Many And One

Augustinus dixit: Ego quod quaesivi ut dicere dignareris, non dixisti, quo testimonio probares subiectum Christo Spiritum Sanctum: respondeo tamen ad ea quae proposuisti. Sic non dicimus tres omnipotentes, quomodo non dicimus tres deos. Si enim de singulis interrogemur utrum Deus sit Pater, respondemus: Deus; utrum Deus sit Filius, respondemus: Deus; utrum Deus sit Spiritus Sanctus, respondemus: Deus. Cum autem de omnibus interrogati fuerimus, utrum tres sint, referimus nos ad divinam Scripturam dicentem: Audi, Israel; Dominus Deus tuus, Dominus unus est. Et in hac divina praescriptione condiscimus, eamdem ipsam Trinitatem unum esse Deum. Sic et de singulis si quaeratur, utrum Pater omnipotens sit, respondemus: Omnipotens; si Filius, hoc idem respondemus; si Spiritus Sanctus, nec ipsum negamus omnipotentem. Nec tamen dicimus tres omnipotentes, quomodo non dicimus tres deos: sed sicut simul illi tres unus Deus, sic simul illi tres unus omnipotens est, et invisibilis unus Deus Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus est. Sine causa ergo putas nos numero coarctari, cum divinitatis potentia etiam rationem numeri excedat. Si enim animae multorum hominum accepto Spiritu Sancto et quodam modo conflatae igne caritatis unam animam fecerunt, de qua dicit Apostolus: Erat enim eis anima et cor unum: tot corda, tot millia cordium, unum cor fecit caritas Spiritus Sancti; tot millia animarum unam animam dixit Spiritus Sanctus, quam ipse unam animam fecit: quanto magis nos unum Deum dicimus, semper sibi invicem et inseparabiliter et ineffabili caritate cohaerentes Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum? Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Collatio cum Maximino Arianorum Episcopo Source: Migne PL 42.715

Augustine said: What I asked you to say you have not deigned to say, that is, by what testimony you might prove that the Holy Spirit is subject to Christ. Even so, I will answer the things you have set forth. Just as we do not say that there are three omnipotents, so we do not say there are three gods. If we are questioned about each one, whether the Father is God, we say, 'He is God.' If the Son is God, we say: 'He is God.' If the Holy Spirit is God, we answer: 'He is God.' But when we are questioned about all of them, whether there are three gods, we refer to the Divine Scriptures which say: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God.' 1 And in that Divine commandment we learn that the same Trinity is the one God. So if someone asks about each of them, if the Father is omnipotent, we answer 'He is omnipotent,' if the Son is, we answer the same, if the Holy Spirit is, we do not deny Him omnipotence. But we do not say that there are three omnipotents, just as we do not say that there are three gods, but just as the three are one God, so the three are one omnipotence, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the one invisible God. Without reason, then, do you think that we are snared in arithmetic, since the power of the Divinity exceeeds the sense of number. Indeed the souls of many men were in some way fused together with the reception of the Holy Spirit and made one soul with the fire of charity, concerning which the Apostle says: 'They had one soul and heart.' 2 The charity of the Holy Spirit made so many hearts, so many thousands of hearts, one heart. The Holy Spirit called so many thousands of soul one soul because he made them one soul. How much more do we call the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit one God, since they always cling to one another inseparably and with ineffable charity? Saint Augustine of Hippo, Discussion With the Arian Bishop Maximinus 1 Deut 6.4 2 Acts 4.32