The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

132. In God the hypostatic properties are affirmed relatively one to the other. The hypostases differ from each other, but not with respect to essence. Sometimes God is also referred to in relation to creation. Yet God, the All-Holy Trinity, cannot be called Father in the same way that He is called pre-eternal, pre-unoriginate, great and good. For it is not each of the three hypostases that is the Father, but only one of them, from whom and to whom subsequent realities are referred. None the less, in relation to creation the Trinity can also be called the Father, because creation is the joint work of the Three, brought forth from absolute nothingness, and because our adoption as sons is achieved through the bestowal of the grace common to the Three. The scriptural texts, 'The Lord your God is one Lord' (cf. Deut. 6:4) and 'One is our Father in heaven' (cf. Matt. 6:9; 23:9), refer to the Holy Trinity as our one Lord and God, and also as our Father who through His grace confers on us a new birth. As we said, the Father is called Father only in relation to His coessential Son. In relation to both Son and Spirit He is called Principle, as He is also called Principle in relation to creation, but here in the sense that He is the Creator and Master of all creatures. Thus when the Father is called such things in relation to creation, the Son is also Principle, though they constitute not two Principles but one. For the Son is called Principle in relation to creation, as He is likew...