Concerning the Essence of God

Selected Readings from the Church Fathers

Saint Dionysios the Areopagite

Mystical Theology

Saint Basil the Great

Epistle CCXXXIV, To his friend Amphilochius of Iconium, in reply to another's question

Letter XVI, Against Eunomius the heretic

Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem

Catechetical Lectures

Saint Gregory the Theologian

Oration 28, The Second Theological Oration

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa

The Life of Moses

Saint John Chrysostom

Homily XV on the Gospel of Saint John

Saint Maximos the Confessor

First Century on Theology

Saint John of Damascus

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

Saint Peter of Damaskos

A Treasury of Divine Knowledge

Saint Gregory Palamas

Topics of Natural and Theological Science and on the Moral and Ascetic Life: One Hundred and Fifty Texts

Saint Dionysios the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens (commemorated 3 October; +96)

Before reading the following words of Saint Dionysios, it might be interesting to recall that he heard Saint Paul preach in Athens about the Unknown God (Acts 17:23).

Mystical Theology [1]

CHAPTER IV. That He who is the supreme cause of all sensible things is Himself no part of those things.

We say that the cause of all things, who is Himself above all things, is neither without being nor without life, nor without reason nor without intelligence; nor is He a body; nor has He form or shape, or quality or quantity or mass; is not localised or visible or tangible; He is neither sensitive nor sensible; He is subject to no disorder or disturbance arising from material passion; He is not subject to failure of power, or to the accidents of sensible things; He needs no light; He suffers no change or corruption or division, or privation or flux; and He neither has nor is anything else that belongs to the senses.

CHAPTER V. That He who is the supreme cause of all intelligible things is Himself no part of those things.

Again, ascending, we say that He is neither soul nor intellect; nor has He imagination, nor opinion or reason; He has neither speech nor understanding, and is neither declared nor understood; He is neither number nor order, nor greatness nor smallness, nor equality nor likeness nor unlikeness; He does not stand or move or rest; He neither has power nor is power; nor is He light, nor does He live, nor is He life; He is neither being nor age nor time; nor is He subject to intellectual contact; He is neither knowledge nor truth, nor royalty nor wisdom; He is neither one nor unity, nor divinity, nor goodness; nor is He spirit, as we understand spirit; He is neither sonship nor fatherhood nor anything else known to us or to any other beings, either of the things that are or the things that are not; nor does anything that is, know Him as He is, nor does He know anything that is as it is; He has neither word nor name nor knowledge; He is neither darkness nor light nor truth nor error; He can neither be affirmed nor denied; nay, though we may affirm or deny the things that are beneath Him, we can neither affirm nor deny Him; for the perfect and sole cause of all is above all affirmation, and that which transcends all is above all subtraction, absolutely separate, and beyond all that is.

Saint Basil the Great, Bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia (commemorated 01 January, and jointly with Saints Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom as one of the œcumenical teachers and holy fathers—the Three Holy Hierarchs—on 30 January; +379)

Epistle CCXXXIV [2]

To his friend Amphilochius of Iconium, in reply to another's question:

Do you worship what you know or what you do not know?

If I answer, I worship what I know,

They immediately reply,

What is the essence of the object of worship?

Then, if I confess that I am ignorant of the essence,

They turn on me again and say,

So you worship you know not what.

I answer that the word to know has many meanings.

We say that we know the greatness of God,

His power, His wisdom, His goodness, His providence over us,

And the justness of His judgment;

But not His very essence.

The question is, therefore, only put for the sake of dispute.

For he who denies that he knows the essence

Does not confess himself to be ignorant of God.

Because our idea of God is gathered

From all the attributes which I have enumerated.

But God, he says, is simple,

And whatever attribute of Him you have reckoned as knowable

Is of His essence.

But the absurdities involved in this sophism are innumerable.

When all these high attributes have been enumerated,

Are they all names of one essence?

And is there the same mutual force

In His awfulness and His loving-kindness,

His justice and His creative power,

His providence and His foreknowledge,

And His bestowal of rewards and punishments,

His majesty and His providence?

In mentioning any one of these

Do we declare His essence?

If they say, yes,

Let them not ask if we know the essence of God,

But let them enquire of us whether we know God

To be awful, or just, or merciful.

These we confess that we know.

If they say that essence is something distinct,

Let them not put us in the wrong on the score of simplicity.

For they confess themselves

That there is a distinction between the essence

And each one of the attributes enumerated.

The operations are various,

And the essence simple,

But we say that we know our God from His operations,

But do not undertake to approach near to His essence.

His operations come down to us,

But His essence remains beyond our reach.

But, it is replied, if you are ignorant of the essence,

You are ignorant of Himself.

Retort, If you say that you know His essence,

You are ignorant of Himself.

A man who has been bitten by a mad dog,

And [imagines that he] sees a dog in a dish,

Does not really see any more

Than is seen by people in good health;

He is to be pitied because he thinks he sees

What he does not see.

Do not then admire him for his announcement,

But pity him for his insanity.

Recognize that the voice is the voice of mockers,

When they say,

If you are ignorant of the essence of God,

You worship what you do not know.

I do know that He exists;

What His essence is,

I look at as beyond intelligence.

How then am I saved?

Through faith.

It is faith sufficient to know that God exists,

Without knowing what He is;

And,

He becometh a rewarder to those who seek Him out [Heb. 11:6b ONT [3] ].

So knowledge of the divine essence

Involves perception of His incomprehensibility,

And the object of our worship

Is not that of which we comprehend the essence,

But of which we comprehend that the essence exists.

And the following counter question may also be put to them.

No one hath seen God at any time.

The only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father,

that One declareth Him. [John 1:18 ONT].

What of the Father did the Only-begotten Son declare?

His essence or His power?

If His power,

We know so much as He declared to us.

If His essence,

Tell me where He said

That His essence was the being unbegotten?

When did Abraham worship?

Was it not when he believed?

And when did he believe?

Was it not when he was called?

Where in this place is there any testimony in Scripture

To Abraham's comprehending?

When did the disciples worship Him?

Was it not when they saw creation subject to Him?

It was from the obedience of sea and winds to Him

That they recognised His Godhead.

Therefore the knowledge came from the operations,

And the worship from the knowledge.

“Believe ye that I am able to do this?” …

“Yes, Lord.” [Matt. 9:28b ONT]

And he worshipped Him.

So worship follows faith,

And faith is confirmed by power.

But if you say that the believer also knows,

He knows from what he believes;

And vice versa he believes from what he knows.

We know God from His power.

We, therefore, believe in Him who is known,

And we worship Him who is believed in.

Letter XVI [4]

Against Eunomius the heretic.

He, who says that the discovery of things actually existing is attainable, no doubt had some sort of method and procedure by means of which, through his apprehension of actually existing things, he has applied his own powers of reasoning; and, by first training himself to apprehend the insignificant and easily comprehensible, he has advanced his apprehensive faculty to the apprehension of that which is beyond all intelligence.

Now then let him who boasts of having apprehended the knowledge of things actually existing interpret the nature of the most insignificant of phenomena. For instance, let him tell what is the nature of the ant. Is its life sustained by respiration and breath? Is its body provided with a system of bones? Are its joints kept taut by sinews and ligaments? Is the position of the sinews under the control of a covering of muscles and glands? Is its marrow stretched along the dorsal vertebrae from brow to tail? Is it by means of its envelope of sinewy membrane that the marrow gives to the movable members the power of propulsion? Does it possess a liver, a gall-bladder near the liver, kidneys, a heart, arteries, veins, membranes, and cartilage? Is it smooth-skinned, or covered with hair? Has it an uncloven hoof, or are its feet divided into toes? How long does it live? How does it reproduce its kind? How long is the fetus carried in the womb? How is it that ants neither all walk, nor all fly, but some belong to the things that move upon the ground, while others travel through the air?

Let him, therefore, who boasts the knowledge of actually existing things, first tell us of the nature of the ant. Then and not till then may he investigate the nature of the power which surpasses all understanding. If, however, you have not yet comprehended the nature of the smallest ant by knowledge, how can you boast that the incomprehensible power of God is apparent to you?

Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem (commemorated 18 March; +386)

Catechetical Lectures [5]

Lecture VI. On the Unity of God.

“All that are opposed to him [the God of Israel, the Saviour; cf. v. 15] shall be ashamed and confounded, and shall walk in shame: ye isles, keep a feast to me. Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation: they shall not be ashamed nor confounded for evermore.” [Esaias 45:16-17, LXX [6] ]

2. Now, though the motions of the intellect are most rapid, ... still it is after all weak and inadequate. For we speak, not what we ought concerning God, (for to Him only is this known,) but what man's nature can, and our weakness is equal to. For we explain not what God is; but we honestly confess that we have no exact knowledge of Him; for on the subject of God, it is great knowledge to confess our want of knowledge. ...

5. But some one will say, If the Divine Nature is incomprehensible, why then dost thou discourse concerning these things? ... I praise and glorify Him who hath made us: for it is a Divine call which says, "Let every breath praise the Lord" [Ps. 150:5b TOP [7] ]. I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, not to declare Him; knowing indeed right well that I must fall short of worthily glorifying Him, but deeming it a work of godliness even to attempt it at all. For the Lord Jesus encourages my infirmity, saying, “No one hath seen God at any time” [John 1:18a ONT].

Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople (commemorated 25 January, and on 19 January for the translation of his relics, and jointly with Saints Basil the Great and John Chrysostom as one of the œcumenical teachers and holy fathers—the Three Holy Hierarchs—on 30 January; +389)

Oration 28, The Second Theological Oration [8]

XVII. What God is in nature and essence, no man ever yet has discovered or can discover. Whether it will ever be discovered is a question which he who will may examine and decide. In my opinion it will be discovered when that within us which is godlike and divine, I mean our mind and reason, shall have mingled with its Like, and the image shall have ascended to the Archetype, of which it has now the desire. And this I think is the solution of that vexed problem as to "We shall know even as we are known." (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:12) But in our present life all that comes to us is but a little effluence, and as it were a small effulgence from a great Light. So that if anyone has known God, or has had the testimony of Scripture to his knowledge of God, we are to understand such an one to have possessed a degree of knowledge which gave him the appearance of being more fully enlightened than another who did not enjoy the same degree of illumination; and this relative superiority is spoken of as if it were absolute knowledge, not because it is really such, but by comparison with the power of that other.

Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa (commemorated 10 January; +395)

The Life of Moses [9]

“The Burning Bush” (p. 37)

It is upon us who continue in this quiet and peaceful course of life that the truth will shine, illuminating the eyes of our soul with its own rays. This truth, which was then manifested by the ineffable and mysterious illumination which came to Moses, is God.

And if the flame by which the soul of the prophet was illuminated was kindled from a thorny bush [the “first theophany” referred to below], ^[10] even this fact will not be useless for our inquiry. For if truth is God and truth is light—the Gospel testifies by these sublime and divine names to the God who made himself visible to us in the flesh—such guidance of virtue leads us to know that light which has reached down even to human nature.

…

“The Darkness” (pp. 80-81)

What does it mean that Moses entered the darkness and then saw God in it? ^[11] What is now recounted seems somehow to be contradictory to the first theophany, for then the Divine was beheld in light, but now he is seen in darkness. Let us not think that this is at variance with the sequence of things we have contemplated spiritually. Scripture teaches by this that religious knowledge comes at first to those who receive it as light. Therefore what is perceived to be contrary to religion is darkness, and the escape from darkness comes about when one participates in light. But as the mind progresses and, through an ever greater and more perfect diligence, comes to apprehend reality, as it approaches more nearly to contemplation, it sees more clearly what of the divine nature is contemplated.

For leaving behind everything that is observed, not only what sense comprehends but also what the intelligence thinks it sees, it keeps on penetrating deeper until by the intelligence's yearning for understanding it gains access to the invisible and the incomprehensible, and there it sees God. This is the true knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness. Wherefore John the sublime, who penetrated into the luminous darkness, says, “No one hath seen God at any time” [John 1:18a ONT], thus asserting that knowledge of the divine essence is unattainable not only by men, but also by every intelligent creature.

When, therefore, Moses grew in knowledge, he declared that he had seen God in the darkness, that is, that he had then come to know that what is divine is beyond all knowledge and comprehension, for the text says, "Moses went into the darkness where God was." [Exod. 20:21 LXX]. What God? He who "made darkness His hiding place" [Ps. 17:12a TOP], as David says, who also was initiated into the mysteries in the same inner sanctuary.

When Moses arrived there, he was taught by word what he had formerly learned from darkness, so that, I think, the doctrine on this matter might be made firmer for us for being testified to by the divine voice. The divine word at the beginning forbids that the Divine be likened to any of the things known by men, ^[12] since every concept which comes from some comprehensible image by an approximate understanding and by guessing at the divine nature constitutes an idol of God [emphasis added] and does not proclaim God.

Religious virtue is divided into two parts, into that which pertains to the Divine and that which pertains to right conduct (for purity of life is a part of religion). Moses learns at first the things which must be known about God (namely, that none of those things known by human comprehension is to be ascribed to him). Then he is taught the other side of virtue, learning by what pursuits the virtuous life is perfected.

…

“The Earthly Tabernacle” (pp. 89-90)

...

If the interior, which is called the Holy of Holies, is not accessible to the multitude, let us not think that this is at variance with the sequence of what has been perceived. For the truth of reality is truly a holy thing, a holy of holies, and is incomprehensible and inaccessible to the multitude. Since it is set in the secret and ineffable areas of the tabernacle of mystery, the apprehension of the realities above comprehension should not be meddled with; one should, rather, believe that what is sought does exist, not that it lies visible to all, but that it remains in the secret and ineffable areas of the intelligence.

Saint John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (commemorated 13 November, and jointly with Saints Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian as one of the œcumenical teachers and holy fathers—the Three Holy Hierarchs—on 30 January; +407)

Following below is an extract from one of Saint John’s homilies that is sufficient to illustrate his teachings on the Essence of God. However, please note that further readings on this subject by Saint John can be found in the book On the Incomprehensible Nature of God (The Fathers of the Church, 72, CUA Press, 1999).

Homily XV on the Gospel of Saint John [13]

John 1:18 (ONT) —No one hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declareth Him.

God will not have us listen to the words and sentences contained in the Scriptures carelessly, but with much attention. This is why the blessed David hath prefixed in many places to his Psalms the title "for understanding," [14] and hath said, Uncover mine eyes, and I shall contemplate the wonders of Thy law. [Ps. 118:18 TOP] And after him his son again shows that we ought to seek out wisdom as silver [cf. Prov. 2:4a LXX], and to make merchandise of her rather than of gold [cf. Prov. 3:14 LXX]. And the Lord when He exhorts the Jews to search the Scriptures [cf. John 5:39 ONT], the more urges us to the enquiry, for He would not thus have spoken if it were possible to comprehend them immediately at the first reading. No one would ever search for what is obvious and at hand, but for that which is wrapt in shadow, and which must be found after much enquiry; and so to arouse us to the search He calls them hidden treasure [cf. Prov. 2:4b LXX, Matt. 13:44 ONT]. These words are said to us that we may not apply ourselves to the words of the Scriptures carelessly or in a chance way, but with great exactness. For if any one listen to what is said in them without enquiring into the meaning, and receive all so as it is spoken, according to the letter, he will suppose many unseemly things of God, will admit of Him that He is a man, that He is made of brass [cf. Rev. 1:15 ONT], is wrathful, is furious, and many opinions yet worse than these. But if he fully learn the sense that lies beneath, he will be freed from all this unseemliness. The very text which now lies before us says, that God has a bosom, a thing proper to bodily substances, yet no one is so insane as to imagine, that He Who is without body is a body. In order then that we may properly interpret the entire passage according to its spiritual meaning, let us search it through from its beginning.

No man hath seen God at any time. By what connection of thought does the Apostle come to say this? After showing the exceeding greatness of the gifts of Christ, and the infinite difference between them and those ministered by Moses, he would add the reasonable cause of the difference. Moses, as being a servant, was minister of lower things, but Christ being Lord and King, and the King's Son, brought to us things far greater, being ever with the Father, and beholding Him continually; wherefore He saith, No man hath seen God at any time. What then shall we answer to the most mighty of voice, Esaias, when he says, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne [Esa. 6:1b LXX]; and to John himself testifying of Him, that he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him? [John 12:41b ONT ] What also to Ezekiel? for he too beheld Him sitting above the Cherubim [Jezek. 1:1,25-27 LXX]. What to Daniel? for he too saith, the Ancient of days sat [Dan. 7:9 LXX]. What to Moses himself, saying, reveal thyself to me, that I may evidently see thee [Ex. 33:13b LXX]. And Jacob took his name from this very thing, being called Israel; for Israel is "one that sees God." [15] And others have seen him. How then saith John, No man hath seen God at any time? It is to declare, that all these were instances of (His) condescension, not the vision of the Essence itself unveiled. For had they seen the very Nature, they would not have beheld It under different forms, since That is simple, without form, or parts, or bounding lines. It sits not, nor stands, nor walks: these things belong all to bodies. But how He Is, He only knoweth. And this He hath declared by a certain prophet, saying, I have multiplied visions, and by the means of the prophets I was represented [Osee 12:10b LXX], that is, "I have condescended, I have not appeared as I really was [lit. have been likened]." For since His Son was about to appear in very flesh, He prepared them from old time to behold the substance of God, as far as it was possible for them to see It; but what God really is, not only have not the prophets seen, but not even angels nor archangels. If you ask them, you shall not hear them answering anything concerning His Essence, but sending up [al. only singing], Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men [Luke 2:14 ONT]. If you desire to learn something from Cherubim or Seraphim, you shall hear the mystic song of His Holiness, and that the whole earth is full of his glory [Esa. 6:3b LXX]. If you enquire of the higher powers, you shall but find [al. ‘they shall answer again’] that their one work is the praise of God. Praise ye Him, saith David, all His hosts [Psalm 148:2b TOP]. But the Son only beholds Him, and the Holy Ghost. How can any created nature even see the Uncreated? If we are absolutely unable clearly to discern any incorporeal power whatsoever, even though created, as has been often proved in the case of angels, much less can we discern the Essence which is incorporeal and uncreated. Wherefore Paul saith, Whom not one of mankind did see, nor is able to see [1 Timothy 6:16b ONT]. Does then this special attribute belong to the Father only, not to the Son? Away with the thought. It belongs also to the Son; and to show that it does so, hear Paul declaring this point, and saying, that He is the image of the invisible God [Colossians 1:15a ONT]. Now if He be the Image of the Invisible, He must be invisible Himself, for otherwise He would not be an image. And wonder not that Paul saith in another place, God was manifested in the flesh [1 Timothy 3:16b ONT]; because the manifestation took place by means of the flesh, not according to (His) Essence. Besides, Paul shows that He is invisible, not only to men, but also to the powers above, for after saying, was manifested in the Flesh, he adds, seen by angels [1 Timothy 3:16b ONT].

So that even to angels He then became visible, when He put on the Flesh; but before that time they did not so behold Him, because even to them His Essence was invisible.

"How then," asks some one, "did Christ say, Be taking heed that ye do not ever despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in the heavens their angels continually behold the face of My Father Who is in the heavens? [Matthew 18:10 ONT] Hath then God a face, and is He bounded by the heavens?" Who [is] so mad as to assert this? What then is the meaning of the words? As when He saith, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God [Matthew 5:8 ONT], He means that intellectual vision which is possible to us, and the having God in the thoughts; so in the case of angels, we must understand [al. many say] that by reason of their pure and sleepless nature they do nothing else, but always image to themselves God. And therefore Christ saith, that nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son [Matthew 11:27b ONT]. What then, are we all in ignorance? God forbid; but none knoweth Him as the Son knoweth Him. As then many [al. ‘many prophets’] have seen Him in the mode of vision permitted to them, but no one has beheld His Essence, so many of us know God, but what His substance can be none knoweth, save only He that was begotten of Him. For by “knowledge” He here means an exact idea and comprehension, such as the Father hath of the Son. As the Father knoweth Me, I also know the Father [John 10:15a ONT].

Observe, therefore, with what fullness [al. ‘exactness’] the Evangelist speaks; for having said that no man hath seen God at any time, he does not go on to say, "that the Son who hath seen, hath declared Him," but adds something beyond "seeing" by the words, Who is in the bosom of the Father; because, "to dwell in the bosom" is far more than "to see." For he that merely "seeth" hath not an in every way exact knowledge of the object, but he that "dwelleth in the bosom" can be ignorant of nothing. Now lest when thou hearest that none knoweth the Father, save the Son, thou shouldest assert that although He knoweth the Father more than all, yet He knoweth not how great He is, the Evangelist says that He dwells in the bosom of the Father; and Christ Himself declares, that He knoweth Him as much as the Father knoweth the Son. Ask therefore the gainsayer, "Tell me, doth the Father know the Son?" And if he be not mad, he will certainly answer, "Yes." Then ask again; "Doth He see and know Him with exact vision and knowledge? Doth He know clearly what He Is?" He will certainly confess this also. From this next collect the exact comprehension the Son has of the Father. For He saith, As the Father knoweth me, I also know the Father; and in another place, Not that anyone hath seen the Father, except the One Who is from God [John 6:46a ONT]. Wherefore, as I said, the Evangelist mentions "the bosom," to show all this to us by that one word; that great is the affinity and nearness of the Essence, that the knowledge is nowise different, that the power is equal. For the Father would not have in His bosom one of another essence, nor would He have dared, had He been one amongst many servants, to live in the bosom of his Lord, for this belongs only to a true Son, to one who has [lit. ‘uses’] much confidence towards His Father, and Who is in nothing inferior to Him.

Wouldest thou learn also His eternity? Hear what Moses saith concerning the Father. When he asked what he was commanded to answer should the Jews enquire of him, "Who it was that had sent him," he heard these words: Say, I AM hath sent me. [16] Now the expression I AM, [17] is significative of Being ever, and Being without beginning, of Being really and absolutely. And this also the expression, Was in the beginning, declares, being indicative of Being ever; so that John uses this word to show that the Son Is from everlasting to everlasting in the bosom of the Father. For that you may not from the sameness of name, suppose that He is some one of those who are made sons by grace, first, the article is added, distinguishing Him from those by grace. But if this does not content you, if you still look earthwards, hear a name more absolute than this, Only-Begotten. If even after this you still look below, "I will not refuse," says he, (St. John,) "to apply to God a term belonging to man, I mean the word bosom, only suspect nothing degrading." Dost thou see the loving-kindness and carefulness of the Lord? God applies [al. "allows to be applied"] to Himself unworthy expressions, that even so thou mayest see through them, and have some great and lofty thought of Him; and dost thou tarry below? For tell me, wherefore is that gross and carnal word "bosom" employed in this place? Is it that we may suppose God to be a body? Away, he by no means saith so. Why then is it spoken? for if by it neither the genuineness of the Son is established, nor that God is not a body, the word, because it serves no purpose, is superfluously thrown in. Why then is it spoken? For I shall not desist from asking thee this question. Is it not very plain, that it is for no other reason but that by it we might understand the genuineness of the Only-Begotten, and His Coeternity with the Father?

He hath declared Him, saith John. What hath he declared? That no man hath seen God at any time? That God is one? But this all the other prophets testify, and Moses continually exclaims, The Lord our God is one Lord [Deut. 6:4 LXX]; and Esaias, before me there was no other God, and after me there shall be none [Esa. 43:10b]. What more then have we learned from the Son Which is in the bosom of the Father? What from the Only-Begotten? In the first place, these very words were uttered by His working; in the next place, we have received a teaching that is far clearer, and learned that God is Spirit, and it is needful for those who revere Him to do reverence in spirit and truth [John 4:24 ONT]; and again, that it is impossible to see God; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son; ^{Error! Bookmark not defined.} that He is the Father of the true and Only-Begotten; and all other things that are told us of Him. But the word hath declared shows the plainer and clearer teaching which He gave not to the Jews only but to all the world, and established. To the prophets not even all the Jews gave heed, but to the Only-Begotten Son of God all the world yielded and obeyed. So the "declaration" in this place shows the greater clearness of His teaching, and therefore also He is called Word, and Messenger of great counsel [Esa. 9:6b LXX].

Since then we have been vouchsafed a larger and more perfect teaching, God having no longer spoken by the prophets, but did in these last of days speak to us through the Son [Hebrews 1:2a ONT], let us show forth a conversation far higher than theirs, and suitable to the honor bestowed on us. Strange would it be that He should have so far lowered Himself, as to choose to speak to us no longer by His servants, but by His own mouth, and yet we should show forth nothing more than those of old. They had Moses for their teacher, we, Moses' Lord. Let us then exhibit a heavenly wisdom worthy of this honor, and let us have nothing to do with earth. It was for this that He brought His teaching from heaven above, that He might remove our thoughts thither, that we might be imitators of our Teacher according to our power. But how may we become imitators of Christ? By acting in every thing for the common good, and not merely seeking our own. For even the Christ pleased not Himself; but even as it hath been written: ‘The reproaches of those who reproach Thee are fallen on Me.’ [Romans 15:3 ONT quoting from the Psalms: “…the reproaches of the ones reproaching Thee fell upon me” (Psalm 68:8b TOP).] Let no one therefore seek his own. In truth, a man (really) seeks his own good when he looks to that of his neighbor. What is their good is ours; we are one body, and parts and limbs one of another. Let us not then be as though we were rent asunder. Let no one say, "such a person is no friend of mine, nor relation, nor neighbor, I have nought to do with him, how shall I approach, how address him?" Though he be neither relation nor friend, yet he is a man, who shares the same nature with thee, owns the same Lord, is thy fellow servant, and fellow sojourner [o9mo/skhnoj, "tent-fellow"], for he is born in the same world. And if besides he partakes of the same faith, behold he hath also become a member of thee: for what friendship could work such union, as the relationship of faith? And our intimacy one with another must not be such nearness only as friends ought to show to friends, but such as is between limb and limb, because no man can possibly discover any intimacy greater than this sort of friendship and fellowship [al. "care"]. As then you cannot say, "Whence arises my intimacy and connection with this limb?" (that would be ridiculous;) so neither can you say so in the case of your brother. We are all baptized into one body [1 Corinthians 12:13b ONT], saith Paul. Wherefore into one body? That we be not rent asunder, but preserve the just proportions of that one body by our intercourse and friendship one with another.

Let us not then despise one another, lest we be neglectful of ourselves (al. "let us then so care for our neighbors, as not neglecting each his own flesh"). For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it [Ephesians 5:29a ONT]. And therefore God hath given to us but one habitation, this earth, hath distributed all things equally, hath lighted one sun for us all, hath spread above us one roof, the sky, made one table, the earth, bear food for us. And another table hath He given far better than this, yet that too is one, (those who share our mysteries understand my words,) one manner of Birth He hath bestowed on all, the spiritual, we all have one country, that in the heavens, of the same cup drink we all. He hath not bestowed on the rich man a gift more abundant and more honorable, and on the poor one more mean and small, but He hath called all alike. He hath given carnal things with equal regard to all, and spiritual in like manner. Whence then proceeds the great inequality of conditions in life? From the avarice and pride of the wealthy. But let not, brethren, let not this any longer be; and when matters of universal interest and more pressing necessity bring us together, let us not be divided by things earthly and insignificant: I mean, by wealth and poverty, by bodily relationship, by enmity and friendship; for all these things are a shadow, nay less substantial than a shadow, to those who possess the bond of charity from above. Let us then preserve this unbroken, and none of those evil spirits [al. "passions"]  will be able to enter in, who cause division in so perfect union [al. "union with Him"]; to which may we all attain by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom and with Whom, to the Father and the Holy Ghost, be glory, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.

Saint Maximos the Confessor (commemorated 21 January, and on 13 August for the translation of his relics; +662)

First Century on Theology [18]

8. Created beings are termed intelligible because each of them has an origin that can be known rationally. But God cannot be termed intelligible, while from our apprehension of intelligible beings we can do no more than believe that He exists. On this account no intelligible being is in any way to be compared with Him.

9. Created beings can be known rationally by means of the inner principles which are by nature intrinsic to such beings and by which they are naturally defined. But from our apprehension of these principles inherent in created beings we can do no more than believe that God exists. To the devout believer God gives something more sure than any proof: the recognition and the faith that He substantively is.

Saint John of Damascus (commemorated 4 December; + ca. 780)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith [19]

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I. That the Deity is incomprehensible, and that we ought not to pry into and meddle with the things which have not been delivered to us by the holy Prophets, and Apostles, and Evangelists.

No one hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, that One declareth Him. [John 1:18 ONT] The Deity, therefore, is ineffable and incomprehensible. And no one doth fully know the Son, except the Father; nor doth anyone fully know the Father, except the Son [Matthew 11:27b ONT]. And the Holy Spirit, too, so knows the things of God as the spirit of the man knows the things that are in him. [20] Moreover, after the first and blessed nature no one, not of men only, but even of supramundane powers, and the Cherubim, I say, and Seraphim themselves, has ever known God, save he to whom He revealed Himself.

God, however, did not leave us in absolute ignorance. For the knowledge of God's existence has been implanted by Him in all by nature. This creation, too, and its maintenance, and its government, proclaim the majesty of the Divine nature. [21] Moreover, by the Law and the Prophets in former times, and afterwards by His Only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, He disclosed to us the knowledge of Himself as that was possible for us. All things, therefore, that have been delivered to us by Law and Prophets and Apostles and Evangelists we receive, and know, and honour, seeking for nothing beyond these. For God, being good, is the cause of all good, subject neither to envy nor to any passion. For envy is far removed from the Divine nature, which is both passionless and only good. As knowing all things, therefore, and providing for what is profitable for each, He revealed that which it was to our profit to know; but what we were unable to bear He kept secret. With these things let us be satisfied, and let us abide by them, not removing everlasting boundaries, nor overpassing the divine tradition. [22]

CHAPTER II. Concerning things utterable and things unutterable, and things knowable and things unknowable.

It is necessary, therefore, that one who wishes to speak or to hear of God should understand clearly that alike in the doctrine of Deity and in that of the Incarnation, neither are all things unutterable nor all utterable; neither all unknowable nor all knowable. But the knowable belongs to one order, and the utterable to another; just as it is one thing to speak and another thing to know. Many of the things relating to God, therefore, that are dimly understood cannot be put into fitting terms, but on things above us we cannot do else than express ourselves according to our limited capacity; as, for instance, when we speak of God we use the terms sleep, and wrath, and regardlessness, hands, too, and feet, and such like expressions.

We, therefore, both know and confess that God is without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreate, unchangeable, invariable, simple, uncompound, incorporeal, invisible, impalpable, uncircumscribed, infinite, incognisable, indefinable, incomprehensible, good, just, maker of all things created, almighty, all-ruling, all-surveying, of all overseer, sovereign, judge; and that God is One, that is to say, one essence (ουσια, substance, being); and that He is known, and has His being in three subsistences (υποστασεσι, hypostases, persons), in Father, I say, and Son and Holy Spirit; and that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in all respects, except in that of not being begotten, that of being begotten, and that of procession; and that the Only-begotten Son and Word of God and God, in His bowels of mercy, for our salvation, by the good pleasure of God and the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, being conceived without seed, was born uncorruptedly of the Holy Virgin and Mother of God, Mary, by the Holy Spirit, and became of her perfect Man; and that the Same is at once perfect God and perfect Man, of two natures, Godhead and Manhood, and in two natures possessing intelligence, will and energy, and freedom, and, in a word, perfect according to the measure and proportion proper to each, at once to the divinity, I say, and to the humanity, yet to one composite person (μια δε συνθετω υποστασει); and that He suffered hunger and thirst and weariness, and was crucified, and for three days submitted to the experience of death and burial, and ascended to heaven, from which also He came to us, and shall come again. And the Holy Scripture is witness to this and the whole choir of the Saints.

But neither do we know, nor can we tell, what the essence (ουσια, substance, being) of God is, or how it is in all, or how the Only-begotten Son and God, having emptied Himself, became Man of virgin blood, made by another law contrary to nature, or how He walked with dry feet upon the waters. It is not within our capacity, therefore, to say anything about God or even to think of Him, beyond the things which have been divinely revealed to us, whether by word or by manifestation, by the divine oracles at once of the Old Testament and of the New.

CHAPTER ΙΙΙ. Proof that there is a God.

That there is a God, then, is no matter of doubt to those who receive the Holy Scriptures, the Old Testament, I mean, and the New; nor indeed to most of the Greeks. For, as we said, the knowledge of the existence of God is implanted in us by nature. But since the wickedness of the Evil One has prevailed so mightily against man's nature as even to drive some into denying the existence of God, that most foolish and woefulest pit of destruction (whose folly David, revealer of the Divine meaning, exposed when he said (Ps. 13:1 TOP), The fool said in his heart, ‘There is no God’), so the disciples of the Lord and His Apostles, made wise by the Holy Spirit and working wonders in His power and grace, took them captive in the net of miracles and drew them up out of the depths of ignorance to the light of the knowledge of God. In like manner also their successors in grace and worth, both pastors and teachers, having received the enlightening grace of the Spirit, were wont, alike by the power of miracles and the word of grace, to enlighten those walking in darkness and to bring back the wanderers into the way. But as for us who are not recipients either of the gift of miracles or the gift of teaching (for indeed we have rendered ourselves unworthy of these by our passion for pleasure), come, let us in connection with this theme discuss a few of those things which have been delivered to us on this subject by the expounders of grace, calling on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

All things, that exist, are either created or uncreated. If, then, things are created, it follows that they are also wholly mutable. For things, whose existence originated in change, must also be subject to change, whether it be that they perish or that they become other than they are by act of will. But if things are un-created they must in all consistency be also wholly immutable. For things which are opposed in the nature of their existence must also be opposed in the mode of their existence, that is to say, must have opposite properties: who, then, will refuse to grant that all existing things, not only such as come within the province of the senses, but even the very angels, are subject to change and transformation and movement of various kinds? For the things appertaining to the rational world, I mean angels and spirits and demons, are subject to changes of will, whether it is a progression or a retrogression in goodness, whether a struggle or a surrender; while the others suffer changes of generation and destruction, of increase and decrease, of quality and of movement in space. Things then that are mutable are also wholly created. But things that are created must be the work of some maker, and the maker cannot have been created. For if he had been created, he also must surely have been created by some one, and so on till we arrive at something uncreated. The Creator, then, being uncreated, is also wholly immutable. And what could this be other than Deity?

And even the very continuity of the creation, and its preservation and government, teach us that there does exist a Deity, who supports and maintains and preserves and ever provides for this universe. For how could opposite natures, such as fire and water, air and earth, have combined with each other so as to form one complete world, and continue to abide in indissoluble union, were there not some omnipotent power which bound them together and always is preserving them from dissolution?

What is it that gave order to things of heaven and things of earth, and all those things that move in the air and in the water, or rather to what was in existence before these, viz., to heaven and earth and air and the elements of fire and water? What (Who) was it that mingled and distributed these? What was it that set these in motion and keeps them in their unceasing and unhindered course? Was it not the Artificer of these things, and He Who has implanted in everything the law whereby the universe is carried on and directed? Who then is the Artificer of these things? Is it not He Who created them and brought them into existence? For we shall not attribute such a power to the spontaneous (το αυτοματω, to the automatic). For, supposing their coming into existence was due to the spontaneous; what of the power that put all in order (or, whose was the disposing of them in order)? And let us grant this, if you please. What of that which has preserved and kept them in harmony with the original laws of their existence (or, whose are the preserving of them, and the keeping of them in accordance with the principles under which they were first placed)? Clearly it is something quite distinct from the spontaneous (παρα το αυτοματον, quite other than the spontaneous, or, than chance). And what could this be other than Deity?

CHAPTER IV. Concerning the nature of Deity: that it is incomprehensible.

It is plain, then, that there is a God. But what He is in His essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. For it is evident that He is incorporeal (various reading: It is evident that the divine (το θειον) is incorporeal). For how could that possess body which is infinite, and boundless, and formless, and intangible and invisible, in short, simple and not compound? How could that be immutable which is circumscribed and subject to passion? And how could that be passionless which is composed of elements and is resolved again into them? For combination (συωθεσις) is the beginning of conflict, and conflict of separation, and separation of dissolution, and dissolution is altogether foreign to God.

Again, how will it also be maintained (σωθησεται) that God permeates and fills the universe? As the Scriptures say, Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord [Jeremias 23:24 LXX]. For it is an impossibility that one body should permeate other bodies without dividing and being divided, and without being enveloped and contrasted, in the same way as all fluids mix and commingle.

But if some say that the body is immaterial, in the same way as the fifth body [The reference is to the Pythagorean and Aristotelian ideas of the heavens as being like the body of Deity, something uncorrupt, different from the four elements, and therefore called a fifth body or element, στοιχειον. ...] of which the Greek philosophers speak (which body is an impossibility), it will be wholly subject to motion like the heaven. For that is what they mean by the fifth body. Who then is it that moves it? For everything that is moved is moved by another thing. And who again is it that moves that? And so on to infinity till we at length arrive at something motionless. For the first mover is motionless, and that is the Deity. And must not that which is moved be circumscribed in space? The Deity, then, alone is motionless, moving the universe by immobility. So then it must be assumed that the Deity is incorporeal.

But even this gives no true idea of His essence, to say that He is unbegotten, and without beginning, changeless and imperishable, and possessed of such other qualities as we are wont to ascribe to God and His environment (or, such as are said to exist in the case of God, or in relation to God). For these do not indicate what He is, but what He is not. But when we would explain what the essence of anything is, we must not speak only negatively. In the case of God, however, it is impossible to explain what He is in His essence, and it befits us the rather to hold discourse about His absolute separation from all things. The Greek is... It may be given thus:—It is more in accordance with the nature of the case rather to discourse of Him in the way of abstracting from Him all that belongs to us. For He does not belong to the class of existing things: not that He has no existence, but that He is above all existing things, nay even above existence itself. For if all forms of knowledge have to do with what exists, assuredly that which is above knowledge must certainly be also above essence (or, above being): and, conversely, that which is above essence  (or, above being) will also be above knowledge.

God then is infinite and incomprehensible: and all that is comprehensible about Him is His infinity and incomprehensibility. But all that we can affirm concerning God does not show forth God's nature, but only the qualities of His nature (or, but only the things which relate to His nature). For when you speak of Him as good, and just, and wise, and so forth, you do not tell God's nature but only the qualities of His nature (or, the things which relate to His nature). Further there are some affirmations which we make concerning God which have the force of absolute negation: for example, when we use the term darkness, in reference to God, we do not mean darkness itself, but that He is not light but above light: and when we speak of Him as light, we mean that He is not darkness.

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I. Concerning aeon or age.

He created the ages Who Himself was before the ages, Whom the divine David thus addresses, from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art [Ps. 89:2b TOP]. The divine apostle also says, by Whom also He made the ages [Heb. 1:2b ONT]. …

Before the world was formed, when there was as yet no sun dividing day from night, there was not an age such as could be measured, but there was the sort of temporal motion and interval that is co-extensive with eternity. And in this sense there is but one age, and God is spoken of as αιωνιος and προαιωνιος, for the age or aeon itself is His creation. For God, Who alone is without beginning, is Himself the Creator of all things, whether age or any other existing thing. And when I say God, it is evident that I mean the Father and His Only-begotten Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, and His all-holy Spirit, our one God. …

Saint Peter of Damaskos (fl. 10th or 11th century A.D.)

A Treasury of Divine Knowledge [23]

In our ignorance, however, we should not identify God in Himself with His divine attributes, such as His goodness, bountifulness, justice, holiness, light, fire, being, nature, power, wisdom and the others of which St Dionysios the Areopagite speaks [The Divine Names I, 6; Mystical Theology 3-5]. God in Himself is not among any of the things that the intellect is capable of defining, for He is undetermined and undeterminable. In theology we can speak about the attributes of God but not about God in Himself, as St. Dionysios explains to St. Timothy, invoking St. Hierotheos as witness [cf. The Divine Names II, 10]. It is indeed more correct to speak of God in Himself as inscrutable, unsearchable, inexplicable, as all that it is impossible to define. For He is beyond intellection and thought, and is known only to Himself, one God in three hypostases, unoriginate, unending, beyond goodness, above all praise. All that is said of God in divine Scripture is said with this sense of our inadequacy, that though we may know that God is, we cannot know what He is; for in Himself He is incomprehensible to every being endowed with intellect and reason.

Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica (commemorated 14 November; + ca. 1360)

Topics of Natural and Theological Science and on the Moral and Ascetic Life: One Hundred and Fifty Texts [24]

72. When God the Father preannounced through the prophet Michaeas the birth in the flesh of His Only-begotten Son, and wished to indicate also the unoriginate nature of Christ's divinity, He said: 'and his goings forth were from the beginning, even from eternity' (Michaeas 5:2 LXX). The holy fathers explain that these 'goings forth' are the energies of the Godhead, for the powers and energies are the same for Father, Son and Holy Spirit. … comprehend who it is that exists from the beginning, and who it is to whom David says: 'From eternity'—which has the same meaning as 'from an eternity of days'—'to everlasting, Thou art’ [Ps. 89:2b TOP]. … when God said through His prophet that these goings forth are from the beginning, He did not say that they came into being, or were made or created. And St. Basil, inspired by the Spirit of God, said, not that the energies of the Spirit 'came into being', but that they existed 'prior to the creation of noetic reality' and 'beyond the ages' (cf. On the Holy Spirit xix 49). Only God is operative and all-powerful from eternity, and therefore He possesses pre-eternal operations and powers.

78. Every created nature is far removed from and completely foreign to the divine nature. For if God is nature, other things are not nature; but if every other thing is nature, He is not a nature, just as He is not a being if all other things are beings. And if He is a being, then all other things are not beings. And if you accept this as true also for wisdom, goodness, and in general all things that pertain to God or are ascribed to Him, then your theology will be correct and in accordance with the saints. God both is and is said to be the nature of all beings, in so far as all partake of Him and subsist by means of this participation: not, however, by participation in His nature—far from it—but by participation in His energy. In this sense He is the Being of all beings, the Form that is in all forms as the Author of form, the Wisdom of the wise and, simply, the All of all things. Moreover, He is not nature, because He transcends every nature; He is not a being, because He transcends every being; and He is not nor does He possess a form, because He transcends form. How, then, can we draw near to God? By drawing near to His nature? But not a single created being has or can have any communication with or proximity to the sublime nature. Thus if anyone has drawn close to God, he has evidently approached Him by means of His energy. In what way? By natural participation in that energy? But this is common to all created things. It is not, therefore, by virtue of natural qualities, but by virtue of what one achieves through free choice that one is close to or distant from God. But free choice pertains only to beings endowed with intelligence. So among all creatures only those endowed with intelligence can be far from or close to God, drawing close to Him through virtue or becoming distant through vice. Thus such beings alone are capable of wretchedness or blessedness. Let us strive to lay hold of blessedness.