Free English Translation
Three Hymns on the Trinity
De Trinitate Hymni Tres
3 chapters · ~15 min read · by Marius Victorinus
About Three Hymns on the Trinity
The Three Hymns on the Trinity are devotional poems by Marius Victorinus, the Roman rhetor whose conversion to Christianity around 355 AD led him to write some of the earliest Latin defenses of Nicene doctrine. Where his prose treatises argue the case against Arius, these hymns turn the same themes - the Father as rest and the Son as motion, the shared substance of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and images of spring, river, and stream - into invocation and praise. The second hymn shifts into personal prayer, a litany of "Have mercy, Lord" pleading for grace and rescue from the world, while the third builds a long chain of triadic titles for God. Together they show Victorinus casting technical theology into the register of worship.
By Marius Victorinus. Collected in Patrologia Latina, Volume 8.
In this work
Hymn the First
Be present, true light, Father, almighty God.
Be present, light of light, mystery and power of God,
Be present, Holy Spirit, bond of Father and Son.
When thou art at rest thou art the Father, when thou dost proceed, the Son.
Thou who bindest all things into one, thou art the Holy Spirit.
One first, one arisen from itself, one before the one
God.
Thou goest before all quantity, known by no boundaries.
Nothing in thee is quantity, because neither is quantity from thee.
For the one born from thee begets rather than holds
quantity.
Hence the Father is immeasurable: the Son is both measured and immeasurable.
Yet thou also art one, O Father, and the Son has begotten one.
That which the many or all things are, this is the one which the Son has begotten.
Who is the seed of ὄντος for all things, the true power of the seed.
In whom and through whom all things are begotten, the power that pours forth from God.
And again all things begotten from the seed return into the seed.
Therefore Christ, who is the whole power of God, works all things.
For Christ in repose is motion, the supreme God.
And that very motion is wisdom and the power of God.
Departing not at all from substance: because what motion is,
That is substance, and he who is motion, because he is in it and is it himself.
Called God from God, yet born: because he is motion;
For every motion is born, and since God is one,
And the motion of God, he exists as one and the same God.
Yet motion itself is being, so that this which motion itself is may be its own.
But because he is the motion of God, motion has God within itself.
And again, because he is the motion of God, God has motion within himself.
In the Son therefore the Father is, and in the Father the Son himself is.
They are therefore each individual and always within themselves, even while they are each individual.
Hence from the two there is one power, hence one substance.
But by the Father's giving, the Son is substance to himself.
For to be is prior, and thus to be moved is posterior.
Not that time is present to him, but in divine things order is power.
For being precedes motion, prior in reality, not in time.
This being, they say, signifies substance in God.
But this motion has arisen, for motion begets substance.
And what else is the generation of substance but substance itself?
Therefore motion also belongs to the Father, and the Son is therefore of the same substance.
The Greeks called this the λόγος, God within the Father:
Who is the cause unto birth and the origin of all things.
For nothing was created without him: through him all things were created.
If this λόγος is Christ, and if the λόγος is life begotten,
The λόγος is from the Father: for he is the living God, in whom,
Since God is substance, and God is life as substance.
But the Son begotten is life, there is one substance.
The λόγος is God, therefore ever undivided, and ever also other.
Sent forth at once, equal to the one who sends, and yet a spring ever flowing,
He runs forth, scattering lives, sent as a river, the Son.
Hence both are one in substance, God the spring, the Son the river.
But because in divine things substance is the same as life,
And life itself is wisdom, as being precedes.
To whom the chief and simple living is present, so it is at hand.
Ever understanding and wise, since living precedes.
Not that anything precedes another, nor that there is any otherness at all.
But that by a progression the act is made thrice a threefold other.
The Son, and action, is the life by which all things proceed and are created.
He becomes at once teacher and master, at once the perfecting Spirit.
Watering with the seeds of Wisdom the souls sown in the ages.
But since Christ is Wisdom, the same Christ the Son teaches,
The Spirit having gone forth from the Father, both the Father and Christ.
Hence Christ has all things of the Father: hence Christ has all things of Christ.
Thus my Christ between the Parent and himself fills the other
Spirit, the Parent, while he grants being to all things.
And being for all things is life: and this is what was done in Christ.
Because he joins and saves all things, and teaches the true God.
Following Christ, the Holy Spirit joins those reborn in Christ.
Therefore Christ is all things, hence Christ is the mystery.
Through him all things and in him all things, and unto him all things.
Whose height is the Father, but he himself is the whole.
His progression is his length, and the height is the Father's.
Hence Christ appearing to the ages, unto the deep teaching and that hidden thing,
And inwardly teaching within, Christ has become the hidden Spirit.
All therefore are one Spirit, all are one light.
Hence for each individually the truth, hence for the three there is one substance.
Having proceeded from the Father to the Son, and returned from the Spirit,
Because the three exist each individually, and three individually in one.
This is the blessed Trinity, this is the blessed unity.
Hymn II
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, for I have believed in thee, have mercy, Lord, for by thy mercy I have known thee.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: thou art the λόγος of my spirit, thou art the λόγος of my soul, thou art the λόγος of my flesh.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: God lives and God always lives, and because nothing is before him, God lives from himself.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: Christ lives, and because God gave to him by begetting that Christ should live from himself, because he lives from himself, Christ always lives.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: for if the Father lives from himself, and the Son, by the Father's begetting, lives from himself, that the Son always lives is consubstantial with the Father.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: thou gavest me a soul, O God, and the soul is the image of life, because the soul lives unto eternity, let my soul also live.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: if I was made man in thy likeness, O God the Father, and in the image of the Son, created as life for the ages, because the Son has known me.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: I loved the world, because thou hadst made the world: I was held fast by the world, while the world envied thy own: now I hate the world, because now I have received the Spirit.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: succour the fallen, Lord, succour the penitent: because by thy divine and holy judgment, what I have sinned is a mystery.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: I know, Lord, thy commandment, I know the return written in my soul, I hasten to return if thou dost bid, O God our Saviour.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: long have I struggled, long have I resisted my enemy, but still I have flesh, in which the devil, conquered, has given thee a great triumph and to us a wall of faith.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: the will is present to me, to leave the world and the earth: but the will without thy aid is a feeble feather: give the wings of faith, that I may fly upward to God.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: now I seek the gates of the Spirit, which the Spirit opens, bearing witness of Christ, and teaching what the world is.
Have mercy, Lord, have mercy, Christ: O Father ever begotten, who dost represent God, give the keys of heaven, and in me conquer the devil, that I may rest in the seat of light, saved by thy grace.
Hymn III
God the Lord, the Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
Father, Son, Paraclete: O blessed Trinity.
Bestower, minister, distributor: O blessed Trinity.
Spirit of operations, Spirit of ministries, Spirit of graces: O blessed Trinity.
One principle, and one other with the other and always one other with the other: O blessed Trinity.
Of whom the Father is substance, and the Son himself is substance, and the Spirit is substance, but thrice that same substance: O blessed Trinity.
The Father perfect, the Son perfect by the perfect Father; the Holy Spirit perfect by the perfect Son: O blessed Trinity.
Spring, river, irrigation: O blessed Trinity.
In the three, thrice twofold, but one action: O blessed Trinity.
Existence, life, knowledge: O blessed Trinity.
Charity, grace, communion: O blessed Trinity.
God is charity, Christ is grace, the Holy Spirit is communion: O blessed Trinity.
If there is charity, there is grace; if charity and grace, there is communion: all therefore in each, and one in three: O blessed Trinity.
Hence from God the Apostle Paul: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. O blessed Trinity.
Unbegotten, only-begotten, that is, begotten by proceeding: O blessed Trinity.
Generator, begotten, regenerating: O blessed Trinity.
True light, true light from light, true illumination: O blessed Trinity.
Rest, progression, return: O blessed Trinity.
Invisible invisibly, visible invisibly, invisible visibly: O blessed Trinity.
All power, all action, all knowledge: O blessed Trinity.
Impassible impassibly, passible impassibly, impassible passibly: O blessed Trinity.
Seed, tree, fruit: O blessed Trinity.
All things from one, all things through one, all things in one: O blessed Trinity.
One simple one, one and only one, and only and always one. Another one, from one one the same one, and all things one, uniter of all things, power of the one, working one, that all things may come to be: O blessed Trinity.
From eternity unbegotten, from eternity begotten, begotten that all things may be eternal: O blessed Trinity.
Thou dost command creation, thou dost create, thou dost recreate what is created: O blessed Trinity.
Thou, Father, art substance to all things, thou, Son, art life, thou, Spirit, art salvation: O blessed Trinity.
Substance itself is life, life itself is he who is, and is eternal salvation: therefore Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
Thou dost grant being to all things, thou, Son, dost grant form, thou, Spirit, dost grant reformation: O blessed Trinity.
Thou, God, art Father of the infinite and the finite: O blessed Trinity.
Thou, O Son, because thou art life, art infinite; thou who callest life back from the dead, art finite; thou also art Father of both the infinite and the finite: O blessed Trinity.
Thou also, Holy Spirit, because thou art salvation, art finite, and because thou holdest in definition what is infinite, thou art also Father of the infinite and the finite: O blessed Trinity.
If therefore the Father is thrice unity, but all fatherhood is from thee, O God, then God is one, and all fatherhood is one: O blessed Trinity.
You, O God, created the λόγος, and thus God became Father; and because the λόγος was created by you, and because you yourself are in him, the λόγος was made God. These two you anointed into one by the Holy Spirit: you are therefore simple and made one in three. Spirit, λόγος, God: O blessed Trinity.
First ὄν, second ὄν, third ὄν, and simple three: O blessed Trinity.
Every ὄν is substance, every formed ὄν is formed substance: formed substance is known either to itself alone, or to others, or to itself and to others: O blessed Trinity.
Substance is God, form is the Son, notion is the Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
The first ὄν, the true ὄν, you are God: therefore all and entire substance, you are God: O blessed Trinity.
The second ὄν, all form, is Christ: but universal substance, when it is universal, is substance as form: therefore since it is form, Christ is also God: O blessed Trinity.
The third ὄν is the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is the manifestation of all existence. But manifestation never manifests except through what is known: and to know in divine things is the same as to possess. For knowing itself is the same substance. Therefore the Holy Spirit possesses God, possesses Christ, whom he manifests: O blessed Trinity.
You are God immeasurable, infinite, invisible, but immeasurable and infinite to others, and invisible to others: measured to yourself, finite to yourself, visible to yourself: hence you also have form for yourself, and therefore also the Λόγος: you are the same, because the Λόγος is form: and because form is knowledge to you, and knowledge is the Holy Spirit: therefore you are God, and Λόγος, and Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
You, O Son, are visible, for you are the universal and all-encompassing form: for when you give life to all things, form arises from life: but form is always in substance, and all form is knowledge: therefore in substance you are God, in form the Λόγος, in knowledge the Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
You also, O Holy Spirit, are notion: but every notion is the notion of form and substance: you therefore know God, and you possess the form of God. Hence you are also God, and Son, and Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
God is being, Christ is being Spirit, the Paraclete is the appearing of what the Spirit is: O blessed Trinity.
Hence the Father sent Christ, Christ sent the Paraclete, Christ that through the Paraclete the Father might appear, through Christ: O blessed Trinity.
God is substance secret and in hiddenness: God is form secret and in hiddenness: God is notion secret and in hiddenness: Hence as the ὂν of these τῶν ὄντων you are God: O blessed Trinity.
The λόγος is now the public and manifest substance: and because public and manifest, and because you are the form of the Father, hence you are substance to yourself. Therefore in you the Father is, because the Father is substance. And the same substance, for there is no other substance. If therefore the λόγος is manifest form, it is form and substance itself; but manifest form and manifest substance is notion: you yourself, the λόγος, are the same as God and Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
All notion is knowing, all knowing is substance, and knowing itself is form: therefore you, O Holy Spirit, are publicized form and manifest substance, but you are substance that saves and regenerates, not substance that remains and generates: O blessed Trinity.
One substance therefore is God, λόγος, and Spirit, remaining in three, and existing three times in all three. But this is also form and knowledge, and thus every simple singularity is tripled: O blessed Trinity.
You, O unknown God, you are incomprehensible God, but you are God of the unknown and incomprehensible, as a certain form without form. Hence, when you are called ὂν rather than ὂν, you are more a cessation and a rest. Hence the form of knowing is the form of ceasing knowledge: O blessed Trinity.
You, O λόγος, since you are form, you are the form of the Father: hence therefore you are also the image of the Father. And since you are the form of the Father, form itself is also substance to you, and because form is the same as substance: hence the Father is in you, and you in the Father. Likewise because you are form, notion is there, therefore all substance is also yours, and from this the Father too is known. For since you are born from him, being in his bosom, you are therefore truly the true ὂν, ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος τὸ ὄν: but every ὂν is always in three: O blessed Trinity.
You, O Holy Spirit, are the bond: but the bond is whatever connects two, so that in connecting all things, you first connect two, and are yourself the third embrace of the two, and that very embrace, not at all distant from the one, when you make two into one: O blessed Trinity.
Three therefore are one, and therefore three times, therefore three times three are one: O blessed Trinity.
Hence the supreme Father sends the λόγος, the sent one creates and ministers all things, bearing for our salvation flesh together with the holy cross, returning as victor to the Father, he sent another for our salvation: O blessed Trinity.
Christ is always with God according to substance: for life is always. But since life is, and action begins to act, this is that Christ was born: but from eternity God and Christ acts: from eternity therefore God Christ was born: O blessed Trinity.
He who ascended into heaven is Christ: he who descended from heaven is the same. Therefore Christ is not from man, but extends to man: O blessed Trinity.
There is our God, here is one God, here the one and only God: O blessed Trinity.
All of us pray to him, and we pray to one, one Father and Son, and Holy Spirit: O blessed Trinity.
Grant pardon to sins, bestow eternal life, give peace and glory: O blessed Trinity.
Free us, and save us, justify us: O blessed Trinity.
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