“For the Eastern church the unity of the divine essence and
the Trinity of persons does not arise from the divine nature as such but from
the person of the Father. He is the sole originating principle (αἰτια). The three persons, according to the Orthodox, are not three
relations within the one being, not the self-unfolding of the Godhead; rather
it is the Father who communicates himself to the Son and the Spirit. From this
it follows, however, that now the Son and the Spirit are coordinated: they both
have their originating principle (αἰτια) in the
Father. The Father reveals himself in both: the Son imparts the knowledge of
God, the Spirit the enjoyment of God. The Son does not reveal the Father in and
through the Spirit; the Spirit does not lead [believers] to the Father through
the Son. The two are more or less independent of each other: they both open
their own way to the Father. Thus orthodoxy and mysticism, the intellect and
the will, exist dualistically side by side. And this unique relation between
orthodoxy and mysticism is the hallmark of Greek piety.”
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 2: God and Creation (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004), 317.
