Gleanings from Orthodox Christian Authors and the Holy Fathers

john10_30

Consider carefully with me the force of these words. He says: `I and the Father are one.' Why does He name Himself before the Father? It is in order to show us that He Himself is absolutely equal to the Father in dignity and glory, and that the Father is not first even though He is the cause of the Son, nor is the Son second even though He comes from the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit third even though He proceeds from the Father. If the Trinity is one from the very beginning and is called a trinity in regard to the persons, then it follows that one cannot in any way be prior either to himself or to the other persons with him. The one did not pre-exist the other so that by virtue of pre-existence he is prior to the brightness born from him. This is but one Godhead, one Trinity, and, as I have said, It is called such with regard to the Persons by hypostasis. But because It is divided without division and united without confusion God is called a single Trinity. No One [of the Persons] has ever pre-existed the others so that one becomes prior to another, not the Father in relation to the Son, nor the Son to the Father, nor both of them in relation to the Spirit. They have a simultaneous beginning which is co eternal and without origin. St. Symeon the New Theologian, First Theological Discourse