The entity of the Logos (the existence, that is, of the Word) assumed and admitted to be begotten of God, is naturally accounted for existentially by the unbegotten and uncaused being of God and His Father; but the entity of God (the existence, that is, of the Father) admitted to be uncaused, cannot be accounted for existentially, but only logically and demonstratively, by the begotten entity of the Logos. Because the entity of the consequence naturally evinces and proves the entity of the principle from which the consequence arises; when the consequence is, it is impossible for its principle not to be. Again, it is impossible for the consequence not to be when the principle is which naturally and necessarily produces it. From this logical connection of principle and consequence are derived the two converse forms of reasoning, of which one educes from a known and admitted principle its unknown consequence, while the other discovers from the known and admitted consequence the principle producing it. Hence the converse accounting for consequence by their principles, and of principles by their consequences, of which the former process is characterized as existential, and the latter as logical and demonstrative, just as the distinction was drawn in the previous remarks.
In accordance with this exposition of matters, the begotten entity of the Logos can be accounted for existentially by the unbegotten entity of God as follows: There is a Logos, because there is a God who naturally begets Him eternally out of His own substance and essence; and if there were no God there could be no Logos. But there is admittedly a God; therefore there is also an only-begotten Son and Logos of God, because it is naturally impossible for the first principle to exist without the first consequence, on account of which it is characterized as a first principle. The unbegotten and uncaused entity of God, on the other hand, is in turn accounted for logically and demonstratively by the begotten entity of the Logos as follows: There is a God, the first and uncaused principle of beings; because there is a Logos who declares and by his own existence proves the uncaused existence of God. If there were no Logos, God could not be the first and uncaused principle of beings, without having the first and immediate consequence of His own primary existence. Indeed, if there were no Logos, there could be no knowledge of the existence of God, without a Logos existing to declare and prove the existence of God. If God possessed no Logos, or Reason called the Word, He would not know of His own existence; for the Logos is the Idea of God, whereby He knows that He is a God, the first and uncaused principle, both perfect and self-sufficient. For this reason, if the existence of the Logos be denied, along with it must be denied all awareness and knowledge that God has concerning Himself, and the very existence of God, too, since a God having no idea and knowledge of His own existence is not even a God. Therefore, the Logos satisfactorily accounts for the existence of God, and the begotten entity of the Logos exists just as necessarily as the unbegotten entity of God; and if God necessarily exists, there necessarily co-exists God’s only-begotten Son and Logos, without whom God loses His divinity and is not a God at all.
For this reason the denial of the existence of the Logos implies by logical necessity a denial also of the existence of God, just as the denial of the existence of God necessarily denies also the consequence of the existence of the Logos. He that acknowledges the beginningless and uncaused entity of God, necessarily must acknowledge along with it the co-eternal and co-beginningless and caused entity of the Logos. Likewise, he that acknowledges the begotten Logos must also acknowledge along with Him His unbegotten Father, being unable to understand the begotten Son without the Father who begets Him. The entity of God accounts for the entity of the Logos; and the entity of the Logos accounts in turn for the entity of God. But the entity of God is characterized as the first productive cause, by which the entity of the Logos is accounted for existentially; the entity of the Logos, on the other hand, is characterized as the first demonstrative cause, by which the uncaused existence of God is logically demonstrated. The first productive cause is the cause of the existence of all beings; the first demonstrative cause, on the other hand, is the cause of the knowledge of every being. If we mentally remove the first productive cause, all existence, all essence, all substance is removed; but if we remove the first gnostic and demonstrative cause, not all existence is removed, but only all knowledge and all proof of the existence of beings. But to exist without consciousness and knowledge of one’s existence is equal to non-existence. For this reason the entity of the Logos as the first gnostic and demonstrative cause is equivalent to the entity of God, the first productive cause. Between these two equivalent causes is conceived the entity of their Spirit, characterized as the necessary bond between the first principle and the first consequence, as the natural love between Father and Son, and as the first cause of blissful life, which is evinced by feelings of love, joy, delight, elation, and jubilance. And just as, when the Logos is negated, all knowledge and all proof of the existence of God and of other beings is also negated, so is the Spirit negated, or eliminated from consideration, as well as the blissful life in God, and all life outside God; and all feeling of delight and joy and elation and jubilance, all animal motion and activity, are also eliminated. For this reason the entity of the Spirit, proceeding from the Father, is characterized as the first cause of life, and is equal both to the first productive cause and to the first gnostic and demonstrative cause.
These three co-eternal causes, thus distinguished from ‘each other substantively and inseparable from each other, constitute the ONE perfect God manifest in three persons, scientifically and unerringly understood by means of the Logos, or Reason, called the Word, and logical reflection. For he who has discerned the begotten Logos, or Word, as the first gnostic and demonstrative cause, and reflects in accordance with right reason, necessarily cognizes along with the Logos His first productive cause, or cognizes the first consequence together with the first principle and the first necessary bond between them, and accounts for the existence of the Logos by the existence of God, and for the existence of God by the existence of the Logos, and accounts for the existence of the Holy Spirit by the existence of God and of the Logos. On the other hand, he accounts for the existence of all beings by the admitted existence of the first productive cause; he accounts for the life of all living beings by the admitted existence of the first cause of life; and he accounts for the scientific and rational knowledge among men by the Logos, the first gnostic and demonstrative cause.
Now, he who truly and unerringly and demonstratively accounts for all things is the one who has a thorough knowledge of them; seeing that he knows the what, the why, and the wherefore, knows what everything is and why it is and wherefore, knows the first and uncaused cause and the first co-eternal causes by which all things are explained and comprehended both logically and scientifically. “We have a thorough knowledge,” says Aristotle, “when we have immediate knowledge of the cause.” We, on the other hand, say that we have thorough knowledge when we have immediate knowledge of the very principle and cause of all knowledge and science. This principle is the only-begotten Son and Logos of God; for, if it were not for this Logos, there would be no consequence, nor principle, nor cause, nor effect, nor right reason, nor logical and scientific knowledge. The Logos being posited and admitted as the first and eternal consequence, the first and uncaused principle is admitted along with it; and the necessary relation of consequence to principle is admitted along with it also, as the first equality, the first analogy, the first poised balance-beam, the universal law of causality and of rationality, and all the logical and scientific knowledge thereby acquired by men reflecting and reasoning in accordance with this law. Therefore, the Logos is the cause of all logical and scientific knowledge of all beings, and a science that is ignorant of or denies the Logos is a pseudo-science, knows nothing thoroughly, and can know nothing soundly, but goes astray and leads astray, and brings the misled to perdition. As for us, however, knowledge of the Logos rids us of all false and irrational knowledge, makes us truly wise and scientists, and heirs of God’s glory and bliss in the future life of eternity; for love and thorough knowledge of the Logos leads us direct to deification.
Apostolos Makrakis 