Saint Porphyrios the Kavsokalivite
God’s knowledge cannot be comprehended by our mind. It is infinite, comprising all beings seen and unseen, those from the beginning and from the end. God knows everything with exactitude in all their depth and width.
God knows us before we come to know ourselves. He knows our inner dispositions even the slightest thought, our reflections and our decisions beforehand. But He knew us well even before our conception and before the beginning of the world He knew us as well. That is why David marvels and cries: God You have searched me and knew me.
The Holy Spirit is omnipresent. That is why whoever is inspired by the Holy Spirit has the knowledge of God. He knows the past, the present and the future. The Holy Spirit reveals them to him. No one of our deeds is unknown to God, everything is written. They are written and however they are not. They are born and exist however they are not born. What you know know God have known from the creation of the world. I remind you what saint Simeon the New Theologian says in the prayer from the Holy Eucharist. Those not done yet by me were known by Your eyes; in Your book are written even those not done yet by me.
Some misinterpret these words and say: Since God has everything written beforehand, it means we have fate, destiny, fortune. Therefore it was predestined to you for example to commit a crime. You are going to tell me: If it is written for me to kill someone, am I responsible or not? Since even those undone by me God knows beforehand, why should we be made responsible for them? You who say that God is kind tell me now why He wrote that and did not stop me doing it?
Here lies the secret. Gid in His almightiness and omniscience knows everything even what is going to happen in the future. But He is not the cause of evil. God knows beforehand but He doesn’t predestine. For God there is no past, present or future. Everything is revealed to him. As apostle Paul says: There is no creature hidden from Him, but everything is bare and uncovered before the eyes of God to whom we shall give account of everything we’ve done. As an Omniscient He knows good and evil alike. He does the good as One who is good by His Own nature and alien to all evil . And since He is alien to all evil how can it be possible to predestine us for evil? God created everything good and gave to all a holy designation.
