The Spirit And The Trinity

Nobis autem Deus revelavit per Spiritum suum. Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam altitudines Dei. Quis enim hominum novit quae in homine sunt, nisi spiritus hominis qui in ipso est? Sic et quae in Deo nemo novit, nisi Spiritus Dei.. Rogo suppliciter, locum istum, ut pote illuminati a Deo arbitri, judicate; et utrum aequalis sit Patri vel Filio Spiritus sanctus, ex ipsa scientiae suae profunditate perpendite. Nemo novit Filium, nisi Pater, neque Patrem quis novit nisi Filius. Sed quia nec Pater, nec Filius, sine Spiritu aliquid novit, ideo quae in Deo sunt nemo scit, nisi Spiritus Dei; quia nec Spiritus scire aliquid sine Patre vel Filio potest. Quid est, nemo novit praeter Patrem, nemo praeter Filium, nemo praeter Spiritum sanctum, nisi quia in Trinitate praeter unitatem nihil possumus invenire? Legimus alio loco, Qui Filium non habet, nec Patrem habet. Itemque alio loco, Si quis Spiritum Christi non habet, hic non est ejus. Quod non potest non simul totum haberi, quomodo poterit dividi? Sancti Aviti Viennensis, ex libris contra Arianos Source: Migne PL 59.305c-d

God gives revelation to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit scrutanises everything, even the depths of God. What man knows what is in a man, unless the spirit of man which is in him? So what is in God no one knows but the Spirit. 1 I entreat here, as it is possible, that you judge illuminated by the will of God, even whether the Holy Spirit is equal to the Father or the Son, considering the depths of its knowledge. No one knows the Son but the Father, nor the Father but the Son. 2 But because neither the Father nor the Son know without the Spirit, therefore what is in God no one knows unless with the Spirit of God, because neither does the Spirit know without the Father or the Son. And why is it that no one knows beside the Father, no one beside the Son, no one beside the Holy Spirit, unless only in the Trinity in unity we find them? We read in another place: 'He who does not have the Son, does not have the Father.' 3 And again elsewhere: 'If a man does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not His.' 4 And if it is not possible but to have them all at the same time, how would it be possible to divide them? Saint Avitus of Vienne, from a work against the Arians 1 1 Cor 2.10-11 2 Mt 11.27 3 1 Jn 2.23 4 Rom 8.9

God Unseen

Pelagus, inquit, operuit caput meum. Nec istud frustra de solo capite dicebat, quem absque dubio pelagus omni ex parte contexerat; sed celavit contumelia mundi Dominum coeli. Caput viri Christus, caput autem Christi Deus. Velavit humilitas mea gloriam meam, et Deus, qui quasi caput inerat Christo mundum reconcilians sibi, ab eis qui hominem patibulo confixerant, non potuit pervideri. Sancti Aviti Viennensis, Ex Sermone de Jona Source: Migne PL 59.305c-d

The sea, he says, covered my head. 1 He does not speak foolishly of his head alone, since without doubt the sea covered every part of him, but the contumely of the world obscures the Lord of heaven. The head of man is Christ, the head of Christ is God. 2 My humility has covered my glory, and God, who as a head inhered in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, 3 was not able to be seen by those who had fastened a man to a gibbet. Saint Avitus of Vienne, Fragment from a Sermon on Jonah 1 Jonah 2.6 2 1 Cor 11.3 3 2 Cor 5.19

Betrayal And Salvation

Dicit Apostolus, quod oporteat haereses esse. Oportet autem, non haereticis quod sunt esse, sed catholicis sustinere quod non sunt. Sicut de Juda traditore suo Dominus dixit, quod bonum fuerat homini illi non nasci. Inde enim ait illi, quia suum nasci illi malum erat qui tradidit, nobis bonum, ad quos salus ex traditione pervenit. Sancti Aviti Viennensis, Ex Libris contra Arianos Source: Migne PL 59.307b

The Apostle says, 'It is necessary that there be heresies.' 1 For it is necessary not that there are heretics, but that Catholics endure what they are not. So the Lord said of the betrayer Judas that it were better that he had not been born. 2 And He says this to him because his birth was evil to him who did betray, but to us a good, to whom salvation came from betrayal. Saint Avitus of Vienne, Fragment from Books against The Arians 1 1 Cor 11.19 2 Mt 26.21

Offering Gifts

Quomodo si, inquit, inferant filii Israel munus in vase mundo in domum Domini; legimus in Apostlo, in domo magna non solum argentea vel aurea, sed etiam lignea vasa et fictilia reperiri. Quae in ipsa graduum diversitate omnia possunt esse usui, etiamsi non sunt aequalia dignitati. Cuilibet distantiae nitor opus est. Potest in fictilibus vasculis, dummodo munditia non deesit, divinae domui munus offerri, si vas ex eadem massa fictum, quia peccando ceciderat in contumeliam, poenitendo redeat ad honorem. Habemus enim thesaurum istum in vasis fictilibus. Haec ergo vascula, ut dixi, poenitentium teneant compunctionem. Porro lignea legitimam conjugatorum praeferant simplicitatem: cruore martyris aurea rubeant; virginitatis radio argentea perlucescant. Vasorum talium capacitas est, quod rationabilis naturae conditi sumus. In haec modo provideat de suo quisque quod offerat: pro qualitate munerum fit pretiositas vasculorum. Istis credo vasculis Heliseus quondam liquorem olei vivacis infudit, quod cum flueret irriguum, non e fluxit impletum. Sancti Aviti Viennensis, Ex sermone die 3 Rogationum Source: Migne PL 59.320b-d

He says that the sons of Israel will bring in gifts in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord, 1 and we read in the Apostle: 'In a great house there are not only vessels of silver and gold but even of wood and earth.' 2 With which difference of grades all can put to use, even if they are not of equal worth. And what may be those differences I will strive to explain. It is possible that in an earthern vessel, provided that beauty is not lacking, gifts may be brought to the Divine house, if that vessel which is from that earthen substance made because it has fallen into sin into dishonour, by penance returns to honour. 'For we have this treasure in eathern vessels.' 3 So there are, as I have said, these vessels which hold the compunction of the penitent. Then the wood bears the simple lawfulness of those who are married, the golden ones shine with the blood of martyrs, the silver gleam with the brightness of virginity. The capacity of such vessels is the state of our rational nature. In this way let a man see what he offers from himself, what sort of worthiness of gift is in the vases. Into these vessels, I think, Elisha once poured the living oil, which when it flowed filled them, and when the vessel was full it stopped flowing. 4 Saint Avitus of Vienne, from a Sermon on the Third day of Rogation 1 Isaiah 66.20 2 2 Tim 2.20 3 2 Cor 4.7 4 4 Kings 4.1-7

Birth And Merits

Ad magisterii testimonium nascendi causa non pertinet, neque ille coelorum janitor Petrus, quem piscatorem hominum retia contempta fecerunt, origine placuit natalium, sed fine meritorum, sicut Matthaeus cum de teloneo assumptus est, illic inchoavit lucrum, ubi jussus est terminare negotium. Quid de singuis loquor? Talis omnium assumptio fuit, in quorum personis ignobilia et contemptibilia mundi eligens Deus, praeposuit pauperes spiritu divitibus censu, illum jure locupletissimum probans, qui ad veram et integram nobilitatem, non susceptis bonorum, sed depositis criminum fascibus pervenisset. Sancti Aviti Viennensis, ex sermone in ordinatione Episcopi Source: Migne PL 59.304b-c

As birth is no witness for the office of teaching, so that door keeper of the heavens, Peter, that fisher of men, was not made contemptible by nets; the beginning given by birthdays does not please, but the end won by merits, as Matthew who was taken up from his booth, from whence he began to profit, when he was commanded to terminate his business. Why should I speak of each one? Such was the taking up of all, that God in choosing the contemptible and common ones of the earth in such folk, 1 prefered the poor in spirit to the rich, rightly approving him most wealthy who had come to a true and incorruptabile nobility, not by the taking up of goods, but by the casting down of the burdens of evil. Saint Avitus of Vienne, from a Sermon on the Ordination of a Bishop. 1 1 Cor 1.28