One God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

So let me begin with saying that there is a lot of misconception about what the Trinity actually is and how God is a Triune God. Certainly in the West where people have a more Protestant background if it's comes to the concept of the Trinity, and even people who aren't even Protestant are influenced by Protestant concepts and ideas of Christianity because of the Protestant background of the West. It is this common picture that people have on the Trinity, but what is this picture, this idea that we have of the Trinity?

What is the common explanation of the Trinity which the average Protestant believer has, and can he or she explain it to a non-Christian? And where do these concepts of the Trinity come from, who inspired them with this knowledge and on whose authority? To be very honest, many times when they try to explain the Trinity and try to answer certain questions, their reasoning which they use isn't satisfying and the reason that it isn't satisfying, is because there isn't a easy answer for it. But a much bigger problem is that they don't have one universal concept for it or a established doctrine on which they can lean. Many times these explanations don't follow logic and many times they contradict each other when it comes to the Protestant view of the Trinity and their explanation. And this has all to do with the fact that they don't follow a certain pattern, don't have any real basics for it, a fundament, they follow their own feelings, logic and their own interpretations. But when you don't follow a established pattern, you end up with a web of confusions and contradictions. The other big Christian denomination in the West is the Roman Catholic Church, but for the people outside this Church and even those inside the Church, there is still a lot of disinformation or shortage of knowledge if it comes to the Trinity, because of all the Protestant influence going around in the West also influenced them. I'm speaking in general terms about the Catholics who aren't really practising their religion. And next to this phenomena, even the official Roman Catholic doctrine of the Trinity is in error in their definition of the Trinity by adding the Filioque to their creed. And because of this, not only the most non-denominational Christians have a wrong idea of the Trinity, but all these denominations and non-Christians looking into this subject, have a wrong concept of what the Trinity actually is and how one could understand it. Both Protestants and Catholics rely to much on St. Augustines teaching, which tremendously influenced the West. And I have to be honest, this Western idea of Trinity even sneaked in by many Orthodox Christians in the West, who aren't aware or didn't dive into this subject. But luckily I also noticed that many who did dive into it or want to dive in these topics, that they have a tons of information they can get their hands on. Thanks to the internet and all the Orthodox websites, but also the many books from the Orthodox Churches that are translated into English and other Western languages like French, German, Dutch etc. makes it much more accessible for the ones looking into these things. Like I mentioned before, things like the basics and patterns which the West lacks if it comes to the Trinity, this is where my focus lies in this writing.

So, what is the Orthodox stance on the Trinity? The Orthodox stance on the Holy Trinity is the official Christian view, which was believed and formulated by the Early Church and accepted being, not a beautiful idea or a nice concept, but a reality.

The Trinity in itself is a mystery, but that doesn't mean that the Church didn't tried to understand these mysteries and that she wasn't led by the Holy Spirit to get a glimpse of the Holy Trinity so that She may unveil it to Her people. The Holy Spirit certainly revealed some of the mysteries of it and answered some of the mayor questions which were asked by the Church and the Church Fathers and these were taken as official teachings (doctrines) during the Holy Councils (Synods) of the Church. So although it is a mystery and a reality that goes beyond our own understanding and intellect, we still have a good and substantiated doctrine of it, one which can be 'easily' understood and proclaimed to people who are interested in this subject, if one just takes the time to read into it. The technical and correct term we use for the Orthodox view of the Trinity is Monarchical Trinitarianism, also known as the Monarchy of the Father or simply Monarchia. The word monarchy exist of two words; mono = one or single and arch = source or begin, so it means something like: one source or single begin(ning), this off course refers to the Father, who Himself is the monarch of the Godhead.

Let us begin by the beginning, and that is off course like we can conclude from here above; God the Father, the first Person and the Monarch of the Trinity. The Father is God in Name and in essence. But let me first take a step back, I notice that I get ahead of things. Let me begin with some technical terms that the Church uses to explain the difference between the what and the who God is. So the Church uses terms like 'monarchia' and also other significant terms in our teachings, like 'ousia', also known as 'essence', 'nature' or 'being'. And terms like 'hypostases' the meaning of this is something in the line of 'person'(hood). These are terms which we in the Orthodox Church use, not because we like to use fancy words to describe God, but because the Church Fathers in those times spoke and wrote Greek and the Greek language has a much deeper and more precise meanings when it comes to such deep theological subjects and also because we want to use terms that are as precise as possible for our theology. We are very strict and technical in defining our doctrines, and the reason for this is actually very simple, because for one: there is no compromise in the truth and the second reason is related to the first, and that is to keep heretical thoughts and ideas out of the Church and not to fall in error. So let us go back to the term ousia, ousia is that what God is in His nature. The Father is, you could say, the begin of the Trinity, He is the source of the Trinity. This is known like already mentioned the monarchia of the Father, simply meaning; the one source, the arch principal of the entire Godhead. It is from the Father that the Son and the Spirit are eternally generated and share in the same essence as the Father, the Father generated His essence to Them. The Father therefore is rightfully and correctly called the one God, in essence and in Name. The term God is correctly applied to the Father, because He is God in every sense, as the uncaused cause of every other created and uncreated being. So unlike to His creation, the Father isn't created and has no beginning or a cause. And unlike His Son and the Holy Spirit, the Father isn't generated from someone or something else, He isn't eternally begotten, nor proceeding from anything or anyone else, He is self-existing. This is also the reason that the Nicene Creed begins with; "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty..." because we belong to a monotheistic religion, we don't believe in three separate god's. But I will come back to that later when I will speak about the Son and the Holy Spirit in more details. Speaking about the Son and the Holy Spirit, I can already tell that the reason we believe that these three Persons of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Godhead are one God, is not because they are the same Person's, which They aren't, but because They share in the one divine essence of the Father. Like I already mentioned here above and need to clarify, the ousia of God speaks about what He is, namely God, which is the divine being, and the hypotheses speaks about who He is. Again, ousia = the what and hypotheses = the who.  So now that we know that the Father is truly God, that the Father is one in His hypostases, and one in being, but He is also one of the three in the one Godhead, that He is the monarch and therefor isn't caused but He Himself is the cause of everything created and uncreated, we can go further with the second Person of the Trinity, that is the Person of the Son.

The second Person of the Trinity, is the Son who eternally is generated by the Father.

Unlike the Father, He isn't uncaused but neither is He created, He is so to say eternally caused by the Father.

The second part of the Nicene Creed says the following about the Son; We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only (monogenes) Son of God, Eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not created.

One of the reasons that this Creed was established in AD 325 in Nicaea, nowadays Iznik in present day Turkey, was because of the rise of Arianism and the influence which it had at that time. Arius, who was a presbyter (priest) in Alexandria taught that the Son was submissive to the Father and that He isn't eternal, even though he wasn't even an (high ranked) bishop, he had a mayor influence and brought the Church in a state of crisis concerning the Personhood of Christ. This was a heresy that had big influence on the Church in the 4th century and even went on until the 7th century influencing the society and dividing her. But that is a different topic, the main thing is that this heresy made it's mark in Church history and the Church wanted to defend and define Her teachings for once and for all.  So they gathered as many possible bishops, presbyters and deacons to discuss these matters and at end of the day, it was established by careful examining the Gospel and the Church Fathers, that the Son wasn't created and that He truly is the eternal begotten Son of God, sharing the same essence as the Father.

Another title or Name that we use for the Son, derives from the Gospel according to John and off course from many other books that are included in the Old Testament, where He is mentioned as the Word of the LORD, like it is stated in the Old Testament. But specifically in the Gospel of John, Jesus is called the Word of God, the Greek term used for Word is Logos and Logos has a more deeper meaning than simply just word, it also means, rationality, intellect, thought, language, principle or logic. All these terms belong to God the Father, because there was no time that the Father was without His Logos i.e. without His word, rationality, intellect, thought, logic etc. And the Logos, which I will refer to further in this writing as the Word of God, is uncreated and eternal just like the Father, because it belongs to the essence of the Father, and eternally comes forth from the Father, we also call Him the Son of God because it is not created but it is distinct from the Father, He is God but He isn't the Father. But why do we personify the Word of God, how is it that we address the Word of God with pronounces like He and Him and not it and that? This is because both the Father and the Son have their own consciousness, the Father is aware of the Son and the Son is aware of the Father. We know this because of the revelation that has come to us through the Bible. John 1 also tell us that the Word of God was God and that the Word became flesh, meaning He (the second Person of the Godhead) was incarnated and became man. We also see that the Father interacts with the Son, think of the baptism of our Lord or His transfiguration and that the Son interacts with His Father, think of the High Priestly Prayer or Him praying in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. They communicated with one and each other, but not only after the Word of God became flesh, but even therefor, from all eternity and in all eternity. Because as we can read from the Gospel of John, the Word was in the bosom of the Father, meaning that He eternally was with the Father before creation even happened. In fact, the whole creation is created by the Word of God, meaning that God the Father created everything by His Word i.e. Son i.e. Logos. And everything that created and gives life has to be Creator and therefore is God. So in His essence, the Son is the same as the Father, but in His Person, He is distinct from the Father. And it isn't only John in his Gospel who speaks about the Word as a Person distinct from the Father as God, it's all over the Bible that we see this pattern constantly coming back and it already starts with Genesis where it states that God created creation by saying it to be, like when God (implying God the Father) said (implying the Word of God) let there be light, and there was light. Here we see that God the Father created the light by "saying" it to be, saying implies the use of words and in this case we are speaking about the Word of God which is eternal, because God Himself is eternal. The Word comes forth from God and creates that what the Father wants to create. So this is one of the many examples we have that show us that the Word of God has the ability to create, but I didn't show that the Word of God truly is a Person with His own contentiousness, like I promised, so let me do that. For one example, let us go to Genesis 15:1 where the Word of God appeared to Abraham in a vision, how does the Word of God appear to someone? How did the Word of the LORD appear, how can we perceive the Word of God in a vision if not in a form that we can observe, in a form or a shape, because a appearance has to have a likeness. And if we read further in the same chapter we see that the Word of God led Abraham outside to take a look at the stars in the sky above and promised him that his offspring will be in numbers as the stars above him. Again, the question arises in what form did the Word of God appear to Abraham if not in a form that he could observe with his senses? But there are many other stories about the Word of God appearing to prophets of the Old Testament, which we call theophanies (meaning that God Himself interacted in creation) where the prophets spoke to and with the Word of God for example in Genesis 3:9-19, Exodus 3:3-6, 1 Samuel 3:15-21, Job 4:13-16 and so on. This is what we call theophanies and that is that God already manifested Himself in creation before His incarnation, taking up human nature to Himself. This incarnation of God is a unique and one time happening, unlike the Theophanies where God doesn't adopt another nature to His Person.

There is also mentioning of the Angel of Lord in the Old Testament which is related to this and other kind of theophanies, but that are topics on itself which I will discuss in separate blogs, God willing.

To quote the words of Theodore Abu Qurrah, a 9th-century Melkite (Chalcedonian) bishop and theologian who debated various other religious leaders and theologians like the Monophysite Christians of Armenia and Islamic leaders of his time; "Likewise, it said that the Father created the creation. And it is said that the Son created the creation. And, it is not said that both the Father and the Son created the creation, because the Father created the whole creation by His Son." This again shows us how technical somethings are in Orthodox theology, although it can seem just a small detail or something insignificant, in reality it's a very big deal. Because if both the Father and the Son would have created the creation, then we would speak of two creator's and god's and that is just incorrect and for that a heresy. Let us now take the term Son of God like it is stated here above in the text and replace it with the Word of God, and we will see the simple logic of that which Abu Qurrah is saying here. "Likewise, it said that the Father created the creation. And it is said that the Word created the creation. And, it is not said that both the Father and the Word created the creation, because the Father created the whole creation by His Word."

And I could go more deeper in details to explain the relation between the Father and the Son and how the Son is the Word and how the Word is God, but considering I'm writing a blog and not a book, I will leave it hereby in the hope that I could have clarified certain things about how it all functions and how we in the Orthodox Church explain these kind of things.  

At last we are left with the Holy Spirit, the Lifegiver, like we address Him in the Orthodox Church.

He, Who unlike the Son isn't eternally begotten, but is eternally proceeding from the Father, we do not know the exact difference in the meaning of this. The terms "eternally begotten" and  "eternally proceeding" is one of those things that we don't fully comprehend. It's only been revealed to us that there is a distinction in the begotteness of the Son and in the proceeding of the Spirit, but the exact meaning of this, the difference herein is a mystery at itself. We just know that they are not alike. All the three Persons of the Trinity work together as one in everything that God does. God, the Father is the mind from which everything comes from as the Creator, the Word is the Creator Who actively created everything and the Spirit is the one Who gives life to everything that lives, beginning with the Father, through the Son and by the Spirit. It is through the Spirit that God gave life to Adam the first human. And it is through the Spirit that the Church is the Body of Christ. What St. Athanasius said about the Spirit is the next: "The Father does everything through the Son and the Spirit. What the Father does in the creation and the governments in the cosmos and in the salvation, He does through His Word. And what the Word does, He does it through His Spirit. When the Son is mentioned, the Father is in the Son, and the Spirit is not outside the Word. The Holy and Blessed Trinity is indivisible and one in itself. When one mentions the Father, the Son is included, likewise the Spirit with the Son. Because there is one grace, that is the Father, through the Son and in the Spirit. It is a error to see the three Persons as a appearance of the one God. It is also a error to see the three Persons separately from each other, like there would be three gods. No, the oneness of God exist in fullness of communion of the Father with the Son Who comes forth from Him and the Holy Spirit who proceeds through the Son." 

So this is how the Spirit works in relation to the other two hypostases of the Trinity. This last part from St. Athanasius we have to be carefull with. There are those who misunderstood St. Athanasius words when he said that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. They will say that the Spirit comes forth from the Son, and that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, but this is a big mistake and this isn't what St. Athanasius is saying here. The Spirit comes forth from the Father and the Father is His only source, it isn't like the Spirit of God has two sources. When St. Athanasius says that the Spirit proceeds through the Son, he means that the Father sends the Spirit through the Son, with the Father being the source of it. To give you two simple analogies of this, let us use the sun. Like we know the sun itself is one big ball of gas, brining us light and heat, imagine now a hot sunny summer day, if you stand directly in the sunlight you will get burned or at least you will feel the heatness of the sun at it's best. But the moment you step into the shadow, the warmth cools off, because there is no direct sunlight from where the heat proceeds from. So let's say that the Father is the sun and the Son is sunlight and the Spirit is the heat coming forth from the sun itself but proceeding through the light. A second analogy is when we use a hose, we connect the hose to a tap and we water the flowers in our garden. So the hose itself isn't the source of that water, but it's the tap where the water comes forth from, but the water proceeds through that hose. So the tap in this case is the Father, and Jesus is the hose and the Spirit is the water (and we are the flowers).

The error to believe that the Spirit comes forth from both the Father and the Son, is the error that the Catholics have adopted in their doctrine and the Protestants have taken over from them in their teaching, because in the West the people were unaware of the Orthodox teachings after the Great Schism took place. This teaching, called Filioque, which means; "and of the Son". This specific theme played a huge role in the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity in AD 1054 when the Eastern and the Western Church got divided, before this we were considered one Church. This splitting caused for these two denomination which we now know as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. This was off course a very unfortunate happening in Church history, and because of this and all what was going on in the Western world, the people who we now call Protestants, they themselves split from the Catholics and started their own movement because they disagreed with Rome and the Pope, but because they didn't know any better they also adopted this version of the doctrine of the Trinity, which is considered erroneous by the First Euconominal Council in AD 325. But this is also a topic of its own for another time.

Like we already concluded, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are equal in essence, might, power, knowledge and all these things, because they share the same divine nature, the only thing where they differ in is the manner of their existence or to put it in a other way; how they exist. It would be wrong to say; how they came to existence, but in a eternal, uncreated and mysterious way we could say so for arguments sake and for the sake of the point that we want to make. St. John of Damascus said the next about this and I'm just going to paraphrase him; Like Adam came to existence without having a father and a mother and having no human lineage, so the Father is also uncaused and without beginning. And like the Son is the Only Begotten Son, or actually the Unique Begotten Son, as it is a more precise description and translation from the Greek, so Eve also is the only one and uniquely taken from the rib of the man and came into existence on a unique manner. Seth, the son of Adam and Eve came to existence on an natural manner, by a natural birth, but came to existence differently from Adam and Eve. So the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, through the Son on His own manner. And although they all differ in the manner of their coming to existence so to say, they all share the same nature (ousia). Adam, Eve and Seth all share the human nature, the one isn't more or less human than the other because of their difference in their coming to existence. So also the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit share the same nature (ousia) and don't differ from each other, with exception to their "coming" to existence. 

We need to be aware of the fact that God isn't limited nor affected by the created order, considering He is the Creator of which we are a part of. So things like time, space and matter don't affect Him. God in His nature is ever-existing, timeless, spaceless, formless, shapeless, eternal, sizeless, undivided, unchangeable, perfectly one and perfectly united and in perfect harmony. So again, although we give these kinds of analogies and we can grasp these mysteries to a certain level and try to explain them, we never will grasp the whole of the mysteries because can't even imagine things like eternity, heaven and those concepts in their fullness, let alone understand God in His totality.

I hope you found this useful reading,

With kind regards in Christ our Lord and Savior.