passion and is itself the passion for life which is prepared for suffering.6 Why did the theology of the patristic period cling to the apathy axiom, although Christian devotion adored the crucified Christ as God, and the Christian proclamation was quite capable of talking about ‘God’s suffering’? There were two reasons: 1. It was his essential incapacity for suffering that distinguished God from man and other non-divine beings, all of whom are alike subjected to suffering, as well as to transience