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(1) The first theological word is against those who say that the Father is before the Son. 1. Talking about God, researching things about Him, attempting to clearly present the incomprehensible and understandable what is incomprehensible to everyone is characteristic of a presumptuous and impudent person. Meanwhile, not only those who say something about God on their own fall into this error, but also those who inquisitively research and study what the theologians of our Church have said and written against heretics, not in order to receive some spiritual benefit from it, but in order to gain praise from their listeners and be called theologians. This makes me very sad, saddens me to the point of exhaustion. For I think that this attempt is terrible, and that those who dare to commit it will be condemned by the Lord. And what they dare to say is contrary to divine dogmas is the following: for this reason, they say, the Father is greater than the Son, because He is the author of the existence of the Son. If anyone asks them, how do you understand: The Father is greater than the Son? - they answer: The Father is greater than the Son, that is, before Him, because the Son is born from the Father. This is what the new vain talkers and clumsy theologians say, because they do not know the reason why theologians spoke so against heretics. Not understanding the thoughts and purpose of what is written, they talk vainly and consider what they say wrongly to be true and true. To such, I will say, as I should, not from myself, but being taught by Him who teaches every man understanding: my brethren! if the Most Holy Trinity, which created everything out of non-existent existence, was, is and will always be inseparable, then who taught you, or who invented for you, that there are measures and degrees in It? First and second? More and less? Who dared to define in this way what is invisible, incomprehensible and completely unexplored and unthinkable? In that which always remains united and always exists equally in the same way, it is impossible for one to be before the other. If you insist that the Father is before the Son, since the Son was born from the Father, whom you therefore call greater, then I will also tell you that the Son is before the Father, because if He had not already existed, the Father would not be called Father. If you believe that the Father was before the Son, and you call Him pre-existent, since He is the author of the birth of the Son, then I do not accept this, that is, that the Father is the author of the Son (in this sense, as having pre-existed). For through this you convey the idea that the Son did not exist before he was born, and that, whether or not the Son was born, and whether the Father willed it or not. Do you see into what inappropriateness, not to say blasphemy, we fall from such research? So, either do not say that the Father is before the Son, then I will willingly accept that the Father is the author of the Son, or if you say that the Father is before the Son, then I, setting my word for judgment (Ps. 112:5), will not accept in this case that the Father is the author of the Son. For, as we said, between those who are always one and exist in the same way, one cannot be the cause of the other. Do not think that the Father was before the Son for any time, and do not say that the Father is first or greater than the Son. The Father was in no way before the Son, because the Son is co-eternal and co-eternal with the Father, and the entire Father is in all the Son who is equal to Him, just as the Son is in all the Father who is consubstantial with Him. How can one say that the Father is before His co-eternal Son? If you say (simply) that the Father is the author of the Son, then I say the same; just do not hold or give the thought that God and the Father was alone for some time, during which time there was no Son, and that He gave birth to Him after and became the author of His existence. This alone separates you from God and from the truth, as an ungodly person, and makes you like those heretics who say that the Son was created from the Father. Just putting it into your mind is the most wicked and godless thing. In the bodily birth of people, we say that the father is before the son, but to the divine always existing existence and unborn birth, non-hypostatic (not beginning to be hypostasis) hypostasis and essential essentiality - I don’t know how else to say otherwise - this is completely inapplicable. It usually happens that whoever says first must then name the second and third. But in relation to the Most Holy Trinity, it is completely inappropriate to say this. To measure the immeasurable, to strain to express in words the ineffable and to explain the inexplicable is an extremely slippery and disastrous business. So, about the divine and ineffable birth of the Son and the Word, we say that the Father is the author of the Son, just as we say that the mind is the author of the word, the source of the stream, the root of the branches, but we do not say in any way that He is before the Son, so as not to multiply the one God, dividing the one indivisible Deity into three gods. In relation to the indivisible and unmerged Trinity, it is impossible to think or say: first, second, third, or greater or lesser. What the divine and essential nature is and what it is is completely ineffable, unspeakable and inconceivable; it is impossible for the human mind to understand it. If you want, we will talk in another way to make sure how incomprehensible God is, the Creator of all things. Our Lord Jesus Christ says in the Holy Gospel: The Spirit is God, that is, the Father (John 4:24). And blessed Paul - the mouth of Christ - says: The Lord, that is, the Son, is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). So, if the Spirit is God, and the Spirit is the Son, then where are the fatherhood and sonship? And tell me now, what is the first and what is greater in the Divine incomprehensible nature, since you, a new and vain theologian, attribute this to Him and speak so about Him? If you assume that the Spirit is before the Son and the Father, then together with the Spirit you will find both the whole Father and the whole Son, since these three are consubstantial and inseparable. Come, at least after this, to the idea that the Divine nature is incomprehensible and unthinkable for us humans. Again, John the Theologian said: in the beginning was the Word, not the Father. You have comprehended the wisdom of God deeper than John himself, and you tell us and the whole world: the first is the Father, in order to make it clear that the Son is second after the Father, and again, the third after Him is the Holy Spirit, preaching a different gospel - blasphemy, like another theologian, deeper than John, closer to the Son and the Word of God. But tell me, you who flatteringly and craftily preach the dogma of godliness, for what reason did Christ’s confidante John the Theologian not say: in the beginning was the Father, but said: in the beginning was the Word? This is why: to teach us that neither God the Word was known to anyone as the Son before His descent to earth and incarnation, nor God was known as the Father - not because the Divinity that created the world was not Trinitarian, but because He was not yet cognizable as such, since the incarnate economy of Christ had not yet been completed. For after the incarnation of God the Word, God the Father was known to us as the true Father, and God the Word, who became incarnate for our salvation, was known to be the Son of God, according to the word of the Father spoken from heaven: This is my beloved Son. Listen to him; and according to the word of the Son, who said: Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You (John 17:25), and again: I have spoken Your name to man (John 17:26), and again: Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You (John 17:1), also: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). Consider, I ask you, the power of the words of the Lord. He says: I and the Father are one. He placed himself before the Father. For what? To show the equality and unity of faith that He has in everything with the Father, and that neither the Father is the first, although he is the author of the Son, nor the Son is the second, although he was born of the Father, nor the Holy Spirit is the third, although he comes from the Father. For since the Trinity is one from the beginning, and this one is called the Trinity according to its hypostases, it follows that of these three hypostases, or persons, not one can be first before the other. And not one of them was before the other, so that the one who was before could be first before the one who shone from him. The One Trinity is one Divinity. It is called the Trinity by its persons, or hypostases, and since God is inseparably divided into three persons, inseparably united into one, then God is called the Trinity. And not one of these three hypostases was before the other at all. Neither the Father was before the Son, nor the Son before the Father, nor the Father and the Son before the Holy Spirit, so that one was first before the other. All three faces are equally sucking and co-eternal without beginning. So, the Holy Trinity is one God, ineffable, beginningless, uncreated, incomprehensible, indivisible. And it is impossible for us either to comprehend Him with our minds or to adequately define Him in words. But so that we do not completely forget God and, keeping complete silence about Him, do not seem to live like some kind of atheists, for this reason we are condescendingly allowed to talk about God and the divine, as much as human nature can do, to speak as we were taught by the divine Apostles and our inspired fathers, so that, remembering Him often, we glorify His goodness and humane economy, what He has done for us. But we, as if having no information that the earth is ashes, go beyond the limits of our measure and without trembling we explore, torture, guess, invent and in our imagination we arbitrarily construct what is unthinkable and ineffable for the Angels themselves and for all the heavenly ranks - we arbitrarily speculate about God and talk about it without any reverence and fear, as if we were unfaithful, not at all taught the mysteries of God. Finally, tell me, brother, who without shame allows yourself to explore and torture what concerns the Divine nature, do you believe that the Trinitarian God is beginningless, ineffable, unsearchable, invisible, incomprehensible to the mind, and ineffable to words? And that He had no beginning, no days, no years, no centuries, but was always, and always remained the same? - Yes, you say, I believe it. So, if you believe that the Holy Trinity has always been, as in truth it was, there is one God, who, when He willed, brought heaven and earth and everything in them from the non-existent into being, having first created all the heavenly hosts of angels, and after all the creatures, creating man - so that there is nothing in heaven, nor on earth, nor in the underworld that was not created from the non-existent, - only one the Trinitarian God, the Creator and Creator of all things, is beginningless and uncreated, everlasting and before all, - if you believe this, then why don’t you stop your own lips, worshiping the Creator of all things with fear and trembling, as all the hosts of angels who are in heaven do this, but, leaving to consider and examine yourself, with a bold and self-confident soul you are curious about the incomprehensible nature of God? Don’t you tremble, man, lest some lightning arrow fall from the sky and burn you?! If God, trinity-one, uncreated and without beginning, was always and first of all, visible and invisible, corporeal and incorporeal, cognizable by us and not cognizable - that everything received being from the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity, the one Divinity, then tell me, in what way can creatures know the Creator, those who began to be - the Ever-Existing, the created - the Uncreated? How can they, who later received existence from Him, know Him, the beginningless one? How can they understand what He is like and how He is? No, no, they cannot understand any of this in any way, except to the extent that the Creator Himself delights, Who, just as He gives every person breath, and life, and soul, and mind, and word, so deigns to philanthropically bestow knowledge of Himself, so that they may know Him as much as is appropriate. Otherwise, it is impossible for a creature that has received existence from God to comprehend its Creator. However, this knowledge that He gives to us who believe in Him, He gives to us for the sake of our faith, so that knowledge confirms faith, which happens without knowledge, and thus, through knowledge, everyone announced by the word is confirmed in faith, and is convinced that there is a God in whom he believed according to verbal teaching alone. Believers receive such knowledge through diverse and varied signs, fortune telling, mirrors, mysterious and ineffable actions, divine revelations of the hidden, contemplation of creatures and through many other things, with the help of which the faith of such faithful increases every day and ascends into the love and ardent desire of God. And not only this, but God also authenticates them, like the Apostles, through the apostolic visit (supervision, observation. - Ed.) of the Holy Spirit; and they are more completely enlightened and taught by the light of the Holy Spirit that God is incomprehensible, ineffable, uncreated, eternal and ever-present. From the Holy Spirit they learn all understanding and knowledge, and every word of wisdom and mysterious knowledge; In addition, they receive the power to work miracles, the gift of prophecy, the generation of tongues and the telling of tongues, the gift of intercession and government of cities and people, the knowledge of future blessings, the tasting of the kingdom of heaven, the birth of sons and the very vestment in Christ, with the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ and especially the secrets of His economy for our salvation. And generally speaking, all this and much more similar, which the unfaithful do not know, we, who have been deemed worthy to become faithful, can know, philosophize and speak about it, being taught and enlightened by the grace of the Most Holy Spirit. In this same way, we make sure and are confirmed in the conviction that God, who created all things, He also created us, the dust of the earth, and gave us the mind, the word and the mental soul, created us in His image and likeness, and drove away the darkness of ignorance from us. And he deigned to show us, although gloomily and in some way, as if in the shadows, what is above us, explaining this with the help of what is seen in ourselves. Thus, we have learned, we see and believe that how God, having created the body, then created together (at once) both the soul, and the mind, and our innermost word (for Scripture, saying that God created man, the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and became man into the living soul, shows that together with the soul there were our mind and word, not one of them was before the others, since all three together are one and were given to us in one breath of life), just as, I say, in these three, not one was before the other, since all three are one and the same nature and being, so in the Holy, consubstantial and consubstantial Trinity, not one person was before the other. God is the Creator of the image, that is, of man, I take it out (always. - Ed. ) is trinitarian, never had one of the three persons who was before the others, but the three persons together are one God, and again, this is one, that is, God equally always exists in three persons. So, we confess, believe, testify and affirm, before those especially who do not consider it daring to experience what is related to the incomprehensible Divinity, that the Most Holy Trinity, into which we are baptized, is the Trinitarian God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as we have been convinced by the grace of the Holy Spirit from the Divine Gospel itself, but as it is and what the Holy Trinity is, which created everything, of this we, created from Her, do not we know. And if we do not know this, as we truly do not know, and yet we dare to talk and interpret about what we do not know, then how many arrows of lightning will righteously fall on us in order to burn us? Indeed, that which is unlike anything created, neither visible nor invisible, but is above all, how can we, corruptible, sensual, blind and unenlightened creatures, know? And especially when our sins, like a wall, stand between us and God and separate us from Him? - What a wall of our sins, if we do not destroy with repentance or do not overcome, then not only will we not be able to know God, but we will not even know that we are human. For while this wall and barrier of our sins stands and separates us from the light, how is it possible for us, while remaining in darkness, to know ourselves, or to truly understand what we are, where we came from and come into this world, where we are going and what kind of creatures we are? Without knowing ourselves, is it even more impossible to recognize Him who is incomparably higher than us? If we knew ourselves, we would not talk about God with such audacity. Speaking about God and divine things, we, who are not enlightened and do not have the Holy Spirit, thereby show that we do not know ourselves. If we knew ourselves properly, we would never think that we are worthy to even look up to heaven and see this sensual light of the world or to trample this earth with our feet. Why is there anything more unclean than the one who, in proud conceit, attempts to teach about those who are the Spirit without the Spirit? And what is worse than the one who, not wanting to repent and purify himself, but bypassing this, begins to theologize with only false knowledge and external wisdom and reason with impudence and self-confidence about what exists, and what exists is always invariably the same? Such a one, even if he had not committed any other sin - although this is impossible - for this alone makes himself guilty of eternal torment. For everyone who is high-hearted is unclean in the sight of God. Some of these reach such nonsense that they begin to say and think that they have no sin. Oh madness! There is no one without sin except God alone. All who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, says the divine Apostle (Rom. 3:23). If, according to this divine word, everyone has sinned and is deprived of the glory of God, and therefore no one is without sin except God alone, then he who says about himself that he has not sinned, and without feeling it, makes himself equal to God, being in reality equal to the star who said: I will set my throne above the clouds and I will be like the Most High. He who confesses himself to be a sinner demonstrates by deed sincere repentance, pure confession of his sins, faith in the spiritual father who accepted his thoughts, humility and obedience in taking upon himself low and despicable deeds, service to the lesser brethren, helping the weak, and with all this, all-hearted humility and an unfeigned, unguileful and unhypocritical disposition. If you, with all your soul and with all your heart, consider yourself to be the poorest and most insignificant more than all people - with which disposition are inextricably linked the constant contrition and joyful tears, from which and with which the zealous ascetic receives the purification of the soul and the knowledge of the mysteries of God - then undertake to speak about divine and human affairs, and I am sure that everyone will feel the power of your words. Everything I have said is the work and fruit of repentance, and it dispels our ignorance and leads us first to the knowledge of human things, ourselves and our condition, and then to the knowledge of what is above us - the things of God, the secrets of our faith, invisible and unknown to those who do not repent. No one can acquire this knowledge without correcting the virtues I have said in advance, even if he were the first philosopher in the world. And whoever does not acquire such knowledge will spend his entire life in the deepest darkness of ignorance. For although divine things are written in the books of Scripture, and everyone reads about them, they are not revealed to everyone, but only to those who have repented with all their souls and have been cleansed with goodness by pure and simple repentance. By virtue of repentance and as they acquire purification, they receive revelation, and even the depths of the Spirit are revealed to them. From such people flows the word of knowledge and the wisdom of God and drowns the wisdom of opposing enemies, like some high-water river. To everyone else, this remains unknown and hidden, not being revealed to them by Him Who opens the minds of the faithful to comprehend the Divine Scriptures. Meanwhile, without seeing, they think that they see, and, without hearing clearly, they think that they hear, and, not understanding what they read, they imagine that they understand, fools. Likewise, every unbeliever thinks that he is wise and believes right, despite all the fact that he is wise and believes wrong; It seems to him that he knows, despite the fact that he knows absolutely nothing; although he knows something, he does not know well, which is worse than any ignorance. Those are the same, I think. Considering themselves wise, they truly became insane, as if out of their minds, and they spend, poor, the days of their lives, not knowing, as they should, any of the mysteries of Christ. May the God of Israel deliver us from their conceit and pride, and may He grant us the honor to be His imitators! Whoever has stepped off the path of blessed humility and is walking outside it, on the right or left side, and does not follow directly after our Lord and God Jesus Christ, how can he enter the bridal chamber of Christ together with Christ? If he does not enter there, how can he see the glory of Christ? And if he does not see it, how can he proclaim it and make it visible to others? Or how dare he say anything about something he doesn’t know and has never seen? If he attempts to teach about such things, will there be another person in the world who is more senseless than him? And will he not be more dumb than the most dumb? For, as you see, dumb animals retain their nature and their rank, and not one of them goes beyond their limits. But he, created by the hands of God and honored with the dignity of rationality and autocracy, did not use the dignity he received as he should, did not recognize his weakness, did not remain in the blessings given from God to his nature, and did not stand within his limits, not knowing his measure. Just as the star, or after him Adam, went beyond their borders and, having become proud before their Creator God, wanted to become gods themselves, so - alas! - he also did, went beyond the limits of his nature, desired that which was beyond his measure, did not want to ascend to the height of spiritual knowledge through humility and Christ-like living, but with great pride he picked up from there and from here, like plinths (bricks. - Ed.), words of false knowledge, confirmed them with frequent repetition and began to wear them out before others with love of glory, man-pleasing and great self-conceit, dreaming that he had acquired the pillar of theology and spiritual knowledge, and imagining that he was in heaven, or even higher than heaven, standing there and talking about the Creator of heaven and earth and everything that is in them. Who would call such a man a man, or put him on an equal footing with animals, or think that he has at least some feeling? If Adam, created in the image of God and honored to live a life equal to the angels and immortal, for the transgression of one commandment of God not only lost that angelic residence, but was righteously deprived of eternal life and condemned to death, corruption and oath, then what will all those who descend from him suffer, who, still bearing his image - the earthly one - before they are cleansed, attempt to theologize? But tell me, I ask you, whoever you are, who does not want to learn what concerns God and divine things, but who even tries to teach about this - tell me, have you come out of hell, that is, from sin, and have you entered the surface of the earth? Also, how did you come out of this hell, what steps did you ascend from there, and who were your helpers and accomplices? You were stinking and exuded corruption, or, better yet, death reigned in you and you were dead - tell me, in what way did you come to life? How did you defeat sinful death and escape from its hands? And again, after you came out of hell and entered earth, tell me, in what way did you get rid of corruption and oath? And again, how did you rise from the earth and ascend to heaven? On what chariot did you sit, or what cloud took you from the earth? Open all this to us and tell us, and then we will accept you if you talk about God with fear, measuredly and with restraint. If, without what I said (that everything always happens mysteriously to those who have risen into perfect manhood, according to the age of Christ’s fulfillment), and before fulfilling the commandments of Christ, you boldly attempt to talk about God, then we will turn away from you, as if you are out of your mind and possessed by a demon. For the prophet Elijah was taken with his body to heaven not without a chariot of fire, and our Lord Christ ascended from the earth not without a cloud. Although God could have transferred Elijah from earth to heaven without a fiery chariot, and our Lord Christ could have ascended to heaven without a cloud and the Angels accompanying Him; however, they did not do this in order to teach us that our mind always needs someone else who would take it to heaven, show it the views there and reveal the secrets of God. For just as a bird cannot fly without wings, so it is impossible for our mind to ascend into those regions from which it fell, if it does not have the Holy Spirit, who would lead it there and descend upon it. In addition, Elijah was taken to heaven by a fiery chariot, and the Lord ascended on a cloud with the Angels in order to confirm both His Ascension and the ascension of His servant Elijah not only in words, but also in deeds, and thereby teach us not to be seduced by words alone and not to believe everyone in a person who calls himself spiritual, but to first ascertain from his life and from his deeds whether his words and deeds agree with the teaching of the holy fathers; and then accept him and listen to his words as the words of Christ. If his words and deeds do not agree with the teaching of the holy fathers, then one should not accept him, but, on the contrary, turn away from him, even if he raised the dead and performed many other miracles; especially when we see that he does not accept any suggestions with which they want to convince him to change his wrong wisdom, but remains stubbornly in his delusion, imagining that he has his residence in heaven. We were taught the inspired teaching from the beginning by the Apostles of Christ and our divine fathers, which is why we reject all the empty and useless nonsense of those who spend all their time in torturing and studying what is incomprehensible to the Angels themselves, and we keep the confession of our faith intact and unshakable, just as we received it in the beginning from the Apostles themselves. We believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the unmerged and indivisible Trinity, into which we were baptized, by which we live and on which we depend, both here and forever. From this Holy Trinity we have both being and well-being. If only we could go with Her into another life, to the place where all those who rejoice dwell and the choir will take out those celebrating with a spiritual festival. To this Trinity belongs all glory, honor and worship, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: