On the Unitarian teachings of the Gnostic Church
But God is not only the metaphysical ternary -Being-Non-Being and Power of Being- he is also the ternary of Father, Son, Spirit, in other words Will, Intelligence, Love.
It is very important to establish what we mean by all of these ternaries and all those, which in general, refer to the Divine in the Gnosis. The Gnosis does not impose on its faithful a belief in an unacceptable tri-theism. Neither does it announce to them a God with three distinct persons, tri-united, equal in powers and yet hierarchical in procession! No! They are simply three aspects of the Divinity, without a doubt three distinct hypostatises, but inseparable, three persons if you will, but only in the etymological sense of the word, meaning a role, function or attribute.
The last of the ternaries aforementioned, Will-Intelligence-Love, illumines very well the gnostic thesis. That intelligence is distinct from Will and it from Love, does not follow that in God, Will, Intelligence and Love constitute three different individualities.
Tau Synésius (Fabre des Essarts)
From: Manuel Préparatoire, Pairs, 1913.
It is very important to establish what we mean by all of these ternaries and all those, which in general, refer to the Divine in the Gnosis. The Gnosis does not impose on its faithful a belief in an unacceptable tri-theism. Neither does it announce to them a God with three distinct persons, tri-united, equal in powers and yet hierarchical in procession! No! They are simply three aspects of the Divinity, without a doubt three distinct hypostatises, but inseparable, three persons if you will, but only in the etymological sense of the word, meaning a role, function or attribute.
The last of the ternaries aforementioned, Will-Intelligence-Love, illumines very well the gnostic thesis. That intelligence is distinct from Will and it from Love, does not follow that in God, Will, Intelligence and Love constitute three different individualities.
Tau Synésius (Fabre des Essarts)
From: Manuel Préparatoire, Pairs, 1913.