Codex 75

[John Philoponus, On the Trinity against John Scholasticus]

Read the little treatise of John Philoponus[1] against the divinely-inspired doctrine of the holy and consubstantial Trinity, set forth by John Scholasticus, archbishop of Constantinople, in his catechetical speech, delivered at the first indiction[2]during the reign of Justin.

The style is what one would expect from the author, being clear but altogether lacking in energy and dignity. His arguments are not only blasphemous, but utterly unsound and feeble, and he shows himself unable to give even a superficial colouring of truth to his fallacious arguments against the true faith. Inventing natures, substances and godheads, like the insolent babbler that he is, he pours forth a stream of blasphemy against the Christian faith, going minutely into such points as “how many does one mean?” Thus, in his ingenious trifling, as he considers it, or rather his puerile want ot taste, he insolently boasts that he despises the mystical rites of our Church. It is not only in these particular arguments that he appears weak and silly, but in all the other works he has written, with the exception of those in which he has plagiarized from, others, while falsely laying claim to originality. He is far removed from those writers who know how to distinguish the true from the false, and are capable of attaining subtlety of thought. As for the writings falsely claimed by him as his own, they have generally preserved the character of their authors, except that in some cases his vicious style and equipment have destroyed the noble manliness of the original writers. They resemble those compounds which, naturally excellent, owing to the manner in which they are reared and nourished, show signs of spuriousness and degeneracy. In this work he introduces quotations from the holy Fathers, such as Gregory the Theologian, Basil the Great, the sorely-tried Athanasius and Saint Cyril, but they in no way assist his impious design.