Page:Complete Works of Count Tolstoy - 13.djvu/182

 What does that mean? All the attributes of God, as given in the division about the essence of God, such as unlimitedness, immeasurableness, and the others, exclude the concept of person. The fact that God is a spirit is still less in agreement with persons. What, then, does “in persons” mean? There is no answer to this, and the exposition goes on.

“This doctrine forms the radical, essentially Christian dogma: directly upon it are based, and, consequently, with its refutal are inevitably refuted, the dogmas about our Redeemer the Lord Jesus, about our Sanctifier the All-holy Ghost, and after that, more or less all the dogmas which refer to the house-management of our salvation. And in professing God as one in essence and trine in persons—” (p. 168.)

In essence God is one, and God, it was said in the preceding, is a spirit. In spite of the essence, it was said that God had fourteen attributes. All the attributes exclude the concept of person. What then is “in persons”? There must, then, be still a third division. First it was (1) according to the essence and (2) according to the attributes. Now a third division is added: according to persons. On what is this division based? There is no answer, and the exposition goes on:

“By professing in this manner we differ not only from the pagans and certain heretics, who assumed many or two gods, but also from the Jews, and from the Mohammedans, and from all heretics, who have recognized the one God only.”

What do I care from whom I differ? The less I differ from other people, the better it is for me. What is a person? There is no answer, and the exposition is continued:

“But being the most important of all the Christian dogmas, the dogma about the Most Holy Trinity is at the same time the most incomprehensible.”