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By Nicholas Damascus | FāVS News
Who is the Christian God?
Eastern Orthodox theology traditionally approaches God as a divine mystery, not so much to comprehend God, but more so being content to encounter him. For it is impossible for us as created human beings to understand and comprehend the ineffable creator.
Saint Gregory the Theologian said, “Trying to go further to comprehend unbegotten-ness (Father), begotten-ness (Son), or procession (Holy Spirit) leads to insanity.”
However, we can say the Christian God is a community of three unique individual persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Christian theology uses the Greek word homoousios to describe and define the persons as divinely co-equal in essence, substance and being. In addition, we can say that they are equal in authority, power and glory, and no person is lesser or greater than the other, and all are equally God.
There was never a time when God did not exist, for God is outside of time and yet acting within time, moving and speaking directly throughout history and continuously revealing himself to us. Why did he create time? Most likely, to allow mankind to evolve and choose where he would reside for eternity.
Each person of the godhead has a specific purpose and intention. God the Father is the impetus of creation, God the Son is the creator of all creation and God the Holy Spirit is the perfector of creation.
What makes God be one is perfect communion, the complete indwelling of each person of the godhead within the other without loss of personal identity or distinction. This communal unceasing relational participation of harmony and movement within the godhead is the eternal life source, love and God being love (1 John 4:8 … “for God is love”), intimately shares himself with his creation, totally for our benefit.
God is ineffably one and undivided, beyond comprehension, understanding and invisibly existing forever and always the same.
As Metropolitan John Zizioulas puts it: “To be is to be in communion.” And without communion, there is no true being. “We can’t be real persons apart from community.”
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