When he does this, he does it under provocation, not spontaneously; for Didymus1 admonishes:
Ἡ κτίσις οὐ γέγραπται φιλάνθρωπος· ἴδιον γὰρ τοῦτο κυρίως μόνης τῆς ὁμοουσίου τριάδος. A creature is not called a lover of men in the Scriptures; for this properly, and in the strict sense, belongs to the one consubstantial Trinity alone. For the Father is a lover of men who2 is not angry with us unto the end, nor remains angry forever, nor repays us according to our iniquities, according to Psalm CII; and according to3 Solomon, who4 says: “But thou sparest all, because all things are thine, δέσποτα φιλόψυχε, O Lord, lover of souls.” So much so that he is also called our Lord and Father for this reason: that his paternal care and solicitude are tempered with force and power. Τῷ θεῷ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν προσρήσεως οἰκειοτέρα τῆς πατρὸς καὶ φιλανθρώπου καὶ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ ἁγίου. For there is no denomination more proper to God than the denomination5 of Father, and lover of men, and good, and holy.
The Son is a lover of men, who, for our sake—we who are the works of his august and mystical hands—emptied himself6, taking the form of a servant. The Apostle testifies to this, writing to Titus7 in these words: ὅτε δὲ ἡ χρηστότης καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ ἐπεφάνη, “But when the goodness and love toward men of God our Savior appeared.”
The Holy Spirit of God is a lover of men, according to Wisdom,
which reads thus8: φιλάνθρωπον γὰρ πνεῦμα σοφίας καὶ οὐκ ἀθωώσει9 δίκαιον, “For the Spirit of wisdom is a lover of men and will not liberate the just.” For he did not neglect lost human nature, but came through himself, directing us in the way, teaching all truth, renewing us, and lavishly bestowing divine gifts upon us; and from the heavenly seats he assumed so great a care of him who was made according to the image of God that he also has this denomination, ὥστε εἰς γνώρισμα τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητος, as a token of his supernatural goodness. For the great elements are heaven, earth, and sea; great also is the rational creature of the angels and of every supermundane Power; but the Trinity willed to take a name from none of these creatures10, while, on the contrary, from that goodness by which it pursues man, it is called φιλάνθρωπος.
Wherefore, weighing11 Thomas’s words, ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου, “My Lord and my God,” he says12:
Ἠπίστατο γὰρ ὡς μόνης τῆς αὐτοκρατορικῆς ἀπειροδυνάμου καὶ ἀγαθωτάτης φύσεως ἦν· οὐ μὴν δὲ κτιστῆς τὸ μόνον οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἰδίων κτισμάτων παθεῖν· ἀλλὰ καὶ καθολικὴν ἣν φαμεν καὶ γενικὴν σωτηρίαν καὶ ταύτην αἰωνίως δωρήσασθαι. For he knew that it was proper to a nature alone which possesses sovereign authority of itself, infinite power, and supreme goodness, and not to one which was created, not only to suffer for its creatures, but also to bestow the salvation which we call universal and general, and that eternally.
Filled with this thought of the divine and infinite goodness, he concludes the second book13 with this prayer14:
Through thee, who hast nothing which opposes itself to thee when thou dost determine to have mercy even upon us who are sinners,
ἀγαθωτάτη καὶ παναλκεστάτη τριάς, ἀφ᾽ ἧς καὶ παρ᾽ ἧς πᾶν ἀγαθὸν καὶ εἰς ἣν πάντων πᾶσα πάντοτε ἐλπὶς καὶ μεθ᾽ ἣν παντελῶς οὐδέν, O most good and omnipotent Trinity, from whom and through whom is every good, in whom every hope of all is always placed, and after whom there is nothing whatever; may we now be liberated from our sins … and when15 thou prevailest in judging the hidden things of men; and from those who are troublesome to us in the world, and from the demon who always envies the good … and from Antichrist, the hater of what is honorable, whose time, full of grievous conflict, as events indicate, has already drawn near16; so that no one of those who now exist and no one of those who will then be found may perish. Thus may every evil be far removed, and may both common and private affairs be directed excellently and quietly, κατὰ τὸ σὸν ἄφθονον καὶ φιλόψυχον θέλημα, according to thy bountiful will and the love by which thou embracest souls; and so may all be able … vigilantly to remember thee, to make the beginning and end of every matter from thee, to bestow upon those in need according to their powers, καὶ παρὰ σοῦ τὸ δάνειον εἰς τὸ μέλλον ἐκδέχεσθαι καὶ ἐπίμετρον ζωὴν αἰώνιον, and to receive the loan from thee hereafter and, as an increment, to receive eternal life.
Footnotes
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On the Trinity, book II, chap. VI, pp. 163–166, Bologna edition, 1769. ↩
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Ps. CII. 9–10. ↩
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Not only here, but also in the book On the Holy Spirit, no. 54, Didymus attributes the Book of Wisdom to Solomon. ↩
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Wis. XI. 27. ↩
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In book II, chap. VI, § II, p. 149, he writes: “Therefore we rightly call God also the Father of all, οὐκ ὄντα ἡμῶν φύσει πατέρα ὡς ἐστὶν τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ, although he is not our Father by nature as he is the Father of his Only-begotten.” Certainly, he is called “Father of all” in Eph. IV. 6; and Clement of Alexandria shows in the fifth book of the Stromata, by testimonies from Plato and the comic poet Diphilus, that he was distinguished by the same title even among the Gentiles. ↩
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Phil. II. 7. ↩
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Titus III. 4. ↩
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Wis. I. 6. ↩
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The Greek edition has βλάσφημον in place of δίκαιον, as Didymus also reads elsewhere. ↩
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As, for example, that it should be called φιλάγγελος, lover of angels, as it is called φιλόψυχος καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, lover of souls and of men. ↩
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John XX. 28. ↩
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On the Trinity, book I, chap. XXVII, p. 85. ↩
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On the Trinity, book II, chap. XXVII, pp. 306–307. ↩
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Clement of Alexandria likewise concludes the Pedagogue with a prayer, Hilary the first book On the Trinity, and Augustine the work of the same title. ↩
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Ps. L. ↩
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So disturbed were all things that many in the same century as Didymus suspected the advent of Antichrist to be near: Basil, Epistle CXXXIX, no. 2, to the Alexandrians; Hilary, Works, vol. II, p. 593, Verona edition; and Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis XV, no. 18. ↩