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Holy Theotokos, if two natures were hanging on the cross 81. How the only-begotten Son of God is called the firstborn 82. Concerning faith and baptism 83. Concerning faith 84. Concerning the cross, in which also still concerning faith 85. Concerning worshiping towards the east 86. Concerning the holy and undefiled mysteries of the Lord 87. Concerning the genealogy of the Lord and concerning the holy Theotokos 88. Concerning the saints and the veneration of their relics 89. Concerning icons 90. Concerning Scripture 91. Concerning the things said of Christ 92. That God is not the cause of evils 93. That there are not two principles 94. For what reason God, foreknowing those who would sin and not repent, created them 95. Concerning the law of God and the law of sin 96. Against the Jews concerning the Sabbath 97. Concerning virginity 98. Concerning circumcision 99. Concerning the Antichrist 100. Concerning the resurrection

An exact exposition of the orthodox faith by the venerable Abba John, presbyter of Damascus

1. That the divine is incomprehensible and that one ought not to seek and pry into the things not handed down to us by the holy prophets and apostles and evangelists "No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." The divine is therefore ineffable and incomprehensible. "For no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father." And the Holy Spirit thus knows the things of God, as the spirit of man knows the things within him. After the first and blessed nature no one has ever known God, unless He himself revealed it, not only of men but not even of the supramundane powers, I mean of the Cherubim and Seraphim themselves. However, God did not leave us in complete ignorance; for the knowledge of God's existence has been naturally sown in all by Him. And creation itself and its maintenance and governance proclaim the majesty of the divine nature. And through the law and the prophets previously, and then also through his only-begotten Son, our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, he revealed the knowledge of himself according to what is possible for us. Therefore, all things handed down to us through the law and prophets and apostles and evangelists we receive and know and venerate, seeking nothing further than these; for God, being good, is the provider of every good, subject neither to envy nor to any passion; "for envy is far from the divine nature, which is impassible and alone good." Therefore, as he knows all things and provides what is expedient for each, what was profitable for us to know he revealed, but what we were not able to bear, he kept silent. Let us be content with these things and abide in them, not moving the eternal boundaries nor going beyond the divine tradition.

2. Concerning things utterable and unutterable, and knowable and unknowable Therefore, one who wishes to speak or hear about God must know clearly that not all things are unutterable nor are all things utterable, both of theology and of the economy, nor indeed are all things unknowable nor are all things knowable; but the knowable is one thing and the utterable another, just as speaking is one thing and knowing another. Therefore many things about God that are dimly understood cannot be fittingly expressed, but we are forced to speak of things beyond us in our own terms, as when we speak of God's sleep and anger and neglect and hands and feet and such things. That God is, then, without beginning, without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreated, unchangeable, inalterable, simple, uncompounded, incorporeal, invisible, intangible, uncircumscribed, infinite, uncontainable, incomprehensible, inconceivable, good, just, all-powerful, creator of all created things, all-ruler, all-seeing,

2

ἁγία θεοτόκος, εἰ δύο φύσεις ἐπὶ σταυροῦ ἐκρέ μαντο παʹ Πῶς πρωτότοκος λέγεται ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ πβʹ Περὶ πίστεως καὶ βαπτίσματος πγʹ Περὶ πίστεως πδʹ Περὶ σταυροῦ, ἐν ᾧ ἔτι καὶ περὶ πίστεως πεʹ Περὶ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν κατὰ ἀνατολάς πϛʹ Περὶ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἀχράντων τοῦ κυρίου μυστηρίων πζʹ Περὶ τῆς γενεαλογίας τοῦ κυρίου καὶ περὶ τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου πηʹ Περὶ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ τῆς τῶν λειψάνων αὐτῶν τιμῆς πθʹ Περὶ εἰκόνων ϟʹ Περὶ γραφῆς ϟαʹ Περὶ τῶν ἐπὶ Χριστοῦ λεγομένων ϟβʹ Ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι τῶν κακῶν αἴτιος ὁ θεός ϟγʹ Ὅτι οὐ δύο ἀρχαί ϟδʹ Τίνος ἕνεκεν προγινώσκων ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνειν καὶ μὴ μετανοεῖν μέλλοντας ἔκτισεν ϟεʹ Περὶ νόμου θεοῦ καὶ νόμου ἁμαρτίας ϟϛʹ Κατὰ Ἰουδαίων περὶ τοῦ σαββάτου ϟζʹ Περὶ παρθενίας ϟηʹ Περὶ τῆς περιτομῆς ϟθʹ Περὶ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου ρʹ Περὶ ἀναστάσεως

Τοῦ ὁσίου ἀββᾶ Ἰωάννου πρεσβυτέρου ∆αμασκηνοῦ ἔκδοσις ἀκριβὴς τῆς

ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως 1 Ὅτι ἀκατάληπτον τὸ θεῖον καὶ ὅτι οὐ δεῖ ζητεῖν καὶ περιεργάζεσθαι τὰ μὴ

παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν «Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε. Ὁ μονογενὴς υἱὸς ὁ ὢν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατρός, αὐτὸς ἐξηγήσατο». Ἄρρητον οὖν τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀκατάληπτον. «Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἐπιγινώσκει τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, οὐδὲ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατήρ». Καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα δὲ τὸ ἅγιον οὕτως οἶδε τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἶδε τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν πρώτην καὶ μακαρίαν φύσιν οὐδεὶς ἔγνω ποτὲ τὸν θεόν, εἰ μὴ ᾧ αὐτὸς ἀπεκάλυψεν οὐκ ἀνθρώπων μόνον ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων δυνάμεων καὶ αὐτῶν φημι τῶν Χερουβὶμ καὶ Σεραφίμ. Οὐκ ἀφῆκε μέντοι ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἐν παντελεῖ ἀγνωσίᾳ· πᾶσι γὰρ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ εἶναι θεὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ φυσικῶς ἐγκατέσπαρται. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ κτίσις καὶ ἡ ταύτης συνοχή τε καὶ κυβέρνησις τὸ μεγαλεῖον τῆς θείας ἀνακηρύττει φύσεως. Καὶ διὰ νόμου δὲ καὶ προφητῶν πρότερον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ μονογενοῦς αὐτοῦ υἱοῦ, κυρίου δὲ καὶ θεοῦ καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατὰ τὸ ἐφικτὸν ἡμῖν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐφανέρωσε γνῶσιν. Πάντα τοίνυν τὰ παραδεδομένα ἡμῖν διά τε νόμου καὶ προφητῶν καὶ ἀποστόλων καὶ εὐαγγελιστῶν δεχόμεθα καὶ γινώσκομεν καὶ σέβομεν οὐδὲν περαιτέρῳ τούτων ἐπιζητοῦντες· ἀγαθὸς γὰρ ὢν ὁ θεὸς παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ παρεκτικός ἐστιν οὐ φθόνῳ οὐδὲ πάθει τινὶ ὑποκείμενος· «μακρὰν γὰρ τῆς θείας φύσεως φθόνος τῆς γε ἀπαθοῦς καὶ μόνης ἀγαθῆς». Ὡς οὖν πάντα εἰδὼς καὶ τὸ συμφέρον ἑκάστῳ προμηθούμενος, ὅπερ συνέφερεν ἡμῖν γνῶναι ἀπεκάλυψεν, ὅπερ δὲ οὐκ ἐδυνάμεθα φέρειν, ἀπεσιώπησε. Ταῦτα ἡμεῖς στέρξωμεν καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς μείνωμεν μὴ μεταίροντες ὅρια αἰώνια μηδὲ ὑπερβαίνοντες τὴν θείαν παράδοσιν.

2 Περὶ ῥητῶν καὶ ἀρρήτων καὶ γνωστῶν καὶ ἀγνώστων Χρὴ οὖν τὸν περὶ

θεοῦ λέγειν ἢ ἀκούειν βουλόμενον σαφῶς εἰδέναι, ὡς οὐδὲ πάντα ἄρρητα οὐδὲ πάντα ῥητά, τά τε τῆς θεολογίας τά τε τῆς οἰκονομίας, οὔτε μὴν πάντα ἄγνωστα οὔτε πάντα γνωστά· ἕτερον δέ ἐστι τὸ γνωστὸν καὶ ἕτερον τὸ ῥητόν, ὥσπερ ἄλλο τὸ λαλεῖν καὶ ἄλλο τὸ γινώσκειν. Πολλὰ τοίνυν τῶν περὶ θεοῦ ἀμυδρῶς νοουμένων οὐ καιρίως ἐκφρασθῆναι δύναται, ἀλλὰ τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀναγκαζόμεθα ἐπὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς λέγειν, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ θεοῦ λέγομεν ὕπνον καὶ ὀργὴν καὶ ἀμέλειαν χεῖράς τε καὶ πόδας καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐστι θεὸς ἄναρχος, ἀτελεύτητος, αἰώνιός τε καὶ ἀίδιος, ἄκτιστος, ἄτρεπτος, ἀναλλοίωτος, ἁπλοῦς, ἀσύνθετος, ἀσώματος, ἀόρα τος, ἀναφής, ἀπερίγραπτος, ἄπειρος, ἀπερίληπτος, ἀκατάληπτος, ἀπερινόητος, ἀγαθός, δίκαιος, παντοδύναμος, πάντων κτισμάτων δημιουργός, παντοκράτωρ, παντεπόπτης,