We confess that the essence is
entirely invisible and imparticipable, both to us and to all creation, as the
Only-begotten said: No one has ever seen God (Jn 1:18), which is to say,
as He is and at the level of His essence. Wherefore HE also said to Moses, No
man shall see My face and live (Ex 33:20). Yet we believe that it is
possible to see and to receive His glory, the brightness that is from the
essence, and His grace and power. Of this order were the visions of the
prophets, the revelations of light to the saints and the radiance within them,
the ministries, and the working of miracles. For we all receive divine grace,
not the essence. On the contrary, we believe that only that divine flesh that
He assumed was hypostatically united to the Word, so that through it we might
become communicants of the grace that is in that flesh that He assumed, since
all the fullness of the Godhead is in Him bodily, since it dwells therein, as
Paul says. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col
2:9)—the Godhead and not the hypostasis of the Spirit. For the Word alone, who
is one of the Trinity, was made flesh. And His humanity alone is a hypostasis
of God and is identical to God, since it was supremely united to Him without
division or confusion and became His own. Therefore we believe that we partake
of the gift and grace of God that proceeds from Him and not of His essence, and
the Messalians and impious Bogomils believe.
Witness to all this is the
apostle who reclined on the divine breast, for which he received the abundant
grace of theology. He by himself is a sufficient witness, since his
testimony is true, and he knew that what he said is true, that we may believe,
since he is a disciple of the Truth (Un 19:35). This disciple says concerning
the divine essence that, No one has ever seen God (Jn 1:18). And he
calls in as a witness the Lord, who says, The Only-begotten Son who is in
the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (Jn 1:18). On the other hand,
he says concerning His grace, And we have seen His glory. And lest
anyone should say that he spoke only about the Incarnation, he adds, Glory
as the Only-begotten of the Father. And lest anyone should say that he
meant the nature of the Godhead, he says again, full of grace and truth (Jn
1:14).
Do you see how the truth was
clearly proclaimed by the Gospels? To show that the glory of God has been
revealed to the saints, he himself, in the same Gospel, says about Isaiah, These
things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke concerning Him, that is,
concerning Christ (Jn 12:41). The Savior Himself proclaimed the kingdom,
power, and glory of the Father, which is common to the three Persons, since it
belongs to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, as well. On the one hand, He
says in His prayer, For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, unto
the ages. Amen (Mt 6:13). On the other hand, the Church proclaims that the
kingdom, power, and glory is common to the three hypostases when he says, For
Yours is the kingdom, and the glory, of the Father and of the Son and the Holy
Spirit. And it does not simply says this, but it has learned it from the
divine Scriptures. For the grace, glory, power, operation, and kingdom and
proclaimed to be common to the Trinity.
Wherefore the heavens declare
the glory of God (Ps 18:2). These were established by the Word of the Lord,
and by the Spirit of His mouth they were imbued with power (Ps 32:6). Heaven
and earth are full of the glory of the thrice-holy God, as the angels
theologize (Isa 6:3). On this account let those who deny the grace and radiance
of God be turned back (Ps 34:4; 128:5). We, however, who have received from His
fullness, who have received light from light and grace for grace: let us give
thanks to Him that has bestowed His grace on us, shone on us, and prepared an
eternal kingdom for us from the foundation of the world—a kingdom that we hope
to attain by His mercy. Even here below, let us seek to be made worthy of a
partial foretaste of this kingdom. IF we are purified, this will be given to
us. So let us hasten to draw near to Him that is most pure. For this is what
David declares, saying, Come unto Him and be illumined, and your faces shall
not be ashamed (Ps 33:5). (Symeon of Thessalonica, Dialogue in Christ
Against All Heresies 32, in Against All Heresies [trans. Alexander Pino;
Patristic Nectar Publications, 2024], 127-29)
