John of Damascus and his view of the Holy Trinity.

 Questions about Saint John of Damascus’s view of the Holy Trinity

in Chapter 8/Section 1 of his book (The Hundred Articles on the Orthodox Faith):
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“So we believe in one God, one beginning without beginning, uncreated and unborn, imperishable and immortal, eternal, incomprehensible and unbounded, uncontained, unencompassed, uncontained in His power, simple and uncomposed, maker of all creatures, visible and invisible, transcending every essence for the majesty of His essence, and being above all beings, transcendent in divinity, transcendent in goodness, and abundant, He is the light itself, and the goodness itself, and the life itself, and the essence itself, because His existence is not from other than Him, nor from all beings. ”

How can they be one beginning, the second hypostasis born and the third emanating from the first hypostasis?
How can the one God (as a whole) be unborn and one of His hypostases be born? How
can the one God (as a whole) be simple and not compound while He is three hypostases ?
----- ... -------------------------------------------------------- "And He is one essence, one divinity, one power, one will, one act, one headship, and one authority. " " Therefore we acknowledge that the three hypostases are not composed, and that they are not mixed, and therefore we also acknowledge the unity of the hypostases in essence, and that each one of them is in the other, and that it is the same as their will, their act, their power, and their authority ." This statement contradicts the texts of the Gospels... For power, will, knowledge, worship, actions, and headship are explicitly attributed to one hypostasis only, which is the first hypostasis (the Father), and are not attributed to the one God as a whole: (I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, for I do not seek my own will, but The will of the Father who sent me) (For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me) (Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive our trespassers. To us and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.














(But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.) (
And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.)
(And now they have known that all things you have given me are from you.) (Jesus
said to her: Woman, believe me that The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship him. God Spirit. And those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth)
(Then He went a little further and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”)
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“ We also say that the Holy Spirit is from the Father, and we call Him the Spirit of the Father, and we do not say that the Holy Spirit is from the Son, and yet we call Him the Spirit of the Son .”

So how can they have the same essence while they are distinct?
How can they be equal in eternity, power, authority, existence, and the necessity of worship, while only one of them is the reason for the existence of the other two?
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" If we define the essence by saying that it is the answer to the question: "What is this?", and the hypostasis by saying that it is the answer to the question: "Who is this?", we say that what comes to us, in the incarnation, is God in His divine essence, but the one who comes to us is not the hypostasis of the Father, but the hypostasis of the Son and the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit. "

Is this not evidence that the three hypostases do not have the same nature, essence, being, and self?
Is the one who came to them then (an imperfect God)?
Did the hypostases separate and only the hypostases of the Son and the Holy Spirit came to them?
Did the Holy Spirit (die) on the cross then?
And how did the Father live without His Holy Spirit during the period of separation?
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"We believe in one Father, the origin and cause of all, whom no one begot, and who alone is uncaused and unbegotten, the maker of all, and the Father by nature of Him who alone is the “only begotten,” our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, and the source of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the one and only Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Father before all ages, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of the very essence of the Father, by whom all things were made. By saying that He was before ages, we show that His birth was not in time and did not begin, because the Son of God did not pass from nonexistence into being. He is the radiance of glory who was always with the Father and in the Father, born of an eternal birth that has no beginning. For there was never a time in which the Son was not, but where the Father is, there is the Son begotten of Him, because without the Son He cannot be called Father, and if He does not have a Son, He is not Father, and this is more terrible than all blasphemy. Accordingly, it cannot be said that God is devoid of natural fertility and fruitfulness. Is it that the like begets from itself - that is, from its own essence - a likeness of itself in nature ?

Is the second hypostasis (light from light, true God from true God) or (light in light, true God in true God)? As Jesus said: (that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him) and (that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you)?
Is not the previous statement evidence that they are (two) (separate) (unequal) (gods)?
How can something be born (before all ages) and its father also existed before all ages? Is there not a temporal difference between the father and the born?
What does it mean that (it cannot be said that God is devoid of natural fertility)? Is (natural fertility) attributed to God?
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" Therefore, everything that belongs to the Father is also to the Spirit, except for unbegottenness, which does not refer to a different essence or rank, but to the way of existence. For example, Adam is unbegotten because he is God's creation, and Seth is begotten because he is the son of Adam, and Eve sprang from Adam's rib, and she is unbegotten. They do not differ in nature from one another, because they are human beings, but they differ in their way of existence. "

If everything that belongs to the Father is also to the Spirit, except for unbegottenness... Isn't it inevitable that these hypostases differ in nature and essence? The word (except) refers to the superiority and distinction of the first hypostasis!!!
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God the Father... and without Him the Father is (a dead entity)... So how does (the cause of life) emerge from a dead entity? Where did the power come from for this dead, imperfect entity for life to emerge from it?
Why was it not mentioned that the Holy Spirit is (light from light, true God from true God) as is the hypostasis of the Son? Aren't the hypostases equal and have the same essence? Isn't the Holy Spirit a god (emanating) from the Father?
The priest forgot that - even though Adam, Seth and Eve have the same human nature and differ only in their way of existence - no one says that they are (one person) or (one entity) but rather (three) different, distinct and separate human beings!!!!
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" Therefore we do not say that there are three gods, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but rather that there is one God, the Holy Trinity, in which the Son and the Spirit refer to one cause, without composition or confusion. For they are united, as we said, not for confusion but for the presence of one in the other and the influence of one in the other, without mixture, confusion, separation, or division."

By reason... distinction and difference require that they be three... each of them with a specific essence, nature, entity and abilities by nature... the equal sides of a triangle are separated from each other by equal angles and are not united unless they overlap each other and thus form a straight line and are no longer a triangle!!!... Is not the fact that the first hypostasis is the cause of the existence of the second and third hypostases evidence that it is (not equal) and (better) than both of them?
How can two things merge and penetrate each other without mixing or blending?
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" The comparison of the three hypostases in the one essence to the sun, the sun's ray and the sun's light is an ancient comparison in Christian theology, and it explains that the sun cannot be a sun without a ray and without light, just as the Father cannot be a Father without a Son and without a Spirit, and just as the sun does not come to us entirely, but only with its ray and light, so God the Father does not come to us except with his Son and his Spirit, and just as the ray and the light are of the same essence The sun, likewise the son and the spirit are of the same essence as the father . “

Is the ray (heat) of the sun = the whole sun?
Is the light (light) of the sun = the whole sun?
Is the nature and essence of the substance of the sun the same as the nature and essence of the characteristic of heat and solar light waves?
The sun has a (limited entity)... Are the (entity) of light and heat limited?
How does the Lord ask His servants to be convinced of something that He knows is impossible for them to understand, comprehend and accept? Why did He create the mind for them then? We know that the limited human mind cannot comprehend (the nature of God), so we believe in the unseen that He is (one God) whom we have not seen and will not see in this world... But how does God Almighty ask us to believe that He is: (three united hypostases without composition, mixing or blending)? How does God ask us to believe that (the father) and (the born) are equal even in eternity? What does it mean to believe first and then understand later? What is the benefit of my mind that God Almighty created for me?