Page 226 - Demo

2222. What the early Fathers of the Nasara (Christianity) say about the Holy Spirit(a) Hermas (Similitude v. 5, 6) understands, by the “Holy Spirit,” the divine element in Christ, namely the Soncreated before all things. Without entering into the useless or rather meaningless discussion whether Hermas confounds the Holy Spirit with the Word, or if it is a distinct element belonging to Christ, it is admitted that the latter was created before all things -that is to say, in the beginning- and that the Spirit in Hermas’ belief is not a person.(b) Justin –called the “Martyr” (100? 167? A.C.) and Theophilus (120?-180? A.C) understand by the Holy Spirit sometimes a peculiar form of the manifestation of the Word and sometimes a divine attribute, but never a divine person. It must be remembered that these two Greek fathers and writers of the second century A.C. had no definite knowledge and belief about the Holy Ghost of theTrinitarians ofthe fourth and the succeeding centuries.(c) Athenagoras (110-180 A.C.) says the Holy Spirit is an emanation of God proceeding from and returning to Him like the rays of the sun (Deprecatio pro Christianis, ix, x). Irenæus (130?-202? A.C.) says that the Holy Spirit and the Son are two servants of God and that the angles submit to them. The wide difference between the belief and the conceptions of these two early father about the Holy Spirit is too obvious to need any further comment. It is surprising that the two servants of God, according to the declaration of such an authority as Irenæus, should, two centuries afterwards, be raised to the dignity of God and proclaimed two divine persons in company with the one true God by whom they were created.