The Mystery of Trinity
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God.”
– 1st Jn. 3:1 –
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| Holy Trinity Cathedral - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
“Trinity” is God’s mysterious existence. God is one in essence,
dominion and will: James. 2:19 and three in persons and names: Matt.28:20. The
Church calls this mystery “Holy Trinity”.
Our God is not treated as simple one as in Jewish creeds, nor as numerous as in
the gods of Rome, Egypt and Greek. God is one essence in three persons.
“Holy Trinity” does not refer to a simple, arithmetic and ordinary ‘three’ rather, a
mysterious, heavenly and divine threeness which has in it divine oneness. The
Father is the heart, the Son is the word and the Holy Spirit is the life in eternal framework. “Father” signifies the divine reality of originating
everything; “Son” indicates the divine reality of all the originated and “Holy
Spirit” signifies the divine reality of dwelling in creatures relating them
individually and corporately to God.
When we say the Father beget the Son and
proceeded the Holy Spirit, we do not imply that He has majesty over them according
to standards applicable to creatures. None is primary and subsidiary and their
essence is never separate. When we speak of the Son as descending to us, taking
on our flesh and the treasures of flesh, we do not imply that He has eternally a
lesser existence nor a different essence from the Father. All that He did out
of humbleness and humility for purposes of redemption cannot be used to say
that He has essentially subsidiary nature to the Father. The Creator
of all things is one in three and three in one.
“Trinity”
is the existence of God filled with divine love. We say that God is love and
loves without condition. Can we speak of Him the same way before He created all
things; because there was nothing to love before creation? Does it mean that
God is not a loving God eternally? Did the institution of love and affection in
the divine nature come only after a point in time? Was He ever incapable of
affection at all at some point? We see that His existence in trinity enables
love and is well suited for affection. The Father loves the Son and the Holy
Spirit, the Son does the same to the Father and the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit
does the same to the Father and the Son. They love with a deeply divine love possible
neither to comprehend nor to explain. (John 1:1)
The Mystery of Trinity was for the first time revealed for mankind
empirically on the day Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. Back then, the
Son was seen in flesh being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending in an image of
dove and the Father was heard giving verbal witness to His Son saying “My beloved Son in whom I am pleased”. Matt.3:16-17
He introduced His Son citing their eternal love. This speaks immensely of the centrality
of the institution of “Love” not only in God’s existence as Trinity, but also
in our calling. Men learned of Trinity along with the love that makes the three
persons divinely one.
When God created mankind out of deep love and will for companionship, He
has done so calling us “Sons” in grace and called us into this great mystery
which is in divine love: John.17:22-26. We acquire the treasures of the second
person of the Trinity and become partakers of the divine nature of God. He gave
us a soul that is capable of thought and will (mirroring the Father), that
speaks (mirroring the Son) and that is living (mirroring the Holy Spirit). These
graces enable us bear His very image and likeness.
When we ate from the forbidden fruit we lost our “Sonship”. He sent His
Son to return our lost Sonship and made it possible for this grace to be sealed
with the mystery of Baptism with which we said we can be born of water and the
spirit. The mystery is performed by proclaiming Trinity and calling “the name of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit” Matt. 28:20. Since Baptism is a mystery with which we are born
from God in the likeness of His eternal Son and inherit His Kingdom, we say
that we are partakers of His divine
nature. 2 Peter 1:4
When we think of Baptism, it is appropriate to remember the mystery
which we are called to join – i.e. the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and the
triune existence of our mighty Lord. And while thinking of the Trinity, it will
be in vain to do so without recalling the instrumentality of Baptism which
renders us Sons and Daughters of God in grace. The two are the demonstrations
of God’s love to His creation and are vital in his design of the salvation of
mankind.
Baptizing without a firm belief and devotion to Trinity (without calling
the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) takes the sacrament wholly
outside of the realm of the design and making of redemption. Speaking of the
Trinity without taking note of the Divine Sonship acquired by Baptism is a mere
speaking.
May Lord our God help us preserve the purity of our Sonship which He
conferred up on us at time of Baptism and nourish it with Love, Faith and
Perseverance. Glory to God Almighty, praises to His Virgin Mother and to His Revered
Holy Cross!
“Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world.”
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John 17:24 ---
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አስተያየት ይለጥፉ