"I still can't reconcile these two counterintuitive ideas. "Beget" is an action verb, not a state of being. Therefore, there was a time before the action took place. How can it be that the Father is unbegotten, but the Son is begotten? That would seem to say that the Father was before the Son, but you say there was no time when that was the case. What does "beget" mean then?"
Oh, FK, you're such a Westerner! Begotten means "gennhqenta"; its quite simple! :)
Kosta, in #3002, has responded in one quite appropriate way to the rest of your confusion. Let me add something. The Cappadocian Fathers were fond of this aphorism: "I believe in God; God does not "exist"." What they meant was that God doesn't exist within any frame of reference available to us. This is because He is "Existence", He is "BEING", for which reason the Fathers call Him "W WN"
The Cappadocian Fathers were fond of this aphorism: "I believe in God; God does not "exist"." What they meant was that God doesn't exist within any frame of reference available to us. This is because He is "Existence", He is "BEING", for which reason the Fathers call Him "Greek letters I don't know how to make". (strange name) :)
Well why didn't you all just say this in the first place? Now I get it! :)