1. Orthodox Theology Part II - God
St. Mary & St. Mina Coptic Orthodox Church
Servants Meeting
January 14, 2018

2. Who is God ? Two contrasting facts:
God is the “wholly Other” – invisible, inconceivable, transcendent, beyond all words and all understanding
God is, the same time, very close to us, filling all things and present everywhere. He is present in a personal way
God dwells in light unapproachable and yet we can talk to Him as we talk to our friend

3. God as Mystery
Yes, God is our friend, but we have to always remember who God really is. Always approach him in “fear and trembling”
God is beyond our understanding. In the litrugy according to St. Gregory, we say “without beginning, inconceivable, timeless, ….”
Mystery not only signifies hiddenness, but also that something is revealed

4. God as a Person
In the Creed, we do not say “I believe that there is a God”, but we say “I believe IN one God”
Believing in God means trusting Him, turning to Him
Faith means a personal relationship with God. It is to know God as a person. To know someone as a person means to love him/her

5. God as a person Personal love between the believer and God:
St. Polycarp
The martyrs
The monks and ascetics
We are all called for this loving relationship with God

6. God
The name by which God revealed Himself is Yahweh, meaning the “One who Exists” – “I AM WHO I AM”
This means
“I live, I am here, I am together with you”
The superiority of God’s being over all other beings”
After the Babylonian captivity, the Jews refrained out of reverential awe from uttering the name of Yahweh, and used instead “Adonai” (the Lord)

7. Divine Names Lord – His power, dominion & glory Lord of Hosts
King of Glory
Almighty – Pantokrator
Holy, All-good
LOVE
There are also names that originate in human experience (Shepherd, Lamb, Way, Door)

8. Attributes of God Uncreated & without beginning
No higher principle or cause of existence beyond Him. He is the cause of everything
Being infinite & boundless
God exists beyond the categories of space and is free from all limitation. He cannot be measured

9. Attributes of God Eternal Immaterial
Exists beyond the category of time.
“I am the first, and I am the last” (Isa. 48:12)
“I am the Alpha and the Omega”
Immaterial
By nature, “God is spirit”
Indefinable, invisible and inconceivable

10. Theology Summarized “A theologian is one who prays”
It is not by speculative knowledge but in the depths of prayerful silence that the soul can encounter God, who is beyond everything, and who reveals himself to her
The truth encountered by the saints is what is formulated in the dogmas
“A theologian is one who prays”