THE ISSUE OF GOD’S NAMES IN GRIGOR TATEVATSI’S DOCTRINE

Abstract

The article shows that St. Grigor Tatevatsi (1346-1409) saw no contradiction between the
apophatic (God is unrecognizable and unnamable) and cataphatic (God is recognizable and
namable) ways of theophany, because he believed, first, that the names which were attributed
to God did not discover God’s essence, but referred to the His essence, His works. Secondly,
the cataphatic was the basis of the highest form of theophany – the apophatic. Tatevatsi’s
doctrine, by conventionally distinguishing God’s names into philosophical and religious-
theological entities, showed that in case of philosophical entities, God was treated as an
essence (being), as a prime-cause and prime-mover, as a necessary and exert being, whose
predicates were simplicity, intangibility, sameness, eternity, inalterability, etc., while in case of
religious-theological ones God was treated as an absolute Person, Creator, Father, Judge,
attributed with will and intellect, wisdom, love, justice, truth, graciousness, benignancy,
mercifulness, perfection, etc. In fact, in Tatevatsi’s doctrine the philosophical and religious-
theological entities of God’s names, although different, complement each other creating a full
depiction of God.