Eternal.

The existence of God is outside time, for time is only a form of limited being, changeable

being. For God there is neither past nor future; there is only the present. “In the beginning, OLord, Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands.

They shall perish, but Thou abidest, and all like a garment shall grow old, and as a vesture shalt

Thou fold them, and they shall be changed, - but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not fail”

(Psalm 101:26-28).

Certain Holy Fathers indicate a difference between the concepts of “eternity” and “immortality.”

“Eternity is ever existent life, and this concept is applied usually to the one unoriginal nature,

in which everything is always one and the same. The concept of immortality, on the other

hand, can be ascribed to one who has been brought into being and does not die, as, for example,

an angel or a soul. Eternal in its precise meaning belongs to the Divine Essence, which is why it

is applied usually only to the Worshipful and Reigning Trinity” (St. Isidore of Pelusium). In this

regard even more expressive is the phrase “the pre-eternal God” (As in the Kontakion for the Nativity

of Christ).