About the English. Route 3: the work survives complete only in Syriac, which is not a site language; the source in hand is Ryssel's German translation (1880), translated by Claude with a note; the German is never shown.
1Gregory answers Philagrius's question whether the divine nature of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is simple or compound, and sets out to show from Scripture how three names fit one simple being.
2God is a simple, indivisible and incorporeal substance.
3The three names do not divide God's one essence: as the soul and the word it begets remain one, so the Son is never separated from the Father.
5The Spirit is no more separated from the Father than thought from mind; the Son and the Spirit are like twin rays of the Father, the sun.
6As one spring feeds two rivers without losing anything, the Father sends grace through the Son and the Spirit without diminution, for the divine essence is indivisible.
disputed · Transmitted under Gregory's name in Syriac; Ryssel argues that it is his; its authorship is disputed. It argues that God is simple in substance and that the three names do not divide the Godhead.
Standing
Honoured by the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by: Catholic, Orthodox.
Date
if authentic, ca. 240-275 (disputed) · Gregory Thaumaturgus was bishop of Neocaesarea from ca. 240 to ca. 270; the attribution of this work is disputed.
Written at
Neocaesarea, Pontus (disputed)
Language
Greek
Genre
treatise
Reference system
section number (1-6) in Ryssel's translation Section 4 has no separate marker in the OCR and lies inside 3.
SBL abbreviation
Philag.Not yet checked
Clavis
CPG number not yet checked
Text from
Victor Ryssel, Gregorius Thaumaturgus: sein Leben und seine Schriften, nebst Uebersetzung zweier bisher unbekannter Schriften Gregors aus dem Syrischen (Leipzig: Grunow, 1880), German translation pp. 43-98 (Printed translation in the public domain; Internet Archive OCR of a public-domain scan)