Does the Son see the Father in His perfection?

St. Cyril of Jerusalem says , “We believe then In One God the Father the Unsearchable and Ineffable, Whom no man has seen (1 Tim. 2:16), but the Only-begotten alone has declared Him (John 1:18). For He who is of God, He has seen God (John 6:46): whose face the Angels always behold in heaven (Matt. 18:10), behold, however, each according to the measure of his own rank. But the undimmed vision of the Father [in His perfection] is reserved in its purity for the Son with the Holy Spirit.”⁴⁰⁴

He also says, “And again on hearing of a ‘Son,’ think not of an adopted son but a Son by nature, an Only-begotten Son, having no brother. For this is the reason why He is called ‘Only-begotten,’ because in the dignity of the Godhead, and His generation from the Father, He has no brother. But we call Him the Son of God, not of ourselves, but because the Father Himself named Christ [and no one else] His Son: and a true name is that which is set by

401 Origen, De Principiis (On First Principles) 1.2.2–6 (ANF 4:246–248).

402 Compare Athanasius ( de Sententiâ Dionyssi , § 17): “Each of the names I have mentioned is inseparable and indivisible from that next to it. I spoke of the Father, and before bringing in the Son, I designated Him also in the Father. I brought in the Son, and even if I had not previously mentioned the Father, in any wise He would have been presupposed in the Son.”

403 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 7.4 (NPNF II/7:44–45).

404 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 7.11 (NPNF II/7:46) amended.

fathers upon their children … Again, I say, on hearing of a Son, understand it not merely in an improper sense, but as a Son in truth, a Son by nature, without beginning; not as having come out of bondage into a higher state of adoption, but a Son eternally begotten by an inscrutable and incomprehensible generation. And in like manner on hearing of the Firstborn, think not that this is after the manner of men; for the first-born among men have other brothers also.”⁴⁰⁵