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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