CATECHESIS - ONE GOD

Let there be laid as a firm foundation in your souls the doctrine concerning God.

There is only one God; unbegotten, without beginning and without end. He is both good and just. So it is heresy to say there are more than one God, even if the others are inferior.

So, there is only one God who created body and soul, one Creator of heaven and earth, maker of angels and archangels.

He created all things and is, therefore, greater than any of His creation. He knows the past, present and future, as if they are all present. And nothing happens without His will.

He punishes the sinner and rewards the good.

Many have gone astray from the worship of the true God. Some have deified the sun and have no god at night. Others, the moon and have no god during the day. Some, lustful after women, have made women as god, like Aphrodite. Others, avaricious after gold, have made golden images.

If a man builds as a foundation in his heart the doctrine of the One God, and firmly believes it, he cuts away at once all the corruption of the evils of idolatry and of the error of the heretics. By faith, therefore, lay as a foundation in your soul this first doctrine of religion. 

St. Cyril of Alexandria, 349 A.D. 

(His Catechesis is the most celebrated catechism that has come down to us from the early Church.)

(01-29-03)