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A Sectional Confession of Faith

Gregory Thaumaturgus

Part II.—Dubious or Spurious Writings.

About this work

Author: Gregory Thaumaturgus

Part II.—Dubious or Spurious Writings.

A Sectional Confession of Faith.

I.

Most hostile and alien to the Apostolic Confession

are

those

who

speak

of

the

Son

as

assumed

to

Himself

by

the

Father

out

of

nothing

,

and

from

an

emanational

origin

;

and

those

who

hold

the

same

sentiments

with

respect

to

the

Holy

Spirit

;

those

who

say

that

the

Son

is

constituted

divine

by

gift

and

grace

,

and

that

the

Holy

Spirit

is

made

holy

;

those

who

regard

the

name

of

the

Son

as

one

common

to

servants

,

and

assert

that

thus

He

is

the

first

-

born

of

the

creature

,

as

becoming

,

like

the

creature

,

existent

out

of

non

-

existence

,

and

as

being

first

made

,

and

who

refuse

to

admit

that

He

is

the

only

-

begotten

Son

,

—

the

only

One

that

the

Father

has

,

and

that

He

has

given

Himself

to

be

reckoned

in

the

number

of

mortals

,

and

is

thus

reckoned

first

-

born

;

those

who

circumscribe

the

generation

of

the

Son

by

the

Father

with

a

measured

interval

after

the

fashion

of

man

,

and

refuse

to

acknowledge

that

the

æon

of

the

Begetter

and

that

of

the

Begotten

are

without

beginning

;

those

who

introduce

three

separate

and

diverse

systems

of

divine

worship

,

whereas

there

is

but

one

form

of

legitimate

service

which

we

have

received

of

old

from

the

law

and

the

prophets

,

and

which

has

been

confirmed

by

the

Lord

and

preached

by

the

apostles

.

Nor

less

alienated

from

the

true

confession

are

those

who

hold

not

the

doctrine

of

the

Trinity

according

to

truth

,

as

a

relation

consisting

of

three

persons

,

but

impiously

conceive

it

as

implying

a

triple

being

in

a

unity

(

Monad

)

,

formed

in

the

way

of

synthesis

and

think

that

the

Son

is

the

wisdom

in

God

,

in

the

same

manner

as

the

human

wisdom

subsists

in

man

whereby

the

man

is

wise

,

and

represent

the

Word

as

being

simply

like

the

word

which

we

utter

or

conceive

,

without

any

hypostasis

whatever

.

Notes

2
οἱ τὸν Υἱὸν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων καὶ ἀποστελλομένης ἀρχῆς εἶναι ἐπίκτητον λέγοντες τῷ Πατρί. [Note, Exucontians = Arians.]
3
ἀκοινωνήτους καὶ ξένας εἰσάγοντες λατρείας.
4
ἐν μονάδι τὸ τριπλοῦν ἀσεβῶς κατὰ σύνθεσιν.