1 e0sxa/tou tw=n h9merw=n. e0sxa/rwn t. h9. (in these last days) Sav. Ben. here and throughout the Homily. The former is considered to be the true reading of the Sacred Text. It is throughout the reading of St. Chrys. as is clear from his argument. [It is the reading of all the uncials; the cursives and the versions are divided. The R. V. follows the correct text.-F. G.]
4 That is, the Macedonians or Pneumatomachi, who about the year 373 found great fault with St. Basil for using indifferently the two forms of doxology, sometimes meta\ tou= Ui9ou= su\n tw=| Pneumati tw=| 9Agi/w|, sometimes dia\ tou= Ui9ou= e0n tw=| Pneu/mati tw=| 9Agi/w|. They said that the latter, by which they meant to imply inferiority in the Third Person especially, was the only proper form. This gave occasion to St. Basil's writing his Tract De Spiritu Sancto, in which he refutes them at large, proving among other things that e0n is in Scripture often equivalent to su/n. c. 25 t. iii. 49. That e0n is put for dia; is also said by St. Chrys. Hom. on 1 Cor. i. 4 (p. 13, O. T.) and elsewhere.
5 [to\, e0n, dia/ e0sti.-F. G.]
6 to\ gnh/sion th=j ui9o/thtoj.
7 tou\j ai0w=naj, "the ages;" "duration beyond time."
8 [R. V. "having become."- F. G.]
9 That is for the moment St. Paul, does not argue the dignity of Christ from the title "Son"-from His being the true Son of God, and therefore God, but condescending to the weakness of his hearers, at first uses the word in a general sense, and establishes His Divinity by other considerations.
11 kata\ pneu=ma is the reading adopted by Mr. Field, following herein an ancient Catena [compiled by Niketas Archbishop of Heraclea in Thrace who flourished in the 11th century] which has preserved it: kata\ to=n pate/ra is found in all other mss. and Editions, and was probably the reading in Mutianus' text, who translates "essentiae paternae." Of the use of pneu=ma for the Divine Nature of the Son, see many instances brought together in the note to the Oxford Translation of St. Athanasius against the Arians, p. 196 d. [See also in Tertullian, O. T. note H. pp. 322 sqq.]
12 ou0siw/sewj, "communication of Being." Cf. in 1 Cor. Hom. v. § 4, p. 56, Oxf. Tr.
13 That is the Name Son. The passage is thus rightly pointed by Mr. Field in accordance with the addition of the explanatory word "Son" in [Niketas'] Catena (Supp.). According to the pointing of the other editions, the translation would be, "For this Name, God the Word, He ever had."
15 Comp. Heb. xiii. 22. It seems as if the hearers were showing themselves surprised at the severity of what he was saying.
1 dia/noia ou\j, Sav. Ben. in both places.
2 dia/noia ou\j, Sav. Ben. in both places.
5 th\n e@nnoian, to\n lo/gon, Sav. Ben.
9 o$ti e0c au0tou=, "that He [Christ] is of Him [the Father]."
11 Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra lapsed towards Sabellianism, holding, as it seems, virtually at least, that our Lord is not a Person eternally distinct from the Father, but, a Manifestation of the Father, lasting from the Incarnation to the Judgment. His views are anathematized in 1 Conc. Constantinop. Canon 1.
12 Photinus Bishop of Sirmium, who had been Deacon under Marcellus, and carried his theory out, maintaining our Lord to have had no distinct existence before His Birth of Mary. Socr. E. H. 2. 29. His doctrine too was condemned at Constantinople, ubi sup.
13 u9posta/sewj. St. Chrys. understands the word to mean here neither "substance" nor "Person," but, if we may use such a word, "substantiality," or "substantive existence," which in speaking de Divinis we call "Personality." See below, page 371, note 5.
14 Sav. Ben. add pro\j u9po/stasin.
16 a@narxon. On this third heresy respecting the Holy Trinity, see St. Greg. Naz. Orat. ii. 37; xx. 6; in both which places it is, as here, mentioned as the third form of error with Sabellianism and Arianism. See also Bp. Bull, Def. Fid. N. iv. 1. 8. The mention of this is not found in the Common text, in which the whole passage is recast.
17 Because Marcion, holding the Creation to be evil, denied the Son's preserving Power.
18 kai dia\ tou= a0pauga/smatoj th=j ou0si/aj th\n e0ggu/thta e@deicen. Sav. and Ben. read dia\ de\ tou= a0. to\ i@son e0sh/mane th=j ou0siaj, kai\ th\n pro\j to\n pate/ra e0ggu/thta. "By &c. he indicated the equality of His Substance and His nearness to the Father."
20 ei0j th\n tw=n duo\ u9po/stasin. Sav. and Ben. read e0. t. t. d. u9posta/sewn dh/lwsin, "whereby to show the two Subsistencies." Mr. Field says that the old translation of Mutianus in some degree confirms this latter reading, which is easier. The word u9po/stasin in the singular is used in the sense of "Personality," as above, p. 370, note 12.