Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Today, my beloved, we begin a new series where we tackle one of the greatest mysteries of the Church, a mystery that is at the heart of everything that it means to be a faithful Christian. Today, we ask: What is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity?
Now, the Holy Trinity is a mystery that has been long debated in the history of the Church and is the cause of much confusion to both Christians and non-Christians alike. Most theists, those who believe in God, are either monotheistic or polytheistic. That is to say that they believe in one God or they believe in multiple gods. However, for Christians such as us, we make a unique claim. We boldly confess one God in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Now, this Christian dogma that we have is indeed monotheistic. Our Orthodox Creed clearly begins by stating that we believe in one God. However, that same Creed goes on to explain that our God is three in one: we believe in one God, God the Father, we believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ, and yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit. But what does it mean to say that we believe in one God, only then to turn around and confess Father, Son and Holy Spirit? For this, we need to define a few key terms. So, let's go ahead and do just that!
Two crucial words that must be understood in order to properly approach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity are essence and person. Let's begin with essence. Essence is oftentimes synonymous with the word substance or nature. It’s basically what something is. Similarly, when someone asks about the nature of such and such a thing, they are basically asking: what is this all about?
In this manner, the Church has taught us since the very first apostolic centuries that God’s essence is one and the same. The divine essence of God is shared perfectly and completely in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Greek, the term used is ουσία (ousía). It is from this same word that our holy father, St. Athanasius the Apostolic, and the rest of the holy fathers present at the Council of Nicaea used the word ομοούσιος (omooúsios) in the Creed to explain how Christ was co-essential with the Father... basically of the same essence.
As for the term person, this is to say who someone is. The term used here in Greek is ηυπόστασης (ipóstasis). This key word of person is what explains the uniqueness and distinguishing characteristics between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And this is
where the mystery of the Holy Trinity lies: in the fact that our God is one in essence and yet three persons. Although the three persons of the Trinity are in the same divine essence and are united in that one essence, they are also unique in their personhood. The Father is the unbegotten, the Son is the begotten, and the Spirit is He who proceeds; all three united and are one, and all three diverse without ever being divided.
St. Athanasius, in many of his writings in teaching on the Trinity, specifically when he is combatting the Arian heresy, he speaks to this very point. He says the following:
''The Trinity, praised, reverenced and adored, is one and indivisible and without degrees. It is united without confusion, just as the One God is also distinguished without separation. For the fact of those venerable living creatures offering their praises three times, saying 'Holy, Holy, Holy', 1 proves that the Three Persons are perfect, just as in saying 'Lord', they declare the One Essence.'' (St. Athanasius, The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, vol. IV)
This is from The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, in volume IV. You see, my beloved, what St. Athanasius is very clearly telling you and I that it is for this very purpose that the Church in all of her liturgical prayers has always taught that even if our focus be directed to one person of the Holy Trinity, we are always reminded that our God is three in one and one in three.
When we offer worship to the Father, we are reminded of Son and Spirit and we offer worship to all three. When we remember the Holy Spirit, our minds are brought back to the Father and to the Son. And the same also when praying to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Take, for instance, the prayer before the reading of the Holy Gospel. Listen carefully to the words that are prayed by the priest.
Before the reading of the Gospel, the priest will say:
Our Lord, God, and Saviour, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, to whom be glory for ever. Glory is due to our God unto the ages of ages. Amen! (clearly directed towards the Son).
At the end of the reading of the Gospel, however, he then says the following:
You are He [again, speaking to Jesus Christ] to whom praise is due from everyone with one voice, along with glory, honour, majesty, and worship, with Your Good Father and the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life, who is of one essence with You, now and at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen!
1 This portion is a reference to Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8
As you can see clearly, although we confess the uniqueness of the persons of the Trinity, we also never separate them to the point where we deny their unity and sameness in essence.
To further clarify this point on essence and persons, let's speak about human beings for just a moment. We know that, in Genesis, chapter 1, God says that He created humanity in His image and in His likeness. And just as within God there is unity and diversity, so also He created man in that same fashion. Every human being shares the same essence, human nature. And yet every person, although human just like the next, is their own unique person.
However, we need to specify that we would be very wrong to project on God the fallen characteristics of a broken and sinful humanity. For instance, when we say that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in essence, we are not merely saying that they all belong to a single type or category of being. No! What we are saying is that all three are in one divine essence, meaning that they form a single, unique, specific reality. And within that reality, there is oneness with no hint of division. And this is what would distinguish the persons of the Trinity from the persons that we see in humanity.
Human beings, because of the fall in sinfulness, no matter how much we attempt to work together as one united humanity, we always fall short because our wills, our lives, our efforts always are divided and self-centered. We falsely claim that we are united by trying to enforce uniformity and we claim that our diversity is the cause of our division. But in the case of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, there is diversity but never separation. And they are truly united without the need for uniformity.
And this says something to us about both what and who we were created to be in God’s image: diverse and yet united. But that is a subject to discuss on another time. In future videos, we will discuss the Trinity as the standard of humanity, how the Trinity is Love, and we will also see where the Trinity is found within Scripture, and all other such approaches to apprehending the Trinity.
For now, it is good to reaffirm simply that indeed we believe in one God in three persons always united, never separated in will, in dignity, in honour and glory. And although we may not be able to understand how this may be, it suffices us to say that the reason we cannot find anything similar to God in attempting to understand Him is maybe because if our God was comparable to anything that we could know, then this would render Him to being no God at all.
Remember, my beloved: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And to God be the glory now and forever unto the ages of all ages. Amen.