Friday, June 9, 2017

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Holy Trinity Sunday


Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Mt 28:16–20)

There is then one God and Father, and not two or three; One who is; and there is no other besides Him, the only true [God]. For “the Lord your God is one Lord.”* And again, “Has not one God created us? Have we not all one Father?”† And there is also one Son, God the Word. For “the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father.”‡ And again, “One Lord Jesus Christ.”§ And in another place, “What is His name, or what His Son’s name, that we may know?”‖ And there is also one Paraclete. For “there is also one Spirit,”¶ since “we have been called in one hope of our calling.”** And again, “We have drunk of one Spirit,”†† with what follows. And it is manifest that all these gifts [possessed by believers] “works one and the self-same Spirit.”‡‡ There are not then either three Fathers, or three Sons, or three Paracletes, but one Father, and one Son, and one Paraclete. Therefore also the Lord, when He sent forth the apostles to make disciples of all nations, commanded them to “baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” not unto one having three names, nor into three who became incarnate, but into three possessed of equal honor.

Pseudo-Ignatius, Epistle to the Philippians 2

*  Deuteronomy 6:4
†  Malachi 2:10
‡  John 1:18
§  1 Corinthians 8:6
‖  Proverbs 30:4
¶  Ephesians 4:4
** 1 Corinthians 12:13
†† Ephesians 4:4
‡‡ 1 Corinthians 12:11

No comments: