[B-Greek] only begotten
Barbara D. Colt
babc2 at comcast.net
Tue Dec 9 11:10:48 EST 2003
On 9 Dec 2003 at 15:40, davidsugg at comcast.net wrote:
> Something that has puzzeled me about the new consensus regarding
> "MONOGENHS" as meaning "one of a kind," "unique," "special," is that
> the Church Fathers in the Arian controversy placed great emphasis on
> this term as meaning "begotten," for they contrasted the Father as
> being "Unbegotten." Since the Fathers spoke Greek, it seems hard to
> believe that they did not know what "MONOGENHS" meant, and it is
> certain that they did not belive that the Father was "Not Unique!"
>
And from the Quicunque Vult, commonly called "The Athanasian Creed":
"The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor
created, nor begotten, but proceeding."
This is apparently of Western origin and almost certainly has nothing
to do with Athanasius, but it gives an idea of how the leaders of the
Church of that time used and understood the words.
Barbara D. Colt, mailto:babc2 at comcast.net
St John the Evangelist, San Francisco
>From envy, hatred, and malice and all uncharitableness
Good Lord, deliver us.
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