The word “to know” has many meanings. We say that we know the greatness of God, his power, his wisdom, his goodness, his providence that cares for us, and the justice of his judgement, but not his very essence . . . . He who says that he does not know the essence is not confessing that he does not know God, because our idea of God is gathered from the many attributes we have enumerated . . . . The activities of God are various, but God’s essence is simple. We say that we do not know our God from his activities, but we do not undertake to draw near to his essence. His activities come down to us, but his essence remains unapproachable. . . .
How then am I saved? Through faith. Faith is sufficient it it knows that God is, not what he is, and that “he is a rewarder of thos who seek him” (Heb 11:6). Therefore, knowledge of the divine essence involves perception of his incomprehensibility. He is to be worshipped because his essence exists, not because we comprehend what that essence is.
St. Basil the Great
Letters 234.1-2
