Twelve chapters or members containing our one Christian faith

Composition by St. Simeon of Thessalonica “Twelve Chapters or Members Containing Our Unity Christian Faith” (or “12 Chapters on Faith”) contains a brief interpretation of the 12 members of the Creed. 12 chapters, the number of which the author symbolically correlates with the apostles of Christ, are divided into 3 parts: chapters 1-3 are devoted to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, chapters 4-9 - to the Incarnation, chapters 10-12 - to the economy of salvation, Divine Providence and eschatology. Saint Simeon instructs believers in the purification of the 3-part composition of the soul (the thinking, irritable and desirable principles), calls for the acquisition of 7 main virtues (humility, lack of vanity, non-covetousness, fasting, chastity, patience and long-suffering) and the rejection of the sins opposite to them. Our true and only Christian faith, which surpasses reason and word because it is the right and only faith, the truest confession of the one God who transcends reason in the Trinity, although unlimited, is nevertheless briefly contained in these chapters, which every Christian must confess, the right to believe and want to be saved. These chapters are also called by some members of the faith, or principles and foundations. There are twelve of them, in the image of the Apostles of Christ, the non-evening Sun, and they lead the right of the believer to the endless age of His glory. Of these, three chapters are about the Holy Trinity, in honor of the Trinity itself, which, being eternal, is the cause of everything; six about the incarnation of the Word - and this is also amazing: in fact, this Word, being one from the Holy Trinity and individual, became special for our sake and therefore has a special trinity of chapters; and three more chapters on the completion (of the economy), in honor of the beginningless Trinity, which, having created everything from nothing, contains all good and wisely governs everything. 1. The first chapter is about the fact that the Divinity is one in nature, and not multiple, that It is one in strength, power, omnipotence and dominion. 2. The second is that this Divinity has three Persons, and not one, although one and inseparable in Divinity, that it must fully confess three Persons, or hypostases, or properties - no more. Of these three, one is unborn: for It is guiltless and does not come from anything, being the only cause of those occurring from It pre-time and impassively; the other begotten is from the unbegotten; and the third proceeding is also from Him who is guiltless and unborn. The unbegotten and guiltless is called the Father, the begotten is the Son, and the proceeding is the Holy Spirit: They are inseparable, pre-temporal and eternal. But the Trinity is not three Gods, or three Lords, but one God, one Lord, as the Angels sing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts?” (Isa. 6:5): since the nature of the three is one and indivisible, one being, one power, one glory, one will, one will; and these three are one trinitarian God, one beginning and effective power of everything, just as there is one radiance of the sun, ray and light, or one brilliance and warmth of fire, reflection and light, or one will of the mind, word and spirit. 3. The third chapter is about the fact that this Trinity is the creator of everything, who created everything, both spiritual and sensory, visible and invisible, from nothing, who produced everything in time when he wanted, while before there was absolutely nothing - neither form nor matter, but everything was produced from nothing. This God in the Trinity, being the Creator, is also the Provider of everything that exists, that is, the Father with the Word and the Spirit, as the Prophets say and the Gospel teaches. 4. The fourth is that for the sake of God's providence for us in the Trinity, by the favor of the Father and the assistance of the Spirit, the Word, remaining unchangeable and immutable in the Divine, dispassionately and inexorably became flesh for our sake, having received from the Holy Virgin our perfect nature: an animated body united with a rational and desirable soul - for the sanctification of the whole man; Thus, the individual has become singular, and is one - perfect in two natures. 5. The fifth is that the Word was born without seed from a Virgin who did not know a man, preserving her before birth, at birth, and after birth as a Virgin. 6. The sixth is that It suffered for us in the flesh, was crucified and died voluntarily (however, not as a Divinity, since it is impassive), then with its soul, as the Liberator of souls, it descended into hell, and with its body it was buried, while the Divinity was not separated from His holy soul, as well as from the body. 7. The seventh is that It resurrected by His power for three days and appeared to the disciples many times. 8. The eighth is that after forty days from His uprising, It ascended into heaven in the sight of the disciples and sat down at the right hand of the Father, revealing His inseparable and own body to those worshiped in the same Orthodoxy. 9 . The ninth is that It will again come from heaven to earth with the glory of the Father and will open His kingdom to His servants, and for the wicked and sinners - righteous condemnation and punishment. 10. The tenth is that It will resurrect our entire nature, so that souls will be united with the previous bodies in which they lived, and not with alien ones, for reward for the deeds of life; and our bodies will be incorruptible. 11. The eleventh is that Christ will judge the living and the dead according to His divine laws, and that He will condemn the unfaithful and unrighteous, and glorify the pious and righteous. 12. The twelfth is that the life that follows will be eternal, since the nature is “freed from... corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God,” as the Apostle says (Rom. 8:21); and there will be no change later. Therefore, the unrighteous and the wicked, together with the demons, will have eternal punishment, as the Lord says (Matthew 25:41); and to the pious and righteous - eternal and endless life, and pleasure, and the kingdom with Christ, which we will receive, by the grace of Jesus Christ himself, the Son of the living God and our God, we are Orthodox believers in His name and honored by this (name), and holding His faith to the end undamaged and unshakable, through the prayers of the Mother of God and all His Angels and Saints. These twelve chapters of faith now set forth, also called members (because they are, as it were, the beginnings and foundations of faith, embracing, as we said, the entire doctrine), contain in themselves the sacred and divine symbol, first set forth by three hundred and eighteen Fathers in Nicaea and then, not much later, completed by one hundred and fifty holy Fathers in Constantinople, sealed and proclaimed by the other five ecumenical holy councils, which was also most clearly confessed by the Holy Fathers who shone forth among these holy councils. It is with them that we confess, by the grace of Christ. It contains directly the first chapter, that there is one God, one Lord - the Father with the Son and the Spirit: for he calls the Father God, and the Son - God from God, and the Holy Spirit - Lord; calls the Trinity consubstantial, the Father - the Son and the Spirit of the same glory, and these together - the eternal, the Almighty, and the one Creator, just as the Prophets call God the Father with the Word and the Spirit, and the Angels sing of one Lord in three holy chants. Then, with particular clarity, he proclaims the second chapter, that this one God, being a Trinity in Persons and a Unity in the Divinity, is Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, and that the Father is not begotten and innocent, but is the only Author (coming) from Him; that the Son was born before the ages from the Father and is consubstantial, Light from Light, God from God; and the Holy Spirit is the Lord, the life-giving, proceeding from the Father; that there is one nature and eternal glory of Them, one power and worship of the three: for (the symbol) speaks of the Spirit: “who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.” He expounds the doctrine of the third chapter that the Trinity is the Creator, who realized and created from nothing everything visible and invisible; why he calls the Father the Creator of heaven and earth and everything; about the Son he says: “to whom all things were”; and he calls the Spirit life-giving, since He has accomplished, and gives life, and contains everything. Then, proclaiming what pertains to the incarnation of the Word, the symbol confirms by agreement the fourth chapter that the Word became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Mother of God Mary. He also calls her a Virgin, asserting the fifth chapter that the Word, both before, during, and after her birth, preserved her as a Virgin; He also calls the Word incarnate and made man: since He, being a single Word, became special for our sake, taking on a body animated by a rational and desirable soul, and became one in two perfect natures. The sixth chapter also preaches that It was crucified in the flesh for us and suffered, also died and was buried; and the seventh, that He rose again for three days; and the eighth, who ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father. The ninth chapter also testifies that after completion (of the economy) It will again come from heaven to earth with glory; He also brings in the tenth chapter, that It will judge the living and the dead. Then he says: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead,” confirming the eleventh chapter about the resurrection of our own, and not other bodies, upon their union with our souls. He also expounds the twelfth chapter about eternal punishment and the kingdom, saying: “and the life of the world to come, Amen.” The divine symbol contains such members related to the speculative wisdom in Christ: but it also philosophizes about the active wisdom in Christ, which constitutes an excellent moral member, teaching us and leading us to salvation. So he speaks of our descent for the sake of the Lord’s salvation, so that we would imitate His life and be saved; proclaims His suffering and death for us, so that we imitate Him; speaks of His resurrection and life, to instill in us true hope in Him; and that He has come to judge everything - to arouse in us the expectation of the Lord, readiness and attentiveness in this life; He also speaks of the fact that there will be eternal life - into the hope of bliss and the fear of punishment. Through this (the symbol) cleanses (the entire) three-part (composition) of our soul; and firstly, its thinking (beginning) - the pious confession of the Trinity and the incarnation of the Word, and the tradition of baptism; then the irritable (beginning) - a reminder of the incarnation and saving suffering of the Word, teaching us through this humility, as well as meekness and patience; finally, what is desirable is the proclamation of His resurrection and ascension, as well as His coming with glory and eternal life, (for this purpose) so that we, excited by the desire for these blessings, would try to walk right to receive them. And, since the seven main virtues are: humility, lack of vanity, non-covetousness, fasting, chastity, patience and long-suffering; and the seven sins opposite to them - pride, vanity, love of money, fornication, negligence and anger: then the most sacred symbol rejects sins and excites us to virtues. Thus he encourages us to humility - by confessing the descent from heaven and the incarnation of God the Word; to unconceit, speaking of His incarnation; by the same token encourages non-covetousness, fasting and chastity: for He who became man had no place to lay his head, and fasted, and was a virgin and chaste, and was born of a Virgin, and taught virginity; to patience - because He was meek and humble in heart, and endured reproach; finally, to long-suffering in that He was betrayed, crucified, and died for the crucifiers, and during His suffering He prayed for them. Therefore, with these numbered virtues, the Savior overthrew all sin; namely, humility is pride, from which unbelief and blasphemy arise; humiliation - vanity, from which fury, envy and murder are born; non-covetousness - love of money, from which theft, deceit, lies, unbelief and betrayal of God and brothers; fasting - gluttony, from which drunkenness and all evil passions arise; virginity - fornication, from which comes all defilement and separation from the Holy God; patience - carelessness and cowardice, hence - hopelessness, ingratitude, clouding of the mind and despair of the soul; finally, with long-suffering, he crushes anger and demonic fury against the brothers, from where all malice, enmity, hatred, murder and destruction of the three highest and most important virtues, that is, hope, faith and love, which three - in honor of the Trinity - completely unite the one who has them with God himself in the Trinity and elevate to deification. Therefore, we, brethren, will purify our thinking (beginning) with right faith, and, sanctifying with virtues, and especially the noble ones - courage, prudence, justice and prudence, which contain other, both the most important and all virtues in general, together with the thinking, we will lead the irritable and desirable (beginning) to dispassion, and we will live entirely according to Christ, containing within ourselves the true faith and life of Christ, that we may love Christ and think about Christ; may we be churches of Christ, an aroma to Christ, and sanctified in Christ, so that we may be worthy forever of the immortal life, glory and kingdom of Christ himself. For to Him, Christ, the Son of the living God, is due all glory, honor and worship, with His beginningless Father and the life-giving Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: