Exposition of the Orthodox Faith
Book I
by St. John of Damascus
CHAPTER I.
That the Deity is incomprehensible, and that we ought not to
pry into and meddle with tire things which have not been delivered to us by the
holy Prophets, and Apostles, and Evangelists.
No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him(1). The Deity, therefore, is
ineffable and incomprehensible. For no one knoweth the Father, save the Son, nor
the Son, save the Father(2). And the Holy Spirit, too, so knows the things of
God as the spirit of the man knows the things that are in him(3). Moreover,
after the first and blessed nature no one, not of men only, but even of
supramundane powers, and the Cherubim, I say, and Seraphim themselves, has ever
known God, save he to whom He revealed Himself.
God, however, did not leave us in absolute ignorance. For the
knowledge of God's existence has been implanted by Him in all by nature. This
creation, too, and its maintenance, and its government, proclaim the majesty of
the Divine nature(4). Moreover, by the Law and the Prophets(5) in former times
and afterwards by His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus
Christ, He disclosed to us the knowledge of Himself as that was possible for us.
All things, therefore, that have been delivered to us by Law and Prophets and
Apostles and Evangelists we receive, and know, and honour(6), seeking for
nothing beyond these. For God, being good, is the cause of all good, subject
neither to envy nor to any passion(7). For envy is far removed from the Divine
nature, which is both passionless and only good. As knowing all things,
therefore, and providing for what is profitable for each, He revealed that which
it was to our profit to know; but what we were unable(8) to bear He kept secret.
With these things let us be satisfied, and let us abide by them, not removing
everlasting boundaries, nor overpassing the divine tradition(9).
CHAPTER II.
Concerning things utterable and things unutterable, and things knowable and thinks unknowable.
It is necessary, therefore, that one who wishes to speak or to
hear of God should understand clearly that alike in the doctrine of Deity and in
that of the Incarnation(1), neither are all things unutterable nor all
utterable; neither all unknowable nor all knowable(2). But the knowable belongs
to one order, and the utterable to another; just as it is one thing to speak and
another thing to know. Many of the things relating to God, therefore, that are
dimly understood cannot be put into fitting terms, but on things above us we
cannot do else than express ourselves according to our limited capacity; as, for
instance, when we speak of God we use the terms sleep, and wrath, and
regardlessness, hands, too, and feet, land such like expressions.
We, therefore, both know and confess that God is without
beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreate, unchangeable,
invariable, simple, uncompound, incorporeal, invisible, impalpable,
uncircumscribed, infinite, incognisable, indefinable, incomprehensible, good,
just, maker of all things created, almighty, all-ruling, all-surveying, of all
overseer, sovereign, judge; and that God is One, that is to say, one essences;
and that He is known(4), and has His being in three subsistences, in Father, I
say, and Son and Holy Spirit; and that the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit are one in all respects, except in that of not being begotten, that of
being begotten, and that of procession; and that the Only-begotten Son and Word
of God and God, in His bowels of mercy, for our salvation, by the good pleasure
of God and the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, being conceived without seed,
was born uncorruptedly of the Holy Virgin and Mother of God, Mary, by the Holy
Spirit, and became of her perfect Man; and that the Same is at once perfect God
and perfect Man, of two natures, Godhead and Manhood, and in two natures
possessing intelligence, will and energy, and freedom, and, in a word, perfect
according to the measure and proportion proper to each, at once to the divinity,
I say, and to the humanity, yet to one composite persons(5); and that He
suffered hunger and thirst and weariness, and was crucified, and for three days
submitted to the experience of death and burial, and ascended to heaven, from
which also He came to us, and shall come again. And the Holy Scripture is
witness to this and the whole choir of the Saints.
But neither do we know, nor can we tell, what the essence(6) of
God is, or how it is in all, or how the Only-begotten Son and God, having
emptied Himself, became Man of virgin blood, made by another law contrary to
nature, or how He walked with dry feet upon the waters(7). It is not within our
capacity, therefore, to say anything about God or even to think of Him, beyond
the things which have been divinely revealed to us, whether by word or by
manifestation, by the divine oracles at once of the Old Testament and of the
New(8).
CHAPTER III
Proof that there is a God.
That there is a God, then, is no matter of doubt to those who
receive the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, I mean, and the New; nor indeed
to most of the Greeks. For, as we said(9), the knowledge of the existence of God
is implanted in us by nature. But since the wickedness of the Evil One has
prevailed so mightily against man's nature as even to drive some into denying
the existence of God, that most foolish and woe-fulest pit of destruction (whose
folly David, revealer of the Divine meaning, exposed when he said(9), The fool
said in his heart, There is no God), so the disciples of the Lord and His
Apostles, made wise by the Holy Spirit and working wonders in His power and
grace, took them captive in the net of miracles and drew them up out of the
depths of ignorance(1) to the light of the knowledge of God. In like manner also
their successors in grace and worth, both pastors and teachers, having received
the enlightening grace of the Spirit, were wont, alike by the power of miracles
and the word of grace, to enlighten those walking in darkness and to bring back
the wanderers into the way. But as for us who(2) are not recipients either of
the gift of miracles or the gift of teaching (for indeed we have rendered
ourselves unworthy of these by our passion for pleasure), come, let us in
connection with this theme discuss a few of those things which have been
delivered to us on this subject by the expounders of grace, calling on the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All things, that exist, are either created or uncreated. If,
then, things are created, it follows that they are also wholly mutable. For
things, whose existence originated in change, must also be subject to change,
whether it be that they perish or that they become other than they are by act of
wills. But if things are uncreated they must in all consistency be also wholly
immutable. For things which are opposed in the nature of their existence must
also be opposed in the mode of their existence, that is to say, must have
opposite properties: who, then, will refuse to grant that all existing things,
not only such as come within the province of the senses, but even the very
angels, are subject to change and transformation and movement of various kinds?
For the things appertaining to the rational world, I mean angels and spirits and
demons, are subject to changes of will, whether it is a progression or a
retrogression in goodness, whether a struggle or a surrender; while the others
suffer changes of generation and destruction, of increase and decrease, of
quality and of movement in space. Things then that are mutable are also wholly
created. But things that are created must be the work of some maker, and the
maker cannot have been created. For if he had been created, he also must surely
have been created by some one, and so on till we arrive at something uncreated.
The Creator, then, being uncreated, is also wholly immutable. And what could
this be other than Deity?
And even the very continuity of the creation, and its
preservation and gover, teach us that there does exist a Deity, who supports and
maintains and preserves and ever provides for this universe. For how(4) could
opposite natures, such as fire and water, air and earth, have combined with each
other so as to form one complete world, and continue to abide in indissoluble
union, were there not some omnipotent power which bound them together and always
is preserving them from dissolution?
What is it that gave order to things of heaven and things of
earth, and all those things that move in the air and in the water, or rather to
what was in existence before these, viz., to heaven and earth and air and the
elements of fire and water? What(5) was it that mingled and distributed these?
What was it that set these in motion and keeps them in their unceasing and
unhindered course(6)? Was it not the Artificer of these things, and He Who hath
implanted in everything the law whereby the universe is carried on and directed?
Who then is the Artificer of these things? Is it not He Who created them and
brought them into existence. For we shall not attribute such a power to the
spontaneous(7). For, supposing their coming into existence was due to the
spontaneous; what of the power that put all in orders(8) ? And let us grant
this, if you please. What of that which has preserved and kept them in harmony
with the original laws of their existence(9) ? Clearly it is something quite
distinct from the spontaneous(1).And what could this be other than Deity(2)
?
CHAPTER IV.
Concerning the nature of Deity: that it is incomprehensible.
It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what He is in His
essence anti nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. For it is
evident that He is incorporeal(3). For how could that possess body which is
infinite, and boundless, and formless, and intangible and invisible, in short,
simple and not compound? How could that be immutable(4) which is circumscribed
and subject to passion? And how could that be passionless which is composed of
elements and is resolved again into them? For combination(5) is the beginning of
conflict, and conflict of separation, and separation of dissolution, and
dissolution is altogether foreign to God(6).
Again, how will it also be maintained(7) that God permeates and
fills the universe? as the Scriptures say, Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith
the Lords(8)? For it is an impossibility(9) that one body should permeate other
bodies without dividing and being divided, and without being enveloped and
contrasted, in the same way as all fluids mix and commingle.
But if some say that the body is immaterial, in thee same way
as the fifth body(1) of which the Greek philosophers speak (which body is an
impossibility), it will be wholly subject to motion like the heaven. For that is
what they mean by the fifth body. Who then is it that moves it? For everything
that is moved is moved by another thing. And who again is it that moves that?
and so on to infinity till we at length arrive at something motionless. For the
first mover is motionless, and that is the Deity. And must not that which is
moved be circumscribed in space? The Deity, then, alone is motionless, moving
the universe by immobility(2). So then it must be assumed that the Deity is
incorporeal.
But even this gives no true idea of His essence, to say that He
is unbegotten, and without beginning, changeless and imperishable, and possessed
of such other qualities as we are wont to ascribe to God and His environments.
For these do not indicate what He is, but what He is not(4). But when we would
explain what the essence of anything is, we must not speak only negatively. In
the case of God, however, it is impossible to explain what He is in His essence,
and it befits us the rather to hold discourse about His absolute separation from
all things(5). For He does not belong to the class of existing things: not that
He has no existence(6), but that He is above all existing things, nay even above
existence itself. For if all forms of knowledge have to do with what exists,
assuredly that which is above knowledge must certainly be also above essence(7):
and, conversely, that which is above essence(7) will also be above
knowledge.
God then is infinite and incomprehensible and all that is
comprehensible about Him is His infinity and incomprehensibility. But all that
we can affirm concerning God does not shew forth God's nature, but only the
qualities of His nature(8). For when you speak of Him as good, and just, and
wise, and so forth, you do not tell God's nature but only the qualities of His
nature(9). Further there are some affirmations which we make concerning God
which have the force of absolute negation: for example, when we use the term
darkness, in reference to God, we do not mean darkness itself, but that He is
not light but above light: and when we speak of Him as light, we mean that He is
not darkness.
CHAPTER V.
Proof that God is one and not many.
We have, then, adequately demonstrated that there is a God, and
that His essence is incomprehensible. But that God is one(1) and not many is no
matter of doubt to those who believe in the Holy Scriptures. For the Lord says
in the beginning of the Law: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt. Thou shall have no other God's before Me(2). And again He
says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord(3). And in Isaiah the prophet
we read For I am the first God and I am the last and beside Me there is no God.
Before Me there was not any God, nor after Me will there be any God, and beside
Me there is no God(4). And the Lord, too, in the holy gospels speaketh these
words to His Father, And this is life eternal, that they may know Thee the only
true God(5). But with those that do not believe in the Holy Scriptures we will
reason thus.
The Deity is perfect(6), and without blemish in goodness, and
wisdom, and power, without beginning, without end, everlasting,
uncircumscribed(7), and in short, perfect in all things. Should we say, then,
that there are many Gods, we must recognise difference among the many. For if
there is no difference among them, they are one rather than many. But if there
is difference among them, what becomes of the perfectness? For that which comes
short of perfection, whether it be in goodness, or power, or wisdom, or time, or
place, could not be God. But it is this very identity in all respects that shews
that the Deity is one and not many(8).
Again, if there are many Gods, how can one maintain that God is
uncircumscribed? For where the one would be, the other could not be(9).
Further, how could the world be governed by many and saved from
dissolution and destruction, while strife is seen to rage between the rulers?
For difference introduces strife(1). And if any one should say that each rules
over a part, what of that which established this order and gave to each his
particular realm? For this would the rather be God. Therefore, God is one,
perfect, uncircumscribed, maker of the universe, and its preserver and governor,
exceeding and preceding all perfection.
Moreover, it is a natural necessity that duality should
originate in unity(2).
CHAPTER VI.
Concerning the Word and the Son of God: a reasoned proof.
So then this one and only God is not Wordless(3). And
possessing the Word, He will have it not as without a subsistence, nor as having
had a beginning, nor as destined to cease to be. For there never was a time when
God was not Word: but He ever possesses His own Word, begotten of Himself, not,
as our word is, without a subsistence and dissolving into air, but having a
subsistence in Him and life and perfection, not proceeding out of Himself but
ever existing within Himself(4). For where could it be, if it were to go outside
Him? For inasmuch as our nature is perishable and easily dissolved, our word is
also without subsistence. But since God is everlasting and perfect, He will have
His Word subsistent in Him, and everlasting trod living, and possessed of all
the attributes of the Begetter. For just as our word, proceeding as it floes out
of the mind, is nwholly identical with the mind nor utterly diverse from it (for
so far as it proceeds out of the mind it is different from it, while so far as
it reveals the mind, it is no longer absolutely diverse from the mind, but being
one in nature with the mind, it is yet to the subject diverse from it), so in
the same manner also the Word of God's in its independent subsistence is
differentiated(6) froth Him from Whom it derives its subsistence(7): but
inasmuch as it displays in itself the same attributes as are seen in God, it is
of the same nature as God. For just as absolute perfection is contemplated in
the Father, so also is it contemplated in the Word that is begotten of
Him.
CHAPTER VII.
Concerning the Holy Spirit, a reasoned proof.
Moreover the Word must also possess Spirit(8). For in fact even
our word is not destitute of spirit; but in our case the spirit is something
different from our essence(9). For there is an attraction and movement of the
air which is drawn in and poured forth that the body may be sustained. And it is
this which in the moment of utterance becomes the articulate word, revealing in
itself the force of the word(1).(2) But in the case of the divine nature, which
is simple and uncompound, we must confess in all piety that there exists a
Spirit of God, for the Word is not more imperfect than our own word. Now we
cannot, in piety, consider the Spirit to be something foreign that gains
admission into God from without, as is the case with compound natures like us.
Nay, just as, when we heard(3) of the Word of God, we considered it to be not
without subsistence, nor the product of learning, nor the mere utterance of
voice, nor as passing into the air and perishing, but as being essentially
subsisting, endowed with free volition, and energy, and omnipotence: so also,
when we have learnt about the Spirit of God, we contemplate it as the companion
of the Word and the revealer of His energy, and not as mere breath without
subsistence. For to conceive of the Spirit that dwells in God as after the
likeness of our own spirit, would be to drag down the greatness of the divine
nature to the lowest depths of degradation. But we must contemplate it as an
essential power, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, proceeding
from the Father anti resting in the Word(4), and shewing forth the Word, neither
capable of disjunction from God in Whom it exists, and the Word Whose companion
it is, nor poured forth to vanish into nothingness(5), but being in subsistence
in the likeness of the Word, endowed with life, free volition, independent
movement, energy, ever willing that which is good, and having power to keep pace
with the will in all its decrees(6), having no beginning and no end. For never
was the Father at any time lacking in the Word, nor the Word in the Spirit.
Thus because of the unity in nature, the error of the Greeks in
holding that God is many, is utterly destroyed: and again by our acceptance of
the Word and the Spirit, the dogma of the Jews is overthrown: and there remains
of each party(7) only what is profitable(8). On the one hand of the Jewish idea
we have the unity of God's nature, anti on the other, of the Greek, we have the
distinction in subsistences and that only(9).
But should the Jew refuse to accept the Word and the Spirit,
let the divine Scripture confute him and curb his tongue. For concerning the
Word, the divine David says, For ever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven(1).
And again , He sent His Word and healed them(2). But the word that is uttered is
not sent, nor is it for ever settled(3). And concerning the Spirit, the same
David says, Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created(4). And again, By
the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the
breath of His mouth(5). Job, too, says, The Spirit of God hath made me, and the
breath of the Almighty hath given me life(6). Now the Spirit which is sent and
makes and stablishes and conserves, is not mere breath that dissolves, any more
than the mouth of God is a bodily member. For the conception of both must be
such as harmonizes with the Divine nature(7).
CHAPTER VIII.
Concerning the Holy Trinity.
We believe, then, in One God, one beginning(8), having no
beginning, uncreate, unbegotten, imperishable and immortal, everlasting,
infinite, uncircumscribed, boundless, of infinite power, simple, uncompound,
incorporeal, without flux, passionless, unchangeable, unalterable, unseen, the
fountain of goodness and justice, the light of the mind, inaccessible; a power
known by no measure, measurable only by His own will alone (for all things that
He wills He can(9)), creator of all created things, seen or unseen, of all the
maintainer and preserver, for all the provider, master and lord and king over
all, with an endless and immortal kingdom: having no contrary, filling all, by
nothing encompassed, but rather Himself the encompasser and maintainer and
original possessor of the universe, occupying(1) all essences intact(2) and
extending beyond all things, and being separate from all essence as being
super-essential(3) and above all things and absolute God, absolute goodness, and
absolute fulness(4): determining all sovereignties and ranks, being placed above
all sovereignty and rank, above essence and life and word and thought: being
Himself very light and goodness and life and essence, inasmuch as He does not
derive His being from another, that is to say, of those things that exist: but
being Himself the fountain of being to all that is, of life to the living, of
reason to those that have reason; to all the cause of all good: perceiving all
things even before they have become: one essence, one divinity, one power, one
will, one energy, one beginning, one authority, one dominion, one sovereignty,
made known in three perfect subsistences anti adored with one adoration,
believed in and ministered to by all rational creation(5), united without
confusion and divided without separation (which indeed transcends thought). (We
believe) in Father and Son and Holy Spirit whereinto also we have been
baptized(6). For so our Lord commanded the Apostles to baptize, saying,
Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit(7).
(We believe) in one Father, the beginning(8), and cause of all:
begotten of no one: without cause or generation, alone subsisting: creator of
all: but Father of one only by nature, His Only-begotten Son and our Lord and
God and Saviour Jesus Christ, and Producer(9) of the most Holy Spirit. And in
one Son of God, the Only-begotten, our Lord, Jesus Christ: begotten of the
Father, before all the ages: Light of Light, true God of true God: begotten, not
made, consubstantial with the Father, through Whom all things are made: and when
we say He was before all the ages we shew that His birth is without time or
beginning: for the Son of God was not brought into being out of nothing(1), He
that is the effulgence of the glory, the impress of the Father's subsistence(2),
the living wisdom and power(3), the Word possessing interior subsistence(4), the
essential and perfect and living image s of the unseen God. But always He was
with the Father and in Him(6), everlastingly and without beginning begotten of
Him. For there never was a time when the Father was and the Son was not, but
always the Father and always the Son, Who was begotten of Him, existed together.
For He could not have received the name Father apart from the Son: for if He
were without the Son(7), He could not be the Father: and if He thereafter had
the Son, thereafter He became the Father, not having been the Father prior to
this, and He was changed from that which was not the Father and became the
Father. This is the worst form of blasphemy(8). For we may not speak of God as
destitute of natural generative power: and generative power means, the power of
producing from one's self, that is to say, from one's own proper essence, that
which is like in nature to one's self(9).
In treating, then, of the generation of the Son, it is an act
of impiety(1) to say that time comes into play and that the existence of the Son
is later origin than the Father. For we hold that it is from Him, that is, from
the Father's nature, that the Son is generated. And unless we grant that the Son
co-existed from the beginning with the Father, by Whom He was begotten, we
introduce change into the Father's subsistence, because, not being the Father,
He subsequently became the Father(2). For the creation, even though it
originated later, is nevertheless not derived from the essence of God, but is
brought into existence out of nothing by His will and power, and change does not
touch God's nature. For generation means that the begetter produces out of his
essence offspring similar in essence. But creation and making mean that the
creator and maker produces from that which is external, and not out of his own
essence, a creation of an absolutely dissimilar nature(3).
Wherefore in God, Who alone is passionless and unalterable, and
immutable, and ever so continueth, both begetting and creating are
passionless(4). For being by nature passionless and not liable to flux, since He
is simple and uncompound, He is not subject to passion or flux either in
begetting or in creating, nor has He need of any co-operation. But generation in
Him is without beginning and everlasting, being the work of nature and producing
out of His own essence, that the Begetter may not undergo change, and that He
may not be God first and God last, nor receive any accession: while creation in
the case of God(5), being the work of will, is not co-eternal with God. For it
is not natural that that which is brought into existence out of nothing should
be co-eternal with what is without beginning and everlasting. There is this
difference in fact between man's making and God's. Man can bring nothing into
existence out of nothing(6), but all that he makes requires pre-existing matter
for its basis(7), and he does not create it by will only, but thinks out first
what it is to be and pictures it in his mind, and only then fashions it with his
hands, undergoing labour and troubles(8), and often missing the mark and failing
to produce to his satisfaction that after which he strives. But God, through the
exercise of will alone, has brought all things into existence out of nothing.
Now there is the same difference between God and man in begetting and
generating. For in God, Who is without time and beginning, passionless, not
liable to flux, incorporeal, alone and without end(1), generation is without
time and beginning, passionless and not liable to flux, nor dependent on the
union of two(2): nor has His own incomprehensible generation beginning or end.
And it is without beginning because He is immutable: without flux because He is
passionless and incorporeal: independent of the union of two again because He is
incorporeal but also because He is the one and only God, and stands in need of
no co-operation: and without end or cessation because He is without beginning,
or time, or end, and ever continues the same. For that which has no beginning
has no end: but that which through grace is endless is assuredly not without
beginning, as, witness, the angels(3).
Accordingly the everlasting God generates His own Word which is
perfect, without beginning and without end, that God, Whose nature and existence
are above time, may not engender in time. But with man clearly it is otherwise,
for generation is with him a matter of sex, and destruction and flux and
increase and body clothe him round about(4), and he possesses a nature which is
male or female. For the male requires the assistance of the female. But may He
Who surpasses all, and transcends all thought and comprehension, be gracious to
us.
The holy catholic and apostolic Church, then, teaches the
existence at once of a Father: and of His Only-begotten Son, born of Him without
time and flux and passion, in a manner incomprehensible and perceived by the God
of the universe alone: just as we recognise the existence at once of fire and
the light which proceeds from it: for there is not first fire and thereafter
light, but they exist together. And just as light is ever the product of fire,
and ever is in it and at no time is separate from it, so in like manner also the
Son is begotten of the Father and is never in any ways separate from Him, but
ever is in Him(6). But whereas the light which is produced from fire without
separation, and abideth ever in it, has no proper subsistence of its own
distinct from that of fire (for it is a natural quality of fire), the
Only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father without separation and
difference and ever abiding in Him, has a proper subsistence of its own distinct
froth that of the Father.
The terms, 'Word' and 'effulgence,' then, are used because He
is begotten of the Father without the union of two, or passion, or time, or
flux, or separation(7): and the terms 'Son' and 'impress of the Father's
subsistence,' because He is perfect and has subsistence s and is in all respects
similar to the Father, save that the Father is not begotten(9): and the term
'Only-begotten'(1) because He alone was begotten alone of the Father alone. For
no other generation is like to the generation of the Son of God, since no other
is Son of God. For though the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father, yet this
is not generative in character but processional. This is a different mode of
existence, alike incomprehensible and unknown, just as is the generation of the
Son. Wherefore all the qualities the Father has are the Son's, save that the
Father is unbegotten(2), and this exception involves no difference in essence
nor dignity(3), but only a different mode of coming into existence(4). We have
an analogy in Adam, who was not begotten (for God Himself moulded him), and
Seth, who was begotten (for he is Adam's son), and Eve, who proceeded out of
Adam's rib (for she was not begotten). These do not differ from each other in
nature, for they are human beings: but they differ in the mode of coming into
existence(5).
For one must recognise that the word
agenhGon with only one 'n'
signifies "uncreate" or "not having been made," while
agennhGon
written with double 'n' means
"unbegotten." According to the first significance essence differs from essence:
for one essence is uncreate, or agenhGon with one
'n,' and another is create or
genhGh. But in the second significance there is no
difference between essence and essence. For the first subsistence of all kinds
of living creatures is agennhGos but not
agenhGos. For they were created by the Creator, being
brought into being by His Word, but they were not begotten, for there was no
pre-existing form like themselves from which they might have been born.
So then in the first sense of the word the three absolutely
divine subsistences of the Holy Godhead agree(6): for they exist as one in
essence and uncreate(7). But with the second signification it is quite
otherwise. For the Father alone is ingenerate(8), no other subsistence having
given Him being. And the Son alone is generate, for He was begotten of the
Father's essence without beginning and without time. And only the Holy Spirit
proceedeth from the Father's essence, not having been generated but simply
proceeding(9). For this is the doctrine of Holy Scripture. But the nature of the
generation and the procession is quite beyond comprehension.
And this also it behoves(1) us to know, that the names
Fatherhood, Sonship and Procession, were not applied to the Holy Godhead by us:
on the contrary, they were communicated to us by the Godhead, as the divine
apostle says, Wherefore I bow the knee to the Father, from Whom is every family
in heaven and on earth(2). But if we say(3) that the Father is the origin of the
Son and greater than the Son, we do not suggest any precedence in time or
superiority in nature of the Father over the Son(4) (for through His agency He
made the ages(5)), or superiority in any other respect save causation. And we
mean by this, that the Son is begotten of the Father and not Father of the Son,
and that the Father naturally is the cause of the Son: just as we say in the
same way not that fire proceedeth from light, but rather light from fire. So
then, whenever we hear it said that the Father is the origin of the Son and
greater than the Son, let us understand it to mean in respect of causation. And
just as we do not say that fire is of one essence and light of another, so we
cannot say that the Father is of one essence and the Son of another: but both
are of one and the same essence(6). And just as we say that fire has
brightness(7) through the light proceeding from it, and do not consider the
light of the fire as an instrument ministering to the fire, but rather as its
natural force: so we say that the Father creates all that He creates through His
Only-begotten Son, not as though the Son were a mere instrument serving(8) the
Father's ends, but as His natural and subsistential force(9). And just as we say
both that the fire shines and again that the light of the fire shines, So all
things whatsoever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise(9a). But
whereas light possesses no proper subsistence of its own, distinct from that of
the fire, the Son is a perfect subsistence(1), inseparable from the Father's
subsistence, as we have shewn above. For it is quite impossible to find in
creation an image that will illustrate in itself exactly in all details the
nature of the Holy Trinity. For how could that which is create and compound,
subject to flux and change, circumscribed, formed and corruptible, clearly shew
forth the super-essential divine essence, unaffected as it is in any of these
ways? Now it is evident that all creation is liable to most of these affections,
and all from its very nature is subject to corruption.
Likewise we believe also in one Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver
of Life: Who proceedeth from the Father and resteth in the Son: the object of
equal adoration and glorification with the Father and Son, since He is
co-essential and co-eternal(2): the Spirit of God, direct, authoritative(3), the
fountain of wisdom, and life, and holiness: God existing and addressed along
with Father and Son: uncreate, full, creative, all-ruling, all-effecting,
all-powerful, of infinite power, Lord of all creation and not under any lord(4):
deifying, not deified(5): filling, not filled: shared in, not sharing in:
sanctifying, not sanctified: the intercessor, receiving the supplications of
all: in all things like to the Father and Son: proceeding from the Father and
communicated through the Son, and participated in by all creation, through
Himself creating, and investing with essence and sanctifying, and maintaining
the universe: having subsistence, existing in its own proper and peculiar
subsistence, inseparable and indivisible from Father and Son, and possessing all
the qualities that the Father and Son possess, save that of not being begotten
or born. For the Father is without canst and unborn: for He is derived from
nothing, but derives from Himself His being, nor does He derive a single quality
from another(6). Rather He is Himself the beginning and cause of the existence
of all things in a definite and natural manner. But the Son is derived from the
Father after the manner of generation, and the Holy Spirit likewise is derived
from the Father, yet not after the manner of generation, but after that of
procession. And we have learned that there is a difference(7) between generation
and procession, but the nature of that difference we in no wise understand.
Further, the generation of the Son from the Father and the procession of the
Holy Spirit are simultaneous.
All then that the Son and the Spirit have is from the Father,
even their very being(8): and unless the Father is, neither the Son nor the
Spirit is. And unless the Father possesses a certain attribute, neither the Son
nor the Spirit possesses it: and through the Father(9), that is, because of the
Father's existence(1), the Son and the Spirit exist(2), and through the Father,
that is, because of the Father having the qualities, the Son and the Spirit have
all their qualities, those of being unbegotten, and of birth and of procession
being excepted(3). For in these hypostatic or personal properties alone do the
three holy subsistences(3) differ from each other, being indivisibly divided not
by essence but by the distinguishing mark of their proper and peculiar
subsistence.
Further we say that each of(4) the three has a perfect
subsistence, that we may understand not one compound perfect nature made up of
three imperfect elements, but one simple essence, surpassing and preceding
perfection, existing in three perfect subsistences(5). For all that is composed
of imperfect elements must necessarily be compound. But from perfect
subsistences no compound can arise. Wherefore we do not speak of the form as
from subsistences, but as in subsistences(6). But we speak of those things as
imperfect which do not preserve the form of that which is completed out of them.
For stone and wood and iron are each perfect in its own nature, but with
reference to the building that is completed out of them each is imperfect: for
none of them is in itself a house.
The subsistences then we say are perfect, that we may not
conceive of the divine nature as compound. For compoundness is the beginning of
separation. And again we speak of the three subsistences as being in each
other(7), that we may not introduce a crowd and multitude of Gods(8). Owing to
the three subsistences, there is no compoundness or confusion: while, owing to
their having the same essence and dwelling in one another, and being the same in
will, and energy, and power, and authority, and movement, so to speak, we
recognise the indivisibility and the unity of God. For verily there is one God,
and His word and Spirit.
[Marg. MS.]Concerning the distinction of
the three subsistences: and concerning the thing itself and our reason and
thought in relation to it.
One ought, moreover, to recognise that it is one thing to look
at a matter as it is, and another thing to look at it in the light of reason and
thought. In the case of all created things, the distinction of the subsistences
is observed in actual fact. For in actual fact Peter is seen to be separate from
Paul. But the community and connection and unity are apprehended by reason and
thought. For it is by the mind that we perceive that Peter and Paul are of the
same nature and have one common nature(9). For both are living creatures,
rational and mortal: and both are flesh, endowed with the spirit of reason and
understanding(1). It is, then, by reason that this community of nature is
observed. For here indeed the subsistences do not exist one within the other.
But each privately and individually, that is to say, in itself, stands quite
separate, having very many points that divide it from the other. For they are
both separated in space and differ in time, and are divided in thought, and
power, and shape, or form, and habit, and temperament and dignity, and pursuits,
and all differentiating properties, but above all, in the fact that they do not
dwell in one another but are separated. Hence it comes that we can speak of two,
three, or many men.
And this may be perceived throughout the whole of creation, but
in the case of the holy and superessential and incomprehensible Trinity, far
removed from everything, it is quite the reverse. For there the community and
unity are observed in fact, through the co-eternity of the subsistences, and
through their having the same essence and energy and will and concord of
mind(2), and then being identical in authority and power and goodness—I do not
say similar but identical—and then movement by one impulse(3). For there is one
essence, one goodness, one power, one will, one energy, one authority, one and
the same, I repeat, not three resembling each other. But the three subsistences
have one and the same movement. For each one of them is related as closely to
the other as to itself: that is to say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit are one in all respects, save those of nobeing begotten, of birth and of
procession. But it is by thought that the difference is perceived(4). For we
recognise one God: but only in the attributes of Fatherhood, Sonship, and
Procession, both in respect of cause and effect and perfection of subsistence,
that is, manner of existence, do we perceive difference(5). For with reference
to the uncircumscribed Deity we cannot speak of separation in space, as we can
in our own case. For the subsistences dwell in one another, in no wise confused
but cleaving together, according to the word of the Lord, I am in the father,
and the father in Me(6): nor can one admit difference in will or judgment or
energy or power or anything else whatsoever which may produce actual and
absolute separation in our case. Wherefore we do not speak of three Gods, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but rather of one God, the holy Trinity,
the Son and Spirit being referred to one cause(7), and not compounded or
coalesced according to the synaeresis of Sabellius. For, as we said, they are
made one not so as to commingle, but so as to cleave to each other, and they
have their being in each other(8) without any coalescence or commingling. Nor do
the Son and the Spirit stand apart, nor are they sundered in essence according
to the diaeresis of Arias(9). For the Deity is undivided amongst things divided,
to put it concisely: and it is just like three suns cleaving to each other
without separation and giving out light mingled and conjoined into one. When,
then, we turn our eyes to the Divinity, and the first cause and the sovereignty
and the oneness anti sameness, so to speak, of the movement and will of the
Divinity, and the identity in essence and power and energy and lordship, what is
seen by us is unity(1). But when we look to those things in which the Divinity
is, or, to put it more accurately, which are the Divinity, and those things
which are in it through the first cause without time or distinction in glory or
separation, that is to say, the subsistences of the Son and the Spirit, it seems
to us a Trinity that we adore(2). The Father is one Father, and without
beginning, that is, without cause: for He is not derived from anything. The Son
is one Son, but not without beginning, that is, not without cause: for He is
derived from the Father. But if you eliminate the idea of a beginning from time,
He is also without beginning: for the creator of times cannot be subject to
time. The Holy Spirit is one Spirit, going forth from the Father, not in the
manner of Sonship but of procession; so that neither has the Father lost His
property of being unbegotten because He hath begotten, nor has the Son lost His
property of being begotten because He was begotten of that which was unbegotten
(for how could that be so?), nor does the Spirit change either into the Father
or into the Son because He hath proceeded and is God. For a property is quite
constant. For how could a property persist if it were variable, moveable, and
could change into something else? For if the Father is the Son, He is not
strictly the Father: for there is strictly one Father. And if the Son is the
Father, He is not strictly the Son: for there is strictly one Son and one Holy
Spirit.
Further, it should be understood that we do not speak of the
Father as derived from any one, but we speak of Him as the Father of the Son.
And we do not speak of the Son as Cause(3) or Father, but we speak of Him both
as from the Father, and as the Son of the Father. And we speak likewise of the
Holy Spirit as from the Father, and call Him the Spirit of the Father. And we do
not speak of the Spirit as from the Son(4): s but yet we call Him the Spirit of
the Son. For if any one hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His(6),
saith the divine apostle. And we confess that He is manifested and imparted to
us through the Son. For He breathed upon His Disciples, says he, and said,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit(7). It is just the same as in the case of the sun
from which come both the ray and the radiance (for the sun itself is the source
of both the ray and the radiance), and it is through the ray that the radiance
is imparted to us, and it is the radiance itself by which we are lightened and
in which we participate. Further we do not speak of the Son of the Spirit, or of
the Son as derived from the Spirit(8).
CHAPTER IX.
Concerning what is affirmed about God.
The Deity is simple and uncompound. But that which is composed
of many and different elements is compound. If, then, we should speak of the
qualities of being uncreate and without beginning and incorporeal and immortal
and everlasting and good and creative and so forth as essential differences in
the case of God, that which is composed of so many qualities will not be simple
but must be compound. But this is impious in the extreme. Each then of the
affirmations about God should be thought of as signifying not what He is in
essence, but either something that it is impossible to make plain, or some
relation to some of those things which are contrasts or some of those things
that follow the nature, or an energy(9).
It appears then(9a) that the most proper of all the names given
to God is "He that is," as He Himself said in answer to Moses on the mountain,
Say to the sons of Israel, He that is hath sent Me(1). For He keeps all being in
His own embrace(2), like a sea of essence infinite and unseen. Or as the holy
Dionysius says, "He that is good(3)." For one cannot say of God that He has
being in the first place and goodness in the second.
The second name of God is o
qeos, derived from
qeein(4), to run, because He courses through all
things, or from aiqein, to burn: For God is a fire
consuming all evils(5): or from qeasqai, because He
is all-seeing(6): for nothing can escape Him, and over all He keepeth watch. For
He saw all things before they were, holding them timelessly in His thoughts; and
each one conformably to His voluntary anti timeless thought(7), which
constitutes predetermination and image and pattern, comes into existence at the
predetermined time(8).
The first name then conveys the notion of His existence and of
the nature of His existence: while the second contains the idea of energy.
Further, the terms 'without beginning,' ' incorruptible,' 'unbegotten,' as also
'uncreate,' 'incorporeal,' 'unseen,' and so forth, explain what He is not: that
is to say, they tell us that His being had no beginning, that He is not
corruptible, nor created, nor corporeaI, nor visible(9). Again, goodness and
justice and piety and such like names belong to the nature(1), but do not
explain His actual essence. Finally, Lord and King and names of that class
indicate a relationship with their contrasts: for the name Lord has reference to
those over whom the lord rules, and the name King to those under kingly
authority, and the name Creator to the creatures, and the name Shepherd to the
sheep he tends.
CHAPTER X.
Concerning divine union and separation.
Therefore all these names must be understood as common to deity
as a whole, and as containing the notions of sameness and simplicity and
indivisibility and union: while the names Father, Son and Spirit, and cause,
less and caused, and unbegotten and begotten, and procession contain the idea of
separation: for these terms do not explain His essence, but the mutual
relationship(2) and manner of existence(3).
When, then, we have perceived these things and are conducted
from these to the divine essence, we do not apprehend the essence itself but
only the attributes of the essence: just as we have not apprehended the essence
of the soul even when we have learnt that it is incorporeal and without
magnitude and form: nor again, the essence of the body when we know that it is
white or black, but only the attributes of the essence. Further, the true
doctrine(4) teacheth that the Deity is simple and has one simple energy, good
and energising in all things, just as the sun's ray, which warms all things and
energises in each in harmony with its natural aptitude and receptpower, having
obtained this form of energy from God, its Maker.
But quite distinct is all that pertains to the divine and
benignant incarnation of the divine Word. For in that neither the Father nor the
Spirit have any part at all, unless so far as regards approval and the working
of inexplicable miracles which the God-Word, having become man(5) like us,
worked, as unchangeable God and son of God(6).
CHAPTER XI.
Concerning what is affirmed about God as though He had body.
Since we find many terms used symbolically in the Scriptures
concerning God which are more applicable to that which has body, we should
recognise that it is quite impossible for us men clothed about with this dense
covering of flesh to understand or speak of the divine and lofty and immaterial
energies of the Godhead, except by the use of images and types and symbols
derived from our own life(7). So then all the statements concerning God, that
imply body, are symbols, but have a higher meaning: for the Deity is simple and
formless. Hence by God's eyes and eyelids and sight we are to understand His
power of overseeing all things and His knowledge, that nothing can escape: for
in the case of us this sense makes our knowledge more complete and more full of
certainty. By God's ears and hearing is meant His readiness to be propitiated
and to receive our petitions: for it is this sense that renders us also kind to
suppliants, inclining our ear to them more graciously. God's mouth and speech
are His means of indicating His will; for it is by the mouth and speech that we
make clear the thoughts that are in the heart: God's food and drink are our
concurrence to His will, for we, too, satisfy the necessities of our natural
appetite through the sense of taste. And God's sense of smell is His
appreciation of our thoughts of and good will towards Him, for it is through
this sense that we appreciate sweet fragrance. And God's countenance is the
demonstration and manifestation of Himself through His works, for our
manifestation is through the countenance. And God's hands mean the effectual
nature of His energy, for it is with our own hands that we accomplish our most
useful and valuable work. And His right hand is His aid in prosperity, for it is
the right hand that we also use when making anything of beautiful shape or of
great value, or where much strength is required. His handling is His power of
accurate discrimination and exaction, even in the minutest and most secret
details, for those whom we have handled cannot conceal from us aught within
themselves. His feet and walk are His advent and presence, either for the
purpose of bringing succour to the needy, or vengeance against enemies, or to
perform any other action, for it is by using our feet that we come to arrive at
any place. His oath is the unchangeableness of His counsel, for it is by oath
that we confirm our compacts with one another. His anger and fury are His hatred
of and aversion to all wickedness, for we, too, hate that which is contrary to
our mind and become enraged thereat(8). His forgetfulness and sleep and
slumbering are His delay in taking vengeance on His enemies and the postponement
of the accustomed help to His own. And to put it shortly, all the statements
made about God that imply body have some hidden meaning and teach us what is
above us by means of something familiar to ourselves, with the exception of any
statement concerning the bodily sojourn of the God-Word. For He for our safety
took upon Himself the whole nature of man(9), the thinking spirit, the body, and
all the properties of human nature, even the natural and blameless passions.
CHAPTER XII.
Concerning the Same.
The following, then, are the mysteries which we have learned
from the holy oracles, as the divine Dionysius the Areopagite said(1): that God
is the cause and beginning of all: the essence of all that have essence: the
life of the living: the reason of all rational beings: the intellect of all
intelligent beings: the recalling and restoring of those who fall away from Him:
the renovation and transformation of those that corrupt that which is natural:
the holy foundation of those who are tossed in unholiness: the steadfastness of
those who have stood firm: the way of those whose course is directed to Him and
the hand stretched forth to guide them upwards. And I shall add He is also the
Father of all His creatures (for God, Who brought us into being out of nothing,
is in a stricter sense our Father than are our parents who have derived both
being and begetting from Him(2)): the shepherd of those who follow and are
tended by Him: the radiance of those who are enlightened: the initiation of the
initiated: the deification of the deified: the peace of those at discord: the
simplicity of those who love simplicity: the unity of those who worship unity:
of all beginning the beginning, super-essential because above all beginnings:
and the good revelation of what is hidden, that is, of the knowledge of Him so
far as that is lawful for and attainable by each.
Further and more accurately concerning divine names(4).
The Deity being incomprehensible is also assuredly nameless.
Therefore since we know not His essence, let us not seek for a name for His
essence. For names are explanations of actual things(5). But God, Who is good
and brought us out of nothing into being that we might share in His goodness,
and Who gave us the faculty of knowledge, not only did not impart to us His
essence, but did not even grant us the knowledge of His essence. For it is
impossible for nature to understand fully the supernatural(6). Moreover, if
knowledge is of things that are(7), how can there be knowledge of the
super-essential? Through His unspeakable goodness, then, it pleased Him to be
called by names that we could understand, that we might not be altogether cut
off from the knowlege of Him but should have some notion of Him, however vague.
Inasmuch, then, as He is incomprehensible, He is also unnameable. But inasmuch
as He is the cause of all and contains in Himself the reasons and causes of all
that is, He receives names drawn from all that is, even from opposites: for
example, He is called light and darkness, water and fire: in order that we may
know that these are not of His essence but that He is super-essential and
unnameable: but inasmuch as He is the cause of all, He receives names from all
His effects.
Wherefore, of the divine names, some have a negative
signification, and indicate that He is super-essential(8): such are
"non-essential(9)," "timeless," "without beginning," "invisible": not that God
is inferior to anything or lacking in anything (for all things are His and have
become from Him and through Him and endure in Him(9)), but that He is
pre-eminently separated from all that is. For He is not one of the things that
are, but over all things. Some again have an affirmative signification, as
indicating that He is the cause of all things. For as the cause of all that is
and of all essence, He is called both Ens and Essence. And as the cause of all
reason and wisdom, of the rational and the wise, He is called both reason and
rational, and wisdom and wise. Similarly He is spoken of as Intellect and
Intellectual, Life and Living, Power and Powerful, and so on with all the rest.
Or rather those names are most appropriate to Him which are derived from what is
most precious and most akin to Himself. That which is immaterial is more
precious and more akin to Himself than that which is material, and the pure than
the impure, and the holy than the unholy: for they have greater part in Him. So
then, sun and light will be more apt names for Him than darkness, and day than
night, and life than death, and fire and spirit and water, as having life, than
earth, and above all, goodness than wickedness: which is just to say, being more
than not being. For goodness is existence and the cause of existence, but
wickedness is the negation of goodness, this, of existence. These, then, are the
affirmations and the negations, but the sweetest names are a combination of
both: for example, the super-essential essence, the Godhead that is more than
God, the beginning that is above beginning and such like. Further there are some
affirmations about God which have in a pre-eminent degree the force of denial:
for example, darkness: for this does not imply that God is darkness but that He
is not light, but above light.
God then is called Mind and Reason and Spirit and Wisdom and
Power, as the cause of these, and as immaterial, and maker of all, and
omnipotent(9b). And these names are common to the whole Godhead, whether
affirmative or negative. And they are also used of each of the subsistences of
the Holy Trinity in the very same and identical way and with their full
significance(1). For when I think of one of the subsistences, I recognise it to
be perfect God and perfect essence: but when I combine and reckon the three
together, I know one perfect God. For the Godhead is not compound but in three
perfect subsistences, one perfect indivisible and uncompound God. And when I
think of the relation of the three subsistences to each other, I perceive that
the Father is super-essential Sun, source of goodness, fathomless sea of
essence, reason, wisdom, power, light, divinity: the generating and productive
source of good hidden in it. He Himself then is mind, the depth of reason,
begetter of the Word, and through the Word the Producer(2) of the revealing
Spirit. And to put it shortly, the Father has no reason(3), wisdom, power,
will(4), save the Son Who is the only power of the Father the immediate(5) cause
of the creation of the universe: as perfect subsistence begotten of perfect
subsistence in a manner known to Himself, Who is and is named the Son. And the
Holy Spirit is the power of the Father revealing the hidden mysteries of His
Divinity, proceeding from the Father through the Son in a manner known to
Himself, but different from that of generation. Wherefore the Holy Spirit is the
perfecter of the creation of the universe. All the terms, then, that are
appropriate to the Father, as cause, source, begetter, are to be ascribed to the
Father alone: while those that are appropriate to the caused, begotten Son,
Word, immediate power, will, wisdom, are to be ascribed to the Son: and those
that are appropriate to the caused, processional, manifesting, perfecting power,
are to be ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Father is the source and cause of the
Son and the Holy Spirit: Father of the Son alone and producer of the Holy
Spirit. The Son is Son, Word, Wisdom, Power, Image, Effulgence, Impress of the
Father and derived from the Father. But the Holy Spirit is not the Son of the
Father but the Spirit of the Father as proceeding from the Father. For there is
no impulse without Spirit. And we speak also of the Spirit of the Son, not as
through proceeding from Him, but as proceeding through Him from the Father. For
the Father alone is cause.
CHAPTER XIII.
Concerning the place of God: and that the Deity alone is uncircumscribed.
Bodily place is the limit of that which contains, by which that
which is contained is contained(6): for example, the air contains but the body
is contained(7). But it is not the whole of the containing air which is the
place of the contained body, but the limit of the containing air, where it comes
into contact with the contained body: and the reason is clearly because that
which contains is not within that which it contains.
But there is also mental place where mind is active, and mental
and incorporeal nature exists: where mind dwells and energises and is contained
not in a bodily but in a mental fashion. For it is without form, and so cannot
be contained as a body is. God, then, being immaterial(8) and uncircumscribed,
has not place. For He is His own place, filling all things and being above all
things, and Himself maintaining all things(9). Yet we speak of God having place
and the place of God where His energy becomes manifest. For He penetrates
everything without mixing with it, and imparts to all His energy in proportion
to the fitness and receptive power of each: and by this I mean, a purity both
natural and voluntary. For the immaterial is purer than the material, and that
which is virtuous than that which is linked with vice. Wherefore by the place of
God is meant that which has a greater share in His energy and grace. For this
reason the Heaven is His throne. For in it are the angels who do His will and
are always glorifying Him(1). For this is His rest and the earth is His
footstool(2). For in it He dwelt in the flesh among men(3). And His sacred flesh
has been named the foot of God. The Church, too, is spoken of as the place of
God: for we have set this apart for the glorifying of God as a sort of
consecrated place wherein we also hold converse with Him. Likewise also the
places in which His energy becomes manifest to us, whether through the flesh or
apart from flesh, are spoken of as the places of God.
But it must be understood that the Deity is indivisible, being
everywhere wholly in His entirety and not divided up part by part like that
which has body, but wholly in everything and wholly above everything. Marg. MS.
Concerning the place of angel and spirit, and concerning the
uncircumscribed.
The angel, although not contained in place with figured form as
is body, yet is spoken of as being in place because he has a mental presence and
energises in accordance with his nature, and is not elsewhere but has his mental
limitations there where he energises. For it is impossible to energise at the
same time in different places. For to God alone belongs the power of energising
everywhere at the same time. The angel energises in different places by the
quickness of his nature and the promptness and speed by which he can change his
place: but the Deity, Who is everywhere and above all, energises at the same
time in diverse ways with one simple energy.
Further the soul is bound up with the body. whole with whole
and not part with part: and it is not contained by the body but contains it as
fire does iron, and being in it energises with its own proper energies.
That which is comprehended in place or time or apprehension is
circumscribed: while that which is contained by none of these is
uncircumscribed. Wherefore the Deity alone is uncircumscribed, being without
beginning and without end, and containing all things, and in no wise
apprehended(4). For He alone is incomprehensible and unbounded, within no one's
knowledge and contemplated by Himself alone. But the angel is circumscribed
alike in time (for His being had commencement) and in place (but mental space,
as we said above) and in apprehension. For they know somehow the nature of each
other and have their bounds perfectly defined by the Creator. Bodies in short
are circumscribed both in beginning and end, and bodily place and
apprehension.
[Marg. MS.] From various sources concerning God and the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And
concerning the Word and the Spirit.
The Deity, then, is quite unchangeable and invariable. For all
things which are not in our hands He hath predetermined by His foreknowledge,
each in its own proper and peculiar time and place. And accordingly the Father
judgeth no one, but hath given all judgment to the Son(5). For clearly the
Father and the Son and also the Holy Spirit judged as God. But the Son Himself
will descend in the body as man, and will sit on the throne of Glory (for
descending and sitting require circumscribed body), and will judge all the world
in justice.
All things are far apart from God, not in place but in nature.
In our case, thoughtfulness, and wisdom, and counsel come to pass and go away as
states of being. Not so in the case of God: for with Him there is no happening
or ceasing to be: for He is invariable and unchangeable: and it would not be
right to speak of contingency in connection with Him. For goodness is
concomitant with essence. He who longs alway after God, hseeth Him: for God is
in all things. Existing things are dependent on that which is, and nothing can
be unless it is in that which is. God then is mingled with everything,
maintaining their nature: and in His holy flesh the God-Word is made one in
subsistence and is mixed with our nature, yet without confusion.
No one seeth the Father, save the Son and the Spirit(6).
The Son is the counsel and wisdom and power of the Father. For
one may not speak of quality in connection with God, from fear of implying that
He was a compound of essence and quality.
The Son is from the Father, and derives from Him all His
properties: hence He cannot do ought of Himself(7). For He has not energy
peculiar to Himself and distinct from the Father(8).
That God Who is invisible by nature is made visible by His
energies, we perceive from the organisation and government of the world(9).
The Son is the Father's image, and the Spirit the Son's,
through which Christ dwelling in man makes him after his own image(1).
The Holy Spirit is God, being between the unbegotten and the
begotten, and united to the Father through the Son(2). We speak of the Spirit of
God, the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the very
Lord(3), the Spirit of adoption, of truth, of liberty, of wisdom (for He is the
creator of all these): filling all things with essence, maintaining all things,
filling the universe with essence, while yet the universe is not the measure of
His power.
God is everlasting and unchangeable essence, creator of all
that is, adored with pious consideration.
God is also Father, being ever unbegotten, for He was born of
no one, but hath begotten His co-eternal Son: God is likewise Son, being always
with the Father, born of the Father timelessly, everlastingly, without flux or
passion, or separation from Him. God is also Holy Spirit, being sanctifying
power, subsistential, proceeding from the Father without separation, and resting
in the Son, identical in essence with Father and Son.
Word is that which is ever essentially present with the Father.
Again, word is also the natural movement of the mind, according to which it is
moved and thinks and considers, being as it were its own light and radiance.
Again, word is the thought that is spoken only within the heart. And again, word
is the utterance(4) that is the messenger of thought. God therefore is Word(5)
essential and enhypostatic: and the other three kinds of word are faculties of
the soul, and are not contemplated as having a proper subsistence of their own.
The first of these is the natural offspring of the mind, ever welling(6) up
naturally out of it: the second is the thought: and the third is the
utterance.
The Spirit has various meanings. There is the Holy Spirit: but
the powers of the Holy Spirit are also spoken of as spirits: the good messenger
is also spirit: the demon also is spirit: the soul too is spirit: and sometimes
mind also is spoken of as spirit. Finally the wind is spirit and the air is
spirit.
CHAPTER XIV.
The properties of the divine nature.
Uncreated, without beginning, immortal, infinite, eternal,
immaterial(7), good, creative, just, enlightening, immutable, passionless,
uncircumscribed, immeasurable, unlimited, undefined, unseen, unthinkable,
wanting in nothing, being His own rule and authority, all-ruling, life-giving,
omnipotent, of infinite power, con-raining and maintaining the universe and
making provision for all: all these and such like attributes the Deity possesses
by nature, not having received them from elsewhere, but Himself imparting all
good to His own creations according to the capacity of each.
The subsistences dwell and are established firmly in one
another. For they are inseparable and cannot part from one another, but keep to
their separate courses within one another, without coalescing or mingling, but
cleaving to each other. For the Son is in the Father and the Spirit: and the
Spirit in the Father and the Son: and the Father in the Son and the Spirit, but
there is no coalescence or commingling or confusion(8) And there is one and the
same motion: for there is one impulse and one motion of the three subsistences,
which is not to be observed in any created nature.
Further the divine effulgence and energy, being one anti simple
and indivisible, assuming many varied forms in its goodness among what is
divisible and allotting to each the component parts of its own nature, still
remains simple and is multiplied without division among the divided, and gathers
and converts the divided into its own simplicity(9). For all things long after
it and have their existence in it. It gives also to all things being according
to their several natures(1), and it is itself the being of existing things, the
life of living things, the reason of rational beings, the thought of thinking
beings. But it is itself above mind and reason and life and essence.
Further the divine nature has the property of penetrating all
things without mixing with them and of being itself impenetrable by anything
else. Moreover, there is the property of knowing all things with a simple
knowledge and of seeing all things, simply with His divine, all-surveying,
immaterial eye, both the things of the present, and the things of the past, and
the things of the future, before they come into being(2). It is also sinless,
and can cast sin out, and bring salvation: and all that it wills, it can
accomplish, but does not will all it could accomplish. For it could destroy the
universe but it does not will so to do(3).
From John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Post Nicene
Fathers, Schaff Edition Volume IX, Series II, Translated by The Rev. S. D.
F. Salmond, D.D., F.e.I.s., Principal of the Free Church College,
Aberdeen., 1898. Text prepared by Wheaton
College: Early Church Fathers.
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