Thursday, February 21, 2008

Apocryphote of the Day: 2-21-08

Not only is he called "Without-Beginning" and "Without-End"
because he is unborn and immortal
but also because, just as he has no beginning and no end, He-Is.
He is incomprehensible in his greatness
inscrutable in his wisdom
invincible in his power
and unfathomable in his sweetness.
Truly, he alone is the good unborn and perfect Father
who is complete
who is filled with all his offspring
and with every virtue
and with everything of value...
It is not possible for mind to conceive him,
nor can words convey him,
nor can eyes see him,
nor can bodies touch him,
because of his inscrutable greatness
and incomprehensible depth
and immeasurable height
and boundless will.
This is the nature of the Unbegotten One.

Tripartite Tractate 52.35-53.11, 54.15-25 (a Valentinian creed about the Father, ca. 180-210 CE)
(translated by DeConick)

2 comments:

worth said...

Cambridge computational physicist Neil Turok now theorizes that there wasn't just one, original "Big Bang" to kick off the universe - in his words from a Wired.com article dated Feb. 19 2008, "You have bang followed by bang followed by bang. You have no beginning of time. It's always been there."

I always get a kick out of physicists coming up with theories that religious and philosophical traditions started espousing thousands of years ago, as today's Apocryphote shows! To me, the terms "universe" and "God" or "Father" could be interchangeable.

Grace said...

Forgive a feminist for ruining a beautiful quote, but if everything about God is unfathomable by humans, how can we know God's gender?