The three persons are one God, each with a distinct origin

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John of Damascus is summarizing the theology of the Trinity, having just listed the three persons and their properties; now he states that each person is God and describes their relations of origin.

God the Father is without beginning. God the Son is co-without-beginning, even though He is from the Father. God the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-without-beginning, proceeding from the Father—not begotten in a filial way as the Son is, but proceeding. The three are one in divinity, even though they are in three persons.

Greek

Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἄναρχος· Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς συνάναρχος, εἰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός· Θεὸς

τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, συναΐδιον καὶ συνάναρχον, ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς προϊὸν, οὐχ υἱϊκῶς

γεννώμενον ὡς Υἱὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκπορευτῶς. Ἓν τὰ τρία τῇ Θεότητι, κἀν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν.

About this text

John of Damascus sums up the faith in brief: one God in three Persons, each with a distinct property, and two natures in the one Person of Christ.

The work distinguishes the theology of the Trinity from the economy of the Incarnation, likely for instruction or clarification.

The treatise opens with the Trinity. One God is glorified and worshipped in three persons, with one divinity, nature, essence, power, authority, and will. Each person keeps a distinct property: the Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds. The Father is without beginning, the Son is co-beginningless though from the Father, and the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-beginningless, proceeding from the Father not by filial generation but by procession.

The second part concerns the incarnate Word. Two natures are confessed in one person, Jesus Christ, God together with man, with two wills and two activities. Each nature keeps its property without division or confusion. The divine nature raises the dead and performs miracles, while the human nature hungers, thirsts, grows weary, and endures sufferings. The Word was united to flesh without confusion or division, ascended with that flesh, sits at the Father's right hand, and will come in glory at the end of the ages to judge the living and the dead as God incarnate.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 94-96; De theologia (Greek)

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.