Catechism - The Creed (On the Trinity) - 16/5/26

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:54]Christo is me.

[00:01:24]Amen.

[00:01:33]Okay. So, this time from now until August, we're going to be going through what we call the symbol of faith, the symbol of dispios, which is also known as the nine creed.

[00:01:45]And that's because this the wording of this particular creed was formulated at the council of Nika in the year 325. So that was just after a decade after the emperor Constantine became a Christian and legalized Christianity. So it was the first opportunity historically that the Christian church had to gather as a universal um entity. Um and that's also when just after the Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Italy, the old Rome to what is now Istanbul to Constantinople. And so that is the the headquarters of our patriarchy. We belong to the patriarchet of Constantinople. So our patriarchet and our headquarters are in modern day Istanbul.

[00:02:26]Um the statement of faith, the creed is what you're going to be reciting at your baptism. And so it's the basis of your reception into the Christian church. And it's also something that we as Orthodox Christians recite daily, every morning, every evening. Um and also throughout the day, for example, at every divine liturgy, we recite the the the Nying creed. Um so by the time you're baptized, you should be able to say it off um by heart. None of you should need a a paper at your baptism.

[00:02:58]Um so anyway so the aim is by the end of August that you'll have a complete full understanding of everything that's contained in the creed so that when you come to make your uh declaration of faith at your baptism that declaration is um an informed one because if it's not informed then it cannot be genuine and it cannot be free.

[00:03:19]So the creed begins, I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, begotten from the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, being of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, and arose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and siteth at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again in glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceedth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the prophets. In one holy Catholic and apostolic church, I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come. Amen. And so the first question that we come to having said I believe in one God is what is God? What do we mean by God? Um in the book of Exodus when the prophet Moses was first called by God through the burning bush, God tells him to return to Egypt um to liberate the people of Israel from slavery. And so Moses asked who he was. He said, ' Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And then God replies to Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am has sent me unto you. So I am that I am in Greek is a mei or on I am the existing one or I am the one that is. Um, and if you look at any Orthodox icon of of Jesus Christ, you'll see it in all of the icons all around the walls. You'll see that Christ has three letters in his halo. And that those are the words on the one who is I am that I am that which identifies him as as God. Um, and this is also the concluding benediction at the end of both Vespers and Mattens.

[00:05:31]Every evening and morning we say blessed is the one who is even Christ our God.

[00:05:39]Um and so one of the greatest fathers of the church, John of Damascus who was a monk in Jerusalem um in the 8th century, he has a work called the exposition of the Orthodox faith. And after every lesson, I'll be sending you a section of that book so that you can read through in your own time. Um and he says anyway in that book that this name I am is the most proper of all the names given to God. for he keeps all being in his own embrace like the sea of essence infinite and unseen. Um he also gives similar definitions to the Greek word umos God. So he says that it either comes from which means to run because he courses through all things or it comes from the because he is allseen for he saw all things before they were holding them timelessly in his in his thoughts.

[00:06:33]And so both the Hebrew name given in the Old Testament but also the name that the church let's say adopted um through the Greek language have similar uh meanings.

[00:06:43]And what they essentially tell us is that God is not a being but he is being.

[00:06:49]So he is the very principle of existence.

[00:06:52]And you'll often hear atheists when they when they criticize religion they say why should I believe in your god and one of the other thousands of gods that other people have worshiped um throughout history. Why not Zeus? Why not Thor? Why not Odin? Um or or like our neighbor Ricky Jves likes to say, um there are 300 gods.

[00:07:11]You don't believe in 2,999 of them. So you're an atheist as well. I just believe in one less god than you. Um but that basically shows that they've completely missed the point. Um it's it's a category error because all of the thousand um pagan gods and spirits and things that you find in all the different world religions throughout history um they were still seen as beings who who existed within our universe. So they may have had like um superpowers, supernatural powers um beyond um beyond the natural world, but they but they still existed within the framework of existence. But the one God that we worship and that certain other philosophies and religions claim to worship um is not part of the world.

[00:07:58]He's not just a first cause of other causes within the world but he he stands outside the framework of um creation because he he is the framework of creation and he's the very principle of being itself. And so St. John of D of Damascus says he does not belong to the class of existing things. He is above all existing things, nay even beyond existence itself. He is not one of the things that are but he is over all things. And the reason why especially modern atheists they they struggle so much with this idea. Um is that the whole question of being and of existence is essentially metaphysical question because the materialistic scientific method by definition can only deal with things that already exist. And so it cannot ask it cannot answer questions pertaining to why do things exist or or where does existence itself come from?

[00:08:51]that that lies by definition outside of of scientific pursuit. It's a metaphysical question. Um and not not in the sense of like God of the gaps where we don't understand it and therefore we we we just appeal to God to um to fill our lack of knowledge. Um but but by definition it's something that the scientific method can't address.

[00:09:13]Um John of Damascus, he makes a very simple argument for why it's reasonable to believe in God. Um he says that all things that exist are either created or uncreated. If something is created then it follows that it's also changeable because if something originates in change then it also has to be subject to change. Whether change means that it ceases to exist or that it becomes something else. But if something is uncreated um then it's also unchangeable. It can't it can't change.

[00:09:45]Um and therefore anything that is changeable is also created. But anything that is created must be the work of some maker must have a of a have a cause and that maker can't himself be created.

[00:09:59]Um because if the if the creator has a has an origin has it has a maker then you're just following you're following a sequence of makers all the way to the end. But the thing that's right at the end has to be something uncreated and unchanged.

[00:10:14]And so that thing that stands at the very end is what we call God. So the deity alone is motionless moving the universe by immobility.

[00:10:24]And so logic demands essentially that a changing universe has a cause. And the ultimate cause, that principle of existence, the origin of all being has to be uncaused, uncreated, unchangeable, um, and eternal. And so that basically is the definition of what God is. And so there isn't the the the question of is there a god is is is almost like a nonsensical question. The only the only valid question is what is god? Um if we identify god as being the principle of existence. Um and also his definition of of deity as being something that is uncreated. He divides everything into those two categories created or uncreated. Um that becomes significant later. So basically from from the point of the view of the church fathers anything that is uncreated is divine.

[00:11:12]Anything that is created is is not divine.

[00:11:16]Um and so for St. John of Damascus it is plain then that there is a god but what he is in his essence and nature is absolutely incomprehensible and unknowable. And we say that in the divine liturgy as well. So a little bit earlier when we recited the prayers of the anafur we said thou art God ineffable incomprehensible invisible inconceivable ever existing eternally the same.

[00:11:43]And so because God is so radically transcendent and he's so infinitely beyond anything that is created um human language is very limited. Human language is is is inadequate in order to describe God. Um and the fathers they even they even go as far as to say that God doesn't exist in in in in terms of what we mean by existence because the way in which he exists is so radically different from the way in which anything else exists. And so if we speak as our self as existing then we can't talk about God existing or if we talk about God as existing then we can't apply that to ourselves.

[00:12:19]Um and so the father said that when it comes to God it is great wisdom to confess a lack of knowledge.

[00:12:27]Um, but like St. Sel of Jerusalem says, just because I can't drink the whole river doesn't mean that I can't fill up a cup and drink what I can. Just because I walk into a garden and can't eat every single fruit of the tree doesn't mean that I shouldn't eat enough to satisfy um my hunger.

[00:12:46]Um, and he says, "I am attempting now to glorify the Lord, not to describe him, knowing nevertheless that I fall short of glorifying him worthily, yet deeming it a work of piety, even to attempt it at all. For the Lord Jesus encourages my weakness by saying, "No man had seen God at any time." So, we can and we should try to talk about God and to understand him as far as our capacity allows. Um but we should also know that any word uh and any conception we h we express about God will never adequately capture the reality. Any human language we use is just the symbol that gives us an approximation as to the attributes of God. But it can never express what God is in himself.

[00:13:32]Um and the fathers say there's a there's a famous quote by Augustine and and John Chrysm and others have similar quotes.

[00:13:40]says if you understand it then it's not God because if God is something small enough for you to wrap your finite human mind around um then it means that it's inferior to your own mind and therefore it cannot be um God and so this is why orthodox theology takes what we call an apohatic or negative approach so in orthodox theology we don't try to pinpoint what God is and to and to describe with exactness what God is but we sort of draw borders, we draw rather borders around the truth by saying what God isn't. And so we exclude what is false um rather than trying to be precise. And so every time a new teaching came along in in in the course of church history that conflicted with um either God's revelation in scripture or just the church's lived experience of the Holy Spirit. Um so with with prayer and with liturgy and and those things um the church drew a new line to exclude those new ideas. Um so for example if someone said that Jesus is only divine the church drew a line around that and said no he is also man. Or if someone said Jesus was only human the church drew another line and said he was also um divine. Or if someone said there are many gods the church drew a line saying there is only one God and so on. Um and this basically is the difference between doctrine between theology and philosophy. So the church will often use the language of philosophy. We use words like hippoasis and usia and all these kind of things. We use the language of philosophy. Um but theology and philosophy are fundamentally different in terms of where they come from. So philosophy has its origin in man. Um and man tries to use his reason to construct a coherent idea of what the world is like or what God is like or what some kind of framework. Uh whereas dogma has its origin in the divine revelation from God to man. Um and so you may have noticed in the passage I just quoted from St. Jer of Jerusalem. He says um I am I am trying to praise God. But I'm not trying to understand him when I when I talk dogmatically when I when I say all these things. Um he's he's talking about the trinity in that case. Um and that's because he places dogma not in the context of philosophy or of understanding but in the context of worship and prayer. And so he says, "For devotion it suffices us simply to know that we have a God, a God who is one, living, ever living, always like unto himself, who has no father and none mightier than himself, no successor, um, and so on." And so dogma is the expression of the church's lived experience of God. Um, and it's not a theoretical construct, but it's also a something that we have for the church's lived experience of of God. It's what suffices what what suffices for devotion. What brings us to devotion.

[00:16:41]It's what we need to know about God in order to establish a relationship with him um and to come into contact with him. So everything that we express about God um through theology is supposed to guide us to an encounter with God in prayer. And so in like David says about the law, it is a lamp unto my feet and a light onto my paths. That is what dogma as well is. It's it's a light unto our feet. It's a um it's it's something that signposts the way to salvation. And that's why it's so important as well for you as catechumans or those of you already in the church to engage with the services of the church to to read through the text to to to pray them to to study them to think about them and to engage with them. Uh because that's what where you'll find theology not just the clearly expressed but also that's where you find theology in its proper context.

[00:17:35]not removed. Um, and because if if you learn theology only from online debates or from or from articles and things, you're you're you're getting a form of theology that that isn't rooted in the in the thing that it's supposed to serve, which is to establish a connection with God through prayer.

[00:17:53]Um, because what is true for the church collectively also goes for the individual. Our knowledge of God has to come from lived experience through prayer and our participation in the life of the church because like St. James says, you believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also believe and they tremble. So knowing dogma um doesn't in and of itself doesn't make you any better than the devil. John of Damascus says the same. The devil knows the scriptures. So knowledge in and of itself is of no spiritual benefit. You have to direct that knowledge um to a personal and living relationship with um with God.

[00:18:33]Um because the only place that we can find God and to confirm his existence like we were talking about whether or not God exists um is in the human heart because the heart is the organ that allows us to perceive God's presence and to understand him and to communicate with him. Which is why Christ says blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see um God. And so everything in Christian life is geared towards that purification of the heart so that we can see and know God in an intimate way. And so that's why St. John of Damascus again says, "He revealed that which was to our prophet to know, but what we are unable to bear, he kept secret. And so let us be satisfied with these things and abide by them, not removing everlasting boundaries, nor overpassing the divine tradition." So we are we are supposed to be uncompromising in the tradition that we have received in God's revelation to us about himself. But we should not try to um pry outside of that because what we will ultimately do is to impose um human ideas onto God and and create a new God in our own image as opposed to conforming to his image.

[00:19:42]Um so back to the creed. The creed begins with the words I believe in one God.

[00:19:48]um for John of Damascus and all of the fathers, all of these arguments for God's existence ultimately leads you to the conclusion that God is is one. So they see that as a natural um assumption that anyone can make. Um because if there is more than one God, there has to be a difference between them. Um which means also that they sort of have to occupy different not geographical spaces but somehow they have to occupy different um different spaces. And so a multiplicity of god gods could never be um perfect in a way that can account for uh existence and for creation. So if you did have many gods, they would again like in paganism have to exist within the framework of creation. They could not be that one principle of creation that you ultimately come to through logical um deduction.

[00:20:38]Um so serial of Jerusalem he sees that expression that God is one as the foundation of all faith. So he says first let it be laid as a foundation in your soul the doctrine concerning God that God is one alone unbegotten without beginning without change without variation neither born of another nor having another to succeed him in his life who neither began to exist in time nor will ever have an end. And so he sees the oneness of God as the foundation and the beginning of of everything. So without that foundation um nothing can be built and everything that you try to build will collapse. And without the oneness of God, nothing else makes sense and you've gone off the path before you've even um started. And so this core truth that that God is one who has always existed who has no other cause and who is not dependent or anything who is perfect um and and independent of all things. That idea has to be the lens through which you read everything else in the creed, everything else in scripture, everything else um in the church. Um and so you cannot and must not interpret any other article of faith in a way that contradicts that basic foundation of God's um oneness.

[00:21:50]And you can see our Lord does the same when he's asked about the two great command the the most important commandments. He says um he identifies the commandments as love the Lord and and love your neighbor. But before that, he says, "Here, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one." The the teaching of God's oneness comes before even the two great um commandments because without understanding the oneness of God, it's impossible to to love God and it's impossible to love uh our neighbor.

[00:22:15]If if we don't have that understanding that God is one, even even the commandments of love make no sense. So that's the foundation of all of all doctrine.

[00:22:26]Um, and the reason I'm stressing the the the point about God's oneness is because the rest of the creed then presents us with an idea that a lot of people are very confused about and especially non-Christians, they struggle with it.

[00:22:40]Um, and and many Christians for that matter, uh, which is the trinity. In Greek, the word is trias, which means a a triad.

[00:22:49]Um because after the words I believe in one God, the creed goes on to identify this one God as the father almighty.

[00:22:57]And a lot of people assume that when we talk about God as father, we mean that he's our father because he's the father he's the maker of all creation. So he's made us and and therefore he is our father. And that's true in a sense. And John of Damascus says that God is our father much more so than our parents um or our parents because God is the cause also of our parents. And so God is our father more than more so than any human being. Um but even so that's not the context in which u the word father is used because the creed talks about God as in terms of how he is from eternity.

[00:23:31]And so God's fatherhood is an eternal characteristic. It's he was he was father before creation. Um if if he was father only in relation to creation that would mean that um he changed and became a father at some point in time. But God the father was always the father. Um and so the question then is who is he the father of? And so the creed goes on to explain um that he is the father of the one lord Jesus Christ the only begotten son of god begotten from the father before all ages. Light of light true god of true god begotten not made of one essence but the father through whom all things were made. And so we've already seen that there's only one god and that this one god is the father. Um and then but then the son is called God and um the holy spirit also is identified as lord and as um and as creator um and as worshiped with the father and the son. So we have three who are all identified as god all identified as creator all identified as as lord and yet we say that we believe in one god.

[00:24:39]So the question is how can these three also be one?

[00:24:43]Um, when we talk about the son being born of the father, um, we're obviously not talking about some kind of something analogous to human sexual reproduction.

[00:24:54]One, because it would make no sense if there's only one God and he's independent and eternal and so on. Um, but also two, it would it would suggest that the son was a was a separate human being in in the same way that our children are separate from us and have a separate existence from us.

[00:25:10]So what we mean when we talk about God as son um is to show equality of being because a creator is always different from what he creates. Um but a parent always possesses the same nature, the same essence as their offspring. So a human being will always give birth to a human being. Uh a cat to a cat, a duck to a duck, a dog to a dog. You you don't give birth to something other than yourself. And and so we call the second person of the trinity the son in order to show that he is of exactly the same essence from the father. He doesn't belong to a separate category of of being.

[00:25:49]Um and you'll hear the term essence being used a lot in this context. And what we mean by usa by essence when we say or or substance sometimes is also used. So when we say that he is we mean that they belong to the same category of being. They are God in exactly the same um the same way.

[00:26:14]The term son also denotes equality of glory um because an only begotten son is the rightful heir to everything that his father owns at least traditionally. And so unlike a worker or a servant who would not inherit what was his father's, a son everything that belongs to the father ultimately belongs to the son who inherits it. So it also means that they have all the same power, all the same attributes, all the same um everything else. So essentially father and son refer to um equality.

[00:26:48]Another thing that is expressed by um the word son is that he doesn't appear separately. He doesn't have an independent cause nor does he exist eternally but separate from the father but he comes out from the father in the same way that something that is born comes out from something else. Um and so he has his being from and in the father he doesn't have a separate existence. Um and we see the same when when the creed talks about the holy spirit it says that he proceeds from the father. Um so this language is telling us um like St. John of Damascus says that all that the son and the spirit have are from the father even their very being. So unless you have the father you don't have the son and you don't have the holy spirit and unless the father has a certain attribute the son and the spirit don't have that attribute because everything comes from the father. So so unless the father is good the son and the spirit cannot be good unless the father is life the son and the spirit cannot be life.

[00:27:43]Everything they have both their being and their attributes they come from um from the father. So the father is the one uh source and one cause of the son and the holy spirit.

[00:27:57]Um so the father alone is the one who begets the son and the father alone is the one from whom proceeds the the the holy spirit. And so that's why St. John of Damascus says that we speak also of the spirit of the son not as proceeding from him but as proceeding through him from the father for the father alone is caused. And so this is why the Orthodox Church has always rejected the Roman Catholic addition to the creed that says that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the father and the son. The all of the church fathers are unanimous in saying that the father alone is the cause. And this is an important principle in the um the notion of God's oneness because he is God is one in essence. Um he is one in all of his attributes. He's one in in will and operation but he is als God is also one because there is a single source of divinity.

[00:28:43]And so if you say that there are the Holy Spirit proceeds from two uh sources um the implication is that you you have in a sense two gods.

[00:28:55]Um and and we call this idea that the idea that the father alone is the source that he alone is the we call that um the monarchy of the father. So not monarchy in the sense of a king ruling over but as in the the only the only source is the father.

[00:29:14]Um so I said that the son is born but the spirit proceeds and you can ask what the difference is between those two things and all of the fathers essentially pry that we don't know that that we're not given these are one of the things that we're we're we're not given to know what the difference is between being born and and and proceeding. Um but the reason we don't conflate them is because these words are the only way in which we distinguish between the three persons of the trinity because anything else you say about the about God applies to the whole trinity. It it applies to God generally. So when you say that he is timeless or he is uncreated or he is um he is powerful or he is loving or he is what whatever attribute you attribute to God they refer to to to the one God the Holy Trinity. The only thing that you that only refers to the to each of the three persons is the thing that describes the relationship between them.

[00:30:06]The father is the one who begets, the son is begotten, and the holy spirit is the one who proceeds. And so even though we don't know what the difference is between being begotten and proceeding, we don't conflate them because then we confuse that um the distinction between the the persons.

[00:30:22]Um we call that the hyperstatic properties.

[00:30:26]I don't expect you to remember all of these technical terms, but they sound very difficult, but but they're not actually that difficult to to to understand. So, hypothesis means a person um or or the the the concrete expression of a nature. So, all of you are concrete expressions of human nature. Human nature doesn't exist in the abstract. Human nature is is is not like a like a liquid or something that that you draw from. It's it it only it is only expressed in in concrete instances. So all of you are concrete instances of human nature and so and so you are all hypoasis of of human um of human nature in the holy trinity you have three concrete expressions three hypoasis of the divine nature.

[00:31:13]Um but the big difference between you all being expressions of the human nature and the holy trinity being expressions of the divine nature um has have to do with space and time and also with um indwelling.

[00:31:35]Um so we say about the we say about the son of god that he was begotten from the father before all ages. So in other words there was no time at which the father was alone without his son and without his spirit and then they issued forth from him later on because if that was the case then they would be different from the father and they would be of a lower rank uh and they would be of a different uh substance.

[00:32:03]And so, like I said before, anything that has a beginning, anything that is um um create, anything that begins in time is created. Anything that is eternal is is God. So, if you suggest that the sun or the spirit had a beginning at any point in time, by definition, they are creatures. This is what Aras believed. This is what Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the sun has a beginning in time. Um but by saying how by saying that he was begotten before all the ages um we're saying that the beginning of the son and the preceding of the spirit is part of how God exists from all eternity. So God has not and and and did not and never uh has never existed on his own without his word and without his um spirit. They it is it is part of his nature for the word to be forgotten from him and by for the spirit to proceed from him. That is how he exists. That is who he is. If you take away from him his word or his spirit, he he ceases to be um who he is.

[00:33:06]And so an analogy that's used often by the by the fathers is that of a flame which issues forth heat and light. And so you can distinguish the light and the heat from the flame, but you can't separate them. And a flame issues forth heat and and light by virtue of it being a flame. If it didn't issue for forth heat and light, it wouldn't be a flame anymore. Um and and so you you can't have a flame that exists without heat and without light.

[00:33:33]And likewise, you can't have the heat and light without the flame. Um so they are they are all distinguishable from one another, but they are all a single a single thing that there is only one flame. Um now obviously nothing is completely analogous to God and and um you can only take any analogy so far before it becomes um an error. Um but it's but it's a helpful way to um to understand that general principle. Um another analogy that's used a lot is um the Bible calls um Jesus the word of God. Um so John's gospel for example it begins with in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God.

[00:34:17]Um and while the word son tells us that he comes out from the father and he is of the same being as the father um the term word tells us how he is born from the father. So he's not born um again like a child is born through sexual union or something analogous to that.

[00:34:33]But he is born from the father more in the way that a thought is born from your mind. So not not through a union of two uh opposites that create that creates a third um separate uh thing but it proceeds um um without that from your from your mind.

[00:34:53]Um and the image of the trinity as as mind and as word can also be logos can also mean sort of rational principle um and spirit. That that analogy is used very often in the lurggical text of the church. So if you come early on a Sunday morning before the mats when when we're reading or singing the the midnight office you'll hear that analogy used a lot in the the cannons of the midnight office. Um so one of the os for example says the unbegotten father is represented by the wise as mind noose the consubstantial son as jointly beginningless word logos and he that affected the word's incarnation in the virgin as holy spiritma.

[00:35:32]So like with the analogy of the flame we can say that it's it's proper to the nature of the mind to think. So you can't have a mind without reason. You can't have a mind that is irrational.

[00:35:45]And also a thought issuing forth from the mind is distinct from the mind um but not separate from the mind and and even though the mind has expressed it, it doesn't cease to be to dwell within the mind. So the thought that has been um even when it's spoken, even when it's um expressed, it still it still remains within the mind. And so by calling the son word, we understand that he doesn't exist in parallel to the father as a second god. But like he said in in today's gospel reading, I I and the father am one. Uh I I am in the father and the father is in me.

[00:36:23]Um and so John the Damascus again he says that the father ever possesses his own word begotten of himself not as proceeding out of himself um but ever existing within himself. And so this is the the big difference between uh the persons of the trinity and you as apostasis of human nature because although all of you have the same human nature you're not one human being. your many human beings because the many human hypoasis the 8 billion or however many human hypoasis exist in the world um they don't exist within one another.

[00:37:01]They all exist separately and they are also separated by time and by space. And so this is why you are all separate human beings. Whereas the and and in addition to that you also differ in terms of your you have different will, you have different operation, you have different thoughts, you pursue different things, you have different characters.

[00:37:19]Um that's that's additional but the main reason why you're many human beings and not one human being um is that you do not dwell within one another. You are you are separate and also separate separated by space and time.

[00:37:34]Um but when it comes to God um the three persons the three hypostasis the three concrete expressions of that divine nature they exist within one another not separately.

[00:37:45]And also because they exist outside of space and time, they're not separated by space and time. And so not only is there only one divine essence um but the three hypoasis also are one in a sense. They are united because of that indwelling of of the one in the other.

[00:38:06]And so that's why although there are three hypostasis, there is only one God.

[00:38:10]Whereas the many expressions of human nature are all separate. And that's why we have many human beings and not one um human being. Um and also the relationship between you as human persons and God as divine persons is is opposite. So when you look at human beings, you see a bunch of separated individuals. And it's only in thought, it's only it's only by by using reason um that that you can conceptually think of all these people as as being one.

[00:38:40]Human nature is an abstract that you have to bring to mind in order to understand humanity as being one.

[00:38:45]Whereas when you look to God, you only see unity. And it's only through contemplation that you can distinguish the persons and and and make them three.

[00:38:52]So it's the opposite. God and and and man in that sense are um are opposite.

[00:39:00]Um another analogy is that um there's a sambar saying by the word of the Lord the heavens were established and all the might of them by the spirit or by the breath of his mouth both in Hebrew and in and in Greek and many other languages the word for breath and spirit are the same and so the father is the one who speaks the word and who breathes out the um the spirit and that's the analogy essentially used in the very first uh verse. of the Bible uh when the book of Genesis begins in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth referring to the father um and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. So there you have the breath of God and God said he speaks the word. And so you have the three persons there. You will have covered this already in Father Ambrose's Bible studies. Um and so we have one God, one divine essence, one will, one activity, but at the same time that God exists eternally as a communion of three hippostasis or or persons. I I try to avoid the word persons because it makes you think of people, human beings. Hypostasis is is the is the more um appropriate term. And so God is one uh what but he is three who's if that makes sense.

[00:40:17]Um and so just to summarize God is one because there is one divine essence one category of being and each of the three hypotheases of the trinity are expressions of that one being. God is one because those three persons have one will one operation one power and so on.

[00:40:34]They're identical in all of their properties. They're divine in exactly the same way. God is one because there is only one father and he is the source of divinity. He is the source of the son and the source of the spirit. They both proceed from his essence.

[00:40:49]Um God is one because all of the three persons are eternal. They don't have a beginning in time. Um there was never a time when the father was without his son and without his spirit. And so they are not separated by time or place like human persons.

[00:41:04]Um and also the trinity is not one god made up of three parts. That's also why the the notion of the father source is important because if if he is a composite um you you attribute imperfection either to uh either to go or to the the parts that make up god. Um because if each of the parts are perfect in and of themselves, you won't be able to join them together to make something more perfect. And if but if the perfection of the godhead is is dependent on on composite parts then then in a sense God is imperfect. And so God is perfect because he has his word and he has his spirit eternally as as um in terms of the way that he exists. And so there is one God again who exists eternally as a communion of three persons, father, son and holy spirit.

[00:41:54]And the reason why this is important, even though it might seem confusing and and maybe even unnecessary, um first of all, we can't make it any simpler than it is because this is divine revelation. We do not choose who God is. Um we we do again, we do not project our own ideas onto God. That that is what philosophy would do. But we receive in humility um the revelation of God as he has shown himself to us. And so we we we have what we have received from the divine scriptures and from the life of the church through apostolic tradition. But it's also important because we are created in the image of that God. And so if we don't understand who God is, then we also cannot understand who uh we are. And the scripture says that God is love. It's not that not that he has love, not that he is loving, but that he is love. And so love again is one of his um eternal characteristics. And so if God was only a single epoasis um then he would only be able to love himself which is not love. Love has to have an object outside of oneself um and so he would either have the imp imperfection of only being able to love himself or he would be dependent on creation. So he would have to create something outside of himself in order to love that. And only only then would he have that characteristic of being love. Um but then he wouldn't have that characteristic eternally. And if creation was also eternal so that he could love creation eternally then creation would also be divine. And again you'd end up with two gods. So the only way in which the only way in which God can be love in his own nature, the only way for that to be an eternal characteristic of his being is if you have more than one hippostasis within the one um within the one God. So the only way that he can be perfect and the only way that he can be love um is is for him to be to exist eternally as as trinity. Um and because the whole of the the Christian faith revolves around essentially um us being created in love in order to receive love and to reciprocate love and to mirror that love. Every everything in our faith has to do with conforming ourselves to that love of God. If we don't understand God in a way that allows for him to be love, then the whole gospel of Jesus Christ um collapses. And so although the Holy Trinity can be a difficult concept to get your head around and you'll probably have to read through things um a few times before it before it sticks um it is a very important thing to understand because if God is not a trinity then everything Christ says about love and even the very coming of Christ into the world out of his love um doesn't doesn't work and doesn't make any um sense.

[00:44:47]Um, we got 10 minutes for questions if you want to ask any.

[00:45:22]God.

[00:45:22]>> Yeah.

[00:45:23]>> But he uses the word son as well.

[00:45:25]>> Yeah.

[00:45:25]>> Um and and do you have do you have any thoughts as to why he uses the word son?

[00:45:30]Is it because of um he he also says God is love and that connects back to what you were saying about how >> Yeah.

[00:45:37]>> means to love someone or sorry.

[00:45:39]>> Yeah. So, so what what what the what the son what the word son does is it shows you that he comes out from the father and he has the same being as the father because if Christ came and he just says I am god that could mean he's another god in addition to the to the other god or he's a god in a different way than god is or he is whereas when he says son of god it means that he's born from god so he belongs to the same category of being and also has he has his origins in god >> okay >> and so and so when he's So when he says for example before Abraham was I am he's using the divine name and identifying himself as the God who spoke to um to Abraham and so on. Um but you have to couple that with the term son of God in order to in order to show that he has his origins in the father his eternal origins in the father and that the two are are one. So he's not presenting himself as a as a as a parallel >> and and also to make a distinction because the father and the son are are distinct. So, so, so the word sun, it prevents conflation and it prevents separation.

[00:46:42]>> Yeah. I I I don't have a a good enough brain to get that stuff sorted in my but because because then I then I think well when we class we say he's the word because he's the word of God who came and gave us the word. Yeah.

[00:46:54]>> Then >> in my head I associate that with >> literally God's word. So he's coming and tell he's he he's God talking to us, you know, through the Bible and through what he said.

[00:47:05]>> Um and so that being separate to uh another entity is difficult.

[00:47:13]>> He's God's is God's logos. He is not God's rema.

[00:47:16]>> He's what?

[00:47:17]>> So so in Greek you have the word logos and you have the wordma. Remma means a word like a word on a page in a book.

[00:47:23]>> And logos means it's where you get logic from. It's it's the rational princ. So it's more than just a spoken word. It also means the spoken word, but it but it it refers to um something something logical, something rational. It's the rational principle of a thing. And so and so he's he's not just God's spoken words in the way that when we call the Bible the word of God, for example, we we figuratively sort of mean that God has spoken it, but he's he's the word of God in in in that sense. And so and so again, all these terms have to be coupled with one another. So the the word the word son is needed to complement the the the I ams and the and the divine um sayings so that we know that he so that we know that he is God but we know in what way he's connected to God that he's that that they have the same essence. And then the and then the term word um shows us how he's born from God. So he's not born like a child. So for example in the Quran it says how can God have a son if he doesn't have a wife? because whoever whoever heard the term son of God thought in his mind God has a wife and they reproduced and they had a son. Um the the no Christian has ever thought that. And so the the term word is tells us how to understand how the son is born from the father. He's not born like a child through sexual union. He's born like the thought of a mind.

[00:48:45]Thank you. Okay.

[00:48:50]Um does the trajecto notion that um the father is god by um in a nominal sense and the um son and the spirit are god by predication.

[00:49:04]>> The when you read for example John of Damascus he says whenever he he just uses the word god without qualification he means the holy trinity. He says our one god the holy trinity. By god I mean the holy trinity. Um so so God refers to because obviously they're inseparable.

[00:49:21]Um but when but when you're making um a distinction of the of the persons usually um God with the definite article or theos is reference to the father and then you have the word of the word of God being the word of the father and the spirit of God being the spirit of so it depends on context. Even in even in John's gospel when it says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. when it says um um when it refers to so in the beginning of the word um so when it says the the word was with God it's aos the god referring to the father but when it says the word was god it says theos logo so without the article so it's a little bit like having capital G and and and lowerase G um and the fathers explain how this is a this is deliberate to to make a distinction between the person of the father and the person of the son Um, yeah. Go. Yeah. Go. Do you want to say it in the microphone just >> but in in scripture I I I see what uh he's saying because when St. Paul references says God, he's referencing the father.

[00:50:30]>> When he says Lord, he's referencing >> Christ.

[00:50:32]>> Christ. And so you can I think in a sense you can rightly say that the father is the one who is nominally God in the scripture whereas Christ and the holy spirit are god by uh by des by the their description as in so it tells so it tells you their um their attributes you know their operations their energies their will and everything like those sort of things those things tell you that the son and the spirit are god.

[00:51:12]Well, the creed say it's like the creed when it says in um I believe in one God, the father. So, but that's this that's the monarchy of the father. So, the father is the one God, the son and the spirit have their divinity from the father. Yeah. Yeah. But because it's eternal, they're still they're still God in the same sense that the father is God. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:51:43]um for one of a better way of saying this, but like how rigid um has the articulation remained um in the sense that um because I grew up in an Anglican tradition. Um, I grew up saying like obviously denying creed, but it's only until maybe like the last few months, like the last couple months that I've learned of the implications of things like the Philly and stuff like that. But I noticed like other differences in the sense that for example um it says of one essence instead of one being and then um confessing one baptism instead of acknowledging one baptism.

[00:52:28]But um how rigid has the articulation been in like let's say the English language as it pertains to remaining in >> in in the >> in the English language there's not there's no there's not one standard translation and so and so each translator decides how to you know so that's why you find being in one essence in another and substance in another and but that's that's translation so the the only um the only actual difference that has been introduced into the creed is when is when the the Latin judge added filioquay um which it was initially reluctant to do. It was it was initially a local addition um in in I think Spain began and Rome initially resisted and rejected. But when when the Rome when Rome was was sacked and the papacy was taken over by um Germanic tribes essentially the um the Goths and other Germanic tribes. They were like the Aryan stronghold in Europe. And so and and initially that was intended, it was well-intentioned, but it was wrong. But it was it was intended as a as a as a as an anti-Aryan addition. And so when essentially a group from an Aryan stronghold took over the papacy when when when Rome fell and and the German tribes took over, they they Rome adopted that um Rome adopted that uh addition because of pressure from from the German uh monarchs because they felt it was important in their in their cultural context. Um that's the only addition that has taken um that has that has taken place. anything else a translation like I I I can produce a translation of the creed tomorrow and that will probably be slightly different than someone else because I I I like this English word more than that one but you you can't you can't use English text to to to >> okay and then also as it pertains to I think I may butcher the word but like monogene like Christ being begotten um in like my research I've kind of to my current understanding it's like it may be more accurate to like to understand it as like one of a kind because like how we perceive begotten is like often times it's like >> yeah so that that that refers that refers to that refers to the term mono yanice.

[00:54:47]So, so in the so in the um so in the creed he's described as mono yanice and and the um so the yanice in that word it can come from two um two sources. Um and so you can so depending on depending on how you break down the ethmology can either mean only begotten or it can mean unique. Um but elsewhere in the creed he still he's still talked about as being begotten from the father yenda. So, so it doesn't it doesn't change anything to do with begottenness. It's still >> Okay. So, is that >> So, it's only that one word.

[00:55:22]>> And is that like referring to like the immaculate conception? Cuz I know you said that he's eternally begotten.

[00:55:29]>> No, no. The the immaculate conception has to do with how the Virgin Mary was conceived by her parents.

[00:55:36]>> That's it's a it's a Roman Catholic teaching. Any anything we're saying in the creed refers to Christ as he is in eternity. So, it's got nothing to it's got nothing to do with um Christ becoming a man and coming into the that that's later on in the creed. But when we but when we talk about the Holy Trinity, we're talking about eternity.

[00:55:52]We're not talking about how he is in relation to the world.

[00:55:55]>> And so, was it Christ was in the father's bosom? Is that a correct way of thinking about it from like eternity or?

[00:56:05]>> Yeah. Yeah. So, so that's a that's a symbolic way of expressing the the closeness of that relationship.

[00:56:11]>> Thank you.

[00:56:15]Um, when studying philosophy and theology in the confines of the Orthodox Church, is there a way for that to be prayer in itself or a form of prayer?

[00:56:28]Um, and once once it's once it's prayer, it becomes theology.

[00:56:33]Um, but but you can but I mean you you can you can pursue any anything prayerfully. You can you can mop the mop the floor prayerfully and drive prayerfully and I mean you pray prayer that that there is no human pursuit that excludes prayer. Um so so you can do anything prayerfully but in terms of the philosophy itself if if it is a philosophy born of prayer then it's theology in the in the sense that it's if it's if it's the fruit of experience of God then it's theology.

[00:57:03]Um am I right in understanding that the implication of the filio is if we say the holy spirit pro proceeds from the father and the son it um distorts and destroys the same unity and creates two gods two sources and it destroys that sort of one operation is is that what you meant so I'm not I'm not saying that Roman Catholics believe in two gods obviously they don't but but the >> the when taken to its logical conclusion talk of two sources leads you down that that path. So St. Fios um the great for example he he he says that the filioqu is is Greek superstition meaning polytheism in Christian clothing.

[00:57:47]So he's he's quite he's quite firm in terms of how he >> understands and they don't dwell in one another if there's two sources basically.

[00:57:56]>> Yeah. If if you if you have two sources then then there there is no point of unity. It's a yeah and therefore there is no oneness.

[00:58:04]>> Thank you.

[00:58:08]>> Um father in the biatitudes it says blessed are the pure in heart for they can see god or they shall see god.

[00:58:17]>> What does that mean? And also how could one build a relationship with someone they can't see?

[00:58:25]>> So I suppose these are two questions.

[00:58:28]Thank you.

[00:58:29]>> Um yes. So, so it's what I mentioned earlier that the heart, the heart is the faculty by which you perceive God. Um, and so in the same way that you perceive the world around you with your eyes and your and your sense of touch and smell and hearing and so on, you perceive God through the heart. When the heart is is is clouded, sort of shrouded in in in pride, it it becomes dull. It's like like a blindfold on your eyes. you you the organs is still there, but you can't you can't use it. And so the purification of the heart is necessary to um to allow the heart essentially to function as it's supposed to and and allow you that. And so the more the the more your heart is purified, the more clearly you will perceive God and even see him in the in the we we have the experience of the saints who can who can see the uncreated um energies of God as as this light, not material light, but as as this immaterial light. So so it's even literal in that you can you can you can see the light of God if your heart is sufficiently um purified. We we don't believe in the um we don't believe in the um what's that Calvinist term the absolute um depravity of of man like that the image of God is not completely destroyed within us. Um so it's not that you have no way of recognizing God. It's not that you're completely blind, but your but your vision is blurry, let's say. And so, so, so you can still form a relationship with him, but is as the heart is is purified, that relationship begins to intensify, but but you're not you're not completely deprived of divine vision, if that makes sense.

[01:00:12]>> Yeah. One more.

[01:00:13]>> Um, is there a preference within the church on how to count the one God? So what I mean by that is like counting by division of course being one energy one etc. what Gregory Onis says or in not free gods or counting by relative identities they're like a preference >> as long as you get to one I think it doesn't matter how you count it.

[01:00:39]Um you mentioned I think it's USA is like essence and being is it like >> can you are they like in interchangeable in terms of like the >> in in English? Yeah, they're pretty much interchangeable.

[01:00:54]>> Um okay. Is is it worth cuz you said that in English it's interchangeable. Is there more to that than >> I mean the the the the the creed was composed in Greek and so you you can't you can't translate 100% from one language into another.

[01:01:14]It's not it's it's not possible because the words the words won't correspond 100%. So you're always approximating and so you you you you're trying to find the English word that that most closely expresses the the Greek original and and there'll be there'll be different opinions about which English word that is which nuance you want to emphasize and so you'll always have differences in translation.

[01:01:34]>> Okay. So like let's say when for one of the better way we're saying let's say somebody's kind of trying to say something in like a more excellent way if that makes sense like they're trying to >> kind of >> um how does one know when to kind of like let's say um express what they're saying differently rather than um like how does one know like when kind of an a way of expressing something has reached this like kind of logical conclusion like it's just >> if you if you're if you're if you're concerned with accuracy then at least for like terms like technical terms like this the the best thing to do is just learn learn the Greek terms and learn what they mean and then you can use the English in sort of more casual conversation but when you're referring to when you're being technical when you're being specific refer back to the Greek and try to understand what that means because you can you can never you ever going to be.

[01:02:35]>> Okay, >> it's it's all relative. What does it what does it mean to have like the best translation? Is the one that sounds the nicest? Is it the one that's um the the most accurate? Is it the one that that brings out this nuance of the word? Is it the one that brings out this nuance of the word? So, >> yeah.

[01:02:49]>> Yeah. Thank you.

[01:03:03]The Jesus get me.

[01:03:21]Amen.