The Great Catechism

The Great Catechism1934. ———————————— Summary. The Trinity. Prologue and Chapter 1.—The belief in God rests on the art and wisdom displayed in the order of the world: the belief in the Unity of God, on the perfection…

§1 (¶1)

the Deity…without Logos. In another treatise (De Fide, p. 40) Gregory bases the argument for the eternity of the Λόγος on John i. 1, where it is not said, “after the beginning,” but “in the beginning.” The beginning,…

§2 (¶2)

But should it be the Jew who gainsays these arguments, our discussion with him will no longer present equal difficulty1951, since the truth will be made manifest out of those doctrines on which he has been brought up.

§3 (¶3)

Chapter VII. Yet let no one ask, “How was it that, if God foresaw the misfortune that would happen to man from want of thought, He came to create him, since it was, perhaps, more to his advantage not to have been born…

§4 (¶4)

“But the nature of man,” it is said, “is narrow and circumscribed, whereas the Deity is infinite. How could the infinite be included in the atom1971?” But who is it that says the infinitude of the Deity is comprehended…

§5 (¶5)

as a weakness, no one can call life such. But the feeling of sensual pleasure does go before the human birth, and as to the impulse to vice in all living men, this is a disease of our nature.

§6 (¶6)

respect, too, alteration is necessarily observable in man, namely, because man was an imitation of the Divine nature, and unless some distinctive difference had been occasioned, the imitating subject would be entirely…

§7 (¶7)

and yet at the same time not to dissociate the benevolent aim of the love of mankind from the verdict of justice, but skilfully to combine both these requisites together, in regard to justice returning the due…

§8 (¶8)

power, since it is seated in the liberty of thought and mind. Therefore such a charge might more justly be transferred to those who have not attached themselves to the Faith, instead of resting on Him Who has called…

§9 (¶9)

ἡ δε τῆς θεότητος μαρτυρία διὰ τῶν θαυμάτων ἐστίν: a noteworthy sentence. τῶν γινομένων (cf. above) being understood. ἐκ τῆς κατὰ διδαχὴν ὑφηγήσεως.

§10 (¶10)

nutriment by its power of adaptation being changed into the form of my body. With these distinctions we must return to the consideration of the question before us.

§11 (¶11)

son of the Most High. You ‘love vanity, and seek after leasing.’ Know you not in what way man is ‘made admirable2060’? In no other way than by becoming holy.” It will be necessary to add to what has been said this…

§12 (¶12)