Every morning, an Orthodox Christian, opening his eyes, feeling awakening and strength to start a new day, makes the sign of the cross and solemnly says “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". This ritual has become so familiar to everyone that sometimes we say these words hastily, yawning and stretching in bed. Are we doing the right thing?
Of course, starting the day by mentioning the name of the Lord is a great blessing. But doing this routinely, without reverence, is a big mistake, depriving us of Grace, that endless help that is the only thing we can hope for and trust without doubt.
First prayer
Photo: Elitsy.ru
This short prayer is the first one that a good mother and a responsible godfather teach their child. While showing the child how to be baptized, parents also tell him the words of the main prayer, which he must remember and say throughout his life, starting every day and every task. It is in these words that petition, thanksgiving and praise to the Lord are contained.
2) ''In the name of the Son...'' or ''God of Isaac''
- It is interesting that Isaac was sacrificed on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:2.).
- Subsequently, in the same place, David, the forefather of Christ, built an altar to atone for the sins of Israel (2 Sam. 24: 1, 18, 25.).
- Further, Solomon [who was a prophetic image of Christ - 2 Samuel 7:12-17.], built a temple on the same place (2 Chronicles 3:1.).
- And only there, all Israel, from that time on, fulfilling the prophetic action, had to sacrifice lambs [as an image of the Lamb of Christ].
Before Israel entered the Promised Land, God warned:
''Beware of offering your burnt offerings in every place that you see; but in the place that the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, you shall offer your burnt offerings...'' (Deut. 12:13,14).
So: at this place [Mount Moriah - later, part of the city of Jerusalem] , a sign was performed with Isaac, which prophetically pointed to the Son of God. After which Abraham was told:
''In your Seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice'' (Gen.22:18. Galat.3:16.).
What do the words of prayer mean?
“In the name” - this means not only the name, but also “for glory.” That is, we glorify and magnify God with the very first sounds of our voice, starting our day. It is not without reason that not only the morning rule begins with prayer, but also every service, sermon and any action related to the Lord. That is, glorifying God, we promise to serve Him, work for Him, do good and fulfill His will, His commandments.
Photo: Flickr.com
The Savior Himself gave people the words of this prayer through the Gospel, commanding the apostles to baptize “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Not in “names”, but “in the name”. That is, Jesus Christ denotes the unity of the Holy Trinity, emphasizing that all its components have one name - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is, the Trinity is one God. And they all have the same power, strength and consubstantiality. This means that they are all due the same power, honor and worship.
The prayer ends with the word “Amen.” This is one of the words that has not been translated or changed since it was used in the Old Testament. It was also uttered by the mouth of God when he was on earth among people. That is, this word is truly God’s, as important and integral to prayer as other words. “Amen” means: truly, truly, just so, undoubtedly. That is, it says that a person believes with all his heart, with all his soul, without doubting for a second that the Lord will help him in every useful and good deed, which he begins with this prayer and ends with the word “Amen.”
By saying “Amen” at the end of the prayer, the believer expresses with this short word the phrase: “I believe that for people many things are impossible, but for God everything is possible!”
1) ''In the name of the Father...'' or ''The God of Abraham...''
Abraham was a prophetic image of the Heavenly Father and was called the father of all believers. The Apostle Paul wrote:
''By faith Abraham obeyed the call to go to the country which he had to receive as an inheritance, and he went, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the promised land as if it were a stranger, and lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, joint heirs of the same promise; For he looked for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God'' (Heb. 11:8-10). ''
...what does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. When did you get imputed? after circumcision or before circumcision? Not after circumcision, but before circumcision. And he received the mark of circumcision, [as] a seal of righteousness through the faith which he [had] in uncircumcision, so that he became the father of all who believed in uncircumcision, that righteousness might be imputed to them also' (Rom. 4:3,10,11).
Being the image of the Most High [''Ancient of Days'' - Dan.7:9,13.], Abraham was old when he was given the promise of numerous descendants (Gen.17:1,2,5-7.). However, when his son Isaac reached adolescence, Yahweh said:
''Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac; and go to the land of Moriah and there offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you” (Gen. 22:2).
This was a prophetic effect [sign] of what the Son of God said:
''God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life'' (John 3:16).
Analogies of the Holy Trinity
The human mind cannot fully comprehend the mystery of the Holy Trinity. But we can use certain analogies, which, however, are very simplified and limited, in order to at least partially understand the unity and relationship between the persons of the Holy Trinity.
The Holy Fathers cited the sun as an image of the Trinity. The visible part of the sun is a circle, from which light is born and heat emanates.
The image of the Holy Trinity can be the human soul, created in the image and likeness of God. This example is given by Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov:
“Our mind is the image of the Father; our word (we usually call the unspoken word a thought) is the image of the Son; spirit is the image of the Holy Spirit.
Just as in the Trinity-God the three Persons unfused and inseparably constitute one Divine Being, so in the Trinity-Man the three Persons constitute one being, without mixing with each other, without merging into one person, without dividing into three beings.
Our mind has given birth to and does not cease to give birth to a thought; a thought, having been born, does not cease to be born again and at the same time remains born, hidden in the mind.
The mind cannot exist without thought, and thought cannot exist without the mind. The beginning of one is certainly the beginning of the other; the existence of the mind is necessarily the existence of thought.
In the same way, our spirit comes from the mind and contributes to thought. That is why every thought has its own spirit, every way of thinking has its own separate spirit, every book has its own spirit. Thought cannot exist without spirit; the existence of one is certainly accompanied by the existence of the other. In the existence of both is the existence of the mind.”
The Trinity in the Old Testament all indicates that the Son is the Creator
Already in the Old Testament there are indications of the mystery of the Divine Trinity. Already at the beginning of the Holy Bible, God speaks of Himself in the plural:
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that moves on the earth. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26-27).
The words “let us make man” indicate the plurality of persons, while “he created him” indicates the unity of God. There are two more such passages in the book of Genesis:
- And the Lord God said: Behold, Adam has become like one of Us (Gen. 3:22).
“And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language... let us go down and confuse their language there (Gen. 11:6-7).
When Patriarch Abraham was sitting under a tree near the oak grove of Mamre, he saw three travelers come. He ran to meet them and, bowing to the ground, said: Master! If I have found favor in Your sight, do not pass Your servant by” (Gen. 18:3). Three men appeared, and Abraham addressed them as one - the Master.
How many Gods do Christians believe in?
In short: the Christian Church believes in one God, who is one in essence, but trinitarian in Persons.
Now a little more detail.
From the books of Holy Scripture (Old and New Testaments) the Church firmly knows that God is one. But from the same books and patristic interpretations on them it follows that He is alone, not in the sense in which we can say this about any person. God is one, but not alone. It is triune: there are three Divine Hypostases, or Persons.
Each of the Persons is God in all His fullness, all God, entirely. Each Hypostasis of the Trinity has all the Divine power, all the fullness of power, all the glory, etc. Any action of the Holy Trinity is performed by all three Persons, so that Orthodox theologians talk about the single action and single will of the three Hypostases. Nevertheless, these are precisely three independent Persons, and not three, say, “masks” that the Divinity alternately puts on and in which He reveals himself.
The trinity of God is spoken of in the Creed, the key confessional formula approved at the first two Ecumenical Councils in 325 and 381 A.D. When we pronounce the Creed, we confess faith “in the One God the Father Almighty... and in the One Lord Jesus Christ , the Son of God... and in the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Lord...".
Attempt to solve the problem
In general, in order to improve the current situation a little, let’s expand on the topic raised in more detail. What a filioque is has already been said in a nutshell, and I think those who have not encountered this issue have already understood that Catholics accept this dogma, but Orthodox Christians do not. It would seem, what is the point of these conversations, are the differences really so fundamental? Yes, they are fundamental, because dogmas are not just abstract intelligible definitions, but the cordon that defines the boundaries of the Church - our saving Ship. It is not in vain that, in order to preserve the purity of the faith, the holy fathers spent a colossal amount of intellectual and spiritual strength, and some of them even endured hardship and torment. Therefore, by definition, there should not be a filioque in Orthodoxy. In addition, as they say, Truth is intolerant, so if we say one thing, and the Latins say the opposite, then some of us are right and some are wrong, some believe truly and some believe falsely.
History and Creed
The dogma of the filioque in Catholicism ended its formation in the 15th century, while its first use dates back to the 6th century and was made at the Councils of Toledo in Spain. At that time the filioque was used by St. Leander of Seville to emphasize the Divine dignity of the Son in polemics with the Arian Goths. As we understand, the dispute around this dogma continued for a long time and not all Western Christians immediately accepted it, even after the great schism of 1054.
In addition to the writings of St. Photius, anyone who wants to understand in more detail the topic we have touched on should also turn to the works of such famous theologians as:
- Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlahos),
- prot. Maxim Kozlov,
- prot. John Romanidis,
- Yaroslav Pelikan.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that the Catholics added the addition of the procession of the Spirit “and from the Son” to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which is directly prohibited by the definitions of the Third Ecumenical Council. Therefore, the dogma of the filioque in Orthodoxy cannot be accepted under any circumstances, and anyone who considers himself Orthodox must remember and understand that there are boundaries that cannot be crossed.
Archpriest Vladimir Dolgikh
The Creator Son. The second hypostasis of the Trinity is Christ.
So, the second member of the Creed tells us that the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity is the Only Begotten Son of God, who was begotten by the Father before the creation of all things visible and invisible, even before the creation of time.
He was born, not created, this is said to refute the false teaching of Arius, who taught about the creation of the Son of God, as well as all subsequent heretics.
The name Jesus means Savior, and Christ means Anointed One. Since ancient times, kings, prophets and high priests have been called anointed. The Savior combined all three of these ministries.
God the Father created the whole world, visible and invisible, with His Son, the Son the Creator, and this realization comes to every Orthodox Christian. The Son is the Creator, and therefore God, this is stated in the Gospel of John:
“Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3).
You learned that the Son is the Creator, that the Son is Christ, the Creator Son is God, just as the Holy Spirit is God and the Father is God. But these are not three Gods, but this is One God in three forms.
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Baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or in the name of Jesus Christ?
Are baptisms in the name of Jesus Christ and in the name of the Trinity the same? What does the Bible say about this?
Acts 22:16 records a pattern of baptism by total immersion in the name of Jesus Christ: “So why are you delaying? Arise, be baptized (Greek baptisai - immerse yourself) and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.” For several decades, described in the Acts of the Apostles, all baptisms were only “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38; 8:12-16; 10:43,48; 16:31,33; 19 :5; 22:16), healing people and casting out demons were only in the name of Jesus Christ.
Jesus, ascending on the 40th day, allegedly said: “All power has been given to Me, and I am with you until the end of the Church age, but you will baptize in the name of the Trinity.” And just ten days later, Peter had already forgotten Jesus’ instructions to baptize into the Trinity, but at the same time Peter was under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Who came to remind us of everything that Jesus said (John 14:26)?! Did the apostles voluntarily change the baptismal formula and the Holy Spirit agreed with this?
It was only in 381 at the Second Ecumenical Council that the doctrine of the Trinity was officially introduced (Gal. 1:8,9). Matthew wrote the gospel in Aramaic, the early church fathers write about this, but the gospel was destroyed after being translated into Greek, and now we have the insertion of Matthew 28:19 about baptism into the Trinity, which contradicts the teachings of Christ. And they inserted 1 John 5:7 - “these three are one,” and in John 10:30, on the contrary, they wiped out the “superfluous” - I and the Father are one, We Am, that is, We are both Existing.
Although there was always hope that the Jews preserved at least one uncorrected Gospel of Matthew in Aramaic without the instruction to baptize into the Trinity (Matt. 28:19).
Here is the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew in the edition of Shem Tov ibn Shaprut:
esxatos.com/evangelie-ot-matfeya-na-ivrite-v-izdanii-shem-tova-ibn-shapruta.
Proof of the authenticity of the Gospel of Matthew in Hebrew in the lecture of Nehemiah Gordon: YOUTUBE/watch?v=RfAkYeGdH_8
That is why the Apostles baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, because there was no other direction.
1 Timothy 2:5 - For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, which is translated as the Anointed Savior, and this is the only name given to men by which we must be saved, and there is salvation in no one else. (Acts 4:11,12).
We are told: be baptized into the Trinity, since the Jews knew the Father and the Spirit, so they only needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you, pagans, do not know anyone, so be baptized into the Trinity. I'm not sure that Paul baptized the Jews in Acts 19, but they did not know the Holy Spirit and were baptized in the name of Christ. But in the house of Cornelius in Acts 10:48 everyone was pagan, but they were baptized in the name of Christ.
We are told: be baptized into the Trinity, there is the name Son. Luke 1:31 - and behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Jesus (Son, Brother, Mother - not names, but - Mary, Jesus - names). Rom. 6:3 - All of us those who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death (Who died for us?).
We are told: baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit is the same as baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, but Father and Son are a degree of relationship, not names. Jesus baptizes with fire and the Spirit, not in the name of the Spirit.
Gal.3:27- As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Col.2:12 - Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised again in Him through faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. John 3:17 - God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 1 Cor.1:12,13- “I am Pavlov”; ..."I am Kifin"; “And I am Christ’s.” Was Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? No, in the name of the Trinity! God gave us Jesus Christ as Savior and Leader (Acts 3:15; 5:31), and you cannot jump over the heads of the authorities by baptizing into the Trinity!
In ancient times, there were many types of ritual ablutions, and some master, having bought slaves, took off their old clothes, baptized them in his name and gave them other clothes - the slaves baptized in his name became his slaves according to all laws, spiritual and physical.
Paul often writes that he is a servant of Christ, because he was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (dedicated to Christ).
Who better understood Jesus Christ, how to teach and baptize - the Apostles of Christ or any of the preachers and theologians of our time? Paul warned that after the apostles, fierce wolves in sheep's clothing would enter the church, which would not allow them to be recognized, and people would arise from among you who would speak perversely in order to draw the disciples after them, which is what happened a couple of hundred years after the apostles.
John 17:3 - This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. 2 Corinthians 5:19 - because God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. John 5:39 - Search the Scriptures, for through them you think you have eternal life; and they testify of Me.
John 10:9- I am the door: whoever enters through Me will be saved.
John 10:1 - He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs inside, is a thief and a robber.
2 John 9 - Everyone who transgresses the teaching of Christ and does not continue in it does not have God; He who abides in the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son.
John 14:6- Jesus said to him: I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Are we going to climb over the fence or go in through the door???
The economy of human salvation
The doctrine of the Trinity is not only theological and theoretical. In the New Testament sacred books it is revealed in the closest connection with the great events of the Incarnation and Redemption.
The Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly speaks about His Sonship of God and about the fact that the Father sent Him (John 5:36) so that “the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17). The Holy Spirit participates in all matters of the Economy of the salvation of mankind. He quickens and sanctifies.
Anyone who participates in the Holy Sacraments and the prayer life of the Church does not doubt this truth; it is an integral part of his religious consciousness. Anyone who has studied the dogmatic teaching of our Church could not help but be amazed at the internal consistency of its parts. Such a person is convinced that this slender and majestic building is unthinkable without its cornerstone - the dogma of the Holy Trinity.
