How then does Father John present his theology to us?
God is One, of one essence, self-existent. "For the true believer God
is omnipresent and is All, and creatures are as though non-existent; every
earthly substance and that of all visible worlds are as though nonexistent, and
for him there is not even a single line of thought without God."
God is unchanging and everlasting, angelic spirits and souls of men also.
"Everything else is like a soap bubble. By these words I do not
underestimate that which has been created, but I speak of it in comparison to
the Creator and the blessed spirits." From this there proceeds a clear
moral deduction for us: not to cling to material, temporal life.
"God is closer to us than any person, at all times; closer than my
clothing, closer than air, closer than my wife, father, mother, daughter, son,
or friend. I live by Him in soul and in body. I breathe by Him, I think by Him,
I feel, imagine, plan, speak, undertake, and act by Him, For in Him we live,
and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). As in an ocean, every drop of
water is connected with other drops of water and surrounded by them, or as in
the air, every part is surrounded by others and united by them, so likewise we
earthly inhabitants are surrounded by God from all sides, and the pure in heart
among us or those who are being cleansed are united with Him, and are
everywhere with Him." "The Omnpresence of God is spatial and mental,
i.e., God is everywhere. Whereever I go in body or thought, everywhere meet
God, and everywhere God meets us."
Throughout his entire diary, Father John constantly reminds us of God - that
God is Self-Existent, of One Essence -, as do the Church Fathers (for example
St. Gregory of Nyssa). God, as a pure being, is omnipresent, omniscient; He is
"everywhere present and fillest all things" ("O Heavenly
King" - prayer to the Holy Spirit). For this reason God is so near to the
world and to people. "God is simply love." "The Lord in His
infinite nature is by His simplicity such a being that all of Him is in the
name Trinity or in the name, Lord, or in the name Jesus
Christ."
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