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HomeCommentaryAskAsk An Eastern Orthodox Christian: Explaining the Holy Trinity

Ask An Eastern Orthodox Christian: Explaining the Holy Trinity

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By Nicholas Damascus

What would you like to know about the Eastern Orthodox Christian faith? Submit your question.

 

Persons of Trinity can’t be one of three, if other persons do not exist, So does it mean that Persons of trinity need each other?

To answer your question, I am going to break it into two parts.

easternorthodoxPersons of Trinity can’t be one of three, if other persons do not exist.

It appears you are saying that only Christ exists, and the other two persons of the Trinity are non-existent (Father and Holy Spirit). I would ask what validation do you have that lends itself to make such a statement of what you are advocating.  Where’s the documentation from the Christian perspective? In the Christian Faith, this has never been so. Is it because the father and the Holy Spirit have never been seen the that you have come to the conclusion they don’t exist?

Let’s talk about the Trinitarian Christian God, who the Apostle John states that “He who does not love, does not know God, for God is Love (1John 4: 8).

So if the Christian God is Love, can love exist without the presence of another? Can love exist with only one person, in singularity, or a monad? The answer is a profound NO. Love demands the presents of another for love to exist! Love is an “action” (a commitment, a desire to do the will of another, a giving of self to another) in willing submission to another.

Note that in 1Cor 13: 4-13 gives us only the characteristics of love.

However, as written in 1Corinthians 13: 2-3, this movement of love is the spiritual life source as described in the verses below.

Verse 2: “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

Verse 3: “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but hath not love, it profits me nothing.”

Life in the spirit truly has no meaning without love. And what is the purest form of love that is eternal and perfect, the Holy Trinity, unconditional love, the giving totally of oneself to another.  Those who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, deny love itself. Our salvation is not just learning about God, but to enter into personal communion with him, always remembering that sin is an interruption of that communion and love. I in you and you in Me,

In John chapter 4: 23-24  “But the hour is coming , and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit (The Holy Spirit) and in Truth (Christ):  for the father is seeking such to worship him.” God Is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit (The Holy Spirit) and Truth (Christ). Christ is the Truth and the father’s revelation to mankind (John 14: 6-7).

Within this Triune Christian Godhead are these three co-equal persons, each one dwelling in the other by virtue of an unceasing movement of mutual love. Yet, they stay mystically undivided.

Man was created in the image (love) and likeness (holiness) of this triune God (Genesis 1: 26-27). Man is created as “personal being” — one who is truly human when he loves and is loved, and one who can only be defined by these loving relationships.  He cannot stand alone and be fully human because to be human is to relate to others.

Since man is made in the image of God, man also has three natures. Both man and woman have three parts: body, soul and spirit. God, the Son, is comparable to the body since the Son is God incarnate. God the Father is comparable to the soul or mind, since He was the mind that created everything.  The Holy Spirit is comparable to man’s Spirit.  As the body of a man is the temple of our spirit, the body of Jesus Christ (the Church, body of believers) is the temple to the Holy Spirit, which proceeds from the Father – (From Holy Trinity – Orthodox Wiki)

So does it mean that Persons of trinity need each other?

First of all God does not need anything. Need implies there is something lacking or incomplete.  God is complete in nature, spirit, and being. If he did need something, he would not be God.  The Christian God is not just a unit, but a union, not just unity but community.

I would dare to make one more observation.  In the Trinitarian Godhead, the function of the Holy Spirit is to pour out the love from the father to the son and from the son to the father.

That eternal movement of love within the Godhead (the spiritual life source) is extended into the creation by way of the Holy Spirit of God.  In so doing, we experience the energies of God and receive that love from him.

And in return the Spirit of God brings our love for God back to the Godhead.  In this way, we become ONE with God. I in you and you in me.

Trinity one in essence, without beginning and without end, I AM He Who always was, Is, and always will be……  The Light of Light, true God of true God.

 



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Nicholas Damascus
Nicholas Damascus
As an infant, I was baptized as an Eastern Orthodox Christian. However, I would say that becoming a Christian is a work in progress, and I often wonder would there be enough evidence to convict me of becoming a Christian. The Orthodox Church is the ancient Church that Christ and the Apostles established. It is not a religion but rather a way of life. It is not about rules and regulations but rather guide posts to make choices to transition to what we were designed to become. Becoming Orthodox is not a conversion but more so a transformation of self. It’s not about being right: it is about “right being.” In John 14:6, Christ says I am the Way (to love and serve one another), the Truth (there is only one reality), and the Life (that life source is love). I invite you to submit any topics or questions to “Ask An Eastern Orthodox Christian” on the website. Join me in finding our way back home to the original teachings of the Church. When you change the way you look at things, things change the way they look.

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johnson
johnson
9 years ago

i believe in the Holy Trinity of the Orthodox church as the true God of Christianity .
my doubt,
“So does it mean that Persons of trinity need each other? As First of all God does not need anything……………………………”

for humans ,Love demands one more being to be loved, for ” GOD does not need anything…” does it really insist, that God needs some equals within Godhead for love in activation”.If so i does it contradict that God needs nothing?

Nick Damscus
Nick Damscus
9 years ago
Reply to  johnson

First of all God does not need anything. Need implies there is something
lacking or incomplete. God is complete in nature, spirit, and being.
If he did need something, he would not be God. The Christian God is not
just a unit, but a union, not just unity but community.

Unconditional love does not demand anything. However, for unconditional love to exist it does require the presents of another. For humans or God,
perfect love or unconditional love is not a need. It is an action of willing selfless commitment to another and therefore not a contradiction of God or anyone needing anything (if I understand your statement or question correctly).

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