψυχὴν τοῦ κόσμου φησὶν ὁ Πλάτων· ζωοποιεῖ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ πρόεισιν ἐκ ζῶντος Πατρὸς δι' Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ζῶμεν καὶ κινούμεθα καὶ ἐσμέν. Ἀληθεύει γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· Τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ζωοποιοῦν. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Πορφύριος περὶ Πλάτωνος· ∆ιὸ ἐν ἀπορρήτοις περὶ τούτων αἰνιττόμενός φησι· Περὶ τὸν βασιλέα πάντα ἐστί, καὶ ἐκείνου ἕνεκα πάντα, καὶ ἐκεῖνο αἴτιον πάντων καλῶν, δεύτερον δὲ περὶ τὰ δεύτερα, καὶ τρίτον περὶ τὰ τρίτα. Ὡς γὰρ πάντων μὲν περὶ τοὺς τρεῖς ὄντων θεούς, ἀλλ' ἤδη πρώτως μὲν περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα, δευτέρως δὲ περὶ τὸν ἀπ' ἐκείνου θεόν, καὶ τρίτως περὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τούτου. ∆εδήλωκε δὲ ἐμφαίνων καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀλλήλων ὑπόστασιν, ἀρχομένην ἀπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τὴν ὑπόβασιν καὶ ὕφεσιν τῶν μετὰ τὸν πρῶτον, διὰ τοῦ πρώτως καὶ δευτέρως καὶ τρίτως εἰπεῖν, καὶ ὅτι ἐξ ἑνὸς τὰ πάντα καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ σῴζεται. Τεθεώρηκε μὲν οὖν οὐχ ὑγιῶς εἰσάπαν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς τὰ Ἀρείου πεφρονηκόσιν ἐν ἴσῳ, διαιρεῖ καὶ ὑφίστησιν, ὑποκαθημένας τε ἀλλήλαις τὰς ὑποστάσεις εἰσφέρει, καὶ τρεῖς οἴεται θεοὺς εἶναι διῃρημένως τὴν ἁγίαν καὶ ὁμοούσιον Τριάδα. Πλὴν οὐκ ἠγνόηκεν ὁλοτρόπως τὸ ἀληθές, οἶμαι δὲ ὅτι κἂν ὑγιῶς ἔφη τε καὶ πεφρόνηκεν, ἐξήνεγκε δὲ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξης τὸ ἀρτίως ἔχον, εἰ μὴ τάχα που τὴν Ἀνύτου καὶ Μελήτου γραφὴν ἐδεδίει καὶ τὸ Σωκράτους κώνειον. Ἅγιος Κύριλλος Ἀλεξανδρείας, Προς Τα Του Ἐν Ἀθεοις Ιὀυλιανου, Λογος B' Source: Migne PG 76.556a

Expounding an opinion of Plato, Porphyry says, 'The divine substance extends even to three persons, the highest and best God, and after Him there is a second maker, and the third is the soul of the universe, for divinity extends even to soul.' And behold in these things it is manifest that he contends that the three Divine hypostases proceed from the Divine substance, since certainly the God of all things is one, but extended, according to his own understanding, into the holy and consubstantial Trinity, into the Father, I say, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, whom Plato calls the soul of the world, for the Spirit gives life and proceeds from the living Father through the Son, and 'in Him we live and move and have our being.' 1 For our truthful Lord, Jesus Christ, says 'The Spirit is He who gives life,' 2 And again the same Porphyry says of Plato: 'Where secretly intimating these things and speaking obscurely and in a mystery, he says: 'To the king everything is related, and all things are caused by him, and he is the cause of all beautiful things, and related to the second are second things, and third things are related to the third, 3 so that everything exists in relation to three gods, but firstly to the king of all things, and secondly to the god from him, and thirdly to the one who is from that one.' He declares here what the hypostases have from themselves, and that it begins from the king, and there is a declension and descent of things after the first, through the first and the second and the third, he says, for everything is from one, and through him they are preserved. Certainly not everything was seen correctly here, for thinking of these things in the same way of Arius, he divides and imposes inferiority, and he introduces subordination among those subsisting, and he thinks the holy and consubstantial Trinity is three distinct gods. But I think Plato was not ignorant of the whole truth, and would have thought of it and spoken of it rightly, and also published the real and genuine truths about God publicly and openly, but he perhaps feared the accusations of Anytus and Melitus and the hemlock of Socrates. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Against Julian, Book 2 1 Acts 17.28 2 Jn 6.63 3 Plato Letter 2 312e