3.

As for other things, the apostles only said that they existed, but how or why? they kept silent, of course, in order that they might have exercise, and thus show the fruits of their minds, the most zealous and wisdom-loving of their successors, that is, those of them who would become worthy and capable of perceiving the truth.

4. The apostolic teaching, clearly delivered, is reduced to the following propositions. First, that there is one God, Who created and created all things, and Who brought all things from non-existence into existence, God from the first creation and the creation of the world, the God of all the righteous: Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets; and that this God, in the last days, in accordance with what He had previously promised through His prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ, to call first Israel, and then the Gentiles, after the betrayal of the people of Israel. This God, the righteous and good Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, gave the law, and the prophets, and the gospel; He is also the God of the Apostles, the God of the Old and New Testaments. Then (Church tradition teaches) that Jesus Christ Himself, who came, was born of the Father before all creation. He served the Father in the creation of all things, for "all things were in Them" (John 1:3), but in the last times, having humbled Himself, He became incarnate, becoming man, although He was God, and, having become man, remained what He was before, i.e. God. He took on a body similar to our body, with the only difference that it was born of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit. Spirit. This Jesus Christ was born and suffered truly, and this common death was subjected not illusory, but truly; verily He rose from the dead, after His resurrection He dealt with His disciples, and ascended. Further, the Apostles betrayed that in relation to honor and dignity he is a partaker of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Spirit. At the same time, it is impossible to clearly see whether the Holy Spirit is born or not. Spirit? Should He be considered the Son or not? And these questions must be investigated to the best of one's ability, on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures, and to decide through careful research. However, it was this Spirit that inspired each of the saints, both apostles and prophets; one and the same, and not different, Spirit was both in the ancients and in those who were inspired at the coming of Christ. This is preached with complete clarity in the churches.

5. After this (the tradition of the Church teaches) that the soul, having its own substance and life, after leaving this world, will receive a reward according to its merits: it will either receive the inheritance of eternal life and blessedness, if its deeds help it, or it will be given over to eternal fire and punishment, if its guilt of crimes plunges it into this. Church tradition also teaches that the time of the resurrection of the dead will come, when this body, now sown in corruption, will rise in incorruption, and sown in humiliation will rise in glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). In the Church's teaching it is also determined that every rational soul possesses freedom of decision and will and must endure the struggle against the devil and his angels and opposing forces, because they try to burden it with sins, and we, if we live correctly and prudently, try to free ourselves from such a burden. Hence the understanding that we are not subject to the compulsory necessity of doing good or evil against our will. Of course, even if we have freedom, some powers may have the ability to induce us to sin, and others to help us to salvation; Yet we are not necessarily compelled to do good or bad, as those think, who regard the course and movement of the stars as the cause of human affairs, not only those which are done outside of free will, but also those which are in our power. But in the tradition of the Church it is not clearly stated with regard to the soul whether it proceeds from the seed, so that its essence (ratio) or substance is contained in the bodily seeds themselves, or whether it has some other principle, and this very principle, born or unborn, or, e.g., does the soul dwell in the body from without?

6. About the devil and his angels and about the opposing forces, Church tradition teaches that they exist in any case; but what they are, or how they exist, is not clearly stated by tradition. However, very many are of the opinion that this devil was formerly an angel and, having become an apostate, persuaded many other angels to deviate with him, who are still called his angels.

7. In addition, Church tradition also contains that this world was created and began to exist from a certain time, and, because of its corruption, must be saved. But what was before this world, or what will come after it, remains unknown to many, because the Church's teaching does not speak of it clearly.

8. Further, Church tradition teaches that the Scriptures are written by the Holy Spirit (per Spiritum) and have not only an open meaning, but also some other meaning hidden from the majority, for what is described here serves as a predestination of certain sacraments and a type of divine things. The whole Church equally teaches that the whole law is spiritual; but the spiritual meaning of the law is not known to all, but only to those to whom the grace of the Holy Spirit is given in the word of wisdom and knowledge. The name ασωμάτου, i.e., incorporeal, is not known, and is not used, not only by many others, but also in our Scriptures. If, in this case, someone points us to a book called "The Teaching of Peter," where the Saviour seems to say to His disciples: "I am not a demon without a body," then, first, we must answer him that this book does not belong to the number of church books, and then show that this scripture does not belong to Peter or any other divinely inspired writer. But even if we leave this aside, the word ασωμάτου in the Teaching of Peter does not have the same meaning as the Greeks and pagans connect with it in their philosophical reasoning about the incorporeal nature. In this book, the demon is called incorporeal in the sense that the property and appearance of the demonic body, whatever this property may be, does not resemble this coarsest and visible body — and, of course, this name must be understood in accordance with the thought of the one who composed this work, namely, that He (the Saviour) does not have such a body as the demons have, i.e., not such a body as the demons have, which by nature is subtle and light, like air, and therefore by many is either considered or called incorporeal, but has a body that is dense and tangible. In fact, simple and inexperienced people usually call all this incorporeal; For example, some may call this air which we use incorporeal, because it is not a body that can be grasped and held, and has no elasticity.

9. However, we will look for whether in the Holy Scriptures there is not a Scripture under another name of the same concept which the Greek philosophers designate by the word ασωμάτου. We must also consider how God is to be conceived, whether corporeal and having a certain form, or with a different nature in comparison with the body, because this is not clearly indicated in our teaching. The same must be examined of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, as well as of every soul, and even more so of every rational being.

10. The Church's teaching also contains that there are certain angels of God and good forces that serve God in the dispensation of the salvation of people; but when they are created, or what they are, or how they are, this is not clearly indicated. As for the sun, moon, and stars, it is not clear whether they are animate or without a soul. Whoever wishes to build on the basis of all these things one organic whole (seriem quamdam et corpus), according to the commandment "enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge" (Hosea 10:12), must make use of these elements and foundations, in order to investigate on the basis of clear and necessary propositions about each subject, what it really is, and, as we have said, to form a single organism (unum corpus) from examples and propositions, and which it will either find in the Holy Scriptures. Scripture or will receive it by correct reasoning.

Chapter One. About God

1. I know that some will try to prove that God is a body, even on the basis of our Scriptures. In fact, they find in Moses the words: "Our God consumed fire," and also in the Gospel of John: "The Spirit is God, and whoever worships Him, in spirit and in truth is worthy to worship" (Deuteronomy 4:24; John 4:24); Fire and spirit, according to their understanding, are nothing but the body. But I want to ask them what they will say about the words of the Scriptures, which say that God is light, as John says in his epistle: "God is light, and there is not a single darkness in him?" (1 John 1:5). Of course, He is the light that enlightens every sense of people who are able to perceive the truth, as it is said in Psalm 35: "In Thy light we shall see the light" (Psalm 35:10). But what else is to be understood by the light of God, in which one sees light, if not the power of God, through the enlightenment of which man comes to know both the truth of all things, and God Himself, Who is truth? Such is the meaning of the words: "In Thy light we shall see the light"; namely: in Thy Word and Wisdom, which is Thy Son, in Thy Own we shall see the Father. Can God be considered like the light of this sun only because He is called light? And what meaning, however superficial, will be obtained if it is recognized that from this bodily light someone receives the cause of knowledge and finds the understanding of truth?

2. If, then, we accept this assertion of ours, which is proved by the very conception of the nature of light, and admit that in this conception of light God cannot be regarded as a body, then a similar reasoning can be applied to the designation of God as a consuming fire. Will anyone think that He devours bodily matter, e.g., wood, hay, straw? And what is worthy of divine glory in the thought that God is a fire that consumes things of this kind? True, we admit that it is God. indeed, it devours and destroys, but it destroys the evil thoughts of minds, destroys shameful deeds, destroys sinful desires, when everything is drunk in the minds of believers, and when the souls that become receptive to His Word and wisdom, after the destruction of all vices and passions in them, makes His temple pure and worthy of Himself, dwelling in them together with His Son, as it is said (in the Scriptures): "I and the Father will come, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). To those who consider God to be a body on the basis of the words: "Spirit is God" (John 4:24), in my opinion, it is necessary to answer in the following way. In the Holy Scriptures. In the Scriptures, the word "spirit" is usually used when it is necessary to designate something contrary to a real gross and dense body. Thus, for example, the Scriptures say: "Writing kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). Here, without a doubt, by the expression "writing" the Scripture denotes the corporeal, and by the word "spirit" the mental, which we otherwise call spiritual. For the Apostle also says: "Even to this day, when Moses is honored, a veil lies over their hearts, but when they turn to the Lord, the veil is drawn forth. (And the Lord is spirit), and where the Spirit of the Lord is, that is freedom" (2 Corinthians 3:15-17). In fact, until someone turns to spiritual understanding, a veil lies over his heart, with which veil, i.e., a crude understanding, the Scriptures themselves are closed. The same veil lay on the face of Moses when he spoke to the people (Exodus 34:36), or what is the same when the law was read to the people. But if we turn to the Lord, Who has the word of God and in Whom the Holy Spirit reveals spiritual knowledge, then the veil will be removed, then with an open face we will behold the glory of God in the Scriptures.

3. It is true that many saints participate in the Holy Spirit, but on this basis we should not consider the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is a kind of body, in which, after dividing it into bodily parts, each of the saints seems to participate. St. The Spirit is, of course, a sanctifying power, in which, as they say, all who deserve sanctification by His grace have a part. However, in order to make it easier to understand what we are saying, let us take an example, even if from the realm of things of an entirely different order. Thus, many people take part in medical science or in the medical art. Is it to be thought that all those who take part in medicine, sitting in the midst of a body called medicine, disassemble their parts of it, and thus take part in it? Would it not be better to understand this participation in the sense that everyone, after preparing and educating his mind, comprehends the very meaning of this art and science? However, this example of medicine should not be considered a perfect likeness and an exact comparison in relation to the Holy Scriptures. To the spirit, this example only proves that what many participate in should not necessarily be considered the body. The Holy Spirit is immeasurably different from medicine, both in essence and in doctrine, besides the fact that the Holy Spirit is a spiritual (intellectualis) essence (subsistentia). It exists and exists in the proper sense of the word (proprie), and medicine is nothing of the sort.