Letter to Amphilochius, in reply to certain questions.
Do you worship what you know or what you do not know?
If I answer, I
worship what I know, they immediately reply, What is
the essence of the
object of worship? Then, if I confess that I am
ignorant of the essence,
they turn on me again and say, So you worship you know
not what. I
answer that the word to know has many meanings. We say
that we know
the greatness of God, His power, His wisdom, His
goodness, His
providence over us, and the justness of His judgment;
but not His very
essence. The question is, therefore, only put for the
sake of dispute. For
he who denies that he knows the essence does not
confess himself to be
ignorant of God. because our idea of God is gathered
from all tire attributes
which I have enumerated. But God, he says, is simple,
and whatever
attribute of Him you have reckoned as knowable is of
His essence. But the
absurdities involved in this sophism are innumerable.
When all these high
attributes have been enumerated, are they all names of
one essence? And is
there the same mutual force in His awfulness and His
loving-kindness, His
justice and His creative power, His providence and His
foreknowledge,
and His bestowal of rewards and punishments, His
majesty and His
providence? In mentioning any one of these do we
declare His essence? If
they say, yes, let them not ask if we know the essence
of God, but let
them enquire of us whether we know God to be awful, or
just, or merciful.
These we confess that we know, if they say that
essence is something
distinct, let them not put us in the wrong on the
score of simplicity. For
they confess themselves that there is a distinction
between the essence and
each one of the attributes enumerated. The operations
are various, and the
essence simple, but we say that we know our God from
His operations,
but do not undertake to approach near to His essence.
His operations
come down to us, but His essence remains beyond our
reach. But, it is replied, if you are ignorant of the essence, you are ignorant
of
Himself.
 |
| St. Basil the Great |
Retort, If you say that you know His essence, you are
ignorant
of Himself. A man who has been bitten by a mad dog,
and sees a dog in a
dish, does not really see any more than is seen by
people in good health;
he is to be pitied because he thinks he sees what he
does not see. Do not
then admire him for his announcement, but pity him for
his insanity.
Recognize that the voice is the voice of mockers, when
they say, if you are
ignorant of the essence of God, you worship what you
do not know. I do
know that He exists; what His essence is, I look at as
beyond intelligence.
How then am I saved? Through faith. It is faith
sufficient to know that
God exists, without knowing what He is; and "He
is a rewarder of them
that seek Him." So knowledge of the divine
essence involves perception of
His incomprehensibility, and the object of our worship
is not that of
which we comprehend the essence, but of which we
comprehend that the
essence exists.
And the following counter question may also be put to
them. "No man
hath seen God at any time, the Only-begotten which is
in the bosom hath
declared him." What of the Father did the
Only-begotten Son declare? His
essence or His power? If His power, we know so much as
He declared to
us. If His essence, tell me where He said that His
essence was the being
unbegotten? When did Abraham worship? Was it not when
he believed?
And when did he believe? Was it not when he was
called? Where in this
place is there any testimony in Scripture to Abraham's
comprehending?
When did the disciples worship Him? Was it not when
they saw creation
subject to Him? It was from the obedience of sea and
winds to Him that
they recognized His Godhead. Therefore the knowledge
came from the
operations, and the worship from the knowledge.
"Believest thou that I
am able to do this?" "I believe, Lord;"
and he worshipped Him. So
worship follows faith, and faith is confirmed by
power. But if you say
that the believer [also knows, he knows from what he
believes; and vice
versa he believes from what he knows. We know God from
His power.
We, therefore, believe in Him who is known, and we
worship Him who is
believed in.
Source:
https://archive.org/stream/St.BasilLettersAndSelectedWorks/St_basil_lettersAndSelected_works_djvu.txt
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