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General article
Doctrine & Theology
Church Fathers

Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit

Written by Athanasius in 359–360 in response to Serapion of Tmuis, these letters explain the divinity and procession of the Holy Spirit and connect the Spirit’s divine nature with human sanctification.[^1][^3]

Also known as: Four Letters to Serapion

Published 10/2/2026Updated 3 revisionsPage history

Date and Recipient

The Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit were written by Athanasius in 359–360 in response to questions about the Holy Spirit from Serapion, also called Sarapion, bishop of Tmuis.12 The work comprises at least four letters and is also called Four Letters to Serapion.13

Serapion was a fourth-century bishop who supported Athanasius during the Arian controversy; before becoming bishop, he had been a monk and an abbot.2

Theological Content

The letters were part of the Alexandrian opposition to Pneumatomachianism, which denied the Holy Spirit’s divinity and consubstantiality with the Father and the Son.3 In the letters, Athanasius set forth his teaching on the divinity and procession of the Holy Spirit.3 His argument connected the Spirit’s divine nature with the Spirit’s work in human beings: the Holy Spirit must possess divine nature in order to divinize and sanctify them.3

Attribution and Reception

The letters are attributed to Athanasius.13 There was also a historical challenge to their authenticity: Erasmus rejected their attribution when editing a collection of Athanasius’s works in 1527.4

References

Sources

  1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 160)
    Sarapion directed questions about the Holy Spirit to Athanasius, who in 359-360 wrote him at least four letters on that subject.
  2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 7 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 160)
    SARAPION OF TMUIS, SAINT, or Serapion, fourth-century bishop of Tmuis who supported the orthodox patriarch Saint ATHANASIUS I THE APOSTOLIC in the Arian controversy (feast day, 21 March). Apparently he received a good education because Saint Jerome claims that the epithet Scholasticus was added to his name because of his eloquence and erudition. He was a monk and an abbot and was bishop of Tmuis in the Delta by 339, for Athanasius addressed his festal letter for that year to Sarapion as bishop.
  3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 621)
    The church of Alexandria participated in the fight against an offshoot of the Arian heresy (see ARIANISM), Pneumatomachianism, which denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit and His consubstantiality with the Father and the Son. In his Four Letters to Serapion, bishop of Tmuis, in 359-360, Saint ATHANASIUS set forth his doctrine on the divinity and procession of the Holy Spirit. He argued that the Holy Spirit must have the divine nature in order to divinize and sanctify human beings.
  4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 731)
    While rejecting the authenticity of the letters to Serapion, Erasmus edited another collection in 1527; an edition combining the collections of 1520 and 1527 appeared at Lyons in 1532.

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This article was drafted from the sources listed above with AI assistance and reviewed by an editor before publication.