His life:

The Gregory family belonged to the large and rich royal families and lived in a town called “ARIANDOS - Ariandos” near the small town of Nazianzus.

His mother (Nona) (1)) She was a Christian, while his father, Gregory (2)He was the first ruler of the city. At the beginning of his life, he belonged to a group called “YPSISTARION – Uyistarion.” (3) This sect mixed Jewish and pagan elements, but the wife attracted the husband to Christianity, so he was baptized. He may also have taken the name Gregory at baptism and was later bishop of Nazianzus. To Gregory, the virtuous couple gave birth to a girl and a boy, and both of them were saints: Gorgonia (who is celebrated on February 23) and Caesar (who is celebrated on February 23rd). him on February 25).

There is a difference in determining the year of birth of Gregory Jr., but scholars believe that he was born at the time when his father was a bishop, and therefore his birth may have been in the year 328 AD.

Since his youth, Gregory loved science and received his first education at the hands of his educated relatives. Then he moved to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he was raised by Carterius the Hermit, who later headed the monasteries of Antioch, and then to Caesarea in Palestine. He always studied with his brother Caesar, who became a doctor.

Then he went to Alexandria and met Saint Athanasius and Anthony. Perhaps he heard the lectures of the blind Didmus. In Alexandria, he left his brother Caesar and set off for Athens. At sea, a violent storm arose and threatened the lives of the passengers. He decided in himself to fulfill the promise to enter the priesthood, offering himself as a gift to the Maker of the earth and the sea.

When he arrived in Athens, he met again with his friend Basil, and although they did not receive baptism at that time, they turned to the spiritual life and the scientific life, and they knew only two paths, one leading to the church and one to the university, and there they formed the first Christian student association in the world. Gregory describes his relationship with Basil and says in poetry:

“All things are common, and the soul is one, lacking (and separated only by) the distance of the bodies of the two.”

“Ta panta men di koina kai yhch mia duoin deousa swmatwn diasta_sin”

In Athens, he continued studying rhetoric and philology, and because of his skill in these two subjects, he was chosen to be a professor later in Athens, which did not allow him to leave with Basil as they agreed while they were studying. Before he finished two years of education, he felt homesick, so he left to return to his homeland. This is considered the first escape in a series of escapes that he practiced.

Upon his arrival in Nazianzus, he also began his work there as a professor of rhetoric. But the hustle and bustle of life in this city did not suit his personality, which loved calm and tranquility. He preferred to live away from the world, and this was his second escape.

Many matters conflicted within him, but the greatest tendency was to unite rather than serve in society and in the world church.

Both Gregory and Basil tried to attract the other to his kingdom and land. At first, Basil agreed to stay with Gregory, but in the end Basil attracted his friend to his own property near the Iris River in Pont, and there they studied theology together on the basis of Origen’s works, so they wrote the Philokalia and monastic laws, but they They differed on certain points. Basil was a supporter of the work “Praxis” and Gregory the supporter of the work “Qewria”. So Gregory left Pontius to return to his homeland.

Upon his return, he found that his father, due to his old age and his late conversion to Christianity, had signed a semi-Arian constitution out of ignorance, so the son decided to help his father, so he convinced him to sign another Orthodox constitution.

After this event, the father did not accept that his son be merely an assistant. Rather, he wanted him to be a priest of the Most High God, so he ordained him at the end of the year 361 AD. (4). But he also escaped and took refuge with a companion on the path, and there he wrote his famous book, “On the Escape.” He stayed with him for a few months (until Easter), after which Basil convinced him to return, so he returned to the responsibility of working in Nazianzus.

He remained there for ten years and was able to bring back the parishioners who had left the church due to his father’s signing of the Arian Constitution. When Emperor Julian removed Christians from Christian education and imposed pagan education in schools, Gregory wrote several books and wrote poetry to spread upright education.

After the death of Ephesus, Basil was elected bishop of Caesarea with the help of Gregory's father. A new phase began in the life of Gregory the Theologian when Basil ordained him bishop through pressure in the year 372 AD. This stage was difficult in his life because Basil was working on the basis of a plan to resist the division of Cappadocia, so he chose Gregory as bishop over Sasima, and this region was located under the sphere of authority. (5).

Gregory opposed the election because:

• First: He does not want to be a tool in the conflict that broke out between Basilius and the Emperor to divide the region.
• Secondly: Because he does not like to live in a noisy area
• Thirdly, because administrative responsibility is alien to his characteristics.

Despite all his opposition, he was ordained a bishop and announced in the sermon his acceptance of assuming responsibility, despite expressing his sadness and regret over this election. He visited Sasima without staying there, and all attempts to persuade him to return to it failed. When his hundred-year-old father and his mother died a few months later, he managed his father’s diocese, and when he realized that he would install a bishop over it, he left the place for the monastery of Saint Thecla, where he remained for years.

In 378 AD, the Arian Emperor Valens was killed in the Battle of Adrianopolis, so Gregory was invited to Constantinople to resist Arianism. (6) Rampant in the court and the army.

In Constantinople, upright believers gathered in a small church, due to the spread of Arianism and its control over most churches. There, Gregory began to deliver his sermons, and the number of believers increased little by little. (7).

There, Gregory delivered his five theological words “On the Trinity,” which were so well received by the people that they applauded him in the church when he delivered them, and because of which he was called “the Theologian.” (8)Since this church established the divine word, it was called the “Church of the Resurrection - Anastasia.”

All of this does not negate the fact that many difficulties faced our Cappadocian saint in Constantinople, including that his friend, the philosopher Maximus the Cynic, came to Constantinople and was baptized, and Gregory ordained him a priest, but Maximus was working in secret in order to install himself as patriarch, and Timothy, the Patriarch of Alexandria, helped him in that.

On the eve of Easter, in the year 379 AD, a group of Arians attacked the Church of the Resurrection and stoned it.

In the year 380 AD, Emperor Theodosius entered the East, deposed the Arian bishop Demophilus, declared the Orthodox faith in the empire, and handed over to Gregory the main church in Constantinople. The Emperor wanted to make Gregory Patriarch of the city, but the latter refused, considering himself unworthy of this position. But on November 27 of the same year, Gregory was admitted to the Church of the Holy Apostles as Patriarch of Constantinople.

One year later (May 381 AD), the Second Ecumenical Council was held (9) Gregory was declared Patriarch of Constantinople and was given the presidency of the Holy Council, which included 150 Eastern fathers (the West was not represented, but agreed to the ecumenism of the Council later).

Gregory noted the reaction of the bishops of Macedonia and Alexandria to his installation as patriarch of Constantinople, “which happened without taking their opinion” because the council fathers’ approval of his installation occurred before their arrival. Therefore, before his withdrawal from the council, he delivered an important speech considered one of the mothers of rhetorical literature, in which he defended his presence in Constantinople as a bishop. He then left the presidency of the council to his successor in the episcopate, Nectarios.

After leaving the council, he moved to Caesarea and from there to Nazianzus to manage the affairs of the church, which had no shepherd, until his cousin Euphilius was elected as its bishop in the year 383 AD.

After that, he returned to seek peace and tranquility, so he lived in a place near the monastery that he established in the Arens region, and after that he withdrew to a mountain cave inhabiting the beasts and predators. There he composed a thousand sections of his poetry and writings to confront heresies until his death in the year 390 AD. After bequeathing everything he owned to the poor of Nazianzus Church (10).

Our church celebrates him on the 25th and 30th (with the three moons) of January. The Coptic Church celebrates it on October 4, and attributes the Gregorian Mass used in it to him, while the Western Church celebrates it on January 2.

His writings:

Gregory spent his life speaking and writing, and his works were deep and heartfelt. His writings were characterized by sublimity, strength, heat, and fertile imagination. His knowledge of oratory and eloquence made him a first-class orator in terms of images, proverbs, and metaphor. He even belied the common proverb of his time, which said: “It is impossible for a person to find an orator and a crow.” White in Cappadocia.”

After the death of Saint Basil the Great on 1/2/379 AD, Gregory became the official spokesman. (11)He was a prominent supporter of the Council of Nicaea in Asia Minor and was called at that time “the teacher of the universe.”

His works can be divided into eight categories:

1. His exciting experiences (defending his retirement from Punt, where he brilliantly portrays the example of a clerical man. “From here Chrysostom came to write about the priesthood”).
2. Church administration.
3. Resisting the Arians: He describes the Arians and says:
   “A sweet bait for simple people that hides the hook of blasphemy
   An attractive face that turns right and left to attract passers-by!
   A decent shoe for every foot!, Seeds sown in every wind!,
   Writings that gained their strength from their baseness and deception against the truth.
   They were wise in doing evil, but in doing good they had no knowledge or share.” (12)
4. Words delivered on holidays: (Easter, Divine Appearance, Pentecost, Thomas Sunday).
5. Social and moral words.
6. Praises.
7. Eulogy: (His brother Caesar, his sister Gregoria, his father Gregory, Basil the Great).
8. Theological words.
   In the five theological words, he opposes the beliefs of those who say there is no similarity between the Father and the Son. In the first, he talks about the limits of speaking theology in a correct way, stressing faith, purity, and the impotence of argument (dialctique). In the second, he emphasizes that in the world we only witness the greatness of God. In the third and fourth, he fights the creation of the son according to Arius. In the last word, he affirms that the Holy Spirit is eternal, like the Son and the Father.

His messages:

Gregory wrote many letters, of which we have reached 245 letters, most of which are personal. He exchanged letters primarily to express his thoughts and positions and also to respond to church and social needs. These letters are an honest picture of an honorable person who does not hesitate to tell the truth. His letters are concise, coherent and beautiful.

hair:

More than 400 poems are attributed to him. He wrote poetry to express his feeling and experience, to present it to young people and those who love knowledge and reading, and to show that Christians are not inferior to pagans, and to resist Julian’s decision and confront Apollinarius’ poetry and teachings.

His poems express a delicate soul seeking comfort in God's arms. His poems are classical in their language, meaning that he uses a very ancient Greek language (the language of Homer). (13)And his poetry is an important source about his life.

Gregory the Theologian wrote most of his verses in Ariens in his last years, of which he memorized 18,000 verses with a doctrinal, moral, and historical content.

His play:

The saint left us a play called “The Patience of Christ,” which is the oldest Christian play that has reached us. The prominent characters of the play are Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, and Pontius Pilate.

“On the run”:

  Gregory begins his book on Escape by saying that the best example of a shepherd is the life of Jesus of Nazareth, who gave himself for the sake of others, and this requires striving in prayer and nourishment from the divine word. The priest devotes himself to the Holy Books, and a spring of life flows from him, so he heals, comforts, and saves.

He says: “I did not hide in the wilderness of Punt, except because I was not qualified for a life of holiness like this and for fear of causing the parish to stumble if I accepted the pastorate seat while I had not yet completely surrendered myself to Christ. I hid myself to surrender myself to the One who loved me, so that he might sanctify me with his grace, teaching me how to be silent in the church.” And I speak to myself and God (1 Corinthians 14:28) until I am given the gift of prophecy. I silence every worldly concern in me. I close the doors of my senses and desires in order to grow in grace, so I deserve to be a clear mirror that reflects the face of the Lord to others.

Then I feared that if I accepted the responsibility before I allowed the Lord himself to prepare me for it, I feared that I would follow in the footsteps of some who come to the service of the altar undeservingly, as if this service is a means of earning a living, as if it were authority instead of being an example of virtue that attracts others with love (1 Peter 2:5)... If someone accepts the priesthood, he must first be refined by fire like a precious metal (1 Corinthians 3:12). A virtuous life is a difficult matter, but whoever serves the holy things without sanctifying himself brings not only judgment to himself but also judgment to others.

How do we heal others without healing ourselves first? Then what do we offer to others if we are not given from the Father to advance with virtue? It is not enough to stay away from evil, we must also, as the book recommends, strive to do good.

Pastoral work is similar to the work of a doctor, but souls resist being healed because spiritual illness is hidden, unlike physical illness, and because the priest aims not only to preserve and restore health, but seeks to deify everyone who comes to the Divine Host. Then the physician-priest treats different types of people, and from here he must change his style according to the time and circumstances. Some people are treated by extending the doctrine to them, others need a living example to follow, some need compassion and others need strictness, some are slow to understand and others devour education, some build with praise and others with reprimand, some need embrace and others do not need it, for some we set limits for them and for others We let go of the fullness of freedom. Each according to his personality, circumstances and society.

The shepherd is in front of a musical instrument that has several strings. He must adjust the strings so that they harmonize together in a melodious melody.

The priest is not made in one day. When a potter molds a pottery vessel, the priest acquires skill in care through practice and experience.

It is not permissible for a priest to be ignorant, but he also cannot learn by cramming information and theological theories alone. There is more hope in the ignorant than the one who is full of knowledge (with pride). The priest is a teacher and an explainer of the Word, and he must acquire the skill of teaching, that is, liberate people from their preconceived ideas. He must destroy what is in their souls. Then he builds the soul to lead it to the image of Christ. His lips scatter divine knowledge because the Lord lights his lamp and with it he breaks into armies and his members become an instrument in the hand of God...” (14).

His education

- Faith and gratitude:

The Cappadocian fathers are described as Platonists, but if we study Gregory’s thought, we discover in the end that he is neither a Platonist, nor an Aristotelian, nor a Stoic. He took from Platonism “punishment” as an educational method, and he took the principle of purification and the existence of two worlds, material and spiritual, and considered man as a “small world - Mikrokosmos” and used terms Stoicism represented virtue, vice, pain, and constipation, and he took from Aristotle that God is the final cause of the universe.

Gregory does not confront knowledge as if it existed on its own, but rather confronts it as an optional confrontation, because knowledge cannot be free of contradiction and errors. There are positive elements in gratitude, but they are not complete except through revelation, that is, through divine revelation. The problem is not the problem of gratitude itself, but rather the problem of choosing it appropriately and using it correctly.

Accordingly, Gregory does not consider philosophy to be absolutely necessary, as sometimes a simple person is more happy in his life than a philosopher.

The simple Christian is a philosopher, because knowledge according to the world opposes the cross of Christ, and therefore true philosophy is philosophy according to Christ. Through Christian teaching, not only Christian knowledge is perfected, but also the wisdom of the Old Testament, which was based on fear, is perfected. Through Christian proclamation, wisdom transcends fear and raises it to love, making us friends of God and His children instead of being slaves: “The wisdom that is in Christ Jesus is greater than the wisdom of the people of this age, wisdom.” We imbibe Christ by living in the honorable tradition that reveals to us the eternal truth revealed in the Holy Bible.”

The final criterion is not logical reasoning, but existence itself. A person who is guided only by logic is an earthly person because reason does not liberate a person and does not provide him with the complete truth. Only faith completes a person and makes him capable of seeing fallen reality. When the mind is enlightened by the power of faith, it becomes aware of what is above the mind and realizes its ignorance. Therefore, he said: “Let faith guide us more than reason.”

-Knowing God:

“Knowing God is possible, but it is limited to those who are pure in heart.”

Knowledge of God is characterized by two forms: natural knowledge and supernatural knowledge. The sources of natural detection are nature, history and human consciousness. The knowledge that comes from natural revelation is an incomplete knowledge because the simple and infinite God remains unperceived. The human mind tries to perceive God through the beauty and organization that it sees in creation. Therefore, natural knowledge of God relates to the characteristics of God’s work, while supernatural knowledge is higher because faith supports it.

Theology is not a rational approach and cannot be limited within the mental body. Therefore, man must reformulate his thoughts and feelings through his relationship with God. However, he does not speak theology in matters related to the essence of God, but rather in what revolves around God, that is, God’s works and powers.

God is not perceived by the mind, and what is perceived in Him is His infiniteness. A person can say about God that He is not comprehended, has no beginning, and is not begotten, meaning that He reveals what He is not God. (15).

The work of the theologian is limited by the nature of his research and by his conviction that his knowledge is not complete. Even the Apostle Paul emphasized the lack of complete understanding of God. Gregory says: “Elijah, as we know from history, did not see the nature of God, but rather its shadows. If the Apostle Paul was able to express what he saw and heard in the third heaven, By ascending to that place we can know something more about God, so why did He not tell us what is there if He knew something about the purpose of the rapture?

This is because Paul himself did not realize anything. Rather, he left us to silently honor what he saw and mentioned, meaning that he heard secret words that he did not speak... We are like someone trying to scoop sea water into a bowl... With my words, I tried to prove that the mind cannot comprehend the nature of angels, how much more so the nature of God, which transcends everything? To Him be glory and honor forever and ever, Amen.” (16).

Gregory spoke a lot about the Trinity and said that God is one in three hypostases, and that these hypostases are distinct from each other. The Father is equal to the Son, without this meaning that the Son is the Father. The Father is the reason for existence, the reason for the existence of the Son, and he is the reason for the emanation of the Holy Spirit, and what the Father has is for the Son and the Holy Spirit: “We have one Lord, the Father, from whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and one Holy Spirit in whom are all things.” (17).

Gregory bears witness, as do Basil and Athanasius (and later Damascus), that the tri-sanctified hymn is not said about the Son only, but about the Most Holy Trinity. The holy seraphim, in their sanctification, show us the three hypostases of the transcendent Godhead. Accordingly, Gregory says: “...And so, then, the most holy things that She is also hidden from the Seraphim and receives glorification through triple sanctifications that combine in one sovereignty and one divinity.” (18).

The cognitive ability of the mind is limited, and beings that fall under the influence of the senses cannot enter into the depths of mentalities. Gregory says: “Tell me what non-birth is, and I will teach you about the birth of the Son and the emanation of the Holy Spirit. Man’s questions multiply as his knowledge increases, and he is like someone who was enlightened for a single moment.” But he remained in the dark.” In addition to the mind's limitations and its inability to enter into the mystery of God, there is the human body that hinders the relative power of the mind. After the fall, the body became denser, and the mind itself became dense and materialistic, but this limitation in the body is not a punishment for a person, but rather an education for him.

- Creation and the Creator:

Gregory divides creation into three categories. He says: First, the closest to God are the mental natures and the furthest from Him are the sensory natures. The farthest thing is existence, which has no soul or sense. As for the first creatures according to him, they were the angels who existed before all of creation, “because God thought of the angelic and heavenly powers.” “His thinking was action.” (19).

Man is created in the image of God, and Origen's opinion does not say that souls are created before bodies. Rather, he believes that the soul comes to man upon conception, and that this soul does not die at the moment of death, but rather rises and returns to its Creator. Because of the fall, man began to die. Sin introduced death, and death began to make sin sweet and sweet.

Everything in the universe changes from one hour to the next, and everything occurs and perishes. Life and death, which are considered two contradictory ideas, exist and exchange roles. Life begins with corruption, and a person moves from corruption to corruption until his earthly life ends. Corruption is the victory of time because life passes through birth in a specific direction that cannot be returned.

But death in itself carries positive elements because true death is not the separation of the soul from the body, but rather the destruction of the soul, and the basic problem for a person is the problem of distinguishing between reality and what appears, meaning that he is afraid of what is not scary.

Believers, in their journey towards the Righteous Master, can be freed from the control of circular time because they are heading towards a stable reality free of all confusion, that is, towards transcending the present world. This does not mean that Gregory underestimates the importance and value of the world. The present world is not an obstacle that prevents us from acquiring what is established and stable. What happens and changes can be a means of acquiring new life.

The real tragedy is that a person becomes trapped within the circle of birth and death, that is, he becomes a dream that does not exist in reality. Therefore, Gregory says that a person should abandon dreams and shadows and enjoy life to the fullest.

The difference between humans and angels is that incorporeal beings are not subject to time, which limits humans. Time does not exist for spiritual beings, because in time the present turns into a dead past.

- Reasons for education:

The basic premise of transcendent theology is a response to the heretical effort to change Christian revelation into philosophical teaching. Most of the heretics, such as Arius, Eunomius, and Sabellius, tried to study the divine revelation and prove it with purely rational statements, but this rational development of matters brings the revelation down to the human level. The existence of divine darkness is necessary and does not have a negative characteristic. The darkness that exists between God and man is like the clouds into which Moses entered. Darkness protects him from the fire of divinity just as the shadow protects man from the fire of the sun.

Man is called to enter into this divine cloud, but this requires special preparation.

- In baptism:

The service of sanctifying water and the prayers for expelling demons (the divisions) are indispensable in the life of the church. In addition to their effectiveness as a prayer, they also contain basic teachings that help the person coming to baptism (the catechumen) understand some necessary theological truths and reflect the desire and patience of the latter. Gregory says, “Do not despise the medicine of expulsion.” Demons, and do not get tired of the long prayers, because all of these are a test of the sincerity and sincerity of souls and their longing for baptism.” (20).

But these church services and secrets are only revealed at the right time and to those who are qualified to hear them. He says, preaching to the people: “I have heard a lot about the secret, as we are allowed to speak publicly and in front of everyone. As for the rest of the conversation, you will hear it in secret so that this speech remains private to you.” (21). In his day, even though he and his lifelong friend Basil the Great were late in receiving the sacrament of baptism, as was common in their time, Gregory refused to let it be postponed, whatever the reasons, in which he said:

“Christ is God, so He did not need baptism, but He was baptized for us humans, and even if He postponed His baptism, this would not have been a danger to Him. Christ had reasons that made him baptized at the age of thirty, and none of these reasons concern humans. The Lord has done many things that none of us can imitate or take as a standard. Not everything the Lord does can be imitated (22).. Some say that they will wait for the Feast of the Epiphany, that is, the day on which Christ was baptized and appeared to the world. Others say that they care about Easter more than other holidays, and the third says that they will wait for Pentecost. (23). No one should delay baptism as long as he is prepared for it, lest death surprise them on a day for which they were not prepared and at an hour they do not know. Baptism is called a gift because it was given to us without us paying a price for it, and it is called a seal because it is a seal that confirms our ownership and the authority that possesses us and because it is a pledge of eternal life. (24). And because we are of two natures, I mean the body and the soul, the first is visible and the second is invisible, so the purification, which extends to all, is also a compound of water and the spirit. The visible purification of the water from the body and the second that accompanies it is invisible and does not pertain to the body. The first is apparent and the second is real and purifies the depths. (25)“.

Quoted from Orthodox Heritage Magazine

Troparia with the first tune
The pastoral flute of your speech in theology has subdued and defeated the preachers’ trumpets. Since you have sought the depths of the soul, good speech has been added to you, Father Gregory, so intercede with Christ God to save our souls.

Qandaq with the third tune
O Glorious One, with your tongue that speaks of the divine, you have dissolved the conflicts of error, and you have adorned the church with the robe of uprightness of opinion woven from above. Now that you have clothed it, it cries out with us towards your children, saying: Peace be upon you, O father with a sublime mind who speaks of divinity.

---

(1) She moved, kneeling, receiving the holy mysteries. The church celebrates her on August 5. See Orthodox Synaxarium. Part Two, pp. 613-627.

(2) The church celebrates him on January 1. Previous reference.

(3) We have only received from them what Gregory mentioned in his sermons and letters and what Gregory of Nyssa also wrote: The members of the group worship one God, but they reject the doctrine of the Trinity. They call God “the Most High,” “the Powerful,” “Fire,” and “Light.” They rejected Jewish sacrifices and every other ritual, as worship for them was an internal, spiritual matter. However, they kept the Sabbath and adhered to a number of Jewish customs regarding eating. They were few and may have been confined to Cappadocia. ...See: The letter in 1985, Nos. 2 and 3, p. 39.

(4) The people seized him and carried him to the church as a burden and forced him to become a priest. He could neither escape nor refuse, so he surrendered his affairs to God and submitted to the fait accompli, which he later called “an act of spiritual tyranny.” See Orthodox Synaxarium, Part Two, p. 618.

(5) The people seized him and carried him to the church as a burden and forced him to become a priest. He could neither escape nor refuse, so he surrendered his affairs to God and submitted to the fait accompli, which he later called “an act of spiritual tyranny.” See Orthodox Synaxarium, Part Two, p. 618.

(6) Patriarch Meletius of Antioch was the one who called, through a council held in 379 AD, to send Gregory there.

(7) The number of his followers increased significantly until they became more than those praying in the official (Arian) churches. See The Story of Civilization, Part 12, p. 128.

(8) The word theology corresponds to it in Greek, “Qewlwgia,” which means a conversation about God, but our fathers did not take it in this sense, but they took it in the sense of living for the master, for God. They used the word theologian to:

1. John the Evangelist - 2. Gregory the Theologian - 3. Simeon the Modern Theologian... See: Doctrine and the Fathers, Bishop George Khader, Balamand.

(9) The council was held to refute Apollinarianism (Christ took the place of the rational soul) and the enemies of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Spirit is among the higher spirits serving the Son). It was initially headed by Meletius of Antioch, but due to his death, Gregory the Theologian took over after him. See: Summary of the History of the Church, Father George Attia, Publications Balamand p. 66.

(10) See History of the Christian Church, Evgraf Smirnov, 1964, Diocese of Homs, p. 302.

(11) See: Encyclopaedia Britanica 1998 (CD).

(12) Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, Father Matthew Al-Meskeen, Monastery of Saint Anba Makar, p. 256.

(13) Because of its difficulty, it did not occupy a great place among the people.

(14) The Message, 1985, Nos. 1 and 2, pp. 46-49.

(15) This is what is called the negative trend in talking about God (apophatic), and there is the positive trend (cataphatic). The second allows talking about God, and the first corrects and removes from a person the images and fantasies that settle in his mind about God... See the introduction to Orthodox theology, Dr. George Bebawi, pp. 149-153.

(16) Selections from Saint Gregory the Theologian, Fathers of the Church Series (8), Al-Nour Publications, pp. 108-110.

(17) Saint John of Damascus: One Hundred Essays on the Orthodox Faith, Paulineism, p. 168.

(18) Previous reference, p. 169.

(19) Saint John of Damascus, One Hundred Essays on the Orthodox Faith, p. 92.

(20) Sermon on Baptism: 15...See: Baptism, Part One, D. George Bebawi, p. 54.

(21) Previous reference, p. 82.

(22) Previous reference, p. 92.

(23) Article 40 about baptism... previous reference, p. 88.

(24) Article 40... Ibid., p. 97.

(25) Article 41... previous reference, p. 124.