← Orthodox Confession (Pravoslavnoe Ispovedanie)/Book 1 · Часть первая. О вере

Chapter 3MogilaPravIsp.1.3

О первом члене Символа веры

Question 6. What is the first article of the faith? Answer. "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible" (First Council).^✦^✦¹ Question 7. What teaching is in this article of faith? Answer. This article of faith contains a twofold teaching. First, that everyone is to believe and confess that "God² . . is one" (Deut. 6:4) — the God glorified in the Holy Trinity — and that within the Godhead, the origin and root of the Son and the Holy Spirit is the Father.³ Second, it teaches that this Triune God created everything visible and invisible out of nothing, as the Psalmist testifies: "He spoke, and they came to be; He commanded, and they were created" (Ps. 32:9).⁴ Question 8. What understanding of God should I have? Answer. You must believe that God is one in the Holy Trinity, according to Scripture: “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in us all” (Eph. 4:6).^✦ He, being good and all-good, although in Himself He is all-perfect and all-glorious, created the world out of nothing so that other beings, by glorifying Him, might also share in His goodness. However, no creature can know what God is in His essence—not only the visible, but also the invisible. e. not even the angels themselves; because there is absolutely no comparison between the Creator and the creature. But for our piety even this is enough, as Cyril of Jerusalem testifies, “if we know that we have one God, God who exists and is eternal, who is always like Himself, and is the Same” (Catech. 6) and that besides Him there is no other God, as this same God says through the Prophet: “I (am God) the first, and I after these; besides me there is no God” (Isa.^✦⁵⁶ 44:6).^✦ And Moses, urging the people of Israel, says: "Hear, O Israel!^✦ The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut.^✦ 6:4).^✦ Question 9. If God is one, doesn't that mean there must be only one Person too?⁷ Answer. There's no need to think that at all.⁸ God is one in nature and in essence, but in Persons He is a Trinity, as is clear from the teaching of our Savior Himself, who said to His Apostles: “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt.⁹¹⁰ 28:19). These words clearly show that in the one Godhead there are three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father, who before all ages begets the Son from His own essence and brings forth the Holy Spirit; the Son, begotten of the Father before all ages and of one essence with Him; the Holy Spirit, proceeding from eternity from the Father, of one essence with the Father and the Son.¹¹¹² Setting this out, St. John of Damascus puts it this way: “The Son and the Holy Spirit are traced back to a single cause — the Father” (bk.¹³ 1, ch. 11). And in another place the same writer says: “The Son has His being from the Father by way of generation: the Holy Spirit also from the Father, but not by way of generation, but of procession” (ch.¹⁴ 10). And Gregory the Theologian, on the words of the Apostle to the Romans: “for from Him and through Him and in Him are all things” (Rom.^✦¹⁵ 11:36), says, “the first, i.^✦ e. from Him, should be referred to the Father, the second to the Son, the third to the Holy Spirit.”^✦ From this, it's clear that there is a Trinity in the Godhead.¹⁶ Moreover, we are baptized equally and without any distinction or exception in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.^✦ Therefore, what the Father is by nature, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also. But the Father is by nature the true and eternal God, the Creator of everything visible and invisible; therefore the Son and the Holy Spirit are exactly the same, and so they are of one essence with one another, according to the teaching of John the Evangelist, who says: "There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one" (1 John¹⁷¹⁸ 5:7).¹⁹ The one thing these words set apart is that within the Godhead the Father is the source of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: these two Persons have their being from him, while he himself has his being from no one.²⁰ This is what we were taught by eternal Truth itself, Jesus our Savior; this is what we received from the holy Apostles; this, and nothing else, is what the Ecumenical and Local Councils and the teachers of the Church taught, handed down, and confirmed. Our Orthodox and Catholic Church holds this very same faith.²¹ For this faith the holy martyrs shed their blood, and chose death over the life they were living. So we too must believe this with our whole heart, without a trace of doubt, and hold this faith firmly and unshakably — even, if it ever comes to that, dying for it — in the hope of gaining salvation for ourselves with the help of our good works, for which we will receive eternal rewards in heaven.²² Question 10. I want to understand the mystery of the Holy Trinity a bit more clearly. Answer. No likeness can fully explain this mystery, or distinctly present to our mind how God is one in essence and triune in Persons. And that no likeness is enough to explain it, God Himself, who is called Jehovah, bears witness through the mouth of the Prophet: “To whom have you likened Me, and made Me equal, and compared Me, and likened Me, that I should be like him” (Isa.^✦²³ 46:5)? So no mind, not only human but even angelic, can comprehend Him, nor can any tongue express Him. Therefore we must say with the Apostle: “casting down thoughts and every exaltation that rises against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:4–5). We firmly believe that God the Father, who exists from eternity to eternity, and moreover originates from no one, begets the Son and brings forth the Holy Spirit.²⁴ Athanasius the Great sets this out at greater length in his own creed.²⁵ By believing this, we don't investigate further, because Scripture forbids us to probe and test God's majesty: "Do not seek what is above you, and do not search out what is stronger than you. Focus on what you've been commanded, for you don't need hidden things. Don't go poking into what's beyond your own work" (Sir.²⁶ 3:21–23). It's enough for us that the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament, even while speaking of one God, shows us the Trinity of Persons: "God said: Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26). And again: "See, Adam has become like one of us" (Gen. 3:22).^✦ And again: “Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that each one may not hear his neighbor's voice” (Gen.^✦ 11:7).^✦ The Prophet also clearly shows the same thing: “and one (an Angel) cried to another, and they said: ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory’” (Isa.^✦²⁷ 6:3).^✦ And the holy Psalmist said: “By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their host” (Ps.^✦²⁸ 32:6).^✦²⁹ Both Holy Scripture and the teachers of the Church speak of this many times. Question 11. What are God's attributes? Answer. Just as God is incomprehensible, so too are His attributes incomprehensible. However, insofar as we can gain knowledge from Holy Scripture and the Teachers of the Church, to that extent we can also think about them and speak of them. And so we must understand that some of God's attributes are personal, while others are essential.³⁰ Question 12. What are God's personal properties? Answer. The personal divine properties are those by which the Persons of the Holy Trinity are so distinguished from one another that one Person cannot be another. In other words, е. The Person of the Father isn't the Person of the Son; for the Father wasn't begotten by anyone, but the Son was begotten by the Father, by nature, before all time, as Scripture says: "From the womb, before the morning star, I have begotten you" (Psalm 109:3). . Therefore: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — the unbegotten, the begotten, and the proceeding — distinguish the Persons in the Godhead, not the essence, which is indivisible in itself, but is separated only. . . from the creature.³¹ But the begotten and the unbegotten cannot be one Person. In the same way we must think of the Holy Spirit as well: He proceeds from the Father's essence and nature without beginning, i. e. eternally, and is of one essence with the Father and the Son. But He is distinguished from the Father by a personal property, because He proceeds from Him; He is distinguished from the Son as well, because He has His being from the Father not by begetting, as the Son does, but by procession from the same Father. The Son and the Holy Spirit have one essence, because both of these Persons are from the one nature of the Father. They are of one essence with the Father, because they come from His essence. On this, Gregory the Theologian says: “The Son and the Holy Spirit have this in common: both of these two Persons are from the Father. But the property of the Father is that He is unbegotten; of the Son, that He is begotten; of the Holy Spirit, that He proceeds” (Oration 23). Beyond this, the Son's personal property is the entire work of the Incarnation; for neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit took on flesh. This is how the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church teaches us to believe and confess one God by nature, in three Persons! On this, see the acts of the First Council of Nicaea and the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. Question 13. What are God's essential properties? Answer. God's essential properties are those that belong equally to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: to be God; to be eternal, without beginning, infinite, good, all-powerful and filling all things, boundless, knowing all that is hidden and all that is open.^✦^✦³² In short, besides those personal properties we spoke of earlier, that is, e. to be unbegotten, or the Father and the cause; to be begotten, or the Son and the incarnate Word; to be proceeding, or the Holy Spirit — everything that is said of God constitutes properties of the Divine essence, equally common to the three Persons without any distinction.³³ Question 14. Why, in the first article of the faith, are the other properties omitted, and only “Almighty” stated?³⁴ Answer. Because this word expresses an attribute of God more exactly. For no created being can be called almighty, and there are two reasons why. First, because it doesn't have its being from itself but from its Creator; and second, because it can't produce a single thing out of what has no being at all, anywhere. Both of these belong to God's omnipotence alone. And that God is almighty, He tells us Himself in the Revelation: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Rev.^✦ 1:8).^✦ The Archangel says the same thing: "No word from God will ever fail" (Luke.^✦ 1:37).^✦ However, this all-sovereignty and omnipotence of God is determined by His own will and good pleasure; and therefore He does not bring about everything that He can, but only does and can do what He wills, as the holy Psalmist says: “But our God is in heaven and on earth: He has done all that He willed” (Ps.³⁵ 113:11).³⁶ He could have created myriads of worlds like this one, but He did not will to. Moreover, it must be known that this omnipotence of God is closely joined to perfection, and is far removed from everything imperfect or weak, as the following example will show. God can neither be evil, nor sin, nor lie or deny Himself, as Paul says (2 Tim.^✦ 2:13; Heb.^✦ 6:18), because this is imperfection.^✦ If God could be evil, or could sin, or could deny Himself, then He wouldn't be almighty, because such attributes are in themselves marks of imperfection. Therefore, God is almighty according to His will and most perfect goodness, as the Prophet Psalmist sings of Him: "Who is so great a God as our God? You are the God who works wonders: You have made Your power known among the peoples" (Ps. 76:14–15). Finally, He is called Almighty or All-Sovereign because all things are in His power, and because He created the world without any obstacle and without any labor, but by His will alone.³⁷ Question 15. If God is infinite and omnipresent, then why do we say that He lives especially in the heavens and in certain well-known places on earth? Answer. This is said not because heaven, or Zion, or any other place could actually contain the immaterial and bodiless Godhead — God occupies no place at all; He is Himself His own place.³⁸ But since He acts in these places in a special way, and since His works and His grace appear there more plainly and more often, He is said to dwell in them. For example: "In the heavens" (as St. John of Damascus says, On the Orthodox Faith,³⁹ book 1, ch. 16), "because the angels are there, doing His will and glorifying Him without ceasing.⁴⁰ On earth: because on earth He lived among people in the flesh. In the Holy Church: because in it His grace is given in a preeminent way to the faithful, and His glory is preached. Similarly, any place where God's grace is revealed in any way is called His place. Question 16. If, as you say, it belongs to God alone to know all things, both secret and open, then how do people also know them—the Prophets and the Angels? Answer. God knows every secret and every depth of human beings and of angels by himself alone — and not only at the moment they think it, but before the world was made, as Scripture says: “The eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun; they watch every path a person takes and see into hidden places” (Sir.⁴¹ 23:27–28). And in another place: “For the Lord knew every kind of knowledge and looked upon the sign of the age, announcing what has passed and what is to come, and uncovering the traces of hidden things” (Sir.⁴² 42:18–19). And John says in the Apocalypse: “I am the one who searches hearts and the depths within, and I will give to each of you according to your works” (Rev.⁴³ 2:23). But when angels and human beings do sometimes come to know a hidden thing that is still to come, they know it by divine revelation, as Scripture testifies: “God reveals what is deep and hidden” (Dan.⁴⁴ 2:22). So God revealed to Elisha that his servant Gehazi had secretly taken from Naaman on the way (4 Kgs.⁴⁵ 5:26); and to the Apostle Peter, concerning Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:11).^✦ All the Prophets had this same kind of vision as well. Question 17. Aren't there other properties unique to the one God? Answer. God's attributes are countless; but even those we've discussed so far, as they are useful for salvation, already sufficiently show what conception we ought to have of God. Therefore, setting aside the other attributes, believe firmly and without doubt that God is one in three Persons, almighty, omnipresent and omniscient, unchangeable in essence, and eternal. Question 18. This article uses the word Creator. Is God truly the Creator of all things?^✦ Answer. Without a doubt, God is the Creator of all visible and invisible creatures. First of all, by His thought He brought forth from nothing all the heavenly Powers, as excellent singers of His glory, and created that intelligible world which, by the grace given to it, knows God and is always, in all things, devoted to His will.⁴⁶ After that, God created this visible, material world from nothing. Last of all, God created man, who is composed of an immaterial and rational soul and a material body, so that from this one human being, composed in this way, it would already be clear that He is also the Creator of both worlds, the immaterial and the material. It is for this very reason that man is called a little world; for he bears in himself the image of the whole great world (Damasc.⁴⁷ Theol. bk. 2, ch. 3, 12).⁴⁸ Question 19. Since God created the Angels before everything else, what should we understand about them? Answer. Angels are spirits, brought into being by God from nonexistence so that they would glorify Him and serve Him, and also serve people in this world, guiding them into the Kingdom of God. They also protect cities, kingdoms, provinces, monasteries, churches, and people—both those in religious life and those in the world.⁴⁹ We have an example of this in the Acts of the Apostles, where it says, "But the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and bringing them out said, 'Go, stand in the church, and speak to the people all the words of this life'" (Acts 5:19–20).^✦⁵⁰ 5:19–20).^✦ And again: "The angel of the Lord stood by.^✦ . . And he said to Peter, "Fasten your belt and put on your sandals." . . Put on your cloak and follow me" (Acts 12:7–8). And a little further on: "When Peter came to himself, he said, 'Now I know for certain that God sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's hand and from everything the Jewish people were expecting'" (Acts⁵¹⁵² 12:11). They also watch over young children, as our Savior teaches: "For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" (Matt.⁵³ 18:10).⁵⁴ They bring our prayers, our acts of mercy to the poor, and our other good works before God's majesty—not because God doesn't see our almsgiving Himself or fails to hear our prayers, but because they intercede for us. In the Old Testament, before the law of Moses was given, the angels taught our forefathers the law and the will of God, and showed them the way of salvation, as St. Dionysius testifies (Ecclesiastical⁵⁵ Hierarchy, ch. 4); and afterward, once the law had been given, they instructed them and guided them toward what is good. Scripture itself proves this when it says that angels appeared to the prophets and foretold the future to them. So, for instance, an angel advised Joseph to take precautions against Herod's design, saying: “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child, to destroy Him” (Matt.⁵⁶ 2:13).⁵⁷ Similarly, when Joseph was afraid to take on the care of the Virgin, an angel of the Lord reassured him and told him what to do (Matt. 1:20). They also announce God's works. So at Christ's birth, they revealed to the shepherds that Christ had been born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:8–11). Furthermore, at God's command, they are present everywhere with everyone, they rescue us from every danger, and they drive off the enemy of our souls, who torments a person mercilessly whenever he sees that God is permitting it.⁵⁸ And that an angel guards us, we can see plainly from what Scripture says about the one who trusts in the Lord: "For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways: they shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone" (Ps.⁵⁹ 90:11–12).^✦⁶⁰ Question 20. Into how many ranks are the Angels divided? Answer. Dionysius says (Celestial⁶¹ Hierarchy, , ch. 6 and 7) that they are divided into nine choirs, and these nine into three orders.⁶² The first order includes those closest to God: Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. The second order includes Authorities, Dominions, and Powers.⁶³ The third order includes Angels, Archangels, and Principalities. They are set in such an order that the lower Angels receive illumination and God's benefits through the higher ones. These Angels have been confirmed in God's grace forever. Since they didn't join Lucifer in rising up against God, they received this grace, so they can no longer sin—not by their own nature, but by God's grace.^✦ These brief remarks, made to match the brevity of this Orthodox teaching, are enough for knowing the Angels. Therefore, knowing that the Angels help us and intercede for us, we call upon them in every prayer, so that they may pray to God for us. We especially call upon our guardian Angel. Question 21. What should we understand about the evil angels? Answer. God created the evil angels good, because everything God created was good; but they made themselves evil through their own will. As our Lord testifies about their chief: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from what is his own, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John⁶⁴ 8:44). They are the authors of every kind of ungodliness, the blasphemers of God's majesty, the corrupters of human souls—both they themselves and the instruments they use—as Scripture says: "Be sober, be watchful, because your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter⁶⁵ 5:8). Still, you need to know that the demons can't use force against any human being, or against any other creature, unless God permits them—as Scripture testifies: "And the demons begged Him, saying, 'If You cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.' He said to them, ‘Go.’" (Matt. 8:31–32).^✦ Moreover, everyone must also know that they cannot compel a person to sin, but only lead him astray with temptations: for a person has free will, and not even God Himself does any violence or compulsion to this freedom of his. And since they are condemned forever, they can never receive God's grace, as it is said: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt.^✦ 25:41).^✦ Question 22. What understanding should one have of the other creatures? Answer. That God created everything out of nothing by His command, and last of all created man and set him as lord over all creation that is under the heavens, saying: “Let us make man in Our image and according to Our likeness, and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, (and over the beasts) and over the cattle and over all the earth” (Gen.^✦⁶⁶ 1:26).^✦ The sacred Psalmist also says the same: “You have set him over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.^✦ All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas” (Ps.^✦ 8:7–9).^✦ And above: “You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps.^✦⁶⁷ 8:6).^✦ But since people didn't keep God's commandment in paradise while they were innocent, but instead ate the forbidden fruit, they lost their dignity and the state they had in their innocence. Having been expelled from paradise, he became such as the Prophet describes him, saying: “Man, being in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the unreasoning beasts and became like them” (Ps. 48, 21); and he heard the sentence: “You are earth, and to earth you shall go” (Gen.⁶⁸ 3, 19). Question 23. What was the state of human innocence, or of his purity and sinlessness? Answer. According to Saint Basil's discourse on the beginning of Proverbs, there are two kinds of innocence, or sinlessness. First, it is a voluntary withdrawal from sins, i. e. when a person, by his own resolve, withdraws from sins after coming to know evil through experience and a long-standing habit of it. Second, it is ignorance of evil, or inexperience of it, i. e. when a person doesn't know evil and hasn't experienced it at all, whether because of childhood or for other reasons. The innocence, or sinlessness, that Adam had before he sinned was of this second kind. It was joined to complete perfection and an inborn uprightness, in his mind as much as in his will.⁶⁹ His mind held all knowledge; his will held all uprightness and goodness. For Adam knew God in the most perfect way—as far as it was granted to him at that time, and as far as was necessary. And for that very reason, because he knew God, he also knew all things through him. Among other proofs of this, we have the following: when God brought all the animals to Adam so that he could give them names, he named each one by its proper name.^✦ And this happened because he knew their nature—not from any branch of learning, but solely because he thought and reasoned about God and his goodness. As for the will, it was always subject to reason, though it was always free. A person had the power to sin or not to sin, as Scripture says: "Don't say, 'It was the Lord's doing that I fell away'; for you aren't to do the things he hates.⁷⁰ Do not say, 'He himself led me astray'; for he has no need of a sinful man. The Lord hates every abomination, and it isn't dear to those who fear him. He himself from the beginning created man and left him in the hand of his own free will: if you wish, you will keep the commandments and practice well-pleasing faithfulness. He has set fire and water before you, and you will stretch out your hand to whichever you wish. Before man are life and death, and whichever he chooses will be given him” (Sir. 15:11–17). And shortly after this: “He commanded no one to act wickedly, and He gave no one license to sin” (Sir. 15:20). In this state of innocence and sinlessness, man was like the angels. But as soon as he fell into sin through disobedience, he immediately entered a sinful state in paradise itself and became mortal; for Holy Scripture teaches: “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom.^✦ 6:23).^✦ Then suddenly he ruined the perfection of his reason and knowledge, and his will leaned more toward evil than toward good. And in this way, because man had done evil, the state of innocence and sinlessness was changed into a state of sinfulness, and this perfect man was brought so low that he had to say with David: “But I am a worm, and not a man” (Ps.^✦ 21:7).^✦ Question 24. Are all people subject to this sin? Answer. Since all people were in Adam in the state of innocence, they all sinned in him as soon as he sinned, and they entered a state of sin. And therefore they are subject not only to the sin itself, but also to its punishment. This punishment was declared in God's decree: “On the day you eat of it, you shall surely die” (Gen.⁷¹ 2:17). The Apostle says the same thing: “Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death entered into all people, in whom all have sinned” (Rom.⁷² 5:12). Therefore we are both conceived in our mother's womb with this sin and born with it, as the holy Psalmist says: “For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother bore me” (Ps. (50:7). This sin is called ancestral sin, first, because before it, humans weren't defiled by any sin. (Although the devil was already corrupted by his own sin, at whose instigation this original sin, as it's called, arose in humans. Both Adam, who committed it, and all of us who descend from him became subject to it.)⁷³ Second, because humans aren't conceived except in sin. Question 25. If God knew Adam would sin, then why did He create him? Answer. God knew in the most perfect way not only about Adam's sin, but also about the malice of the Day-star, before He created him, and about every least thought he would turn over in his mind, and every action he would perform.^✦ But despite that, He did not want man's sin or the devil's malice to surpass His divine goodness (Damascene. Theology. 2, 27). Therefore, in order to reveal His extraordinary goodness, He created this angel good, who became evil by his own will and free choice. In the same way He also created man, who sinned at the devil's instigation. Yet with man, God arranged it so that, because of his sin, God's goodness would shine forth even more: for He decided to send His Only-begotten Son into this earthly vale, so that, having taken flesh from the Most Pure Virgin through the action of the Holy Spirit, He might redeem man and bring him into His Kingdom in far greater glory than he had in paradise, to the devil's shame.^✦^✦^✦ Therefore this sin did not prevent God from creating man. Question 26. If God knew everything before He created, then did He predestine everything so that both good and evil cannot be otherwise, but only as they are? Answer. God knew everything before the creation of the world, but He predestined only the good, as St. John of Damascus wrote (On the Orthodox Faith,⁷⁴ 2, 30): because predestining evil is contrary to God's goodness.⁷⁵ But we should regard only sin as evil; for, properly speaking, there is no evil in the world except sin, which is a transgression of the divine law and of God's will (Damasc. Treatise on the Two Wills in Christ). But everything else by which God punishes us for our sins, such as plagues, wars, diseases, and the like, is called evil in relation to us (Basil. the Great. Homily 9. That God is not the author of evil), since these misfortunes cause us sorrows and sufferings, which we turn away from. But in relation to God, they aren't evil; for they contain within themselves a power for good: since God, by punishing us with them, thereby stirs us toward the good. Therefore, if Scripture says, “Or shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord has not done?” (Am. 3:6), then here it calls God's righteous punishment evil. Moreover, God, according to His wisdom and justice, predestines only that whose existence isn't in our power. On the contrary, those goods whose existence is in our power He foresees in such a way that He Himself also, according to His good pleasure, assists our desire, which, however, doesn't destroy the essence of freedom.⁷⁶ Question 27. What is freedom? Answer. Human freedom is a voluntary, independent desire, stemming from reason or the rational soul, to do good or evil. For rational creatures must have a self-governing nature and act freely under reason's guidance.⁷⁷ This reason, when man was in the state of innocence, i. e. before he sinned, was unimpaired in its perfection, but sin damaged it. The will, although it remained unimpaired as regards the desire for good or evil, nevertheless became in some more inclined toward evil, and in others toward good. On this, Basil the Great says: “By his own desire and free choice, each person can be either a holy seed, or the opposite of that.^✦ Listen to what Paul says: “For in Christ Jesus I have given you birth through the gospel” (1 Cor.^✦ 4:15).^✦ Listen also to what else is said: “But to all who received Him, He gave the power to become children of God” (John^✦⁷⁸ 1:12)."^✦ This holy Teacher shows that although the human will was damaged by original sin, nevertheless even now it still remains in each person's will — to be good and a child of God, or evil and a son of the devil.^✦ All this depends on a person's choice and power, but in such a way that God's grace inclines a person toward the good and turns him away from evil, without, however, compelling his freedom. Question 28. If people are born in a state of sin, does the body alone come from Adam's seed, or the soul as well? Answer. The human body comes from Adam's seed; but the soul is given by God, as Scripture says: "The Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him" (Zech.^✦⁷⁹ 12:1).^✦ And in another place: "and the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it" (Eccl.^✦ 12:7).^✦ Furthermore, if the soul got its being from human seed, then it would also die with the body and turn to dust. But we see the opposite of this in Scripture, where Christ says to the thief on the cross: "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise" (Lk. 23:43).^✦ The thief's body remained on the cross, but the soul, as an immortal spirit, entered paradise with Christ.^✦ But if it had received its being from human seed, then it would have died on the cross together with the body. Moreover, how could these words of our Lord be true: “Have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (Matt.^✦⁸⁰ 22:31–32).^✦ This must be understood not of the body, but of the soul.^✦ Since the bodies of the dead have already turned to dust; whereas these words hold true of the soul, which is always alive and present with God.^✦⁸¹ But if it too came from the same seed from which the body also comes, then they would die together as well. The soul is given by God when the body is formed and made capable of receiving it. And when it enters, it spreads throughout the whole body, like fire in red-hot iron (John of Damascus,⁸² On the Orthodox Faith⁸³ 1, 17). But it occupies its place chiefly in the head and in the heart. Question 29. Since God created everything, shouldn't He also provide for everything?⁸⁴ Answer. Yes. From the least to the greatest He knows everything exactly, and He provides for every creature in particular, as we can see from the words of Christ: “Are not two sparrows sold for an assarion? And not one of them falls to the ground without your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matt.⁸⁵⁸⁶ 10:29–30). This same providence is also clearly revealed in the Old Testament through David’s mouth, when he says: “The eyes of all look to you in hope, Lord, and you give them their food in due season.⁸⁷ You open your hand and fill every living thing with your good pleasure” (Ps.⁸⁸ 144:15–16).⁸⁹ Question 30. Are foreknowledge, predestination, and providence one and the same in God? Answer. Foreknowledge, predestination, and providence differ in God according to their operations. Providence pertains to created things. But foreknowledge and predestination were in God before the existence of all creatures, although they also differ from one another. Foreknowledge is simply knowledge of the future, without determining it in particular, i. e. It does not determine the existence of this or that thing. But predestination, which depends on foreknowledge, is a particular determination, i. that is,⁹⁰ it determines precisely what is to be; but it determines only good, and not evil. For if it determined evil as well, that would contradict what belongs to God by nature — his goodness.⁹¹ So we can rightly say — speaking as we must, in the way our minds picture things — that in God foreknowledge comes first in order, predestination follows it, and then, after creation, providence over what has been created.⁹² The Apostle teaches us this plainly when he says: "For those he foreknew, he also predestined.⁹³ .⁹⁴ .⁹⁵ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified" (Rom.⁹⁶ 8:29–30). However, these words should apply only to human beings. since the other creatures (except the Angels, who are in a firm and unchangeable state) are not subject to predestination, for they do not have free will; and therefore there can be no sin in them.⁹⁷ And everything they do, they do by nature, and therefore they are neither punished nor rewarded. Question 31. From this article of faith, what else do we learn about God and creatures? Answer. Attribute every good thing you can even imagine to God, the Highest Good, as its cause and origin. Conversely, consider that every evil is foreign to Him and removed from Him, not by location, but by nature. As for a created being, reason this way: since it was created by the Good One, it is itself good as well, with this distinction: that a rational and free creature, when it turns away from God, becomes evil, not because it was created that way. For this reason, the causes of its action are contrary to reason.⁹⁸ But an irrational creature, inasmuch as it has no freedom, is entirely good by its nature.

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Вопрос 6. Какой первый член веры?

Ответ. «Верую во единаго Бога Отца, Вседержителя, Творца небу и земли, видимым же всем и невидимым» (Собор I).

Вопрос 7. Какое учение содержится в сем члене веры?

Ответ. Сей член веры заключает в себе двоякое учение: во-первых, чтобы всякий веровал и иcпoвeдывaл, что «Бог. . . един есть» (Втор. 6, 4), в Троице Святой славимый, и что в Божестве начало и корень Сына и Святаго Духа, есть Отец. Во-вторых, учит, что сей Троичный Бог сотворил из ничего все видимое и невидимое, как свидетельствует Псалмопевец: «Той рече, и быша, Той повеле, и создашася» (Пс. 32, 9).

Вопрос 8. Какое должно мне иметь понятие о Боге?

Ответ. Должно верить, что Бог есть един в Святой Троице, по слову Писания: «един Бог и Отец всех, иже над всеми и чрез всех и во всех нас» (Еф. 4, 6); что Он, будучи благ и преблаг, хотя Сам в Себе пресовершен и преславен, сотворил из ничего мир на тот конец, дабы и другие существа, прославляя Его, участвовали в Его благости. Впрочем, что есть Бог в существе Своем, того не может знать ни одна тварь, не только видимая, но и невидимая, т. е. ни самые Ангелы; поскольку совершенно нет никакого сравнения между Творцом и тварью. Но для нашего благочестия довольно и того, как свидетельствует Кирилл Иерусалимский, “если мы знаем, что имеем Бога единаго, Бога сущего и вечного, Который всегда подобен Самому Себе, и есть Тот же” (Оглаш. 6) и что, кроме Его нет другого Бога, как говорит Сей самый Бог чрез Пророка: "Аз (есмь Бог) первый и Аз по сих, кроме Мене нестъ Бога» (Ис.

44, 6). И Моисей, увещевая Израильский народ, так говорит: «слыши, Израилю! Господь Бог наш Господь един есть» (Втор. 6, 4).

Вопрос 9. Ежели Бог един, то не надобно ли думать, что и Лице одно?

Ответ. Никакой нет надобности. Бог един по естеству и существу, а по Лицам Он Троичен, как то явствует из учения Самого Спасителя нашего, Который сказал Апостолам Своим: «шедше убо научите вся языки, крестяще их во имя Отца и Сына и Святаго Духа» (Мф. 28, 19). Сии слова ясно показывают, что в одном Божестве три Лица: Отец, Сын и Дух Святый. Отец, Который прежде веков рождает Сына из Своего существа, и производит Духа Святаго; Сын, родившийся от Отца прежде веков, и единосущный Ему; Дух Святый, от вечности исходящий от Отца, единосущный Отцу и Сыну. Что излагая, Св. Дамаскин так говорит: “Сын и Святый Дух к единой вине – Отцу относятся” (кн.

1, гл. 11). И в другом месте он же: “Сын от Отца имеет бытие образом рождения: Дух Святый также от Отца, но не образом рождения, а исхождения” (гл. 10). И Григорий Богослов на слова Апостола к Римлянам: «яко из Того и Тем и Нем всяческая» (Рим. 11, 36), говорит “первое, т. е. из Того, должно относить к Отцу, второе – к Сыну, третье – к Духу Святому”.

Из сего видно, что в Божестве есть Троичность. Притом мы равно и без всякого различия и исключения, крещаемся во имя Отца, и Сына, и Святаго Духа. Посему, что есть Отец по естеству, то же есть и Сын и Святый Дух.

Но Отец по естеству есть Бог истинный и вечный, Творец всего видимого и невидимого: следовательно, таков же есть и Сын, и Святый Дух; а потому Они единосущны один другому, по учению Евангелиста Иоанна, который говорит: «трие суть свидетельствующий на небеси, Отец, Слово и Святый Дух: и сии три едино суть» (1Ин. 5, 7). В сих словах исключается только то, что Отец в Божестве есть виновник Сына и Духа Святаго; что сии два Лица имеют бытие от Него, а Сам Он ни от кого. Так научены мы от самой вечной Истины, Иисуса Спасителя нашего; так приняли от Святых Апостолов; так, а не иначе, учили, предали и утвердили Вселенские и Поместные Соборы и учители Церкви. То же самое содержит Православная и Кафолическая Церковь наша. За сию веру Святые мученики пролили кровь свою, и предпочли смерть настоящей жизни. Так и мы должны веровать от всего сердца нашего, не имея сомнения, и сохранять сию веру твердо и непоколебимо, даже, когда необходимость потребует, умереть за оную, в надежде приобрести себе спасение при помощи добрых наших дел, за кои получим вечные награды на небесах.

Вопрос 10. Желал бы я уразуметь таинство Святой Троицы несколько яснее?

Ответ. Никаким подобием нельзя вполне объяснить сие таинство, и раздельно представить в уме нашем, каким образом Бог есть един в Существе, и Троичен в Лицах. И что никакое подобие недостаточно к изъяснению оного, о том Сам Бог, именуемый Иегова, свидетельствует устами Пророка: «кому Мя уподобисте, и сравняете и приложисте Мя, и уподобисте Мя, да буду подобен ему» (Ис. 46, 5)? Так что никакой ум не только человеческий, но и Ангельский не может постигнуть, и язык изречь Его. Итак, должно сказать с Апостолом: «помышления низлагающе и всяко возношение взимающееся на разум Божий, и пленяюще всяк разум в послушание Христово» (2Кор. 10, 4–5). Мы твердо веруем, что Бог Отец, сущий от века и в век, и притом ни от кого не происходящий, рождает Сына и производит Духа Святаго.

Афанасий Великий излагает сие в символе своем пространнее. Веруя таким образом, мы ничего далее не исследуем: потому что исследовать и испытывать Божеское величие запрещает Писание: «вышших себе не ищи и крепльших себе не испытуй. Яже ти повеленна, сия разумевай: несть бо ти потреба тайных. Во избытцех дел твоих не любопытствуй» (Сир. 3, 21–23). Довольно для нас, что Священное Писание Ветхого Завета, говоря о едином Боге, показывает нам троичность Лиц: «рече Бог: сотворим человека по образу Нашему и по подобию» (Быт. 1, 26). Еще: «се, Адам бысть яко един от Нас» (Быт.

3, 22). И еще: «приидите, и сошедше смесим тамо язык их, да не услышат кийждо гласа ближняго» (Быт. 11, 7). То самое ясно показывает и Пророк: "и взываху ин (Ангел) ко иному, и глаголаху: «Свят, Свят, Свят Господь Саваоф: исполнь вся земля славы Его» (Ис. 6, 3). И Священный Псалмопевец сказал: «словом Господним небеса утвердишася, и духом уст Его вся сила их» (Пс. 32, 6). О сем многократно говорят и Священное Писание и учители Церкви.

Вопрос 11. Какие суть свойства Божии?

Ответ. Как Бог непостижим, так и свойства Его непостижимы. Впрочем, поколику мы можем приобретать познание из Священного Писания и Учителей Церкви, потолику можем и мыслить о них и говорить. И так должно знать, что свойства Божии иныя суть личные, а иные существенные.

Вопрос 12. Какие суть личные свойства Божии?

Ответ. Личные Божеские свойства суть те, коими Лица Святыя Троицы так различаются одно от другого, что одно Лице не может быть другим. Т. е. Лице Отца не есть Лице Сына; ибо Отец не рожден ни от кого, а Сын рожден от Отца, по естеству, прежде веков, как говорит Писание: «из чрева прежде денницы родих Тя» (Пс. 109, 3). Итак: Отец, Сын и Дух Святый, нерожденное, рожденное и исходящее – различают в Божестве Лица, а не существо, которое нераздельно само в себе, а отделяется только. .

. от твари. Рожденное же и нерожденное не может быть одним лицем. Равным образом надлежит мыслить и о Духе Святом: Он исходит от существа и естества Отчего безначально, т. е. вечно, и есть единосущен Отцу и Сыну. Но различается от Отца личным свойством: потому что от Него исходит; различается также и от Сына: потому что Он имеет бытие от Отца не рождением как Сын, но исхождением от Того же Отца. Сын и Дух Святый имеют одно существо: потому что оба сии Лица от одного Отчего естества.

Они единосущны Отцу, потому что от Его существа. О сем Григорий Богослов так говорит: “Сын и Дух Святый имеют то общее, что и то и другое из сих двух Лиц есть от Отца. Свойство же Отца есть то, что Он нерожден; Сына, что Он рожден; Духа Святаго, что Он исходит” (Слово 23). Сверх сего личное свойство Сына есть все дело воплощения; ибо ни Отец не принимал плоти, ни Дух Святый. Вот каким образом Святая Кафолическая и Апостольская Церковь учит нас веровать и исповедывать единого Бога по естеству, в трех Лицах! О сем смотри в деяниях Первого Никейского Собора и Второго Константинопольского Вселенского.

Вопрос 13. Какие существенные свойства Божии?

Ответ. Существенные свойства Божии суть те, которые равно приличны Отцу и Сыну и Святому Духу, как-то: быть Богом, быть вечным, безначальным, безконечным, благим, всемогущим и всеисполняющим, безпредельным, ведущим все тайное и явное. Кратко сказать, кроме тех личных свойств, о коих мы говорили выше, т. е. быть нерожденным или Отцем и виною; быть рожденным или Сыном и Словом воплощенным; быть исходящим или Духом Святым, – все, что говорится о Боге, составляет свойства Божественного существа, равно общие трем Лицам без всякого различия.

Вопрос 14. Почему в первом члене веры опущены другие свойства, и положено только Вседержителя?

Ответ. Потому, что сие слово точнее выражает свойство Бога. Ибо ни одно сотворенное существо не может быть названо всемогущим по двум причинам. Во-первых, потому, что оно имеет бытие свое не само от себя, но от Творца своего; во-вторых, потому, что оно не может произвести ни единой вещи из того, что нигде и никакого бытия не имеет. И то и другое принадлежит только всемогуществу Божию. А что Бог всемогущ, сие Сам Он сказывает в Апокалипсисе: «Аз есмь Алфа и Омега, начало и конец, глаголет Господь, сый, и Иже бе, и грядый, Вседержитель» (Откр. 1, 8). То же говорит и Архангел: «не изнеможет у Бога всяк глагол» (Лк.

1, 37). Впрочем, сие вседержительство и всемогущество Бога определяется собственным Его хотением и произволением; а посему Он производит не все то, что может, но только то делает и может делать, что восхощет, как говорит Священный Псалмопевец: «Бог же наш на небеси и на земли: вся елика восхоте, сотвори» (Пс. 113, 11). Он мог сотворить тмы миров так, как сей, но не восхотел. Притом должно знать, что сие всемогущество Божие тесно сопряжено с совершенством, и удалено от всего несовершенного или немощного, как то покажет следующий пример. Бог не может ни быть злым, ни грешить, ни лгать или отречься Себя, как говорит Павел (2Тим. 2, 13; Евр. 6, 18), поскольку это есть несовершенство.

Если бы Бог мог быть злым, или грешил, или отрекался Себя Самого, то Он не был бы всемогущ: поскольку таковые свойства сами по себе суть признаки несовершенства. Итак, Бог есть всемогущ согласно с Его волею и совершеннейшею благостью, как воспевает Его Пророк Песнопевец: «кто Бог велий, яко Бог наш? Ты еси Бог творяй чудеса: сказал еси в людех силу Твою» (Пс. 76, 14–15). Наконец, Он называется Всемогущим или Вседержителем потому, что все состоит в Его власти, и что Он сотворил мир без всякого препятствия и без всякого труда, но единым хотением Своим.

Вопрос 15. Если Бог безпределен и вездесущ, то почему говорится, что Он живет на небесах и на некоторых известных местах земли преимущественно?

Ответ. Сие говорится не потому, что будто бы небо, или Сион, или другое какое-нибудь место могло вмещать в себе невещественное и безтелесное Божество – Бог не занимает никакого места, а Сам для Себя есть место. Но поскольку Он действует в сих местах особливым образом, и поскольку действия и благодать Его являются там очевиднее и многократнее, то говорится, что Он живет в оных. Например: «На небесах», (как говорит Святой Дамаскин, Богосл. кн. 1, гл. 16), «потому что там Ангелы, творящие волю Его и присно славящие Его. На земле: ибо на ней во плоти обитал с человеками.

В Святой Церкви: поскольку в ней преимущественным образом дается благодать Его верным, и проповедуется слава Его. Подобным образом и всякое место, в котором каким-нибудь образом открывается благодать Божия, называется местом Его».

Вопрос 16. Если, по твоим словам, одному только Богу свойственно знать все, тайное и явное, то каким же образом знают то и люди – Пророки и Ангелы?

Ответ. Бог знает все тайны и глубины человеков и Ангелов Сам Собою, и не только тогда, когда они мыслят, но и прежде создания мира, как говорит Писание: «очи Господни тмами тем крат светлейшии солнца суть, прозирающии вся пути человеческия и разсматряющии в тайных местех» (Сир. 23, 27–28). И в другом месте: «разуме бо Господь всяко видение и призре на знамение века, возвещая мимошедшая и будущая и открывая следы тайных» (Сир. 42, 18–19). И Иоанн в Апокалипсисе: «Аз есм испытаяй сердца и утробы: и дам вам комуждо по делом вашым» (Откр. 2, 23). Но Ангелы и человеки, если они узнают иногда сокровенное будущее, узнают оное по Бoжественному откровению, как свидетельствует Писание: «Бог открывает глубокая и сокровенная» (Дан.

2, 22). Так Бог открыл Елисею, что раб его Гиезий тайно взял на пути у Неемана (4Цар. 5, 26); и Петру, Апостолу, о Анании и Сапфире (Деян. 5, 11). Таковое же видение имели и все Пророки.

Вопрос 17. Нет ли других свойств, единому Богу приличных?

Ответ. Свойства Божии безчисленны; но и те, о коих, как полезных к спасению, мы доселе говорили, достаточно уже показывают, какое понятие должно нам иметь о Боге. Итак, оставив другие свойства, веруй твердо и несомненно, что Бог есть един в трех Лицах, всемогущ, вездесущ и всеведущ, неизменяем по существу, и вечен.

Вопрос 18. В сем члене положено слово Творца: действительно ли Бог есть Творец всех вещей?

Ответ. Без всякого сомнения, Бог есть Творец всех видимых и невидимых тварей. Прежде всего Он произвел мыслию Своею из ничего все небесные Силы, как отличных песнопевцев славы Своей, и создал оный умный мир, который, по данной ему благодати, знает Бога, и всегда во всем предан воле Его. После того сотворен Богом из ничего сей видимый и вещественный мир. Напоследок Бог сотворил человека, который составлен из невещественной и разумной души и вещественного тела, дабы из одного, сим образом составленного человека, видно уже было, что Он же есть Творец и обоих миров, и невещественного и вещественного. По сей-то причине человек называется малым миром; ибо он носит на себе образ всего великого мира (Дамаск. Богосл. кн.

2, гл. 3, 12).

Вопрос 19. Поелику Бог сотворил прежде всего Ангелов, то какое должны мы иметь о них понятие?

Ответ. Ангелы суть духи, приведенные от Бога из небытия в бытие для того, чтобы они прославляли Его, и служили Ему, и, кроме того, служили в сем мире людям, путеводя их в Царствие Божие. Они даются еще для сохранения городов, царств, областей, монастырей, церквей и людей, как духовных, так и мирских. На сие имеем пример в книге Деяний Апостольских, где написано: «Ангел же Господень нощию отверзе двери темницы, извед же их, рече: идите и ставше глаголите в церкви людем вся глаголы жизни сея» (Деян. 5, 19–20). И еще: «Ангел Господень предста. . .

и рече Петру: препояшися и вступи в плесницы твоя. . . облецыся в ризу твою и последствуй ми» (Деян. 12, 7–8). И немного после: «и Петр быв в себе, рече: ныне вем воистинну, яко посла Бог Ангела Своего и изъят мя из руки Иродовы и от всего чаяния людий Иудейских» (Деян. 12, 11). Они также хранят и малолетних детей, как учит Спаситель наш: «глаголю бо вам, яко Ангели их на небесех выну видят лице Отца Моего небеснаго» (Мф.

18, 10). Они приносят пред величество Божие молитвы и милостыни наши, и другие благодеяния, не потому что Бог не видит Сам милостыней наших, или не внемлет молитвам нашим; но потому что они ходатайствуют о нас. В Ветхом Завете, прежде нежели дан был закон Моисеев, Ангелы учили Праотцев наших закону и воле Божией, и показывали им путь спасения как свидетельствует Св. Дионисий (Иерарх. Цер. 4); а после, когда дан был закон, они наставляли их и руководили ко благу. Само Писание доказывает сие, когда говорит, что Ангелы являлись Пророкам и предсказывали им будущее. Так, Ангел дал совет Иосифу, чтобы он взял предосторожность против намерения Иродова, сказав: «востав поими Отроча и Матерь Его, и бежи во Египет, и буди тамо, дóндеже реку ти: хощет бо Ирод искати Отрочате, да погубит Е» (Мф.

2, 13). Так же, когда Иосиф опасался быть хранителем Девы, Ангел Господень ободрил и наставил его (Мф. 1, 20). Они также объявляют о делах Божиих. Так, при рождении Христа они открыли пастырям, что Христос родился в Вифлееме (Лк. 2, 8–11). Кроме того, они, по повелению Божию, всюду находятся при всяком человеке, избавляют нас от всякой опасности, и прогоняют врага душ наших, который немилосердно мучит человека, когда заметит, что Бог попускает ему то. А что Ангел хранит нас, сие ясно можем видеть из того, что Писание говорит о уповающем на Господа: «яко Ангелом Своим заповест о тебе, сохранити тя во всех путех твоих: на руках возмут тя, да не когда преткнеши о камень ногу твою» (Пс.

90, 11–12).

Вопрос 20. На сколько степеней разделяются Ангелы?

Ответ. Дионисий говорит (Небес. Иерарх. , гл. 6 и 7), что они разделяются на девять ликов, а сии девять на три чина. В первом чине находятся те, кои ближе к Богу, как-то: Престолы, Херувимы и Серафимы. Во втором чине: Власти, Господства и Силы. В третьем: Ангелы, Архангелы, Начала.

Они поставлены в таком порядке, что низшие Ангелы получают просвещение и благодеяния Божии чрез высших. Сии Ангелы утвердились в благодати Божией навсегда; поскольку они не согласились с денницею, восстать против Бога, то и получили сию благодать, так что не могут уже грешить; впрочем, не по естеству своему, но по благодати Божией. Сих кратких замечаний, по краткости сего Православного учения сделанных, довольно для познания Ангелов. Итак, зная, что Ангелы помогают нам и ходатайствуют за нас, мы призываем их во всякой молитве нашей, дабы они молили о нас Бога, и наипаче призываем того Ангела, который есть наш хранитель.

Вопрос 21. Какое понятие должно иметь о злых ангелах?

Ответ. Злые ангелы сотворены от Бога добрыми; ибо что Бог сотворил, то сотворил Он добрым; но они сделались злыми по собственной воле. Как свидетельствует Господь наш о начальнике их: «он человекоубийца бе искони и во истине не стоит, яко несть истины в нем: егда глаголет лжу, от своих глаголет: яко ложь есть и отец лжи» (Ин. 8, 44). Они виновники всякого нечестия, хулители Божеского величия, развратители человеческих душ, сами и орудия их, как говорит Писание: «трезвитеся, бодрствуйте, зане супостат ваш диавол, яко лев рыкая, ходит, иский кого поглотити» (1Петр. 5, 8). Впрочем, надобно знать, что демоны не могут употребить насилия ни над одним человеком, ни над другою какою-либо тварию, если Бог не попустит им, как свидетельствует о том Писание: «беси же моляху Его, глаголюще: аще изгониши ны, повели нам ити в стадо свиное. И рече им: идите» (Мф.

8, 31–32). Сверх того должно всякому знать и то, что они не могут принудить человека ко греху, а только обольщают его искушениями: ибо человек имеет свободную волю, и сей свободе его ни даже Сам Бог не делает какого-либо насилия или принуждения. поскольку же они осуждены навек, то никогда не могут получить благодати Божией, как сказано: "идите от Мене, проклятии, в огнь вечный, уготованный диаволу и аггелом его» (Мф. 25, 41).

Вопрос 22. Какое понятие должно иметь о других тварях?

Ответ. Что Бог создал все из небытия повелением Своим, а напоследок сотворил человека и поставил его господином над всею тварию, которая находится под небесами, сказал: «сотворим человека по образу Нашему и по подобию, и да обладает рыбами морскими, и птицами небесными, (и зверми) и скотами и всею землею» (Быт. 1, 26). То же говорит и Священный Псалмопевец: «поставил еси его над делы руку Твоею, вся покорил еси под нозе его. Овцы и волы вся, еще же и скоты польския, птицы небесныя и рыбы морския, преходящыя стези морския» (Пс. 8, 7–9). И выше: «умалил еси его малым чим от Ангел, славою и честию венчал еси его» (Пс. 8, 6).

Но поскольку человек не сохранил заповеди Божией в раю, когда был невинным, но взял от запрещенного плода и вкусил: то за сие лишился достоинства своего и того состояния, какое имел во время своей невинности. Будучи изгнан из рая, он сделался таким, каким описывает его Пророк, говоря: «человек в чести сый не разуме, приложися скотом несмысленным и уподобися им» (Пс. 48, 21); и услышал приговор: «земля еси, и в землю отидеши» (Быт. 3, 19).

Вопрос 23. Какое было состояние невинности человека, или чистоты и безгрешности его?

Ответ. Состояние невинности или безгрешности (по свидетельству Святого Василия в беседе на начало Притчей) двояко. Во-первых, оно есть добровольное удаление от грехов, т. е. когда человек по собственной решимости удаляется грехов, познав зло чрез опыт и долговременный к нему навык. Во-вторых, есть неведение зла или неопытность в нем, т. е. когда человек не знает зла, и совершенно не испытал его, или по малолетству или по другим причинам.

Невинность или безгрешность в Адаме, прежде нежели он согрешил, была сего второго рода, и была соединена с полным совершенством, с врожденною правотою, как со стороны ума, так и воли. В уме заключалось всякое ведение; в воле – всякая правота и доброта. Ибо Адам знал Бога совершеннейшим образом, сколько в то время ему даровано было, и сколько нужно было; а потому самому, что он знал Бога, знал он и все вещи чрез Него. На сие между прочими имеем мы и такое доказательство: когда Бог привел к Адаму всех животных для того, чтобы он дал им имена, то он назвал каждое своим именем. И сие произошло потому, что он знал природу их – не по какой-либо науке, но потому единственно, что мыслил и рассуждал о Боге и Его благости. Что же касается до воли, то она всегда покорялась разуму, хотя всегда была свободна, и человек был властен грешить или не грешить, как говорится в Писании: «не рцы, яко Господа ради отступих: ихже бо возненавиде, да не сотвориши. Не рцы, яко сам мя прельсти: не требует бо мужа грешника. Всяку мерзость возненавиде Господь, и несть любезна боящымся Его.

Сам из начала сотвори человека и остави его в руце произволения его: аще хощеши, соблюдеши заповеди и веру сотвориши благоволения. Предложил ти огнь и воду, и на неже хощеши, простреши руку твою. Пред человеком живот и смерть, и еже аще изволит, дастся ему» (Сир. 15, 11–17). И вскоре за сим: «не заповеда ни единому же нечествовати, и не даде ослабы ни единому же согрешати» (Сир. 15, 20). В сем состоянии невинности и безгрешности человек был подобен Ангелам. Но как скоро он чрез преслушание пал в грех, немедленно в самом раю вошел в состояние греховное, и сделался смертным; ибо Священное писание учит: «оброцы бо греха смерть» (Рим.

6, 23). Тогда вдруг погубил он совершенство разума и ведения, и его воля преклонилась более ко злу, нежели к добру. А таким образом, поскольку человек соделал зло, состояние невинности и безгрешности переменилось в состояние греховности, и сей совершенный человек столько унизился, что должен сказать с Давидом: «аз же есм червь, а не человек» (Пс. 21, 7).

Вопрос 24. Все ли люди подвержены сему греху?

Ответ. поскольку в состоянии невинности все люди были в Адаме; то, как скоро он согрешил, согрешили в нем и все, и стали в состояние греховное. А посему не только греху подвержены, но и наказанию за грех. Сие наказание объявлено в следующем определении Божием: "в онъже аще день снесте от него, смертию умрете» (Быт. 2, 17). То же самое говорит и Апостол: «якоже единем человеком грех в мир вниде и грехом смерть, и тако смерть во вся человеки вниде, в немже вси согрешиша» (Рим. 5, 12). Посему с сим грехом мы и зачинаемся в чреве матери, и рождаемся, как говорит Священный Псалмопевец: «се бо в беззакониих зачат есмь, и во гресех роди мя мати моя» (Пс.

50, 7). Сей грех называется прародительским, во-первых, потому что прежде оного человек никаким грехом осквернен не был: хотя диавол был уже растлен грехом своим, по наущению коего возник и в человеке сей, так называемый, первородный грех, которому подвергся и Адам, соделавший его, и все мы, от него происходящие. Во-вторых, потому что человек и не зачинается иначе, как во грехе.

Вопрос 25. Если Бог знал, что Адам согрешит, то для чего Он сотворил его?

Ответ. Бог совершеннейшим образом знал не только о грехе Адама, но и о злобе денницы прежде, нежели сотворил его, и о всякой маловажнейшей мысли, какую он будет обращать в уме, и всякое действие, какое он будет совершать. Но несмотря на то, Он не хотел, чтобы грех человека или злоба диавола превысили Божественную благость Его (Дамаскин. Богослов. 2, 27). Итак, дабы открыть чрезвычайную благость Свою, Он сотворил сего ангела добрым, который сделался злым по собственному хотению и произволу. Таковым же сотворил Он и человека, который согрешил по наущению диавола. Впрочем, о человеке так устроил Бог, чтобы по причине его греха гораздо более воссияла благость Божия: поскольку Он определил послать Единородного Сына Своего в юдоль земную, дабы Он, восприяв плоть от Пречистой Девы по действию Святаго Духа, искупил человека, и ввел его в Царство Свое гораздо в большей славе, нежели какую он имел в раю, к посрамлению диавола.

Посему грех сей не воспрепятствовал Богу сотворить человека.

Вопрос 26. Если Бог знал все прежде, нежели сотворил, то предопределил ли все так, что и доброе и злое не может быть иначе, а только так, как есть?

Ответ. Бог знал все прежде сотворения мира, но предопределил только доброе, как говорит Св. Дамаскин (Богосл. 2, 30): поскольку предопределить злое противно Божией благости. Злом же надобно почитать один грех; ибо в мире собственно нет никакого зла, кроме греха, который есть преступление Божественного закона и воли Божией (Дамаск. Тракт. о двух волях во Христе). А все прочее, чем Бог наказывает нас за грехи наши, как-то: моровыя язвы, войны, болезни и тому подобное, называется злом по отношению к нам (Васил.

Велик. Беседа 9. О том, что Бог не есть виновник зла), поскольку несчастия сии причиняют нам скорби и страдания, коих мы отвращаемся. По отношению же к Богу не суть зло; ибо заключают в себе силу добра: поскольку Бог, наказывая нас оными, тем возбуждает к добру. Посему если Писание говорит: «или будет зло во граде, еже Господь не сотвори» (Ам. 3, 6), то здесь называет злом праведное наказание Божие. Кроме того, Бог, по Своей премудрости и правосудию, предопределяет только то, бытие чего не состоит в нашей власти. Напротив, те блага, коих существование состоит в нашей власти, Он предвидит так, что и Сам, по Своему благоволению, споспешествует нашему желанию, что, впрочем, не уничтожает сущности свободы.

Вопрос 27. Что есть свобода?

Ответ. Свобода человека есть произвольное, независимое желание, происходящее от разума или разумной души, делать добро или зло. Ибо разумные твари должны иметь природу самовластную и действовать свободно при руководстве разума. Сей разум, когда человек находился в состоянии невинности, т. е. прежде, нежели согрешил, был неповрежден в совершенстве своем, но грех повредил его. Воля, хотя и осталась неповрежденною по отношению к желанию добра или зла, впрочем соделалась в одних более преклонною к злу, в других – к добру. О сем Василий Великий так говорит: “По собственному желанию и произволу каждый может быть или семенем святым, или противным тому.

Послушай, что говорит Павел: «во Христе бо Иисусе благовествованием аз вы родих» (1Кор. 4, 15). Послушай, что и еще сказано: «елицы же прияша Его, даде им область чадом Божиим быти» (Ин. 1, 12)». Сей Святый Учитель показывает, что хотя человеческая воля и повредилась от первородного греха, но при всем том еще и теперь в воле каждого состоит – быть добрым и чадом Божиим, или злым и сыном диавола. Все сие зависит от выбора и власти человека, но так, что к добру благодать Божия наклоняет человека, а от зла отклоняет его, не делая однако принуждения его свободе.

Вопрос 28. Если люди рождаются в состоянии греха, то тело ли одно происходит от семени Адамова, или вместе и душа?

Ответ. Тело человеческое происходит от семени Адамова; а душа дается от Бога, как говорит Писание: «Господь, прострый небо и основаяй землю, и созидаяй дух человека в нем» (Зах. 12, 1). И в другом месте: «и возвратится персть в землю, якоже бе, и дух возвратится к Богу, Иже даде его» (Еккл. 12, 7). Притом, если бы душа получала бытие от семени человеческого, то вместе с телом и умирала бы, и обращалась в прах. Но сему противное видим в Писании, там, где Христос разбойнику на кресте говорит: «аминь глаголю тебе, днесь со Мною будеши в раи» (Лк. 23, 43).

Тело разбойника осталось на кресте, а душа, как дух безсмертный, вошла со Христом в рай. Но если бы она получила бытие от семени человеческого, то вместе с телом и умерла бы на кресте. Кроме того, как могли бы быть истинными сии слова Господа нашего: «несте ли чли реченнаго вам Богом, глаголющим: Аз есмь Бог Авраамов, и Бог Исааков, и Бог Иаковль; нестъ Бог Бог мертвых, но (Бог) живых» (Мф. 22, 31–32). Что должно разуметь не о теле, но о душе. Пoелику тела мертвых обратились уже в прах; между тем как слова сии справедливы по отношению к душе, которая всегда жива и присуща Богу. Но если бы и она происходила от того же семени, от которого происходит и тело: то они вместе бы и умирали. Душа дается от Бога в то время, когда тело образуется, и соделывается способным к принятию оной.

И когда она входит, то разливается во всем теле, подобно как огонь в раскаленном железе (Дамаск. Богосл. 1, 17). Но преимущественно она занимает место в голове и в сердце.

Вопрос 29. Поелику Бог есть Творец всего, то не должен ли Он о всем и промышлять?

Ответ. Справедливо. От малого до великого Он знает все в точности, и о всяком творении в особенности промышляет, как то можем видеть из слов Христовых: «Не две ли птице ценитеся единому ассарию; и ни едина от них падет на земли без Отца вашего: вам же и власи главный еси изочтени суть» (Мф. 10, 29–30). Таковый промысл ясно открывается и в Ветхом Завете устами Давида, когда он говорит: «Очи всех на Тя уповают (Господи), и Ты даеши им пищу во благовремении. Отверзаеши Ты руку Твою и исполняеши всякое животно благоволения» (Пс. 144, 15–16).

Вопрос 30. Одно ли и то же в Боге: предведение, предопределение и промысл?

Ответ. Предведение, предопределение и промысл различаются в Боге по своим действиям. Промысл относится к вещам сотворенным. Но предведение и предопределение были в Боге прежде бытия всех тварей, хотя они и различны между собою. Предведение есть одно ведение будущего, без определения оного в частности, т. е. оно не определяет существования той или другой вещи. Но предопределение, зависящее от предведения, есть определение частное, т.

е. оно именно определяет, что должно быть; но определяет только добро, а не зло. Ибо если бы оно определяло и зло, то сие было бы противно естественному свойству Божию – благости. Итак, справедливо можем сказать по нашему образу представления, что предведение по порядку предшествует в Боге, за ним следует предопределение, а после за сотворением промысл о сотворенном. Сему Апостол ясно нас учит, говоря: «ихже бо предуведе, (тех) и предустави. . . а ихже предустави, тех и призва: а ихже призва, сих и оправда: а ихже оправда, сих и прослави» (Рим.

8, 29–30). Впрочем, сии слова должно относить только к человеку. поскольку прочие творения (кроме Ангелов, кои находятся в твердом и непременяемом состоянии) не подлежат предопределению, ибо не имеют свободы; а посему в них не может быть никакого греха. И все, что делают, делают по природе, и потому ни наказываются, ни награждаются.

Вопрос 31. Из сего члена веры чему еще научаемся, относительно Бога и тварей?

Ответ. Всякое добро, какое только можешь представить в уме своем, относи к Богу, Высочайшему добру, как к причине и началу. Напротив думай, что всякое зло чуждо Ему, и удалено от Него, не по месту, но по природе. О твари же так рассуждай, что поскольку она сотворена Благим, то и сама добра, с тем различием, что тварь разумная и свободная, когда уклоняется от Бога, становится злою не потому, что такою создана. По сему причины действия ее противны разуму. Тварь же неразумная, поколику не имеет свободы, совершенно добра по природе своей.

Scripture echoes

↩Gen.1.1 — In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
↩Col.1.16 — For in him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him.
↩Eph.4.6 — one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
↩Isa.44.6 — Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."
↩Isa.44.6 — Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God."
↩Deut.6.4 — Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
↩Deut.6.4 — Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
↩Deut.6.4 — Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
↩Rom.11.36 — For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
↩Rom.11.36 — For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
↩Rom.11.36 — For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
↩Matt.28.19 — Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
↩Isa.46.5 — To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, so that we should be alike?
↩Gen.3.22 — And the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now then, lest he reach out his hand and also take from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—"
↩Gen.11.7 — Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech.
↩Gen.11.7 — Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech.
↩Isa.6.3 — And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the fullness of the earth is his glory.
↩Isa.6.3 — And one called to another and said, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the fullness of the earth is his glory.
↩Ps.32.6;Ps.34.6 — Because of this, let every faithful one pray to you, at a time of finding; surely when the floodwaters rise, they shall not reach him. Ps.34.6 — Look to him and be radiant, and let your faces not be ashamed.
↩Ps.32.6;Ps.34.6 — Because of this, let every faithful one pray to you, at a time of finding; surely when the floodwaters rise, they shall not reach him. Ps.34.6 — Look to him and be radiant, and let your faces not be ashamed.
↩Dan.2.22;Heb.4.13 — He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. Heb.4.13 — And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
↩Jer.23.24;Eph.1.23 — Can a person hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD. Eph.1.23 — which is his body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.
↩Rev.1.8 — "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
↩Rev.1.8 — "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
↩Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God.
↩Luke.1.37 — For nothing will be impossible with God.
↩2Tim.2.13;Heb.6.18 — If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Heb.6.18 — so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us
↩2Tim.2.13;Heb.6.18 — If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Heb.6.18 — so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us
↩Heb.6.18 — so that through two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us
↩Acts.5.11;Acts.5.1-Acts.5.11 — And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things. Acts.5.1 — But a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. Acts.5.2 — And he kept back some of the proceeds, with his wife also knowing it. And he brought a portion and laid it at the apostles' feet. Acts.5.3 — But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land?' Acts.5.4 — While it remained unsold, wasn't it yours? And after it was sold, wasn't it under your own control? Why did you set this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. Acts.5.5 — But when Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard these things. Acts.5.6 — Then the younger men rose, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him. Acts.5.7 — Now about three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Acts.5.8 — But Peter said to her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for this amount.' And she said, 'Yes, for that amount.' Acts.5.9 — But Peter said to her, "Why has it been agreed among you to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." Acts.5.10 — And immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Acts.5.11 — And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.
↩Gen.1.1 — In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
↩Acts.5.19-Acts.5.20 — But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, he said, Acts.5.20 — Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.
↩Acts.5.19-Acts.5.20 — But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, he said, Acts.5.20 — Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.
↩Acts.12.7-Acts.12.8 — And suddenly an angel of the Lord stood beside him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter's side and woke him, saying, 'Get up quickly.' And the chains fell from his hands. Acts.12.8 — And the angel said to him, 'Put on your sandals.' And he did so. And he says to him, 'Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.'
↩Ps.90.11-Ps.90.12 — Who knows the power of your anger, and, in keeping with the fear you are due, your wrath? Ps.90.12 — Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
↩Isa.14.12 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations!
↩Matt.8.31-Matt.8.32 — The demons begged him, "If you are driving us out, send us into the herd of pigs." Matt.8.32 — And he said to them, "Go." And they went out and entered the pigs. And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they died in the waters.
↩Matt.25.41 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
↩Matt.25.41 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
↩Gen.1.26 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
↩Gen.1.26 — Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
↩Ps.8.7-Ps.8.9 — You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet— Ps.8.8 — the flocks and the herds—all of them—and also the beasts of the field Ps.8.9 — The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, passing along the paths of the seas.
↩Ps.8.7-Ps.8.9 — You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet— Ps.8.8 — the flocks and the herds—all of them—and also the beasts of the field Ps.8.9 — The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, passing along the paths of the seas.
↩Ps.8.7-Ps.8.9 — You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet— Ps.8.8 — the flocks and the herds—all of them—and also the beasts of the field Ps.8.9 — The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, passing along the paths of the seas.
↩Ps.8.6 — You have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.
↩Ps.8.6 — You have made him a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor.
↩Gen.2.19-Gen.2.20 — And the LORD God formed from the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. Gen.2.20 — So the man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field; but for the man himself, no helper corresponding to him was found." Match v.18 wording for thematic force.
↩Rom.6.23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
↩Rom.6.23 — For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
↩Ps.22.6 — To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
↩Ps.21.7;Ps.22.6 — For you have placed blessings upon him forever; you gladden him with joy in your presence. Ps.22.6 — To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
↩Isa.14.12 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations!
↩John.3.16 — For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.
↩Luke.1.35 — And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the one to be born will be called Son of God."
↩Rom.5.20 — The law came in alongside so that the trespass might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
↩Isa.6.13;Ezra.9.2;1Cor.4.15;John.1.12 — And yet a tenth remains in it, and it will return and be for burning, like the terebinth and the oak, which when felled have a stump remaining in them — a holy seed is its stump. Ezra.9.2 — For they have taken some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, and the holy seed has intermingled with the peoples of the lands. And the hand of the rulers and officials has been foremost in this unfaithfulness. 1Cor.4.15 — For even if you had countless guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. John.1.12 — But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God—to those who believed in his name.
↩1Cor.4.15 — For even if you had countless guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
↩1Cor.4.15 — For even if you had countless guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
↩John.1.12 — But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God—to those who believed in his name.
↩John.1.12 — But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God—to those who believed in his name.
↩1John.3.10 — By this the children of God and the children of the devil are revealed: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
↩Zech.12.1 — An oracle. The word of the LORD concerning Israel. A declaration of the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.
↩Zech.12.1 — An oracle. The word of the LORD concerning Israel. A declaration of the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.
↩Eccl.12.7 — and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it.
↩Eccl.12.7 — and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God, who gave it.
↩Luke.23.43 — And he said to him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
↩Luke.23.43 — And he said to him, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
↩Matt.22.31-Matt.22.32 — But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, Matt.22.32 — I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
↩Matt.22.31-Matt.22.32 — But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, Matt.22.32 — I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
↩Matt.22.31-Matt.22.32 — But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, Matt.22.32 — I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
↩Matt.22.32 — I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Notes

1 ↩«Собор I» is the First Ecumenical Council (Nicaea, 325), the Confession's source citation for this first article of the Creed.
2 ↩The source sentence is cut off mid-quotation by the segmenter: the scriptural citation "Бог... един есть" (God is one) runs across s2–s5. Translated as an open fragment so the quotation completes at s5.
3 ↩"начало и корень" is rendered "origin and root": the Greek/Slavonic idiom for the Father as the sole ἀρχή (principle of origin) within the Trinity, not a temporal beginning.
4 ↩Slavonic/Septuagint numbering: Ps. 32:9 corresponds to Ps. 33:9 in Hebrew and most English Bibles. Numbering conversion left for the reference-resolution stage.
5 ↩Source нестъ is almost certainly Church Slavonic несть (“there is not”); translated as the intended reading.
6 ↩Аз по сих follows the LXX of Isaiah 44:6 (ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, “I after these”), not the Hebrew/common English “I am the last.”
7 ↩Лице here is the theological Person (hypostasis), not 'face'. Capitalized to match the Trinitarian use in the following answer.
8 ↩The Russian is an elliptical answer to the previous question ("Is there no need?"—"None whatever"). The demonstrative "that" supplies the antecedent so the sentence stands on its own in English.
9 ↩The source pairs естество and существо, two near-synonyms for the divine being; rendered "nature" and "essence" to keep the distinction the Greek φύσις / οὐσία pair carries behind it.
10 ↩The quoted verse is given in Church Slavonic in the source; its familiar liturgical cadence is preserved in English, uncontracted, as quoted Scripture.
11 ↩единосущный is the Slavonic equivalent of ὁμοούσιος, the Nicene term; "of one essence with" is used rather than "consubstantial" to stay readable while keeping the creedal force intact.
12 ↩производит is rendered "brings forth" rather than "produces": the text deliberately distinguishes the Spirit's mode of origin (procession) from the Son's (begetting), as the neighboring section from John of Damascus makes explicit.
13 ↩вина here carries its older sense of "cause" (translating Greek αἰτία), not the modern Russian "guilt" or "fault." The point is that the Father alone is the single source of origin within the Trinity.
14 ↩Рождение here is the Son’s eternal generation, not a temporal birth. Исхождение is the Spirit’s procession from the Father.
15 ↩Slavonic Нем is locative (“in Him”). Many English Bibles render the Greek εἰς αὐτόν as “to Him.” Gregory’s mapping of the third phrase to the Holy Spirit follows the Slavonic “in Him.”
16 ↩Троичность is the abstract noun for the Godhead’s threeness (its triune character), not merely the title “the Trinity” (Троица).
17 ↩The Russian chain «но… следовательно… а потому» is kept as "But… therefore… and so," since the argument moves from what the Father is by nature, to the identity of the other Persons, to their consubstantiality. Blurring these links would flatten the deduction.
18 ↩«единосущны» is rendered "of one essence," the standard Nicene term (homoousios), rather than a looser "of the same kind."
19 ↩The source segmentation splits the citation "(1Ин. 5, 7)" across two sentences. The Russian chapter-verse form "5, 7" is given in the English convention "5:7"; no content is added or dropped.
20 ↩«виновник» is the standard Russian rendering of the Greek αἴτιος, the "cause" or principle of origin within the Trinity. "Source" is used to keep the causal force without importing the modern sense of "cause" as a prior event. «исключается» here means excepted from the shared identity just asserted, not denied — hence "the one thing these words set apart."
21 ↩«Кафолическая» is rendered "Catholic" in its creedal sense of universal, as distinct from Roman Catholic; the transliteration in the Russian marks exactly this creedal usage.
22 ↩«при помощи добрых наших дел» is rendered "with the help of our good works" rather than "by our good works." The Russian is instrumental-auxiliary, not a claim that works are the ground of salvation, and flattening it either way would distort the confession's soteriology.
23 ↩The Slavonic quote ends да буду подобен ему (“that I should be like him”), first person singular, rather than the common English “that we may be alike.” The four verbs are kept as they stand in the source, including the repeated уподобисте.
24 ↩производит is the Father’s eternal bringing-forth of the Spirit (spiration), parallel to рождает (“begets”) of the Son; it does not mean a temporal making. ни от кого не происходящий marks the Father as unoriginate.
25 ↩"символ" here means a creed or symbol of faith — the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult), not a figurative image.
26 ↩The Slavonic "во избытцех дел твоих" renders "in what is beyond your works" — i.e. matters exceeding your assigned task; citation split across s4–s5 in the printed text.
27 ↩The parenthesis (Ангел) is Mogila's gloss on ин ('one'); it is not in the biblical wording of Isaiah 6:3. Господь Саваоф is rendered Lord of Hosts.
28 ↩Slavonic духом уст Его is the psalm's 'spirit/breath of His mouth.' In this catechetical chain it is read as a witness to the Word and the Spirit alongside the one Lord; surface 'spirit' is kept in the quoted line.
29 ↩Source cites Пс. 32:6 in LXX/Slavonic numbering (Hebrew/English Psalm 33:6).
30 ↩Личные свойства are the hypostatic properties of the Persons of the Trinity; существенные свойства are attributes of the divine essence shared by all three. 'Personal' here does not mean personality traits.
31 ↩Fragment completing the previous section's clause «а отделяется только... от твари»: the divine essence is indivisible in itself and is distinguished only from the creature. тварь here is the created order as opposed to the Creator.
32 ↩всеисполняющим is rendered “filling all things” (God’s filling of all creation), not “fulfilling” or a generic “omnipresent.” безконечным (“infinite,” without end) is kept distinct from безпредельным (“boundless,” without limit).
33 ↩виною is rendered “cause,” the Eastern Trinitarian name for the Father as αἰτία / source of the Son and the Spirit, not moral blame.
34 ↩Вседержителя is the Creed’s Slavic title (Pantocrator, All-Ruler), traditionally rendered Almighty in English; the following answer treats it as the word that names God’s omnipotence.
35 ↩вседержительство is the abstract of Вседержитель (Pantocrator, All-Sovereign), here paired with всемогущество (omnipotence). Rendered all-sovereignty to keep the two names distinct.
36 ↩Source cites Пс. 113:11 in LXX/Slavonic numbering (Hebrew/English Psalm 115:3).
37 ↩Вседержитель is the Creed's title for God as Pantocrator, the All-Sovereign; the source pairs it with Всемогущий (Almighty) as equivalent names.
38 ↩"Сам для Себя есть место" renders the patristic commonplace that God is not contained by space but is the "place" of all things (cf. John of Damascus, De fide orthodoxa I.13). "He is Himself His own place" keeps the paradox rather than smoothing it into "He is everywhere."
39 ↩The printed citation is split across sentence refs s4–s7; the quotation opened here closes only at s7. "Богосл." is the abbreviated Russian title for the Damascene's Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Точное изложение православной веры), rendered here as "On the Orthodox Faith."
40 ↩"присно" (Church Slavonic: ever, unceasingly) is rendered "without ceasing" rather than the archaic "evermore," per the archaism policy.
41 ↩The Slavonic quotation reads “тмами тем крат светлейшии солнца” — literally “tens of thousands of times brighter than the sun.” Rendered as “ten thousand times brighter” to keep the biblical cadence without archaism.
42 ↩Slavonic “всяко видение” can mean either “all knowledge” or “all seeing/vision.” Both readings stand behind the Greek γνῶσιν; “every kind of knowledge” is chosen because the sentence goes on to speak of past and future being announced.
43 ↩Slavonic “утробы” (Greek νεφρούς, traditionally “reins” or “kidneys”) names the innermost seat of desire alongside the heart; rendered “the depths within” to keep the sense without archaism.
44 ↩The adversative “Но” marks the decisive contrast: God's knowledge is his own (Сам Собою, s2), while any knowledge angels or people have of hidden things is derived and given.
45 ↩The source cites 4Цар. (4 Kingdoms), the Orthodox/LXX name of the book most English Bibles call 2 Kings. The chapter and verse are the same.
46 ↩умный мир is the noetic or intelligible world of the angels, set over against the later visible material world; not 'smart' or 'clever'.
47 ↩малый мир is the microcosm: man as a miniature of the whole creation. The parenthetical citation of St. John of Damascus is truncated at the section boundary.
48 ↩Closes the truncated citation from the previous section: (Дамаск. Богосл. кн. 2, гл. 3, 12). The numbers most naturally read as Book 2, chapters 3 and 12 of St. John of Damascus, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (angels; man as microcosm), not as a Scripture reference.
49 ↩«как духовных, так и мирских» is the usual pairing of the spiritual estate (clergy and monastics) with the worldly estate (laity).
50 ↩The Slavonic quotation has «в церкви» (“in the church”); Acts 5:20 refers to the Temple.
51 ↩Slavonic "быв в себе" — literally "having come to himself," i.e. once Peter realized he was awake and the rescue was real, not a vision.
52 ↩"чаяние" means expectation or anticipation; here the crowd's expectation of Peter's execution. Rendered "everything the Jewish people were expecting" to keep the ominous sense without importing a word the source doesn't use.
53 ↩Slavonic "выну" is an adverb meaning "always, continually" — not a form of "take out." Rendered "always."
54 ↩This sentence is only the tail of a Scripture citation (Matthew 18:10) whose opening parenthesis and book abbreviation fall at the end of the previous section. Rendered as the bare reference.
55 ↩The citation is to Pseudo-Dionysius, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; the reference is broken across s4-s6 by the sentence segmentation of the source.
56 ↩The chapter-and-verse numbers of the Matthew citation fall in the following section (2:13). The quotation itself is Church Slavonic; rendered in contemporary English while keeping the gravity of the angelic command.
57 ↩This sentence is only the tail of a Scripture citation split by the segmenter; it completes the reference begun at the end of the previous section (Matthew 2:13).
58 ↩"Бог попускает ему то" is the technical language of divine permission: God does not cause the tormenting but allows it. "Permitting it" preserves that distinction; "letting him" would blur it.
59 ↩The source quotes Church Slavonic Psalm 90:11–12, which is Psalm 91:11–12 in Hebrew/English numbering. The quoted wording here is a placeholder rendering that keeps the familiar cadence; final wording awaits Moses resolution.
60 ↩Slavonic/LXX Psalm numbering is kept as in the source (Ps. 90). This is Psalm 91:11–12 in Hebrew/English numbering.
61 ↩Patristic citation of Dionysius the Areopagite, On the Celestial Hierarchy. The title and chapter numbers are broken across s2–s5 by source sentence segmentation; «Небес.» expands to Celestial.
62 ↩лик rendered choir (the nine angelic companies); чин rendered order (the three groupings). The preceding question used степень, ranks.
63 ↩Власти rendered Authorities (ἐξουσίαι) and Силы as Powers (δυνάμεις) to keep the two names distinct. English usage overlaps: Власти is sometimes Powers, Силы sometimes Virtues.
64 ↩The quotation is given in Church Slavonic and rendered here into modern English; the chapter-and-verse citation is split across the sentence boundary and completes in s4.
65 ↩"сами и орудия их" is compressed in the Russian; it names both the demons themselves and the human or other agents they use as instruments of corruption.
66 ↩The source marks this phrase as parenthetical, likely a Slavonic Bible variant in the Genesis 1:26 list.
67 ↩The Slavonic follows the LXX reading ('angels'), not the Hebrew reading often rendered 'God' or 'heavenly beings'.
68 ↩The Slavonic quote follows the LXX wording with земля ('earth') and отидеши ('you shall go'), not the familiar English Bible cadence from the Hebrew, 'dust you are, and to dust you shall return.'
69 ↩Russian «правота» here means moral rectitude or rightness of orientation, not being correct in an argument; rendered "uprightness".
70 ↩The Slavonic quotation running from here through s8 is Sirach 15:11-13, cited by the source as Sir. 15. Sirach is deuterocanonical, so the wording here is a fresh English rendering of the Slavonic rather than a quoted base-text form.
71 ↩Church Slavonic «смертию умрете» is the intensive “die by death”; rendered with the familiar scriptural cadence “you shall surely die.”
72 ↩Slavonic «в немже вси согрешиша» is the “in whom all have sinned” reading (as in the Latin in quo), not the causal “because all have sinned.” Kept as “in whom” because that is what the source says and it carries this Confession’s teaching that all sinned in Adam.
73 ↩прародительский names the sin as ancestral (from the first parents); первородный грех is the same sin under the scholastic name “original sin.” так называемый is a naming formula (“as it is called”), not a dismissive “so-called.”
74 ↩Богосл. abbreviates Богословие, the Russian title for St. John of Damascus, Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (De fide orthodoxa). The book-and-chapter numbers continue in s4.
75 ↩"2, 30" closes the Damascene citation begun at s3: Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, book 2, chapter 30 (foreknowledge and predestination), not a biblical verse.
76 ↩споспешествует is assisting/cooperative action: God furthering our willing, not replacing it. The following clause (не уничтожает сущности свободы) makes that limit explicit.
77 ↩Самовластный is the Orthodox term for a nature that has power over itself (Greek αὐτεξούσιος): not coerced, able to choose. Rendered as “self-governing,” not “autocratic.”
78 ↩Church Slavonic область here is authority/power/right (Greek exousia). Rendered as “power” for the grant of becoming children of God, not mere social rank or physical force.
79 ↩The catechism argues that the soul (душа) is given by God, then quotes Scripture that speaks of God forming the spirit (дух) of man. The two terms are treated here as the same immortal principle; дух is kept as "spirit" inside the quotation.
80 ↩The source supplies a parenthetical (Бог) before живых, making explicit the Slavonic ellipsis 'but (God) of the living.' Rendered with the familiar English cadence of the verse.
81 ↩присуща with the dative can mean present to/with, or inherent in. Here the soul of the dead is still living and in God's presence, so that He remains their God; rendered as 'present with God,' not as a property inherent in God.
82 ↩она continues душа from the previous section: the soul given by God when the body is formed. The parenthetical citation is split across s1–s3; Дамаск. is St. John of Damascus.
83 ↩Богосл. abbreviates Богословие, i.e. John of Damascus’s Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (De fide orthodoxa), commonly called On the Orthodox Faith in English.
84 ↩Russian промышлять is the technical verb of divine providence (промысл): not merely supplying needs, but governing and caring for creation. Rendered here as "provide for," matching the catechetical question's plain force; the following answer develops particular providence.
85 ↩assarion: a small Roman copper coin; the Slavonic keeps the coin-name ассарий rather than a generic “penny.”
86 ↩The supplied Slavonic ends «власи главный еси изочтени суть». That reading looks corrupt for the Gospel line (expected главнии / вси). Rendered as the intended sense of Matthew 10:30: the hairs of your head are all numbered.
87 ↩Parenthetical (Господи) is in the source quotation and is kept as vocative “O Lord.”
88 ↩благоволения follows the LXX εὐδοκίας (“good pleasure / favor”). English Psalters often have “satisfy the desire of every living thing,” which tracks the Hebrew more than this Slavonic wording.
89 ↩Source uses Orthodox/LXX psalm numbering (Ps. 144). In Hebrew and most English Bibles this is Psalm 145:15–16.
90 ↩This sentence is only the second half of the abbreviation "т. е." ("that is"), split off from the previous section's closing sentence by sentence segmentation. Rendered as the completing fragment.
91 ↩"естественному свойству Божию" is literally "the natural property/attribute of God"; rendered as "what belongs to God by nature" to keep the force of an essential attribute rather than a mere characteristic.
92 ↩"по нашему образу представления" flags that the sequence is a concession to human conceiving, not a real succession in God, who is timeless; the parenthetical rendering preserves that qualification.
93 ↩The source quotes Romans 8:29 in Church Slavonic ("ихже бо предуведе, (тех) и предустави"); the parenthetical "(тех)" is the editor's supplied pronoun. Rendered in solemn scriptural register; final quoted wording awaits Moses resolution.
94 ↩The source segment contains only a period, an artifact of sentence segmentation over the ellipsis/punctuation inside the Romans quotation. Preserved verbatim rather than invented.
95 ↩As with s6, a punctuation-only segment produced by sentence segmentation; preserved verbatim.
96 ↩Continuation of the Romans quotation (8:30) in Church Slavonic. The citation is split across the section boundary — "(Рим." ends here and "8, 29–30)." opens the next section.
97 ↩The parenthetical excepts the Angels from the non-rational creatures that lack freedom: they are confirmed in an immutable state, so they are not classed with those who 'are not subject to predestination.'
98 ↩ее points back to the rational free creature that has turned away from God: the causes of that creature's (evil) action are contrary to reason.

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