Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

god

50 Entries

'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ'(2 Cor. 1:3). Blessed also be His Only-begotten Son. For with the thought of 'God' let the thought of 'Father' at once be joined, that the ascription of glory to the Father and the Son may be made indivisible. For the Father has not one glory, and the Son another, but one and the same, since He is the Father's Only-begotten Son; and when the Father is glorified, the Son also shares the glory with Him, because the glory of the Son flows from His Father's honor: and again, when the Son is glorified, the Father of so great a blessing is highly honored. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 6 no. 1)

... to participate in these deifying energies are intelligible creatures, i.e., the angels - pure images, to whom the soul is likened. But God remains unknown in Himself, incomprehensible in His nature. St. Gregory of Nyssa(Oracle XXVIII, 4, PG.36, col.32)

...God is the only Being that truly is - the only eternal and immutable Being - who neither receives being from non-being nor returns to non-being; who is Tri-hypostatic and Almighty... St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 21, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 354)

...of God we speak not all we ought (for that is known to Him only), but so much as the capacity of human nature has received, and so much as our weakness can bear. For we explain not what God is but candidly confess that we have not exact knowledge concerning Him. For in what concerns God to confess our ignorance is the best knowledge. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 6 no. 2)

...though a thing be all heavenly, or above heaven, and far higher in nature and nearer to God than we, yet it is farther distant from God, and from the complete comprehension of His Nature, than it is lifted above our complex and lowly and earthward-sinking composition. St. Gregory Nazianzen (Second Theological Oration no. 3)

...to say that God turns away from the wicked is the same as to say that the sun hides itself from those who lose their sight. St. Antony the Great(170 Texts on Saintly Life no. 150)

A man standing on the seashore sees the immense expanse of water, but his eye can embrace only a small part and cannot reach its limit. In the same way a man who, through contemplation, is given to see the limitless ocean of Divine glory and to see God Himself with the eyes of his mind, sees God and the infinite vastness of His Glory, though not the whole as it really is, but only as much as is possible for him. St. Symeon the New Theologian.

Abraham passed through all the reasoning that is possible to human nature about the divine attributes, and after he had purified his mind of all such concepts, he took hold of a faith that was unmixed and pure of any concept, and he fashioned for himself this token of knowledge of God that is completely clear and free of error, namely the belief that God completely transcends any knowable symbol. And so, after this ecstasy which came upon him as a result of these lofty visions, Abraham returned one more to his human frailty: `I am,' he admits (Gen. 18:27), `dust and ashes,' mute, inert, incapable of explaining rationally the Godhead that my mind has seen. St. Gregory of Nyssa, From Glory to Glory

According to the Apostle, God has both goodness and severity (cf. Rom. 11:22): His goodness addresses those who rest firmly in the Faith, the severity in those who distance themselves from it. And since the saint has been confirmed in the Faith, he says: `Thou hast dealt graciously with Thy servant.' St. Didymus the Blind, in The Lament of Eve by Johanna Manley

But some one will say, If the Divine substance is incomprehensible, why then do you discourse on these things? So then, because I cannot drink up all the river, an I not even to take in moderation what is expedient for me? Because with eyes so constituted as mine I cannot take in all the sun, am I not even to look upon him enough to satisfy my wants? Or again, because I have entered into a great garden, and cannot eat all the supply of fruits, would you have me go away altogether hungry? I praise and glorify Him Who made us; for it is a divine command which says, 'Let every breath praise the Lord' (Ps. 150:6). I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, but not to describe Him, knowing nevertheless that I shall fall short of glorifying Him worthily, yet deeming it a work of piety even to attempt it at all. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 6 no. 5)

By nature [essence] God is above being and knowledge. What we say of God affirmatively does not indicate His nature, but His attributes [or energies]." St. John Damascene (cf. Ch.IV, PG.94, col.800)

Even a whisper of the Divine is glory beyond compare to all the content of life lived apart from God. Archimandrite Sophrony (His Life is Mine, Chapter 8; SVS Press pg. 65)

For devotion it suffices us simply to know that we have a God; a God who is One, a living, an ever-living God; always like unto Himself; who has no Father, none mightier than Himself, no successor to thrust Him out from His kingdom: Who in name is manifold, in power infinite, in substance uniform. For though He is called Good, and Just, and Almighty and Sabaoth, He is not on that account diverse and various; but being one and the same, He sends forth countless operations of His Godhead, not exceeding here and deficient there, but being in all things like unto Himself. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 6 no. 7)

God Himself and naught else is light for eternal beings...God...is the primal and supreme light illumining all intelligent nature. St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 77, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 381)

God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; 'for there is no respect of persons with God.' St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Step 1, Passage 3

God belongs to all free beings. He is the life of all, the salvation of all – faithful and unfaithful, just and unjust, pious and impious, passionate and dispassionate, monks and laymen, wise and simple, healthy and sick, young and old – just as the effusion of light, the sight of the sun, and the changes of the seasons are for all alike; “for there is no respect of persons with God.” Step 1: On Renunciation of the World (Boston: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1978)

God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil - for the devil is cold - let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbor, and the cold of him who hates the good will flee before the heat of His countenance. St. Seraphim of Sarov

God is comprehensible in our contemplation of His attributes [or divine energies], but God is incomprehensible in our contemplation of His divine essence." St. Maximus the Confessor(Cent. On Charity, IV, 7, trans. Pegon, Sources Chretiennes 9, p.153)

God is fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. And so, if we feel in our hearts coldness, which is from the devil for the devil is cold then let us call upon the Lord and He will come and warm our hearts with perfect love not only for Him but for our neighbor as well. St. Seraphim of Sarov from the preface to his Spiritual Instructions for Laymen and Monks

God is invisible because he is immeasurably manifest. St. Dionysius the Areopagite

God is praised as "Logos" [word] by the sacred scriptures not only as the leader of word, mind, and wisdom, but because He also initially carries within His own unity the causes of all things and because He penetrates all things, reaching, as scripture says, to the very end of all things. But the title is used especially because the divine Logos is simpler than any simplicity and, in its utter transcendence, is independent of everything. This Word is simple total truth. Divine faith revolves around it because it is pure and unwavering knowledge of all. It is the one sure foundation for those who believe, binding them to the truth, building the truth in them as something unshakably firm so that they have an uncomplicated knowledge of the truth of what they believe. St. Dionysios the Areopagite, The Divine Names (in The Complete Works)

God then is in an improper sense the Father of many, but by nature and in truth of One only, the Only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; not having attained in course of time to being a Father, but being ever the Father of the Only-begotten. Not that being without a Son before, He has since by change of purpose become a Father: but before every substance and every intelligence, before times and all ages, God has the dignity of Father, magnifying Himself in this more than in His other dignities; and having become a Father, not by passion, or union, not in ignorance, not by effluence, not by diminution, not by alteration, for 'every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom can be no variation, neither shadow of turning' (James 1:17). Perfect Father, He begat a perfect Son, and delivered all things to Him Who is begotten. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lectures: Lecture 7 no. 5)

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. 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. 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. St. John of Damascus, Exposition on the Orthodox Faith

God works in our body, in its natural function, supporting it, feeding it, and rearing it. He also acts in the grass, or in the trees, or in the animals, clothing the grass, rearing the tree and adorning it with leaves and fruit, feeding the animals and rearing their bodies. Of ourselves, we cannot do or create anything in our body, not one jot, as it is said. "Thou canst not make one hair white or black." God is equally in the infinitely great and in the infinitely small, not being limited either by the one or the other, but is wholly present in everything, being indivisible and above all. St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ

Hence when a man suffers the loss of that Good, how are we to represent the magnitude of that catastrophe? The great David rightly shows us how impossible this is. Lifted out of himself by the Spirit, he glimpsed in that blessed ecstasy God's infinite and incomprehensible beauty. He saw as much as a mere mortal can see, leaving the covering of the flesh, and by thought alone entering into contemplation of that immaterial and spiritual realm. And though yearning to say something which would do justice to his vision, he can only cry out (in words that all can echo after him): `Every man is a liar" (Ps. 115:11). And this I take to mean that anyone who attempts to portray that ineffable Light in language is truly a liar - not because of any abhorrence of the truth, but merely because of the infirmity of his explanations. St. Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity (In From Glory to Glory)

Honor God and you will know the incorporeal; serve Him and He will show you the understanding of the ages. "Instructions to Cenobites and Others", Abba Evagrius, "Early Fathers From the Philokalia," translated from the Russian text, "Dobrotolubiye," by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer, eighth edition, (London: Faber and Faber, Ltd., 1981), pp. 115 - 116.

I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went up into the Mount, and drew aside the curtain of the Cloud, and entered away from matter and material things, and as far as I could I withdrew within myself. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God (Ex. 33:23); although I was sheltered by the Rock, the Word that was made flesh for us. And when I looked a little closer, I saw, not the First and unmingled Nature, known to Itself - to the Trinity, I mean; not That which abideth within the first veil, and is hidden by the Cherubim; but only that Nature, which at last even reaches to us. And that is, as far as I can learn, the Majesty, or as holy David calls it, the Glory (Ps. 8:1) which is manifested among the creatures which It has produced and governs. For these are the Back Parts of God, which He leaves behind Him, as tokens of Himself like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because we cannot look at the sun himself, for by his unmixed light he is too strong for our power of perception. St. Gregory Nazianzen (Second Theological Oration no. 3)

In the case of the Godhead, what created being is able to investigate Him? For there is a great chasm between him and the Creator. In the case of the Godhead, it is not that He is distant from His possessions, for there exists love between Him and creation. None of those who try to investigate God ha s ever drawn near to Him -- yet He is extremely close to those who have discernment. St. Ephraim the Syrian, Faith

It is difficult to conceive God but to define Him in words is an impossibility... St. Gregory Nazianzen (Second Theological Oration no. 3)

It is proper to begin our teaching with God, and when we finish it to thank God - not that I am worthy to mention and utter the name of God, but I am sure that God suffers me to do so through His great and infinite compassion.

God, the all-good and most merciful, my brethren, is one, and whoever says that there are many Gods is a devil. He is triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; yet one nature, one glory, one kingdom, one God. He is all light, all joy, all compassion, all love.

This All-holy Trinity we pious Orthodox Christians glorify and worship. He is the true God, and all other so-called gods are demons. And it is not we along that believe, glorify, and worship the Holy Trinity, but angels, archangels, and all the heavenly hosts, as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea unceasingly praise in hymns and worship and glorify this All-holy Trinity. Again, out of their love for the Holy Trinity men and women as numerous as the stars of the heavens and the grains of the sand of the sea spilt their blood, and as many renounced the world and went to the deserts and led a life of spiritual endeavor, and still as many lived in the world with temperance and virginity, fasting, prayer, almsgiving and other practices; and all went to Paradise and rejoice forever. Modern Orthodox Saints I, St. Cosmas Aitolos).Dr. Constantine Cavarnos., INSTITUTE FOR BYZANTINE AND MODERN GREEK STUDIES., Belmont, Massachusetts., pp.81-94

Now the beauty of God, being unified, good, and the Source of all perfection, is wholly free from dissimilarity, and bestows its own Light upon each according to his merit; and in the most divine Mysteries perfects them in accordance with the unchangeable fashioning of those who are being perfected harmoniously to Itself. St. Dionysios the Areopagite, The Celestial Hierarchies

One of the elders said to the brethren at Kellia, "Nothing is greater than God; nothing is equal to Him; nothing is only a little inferior to Him. What then is stronger or more blessed than someone who has the help of God?" And again: "Let us gather together the cures of the soul: piety, righteousness, humility, submission. The greatest physician of souls, Christ our God, is near to us and is willing to heal us: let us not underestimate Him." John Moschus, Leimonarion (The Spiritual Meadow) seventh century

The Divine Nature then it is impossible to see with eyes of flesh: but from the works, which are Divine, it is possible to attain to some conception of His power, according to Solomon, who says, 'For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen' (Wisdom 13:5). St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechetical Lecture

The anger of God is not a disturbing emotion of His mind, but a judgment by which punishment is inflicted upon sin. His thought and reconsideration also are the unchangeable reason which changes things; for He does not, like man, repent of anything He has done, because in all matters His decision is as inflexible as His prescience is certain. But if Scripture were not to use such expressions as the above, it would not familiarly insinuate itself into the minds of all classes of men, whom it seeks access to for their good, that it may alarm the proud, arouse the careless, exercise the inquisitive, and satisfy the intelligent; and this it could not do, did it not first stoop, and in a manner descend, to them where they lie. Blessed Augustine of Hippo, "City of God", Book 15, Chapter 25, NPNF I 2:306

The divine nature [essence] surpasses intelligence, and though they may contemplate the Trinity, though they may receive the plenitude of His light [energy], human intellects cannot know God in His nature [essence]." St. Gregory of Naziansus(Oracle XXVIII, 4, PG.36, col.32)

The light of the sun is inseparable from the sun's rays and from the heat which they dispense; yet for those who receive the rays but have no eyes the light is imperceptible and they sense only the heat coming from the rays. For those bereft of eyes cannot possibly perceive light. In the same way, but to a greater extent, no one who enjoys the divine radiance can participate in the essence of the Creator. For there is absolutely no creature that possesses the capacity to perceive the Creator's nature. St. Gregory Palamas, Philokalia, Vol. IV

The transcendently and absolutely perfect Goodness is Intellect; thus what else could the which proceeds from It as from a source be except Intelligence-content or Logos? But the divine Logos is not to be understood in the same way as the human thought-form that we express orally, for that proceeds not from the intellect but from a body activated by the intellect...Thus the supreme Logos is the Son, and is so described by us, in order that we may recognize Him to be perfect in a perfect and individual hypostasis, since He comes from the Father and is in no way inferior to the Father's essence, but is indistinguishably identical with Him, although not according to hypostasis; for His distinction as hypostasis is manifest in the fact that the Logos is begotten in a divinely fitting manner from the Father." St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 35, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 360)

Three realities pertain to God: essence, energy, and the triad of divine hypostases. As we have seen, those privileged to be united to God so as to become one spirit with Him - as St. Paul said, 'He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him' (I Cor. 6:17) - are not united to God with respect to His essence, since all theologians testify that with respect to His essence God suffers no participation.

Moreover, the hypostatic union is fulfilled only in the case of the Logos, the God-man.

Thus those privileged to attain union with God are united to Him with respect to His energy; and the 'spirit', according to which they who cleave to God are one with Him, is and is called the uncreated energy of the Holy Spirit, but not the essence of God... St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 75, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 380)

We do not know God from His essence. We know Him rather from the grandeur of His creation and from His providential care for all creatures. St. Maximos the Confessor (First Century on Love no. 96)

We in accordance with the true doctrine speak of the Son as neither like, nor unlike the Father. Each of these terms is equally impossible, for like and unlike are predicated in relation to quality, and the divine is free from quality. EPISTLE VIII: A defense of his withdrawal, and concerning the faith, http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/Greek/basil8.html

We know our God in His energies. For although His energies descend to us, His essence remains inaccessible. St. Basil the Great (Letter 234, PG.32, col.869)

When the intellect is established in God, it at first ardently longs to discover the principles of His essence. But God's inmost nature does not admit of such investigation, which is indeed beyond the capacity of everything created. The qualities that appertain to His nature, however, are accessible to the intellect's longing: I mean the qualities of eternity, infinity, indeterminateness, goodness, wisdom, and the power of creating, preserving and judging creatures. Yet of these, only infinity may be grasped fully; and the very fact of knowing nothing is knowledge surpassing the intellect, as the theologians Gregory of Nazianzos and Dionysios have said. St. Maximos the Confessor (First Century on Love no. 100)

Who can make an imitation of the invisible, incorporeal, uncircumscribed, formless God? Therefore to give form to the Deity is the height of folly and impiety. And hence it is that in the Old Testament the use of images was not common, but after God in His bowels of pity became in truth man for our salvation, not as He was seen by Abraham in the semblance of a man, nor as He was seen by the prophets, but in being truly man, and after He lived upon the earth and dwelt among men, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, rose again and was taken back to Heaven, since all these things actually took place and were seen by men, they were all written for the remembrance and instruction of us who were not alive at that time in order that though we saw not, we may still, hearing and believing, obtain the blessing of the Lord. St. John of Damascus, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

“Rich is the Lord, and enriching; powerful is He, and He gives unconquerable power; wise is He, and He gives wisdom; holy is He and He hallows. For every gift is good and every gift is perfect that comes from Him to those who strive to follow Him.” St. Theophan the Recluse

...there is not a fraction of a moment during which He, as the All-perfect, Most-wise, All-merciful, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Almighty Spirit, does not shower benefits and wisdom upon His creatures. There is not a fraction of a moment during which He does not apply His wisdom and omnipotence, for God is a Self-acting Being, infinitely productive. Thus you look upon the world, but look upon it and observe everywhere in it its Author - God, everywhere present in it, filling everything, moving in everything, and ordering everything. St. John of Kronstadt (My Life in Christ, Part 1; Holy Trinity Monastery pgs. 80-81)

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. St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 78, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 382)

Far be it that we should ever think such an iniquity that God could become unmerciful. For the property of Divinity does not change as do mortals. God does not acquire something which He does not has, or lose what He has, or supplement what He has, as do created beings. But what God has from the beginning, He will have and has forever. The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian.

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. St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 78, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 382)

"...to God pertains both incomprehensibility and comprehensibility, though He Himself is one. The same God is incomprehensible in His essence, but comprehensible from what He creates according to His divine energies: according, that is, to His pre-eternal wisdom with regard to us, and - to use the words of St. Maximos - His infinite power, wisdom and goodness." St. Gregory Palamas (Topics of Natural and Theological Science no. 81, The Philokalia Vol. 4 edited by Palmer, Sherrard and Ware; Faber and Faber pg. 384)

We confidently recommend our web service provider, Orthodox Internet Services: excellent personal customer service, a fast and reliable server, excellent spam filtering, and an easy to use comprehensive control panel.

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas