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Chapter I. That the Divinity is incomprehensible and that we should not seek with excessive curiosity what is not given to us by the holy prophets, apostles and evangelists.
There is no one else in the form of GOD. The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, confessed to him (John 1:18). So, the Divinity is ineffable and incomprehensible; for no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father (Matthew 11:27). Likewise, the Holy Spirit knows God, just as the human spirit knows what is in man (1 Cor. 2:11). Apart from the very first and blessed Being, no one has ever known God, except the one to whom He himself revealed it - no one not only from people, but even from the supermundane Powers, from themselves, I say, the Cherubim and Seraphim.
However, God has not left us completely ignorant; for the knowledge that God exists, He Himself planted in the nature of everyone. And the very creation of the world, its preservation and management proclaim the greatness of the Divine (Wis. 13:5). Moreover, God, first through the law and the prophets, then through His only begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, communicated to us the knowledge of Himself that we can comprehend. Therefore, everything that the law and the prophets, the apostles and evangelists gave us, we accept, know and honor 1; and we experience nothing higher than that. For if God is good, then He is the giver of all good, and is not involved in envy or any other passion, 2 for envy is not akin to the nature of God as passionless and the only good. And therefore, He, as omniscient and providing for the good of everyone, revealed to us what we need to know, but kept silent about what we cannot bear. We should be content with this, abide in this and not transgress the eternal limits (Proverbs 22:28) and the tradition of God.
Chapter II. About what can be expressed in words and what cannot, what can be known and what surpasses knowledge.
Whoever wants to talk or listen about God must know that not everything regarding the Divinity and His Economy is inexpressible, but not everything is expressible, not everything is unknowable, but not everything is knowable; for one thing means what is knowable, and another thing means what is expressed in words, since it is another thing to speak, and another thing to know. Thus, much of what we vaguely know about God cannot be expressed in all perfection; but as is typical for us, so we are forced to talk about what is above us, so, speaking about God, we [attribute to Him] sleep, anger, carelessness, arms, legs, and the like 3 .
That God is beginningless, infinite, eternal, ever-present, uncreated, unchangeable, immutable, simple, uncomplicated, incorporeal, invisible, intangible, unlimited, limitless, unknown, incomprehensible, good, righteous, omnipotent, almighty, all-seeing, all-provider, all-lord and judge - this we know and confess, just as we also confess that God exists. one, that is, one Being; that He is known and exists in three hypostases (persons), that is, in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in everything, except non-generation, birth and procession; that the Only Begotten Son, and the Word of God, and God, according to His goodness, for the sake of our salvation, by the good will of the Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, having been conceived without seed, was incorruptibly born of the Holy Virgin and Mother of God Mary through the Holy Spirit and became from Her a perfect Man; and that He is both perfect God and perfect Man, from two natures, Divinity and humanity, and (is known) from both natures, endowed with mind and will, active and autocratic, in short, perfect according to the definition and concept of each, i.e.
Deity and humanity, but in one complex form. That He, moreover, hungered, and thirsted, and was weary, and was crucified, and actually accepted death and burial, and was resurrected for three days, and ascended into heaven, from where He came to us and will come again - both the Divine Scripture and the entire council of Saints testify to this.
What is the being of God, or how He is in everything, or how the Only Begotten Son and God, having emptied Himself, became man from virgin blood, that is, by another supernatural law, or how He walked on the waters with wet feet - we do not know and cannot say. So, we cannot say anything about God, nor even think, except for what God himself has spoken, told or revealed to us in the Divine Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments 4 .
Chapter III. Proof that God exists.
That God exists, those who accept the Holy Scriptures, that is, the Old and New Testaments, as well as many of the Hellenes, do not doubt this; for, as we have already said, the knowledge that God exists is given to us by nature. But the evil of the evil one so dominated human nature and plunged some into such a terrible and worst abyss of destruction that they began to say that there is no God. Convicting their madness, the seer David said: he is foolish in his heart: there is no God (Ps. 13:1). That is why the disciples and apostles of our Lord, made wise by the All-Holy Spirit, and by His power and grace performing divine signs, through their network of miracles brought such people from the depths of ignorance to the light of the knowledge of God. In the same way, the successors of their grace and dignity, shepherds and teachers, having received the enlightening grace of the Spirit, and by the power of miracles and the word of grace, enlightened the darkened and converted the erring.
And we, having received neither the gift of miracles nor the gift of teaching - for, having become addicted to sensual pleasures, we turned out to be unworthy of this - having called upon the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit for help, let us now say about this subject something at least a little of what the prophets of grace taught us 5 .
All beings are either created or uncreated. If they are created, then, without a doubt, they are changeable; for what being began by change will necessarily and will be subject to change, either decaying, or changing at will. If they are uncreated, then by the very sequence of inferences, of course, they are unchangeable; for what being is opposite, the image of being is opposite, that is, its properties. Who would not agree that all beings, not only those who are subject to our senses, but also angels, change, are altered and transformed in various ways; So, for example, mental beings, that is, angels, souls and spirits, by their will, more or less succeeding in good and moving away from good, and other beings, changing both by their birth and by disappearance, and by increase and decrease, by changes in properties and by local movement? And what changes is, of course, created, and what is created is, without a doubt, created by someone. The Creator must be an uncreated being: for if he were created, then, of course, by someone, and so on, until we reach something uncreated.
Therefore, the Creator, being uncreated, undoubtedly exists and is unchangeable: and who is this other than God?
And the very composition, preservation and management of creatures show us that there is a God who created all this, maintains, preserves and provides for everything. For how could elements hostile to each other, such as fire, water, air, earth, unite to form one world and remain in complete inseparability, if some omnipotent force did not unite them and keep them always inseparable?
Who is it that arranged in certain places everything that is in heaven and that is on earth, that is in the air and that is in water, and that which precedes all this: heaven and earth, air and nature, both fire and water? Who connected and separated all this? Who gave them movement and striving unceasing and unhindered? Isn’t this the artist who laid down the law for all things, according to which everything is done and everything is governed? Who is this artist? Isn’t it the one who created all this and brought it into existence? We cannot attribute such power to blind chance, for let it come from chance; but who put everything in such order? - let us give in, if we please, and this is to chance, who observes and preserves according to the same laws according to which everything was previously created? - Someone else, of course, and not blind chance. But who is this other than God 7?
Chapter IV. About what God is? That the Divine cannot be comprehended.
So, it is obvious that God exists. But what He is in essence and nature is completely incomprehensible and unknown. That He is incorporeal is clear. For how can something be a body that is infinite and limitless, has no image, cannot be touched, is invisible, simple and uncomplicated? For how can something that is limited and subject to passions be unchangeable? And how can something that is composed of elements and is again resolved upon them not be subject to passion? – For unification is the beginning of warfare, warfare is the beginning of division, division is the beginning of disintegration: but disintegration is completely alien to God 8 .
How will it be fulfilled that God penetrates and fills everything, as the Scripture says: I will not fill the heavens and the earth with food, says the Lord (Jer. 23:24). For it is impossible for a body to pass through bodies without separating them and without itself being separated, without mixing and combining with them, just as liquids merge and dissolve together 9 .
If we assume, as some say, an immaterial body, similar to the one that the Greek sages call the fifth body, which, however, is impossible, then it, of course, will be movable, like the sky, for it is this that is called the fifth body. But who moves this body? [Of course, another being] - for everything that is movable is set in motion by another. Who is this other thing moving by? And so on to infinity, until we meet something immovable. But the first mover is the immovable, which is what God is. If He were movable, how would He not be limited by space? Therefore, God alone is immovable and through his immobility moves everything. So, it must be necessary to admit that the Deity is incorporeal 10.
However, this does not yet define His essence, nor does it define ungeneracy, nor beginninglessness, nor immutability, nor incorruptibility, nor everything that is said about God or about His existence. For all this shows not that God is, but that He is not. Whoever wants to express the essence of a thing must say what it is, and not what it is not. However, it cannot be said about God that He exists in essence; but it is much more typical to talk about Him through the denial of everything. For He is not one of the things that exist, not because He does not exist at all, but because He is above everything that exists, above even being itself. For if knowledge has as its object existing things, then that which is higher than knowledge is, of course, higher than being, and again: that which exceeds being is higher than knowledge 11.
So, God is infinite and incomprehensible, and one thing about Him is comprehensible - His infinity and incomprehensibility. And what we say about God affirmatively shows us not His nature, but what pertains to nature. For whether we call God good, or righteous, or wise, or anything else, we are not expressing His nature, but only what relates to nature. And sometimes what is said affirmatively about God has the force of a primary negation; so, for example, when speaking about God, we use the word darkness, meaning not darkness, but that which is not light, but above all light; or we use the word light, meaning that it is not darkness.
Chapter V. Proof that there is one God, and not many.
So, it is sufficiently proven that God exists, and that His being is incomprehensible. And that there is one God, and not many, this is certain for those who believe in the Divine Scripture. For the Lord at the beginning of His law says: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you will have no gods other than Me (Ex. 20:2); and again: Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God, the Lord is one (Deut. 6:4); and in Isaiah the prophet: I am God first and I am hereafter, except Me there is no God (Is. 41:4) - Before Me there was no other God, and after Me there will not be... and is there no God (Is. 43:10-11). And the Lord in the Holy Gospels says this to the Father: This is the eternal life, that they may know Thee the one true God (John 17:3).
With those who do not believe the Divine Scripture, we will reason this way: God is perfect and has no shortcomings in goodness, wisdom, and power - beginningless, endless, everlasting, unlimited, and, in a word, perfect in everything. So, if we admit many gods, then it will be necessary to recognize the difference between these many. For if there is no difference between them, then there is one, and not many; if there is a difference between them, then where is the perfection? If perfection is lacking either in goodness, or in power, or in wisdom, or in time, or in place, then God will no longer exist. Identity in everything indicates one God rather than many.
Moreover, if there were many gods, how would their indescribability be preserved? For where there was one, there would not be another.
How could the world be ruled by many and not be destroyed and upset when war broke out between the rulers? Because difference introduces confrontation. If someone says that each of them controls his own part, then what introduced such an order and made a division between them? This would actually be God. So, there is one God, perfect, indescribable, Creator of everything, Sustainer and Ruler, above and before all perfection 12.
It should be added to this that, by the most natural necessity, unit is the beginning of binary 13.
Chapter VI. About the Word and the Son of God, proof from reason.
So this one and only God is not without the Word. If He has the Word, then He must have a Word that is not hypostatic, having begun to be and having to pass away. For there was no time when God was without the Word. On the contrary, God always has His Word, which is born from Him and which is not like our word - not hypostatic and spreading in the air, but is hypostatic, living, perfect, not outside of Him (God), but always abiding in Him. For where could He be outside of God? But since our nature is temporary and easily destructible; then our word is not hypostatic. God, as ever-present and perfect, and the Word will also be perfect and hypostatic, Who always exists, lives and has everything that the Parent has.
Our word, coming from the mind, is neither completely identical with the mind, nor completely different; for, being from the mind, it is something else in relation to it; but since it reveals the mind, it is not completely different from the mind, but being by nature one with it, it differs from it as a special subject: so the Word of God, since it exists in itself, differs from the one from whom it has hypostasis; since it manifests in itself the same thing that is in God; then by nature there is one with him. For just as perfection is seen in the Father in all respects, so the same is seen in the Word begotten of Him 14 .
Chapter VII. About the Holy Spirit; proof from the mind.
For the Word there must also be breath; for our word is not without breath. But our breathing is different from our being: it is the inhalation and exhalation of air, drawn in and exhaled for the existence of the body. When a word is pronounced, it becomes a sound that reveals the power of the word. And in God’s nature, simple and uncomplicated, we must piously confess the existence of the Spirit of God, because His Word is not more insufficient than our word; but it would be wicked to think that in God the Spirit is something that comes from outside, as is the case in us, complex beings.
On the contrary, as we hear about the Word of God, we do not recognize It as non-hypostatic, or as one that is acquired by teaching, pronounced by voice, spreads in the air and disappears, but as one that exists hypostatically, has free will, is active and omnipotent: thus, having learned that the Spirit of God accompanies the Word and manifests His action, we do not consider Him to be a non-hypostatic breath; for in this way we would degrade the greatness of the Divine nature to insignificance, if we had the same understanding about the Spirit that is in Him as we have about our spirit; but we honor Him with a power that truly exists, contemplated in its own and special personal existence, emanating from the Father, resting in the Word and manifesting Him, which therefore cannot be separated either from God in Whom it is, or from the Word with which it accompanies, and which is not so revealed as to disappear, but, like the Word, exists personally, lives, has free will, moves by itself, active, always wants good, accompanies desire with force in every will and has neither beginning nor end; for neither the Father was ever without the Word, nor the Word without the Spirit.
Thus, the polytheism of the Hellenes is completely refuted by the unity of nature, and the teaching of the Jews is rejected by the acceptance of the Word and the Spirit; and from both of them there remains what is useful, that is, from the teachings of the Jews - the unity of nature, and from Hellenism - one difference in hypostases 15.
If a Jew begins to contradict the acceptance of the Word and the Spirit, then he must be rebuked and his mouth blocked with Divine Scripture. For about the Divine Word, David says: For ever, Lord, Thy Word abideth in heaven (Ps. 119:89), and in another place: Sent Thy Word, and healed me (Ps. 106:20); - but the word spoken by the mouth is not sent and does not remain forever. And about the Spirit the same David says: Follow Thy Spirit, and they will be created (Ps. 103:30); and in another place: By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their strength (Ps. 32:6); also Job: the Spirit of God created me, and the breath of the Almighty taught me (Job 33:4); - but the Spirit sent, creating, affirming and preserving is not a breath that disappears, just as the mouth of God is not a bodily member: but both must be understood in a manner decent to God 16 .
Chapter VIII. About the Holy Trinity.
So, we believe in one God, one beginning, beginningless, uncreated, unborn, incorruptible, equally immortal, eternal, infinite, indescribable, limitless, omnipotent, simple, uncomplicated, incorporeal, alien flow, impassive, unchangeable and immutable, invisible, the source of goodness and truth, mental and unapproachable light, by virtue of no power. an indefinable measure and only measurable by one’s own will - for everything that pleases can be done - the creator of all creatures, visible and invisible, all-encompassing and preserving, providing for everything, all-powerful, ruling over everything and reigning over an endless and immortal kingdom, having no rival, filling everything, not encompassing anything, but all-encompassing, containing and exceeding everything, which penetrates all essences, while itself remaining pure, remains outside the limits of everything and is removed from the range of all beings as the all-essential and above all existing, pre-divine, all-good, overflowing, which establishes all principalities and ranks, and itself is above every superiority and rank, above essence, life, word and understanding, which is light itself, goodness itself, life itself, essence itself, since it has nothing from another being, nor anything that exists, but itself is the source of being for everything that exists, life - for everything living, reason - for everything rational, the cause of all goods for all beings - in a power that knows everything before the existence of everything, one essence, one Divinity, one force, one will, one action, one beginning, one power, one dominion, one kingdom, in three perfect hypostases known and worshiped by one worship, believed and revered by every verbal creature (in hypostases), inseparably united and inseparably divided, which is incomprehensible, - into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in whose name we were baptized, for so the Lord commanded to baptize the Apostles, saying: baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit ( Matt.
28, 19) 17.
(We believe) in one Father, the beginning of everything and the cause, not begotten of anyone, who alone has no cause and is not begotten, the Creator of all things, but the Father by nature of His one Only Begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and the creator of the All-Holy Spirit. And in one Only Son of God, our Lord, Jesus Christ, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came into being. Speaking about Him: before all ages, we show that His birth is timeless and without beginning; for it was not from non-existence that the Son of God was brought into being, the radiance of glory and the image of the Hypostasis of the Father (Heb. 1:3), living wisdom and power, the hypostatic Word, the essential, perfect and living image of the invisible God; but He was ever with the Father and in the Father, from Whom He was born eternally and without beginning. For the Father never existed unless the Son existed, but together the Father and together also the Son, begotten of Him.
For the Father without the Son would not be called Father, if he had ever existed without the Son, he would not have been the Father, and if later he began to have a Son, then also later he became the Father, without first being the Father, and would have undergone a change in that, without being the Father, he became Him, and such a thought is more terrible than any blasphemy, for it cannot be said of God that He does not have the natural power of generation, and the power of generation consists in the ability to give birth from oneself, i.e. that is, from its own essence, a being similar to itself by nature 18.
So, it would be impious to assert about the birth of the Son that it happened in time and that the existence of the Son began after the Father. For we confess the birth of the Son from the Father, that is, from His nature. And if we do not admit that the Son initially existed together with the Father, from Whom He was born, then we introduce a change in the hypostasis of the Father in that the Father, not being the Father, later became the Father. True, creation came into existence after, but not from the being of God; but by the will and power of God she was brought from non-existence into existence, and therefore no change occurred in the nature of God. For birth consists in the fact that from the essence of the one who gives birth, that which is born is produced, similar in essence; creation and creation consists in the fact that what is created and created comes from the outside, and not from the essence of the creator and creator, and is completely unlike by nature 19.
Therefore, in God, Who alone is impassive, unchangeable, immutable and always the same, both birth and creation are impassive. For, being by nature dispassionate and alien to flow, because He is simple and uncomplicated, He cannot be subject to suffering or flow, either in birth or in creation, and has no need for anyone’s assistance. But birth (in Him) is beginningless and eternal, since it is the action of His nature and comes from His being, otherwise the one who gives birth would have suffered a change, and there would have been God first and God subsequent, and multiplication would have occurred. Creation with God, as an action of will, is not co-eternal with God. For that which is brought from non-existence into being cannot be co-eternal with the Beginningless and always Existing. God and man create differently.
A person does not bring anything from non-existence into existence, but what he does, he does from pre-existing matter, not only having wished, but also having first thought through and imagined in his mind what he wants to do, then he acts with his hands, accepts labor, fatigue, and often does not achieve the goal when diligent work does not work out the way he wants; God, having only willed, brought everything out of non-existence into existence: in the same way, God and man do not give birth in the same way. God, being flightless and beginningless, and passionless, and free from flow, and incorporeal, and one only, and infinite, gives birth flightless and without beginning, and passionless, and without flow, and without combination, and His incomprehensible birth has neither beginning nor end.
He gives birth without beginning, because He is unchangeable; – without expiration because it is dispassionate and incorporeal; - outside of combination because, again, he is incorporeal, and there is only one God, who has no need for anyone else; - infinitely and unceasingly because it is flightless, and timeless, and endless, and always the same, for what is without beginning is infinite, and what is infinite by grace is by no means without beginning, as, for example, Angels 20.
So, the ever-present God gives birth to His Word, perfect without beginning and without end, so that God, who has a higher time and nature and being, does not give birth in time. Man, as it is obvious, gives birth in the opposite way, because he is subject to birth, and decay, and expiration, and reproduction, and is clothed with a body, and in human nature there is a male and female sex, and the husband has a need for the support of his wife. But may He be merciful who is above all and who surpasses all thought and understanding 21 .
So, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church teaches together both about the Father and about His Only Begotten Son, born of Him without flight, without flow, dispassionately and incomprehensibly, as only the God of all knows. Just as both fire and the light that comes from it exist together - not first fire, and then light, but together - and just as light, always born from fire, is always in fire and is never separated from it - so the Son is born from the Father, in no way separating from Him, but always abiding in Him. But light, inseparably born from fire and always abiding in it, does not have its own hypostasis in comparison with fire, for it is a natural property of fire; The Only Begotten Son of God, born from the Father inseparably and inseparably and always abiding in Him, has His own hypostasis, in comparison with the hypostasis of the Father 22.
So, the Son is called Word and radiance, because he was born from the Father without any combination and dispassionately, and without flight, and without flow, and inseparably; (called) the Son and the image of the Father’s hypostasis because He is perfect, hypostatic and in everything like the Father, except ungeneracy (αγεννησια); (called) the Only Begotten because He alone was born from one Father in a unique way, for no other birth is like the birth of the Son of God, and there is no other Son of God. The Holy Spirit, although it comes from the Father, does not follow the image of birth, but according to the image of procession. Here is another way of being, as incomprehensible and unknown as the birth of the Son (of God). Therefore, everything that the Father has, the Son also has, except ungeneracy, which does not mean a difference in essence or dignity, but a way of being - just as Adam, who was unborn, for he is God’s creation, and Seth, who was born, for he is the son of Adam, and Eve, who came from Adam’s side, for she was not born, differ from each other not by nature, for they are people, but by the way of being 23.
You should know that the word αγενητον, when written through one ν, means something uncreated, that is, something that has not happened; when through two νν (αγεννητον), it means unborn (μη γεννηθεν). And according to the first meaning of the word, essence is distinguished from essence: for one is an uncreated essence, signified by a word with one ν, and another is a produced (γενητη) or created essence. According to the second meaning, essence does not differ from essence. For the first hypostasis of every species of animal is unborn (αγεννητος), and not uncreated (ονκ αγενητος); for they were all created by the Creator and brought into being by the Word; but were not born, because before there was no other homogeneous being from which they could have been born.
So, as for the first meaning, the word αγενητος befits the three pre-divine hypostases of the Holy Deity, for they are consubstantial and uncreated; the second meaning of αγεννητος is nothing. For the Father alone is ungenerated, because He does not exist from any other hypostasis; and only the Son was born, because from the essence of the Father he was born without beginning and without flight; and the Holy Spirit alone proceeds, because from the essence of the Father it is not born, but proceeds. This is what Divine Scripture teaches, although the image of birth and procession remains incomprehensible to us 24 .
You should also know that the names of fatherland, sonship and procession were not transferred from us to the blessed Divinity, but, on the contrary, were transferred to us from there, as the divine Apostle says: for this reason I bow my knees to the Father, from Him is all the fatherland in heaven and on earth (Eph. 3:14-15) 25.
If we say that the Father is the beginning of the Son and is greater than Him (John 14:28), then we do not show that He takes precedence over the Son in time or in nature; for through Him the Father made the eyelids (Heb. 1:2). It does not take precedence in any other respect, if not in relation to the cause; that is, because the Son was born from the Father, and not the Father from the Son, that the Father is the author of the Son by nature, just as we do not say that fire comes from light, but, on the contrary, light from fire. So, when we hear that the Father is the beginning and greater than the Son, we must understand the Father as the cause. And just as we do not say that fire is of one essence, and light is another, so it is impossible to say that the Father is of one essence, and the Son is different, but (both) are one and the same.
And just as we say that fire shines through the light coming out of it, and we do not believe that the light coming from fire is its service organ, but, on the contrary, is its natural power; So we say about the Father, that everything that the Father does, he does through His Only Begotten Son, not as through a ministerial instrument, but as through a natural and hypostatic Power; and just as we say that fire illuminates and again we say that the light of fire illuminates, so everything that the Father does, the Son creates in the same way (John 5:19). But light does not have a special hypostasis from fire; The Son is a perfect hypostasis, inseparable from the Father’s hypostasis, as we showed above. It is impossible for an image to be found among creatures that in all similarities shows in itself the properties of the Holy Trinity. For what is created and complex, fleeting and changeable, describable and imageable and perishable - how can one accurately explain the all-essential Divine essence, which is alien to all this? And it is known that every creature is subject to most of these properties and, by its very nature, is subject to decay 26.
In the same way, we believe in the one Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, who is worshiped and glorified by the Father and the Son, as being consubstantial and coeternal; in the Spirit from God, the right and ruling Spirit, the source of wisdom, life and sanctification; into God, with the Father and the Son, existing and called, uncreated, Completeness, Creator, Almighty, all-perfect, omnipotent, infinitely powerful, possessing every creature and not subject to domination, into the God-creating and uncreated Spirit; filling, not filling; reporting, but not borrowing anything; sanctifying and not sanctifying, Comforter, as accepting the prayers of all; in everything like the Father and the Son; proceeding from the Father, through the Son, given and received by all creation; through Himself creating and realizing everything without exception, sanctifying and preserving; hypostatic, existing in His own hypostasis, inseparable and inseparable from the Father and the Son; having everything that the Father and the Son have, except unbegotten and begotten; for the Father is guiltless and ungenerate, because he is not from anyone, but has being from Himself and from what he has, he has nothing from another; on the contrary, He Himself is the beginning and cause of everything, as it exists by nature.
The Son is from the Father - according to the image of birth; The Holy Spirit, although also from the Father, is not in the manner of birth, but in the manner of procession. That, of course, there is a difference between birth and procession, we have learned this; but what kind of difference there is, we cannot comprehend this in any way. [We only know that] both the birth of the Son and the procession of the Holy Spirit occur simultaneously 27.
So, everything that the Son has and the Spirit has from the Father, even being itself. And if something is not the Father, then it is neither the Son nor the Spirit; and if the Father did not have anything, the Son and the Spirit do not have it; but through the Father, that is, because the Father exists, the Son and the Spirit exist, and through the Father the Son has, as well as the Spirit, everything that he has, because, that is, the Father has all this, except non-fertility and birth and procession. For it is only by their hypostatic properties that the three holy hypostases differ from each other, inseparably distinguished not by essence, but by the distinctive property of each hypostasis 28 .
We say that each of these three persons has a perfect hypostasis, so that we do not accept the perfect nature as one, composed of three imperfect ones, but as one simple essence in three perfect hypostases, which is higher and ahead of perfection. For everything that is composed of imperfect things is necessarily complex, but composition cannot take place from perfect hypostases; why we do not say that the species is from hypostases, but in hypostases. They said from the imperfect, that is, from that which does not represent a whole type of the thing that is made up of it - so stone, wood and iron - in themselves are perfect by nature, but in relation to the house that is built from them, each is imperfect, because each, taken separately, is not a house 29.
So, we call the hypostases (of the Holy Trinity) perfect, so as not to introduce complexity into the Divine nature, for addition is the beginning of discord. And again we say that the three hypostases are mutually present in one another, so as not to introduce multitudes and crowds of gods. Confessing three hypostases, we recognize simplicity and unity (in the Divinity); and confessing that these hypostases are consubstantial with one another, and recognizing in them the identity of will, action, strength, power and, if we can say, movement, we recognize their inseparability and the fact that God is one; for God, His Word and His Spirit are truly one God 30 .
About the difference between the three hypostases; and about business, and mind, and thought. You need to know that it is different to look at an object in reality, and another to look at it with the mind and thought. Thus, we actually see the difference of indivisibles in all creatures: in fact, Peter appears to be different from Paul. But community, connection and unity are contemplated by the mind and thought; so we comprehend with our minds that Peter and Paul are of the same nature, have one common nature. For each of them is a rational animal, mortal; and each is flesh, animated by a soul, both rational and gifted with prudence. So this general nature is comprehended by the mind; for the hypostases do not exist one in the other, but each separately and separately, that is, in itself, and each has many things in which one differs from the other. For they are separated by place, and differ by time, and are distinguished by intelligence, strength, appearance or image, disposition, temperament, dignity, behavior and all characteristic properties; most of all, because they exist not one in the other, but separately; that is why it is said: two, three people and many 31.
The same can be seen in all creation; but in the Holy and all-essential, and highest of all, and incomprehensible Trinity, it is different; for here community and unity are seen, in fact, due to the co-eternity of persons and the identity of their essence, action and will, due to the agreement of the cognitive ability and the identity of power and strength, and goodness - I did not say: similarity, but identity - also the unity of the origin of movement, because one essence, one goodness, one strength, one will, one action, one power; one and the same, not three similar to one another, but one and the same movement of three hypostases; for each of them is one with the other, no less than with itself; for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in everything, except ungeneracy, birth and procession, but separated by thought, for we know one God, but we notice with thought the difference only in properties, that is, patronymic, sonship and procession, just as we distinguish the cause, the dependent on the cause and the perfection of the hypostasis, or the way of being.
For in relation to the indescribable Divinity, we cannot talk about local distance, as in relation to us, because the hypostases are one in the other, not merging, however, but uniting, according to the word of the Lord, who said: I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:11), nor about the difference of will, or thought, or action, or power, or anything else that produces in us a real and complete separation. Therefore, we speak about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit not as three Gods, but, rather, as one God, the Holy Trinity, since the Son and the Spirit are raised to one Author, but do not add up and do not merge, as Savely merged; for They unite, as we said, not merging, but being together with each other and penetrating each other without any confusion or fusion, and in such a way that they do not exist one outside the other or are not separated in essence, according to the Aryan division; for, to put it briefly, the Divinity is inseparable in the divided, just as in three suns closely adjacent to each other and not separated by any distance, there is one mixture of light and a fusion 32 .
Therefore, when we look at the Divinity, at the first cause, at autocracy, at the unity and identity of the Divinity and, so to speak, at movement and will, at the identity of essence, force, action and domination, then we imagine one thing. When we look at that in which there is Divinity, or, to say more precisely, what there is Divinity, and at that which from there - from the first cause exists eternally, equally and inseparably, that is, in the hypostasis of the Son and the Spirit - then there will be three, Whom we worship. One Father is Father and beginningless, that is, guiltless; for He is not from anyone. One Son is a Son, but not without beginning, that is, not innocent; for He is from the Father; if we take the beginning in time, then it is beginningless; for He is the Creator of times and is not subject to time. One Spirit is the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father, but not in the image of a son, but in the image of procession. So neither the Father lost his ungeneration through what he begot, nor the Son lost his birth through what he was born from the unborn - for how could it be otherwise? - neither the Spirit was transformed into either the Father or the Son through the fact that He came into being and because He is God.
For the property is unchangeable; Otherwise, how could it remain a property if it were changed and transposed? – If the Father is the Son, then he is no longer the Father in the proper sense; for in the proper sense there is only one Father; and if the Son is the Father, then He is not in the proper sense the Son; for there is one Son in the proper sense; one and the Holy Spirit 33.
You should know that we do not say that the Father comes from anyone, but we call the Son Himself Father. We do not say that the Son is the cause, we do not say that He is the Father, but we say that He is both from the Father and the Son of the Father. And about the Holy Spirit we say that He is from the Father and we call Him the Spirit of the Father, but we do not say that the Spirit is also from the Son, but we call Him the Spirit of the Son, as the divine Apostle says: if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not carry Him (Rom. 8:9), and we confess that He was revealed to us and is taught to us through the Son; for it is said: I breathed and said to them (His disciples): receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22); just as the ray and radiance (come) from the sun, for it is the source of both the ray and radiance; but the radiance is communicated to us through the beam, and it illuminates us and is accepted by us. But about the Son we do not say that He is the Son of the Spirit, nor that He is from the Spirit.
Chapter IX. About what is attributed to God.
The deity is simple and uncomplicated. But what is made up of many and different things is complex. So, if we call uncreation, and originlessness, and immortality, and eternity, and goodness, and creative power, and the like, essential properties of God, then a being made up of such properties will not be simple, but complex, which (to talk about the Divine) is extreme absurdity. So, about every property attributed to God, we must think that it does not mean anything essential, but shows either that He is not, or some relation of Him to what is different from Him, or something accompanying His nature, or His action.
Of all the names assigned to God, it seems that the highest is: He (ο ων), like He Himself, answering Moses on the mountain, says: Rtsy son of Israel, He sent me (Ex. 3:14). For He contains all existence within Himself, as if it were a kind of sea of essence (ουσιας) - unlimited and limitless. Saint Dionysius says that [the original name of God is] ο αγαθος - good, because it cannot be said about God that in Him there is first being, and then goodness.
The second name is Θεος (God). It comes either from θεειν to run, because God flows around everything, or from αιθειν to burn, because God is a fire that consumes all evil, or from θεασθαι to see, because nothing is hidden from God, and He sees everything. For He contemplated all things before they existed, representing them in His mind from eternity; and each thing receives its existence at a predetermined time, in accordance with His eternal thought, united with will, which is predestination, and image, and plan 35.
So, the first of these names shows that God is (το ειναι) and not that He is (το τι ειναι); the second indicates His action (ενεργιαν); and the names: beginningless, incorruptible, unborn, uncreated, incorporeal, invisible and the like show that He does not exist (τι ουκ εστι), that is, that He has no beginning to His being, is not subject to corruption, is not created, is not a body, is invisible. Goodness, righteousness, holiness and the like accompany nature, and do not express His very essence. Names: Lord, King and the like mean a relationship to that which is different from God; He is called Lord of that which He rules, King of that which He reigns, Creator of that which He has created, and Shepherd of that which He shepherds 36 .
Chapter X. About Divine Union and Separation.
So, all this must be taken in relation to the whole Divinity and in the same way, and simply, and inseparably, and collectively; the names: Father, and Son, and Spirit, guiltless and having a cause, unborn, begotten, proceeding, must be used separately; such names express not the essence, but the mutual relationship and way of being of the Hypostases of the Holy Trinity. So, knowing this and, as if by hand, ascending, led to the Divine essence, we do not comprehend the essence itself, but we cognize only that which relates to the essence, just as, knowing that the soul is incorporeal and has neither quantity nor image, we however do not yet comprehend its essence; or knowing that the body is white or black, we do not yet know its essence, but we know only what relates to its essence. The true word teaches that the Divinity is simple and has one simple, good action, acting all in all, like a ray that warms everything and acts on each thing in accordance with its natural ability and acceptability, having itself received such power from its Creator, God.
But separately there is that which relates to the divine and humane incarnation of the divine Word. For in this matter neither the Father nor the Spirit had any participation, except for goodwill and besides that indescribable miracle-working that God the Word performed, becoming a man like us, as the unchangeable God and Son of God 37 .
Chapter XI. About what is said about God in a bodily way.
Since we find that in the Divine Scripture very much is said symbolically about God in a bodily way, we must know that it is impossible for us, humans and those clothed with gross flesh, to otherwise understand or speak about the divine, high and immaterial actions of the Deity, except through images, types and symbols that are appropriate to us. Therefore, what is said about God in a very corporeal way is said symbolically and contains a very high meaning, since the Divinity is simple and has no form 38 .
So, by the eyes of God, knowledge and sight we must understand His all-contemplating power and His knowledge, which is inevitable (for no creature), since through this feeling we also acquire the most perfect knowledge and conviction. Under the ears and hearing - His favor and acceptance of our prayer; since we, when we are asked, more mercifully incline our ears to those asking, through this feeling we show our favor to them. Under the lips and speech is the expression of His will, since we, through our lips and speech, reveal the thoughts of our hearts. Under food and drink is our desire for His will, since we, through the sense of taste, satisfy the necessary needs of our nature. Under the sense of smell is that which shows our thought directed towards Him, since we also sense fragrance through the sense of smell. Under the face is His revelation and revelation of Himself through actions, since our face also serves as our expression. Under our hands is His active power, since through our hands we also perform useful, especially our most noble, actions.
Under His right hand is His help in just cases, since we, when doing things that are more important, noble and require greater strength, act with our right hand. By touch is His most accurate knowledge and understanding of the smallest and most hidden things, since even for us the things we touch cannot have anything hidden in themselves. Under feet and walking - His coming and presence either to help those in need, or to take revenge on enemies, or for some other action, since we also come somewhere through our feet. Under the oath is the immutability of His decision, since we also confirm our mutual agreements with an oath. Under anger and rage - His hatred and aversion to evil, since we also hate what does not agree with our thoughts and are angry about it. Under oblivion, sleep and slumber - postponing vengeance on enemies and slowing down ordinary help to His friends.
Briefly, everything that is said about God in a bodily way contains a certain hidden meaning, teaching us, through what is ordinary for us, what is above us, excluding only what is said about the bodily coming of God the Word, for for the sake of our salvation He took on the whole man, that is, the rational soul and body, the properties of human nature and natural, immaculate passions 39 .
So, this is what the sacred sayings teach us, as the divine Dionysius the Areopagite said: that God is the cause and beginning of everything, the essence of everything that exists, the life of the living, the mind of the rational, the mind of the intelligent, the return and restoration of what has fallen from Him, the renewal and transformation of what is corrupted in essence, a sacred stronghold for those shaken by any ungodly doubt, security for those who stand, the path and reliable guidance for those who go to Him. I will add: He is the Father of all that He has created; for God, who brought us from non-existence into being, is our Father above our parents, who themselves received from Him both being and the ability to give birth. He is the Shepherd for those who follow Him and are grazed by Him; illumination for those who are initiated into the sacraments; Godship is for those who are adored; peace for those who have enmity; simplicity for those who love simplicity; unity for those who strive for unity; the essential and primary Beginning for every beginning; and the good communication of the hidden, that is, the knowledge of Oneself, to everyone according to the dignity and acceptability of each 40.
More about divine names in more detail.
The Deity, being incomprehensible, will, of course, be nameless. Not knowing His essence, we will not seek the name of His essence. For names must express their subject. God, although good, and in order for us to be participants in His goodness, called us from non-existence into being and created us capable of knowledge, nevertheless did not communicate to us either His essence or the knowledge of His essence. For it is impossible for a (lower) nature to fully know the nature that lies above it. Moreover, if knowledge relates to what exists, then how can the essential be known? Therefore, God, by His ineffable goodness, deigns to be called in accordance with what is characteristic of us, so that we are not left completely without knowledge of Him, but have at least a dark idea of Him.
So, since God is incomprehensible, He is nameless; as the Author of everything and in Himself containing the conditions of the cause of everything that exists, He is called according to everything that exists, even the opposite of one another, such as light and darkness, fire and water, so that we know that in essence He is not like that, but is subsubstantial and nameless, and that as the Author of everything that exists, He takes names for Himself from everything that He has produced.
Therefore, some of the divine names are negative, showing divine pre-essence, are as follows: unsubstantial, flightless, beginningless, invisible - not because God is less than anything, or that He is devoid of anything, for everything is His, and from Him and through Him everything came into being and will take place in Him, - but because He predominates everything that exists; for He is not anything that exists, but is above all. Other names are affirmative, speaking of Him as the Author of everything. As the Author of everything that exists and every being, He is called both being and essence; as the Author of all reason and wisdom, reasonable and wise, and is himself called Reason and reasonable, Wisdom and wise; as well as - Mind and smart, Life and living, Strength and strong; He is called in a similar way in accordance with everything else. It is most characteristic of Him to take names from things that are noblest and closest to Him.
Thus, the immaterial is nobler and closer to Him than the material, the pure than the impure, the holy than the foul, since it is also more characteristic of Him. Therefore, it is much more appropriate for Him to be called the sun and light than darkness, and day rather than night, and life rather than death, and fire and air and water, as life principles, rather than earth; primarily and most of all - good rather than evil, or, what is the same, existing rather than non-existent; for good is being and the cause of being; evil is the deprivation of good or being. And these are denials and affirmations. From both of them comes the most pleasant combination, such as: a super-essential being, a pre-divine Deity, a pre-primary principle, and the like. There are also names that, although ascribed to God affirmatively, have the force of an excellent negation, such as: darkness, not because God is darkness, but because He is not light, but is above light 41 .
So, God is called Mind and Reason, and Spirit, and Wisdom, and Power, as the Author of this, as immaterial, omniactive and omnipotent. And this, said affirmatively and negatively, is said generally about the entire Divinity, as well as about each Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, in the same and in the same way, and without any diminution. For every time I think about one of the Hypostases, I understand Her to be a perfect God and a perfect Being. And connecting and counting the three Hypostases together, I mean the one perfect God; for the Godhead is not complex, but in three perfect persons one, perfect, indivisible and uncomplicated. When I think about the mutual relationship of the Hypostases, I understand that the Father is the essential Sun, the Source of goodness, the Abyss of being, reason, wisdom, strength, light, Divinity, the Source that gives birth and produces the good hidden in Him.
So, He is the Mind, the Abyss of the Mind, the Parent of the Word and through the Word the Maker of the Spirit, which reveals Him; and, not to say much, in the Father there is no (other) word, wisdom, power and desire, except the Son, Who is the only power of the Father, the original one, by which everything was created, as a perfect Hypostasis born from a perfect Hypostasis, as He Himself knows who is and is called the Son. The Holy Spirit is the power of the Father, manifesting the hidden Divinity, proceeding from the Father through the Son, as He Himself knows, but not through birth; and therefore the Holy Spirit is the Finisher of all creation. So, what befits the Author-Father, the Source, the Parent, must befit the Father alone. And what - to the produced, begotten Son, the Word, the Predetermining Power, desire, wisdom; this must be attributed to the Son. What is proper to the produced, the proceeding and the revealing, the perfecting Power, must be attributed to the Holy Spirit. The Father is the Source and Cause of the Son and the Holy Spirit; but He is the Father of the Son alone and the Producer of the Holy Spirit.
The Son is the Son, the Word, the Wisdom, the Power, the Image, the Radiance, the image of the Father and from the Father. But the Holy Spirit is not the Son of the Father, but the Spirit of the Father proceeding from the Father. For there is no excitement without the Spirit. But He is also the Spirit of the Son, not because from Him, but because through Him He proceeds from the Father. For there is only one Author - the Father 42.
Chapter XIII. About the place of God and about the fact that the Divinity alone is indescribable.
The bodily place is the limit of the containing, in which the content is contained; for example, air contains, and body is contained. But not the entire containing air is the place of the body of the contents, but only the limit of the containing air, which embraces the contents of the body. In general (one must know) that the contained is not contained in the content.
But there is also a spiritual (νοητος, mental) place where the spiritual and incorporeal nature is represented and located, where it is precisely that it is present and acts; but it is contained not physically, but spiritually; for it does not have a certain form so that it can be maintained bodily.
So, God, being immaterial and indescribable, is not in a place: He is a place for Himself, as filling everything, existing above all, and Himself containing everything. However, it is said that He is also in a place, and where His action is obvious, it is called the place of God. For He Himself, without mixing with anything, penetrates everything and allows everything to participate in His action, according to the dignity and acceptability of each: I am talking about physical and moral purity. For the immaterial is purer than the material, and the virtuous is purer than the vicious. So, the place of God is called that which most participates in His action and grace. Therefore heaven is His throne; for in heaven the Angels do His will and always glorify Him, which is His peace; and the earth is His footstool (Isa. 66:1), because on it He lived in the flesh with men (Bar. 3:38). His holy flesh is called the Foot of God. The church is also called the place of God, because we set it apart as a kind of sacred place for the praise of God; Here we send our prayers to Him.
Likewise, other places where His action is obvious to us, either in the flesh or without the body, are called places of God 43 .
One must know that the Divinity is indivisible, so that It is everything and everywhere, and not part within part, divided in a bodily form, but all in all and all above all.
About the place of the angel and the soul and the indescribable.
As for the Angel, although he is not physically contained in a place so as to receive an image and a certain appearance, it is said about him that he is in a place by spiritual presence and action, as is characteristic of his nature, and is not present everywhere, but where he acts, he is limited there in a spiritual way, because he cannot act at the same time in different places. It is common for God alone to act everywhere at the same time. For the Angel acts in different places, according to the speed of his nature and the ability to easily, that is, quickly pass, and the Divinity, being everywhere and above everything, acts with one and simple action in different places at the same time.
The soul is united - with the body, all with all, and not part with part; and is not contained by it, but it is contained by iron, like fire, and, remaining in it, produces the actions characteristic of it.
What is describable is that which is encompassed either by place, or by time, or by understanding; Indescribable is that which is not encompassed by anything. So, one Deity is indescribable, as beginningless and infinite, containing everything and not encompassed by any concept; for it is incomprehensible and limitless, unknown to anyone and known only to Himself. An angel is limited both by time - for it has the beginning of its existence, and by place - albeit in a spiritual sense, as we said before, and by intelligibility - for (Angels) in some way know the nature of each other, and are completely limited by the Creator. And bodies are limited by both the beginning and the end, and the corporeal place, and intelligibility 44 .
A collection of thoughts about God and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And about the Word and the Spirit.
So, the Divinity is perfect, immutable and unchangeable. It, according to its foreknowledge, predetermined everything beyond our control, assigning to everything a proper and proper time and place. That is why the Father does not judge anyone, but all judgment is given to the Sons (John 5:22). For, of course, the Father and the Son, like God, and the Holy Spirit judge; but one Son, as a man, will descend bodily and sit on the throne of glory (Matthew 25:31), because only a limited body can descend and sit, and will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31).
Everything is separated from God, but not by place, but by nature. In us, prudence, wisdom and decision appear and disappear as properties; but not in God: in Him nothing arises or decreases; for He is unchangeable and immutable, and nothing accidental can be attributed to Him. For He has goodness accompanying His being.
He who always strives with desire towards God sees Him; for God is in everything; everything that exists depends on Being, and nothing can exist that does not have its existence from Being, because God, as containing nature, is united with everything; and God the Word united hypostatically with His holy flesh and became inextricably close to our nature.
No one sees the Father except the Son and the Spirit (John 6:46). The Son is the advice, wisdom and strength of the Father. For it is impossible to ascribe qualities to God without telling us that He is composed of essence and quality.
The Son is from the Father, and everything that he has, he has from Him (John 5:30), and therefore cannot do anything of Himself; for He has no special action in comparison with the Father 45.
That God, being invisible by nature, is made visible by his actions, we know this from the structure of the world and His government (Wis. 13:5).
The Son is the image of the Father, and the image of the Son is the Spirit, through whom Christ, dwelling in man, gives him that which is according to the image (of God) 46 .
God, the Holy Spirit, is the mean between the unborn and the begotten, and through the Son is united with the Father. He is called the Spirit of God. The Spirit of Christ, the Mind of Christ, the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord Himself, the Spirit of sonhood, truth, freedom, wisdom, as the one who produces all this; He fills everything with His being and contains everything, filling the world with His being, but not limiting itself to the world in power.
God is an ever-present, unchangeable, all-creating being, worshiped by a pious mind.
God is the Father, always existing, unbegotten, because he was not born of anyone, but begat the co-existent Son. God is also the Son, always existing with the Father, from whom He was born timelessly and eternally, without expiration, and impassively, and inseparably. God is also the Holy Spirit, a sanctifying, hypostatic power, proceeding inseparably from the Father and resting in the Son, consubstantial with the Father and the Son.
There is the Word, which is always essentially present in the Father. The word is also a natural movement of the mind, according to which it moves, thinks, reasons; - it is like a reflection and radiance of the mind. Again there is an internal word spoken in the heart. Again, the spoken word is a messenger of thought. So, God the Word is both independently and hypostatically; the other three words are the powers of the soul, not contemplated in their own hypostasis; namely, the first is a natural creation of the mind, always flowing naturally from it; the second is called internal, and the third is pronounced.
And the Spirit is understood in many different ways. There is the Holy Spirit. And the actions of the Holy Spirit are called spirits. The Spirit is also a good Angel; spirit - and demon; spirit is also soul; sometimes the mind is called spirit; spirit - and wind; spirit - and air.
Chapter XIV. Properties of Divine nature.
God is an uncreated being, beginningless, immortal, infinite and eternal; incorporeal, good, all-active, righteous, enlightening, unchangeable, impassive, indescribable, incontainable, unlimited, boundless, invisible, incomprehensible, all-content, autocratic and autocratic, omnipotent, life-giving, omnipotent, infinitely powerful, sanctifying and sociable, all-containing and preserving, and providing for everything - such is The Deity, Who has all this and the like by its very nature, and did not receive it from anywhere, but Himself imparts every good to His creatures, each according to its receiving power.
The hypostases exist and dwell in one another; for they are both inseparable and indestructible from one another, unmergingly contained in one another, but not in such a way that they mix or merge, but in such a way that they are one in the 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, without any destruction or confusion or fusion. And they have the same movement; for there is one aspiration and one movement of the three Hypostases; – which is impossible to see in created nature 47 .
In addition, divine radiance and action, being one, simple and indivisible, remains simple even when it diversifies in the types of benefits imparted to individual beings, and when it shares with all of them that which constitutes the nature corresponding to each thing; but, inseparably multiplying in relation to individual beings, It raises and turns the most individual beings to Its own simplicity. For all beings strive towards the Divine and have existence in It, since It imparts to all existence, in accordance with the nature of each; and It is the being of existing things, the life of living things, the mind of the rational and the mind of the intelligent; Meanwhile, It itself is higher than mind, higher than reason, higher than life, higher than being 48.
It should also be added that It penetrates through everything, without mixing with anything, but nothing penetrates through Itself. It knows everything with simple knowledge, and simply sees everything with His divine, all-contemplating and immaterial eye, everything - the present, the past, and the future, before their existence. It is sinless, and forgives sins, and saves. It can do whatever it wants; but not everything that can, wants; Thus, It can destroy the world, but it does not want to 49.
Dionysius the Areopagite. On the Names of God, 1 Migne, s. gr., t. III, coll 609–613.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Migne, s. gr., t. XXXVI, col. 40. Transl. Moscow Spirit. Academies, Part III (1889), p. 21.
Dionysius the Areopagite. On the names of God, 1. Gregory the Theologian, word 31, Migne, s. gr., t. XXXVI, coll. 156–157. Translation pp. 99–100.
Dionysius the Areopagite. On the names of God, 1–2.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28.
Athanasius of Alexandria. Against the pagans. Migne, s. gr., t. XXV, coll. 69–77. Translation Moscow. Spirit. Acad., Part III (1902), pp. 171–177.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Migne, s. gr., t. XXXVI. coll. 45–47. Transl. Part III, pp. 25–26. Athanasius of Alexandria. About the incarnation of the Word. Migne, s. gr., t. XXV, coll. 97–100. Transl., part 1, p. 193.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Migne, s. gr., t. XXXVI, coll. 33. Transl., part III. page 17
Right there. Migne, 36; transl., 18.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Migne, 36. Transl. 18.
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Migne, 36–37. Transl. 19.
Gregory the Theologian, word 29. Migne, 76. Transl., 43.
Dionysius the Areopagite. About the names of God. Migne, 820, 841.
Gregory of Nyssa. Big public word, chapter 1. Translation Moscow. Spirit. Acad., part IV, pp. 5–9.
Gregory the Theologian, word 31, 38, 41. Migne, s. gr., t. XXXVI, coll. 137, 320, 441 etc. Translation, part III, p. 86. 198 and others. Gregory of Nyssa. Big catechetical word, 2–3. Translation, part IV, pp. 9–12.
Gregory of Nyssa, ibid. Basil the Great. About the Holy Spirit to Amphilochius. Translation Moscow. Spirit. Academies, Part III (1891), p. 245.
Gregory the Theologian, sermon 22, 42, 6, 31 and 40.
Gregory the Theologian, word. 29, 30. Cyril of Alexandria, Treasure, 4–5.
Gregory the Theologian, word 20.
Gregory the Theologian, word 20, 29. Kirill Al.. Treasure, 5, 6, 7, 16, 18.
Gregory the Theologian, letter to Evagrius.
Gregory of Nyssa, Against Eunomius, book. 1st. Translation Moscow. Spirit. Academy, Part V (1863), pp. 136–150. Kirill Al.. Treasure, 5.
Gregory the Theologian, sermon 25, 29, 30, 31, 39. Athanasius Alexander., Exposition of the Faith. Migne, s. gr., t. XXV, coll. 200–208. Transl. Moscow Spirit. Acad., part 1 (1902), pp. 264–267.
Kirill Al., Treasure, 1. Gregory the Theologian, word 29.
Kirill Al., Treasure, 32. Dionysius Areop., On the names of God, 1.
Gregory the Theologian, sermon 22, 37 and 31.
Gregory the Theologian, word 31, 20.
Gregory the Theologian, word 25 and letter to Evagrius.
Gregory the Theologian, word 23, 20.
Gregory the Theologian, word 20, 28, 40.
Gregory the Theologian, word 31.
Gregory the Theologian, sermons 20, 31, 39 and 40. Basil the Great, letter 38. Dionysius Ar., On the names of God, 2.
Gregory the Theologian, word, 20, 31, 39.
Gregory the Theologian, word 30. Dionysius the Areopagite. About the names of God. 2–4
Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Names of God, 5.
Gregory the Theologian, sermon 34, 31 and epistle to Evagrius. Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Names of God, 2.
Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Names of God, 1; On the heavenly hierarchy, 15, Gregory the Theologian, word 31.
Gregory the Theologian, word 31. 21
Athanasius Alexander., Second Word against the Arians. 22
Gregory the Theologian, word 30. Dionysius the Areopagite, On the names of God, 1. 23
Gregory the Theologian, word 28. Gregory of Nyssa, On the soul and resurrection.
Gregory the Theologian, word 41. 25
Gregory the Theologian, word 30.
Basil the Great, Against Eunomius, book 5.
Gregory the Theologian, word 3, 22, 40.
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Gregory the Theologian, word 40.