Gregorius Thaumaturgus, of Neo-Cæsarea. About A.D. 270

Gregory, surnamed the Great or Thaumaturgus, i.e., the Wonderworker (from his supposed power of miracles), was a pupil and admirer of Origen (on whom he wrote an eloquent panegyric), and Bishop of Neo-Cæsarea in Pontus (from about 240 to 270), which he changed from a heathen into a Christian city. He took a prominent part in the Synod of Antioch (A.D. 269), which condemned the errors of Paul of Samosata, and issued a lengthy creed.¹⁵ He was held in the highest esteem, as we learn from Basil the Great, his successor in office (De Spiritu Sancto, cap. 29, § 74, where he is compared to the apostles and prophets, and called a 'second Moses'), and from Gregory of Nyssa (Vita Gregorii). The following creed ( ekthesis pisteos kata apokalupsin Gregoriou episkopou Neokaisareias ) was, according to the legend related by Gregory of Nyssa a hundred years later, revealed to him by the Apostle John in a vision, at the request of the Virgin Mary. It is somewhat rhetorical, but more explicit on the doctrine of the Trinity than any other ante-Nicene creed, and approaches in this respect the Symbolum Quicunque. The Greek text in Gallandi, Vet. PP. Bibl. p. 385; in Mansi, Tom. I. p. 1030, and Hahn, p. 97. Hahn gives also two Latin versions, one by Rufinus. Two other creeds ascribed to him are not genuine. An English translation of his writings by S. D. F. Salmond, in the Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Vol. XX. (Edinb. 1871).

Heis theos pater logou zontos, sophias huphestoses kai dunameos kai charakteros aidiou, teleios teleiou gennetor, pater huiou monogenous.

There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is the substantive wisdom and eternal power and image of God: the perfect origin (begetter) of the perfect (begotten): the Father of the only-begotten Son.

Heis kurios monos ek monou, theos ek theou, charakter kai eikon tes theotetos, logos energos, sophia tes ton holon sustaseos periektike kai dunamis tes holes ktiseos poietike, huios alethinos alethinou patros, aoratos aoratou kai aphthartos, aphthartou kai athanatos athanatou kai aidios aidiou.

There is one Lord, one of one (only of the only), God of God, the image and likeness of the Godhead, the mighty Word, the wisdom which comprehends the constitution of all things, and the power which produces all creation; the true Son of the true Father, Invisible of Invisible, and Incorruptible of Incorruptible, and Immortal of Immortal, and Everlasting of Everlasting.

Kai hen pneuma hagion ek theou

And there is one Holy Ghost,

ten huparxin echon kai di autou pephenos delade tois anthropois, eikon tou huiou teleiou teleia, zoe zonton aitia¹⁶ [ pege hagia ],¹⁷ hagiotes hagiasmou choregos ,¹⁸ en ho phaneroutai theos ho pater ho epi panton kai en pasi, kai theos ho huios ho dia panton, trias teleia, doxe kai aidioteti kai basileia me merizomene mede apallotrioumene. having his existence from God, and being manifested by the Son, namely, to men, the perfect likeness of the perfect Son, Life, the cause of the living¹⁹ [the sacred fount],²⁰ sanctity, the Leader of sanctification:²¹ in whom is revealed God the Father, who is over all things and in all things, and God the Son, who is through all things: a perfect Trinity, not divided nor differing in glory and eternity and sovereignty.

Oute oun ktiston ti e doulon en te triadi, oote epeisakton,²² hos proteron men ouch huparchon, husteron de epeiselthon; oute oun enelipe pote huios patri, oute huio pneuma, alla atreptos kai analloiotos he aute trias aei.

Neither, indeed, is there any thing created or subservient in the Trinity, nor introduced,²³ as though not there before but coming in afterwards; nor, indeed, has the Son ever been without the Father, nor the Spirit without the Son, but the Trinity is ever the same, unvarying and unchangeable.