In The Beginning Was The Logos

“In the beginning was the Logos.” – John 1:1

“The beginning of the word is truth” David says to God, signifying the beginning of the book of Genesis which states: “In the beginning, God created heaven and earth.” This beginning of the Holy Scriptures and the beginning of the works of God constitute truth; for it is true that God in the beginning created heaven and earth; that heaven and earth are the work and the creation of Eternal God Who has no beginning, He Himself being the beginning and the cause of all things, heavenly and earthly, visible and invisible. And we, like David, say to Evangelist John: “O beloved disciple of Christ, the beginning of the words of your Gospel are the very truth the Eternal Truth through which God created heaven and earth.” But what is truth? The faithful and accurate depiction and representation of a being or object, the aspect and knowledge of which are identical to the aspect and knowledge of the represented being or object. And if this is truth in general, the eternal Truth is none other than the faithful and accurate picture and representation of the ever-existing God, the aspect and knowledge of which is identical to the aspect and knowledge of the depicted God.

This eternal truth is also called LOGOS because it declares and proclaims and makes known the eternal MIND, whose logos is a faithful and accurate depiction or representation. And he who beholds and understands the Logos, beholds and understands through it the Mind, which the Logos depicts and proclaims accurately and faithfully without omission or excess or alteration. The ever-existing God is called Mind, because He understands Himself and depicts His nature by means of perfect Ideas or an Image which is called Logos and only begotten Son; because He is the only One naturally born of the Mind, and the only One Who declares and proclaims and makes known the Mind that has given Him birth, Who is also called Father of the Logos. Mind, Logos, Father and Son, are eternally co-existent and co-understood, and neither the Mind is understood without the Logos, nor the Logos without the Mind; but where there is Mind there is also Logos, and where there is no Mind there is no Logos, and wherever there is no Logos, there is no Mind. If there is no Father, there can be no Son, and if there is no Son, no Father can have existence. Therefore “in the beginning was the Logos,” that is the Logos has a timeless and eternal existence, just as God, His father has timeless existence and is called the Ever-existing. If we compare the initial words of God, “in the beginning God created heaven and earth” to the initial statement in the Gospel according to St. John, “in the beginning was the word,” we find between these two expressions the following difference: the verb ‘was’ leads our mind beyond the beginning of time to the beginning-less and endless eternity; whereas, the verb ‘created’ brings our mind to the progress of time during which all that took place occurred. The verb ‘was’ predicates eternal existence for the Logos; whereas the verb ‘created’ predicates time limit with regard to God’s works and creatures.

The beginning words of Genesis reveal to us one God, creator of heaven and earth, and the beginning words in the Gospel according to St. John reveal to us a God, co-eternal to God, without whom there is no God, for God beholds and knows Himself perfectly through perfect ideas and a perfect Spirit. And because God ever beholds and knows Himself, He is ever in possession of His perfect Idea and His perfect Spirit; and because it is impossible for Him ever to be separated from these, it is impossible for Him to lose either His own perfect Idea or His perfect Spirit because He would thus lose with these the vision of Himself, His own consciousness and knowledge and cease being God. Obviously the Logos or the Idea of God has a necessarily eternal existence : the Logos is the eternal Truth, the primary Truth, which faithfully and exactly represents and depicts the primary and eternal Being, the Mind or Father of the Truth, the only true God, which begets the Logos or the Truth, and sends out the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit through which the Truth and the Father of Truth are known.

Thus, the beginning words of Evangelist John constitute the beginning of all knowledge and science, the essential object and goal of philosophy through which all beings and all events are explained and understood. The beginning words of John reveal that primary cause which Greek philosophers sought, the Logos of the universe which they could not discover; however through the logical illumination of its enlightening rays they proclaimed many truths, concerning many subjects and disciplined the nation into a thorough knowledge of the Logos. And we today pride ourselves for possessing a Philosophy based upon the Logos, explaining and interpreting everything and enlightening all toward an escape from destructive delusion, and toward the acquisition of the hoped-for salvation and eternal blessedness. Only the foolish and the demon-possessed and the mad and raging shun the enlightenment of true Philosophy, so that they may believe and be saved despite their lack of belief, and so that instead of acquiring eternal blessings they may incur eternal evils and everlasting damnation.

“In the beginning was the Logos.” These beginning words of Evangelist John justify the new name given him by the Lord – son of thunder. The son of thunder begins thunderously to speak the Eternal Truth toward the enlightenment of the faithful and the consternation and muzzling of the non-believers. This voice which comes down from heaven rings throughout the ends of the earth and as a luminous flash fully enlightens the logical souls, and as strong thunder it overwhelms the enemies of Truth. By means of this voice, the pastors and teachers of the church were illuminated and they as a result testified the eternal Truth; whereas the astonished heretics were com­pletely outdone and muzzled and driven out of the church. Through this voice, we, too, can distinguish between those who speak from the earth and utter empty phrases, and the divinely inspired and taught men who know the Truth and testify it toward the salvation of souls. Through this same voice is the false religion of the Antichrist denounced, and through the same voice will his power, based upon falsehood and blasphemy, be crushed. But the truth of the Lord abides forever and its kingdom and glory are everlasting.

– A. Makrakis, INTERPRETATION of THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT, The Gospel According to St. John