BOOK I
CHAPTER I
That
the Deity is incomprehensible, and that we ought not to pry into and meddle
with tire 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, which is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him. The Deity, therefore, is ineffable and
incomprehensible. For no one knoweth the Father, save the Son, nor the Son,
save the Father. And the Holy Spirit, too, so knows the things of God as the
spirit of the man knows the things that are in him. 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. 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.
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