DOCSLIB.ORG

The Most Holy Trinity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Most Holy Trinity Faith Fact The Holy Trinity Perhaps the deepest, the most profound of all mysteries is the mystery of the Trinity. The Church teaches us that although there is only one God, yet, somehow, there are three Persons in God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, yet we do not speak of three Gods, but only one God. They have the same nature, substance, and being. We came to know this immense mystery because Christ revealed it to us. Just before ascending He told them: “Go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). We know that these Three are not just different ways of looking at one person. For at the Last Supper, Jesus told us: “I came forth from the Father.” So He is different from the Father. But He also promised: “If I go, I will send Him [the Paraclete] to you. .He will guide you to all truth” (John 16:28, 7, 13). So the Holy Spirit is also different. Even though the Three Persons are One God, yet they are distinct: for the Father has no origin, He came from no one. But the Son is begotten, He comes from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit comes or proceeds from both the Father and the Son. These different relations of origin tell us there are three distinct Persons, who have one and the same divine nature. Even though everything the Three Persons do outside the Divine nature is done by all Three, yet it is suitable that we attribute some works specially to one or the other Person. So we speak of the Father especially as the power of creation, of the Son as the Wisdom of the Father, of the Holy Spirit as goodness and sanctification. The two doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation are the foundation of Christian life and worship. By becoming man, God the Son offered us a share in the inner life of the Trinity. By grace, we are brought into the perfect communion of life and love which is God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This sharing in the life of the Trinity is meant to culminate in heaven, where we will see the three Persons face to face, united to them in unspeakable love. Rev. William G. Most, Author – Source: EWTN.com/faith Key Points of the Doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity There is but one, true God. There are three Persons in the one God and each of these Persons is fully God. Nobody made God. He always was, is now, and always will be. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is the mystery of God in Himself. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the most fundamental and essential truth of the Faith. The sacred mystery of the Holy Trinity is the source of all the other mysteries of the Faith. Sacred mysteries are not things we can’t know anything about, but holy realities that we cannot know everything about. The word Trinity is a contraction of two words: Tri - Unity. It was coined by the Church to help us better understand the sacred mystery of the three divine Persons in one God. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a revealed truth. Without God’s direct revelation, we could not know that the one God is a Trinity of Persons, cf. Matthew 28:19. Nature answers the question what something is. What the divine Persons are is God. Person gives us the answer who someone is. Who God is, is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is why when somebody is baptized, the formula that must be used is: I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. None of the three divine Persons is either of the others; each is wholly Himself. Yet each is fully God. The three divine Persons are distinct, but inseparable. In the one divine nature there are three divine Persons. The Persons of the Trinity are distinct primarily in their relationship to each other. o The Father is eternally the father of the Son. o The Son is eternally Son to the Father. o The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father and the son. The Trinity is a communion of Persons, somewhat—but not exactly—like a human family. Theirs is an eternal communion of divine love. God is Truth and God is Love. In fact, He has the fullness of all perfections, e.g. He is omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (everywhere present), omniscient (all-knowing), all-merciful, all-just, all-pure, all-loving, etc. We must not take the Trinity for granted or be blasé about it. We should think about the Trinity and contemplate it. We must not say, as some do, that, because it is a mystery, we need think no more about it. The sacred mysteries are not things we cannot know anything about, but deep realities that we cannot know everything about. It is the Trinitarian life that we are incorporated into the Baptism. It is participation in the Trinitarian life that our Lord desires for us forever in heaven. The contemplation of God’s Trinitarian life and love is the primary joy of heaven. We do well to begin thinking of it now. God did not make us out of necessity, i.e. because He needed to, but because of His immense love for us. He wants us to have access to the fullness of the truth and He wants us to share in the fullness of His Love. This is why He has revealed His truth to us, instituted the Catholic Church, and given us the sacraments. We have access to His great love on this earth especially in the Holy Eucharist, until we can share perfectly in His love in its fullness in heaven, where all the saints will share in the Love that never ends and “God will be all in all.” Jim Gontis, Director, Department of Religious Education, Diocese of Harrisburg, Author Source: Diocesan eDigest .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Byzantine Liturgy and The
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Byzantine Liturgy and the Primary Chronicle A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures by Sean Delaine Griffin 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Byzantine Liturgy and the Primary Chronicle by Sean Delaine Griffin Doctor of Philosophy in Slavic Languages and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Gail Lenhoff, Chair The monastic chroniclers of medieval Rus’ lived in a liturgical world. Morning, evening and night they prayed the “divine services” of the Byzantine Church, and this study is the first to examine how these rituals shaped the way they wrote and compiled the Povest’ vremennykh let (Primary Chronicle, ca. 12th century), the earliest surviving East Slavic historical record. My principal argument is that several foundational accounts of East Slavic history—including the tales of the baptism of Princess Ol’ga and her burial, Prince Vladimir’s conversion, the mass baptism of Rus’, and the martyrdom of Princes Boris and Gleb—have their source in the feasts of the liturgical year. The liturgy of the Eastern Church proclaimed a distinctively Byzantine myth of Christian origins: a sacred narrative about the conversion of the Roman Empire, the glorification of the emperor Constantine and empress Helen, and the victory of Christianity over paganism. In the decades following the conversion of Rus’, the chroniclers in Kiev learned these narratives from the church services and patterned their own tales of Christianization after them. The ii result was a myth of Christian origins for Rus’—a myth promulgated even today by the Russian Orthodox Church—that reproduced the myth of Christian origins for the Eastern Roman Empire articulated in the Byzantine rite.
    [Show full text]
  • The Priesthood Series Article 15 – Deacons (Part 2) the Duties of A
    The Priesthood Series Article 15 – Deacons (Part 2) The duties of a deacon during the Mass are ways of service of the priest and the sacred mysteries being celebrated. The deacon never does anything during Mass related to leading or “presiding”; it is always roles of service. The deacon wears a stole from his left shoulder to right hip, and a dalmatic. A dalmatic is distinct from a priest’s chasuble by two common elements: 1) the dalmatic has sleeves, and 2) it has two vertical decorative stripes running from top to bottom, which are often connected by one or two horizontal stripes. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal explains a deacon’s role at Mass: “After the Priest, the Deacon, in virtue of the sacred Ordination he has received, holds first place among those who minister in the celebration of the Eucharist. For the sacred Order of the Diaconate has been held in high honor in the Church even from the early time of the Apostles. At Mass the Deacon has his own part in proclaiming the Gospel, from time to time in preaching God’s Word [i.e. the homily], in announcing the intentions of the Universal Prayer, in ministering to the Priest [i.e. assisting him], in preparing the altar and in serving the celebration of the Sacrifice, in distributing the Eucharist to the faithful, especially under the species of wine, and from time to time in giving instructions regarding the people’s gestures and posture” (GIRM, 94, emphasis mine). At the beginning and end of Mass the deacon kisses the altar along with the priest, as a sign of his also being ordained in persona Christi, for he too is conformed to Christ and ministers in the name of Christ the servant.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Theologians Views on the Doctrine of Trinity in the Islamic Philosophical Criticism
    International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 2017, Vol. 7, Special Issue – Islam and Contemporary Issues) ISSN: 2222-6990 Christian Theologians Views on the Doctrine of Trinity in the Islamic Philosophical Criticism Mohammad Nashief S. Disomimbaa, Kalsom Alib, Abdussalam s. Disomimbac a Akidah and Religion Program, Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. bDa῾wah and Islamic Management Program, Faculty of Leadership and Management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia. cKing Faisal Center for Asian and Arabic Studies, Mindanao State University, Philippines DOI: 10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i13/3195 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.6007/IJARBSS/v7-i13/3195 ABSTRACT This article discusses the views of Christian theologians on the doctrine of trinity in the light of Islamic philosophical criticism. It focuses the oneness of God through Islamic philosophical criticism, understanding the proofs and evidences of Christian theologians based on their Holy Bible, Athanasius Creed and Nicene Creed. The tendency of giving priority of this study is to show the views of Christian theologians on the doctrine of trinity with Islamic philosophical criticism in order to justify and confirm the oneness of God. The objectives of the study is to identify and trace the historical background of the oneness of God as Creator, to confirm that Jesus Christ is not God and creator, to confirm that God is not three persons and the three persons is not same substance and nature of the Son and Holy Spirit, to analyze and summarize the views of the Christian theologians on the doctrine of Trinity with Islamic philosophical criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture
    The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture The Word That Comes from God and Speaks of God for the Salvation of the World Pontifical Biblical Commission Translated by Thomas Esposito, OCist, and Stephen Gregg, OCist Reviewed by Fearghus O’Fearghail Foreword by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org This work was translated from the Italian, Inspirazione e Verità della Sacra Scrittura. La parola che viene da Dio e parla di Dio per salvare il mondo (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2014). Cover design by Jodi Hendrickson. Cover photo: Dreamstime. Excerpts from documents of the Second Vatican Council are from The Docu- ments of Vatican II, edited by Walter M. Abbott, SJ (New York: The America Press, 1966). Unless otherwise noted, Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. © 2014 by Pontifical Biblical Commission Published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 123456789 Library of Congress Control Number: 2014937336 ISBN: 978-0-8146-4903-9 978-0-8146-4904-6 (ebook) Table of Contents Foreword xiii General Introduction xvii I.
    [Show full text]
  • REFLECTIONS on the DOCTRINE of the TRINITY Faith in the Living
    REFLECTIONS ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY RAOUL DEDEREN Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan Faith in the living God has been rejected time and again by the ignorant and the indifferent, as well as by many of the learned and the thoughtful. It has been especially chal- lenged today. Such theologians as Bishop John A. T. Robinson of Woolwich, honestly seeking to be Honest to God, urge Christians to abandon most of the phrasing which historically has been used to convey Christian thought. Similarly, the late Bishop James A. Pike of California dismisses many traditional doctrines as old bottles which will inevitably burst and whose bursting should occasion no regrets. In this kind of context many men, even ministers, feel uneasy when they think about the Trinity. The question before us is whether it is time to renounce a doctrine which, by affirming that there are three persons in God, seems to have produced confusion rather than clarification, or whether it was designed to embody values that are a vital and necessary part of the Christian faith. From the days of Arius it has been a chosen scheme with his disciples to represent the doctrine of the Trinity as an artificial theological construct, and consequently unimportant. To a large number of Christians, however, it is a doctrine fundament4 to Christianity since it deals with a correct knowledge of God. Related to the divine Being, his nature and mode of being, this knowledge affects every man's understanding of God as the object of his worship, whether he regards him as one in essence and one in person, or admits that in the unity of the Deity there are three equally divine persons.
    [Show full text]
  • The Creed – God the Son (CCC 422-682)
    The Creed – God the Son (CCC 422-682) I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father. Hebrews 1.3 He is the radiant light of God’s glory and the perfect copy of his nature… John 1.1,2 In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. John 1.14 The Word was made flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory. John 10.30 The Father and I are one. John 14. 9,10 To have seen me is to have seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Through him all things were made. John 1.2,3 Through him all things came to be, not one thing had its being but through him. All that came to be had life in him and that life was the light of men. Genesis 1.26 Let us make man in our own image. CCC 292 – The Old Testament suggests and the New Covenant reveals the creative action of the Son and the Spirit, inseparably one with the that of the Father. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. Genesis 1.15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring; it will crush your head and you will strike its heel.
    [Show full text]
  • St Basil's Contribution to the Trinitarian Doctrine: A
    ST BASIL’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE: A SYNTHESIS OF GREEK PAIDEIA AND THE SCRIPTURAL WORLDVIEW Philip Kariatlis Abstract: St Basil’s contribution to the formulation of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity has long been acknowledged in the Christian tradition. Indeed, he was responsible for articulating the ‘orthodox’ vision of God with theological and philosophical originality that truly laid the foundations upon which the way of pondering the Trinitarian mystery in the East was established. His achievement lay in his remarkable ability to ennoble the culture of the day with the Christian message without in any way compromising the latter. This paper explores the Trinitarian theology of St Basil with a view towards highlighting the harmonious synthesis of Greek paideia and the scriptural worldview. ndeniably, the Church’s teaching on the mystery of the Holy Trinity stands at the very heart of Christian belief. Indeed, Uit has rightly been recognised as Christianity’s differentia specifica, namely that specific teaching which clearly distinguishes the 1 Christian faith from all other forms of monotheism. Notwithstanding the importance of this teaching and the fact that it is firmly rooted in the Scriptures, it nevertheless took the early Church many years to acquire a clearly articulated theology of the Trinitarian mystery. The need for precise terminology particularly emerged when the Church had to define with accuracy in what way the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – namely, the Father almighty – was related to Jesus Christ – who was professed to be God’s only begotten Son, his eternal Word and Image – PHRONEMA, VOL.
    [Show full text]
  • The Holy Rosary
    The Holy Rosary Where did the Rosary Come From? Church tradition says that a thousand years ago a missionary named Dominic was trying to teach people about God and was having a difficult time with the people he was trying to teach. Dominic was praying for guidance on what to do. And then he received a visit from the Virgin Mary. She gave him a wreath of roses which represented the rosary. Rosary means “wreath of roses”. The Virgin Mary taught him about the Rosary and the how to pray the Rosary. She told him to "Pray my Rosary and teach it to your people. That prayer will never fail". So he taught the people how to pray the rosary and taught them the mysteries of the rosary as the Virgin Mary taught him, about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. St. Dominic found great success in this new devotion, and he brought many thousands of non believers to believe in God. And so St. Dominic is usually given credit for the origin of praying the rosary very much as we know it today. And there have been over a dozen other times that Our Blessed Mother came down from heaven to let the world know that we should pray the rosary. Why We Pray The Rosary We pray the rosary to remind us that God loved us so much that He selected the Blessed Virgin Mary to become the mother of Jesus and that Jesus would sacrifice His life for us on the cross. A few good reasons for you to pray the rosary: - The rosary is another spiritual weapon that we have to fight against Satan.
    [Show full text]
  • Lesslie Newbigin's Missional Ecclesiology Explored
    Preston Graham Jr. DM44, Prof. Alan Falconer Lesslie Newbigin’s Missional Ecclesiology Explored: A Christo-Centric Proposal For Ecumenism in Today’s Global Context of Spirituality Awe came upon everyone… All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together with one accord in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And day by day the Lord added to them those who were being saved. Acts 2:43-47 Such is the vision we get of the ascended ministry of Christ in the present redemptive age at Pentecost It is the description of a Christo-centric, sacramental, confessional, multi-cultural and organic kind of unity that was in, not of, and for the world to the “praise of God” and in “favor with all the people.” It was, in summary, the description of a missional ecclesiology! And according to Lesslie Newbigin, it was an ecclesiology that had been tragically lost needing to be rediscovered in today’s global city. The truth is… that the unity of the Church is something given to it at its inception, and given by its Lord. That unity had its outward form, first in the fact that the first disciples were visibly grouped around one Lord, and then in the close-knit fellowship of the days immediately following Pentecost, in the sharing in a common baptism, a common tradition of teaching, a common Supper, and a common acknowledgment of the leadership of the Apostles.1 And does anyone doubt for a moment that if today’s global Christian ecclesia looked more like Acts 2, then large numbers of people in every place and culture would know that Jesus is real and that Christianity is true? that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
    [Show full text]
  • The Nature of Atonement in the Theology of Jacobus Arminius
    JETS 53/4 (December 2010) 773–85 THE NATURE OF ATONEMENT IN THE THEOLOGY OF JACOBUS ARMINIUS j. matthew pinson* Jacobus Arminius is one of the best known and least studied theologians in the history of Christianity. His writings have been neglected by Calvinists and Arminians alike. Calvinists have disliked him because of his opposition to scholastic predestinarian theology. Most Arminians have neglected him because what little they have read of him reminds them more of Calvinism than they like. Arminius scholar Carl Bangs is correct when he says that most modern treatments of Arminius assume a definition of Arminianism that does not come from Arminius. Bangs states that most interpreters of Arminianism begin with a preconception of what Arminius should be expected to say, then look in his published works, and do not find exactly what they are looking for. They show impatience and disappointment with his Calvinism, and shift the inquiry into some later period when Arminianism turns out to be what they are looking for—a non-Calvinistic, synergistic, and perhaps semi-Pelagian system.1 This is the approach many scholars have taken toward Arminius regard- ing his doctrine of atonement. For example, the Calvinist scholar Robert L. Reymond has said that the Arminian theory of atonement is the governmental theory, which “denies that Christ’s death was intended to pay the penalty for sin.” He claims that the governmental theory’s “germinal teachings are in Arminius.”2 Similarly, well-known Wesleyan-Arminian scholar James K. Grider states: “A spillover from Calvinism into Arminianism has occurred in recent decades.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacred Pathways
    Chi Alpha Discipleship Tool Sacred Pathways Do you find yourself envious of the way that some other people connect with God? This resource helps you understand all the different ways that people can connect to God, and shows you the value of each and every path. Instead of trying to imitate another person’s walk with God, you should focus on bettering your own “sacred pathway.” This resource is based on the book, Sacred Pathways, written by Gary Thomas. Broken into two parts, the first section of this resource describes each of the nine Sacred Pathways. The second section is the assessment that you can take to find out which pathways you most easily connect with God. TABLE OF CONTENTS PATHWAY DESCRIPTIONS NATURALISTS ..............................................2 SENSATES .....................................................3 TRADITIONALISTS .......................................4 ASCETICS .....................................................5 ACTIVISTS .....................................................6 CAREGIVERS ................................................7 ENTHUSIASTS ..............................................8 CONTEMPLATIVES ......................................9 INTELLECTUALS .......................................10 PATHWAY ASSESSMENT YOUR PATHWAY ASSESSMENT ...............11 RESPONSE SHEET .....................................14 Chi Alpha Discipleship Tool Page 1 Chi Alpha Discipleship Tool NATURALISTS Loving God Out of Doors Who Are We? We find God in His “cathedral” - the out-of-doors. God’s first dwelling with us was in a garden. Genesis 2 God will speak to us through creation. Consider our spiritual lessons learned in observing the metamorphosis a caterpillar encounters in becoming a butterfly. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands.” Psalm 19:1 “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities are clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” Romans 1:20 More than God’s beauty is revealed outside.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sacramental Life of the Church (Part 1)
    Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption Studies in the Faith The Sacramental Life of the Church (Part 1) Greek Orthodox C hu rc h o f t he A ssu m pti on 1804 Thirteenth Avenue Seattle, Washington 98122-2515 Phone: 206-323-8557 Fax: 206-323-1205 Email: officemanager@ assumptionseattle.org Presented by Fr. Dean Kouldukis Page 2 Studies in the Faith THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH "Growth in prayer has no end," Theophan informs us. "If this growth ceases, it means that life ceases." The way of the heart is endless be- cause the God whom we seek is infinite in the depths of His glory. The Jesus Prayer is a signpost along the spiritual journey, a journey that all of us must take. (From The Jesus Prayer by Fr. Steven Tsichlis) READING ASSIGNMENTS The Orthodox Church: by Timothy Ware, Pages 99-121 and 257-272. The Sacramental Life of the Church: by Fr. Alciviadis Calivas, Th.D., Pages 9-20 of this booklet. SACRAMENTS: AN EASTERN ORTHODOX UNDERSTANDING To begin with, the word sacrament is found nowhere in the Scriptures. The Latin term sacramentum, meaning "to make holy", was a legal term belonging to the language of Roman jurisprudence. It referred to the oath tak- en by a Roman soldier upon his enlisting in the army. Given the above, Tertullian (160-225 AD) applied the word to Baptism, asserting that each Christian's reception of the rite thus enlists him in Christ's army. While the use of the word sacrament came to be widely accepted in the West, Eastern Christianity did not ac- cept Tertullian's application of it.
    [Show full text]