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Orthodox Confession
St Peter Mogila, tr. Lodvel, 1762
Part 1, 1. Questions 1–10
Question 1
What doth it behove a Catholic and Orthodox Christian Man to believe and do, that he may have eternal life?
Answer.
Right Faith and good Works; for whosoever holdeth these two, the same is a good Christian, and hath certain Hope of eternal Salvation, as saith the Scripture (James ii. 24.) You see then how that by good Works a Man is justified, and not by Faith only; and a little after (ver. 6), For as the Body without the Spirit is dead; so Faith without Works is dead also. The same affirmeth St. Paul (to Timothy, chap. i. 19), Holding Faith and a good Conscience, which some having put away concerning Faith, have made shipwreck. And again (1 Tim. iii. 9), Holding the Mystery of the Faith in a pure Conscience.
Question 2
Wherefore doth it behove a Christian first to believe, and then to do good Works?
Answer.
Because without Faith none can please God, as saith St. Paul (Heb. xi. 6), Without Faith it is impossible to please him: For he that cometh to God, must believe that he is; and that he is a Rewarder of them who diligently seek him. That a Christian therefore be acceptable to God, and his Works pleasing before him, it is necessary that, First, he have Faith in God; and Secondly, that he guide his Life by that Faith.
Question 3
In what do these two consist?
Answer.
In these three Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity; into which three Parts it is our Intent to divide this Confession; namely, in the First Part we shall treat concerning Faith: In the Second, of Hope and the Lord’s Prayer, and the Evangelical Beatitudes: And, lastly, in the Third Part, of the divine Law, in which the Love of God and of our Neighbour is contained.
Question 4
What is Faith?
Answer.
Faith (according to the blessed Paul, Heb. xi. 1) is the substance of Things hoped for, the Evidence of Things not seen; for by it the Elders have obtained a good Report; or, the Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Faith is to believe with the Heart and confess with the Mouth, one God in three Persons. As the same Apostle teacheth us (Rom. x. 10), With the Heart is believed unto Righteousness, and with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation.
Further, every orthodox Christian ought firmly and without doubting, to believe all the Articles of Faith that the Catholic and Orthodox Church believeth; which were delivered unto the Church from our Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostles: And which have been expounded and approved by General Councils (Synod 6, Canon 82). These also is he to believe with a real and sincere Faith; as the Apostle commandeth (2 Thess. ii. 15), Therefore, Brethren, stand fast, and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught, whether by Word or our Epistle. And again elsewhere (1 Cor. xi. 2), Now I praise you, Brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the Traditions as I have delivered them unto you. From hence it is manifest that the Articles of Faith have received their Authority and Approbation partly from the holy Scriptures, partly from ecclesiastical Tradition, and the Doctrines of Councils, and of the holy Fathers; which matter St. Dionysius thus explaineth (Hierarch. Eccl., cap. 1, page 108, Morell), “The Oracles delivered of God are the Essence and Foundation of this our Hierarchy. Of these we chiefly reverence whatever our divine Teachers the Apostles have delivered unto us in the sacred and theological Books; and next those things in which those most holy Men instituted and initiated our Instructors and Leaders by a kind of immaterial Initiation, and, as it were, from the very Transcript of the Heavenly Hierarchy; as it were, by a mental Communication; by the Means indeed of corporeal Speech, but not the Materiality of Writing.” That is, the Precepts of the Church are of two kinds, the one committed to writing, which are contained in the divine Books of sacred Scripture, and the other delivered from the Apostles by Word of Mouth. These are the same which the Councils and holy Fathers did afterwards more at large declare. On this twofold Foundation standeth built our Faith, which it is our Duty not only to keep shut up in the Privacy of our own Breast, but undauntedly, and without doubting, to preach and profess openly with our Mouths, according to the holy Psalmist and St. Paul (Psal. cxvi. 10), I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we believe, and therefore speak.
Question 5
What are the Articles of the Catholic and Orthodox Faith?
Answer.
The Articles of the Orthodox and Catholic Faith are twelve in Number, according to the Creed of the first Council held at Nice, and the second held at Constantinople: In which Councils every thing belonging to our Faith is laid down so accurately, and at large, that neither are we to believe more nor ought we to believe less, than is therein expressed; nor may we understand or construe it in any other Sense, than did those Fathers.
Question 6
What is the first Article of Faith?
Answer.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
Question 7
What are the Doctrines contained in this Article of Faith?
Answer.
This Article includeth two Doctrines; first, that we should believe and confess, that God is One (Deut. vi. 4) to be adored in most holy Trinity; and that in this divinity the Father is the Origin and Root of the Son and the Holy Ghost. Secondly, that this Triune God created all things out of nothing, both visible and invisible; as testifies the holy Prophet (Psal. xxxiii. 9), He spoke, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.
Question 8
How ought I to think of God?
Answer.
Thou oughtest to believe that God is one in most holy Trinity, according to these Words of Scripture: (Ephes. iv. 6,) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all: Who, out of his infinite Goodness, created this World from nothing, that other Beings, in glorifying him might partake of his Felicity; not that he wanted any thing; being in himself most completely glorious and perfect. Yet cannot any created Beings, whether visible or invisible, not even the Angels themselves, thoroughly comprehend the nature of God, forasmuch as there can be no Proportion or Comparison between the Creator and the Creature, It is sufficient for us (as saith St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. vi. p. 40, Morell), “If we rightly profess to have one eternal and unchangeable God, beside him there is no other God.” As the Lord himself hath declared by his Prophet (Isaiah xliv. 6), I am God, the First and the Last; beside me there is no other God. After the same Manner, also, Moses exhorteth the Children of Israel (Deut. vi. 4), Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord?
Question 9
But, if God is One, it seemeth, of Necessity, that he should also be one only in Person.
Answer.
It is not necessarily so; for altho’ God, in his Nature and Essence, is indeed but One; yet in Person is he Three: As our Saviour himself teacheth, saying unto his Apostles (Matth. xxviii. 19), Go, teach all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. From whence it is manifest that in one and the same Godhead there be three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost — The Father, of whose proper Essence the Son was begotten, and the Holy Ghost proceeded before all Ages; The Son, begotten before all Worlds by the Father and consubstantial with him; The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father from all Eternity, and co-essential with the Father and the Son, as the divine Damascene explaineth in these Words (Book i. chap. 11), The Son and the Holy Ghost are from the same Cause, namely, the Father; and elsewhere (chap. x.) The Son is of the Father as being begotten. The Holy Ghost is also of the Father, not as being begotten, but as proceeding. Furthermore, Gregory the Divine (De Spiritu Sancto, p. 64, Ald. p. 604, Also p. 431) on these Words of the Apostle to the Romans (chap. xi. 36): of him and through him, and to him are all things, speaketh thus: “The first, (i.e., of him) we apply to the Father, the second to the Son, and the third (that is, to him) to the Holy Ghost; from whence it is manifest that, in the Godhead, there is a Trinity. Wherefore, without any Difference or Distinction, we are baptizing in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; For what the Father is in his Nature, the same is the Son and the Holy Ghost. Now the Father is, in his Nature, true and eternal God, the Creator of all things both visible and invisible. Such therefore is the Son, entirely without any Difference, and the Holy Ghost; and all these are consubstantial with each other. Accordingly the Evangelist teacheth (1 John v. 7), There are three that bear Record in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. In which Words this only is to be excepted, that, as to the divine Essence, The Father is the Cause of the Son and the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as both these Persons have their Origin from him, and he from none. Thus we are taught by our Saviour Jesus, who is Eternal Truth itself. Thus have we received from the holy Apostles. Thus, and thus only, have both universal, and particular Councils, and the Doctors of the Church, taught, declared, and decreed. And thus our Orthodox and Catholic Church professeth and teacheth. For this Faith the holy Martyrs poured out their Blood, and laid down their lives. And this Faith we must, with our whole Hearts, steadfastly believe and keep firm and unshaken, laying down our Lives for it, if requisite, through the Hope of eternal Salvation; which, if good Works accompany our Faith, we shall be crowned with everlastingly in Heaven.
Question 10
I would have this Mystery of the holy Trinity more fully explained to me.
Answer.
No Comparison can be made, which would fully explain this Mystery; so as that we should clearly comprehend, how God, who is in Essence but One, should be Three in Person. No likeness, nor Example, can sufficiently express him; as God, whose name is Jehovah, doth himself testify; saying (Isai. xlvi. 5), To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? For the Mind of Man, or Angel, is unable to conceive, or to express this wondrous Truth: wherefore we should wisely say, with the Apostle (2 Cor. x. 5), Casting down Imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the Knowledge of God; and bring into Captivity every thought to the Obedience of Christ. We believe, with a firm Faith, that God the Father, self-existing from Eternity to Eternity, depending on none, begot the Son, and produced the Holy Ghost: As St. Athanasius, in his Creed, doth more fully, and at large, declare. And being contented with this Simplicity of Faith, let us search no farther. For the inquisitive Searcher into the hidden things of God is forbidden in holy Scripture (Sirach iii. 21), Seek not out the Things that are too hard for thee; neither search the Things that are above thy Strength; but what is commanded thee, think thereupon with Reverence; for it is not needful for thee to see with thine Eyes the Things that are in secret. Let it therefore suffice us, that those same Scriptures of the old Law, at the same time that they declare unto us one God, do also teach us Three Persons, (Gen. i. 26) God said, Let Us make Man after Our Image and in Our Likeness. And (chap. iii. 22), Behold the man is become as one of Us; and (chap. xi. 7), Go to, let Us go down and there confound their Language. And the Prophets expressly declare this saying (Isai. vi. 3), And one (Angel) cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, Lord Sabaoth, the whole Earth is full of his Glory. In like manner the holy Psalmist (Psal. xxxiii. 6), By the Word of the Lord were the Heavens made, and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his Mouth. To this same purpose the blessed Scriptures, and the Doctors of the Church are full.