Critopulus Metrophanes
Critopulus Metrophanes [1]
It is a rather full, clear exposition of' the doctrines and customs of the Greek Church, more in the form of a theological analysis than of a strictly symbolic work. He shows in it great opposition to the Romish Church, but at the same time avoids all Protestant polemics. The charge that Metrophanes was Lutheran in tendency is unjust, and is ignored by all able theologians. According to Metrophanes, the Greek doctrines can be divided into two parts, forming a "simple" and an "economical" system of theology (Con. page 13, ed. Weissenb.). The first treats of God and of the Trinity, leading naturally to the exposition of the Greek doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost (Confess. page 15 sq.). If we compare the doctrine of the author on the point with the tradition of the Greek fathers, we find ‘ the doctrine much more complete, and somewhat similar to that of the Latin Church. Each of the three divine persons stands in a definite relation to the two others, and at the same time constitute one form of the Deity. The first person stands as the father of the second and the sender ( προβολεύς ), but embraces them both in himself as νοῦς. The second person, or son, possesses a λόγος, the third the πρόβλημα of the first, as πνεῦμα , an identity with both. See Weissenborn, Prefatio to his Appendix litt. Symbol. Eccles. Orientalis (Jena, 1850); Ditelmaier, De Metrophane Critopule (Altenb. 1769), Neale, Florent. Council, page 168.
