Declaration of Faith · §1 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Confession of the one God, one Lord, one Spirit, and the perfect Trinity

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Gregory Thaumaturgus opens his Declaration of Faith with a first-person confession of the Trinity, beginning with God the Father and moving through the Son to the Holy Spirit.

There is one God, the Father of the living Word, of subsisting wisdom and power, and of the eternal exact imprint: perfect, the perfect begetter, Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, alone from the Father alone, God from God, the exact imprint and image of the Godhead, the active Word, the wisdom that contains the constitution of all things, and the power that creates the whole creation: true Son of the true Father, invisible of the invisible, incorruptible of the incorruptible, immortal of the immortal, eternal of the eternal. And there is one Holy Spirit, who has existence from God and is manifested through the Son, that is, to human beings: the perfect image of the perfect Son, the cause of life for the living, the holy spring, holiness, the giver of holiness. In him God the Father is revealed, who is over all and in all, and God the Son, who is through all. The Trinity is perfect, undivided and unalienated in glory, eternity, and kingdom. Therefore nothing created, nothing servile, and nothing added later exists in the Trinity, as if it had not existed before and then entered in later. The Son was never lacking to the Father, nor the Spirit to the Son; but the same Trinity remains always unchanging and unalterable.

Greek

Εἷς Θεὸς Πατὴρ Λόγου ζῶντος, σοφίας ὑφεστώσης καὶ δυνάμεως, καὶ χαρακτῆρος ἀϊδίου, τέλειος, τελείου γεννήτωρ· Πατὴρ Υἱοῦ μονογε νοῦς. Εἷς Κύριος, μόνος ἐκ μόνου, Θεὸς ἐκ Θεοῦ, χαρακτὴρ καὶ εἰκὼν τῆς θεότητος, Λόγος ἐνεργὸς, σοφία τῆς τῶν ὅλων συστάσεως περιεκτικὴ, καὶ δύναμις τῆς ὅλης κτίσεως ποιητικὴ, Υἱὸς ἀληθι νὸς ἀληθινοῦ Πατρὸς, ἀόρατος ἀοράτου, καὶ ἄφθαρτος ἀφθάρτου, καὶ ἀθάνατος ἀθανάτου, καὶ ἀΐδιος ἀϊδίου. Καὶ ἓν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἐκ Θεοῦ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχον· καὶ δι' Υἱοῦ πεφηνὸς, δηλαδὴ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εἰκὼν τοῦ Υἱοῦ τελείου τελεία, ζωὴ ζώντων αἰτία, πηγὴ ἁγία, ἁγιότης ἁγιασμοῦ χορηγός· ἐν ᾧ φανεροῦται Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ, ὁ ἐπὶ πάντων καὶ ἐν πᾶσι· καὶ Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, ὁ διὰ πάν των· Τριὰς τελεία, δόξῃ καὶ ἀϊδιότητι καὶ βασι λείᾳ μὴ μεριζομένη, μηδὲ ἀπαλλοτριουμένη. Οὔτε οὖν κτιστόν τι, ἢ δοῦλον ἐν τῇ Τριάδι, οὔτε ἐπείσακτόν τι, ὡς πρότερον μὲν οὐχ ὑπάρχον, ὕστε ρον δὲ ἐπεισελθόν. Οὔτε οὖν ἐνέλιπέ ποτε Υἱὸς Πα τρὶ, οὔτε Υἱῷ Πνεῦμα· ἀλλ' ἄτρεπτος καὶ ἀναλλοίωτος ἡ αὐτὴ Τριὰς ἀεί.

About this text

The work is a concise statement of Trinitarian faith. The source does not specify any occasion, addressee, or polemical target.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) was a third-century bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus, in what is now Turkey. Born into a pagan family under the name Theodore, he studied with the Christian teacher Origen at Caesarea in Palestine for about five years and was converted to Christianity.

This short work is a statement of Trinitarian faith. The source does not name an addressee or a specific occasion for writing, and it does not identify any opponent. The title tradition says Gregory received the declaration by revelation from John the evangelist through the Virgin Mary, but the text itself simply presents Gregory's own confession.

Gregory confesses one God the Father, Father of the living Word and of the only-begotten Son. He then confesses one Lord, the Son, alone from the Father alone, God from God, the character and image of the Godhead, the active Word, the wisdom that contains the constitution of all things, and the power that creates the whole creation. He also confesses one Holy Spirit, who has existence from God and is manifested through the Son, that is, to human beings, the perfect image of the perfect Son, cause of life for the living, holy spring, and giver of holiness. The Trinity is perfect, undivided and unalienated in glory, eternity, and kingdom; nothing created, servile, or added later exists in it, and the Trinity remains unchanging and unalterable.

No published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Migne PG text (Aegean University Digital Patrology, via (Greek)
Also checked Migne PG 46, archive.org scan patrologiae_cursus_completus_gr_vol_046 (Greek machine-read text) (Greek · check (same print; machine-read text compared word by word))

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.