Catching up on the Podcast Posts (for episodes 69 & 70)

I have not posted of late, and my apologies, but below are the documents for all who wish to catch up on the documents cited on the podcast for episodes on St. Basil the Great. I will have a separate post for Episode 71, which is my Q&A on the nature of historical understanding of the past in light of the Church as a supernatural entity.

“Therefore we confess that the Divinity has one essence, and we do not express differing concepts of Divine Being. We also confess individual hypostases, so that our ideas about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are clear and unblurred. For if we do not recognize the distinguishing features the Fatherhood, the Sonship, and the Sanctification, we confess only the general concept of Divine essence, and it is impossible for us to correctly set forth the teachings of our faith.” St. Basil to Amphilocius

“In this way we teach that each name has its own designee because these names are the signs of the objects they name…. When it is necessary to form individualized conceptions according to the different features existing within the Trinity,” writes Basil, “then we define that which is distinctive not by the features that are common to these concepts, such as ‘uncreatedness’ or ‘inaccessibility’. We look for those single features by which the concept of Each is clearly and individually separated from that which is common to all.” These are the particular and distinguishing features. In conclusion Basil says that “until we reach a particularized conception of the individual qualities of Each, it is impossible for us to properly glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” St. Basil to Amphilocius

“Everything which belongs to the Father can also be contemplated in the Son, and everything which belongs to the Son belongs also to the Father. This is because the Son completely abides in the Father and contains the Father completely in Himself, so that the stasis of the Son is an image by which we can know the Father.” The Son is the living image of the Father. The Son is not a “reflection” which has been cast in time, but a reflection which is eternal. He is a coeternal radiance. “The eternal light shone forth the ungenerated light, the life-creating Source proceeded the true Strength, the Strength of God appeared from the absolute Strength.” Epistle 8