Editor’s Note: The Christmas Season is a time when we focus on the Mystery of the Incarnation: the perfect and complete divinity of Jesus Christ and His perfect and complete humanity. The first centuries of the Church were littered with heresies which denied His divinity (e.g., post-Resurrection Judaism and Arianism) or His humanity (e.g., Gnosticism and Monophysitism). In numerous forms, or degrees, these heresies endure to this day. Islam denies the divinity of Christ. So-called New Age ‘Christians’ generally reject His humanity. But even mainstream Protestants don’t take seriously the implications of His true humanity on account of their rejection of the Seven Sacraments and of the Church Militant, His Mystical Body on earth. And Liberal Catholicism minimizes His divinity as it attempts to divinize man without grace – its confused merging of the supernatural and natural.

Christological heresies inevitably lead to heresies about the Holy Ghost as well. These are not as well-known but equally dangerous to the salvation of our souls. Thus, we do well to guard ourselves against common errors regarding the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Historical and Prophetic Notes

In approximately 355 A.D., Pope Liberius was brought before Emperor Constantius and exiled for not condemning St. Athanasius. As if this were not bad enough, two new heresies reared their ugly heads – Apollinarianism, which taught that Christ did not have a human mind; and Pneumatomachianism, which denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost. The Pneumatomachi were also known as Macedonians or Semi-Arians in Constantinople, and they were referred to as the Tropici in Alexandria. The sect was officially condemned in the First Council of Constantinople, which followed the Council of Nicea.

This Council [Constantinople I] was called by the emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395) and overseen by Pope St. Damasus I (366-384). Together this great king and great pope worked hard to combat paganism, apostasy, and heresy. With the aid of great Church Doctors (such as Ss. Jerome, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen) this Council helped demolish all forms of Arianism and the new heresies which had sprung up in response to Arianism. (Regrettably, many barbarians adopted the Arian religion and so this heresy endured for many more centuries.) While Constantine the Great had outlawed the persecution of Christians (Edict of Milan, 313 A.D.), it was Theodosius the Great who made the Roman Empire a Christian kingdom (Edict of Thessalonica, 381 A.D.).

This may very well serve as a type for our times because many Catholic prophecies predict a holy pope and great king who will have significant roles to play in bringing about the Era of Peace and Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Some of these prophecies also speak of a great Church council in this time which will condemn the heresies so prevalent today and reestablish a Christian Empire in which is acknowledged the universal and social kingship of Christ.

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Affirmed in Sacred Scripture

While the term Pneumatomachianism is not discussed anymore, the false idea that the Holy Ghost is not truly equal to God is still present in our world. It is necessary for Catholics to know their Faith and show beyond a doubt that the Holy Ghost is truly equal with the Father and the Son. This is also necessary to counter the errors of Islam which condemn the Triune nature of God.

“Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

“But the Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, Whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come unto you. If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater than I.[1] And now I have told you before it comes to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe” (John 14:26-29).

“Now the Lord is a Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Affirmed by the First Council of Constantinople:

The bishops of the First Council of Constantinople, in a letter to a Council in Rome, discussed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the condemnation of those who attack the Divinity of any of the Three Divine Persons:

“What we have undergone – persecutions, afflictions, imperial threats, cruelty from officials, and whatever other trial at the hands of heretics – we have put up with for the sake of the gospel faith established by the 318 fathers at Nicaea in Bithynia. You, we and all who are not bent on subverting the word of the true faith should give this creed our approval. It is the most ancient and is consistent with our baptism. It tells us how to believe in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: believing also, of course, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost have a single Godhead and power and substance, a dignity deserving the same honor and a co-eternal sovereignty, in three most perfect hypostases, or three perfect Persons.

“So, there is no place for Sabellius’ diseased theory in which the hypostases are confused and thus their proper characteristics destroyed. Nor may the blasphemy of Eunomians and Arians and Pneumatomachi prevail, with its division of substance or of nature or of Godhead, and its introduction of some nature which was produced subsequently, or was created, or was of a different substance, into the uncreated and consubstantial and co-eternal Trinity. And we preserve undistorted the accounts of the Lord’s taking of humanity, accepting as we do that the economy of His flesh was not soulless nor mindless nor imperfect. To sum up, we know that He was before the ages fully God the Word, and that in the last days He became fully man for the sake of our salvation.”[2]

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Affirmed in the Athanasian Creed

The origins of the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque Vult) are shrouded in history but it was certainly well known in the centuries which immediately followed the First Council of Constantinople. It ranks as one of the four great ancient creeds of the Church. (The other three are the Apostles Creed [a baptismal formula used in the first century in Rome], the Nicene-Constantinople Creed and the Symbol of Chalcedon. More modern variants of the Church’s creed include the creeds used by the Church Fathers at the Council of Trent and then at the First Vatican Council.) Being part of the Church’s Sacred Tradition, these four creeds are each infallible.

Yet of the four, the Athanasian Creed most admirably expresses the divinity of the Holy Ghost. [You can read/pray that Creed here at our website.] It includes statements of belief such as: “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost have one divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty” and “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. However, there are not three gods but One God.” This creed was also used by all the Church Fathers at the Council of Florence (15^th century) to express the True Faith.

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Affirmed in the Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas:

“‘Who … is Adored and Glorified.’ The Fourth Phrase [of the Nicene-Constantinople Creed] is that the Holy Ghost as regards Adoration is Equal to the Father and the Son: ‘The True Adorers shall Adore the Father in Spirit and Truth’. ‘Teach ye all Nations; Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost’. Hence, it is said: ‘Who together with the Father and the Son is Adored’.”

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Affirmed in The Catechism of the Council of Trent:

“The people, when once acquainted with the meaning of His name, should first of all be taught that the Holy Ghost is equally God with the Father and the Son, equally omnipotent and eternal, infinitely perfect, the supreme good, infinitely wise, and of the same nature as the Father and the Son. The Holy Ghost is not only God, but that we must also confess that He is the Third Person of the Divine Nature, distinct from the Father and the Son, and produced by Their will.”

The Divinity of the Holy Ghost as Expressed in the Liturgy

Virtually every prayer of the Church, including the Canon of the Mass, concludes with a doxology, a short verse in praise of God: a prayer offered to God the Father may end with the following: “Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God forever and ever. Amen.” This is an ongoing and constant reminder that the Holy Ghost is to be adored and glorified.

Each of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are equally and fully God. Though each Divine Person has a mission specifically attributed to that Person, all are present in all the works of God, since each is fully God. When we adore God, when we immerse ourselves in that lifting of the heart and mind to our heavenly Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ, many times we do not know how to pray as we ought but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God (cf. Rom 8:26-27).

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, our greatest prayer of worship, is named for what we are to do. We are to take what we just received and spread it out to the world.  The term “Mass” comes from the Latin, Ite, missa est, which essentially means “to go forth,” “Go; the dismissal is made.”  Everything that we are and have comes from God.  We return the favor by making every effort to glorify God, through His Son in the power of the Holy Ghost in everything that we do.

Remember to Pray to the Holy Ghost

Too often we forget to invoke the Holy Ghost and call upon Him to guide us, inspire us, and lead us.[3] This and every day, let us not refrain from praying the daily Rosary, making frequently the Sign of the Cross, engaging in mental and vocal prayer, and sharing the Faith with others, while never compromising doctrine.

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ENDNOTES:

[1] For the Father is greater than I: It is evident, that Christ our Lord speaks here of Himself as He is made man: for as God He is equal to the Father (see Phil. 2). Any difficulty of understanding the meaning of these words will vanish when the relative circumstances of the text here are considered: for Christ being at this time shortly to suffer death, signified to His apostles His human nature by these very words: for as God He could not die. And therefore, as He was both God and man, it must follow that according to His humanity He was to die, which the apostles were soon to see and believe, as He expresses in ver. 29: “And now I have told you before it come to pass: that when it shall come to pass, you may believe” (Commentary by Richard Challoner from the Douay-Rheims Bible).

[2] For more on these forgotten councils of the Church, see “Nicea to Now” at https://www.lulu.com/shop/frances-spilman/the-councils-of-the-catholic-church-nicea-to-now/paperback/product-22359236.html

[3] A great morning prayer to add to your routine is “Come Holy Ghost,” at http://www.catholictradition.org/Tradition/holy-ghost9.htm#COME.

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