Which is first: knowledge or belief?

St. Cyril the Great says, “What interpretation then are we to put upon the coal which touched the prophet’s lips, and cleansed him from all sin? Plainly it is the message of salvation, and the confession of faith in Christ, which anyone who receives it with his mouth is forthwith and altogether purified.”⁵⁴

St. Basil the Great says, “We say that, on the whole, in the case of sciences, faith precedes knowledge, but in our teaching, even if anyone says that knowledge begins before faith, we do not disagree — but, a knowledge commensurate with human comprehension.”⁵⁵

St. Cyril the Great says, “Those who believe now have the power to learn also. For thus says the prophet Isaiah: “if you do not believe this, neither will you understand it” (Isa. 7:9 LXX). That is why it was right for faith to first be rooted in them, and then after that comes an understanding of the matters of which they are ignorant.”

And St. Augustine says, “as understanding consists in sight, and is abiding, but faith feeds us as babes, upon milk, in the cradles of temporal things (for now we walk by faith, not by sight); as, moreover, unless we walk by faith, we shall not attain to sight, which does not pass away, but abides, our understanding being purified by holding to the truth”⁵⁶ “For faith ought to go before understanding, that understanding may be the reward of faith.”⁵⁷