Saint John of Damascus The Orthodox Faith Outline of paragraphs by Jacob Elfrink 2010 Basically it all comes down

n to the subsistences - Lebold

[Book 1]
Chapter 1 Man can still know God according to his capacity After the first blessed state, God is incomprehensible to everything, even to the angels Nevertheless man can know God according to his capacity (e.g. Through nature and the prophets), that which we were unable to bear He has withheld. Chapter 2 We cannot speak properly about God We cannot know everything nor express everything about God, so we are obliged to express in human terms things which transcend the human order. What we say of God by negation and perfection (e.g. Unlimited, all-powerful), the incarnation, the trinity, the crucifixion, the resurrection It is impossible either to say or fully to understand anything about God Chapter 3 God exists Christians believe in God through scripture, Gentiles through nature, but some still don't believe on account of ignorance. For this reason let us expound the faith. All things are either created or uncreated. If created they must be changeable, if uncreated unchangeable. Creation necessitates and uncreated (unchangeable) creator. This is God. Why is their order instead of chaos? Why do things exist rather than not exist? Why do things, once existing, continue to exist? We shall certainly not attribute such power to spontaneity. God must be the cause. Chapter 4 God is without body God is unchangeable, and uncompounded God permeates all things God is unmoved: there must be an unmoved mover to avoid infinite regress the first mover is unmoved, and it is just this that is the Divinity. We still have only said what God is NOT, but it is impossible to say what He is in His essence, so it is better to discuss Him by abstraction from all things whatsoever. All that we state affirmatively about God does not show his nature, but only what relates to His nature Chapter 5 God is one We believe from scripture that He is one and not several. If there were multiple Gods, they must all be perfect, but then there would be no difference among them. [elfrink: difference = composition in God, which is impossible] God could not unbounded if there were multiple Gods If there were multiple Gods governing the world, they would come into conflict, and thereby destroy the world. Unity must be the cause of duality Chapter 6 The Word since God is existing always and is perfect, His Word must be always existing, living, perfect, distinctly subsistent, therefore in His nature he is identical with God. Chapter 7 The Spirit Breath : words :: Spirit : Word, we conceive of Him as a substantial power found in its own individuating personality, proceeding from the Father, coming to rest in the Word and declaring Him This is contrary to beliefs of both the Pagans and the Jews The doctrine of the Word and the Spirit is entirely supported by Scripture Chapter 8 Persons of the Trinity: Distinct, Eternal Summary The Father is the principle cause of all things, begotten of no one, who alone is uncaused and unbegotten, and eternal

The Son is also eternal, else there would be a change in the Father. Creation is different from begetting. Therefore the Father exists simultaneously with His only-begotten Son, as the fire and the light Begetting is different from procession. the Son has all things whatsoever the Father has, except the Father's being unbegotten, which does not imply any difference in substance, nor any quality, but, rather an manner of existence. Therefore all three persons are eternal The trinity is from scripture The Father is only prior to the Son in causality and of the same substance, the Father does all things whatsoever through His only-begotten Son, not as through a subsidiary organ, but as through a natural and distinctly subsistent force. The Holy Spirit is glorified with both the Son and the Father, but proceeds from the Father. It differs from the Son and the Father only in its procession. The Persons are not parts of a compound, for they are each perfect

On the distinction of the three persons; and on actuality and reason and thought the common nature of two beings is perceived by the reason [elfrink: universals are apprehended by the intellect] in the trinity it is the distinction in persons that is perceived by the reason summary Chapter 9 The Name of God God is uncompounded, therefore no names for God are indicative of His essence I am is the most proper name for God Chapter 10 We do not Comprehend the Essence of God Chapter 11 - We speak about God symbolically we are unable to think or speak of the divine, lofty, and immaterial operations of the Godhead unless we have recourse to images, types, and symbols that correspond to our own nature Chapter 12 Naming God Summary, God is the principle of principles More on the name of God and more precisely Since the Divinity is incomprehensible, He must remain absolutely nameless, It is impossible for a nature to know a nature of a higher order perfectly, He is not these things in essence, but is superessential and unnameable. Thus, since He is the cause of all beings, He is named after all things that are caused God can be named by negation or after those more noble things which approach him more closely, the way to describe God is with terms like 'superessential Essence'. All names applied to God apply to each person of the Trinity, except that ones having to do with 'begetting' go to the Father, 'begotten' to the Son, and 'Processing' to the Spirit. Chapter 13 Place Definition of place: the limits of the thing containing within which the thing contained is contained. God is in no place, for he is not contained, therefore we give God place where his operation is plainly visible. God is entirely everywhere [elfrink: insofar as His effects are in a place, He can be said to be in that place. Since all things are effects of God and are themselves contained, God is also in a way contained.] On the place of an angel and of the soul, and on the uncircumscribed Angels are only in physical place in virtue of their effects, but they cannot act in more than one place at the same time, and in this they differ from God The entire soul is with the entire body, and contains it as the heat contains the iron Summary: God is uncircumscribed, angels are constrained by time, men by physical place, time, and comprehension A miscellany on God, and the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and on the Word and the Spirit God is unchangeable, and all things which are not in our power He predetermined by His foreknowledge

All things are different from God in nature, God has no accidents: His goodness is concomitant with His essence Summary: God is equivocally substance, the distinctions of the trinity, the meaning of word

Chapter 14 - Summary God is His own source of existence The unity of the Trinity is unlike any creature The movement of the Persons is unified God permeates all things, All He wills He can do, even though He does not will all the things He can do for He can destroy the world

[Book 3]
Chapter 1 The Need for the Incarnation Man sinned, therefore a sinless redeemer was necessary, He rescued like by like because it was most difficult and most fitting and this most manifested the infinite power of God. Thus the Word became man by the Holy Spirit and was obedient to the Father. Chapter 2 The Incarnation in the Womb Mary accepts the proposition of the angel The Son compacted for Himself a body animated by a rational and intellectual soul.. this was not by seed, but by creation through the Holy Ghost, with the form not being put together bit by bit, but being completed all at once with the Word of God Himself serving as the person to the flesh. Chapter 3 The Union of the Natures The natures were united to each other without change and without alteration , the natures did not compound to make a new nature, for He was true God and true Man, and it was only the Son who was united to the flesh Contrary natures cannot be compounded, e.g. The immortal and the mortal 'Nature' can refer to either the whole man, or specifically to the nature of the body and the nature of the soul. Christ was united to the whole nature, but His human nature and His divine nature do not go on to make a 'Christ' nature, as the body and soul do the 'Man' nature, for there is no species of Christ. The union of the natures is neither accidental, nor as form and matter, and they remain distinct. The action of the natures was unified in the Person, His natures are united in His Person and have one, composite person, and in this He differs both from the Father and the Spirit and from His Mother and us. Chapter 4 Naming Christ Substance indicates genus, Person individual. E.g. divinity/humanity vs Christ/Job. We can name Christ according to either of His natures or His person. We do not name His natures according to each other, e.g. uncreated flesh, but we can speak of His person according to both natures, e.g. crucified Lord Chapter 5 Union within Christ and the Trinity Just as in the Trinity we say that the Persons are distinct, and therefore can be numbered, but are not divisible according to being or substance, similarly the natures in Christ are distinct yet introduce no division in the person. We do not say that He has one Nature nor two Persons. e.g. There are the natures of wood and fire in coal. [elfrink: Christ's person is a composite of two distinct and separate natures, although they introduce no division in the Person. The Trinity, however, is not a composite, but rather only distinct according to the relation of the Persons, which introduce no division in the Nature. They are similar because normally difference in person or nature introduces division in being, whereas in the Incarnation and the Trinity neither is the case.] Chapter 6 Action and Natures persons do not differ from one another in substance, but rather in the accidents. When a person of the nature (species) suffers, since the whole nature is contained in him, it can be said that the nature suffered, but not the other persons of the nature. In this way the entire Divine Nature was united to the entire Human Nature in the incarnation, but only through the Word (the other Persons were only united insofar as the Nature was united by being wholly present in the Word) The Word was united to the flesh by the intermediary of mind [elfrink: because the human will, which is of the mind,

was obedient to the Divine will in Christ.] Repetition: Christ redeemed all humanity since He was united to the whole nature, Christ's divine nature did not suffer per se

Chapter 7 Summary the Hypostatic Union in the Incarnation Repetition: the Son differs from the Father only in His being begotten. Repetition: The Word was made composite in the Incarnation, therefore He differs from the human and the divine, but also is similar to them. Repetition: Christ has the fullness of both natures Repetition: Christ is not only God or only Man Chapter 8 How Christ is Quantity Insofar as his natures are distinct they can be divided in thought, but in being he is indivisible. [elfrink: He just repeats himself for the rest of the chapter. I guess this was an important thing for Platonists] Chapter 9 Christ's Human Nature is not Part of the Trinity Chapter 10 See Chapter 9 Chapter 11 - Christ had a Particular Human Nature Chapter 12 Mary the Mother of God Mary was truly the Mother of God in that she bore the Person of Christ which included the Divine Nature It was necessary for Him to be made of a woman, for Him to truly be made man Thus three things took place at the same time: the assuming of the flesh, its coming into being, and its being made divine by the Word. Chapter 13 - Christ Had a Will Following from Each of His Natures Chapter 14 Volition, Object of Will, Will Christ had two natural wills and two natural operations, but He acts as one on account of His single Person, we say that He wills and acts in each, not independently, but in concert. In the Trinity we know the identity of the nature through the identity of the will/operation, while in the Incarnation we know the difference in the nature through the difference of the will/operation. Will follows from nature, act from person. 'willing' is not the same as 'how one wills'. 'Willing' is from the nature, while 'how one wills' is of judgement of the individual. Simple willing is volition. How one wills is the object of the volition. Willing is of the person. Thus in Christ there is only one 'willing', while he has two 'volitions' or 'natural wills'. Also the thing willed is the same, since the 'willing' is one. When His divine will willed and permitted the flesh to suffer and to do what was peculiar to it, He willed these things naturally. Christ had a human volition because this is in the nature of man which he assumed. freedom of motion is nothing else but the will. [elfrink: the next several paragraphs prove that man naturally has a will] will follows from nature, Christ had two wills when Christ tried to hide himself, it was not on account of the divine will, because it was not accomplished similarly when he was thirsty, he could not thirst on account of His divine will similarly when he was obedient, he could not be obedient insofar as he was God [elfrink: the next several paragraphs are repetitive] 'freedom of will' is used equivocally, God is most perfectly free because he can most perfectly pursue His ends, whereas man is less free than God because he is constrained by the flesh, the devil, time, etc. It is furthermore impossible to speak of one thing composed of two wills in the same way that we speak of a person composed of its natures, for should we speak of one compound will in Christ, then we are making Him distinct from the Father in will There was no 'opinion' in Christ: Now, since the Lord was not a mere man, but was also God and knew all things, He stood in no need of reflection, inquiry, counsel, or judgement, and so He naturally possessed the good.

'opinion' has 28 different meanings

Chapter 15 - Operation Christ had an operation following upon each of his natures 'operation' is the substantial motion of the nature, 'operative' is the nature from which the operation proceeds, 'operated' is the effect of the operation, 'operator' is the one who performs the operation. 'operation' can also refer to the effect, as when 'creation' is used for 'creature' 'operation' is also the perfection of a potentiality, e.g. Sensation miracles were operations of His divine nature, eating of His human nature an operation follows from a nature the Father and Son have the same nature, ergo the same operation, ergo Christ was able to operate divinely e.g. Miracles, also the divine operation must not be compounded with the human operation since the Father and Son have an uncompounded nature. The Trinity has a single operation the operations in Christ are as the operations in the red-hot knife which burns and cuts yet is one substance. Christ is God and Man, ergo two natures, ergo two operations natures are known through their operations if Christ has one operation, then the same operation accomplishes both the human and the divine Christ clearly accomplished human operations like thinking but also divine operations like raising Lazarus, summary Christ's flesh served as an instrument of the divinity The human nature naturally was averse to suffering, but submitted to the divine will Christ performed miracles with both natures, which is why he worked by touch and word Objection: if the human will submitted to the divine will, how is the human will not just passive to the divine will? Reply: this is a stupid objection, it defines things by their contraries. In relation to God nothing is good, but nevertheless God said of creation 'it was very good'. Similarly the human will etc. How can things differ which do not exist?, yet clearly Christ hungered, which is impossible for the divine nature. Chapter 16 Specific Natures within Human Nature The man is made up of two natures having contrary qualities, i.e. body and soul / mortal and immortal, similarly Christ could be made up of divine and human natures Repetition: man's soul and body are specific natures in relation to 'human nature', Christ's natures do not further compound into a single generic nature, for there is no species of Christ. [elfrink: in this paragraph John gives his understanding of the soul/body relationship, which is very difficult to understand, much less summarize. Due to my pay grade and laziness, here's what I'm going to say: John doesn't believe that the soul is the form of the body, and that they aren't really separate in actuality. He thinks that it is more a compounding of two contrary natures.] We do not consider the parts of the human nature among Christ's natures, because they are remote This would cause us to name three natures in Christ Chapter 17 - Summary Repetition: Christ's natures do not infringe upon one another, but remain distinct, and so also His operations Repetition: so also His wills summary Chapter 18 Subordination of the Human Will to the Divine Will The Incarnation was for the sake of restoring like by like Therefore Christ had to have a fully human nature Thus a human mind Therefore, He assumed a body animated by a rational and intellectual soul having dominion over the flesh, but itself being under the dominion of the divinity of the Word. the human will followed after and was subordinated to His will, not being motivated by its own opinion, when His divine will willed that His human will choose death, the passion was freely accepted by it, the words in the garden were to exemplify courage to us He willed freely with His divine and His human will, for free will is absolutely inherent in every rational creature His human will was fully rational, which means He was free to pursue His appropriate end [elfrink: this end is the

good, which His divine will fully manifested to the human will, and thus the human will perfectly pursued the good, or the divine will] Christ's human will was moved by the divine will in a different way than Moses' will, for Christ's human will perceived the good that was His divine will.

Chapter 19 Operations Cooperative we do not say that the operations are separated and that the natures act separately, but we say that they act conjointly, with each nature doing in communion with the other that which it has proper to itself We associate the divine nature with human acts insofar as they are performed by the good will of the divine nature, we associate the human nature with divine acts insofar as they are performed through the instrument of the flesh. The Word did not cease its natural operations after the Incarnation, i.e, it continued to control the universe summary: the operations do not exclude each other Chapter 20 Christ's Passions Christ assumed the blameless passions of man, because He became fully man This was so He might restore man fully These passions arose naturally from the human will, but were permitted by the divine will Chapter 21 Knowledge of the Future, Not Servile by reason of the identity of person and the inseparable union, the Lord's soul enjoyed the knowledge of future events Christ is not servile, for then again we are defining things by relation, and the flesh would always be servile in relation to the divine, but Christ is one, therefore He is not servile, for the Son cannot be servile, nor can He be His own servant Chapter 22 Wisdom and Age and Grace Christ increased in wisdom only insofar as it was revealed to us, and in grace as He fulfilled the Father's will in time Chapter 23 - Fear Natural fear: a force which clings to existence, by this Christ hungered and thirsted, and feared death. Unnatural fear: fear from ignorance, e.g. a noise in the night. Christ never feared except at his death, which was a natural fear Chapter 24 - Prayer Christ prayed to be a model for us Thus when he prayed if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me He is teaching us to ask God's help, but nevertheless to put His will before our own. On the cross, why has thou forsaken me was an appropriation of our appearance Chapter 25 - Appropriation There are two kinds of appropriation: natural and apparent. God appropriated in the first sense when he assumed our nature, in the second sense when he spoke on our behalf and took on the effects of our sin Chapter 26 - Suffering Christ suffered according to His human nature, for the divine can in no way suffer e.g. With the red-hot knife the knife does not suffer from the water. Chapter 27 - Death Christ submitted to death for our sake, divine fish hook metaphor even though as man He did die and His sacred soul was separated from His immaculate body, the divinity remained unseparated from both the soul, I mean, and the body. [elfrink: this view is impossible with Aristotle's idea of the soul being the form of the body. This arises from John's understanding of the body and soul as expressed back in Chapter 16] Chapter 28 - Destruction Destruction has two meanings: corruptible in the sense of human suffering, and complete dissolution of the body Christ was only destructible in the first sense

Chapter 29 Descent into Hell The deified soul went down into hell

Finis est.