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The Trinity in Worship and Life
Fr. John Mark The Christian Church is often criticised for holding what are dubbed as "man-made doctrines", and chief among them, so it said, ** is the one concerning the Holy Trinity. The strange thing is, that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was not "thought out" by any human being. Rather it is true to say, that the awareness of the truth just emerged; like Topsy, it grew. That is, the Church gradually became aware that God had been experienced in three totally different ways, though the proper original Orthodox word is the Greek "ousia" which everyone at the time knew meant "essence". Later the word "hypostasis" came to be used, but this was confusing as it could mean both "Persons" of the Holy Trinity, but also, like "ousia", its "essence." It was the Cappadocian Fathers who made the distinction clear. Down their history, the Jews had stoutly maintained the "one-ness" of the Godhead and they worshipped Him as Creator and Father. In the fullness of time, Jesus appeared and very gradually, those around Him came to realize that He was, in fact, their long-awaited Messiah. The turning point in Our Blessed Lord's earthly ministry was when, at Caesarea Phillipi, St Peter blurted out "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God". Jesus doesn’t deny it, but compliments Peter, and adds that His Father has revealed this truth to him (Matthew 17.16). This outburst didn’t stop the questioning among the disciples which probably went on until the episode which St John sees as the climax of the whole Gospel, when St Thomas confesses Jesus to be "My Lord and My God". But the disciples’ learning curve didn’t stop there either, as more revelation came to them at Pentecost when they felt, heard and saw the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the whole group. After that, again gradually, they came to realize that the Holy Spirit was indeed a manifestation/essence/Person of God and that in their thinking and praying they had to make room for this new revelation. And this wasn’t easy for devout, monotheistic, Jews to take this on board – it was totally against all their formation. But they did, and life for them was never the same again. People sometimes ask why we Orthodox make so much of Theophany, ie., the Baptism of Jesus. One of the reasons is that in a very special way, the Holy Trinity is seen at work. The Son of God, having become Man, accepted Baptism by water, the Father testified of Him and the Holy Spirit, in the form of a Dove, confirmed His Words, as our Troparion declares. Another important declaration of this Doctrine occurs in St John’s Gospel, (15.26) where Our Blessed Lord says:--"When the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me". Interestingly, St. Athanasius interprets some words of St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians,(4.6) as a reference to the Trinity. He says "One God and Father of all, Who is above all, (ie God the Father), and through all (God the Son), and in you all (God the Holy Spirit)." This means that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity was part of the apostolic preaching and this is born out by the writings of St Irenaeus of Lyons, who was himself taught by St. Polycarp of Smyrna, who, in turn, was a disciple of the Apostle St. John the Theologian, and you cannot have a better pedigree than that! St. Irenaeus speaks unequivocally of the Holy Trinity and ends by saying "None of the leaders of the Churches will contradict this, nor will anyone…… weaken this Tradition". So it was that many of the Fathers of the formative years of the Church, who fought against the heretics, relied on the witness of the testimony of the first Christians in their defence of this doctrine. St Basil the Great claimed that the small doxology (Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit) was in use in the Church worship from the very time that the Gospel was announced. He also points to the Vesperal Hymn which he calls "ancient" and handed down from the Fathers, and which includes "Praise to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit of God." Given this unanimity of the writers and confessors of the Church to the early tradition of the doctrine it is hard to understand the claim that somehow, the Church made it up. But this is not to say that the Church leaders were unaware that it was a difficult doctrine to understand. During the time of the Councils, the aim was to try to find ways of protecting the teaching against misuse by heretics. To put that another way, there was a continued attempt to bring the mystery of the Holy Trinity a little closer to our earthly ideas; to bring what is really beyond our understanding, a little closer to that which is understandable. To do this the Fathers of the Church used comparisons from nature, eg.- a) the sun, its rays and light b) the root, trunk and fruit of a tree c) a spring of water, and the fountain and river that issue from it d) three candles burning simultaneously which give a single, inseparable light e) fire and the light & warmth which come from it f) mind, will and memory g) consciousness, knowledge and desire. And to these, we could add St Patrick’s famous .... h) three leaves of a shamrock. But regarding such comparisons, St Gregory the Theologian warns that they are all inadequate and fail to reach the depth of theological meaning in the Sacred Trinity*. * Pomazansky "Orthodox Dogmatic Theology" pages 80-81 Where then may we turn for help in all this? Fr Athanasios Frangopoulos claims that there is only one resort and that is prayer for guidance to the Holy Spirit Himself. He also quotes St Gregory the Theologian who claims that the Holy Trinity is the "fountainhead of our Faith". Fr Athanasios continues:- All three Persons possess the same attributes and all the inexhaustible riches of the Godhead. But each Person has His own particular distinguishing mark: the Father is unbegotten; the Son is begotten and the Holy Spirit proceeds. This means that the Father begets the Son from His own essence eternally; The Son is begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and is sent into the world by the Son. All of God’s works, ie, the works of creation; the works of re-fashioning and recreating, and the salvation of mankind are brought about by all three Persons of the Godhead. The Father decides; the Son carries out and the Holy Spirit perfects all of God’s works. Thus, "the Father does all things through the Son and in the Holy Spirit." So the unity of the Trinity is understood and "one God is preached in the Church" who is above all, and through all, and in all, Ephesians 4.6) This sacred and holy dogma concerning the Triune God is to be found in no other monotheistic religion save Christianity and it constitutes the foundation and source of the mystical truths and dogmas of our most Holy Faith"+ +Fr Athanasios S. Frangopoulos "Our Orthodox Christian Faith". ** by Jehovah's Witnesses, various liberal Protestant groups and sects, (Ed.) (return to top) |
