Dogmatic Understanding
of the Trinity
Official Teachings by the Magisterium
The Creed of Nicaea (325)
• The council of Nicaea was a response to
controversy caused by Arianism - a heretical
teaching which posited that Jesus is like the Father
(homoiousios) but not of the same substance
(homoousios) as the Father. Jesus is therefore not
divine and he is subordinate to the Father.
• Although the issue was primarily Christological, it
put into question the trinitarian doctrine. If Jesus
is not divine then there can be no Trinity.
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all
things both visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only
begotten born of the Father, that is, of the substance (ousia)
of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from true
God; begotten, not created, consubstantial (homoousios) with
the Father; through him all things were made, those in
heaven and those on earth as well.
For the sake of us men and for our salvation, he came down,
was made flesh, and became man;
He suffered and on the third day he arose; he ascended into
heaven and is going to come to judge and the living and the dead.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit.
And for those who say: “There was a time when he did not exist” and
“Before he was begotten, he did not exist” and “He was made from
nothing, or from another hypostasis or essence,” alleging that the Son of
God is mutable or subject to change – such persons the Catholic and
apostolic Church condemns.
• The Council of Nicaea defined the formula that
paved the way for the trinitarian concept of
God. It expressed faith in the Trinity, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. It defined that Jesus is of
the substance (ousia) with the Father, and
consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father.
• The Holy Spirit is mentioned without any
objective description.
• Nicaea made it clear that the name God implied
the co-existence of Three, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit, who together make up the unity and
oneness of God.
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
• The Council of Constantinople (381) reaffirmed
the teaching of the Council of Nicaea.
• It also made explicit what was implied in Nicaea
- that the Spirit is of the same nature as the
Father and the Son. The Spirit is therefore
divine. [The Nicene creed abruptly ends with "I
believe in the Holy Spirit" without any definition
of what the Spirit is].
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all
things both visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only
begotten born of the Father, that is, of the substance (ousia)
of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, True God from true
God; begotten, not created, consubstantial (homoousios) with
the Father; through him all things were made, those in
heaven and those on earth as well.
For the sake of us men and for our salvation, he came down,
from the heavens, and became flesh from the Holy Spirit and
the Virgin Mary and was made man.
For our sake too, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, suffered
and was buried.
On the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, He
ascended to the heavens and is seated at the right hand of the
Father.
He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; to his
kingdom there will be no end.
And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds
from the Father, who together with the Father and the Son is
worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.
And in the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We expect
the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to com.
• The Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed clearly
indicates what is three in God: Father, Son and
Holy Spirit.
• The formula states that the Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Father. The form of this procession
left open: whether "THROUGH the Son"
(Greek) or "from the Father AND the Son
(Latin) [filioque].
Quicumque/Pseudo-Athanasian Creed
A creed drawn up by an anonymous author in the
middle of the 5th century, wrongly attributed to St.
Athanasius which reflects Augustine’s basic
formula: Unity in the Trinity, and the Trinity in
Unity:
… we worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in
unity; we distinguish among the persons, but we do not divide
the substance. For the Father is a distinct person; the Son is
a distinct person; and the Holy spirit is a distinct person.
Still, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit have one
divinity, equal glory, and coeternal majesty.
What the Father is, the Son is, and the Holy Spirit is.
The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the
Holy Spirit is uncreated.
The Father has immensity, the Son has immensity, and
the Holy Spirit as immensity.
The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy
Spirit is eternal. Nevertheless, there are not three eternal
beings, but one eternal being.
Thus, there are not three uncreated beings, nor three
beings having immensity, but one uncreated being and one
being that has immensity
Likewise, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent,
and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. Yet there are not three
omnipotent beings, but one omnipotent being.
Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy
Spirit is God. But there are not three gods, but one God.
The Father is lord, the Son is lord, and the Holy Spirit is
lord. There are not three lords, but one Lord.
For according to the Christian truth, we must profess that
each of the persons individually is God; and according to
the Christian religion we are forbidden to say that there are
three gods or three lords.
The Father is not made by anyone, nor created by anyone,
nor generated by anyone.
The Son is not made nor created, but he is generated by the
Father alone.
The Holy Spirit is not made nor created nor generated, but
proceeds from the Father and the Son (Filioque).
There is, then, one Father, not three Fathers; One Son, not
three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits. In this
Trinity, there is nothing that precedes, nothing subsequent to
anything else.
There is nothing greater, nothing lesser than anything else.
But the entire persons are coeternal and coequal with one
another, so that, as we have said, we worship complete unity
in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity. This, then, is what
he who wishes to be saved must believe about the Trinity.
• In spite of the unknown authorship, this creed
was accepted by the early Church and was
placed on equal footing with the NiceneConstantinopolitan creed and was used in the
liturgy.
• This creed reflects that Latin/Western belief
about the Trinity.
Creeds of the Council of Toledo &
Florence
• In response to the question about the
procession of the Holy Spirit (whether "from
the Father THROUGH the Son" or "from the
Father AND the Son") the Council of Toledo
(400 AD), affirmed that the Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Father AND the Son (filioque): "So the
Father is unoriginate, the Son begotten, and the Holy
Spirit not begotten but proceeds from the Father and the
Son."
• The during the third council of Toledo on 589,
the "filioque" formula was added to the NiceneConstantinopolitan creed. This formula spread
throughout the Latin Church. However, in the
East modifying the common creed and the
addition of the filioque was considered a
schismatic act. Moreover, in the Greek
conception, the Father is the originating source of
all divinity and diversity of the Persons.
• Together with the purely political quarrels
between the East and West, the Filioque question
led to the Great Schism of 1054.
• The Council of Florence (1431-1447), produced a
conciliatory text designed to reconcile the
Western concept of Filioque with the classical
Greek formulation (from the Father through the
Son).
• According to Florence the expressions "the Holy
Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son" and
"the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father by [or
through] the Son" can perfectly well mean one
and the same thing."
• The basis for saying is this: the Greeks distinguish
two types of causality: that of the Father (arche)
and that of the Son (aitia): for the Greeks, God is
basically the Father; everything proceeds from
him, including the Son and the Spirit; if the Son is
also the source he is so in a form received from
the Father. The Latins embrace both types of
causality by the term principium. By together
breathing out the Spirit, the Father and the Son
do not constitute a two sources; they are a single
source since the Son together with Father
breathes out the Spirit inasmuch as he is the Son
of the Father and not just a son.
The Fourth Lateran Council (1215)
• The council produced two texts designed to counteract
the Albigensians and Joachim of Fiore (a modalist).
• The council made use of the terminology and clearly
expressed the balance between the economic view of
the Trinity and the immanent view of the Trinity.
• There is only one true God - the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit: three persons but one essence and a substance or
nature that is wholly simple. The Father is from no one;
the Son is from the Father only, and the Holy Spirit
from the Father and Son equally.
• The two formulations embody the classic
expression of the trinitarian dogma: a single nature
and three distinct persons; the distinction between
persons depends on their origin: the Father
unoriginate [unbegotten, the one who begets], the
Son originating from the Father [begotten], and the
Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son.
• The council's documents strike a marvelous
balance between the immanent Trinity (the Persons
in themselves) and economic Trinity (their actions
in history). [There is a reference to the action of
the Trinity in creation and redemption
Decree for the Jacobites
• The Council of Florence in its 1443 Decree for the Jacobites
(Copts and Ethiopians) expressed the communion of three
persons as its basic theme. The doctrine that is put forward
is that of PERICHORESIS - the basis for a personalist and
living understanding of the Trinity.
• In the three persons nothing is anterior, superior, greaer,
lesser, posterior. They are co-equal, co-eternal, co-almighty.
There is a unity of nature, substance or essence shared by
all three. Because of this one nature, each of the persons is
wholly in the others (circuminsession), penetrates and is
penetrated by the others (circumincession or perichoresis).
• This doctrine tries to avoid the danger of tritheism.
SCDF Declaration "The Mystery of
the Son of God"
• This is a recent document (1972) released to counteract the
idea of some theologians positing that God as trinity had a
beginning, with the establishment of a relationship with
creation.
• The document clarifies the relationship between economic
Trinity and immanent Trinity.
• The document is important not only for its restating of the
ontological character of the Trinity (God is eternally triune
because this is God), but also for its indication of the order in
which we acquire understanding: from experience to
theology).
• Thus, from the earlier consideration of the
binding data of faith found in the NT, it emerged
that God is revealed as Trinity, as Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Starting from the Trinity as revealed
in the life and teaching of Jesus and the action of
the Holy Spirit, we can begin to see, as in a glass
darkly, the mystery of the very communion
existing between the three divine persons.
Next meeting
• Con’t reading the chapter on Dogmatic
Understanding, pp. 77-99