1. The Pantocrator and Creator The Nicene Creed

2. Pantocrator Of all the attributes of God, only God’s omnipotence is named in the Creed To confess this power has great bearing on our lives What does it mean? The One who created all, sustains all, governs, feeds, cares, responds, etc God’s power is loving and mysterious; loving, for He is our Father and mysterious for only faith can discern it

3. Pantocrator The Scriptures describe God as “the Strong and Mighty,” “Lord of Hosts,” “Mighty One of Jacob” Nothing is impossible with God He is the Master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping of His will He shows infinite mercy, His power is at its height by freely forgiving sins His power could not be contradicting His Essence, will, intellect, wisdom, or justice

4. Pantocrator We should always expand the image we have in our minds and heart about God. For example, God can change hearts. This would invite us to seek His power to help us overcome weakness

5. Pantocrator: The Mystery of God’s Apparent Powerlessness Faith in God’s omnipotence can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering God can, sometimes seem to be absent or incapable of stopping evil But in the most mysterious way, God the Father had revealed His almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and resurrection of His Son, by which He conquered evil Christ crucified is thus “the Power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1 Cor 1:24-25

6. Pantocrator There is no stronger way to confirm our faith than to keep your eyes on the fact that there is nothing impossible with God. The rest of the Creed will be accepted easily and without any hesitation

7. Creator Creation Account: in the first 3 chapters of Genesis is God’s revelation of the beginning of things, the fall and the promise of salvation It responds to the questions of “what is our origin? Where do we come from? Where are we going? What is our end?” We start the week of Pascha with the account of Creation on Monday The catechesis of many of the apostolic churches would include the account of creation from Genesis in their primary instructions In the Byzantine church the creation account is kept in all the feasts of the Lord

8. Creator The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies that have enriched our knowledge of the age and dimensions of the cosmos The discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator. with Solomon we can say, “it is He who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements… for wisdom, the Fashioner of all things taught me.’” Wisdom 7:17-22

9. Creator The studies of the origin of the visible creation looks into when and how the universe arose physically, or when man appeared The real question that stimulates these studies is of another order, its rather a question of discovering the meaning of such an origin: Is the universe governed by chance? Blind fate? Anonymous necessity? Or by an intelligent, Good Being called God? And if the world does come from God’s wisdom and goodness, why is there evil? Where does it come from? Who is responsible for it? Is there any liberation from it?

10. Creator Evolution does not contradict the account of Genesis, unless you see the account from the point of view of the “Fundamental Creationists” The “Fundamental Creationists” are a group of Christians who believe that the 7 days of creation are 7 “24 hours” and if there is no mentioning of dinosaurs then God didn’t create them and the fossils of dinosaur skeletons could be hidden by God to fool the scientists Evolution does not say anything about the existence of God. It is again a question of how things developed, not Who created it, or why it is here

11. Creator For “the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man’s life is the vision of God: if God’s revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word’s manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God.” Irenaeus The ultimate purpose of creation is that God “Who is the Creator of all things may at last become ‘all in all.’ Thus simultaneously assuring His own glory and our own blessedness (happiness).”

12. Creator The Mystery of Creation God creates by wisdom and love “for You created all things and by Your will they existed and were created” Rev 4:11 “Oh Lord how glorious are Your works. In wisdom You have made them all” Psalm 104:24 “the Lord is good to all, and His compassion is over all that He has made” Psalm 145:9

13. Creator The Mystery of Creation God creates out of nothing The mother of the 7 sons encourages them for martyrdom in 2 Macc 7:22-23,28 “I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breathe, nor I who sat and ordered the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in His mercy give life and breathe back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of His laws… look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being.”

14. The Mystery of Creation God creates out of nothing Since God could create everything out of nothing He can also, through the Holy Spirit, create a pure heart in them and bodily life to the dead through the resurrection. “Gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” Romans 4:17 And since God was able to make light shine in darkness by His word, He can also give the light of faith to those who do not yet know Him

15. The Mystery of Creation God creates an ordered and good creation Because God created through wisdom, His creation is ordered. “You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight” Wisdom 11:20 The creation is made by the Eternal Word of God, Who is the image of the invisible Father, and is addressed to man who is created in the “image of God” and called to a loving relationship with God

16. Creator The Mystery of Creation God creates an ordered and good creation Because creation comes from God’s goodness, it shares in that goodness. “and God saw that it was good… very good.” Gen 1:4,10,12,18,21,31 God willed creation as a gift addressed to man. The church defends the goodness of creation, including that of the physical world

17. Creator The Mystery of Creation God transcends creation and is present to it “You have set Your glory above the heavens.” Psalm 8:2 God’s “greatness is unsearchable” Psalm 145:3 “In Him we live and move and have our being” Acts 17:28 St Augustine: God is “higher than my highest and more inward that my innermost self.”

18. Creator The Mystery of Creation God upholds and sustains creation “for You love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for You would not have made anything if You had hated it. How would anything have endured, if You had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by You have been preserved? You spare all things for they are Yours, O Lord, You who love the living.” Wisdom 11:24-26 God does not abandon His creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and bring them to their final end Recognizing this utter dependence on the Creator, is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence

19. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence Creation was not made perfect, but in a process of development toward perfection The disposition by which God guides His creation toward this perfection is called “Divine Providence” God cares for all from the least things to the greatest events of the world, and its history Scripture speaks of God’s sovereignty: “our God is in heavens, He does whatever He pleases” Psalm 115:3 And so also with Christ, “who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens” Rev 3:7 “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established” Proverbs 19:21

20. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence In the Bible, the Holy Scriptures attribute actions to God, without mentioning the means that God used for His actions (secondary causes). This is not a “primitive mode of speech,” but a profound way of recalling God’s primacy and absolute Lordship over history and the world Our Lord Jesus Christ asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of His children’s smallest needs: “be anxious for nothing, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink?... Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well” Matthew 6:31 “The hairs of your head are numbered; none of them will fall without His permission”

21. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence & Secondary Causes God grants His creatures not only their existence but also the dignity of acting on their own, for being causes and principals for each other, and thus of cooperating in the carrying out of His plan In creation God gave the power to the humans to “subdue the earth and have dominion over it” Gen 1:26-28 God enables man to be intelligent and free in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for his good and that of his neighbor Although often unconscious collaborators with God’s will, humans can also enter deliberately into divine plan by their actions, their prayers, and their suffering to become “God’s fellow workers” and “co-workers for His kingdom”. 1 Cor 3:9, 1 Thess 3:2, Col 4:11

22. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence & Secondary Causes God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes: “for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Phil 2:13 This does not diminish the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it Drawn from nothingness from God’s power, wisdom and goodness, creation can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin for without the Creator the creature vanishes

23. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil If God is the good Pantocrator who created an ordered and good world, who cares for all His creatures, why does evil exist? There is no quick answer Only Christian faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question Every aspect of the Christian message plays a part in answering the question of evil

24. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil “For Almighty God… because He is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in His works if He were not all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself.” St Augustine

25. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil God is in no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil. He permits it, however because He respects the freedom of His creatures and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good from it. Joseph said, “it was not you, who sent me here, but God… you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.” Gen 45:8; 50:20 From the greatest moral evil ever committed, the rejection and murder of God’s only Son caused by our sins- God by His grace brought the greatest of goods- the glorification of Christ and our redemption

26. Creator Divine Plan: Divine Providence and the Problem of Evil But for all that, evil never becomes a good “We know that in everything God works for good for those who love Him” Romans 8:28 Only at the end when our partial knowledge ceases, when we see God “face to face,” will we fully now the ways by which even through the effects of evil and sin God has guided His creation to that definitive Sabbath rest, for which He created heaven and earth