The answer
G. L. Prestige344 says that some of the early Church Fathers, such as Clement and Dionysius of Alexandria, followed Herodotus345 in drawing a connection between the words theos (god) and titheme (to dispose). St. Clement says, “God is called theos, from thesis (placing), and order or arrangement.”346
Aristotle says that God is the First Mover, who initiated movement in the world, then acts no more. But we believe that God is infinite love — loving action that springs from within the eternal internal relationship of Holy Trinity. The love of God is evident in His creation of the world, and this love continues always to operate, never ceasing until Christ’s second coming.
The Alexandrian Fathers strongly affirm that God cares individually for each person with a unique love — even if that person is unaware of it — for the kingdom of His heavenly love is founded in the depths of the human soul (Luke 17:21). The power of God is love perpetually in motion. Pope Athanasius says, “but God is self-existent, enclosing all things, and enclosed by none; within all according to His own goodness and power, yet without all in His proper nature.”347
Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty
Notes
344 G. L. Prestige, God in Patristic Thought, (London: SPCK, 1936): p. 1.
345 The Histories of Herodotus 2.52.
346 St. Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies 1.29 (ANF 2:341).
347 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, De Decretis 3 (NPNF II/4:157).