An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.
Chapter III.— Proof that there is a God.
Chapter IV.— Concerning the nature of Deity: that it is incomprehensible.
Chapter V.— Proof that God is one and not many.
Chapter VI.— Concerning the Word and the Son of God: a reasoned proof.
Chapter VII.— Concerning the Holy Spirit, a reasoned proof.
Chapter VIII.— Concerning the Holy Trinity.
Chapter IX.— Concerning what is affirmed about God.
Chapter X.— Concerning divine union and separation.
Chapter XI.— Concerning what is affirmed about God as though He had body.
Chapter XII.— Concerning the Same.
Chapter XIII.— Concerning the place of God: and that the Deity alone is uncircumscribed.
Chapter XIV.— The properties of the divine nature.
Chapter II.— Concerning the creation.
Chapter III.— Concerning angels.
Chapter IV.— Concerning the devil and demons.
Chapter V.— Concerning the visible creation.
Chapter VI.— Concerning the Heaven.
Chapter VII.— Concerning light, fire, the luminaries, sun, moon and stars.
Chapter VIII.— Concerning air and winds.
Chapter IX.— Concerning the waters.
Chapter X.— Concerning earth and its products.
Chapter XI.— Concerning Paradise.
Chapter XIII.— Concerning Pleasures.
Chapter XIV.— Concerning Pain.
Chapter XVI.— Concerning Anger.
Chapter XVII.— Concerning Imagination.
Chapter XVIII.— Concerning Sensation.
Chapter XIX.— Concerning Thought.
Chapter XX.— Concerning Memory.
Chapter XXI.— Concerning Conception and Articulation.
Chapter XXII.— Concerning Passion and Energy.
Chapter XXIII.— Concerning Energy.
Chapter XXIV.— Concerning what is Voluntary and what is Involuntary.
Chapter XXV.— Concerning what is in our own power, that is, concerning Free-will .
Chapter XXVI.— Concerning Events .
Chapter XXVII.— Concerning the reason of our endowment with Free-will.
Chapter XXVIII.— Concerning what is not in our hands.
Chapter XXIX.— Concerning Providence.
Chapter XXX.— Concerning Prescience and Predestination.
Chapter IV.— Concerning the manner of the Mutual Communication .
Chapter V.— Concerning the number of the Natures.
Chapter VII.— Concerning the one compound subsistence of God the Word.
Chapter IX.— In reply to the question whether there is Nature that has no Subsistence.
Chapter X.— Concerning the Trisagium (“the Thrice Holy”).
Chapter XIII.— Concerning the properties of the two Natures.
Chapter XIV.— Concerning the volitions and free-will of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter XV.— Concerning the energies in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter XVII.— Concerning the deification of the nature of our Lord’s flesh and of His will.
Chapter XVIII.— Further concerning volitions and free-wills: minds, too, and knowledges and wisdoms.
Chapter XIX.— Concerning the theandric energy.
Chapter XX.— Concerning the natural and innocent passions .
Chapter XXI.— Concerning ignorance and servitude.
Chapter XXII.— Concerning His growth.
Chapter XXIII.— Concerning His Fear.
Chapter XXIV.— Concerning our Lord’s Praying.
Chapter XXV.— Concerning the Appropriation.
Chapter XXVI.— Concerning the Passion of our Lord’s body, and the Impassibility of His divinity.
Chapter XXVIII.— Concerning Corruption and Destruction.
Chapter XXIX.— Concerning the Descent to Hades.
Chapter II.— Concerning the sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Chapter V.— In reply to those who ask if Christ’s subsistence is create or uncreate.
Chapter VI.— Concerning the question, when Christ was called.
Chapter VIII.— How the Only-begotten Son of God is called first-born.
Chapter IX.— Concerning Faith and Baptism.
Chapter XI.— Concerning the Cross and here further concerning Faith.
Chapter XII.— Concerning Worship towards the East.
Chapter XIII.— Concerning the holy and immaculate Mysteries of the Lord.
Chapter XIV.— Concerning our Lord’s genealogy and concerning the holy Mother of God .
Chapter XV.— Concerning the honour due to the Saints and their remains.
Chapter XVI.— Concerning Images .
Chapter XVII.— Concerning Scripture .
Chapter XVIII.— Regarding the things said concerning Christ.
Chapter XIX.— That God is not the cause of evils.
Chapter XX.— That there are not two Kingdoms.
Chapter XXII.— Concerning the law of God and the law of sin.
Chapter XXIII.— Against the Jews on the question of the Sabbath.
Chapter XXIV.— Concerning Virginity.
Chapter XXV.— Concerning the Circumcision.
Chapter VI.—Concerning the Word and the Son of God: a reasoned proof.
So then this one and only God is not Wordless59 ἄλογον; without Word, or, without Reason. St. Luke xxiv. 43.. And possessing the Word, He will have it not as without a subsistence, nor as having had a beginning, nor as destined to cease to be. For there never was a time when God was not Word: but He ever possesses His own Word, begotten of Himself, not, as our word is, without a subsistence and dissolving into air, but having a subsistence in Him and life and perfection, not proceeding out of Himself but ever existing within Himself60 Greg. Nyss., Catech., c. 1. Theodor., Dial. 2; Greg. Naz., Orat. 49, Ep. 1 ad Cled.. For where could it be, if it were to go outside Him? For inasmuch as our nature is perishable and easily dissolved, our word is also without subsistence. But since God is everlasting and perfect, He will have His Word subsistent in Him, and everlasting and living, and possessed of all the attributes of the Begetter. For just as our word, proceeding as it does out of the mind, is neither wholly identical with the mind nor utterly diverse from it (for so far as it proceeds out of the mind it is different from it, while so far as it reveals the mind, it is no longer absolutely diverse from the mind, but being one in nature with the mind, it is yet to the subject diverse from it), so in the same manner also the Word of God61 In R. 2427 is added, ‘Who is the Son.’ Acts i. 11. in its independent subsistence is differentiated62 διῄρηται, i.e. distinguished from the Father. Objection is taken to the use of such a verb as suggestive of division. It is often employed, however, by Greg. Naz. (e.g. Orat. 34) to express the distinction of persons. In many passages of Gregory and other Fathers the noun διαίρεσις is used to express the distinction of persons. In many passages of Gregory and other Fathers the noun διαίρεσις is used to express the distinction of one thing from another: and in this sense it is opposed both to the Sabellian confusion and the Arian division. from Him from Whom it derives its subsistence63 Reading ὑπόστασιν. Various reading, ὕπαρξιν, existence.: but inasmuch as it displays in itself the same attributes as are seen in God, it is of the same nature as God. For just as absolute perfection is contemplated in the Father, so also is it contemplated in the Word that is begotten of Him.
Περὶ λόγου θεοῦ
Οὗτος τοίνυν ὁ εἷς καὶ μόνος θεὸς οὐκ ἄλογός ἐστι. Λόγον δὲ ἔχων οὐκ ἀνυπόστατον ἕξει, οὐκ ἀρξάμενον τοῦ εἶναι οὐδὲ παυσόμενον: οὐ γὰρ ἦν, ὅτε ἦν ποτε θεὸς ἄλογος. Ἀεὶ δὲ ἔχει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννώμενον, οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον ἀνυπόστατον καὶ εἰς ἀέρα χεόμενον, ἀλλ' ἐνυπόστατον, ζῶντα, τέλειον, οὐκ ἔξω αὐτοῦ χωροῦντα, ἀλλ' ἐν αὐτῷ ἀεὶ ὄντα: ποῦ γὰρ ἔσται ἔξω αὐτοῦ γινόμενος; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ ἡμετέρα φύσις ἐπίκηρός ἐστι καὶ εὐδιάλυτος, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἀνυπόστατος. Ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἀεὶ ὢν καὶ τέλειος ὢν τέλειον καὶ ἐνυπόστατον ἕξει τὸν ἑαυτοῦ λόγον καὶ ἀεὶ ὄντα καὶ ζῶντα καὶ πάντα ἔχοντα, ὅσα ὁ γεννήτωρ ἔχει. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ προερχόμενος οὔτε δι' ὅλου ὁ αὐτός ἐστι τῷ νῷ οὔτε παντάπασιν ἕτερος _ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ μὲν γὰρ ὢν ἄλλος ἐστὶ παρ' αὐτόν, αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν νοῦν εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγων οὐκέτι παντάπασιν ἕτερός ἐστι παρὰ τὸν νοῦν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἓν ὢν ἕτερόν ἐστι τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ_οὕτως καὶ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, τῷ μὲν ὑφεστάναι καθ' ἑαυτὸν διῄρηται πρὸς ἐκεῖνον, παρ' οὗ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει, τῷ δὲ ταῦτα δεικνύειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ἃ περὶ τὸν θεὸν καθορᾶται, ὁ αὐτός ἐστι κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἐκείνῳ: ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸ ἐν ἅπασι τέλειον ἐπὶ τοῦ πατρὸς θεωρεῖται, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένου λόγου θεωρηθήσεται.