The Orthodox Creed

Unknown

In some churches ive heard... of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made...and in other instead of, of one essence, they say Coessential with the father...which one is right? and if there is no right and wrong go to the poll and choose which one you think we should use

minatasgeel

[quote author=Lostsinner link=topic=7548.msg99237#msg99237 date=1231800586]
In some churches ive heard... of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made...and in other instead of, of one essence, they say Coessential with the father...which one is right? and if there is no right and wrong go to the poll and choose which one you think we should use


Both are "right", according to what i have heard from HH answering someone's question during his Wednesdays lectures. but he recommended to stick to what was handed down. Now when you look at that, the Coptic was handed down, which goes more towards "of one essence" "[coptic]`omooucioc[/coptic]". but i guess some can also translate that into co-essential. soooo

peterfarrington

I guess that the main thing which came out of the controversy which gave us the Creed was that Christ is 'of the same ousia' as the Father, rather than 'of a like ousia'. So as long as the English translation contains a strong sense of that dogma, that Christ is not like God but is God, then there is no problem with either.

In the translation I use we pray, 'being consubstantial with the Father', which is the Western form of the Creed and has the same sense of being of the same ousia, and is the form best known among Western Christians.

In terms of English, I prefer 'being consubstantial' and 'of one essence', to 'co-essential', but that is personal opinion. All three seem to me to convey the same Orthodox doctrine adequately.

As ever

Peter