Abstract

This study analyzes the meaning of the first article of faith: In the biblical message the unique and true God appears as the ultimate principle of all realities, as the object of the religious sense of all people, as the 'deus ignotus', creator of the universe and provident father of the human race, who, as the 'deus revelatus' manifests himself as the God of Israel, Lord of the covenant and Father of Jesus . Taking into account the Gospel message on the all-powerful God as loving Father, the article studies the theological tradition of the Church, the symbol of whose faith begins with the words: Credo in unum Deum Patrem omnipotentem. God the Father emerges, in the affirmation of Denys of Rome, in the Symbol of the Apostles, in the faith of Nicea and in other documents of Church tradition, as the absolute and infinite reality, transcendant and personal, 'ingenitus aeternus', Principle without principle of the intrinsic divine life and of the history of salvation. The Church language, denying gnostic dualism, identifies the creator God of the old covenant with the merciful Father of the new salvific dispensation. Against patripatian Sabellianism the tradition affirms the distinction between the 'Pater ingenitus' and the only begotten Son. In order to overcome the challenges of modernity and the loss of consciousness regarding the difference between Creator and creature, the Councils of Vatican I and II remain faithful to the 'regula fide