The Three Divine Persons

[TER]

Volume I - Doctrine

The Holy Trinity

The Three Divine Persons



In Orthodox terminology the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are called three divine persons. Person is defined here simply as the subject of existence and life—hypostasis in the traditional church language.


As the being, essence or nature of a reality answers the question “what?”, the person of a reality answers the question “which one?” or “who?” Thus, when we ask “What is God?” we answer that God is the divine, perfect, eternal, absolute… and when we ask “Who is God?” we answer that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.


The saints of the Church have explained this tri-unity of God by using such an example from worldly existence. We see three men. “What are they?” we ask. “They are human beings,” we answer. Each is man, possessing the same humanity and the same human nature defined in a certain way: created, temporal, physical, rational, etc. In what they are, the three men are one. But in who they are, they are three, each absolutely unique and distinct from the others. Each man in his own unique way is distinctly a man. One man is not the other, though each man is still human with one and the same human nature and form.


Turning to God, we may ask in the same way: “What is it?” In reply we say that it is God defined as absolute perfection: “ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever-existing, and eternally the same.” We then ask, “Who is it?”, and we answer that it is the Trinity : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In who God is, there are three persons who are each absolutely unique and distinct. Each is not the other, though each is still divine with the same divine nature and form. Therefore, while being one in what they are; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are Three in who they are. And because of what and who they are—namely, uncreated, divine persons—they are undivided and perfectly united in their timeless, spaceless, sizeless, shapeless super-essential existence, as well as in their one divine life, knowledge, love, goodness, power, will, action, etc.


Thus, according to the Orthodox Tradition, it is the mystery of God that there are Three who are divine; Three who live and act by one and the same divine perfection, yet each according to his own personal distinctness and uniqueness. Thus it is said that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each divine with the same divinity, yet each in his own divine way. And as the uncreated divinity has three divine subjects, so each divine action has three divine actors; there are three divine aspects to every action of God, yet the action remains one and the same.


We discover, therefore, one God the Father Almighty with His one unique Son (Image and Word) and His one Holy Spirit. There is one living God with His one perfect divine Life, who is personally the Son, with His one Spirit of Life. There is one True God with His one divine Truth, who is personally the Son, with His one Spirit of Truth. There is one wise and loving God with His one Wisdom and Love, who is personally the Son, with His one Spirit of Wisdom and Love. The examples could go on indefinitely: the one divine Father personifying every aspect of His divinity in His one divine Son, who is personally activated by His one divine Spirit. We will see the living implications of the Trinity as we survey the activity of God in his actions toward man and the world.

[TER]

Volume I - Doctrine

The Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity in Creation

God the Father created the world through the Son (Word) in the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is present in all that exists, making it to exist by the power of the Spirit. Thus, according to Orthodox doctrine, the universe itself is a revelation of God in the Word and the Spirit. The Word is in all that exists, causing it to be, and the Spirit is in all that exists as the power of its being and life.


This is most evident in God’s special creature, man. Man is made in the image of God, and so he bears within him the unique likeness of God which is eternally and perfectly expressed in the divine Son of God, the Uncreated and Absolute Image of the Father. Thus, man is “logical”; that is, he participates in God’s Logos (the Son and Word) and so is free, knowing, loving, reflecting on the creaturely level the very nature of God as the uncreated Son does on the level of divinity.


Man also is “spiritual”; he is the special temple of God’s Spirit. The Breath of God’s Life is breathed into him in the most special way. Thus, among creatures man alone is empowered to imitate God and to participate in His life. Man has the competence and ability to become a Son of God, mirroring the eternal Son, reflecting the divine nature because he is inspired by the Holy Spirit as is no other creature. Thus, one saint of the Church has said that for man to be a man, he must have the Spirit of God in him. Only then can he fulfill his humanity; only then can he be made a true Son of God, likened to him who is only-begotten.


On the most basic level of creation, therefore, we see the Trinitarian dimensions of the being and action of God: the Word and the Spirit of God enter man and the world to allow them to be and to become that for which the Father has willed their existence.

more here...

[Sola_Fide]

That's probably the most blasphemous thing I've ever seen on RPF's.

[heavenlyboy34]

The good thing about S_F is that he bumps interesting threads and I don't have to read his usual spew thanks to "ignore".

[Brett85]

The good thing about S_F is that he bumps interesting threads and I don't have to read his usual spew thanks to "ignore".

I would advise everyone to ignore him from this point forward. He's just here for the sole reason of antagonizing people.

[Sola_Fide]

The good thing about S_F is that he bumps interesting threads and I don't have to read his usual spew thanks to "ignore".

Why must you keep reminding everyone that you have me on ignore? Do you think it is going to persuade others to do it?

Frankly, I think the ignore function is for cowards.

[Sola_Fide]

I would advise everyone to ignore him from this point forward. He's just here for the sole reason of antagonizing people.

Where have I "antagonized" anyone? Ever?

I am offended that you would propose that I would do something as petty as antagonize someone over the internet.

[Christian Liberty]

That's probably the most blasphemous thing I've ever seen on RPF's.

I'm being dead serious here, I don't have a clue what that is.

[TER]

That is called The Hospitality of Abraham, and it depicts the scene where Abraham and Sarah served a meal to the Three Angels which visited Abraham. This was a Theophany of the Holy Trinity and is one of the very few ways the Trinity is written in iconography.

[Christian Liberty]

That is called The Hospitality of Abraham, and it depicts the scene where Abraham and Sarah served a meal to the Three Angels which visited Abraham. This was a Theophany of the Holy Trinity and is one of the very few ways the Trinity is written in iconography.

Sola's going to rip me apart for this, and I know if Nang is still reading these forums she may be ticked at me as well... but I have to say it... I really don't understand why this is blasphemy. I'm open to an explanation.

Mind you, I'm not a huge fan of icons, and I certainly think that if you're venerating the icon that its blasphemy, but I'm not sure how the mere existence of the icon is worship. I also understand that they were used as a teaching tool back when literacy rates were lower.

[Sola_Fide]

Sola's going to rip me apart for this, and I know if Nang is still reading these forums she may be ticked at me as well... but I have to say it... I really don't understand why this is blasphemy. I'm open to an explanation.

Mind you, I'm not a huge fan of icons, and I certainly think that if you're venerating the icon that its blasphemy, but I'm not sure how the mere existence of the icon is worship. I also understand that they were used as a teaching tool back when literacy rates were lower.

Where is the Biblical precedent for icons in worship?

There is none, therefore this is not a Christian form of worship.

[Christian Liberty]

Where is the Biblical precedent for icons in worship?

There is none, therefore this is not a Christian form of worship.

I don't strictly go for the RPW, but I do agree with you here. But there is just bit of territory that lies between "not fit for the use of the church" and "worst blasphemy ever", don't you think?