Understanding the Inseparable Oneness of the Trinity - Teaching of Saint Symeon the New Theologian

In the realm of Christian theology, particularly from an Orthodox perspective, the concept of the Trinity - God in three persons - is a profound and central tenet. The teachings of St. Symeon the New Theologian, especially as found in his third theological discourse, offer deep insights into this mystery. 

The Unity and Distinction Within the Trinity

St. Symeon’s discourse delves into the mystique of how the three hypostases (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) are individually distinct yet inseparably united. It's a divine paradox: each Person of the Trinity is fully present in the others. When one is named, the others are fully present, not just in essence but in action and glory. This teaching challenges us to broaden our understanding of God’s nature beyond simple categorizations.

The Dynamic Interplay of the Trinity in Prayer and Worship

Consider the dynamics of this relationship in our prayer life. As St. Symeon illustrates, when we address the Father, we are simultaneously in communion with the Son and the Spirit. Our prayers to the Son are heard by the Father and inspired by the Spirit. This interconnectedness speaks to a deeper spiritual reality - that in approaching one Person of the Trinity, we are drawn into the fullness of God’s presence.

The Role of Grace in Revealing the Trinity

It is through grace, Symeon argues, that we are granted the understanding of this trinitarian mystery. This grace lifts us up, enabling us to perceive and participate in the divine life. When we pray to the Father, it's through the Spirit and in the Son. This is not mere doctrinal formula; it is a living experience of God’s presence in the Orthodox faith.

The Holy Spirit: The Spirit of Understanding and Life

St. Symeon places a strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit as the One who brings understanding. The Spirit, proceeding from the Father and living in us through the Son, is a wellspring of life, wisdom, and joy. This Spirit guides us to the truth of God’s nature and our own participation in the divine life.

A Call to Deeper Understanding and Prayer

St. Symeon's discourse is not just theological speculation; it's a call to a more profound and holistic prayer life. Recognizing the Trinity's unity in our prayers and spiritual practices deepens our relationship with God. It's a reminder that in every prayer, every act of worship, we engage with the fullness of God.

Conclusion: Embracing the Mystery of the Trinity

The teachings of St. Symeon the New Theologian offer a rich, multi-dimensional understanding of the Trinity. They invite us into a deeper appreciation of how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, though distinct, are profoundly united in their essence, actions, and glory. This understanding is more than a theological concept; it's a gateway to experiencing the fullness of God's presence in every moment of our spiritual journey.

Reference: https://maksimologija.org/2020/12/19/st-symeon-the-new-theologian-third-theological-discourse/

St. Symeon on the Equality within the Holy Trinity: Is the Father Greater than the Son?

St. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022 AD), a revered figure in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is celebrated for his direct experience of the divine light. His teachings, emphasizing personal experience of God and the transformative power of divine light, have significantly influenced Orthodox Christianity affirming the experience and teaching of early Church Fathers. Symeon's work, marked by a deep understanding of the Trinity, offers profound insights into the nature of the divine-human relationship.

St. Symeon address In his First Theological Discourse the misconception that the Father holds a superior rank or authority than the Son. He critiques this view as  presumptuous and arrogant, arguing that such attempts to rationalize the Trinity go beyond human understanding.

Concerning the argument that the Father must be greater than the Son because He is the cause of the Son's existence, St. Symeon refers to the Creed that asserts there is One God. He says, The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are “eternally united eternally unchanging so they cannot have any priority among themselves.” This eternal unity negates the possibility of division or hierarchy within the Trinity.

St. Symeon further elaborates: ”if you want to say the Father is prior to the Son because the Son is born from him and is for this reason is also greater, then I say to you that the Son is prior to the Father, for if the Son had not been born then the Father would not have been called the Father.” If you place the Father before the Son then you imply that before he was begotten he did not exist .But we know that ”they are eternally united and eternally unchanging, so they cannot be the cause of one another.” The Son [like the father] is eternal without beginning just like the Father.”

We can say that the Father is the cause of the Son’s earthly birth. because this is different than the cause of the creation of the divine essence of the Son which is eternal. He explains, In “the divine and ineffable generation of God the Word [Jesus], we say that the Father is the cause of the Son just as the mind is of the spoken word…, but we do not say that he is prior because we would divide the one indivisible deity into three gods.”

Symeon underlines that the divine properties are beyond human comprehension and indivisible. In conclusion, St. Symeon affirms that the Trinity comprises three persons (or hypostases) of equal status, united in one undivided essence. This indivisible unity forms a harmonious, eternal whole, making it impossible to assert the superiority of one person over the others. The Trinity, as described by St. Symeon, is a perfect unity encompassing three distinct persons, each integral to the singular Godhead.

Reference: Symeon The New Theologian: The Practical and Theological Chapters and the Three Theological Discourses; pp 107-110; trans. Paul McGluckin; Cistercian Publications; Kalamazoo. MI

https://maksimologija.org/2020/10/30/st-symeon-the-new-theologian-theological-discourse-1-against-those-who-ascribe-the-concept-of-anteriority-to-the-father-2/

Why is the Holy Trinity Essential in Orthodox Spirituality?

This is a difficult but important question. The foundation of our spiritual life is based on the nature of God, One God in Three Persons, The Holy Trinity. So why is this truth about God so important in the Orthodox understanding of Theosis, our aim to seek union with God? How can our unity with God in eternity be guaranteed? Only if the divinity has also taken on flesh. The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ, His Son, shows the love God has for man. Why? Because for our union to be possible God cannot be some impersonal being. Because of the Triune nature of God, in our path to unity with God we will never lose our identity. It is because God has become man that we too will be assured of our identity in our eternal life. Like Christ related to the Father we too will have a personal relationship in heaven for eternity with Him nourished in His love. Since we know God to be trinitarian we know God can never be reduced to some infinite oneness but always exists as Three Persons. This is the true nature of God as found in Holy Scripture. The Orthodox Saints use the terms "life in Christ", Life in Spirit, and the "Spiritual life" to describe the nature of union with God.

The distinguishing feature of Christianity is this Triune nature of God. God became Man to transform us in Spirit. He communicates to us by the Spirit and His uncreated energies. God is never distant from us because His uncreated energies support our existence and nurture our spiritual growth.

Saint Simeon the New Theologian describes the union experienced by him as follows.

Even at night and in the midst of darkness I see, trembling, Christ opening the heaven for me and I behold how He himself beholds me from there and He sees me here and below together with the Father and the Spirit in the thrice holy light. Because this is one and the same nevertheless in three images, although it is only one. And it illuminates my soul brighter than the sun and floods my spirit covered with gloom.... And this miracle was even the more astonishing because it opened my eyes and helped me to see, and that which I saw is He himself. Because this light helped those who behold to know themselves in light of those who see in light see Him again. For they see the light of Spirit and in as much they see Him, they see the Son. Now he who has been made worthy to see the Son, sees also the Father.

Note how Saint Simeon sees God in distinct three persons. This is quite different from the way many western mystics like Eckhart see God. Eckhart only sees God as a unity of persons, one thing. While Simeon sees God in the differentiation of the three persons. Christians from the earliest times have seen Christ as the Son, something which is much greater than simply Christ the man. When we are blessed with divine insight in union with God we will find the living relationship between man and God like that which exists in the relationship among the Holy Trinity.

This relationship of the Three persons is also a demonstration of pure love of God. From this we know that God is truly love. Not only is He a God of love but our union with Him demands our love of Him.

Staniloae writes

Only a perfect community of supreme persons can nourish with its unending and perfect love, our thirst for love in relation to it and between ourselves. This relationship cannot be theory but must be lived too. This is so because love isn't satisfied with only being theory, but wants to give itself, to welcome and be welcomed...

The Trinity, radiated by this love which is proper to it, can't be lived and conceived without it uncreated energies in ever increasing levels. Love is characterized by this paradox. One the one hand it unites object who love each other, on the other hand, it doesn't confuse their identity...

God wants to gradually extend the gift of His infinite love to another order of conscious subjects and namely to created ones. He wants to extend this love in its paternal form as toward other sons united with His Son. 

So after the creation of man, He wanted His Son to become man so that His love for His Son, made man, would be a love which is directed toward any human face, like that of His Son. In the Son made flesh we are all adopted by the Father... God made man as an image of His Son so that His Son could become man too. The Father loves all of us in His Son, because the Son was made our brother....The Son's love for us isn't separated from the Father's love for us, but in His love as a brother He makes the Father's love and also His love for the Father, engulf us. In us the Father welcomes other loving and loved sons because His Son was made our beloved brother.

Also, with this love of the Father and our love for Him in Christ, love is poured on us in the form of the Holy Spirit, His uncreated energies.

Staniloae

If the Son had not become man we would not have received the love of the Father. It is in Christ as man that it reached us. It is by the incarnate Son that the Holy Spirit radiates within humanity and the world is the love of God for us of outs for God.

It is the Spirit that brings into creation Trinitarian love raising creation to the level of divine love and Theosis. This is why we invoke the Holy Spirit in all our sanctifying services. It is by the Holy Spirit that creation is raised up to the divine world and the divine realm penetrates us. With this we are changed. This is the nature of Orthodox spirituality. Our aim is to acquire his uncreated energy that comes though the love of God in the Holy Spirit. This much more than the understanding of God intellectual through the Scriptures. Man can be joined with God though His uncreated energies that we are blessed with by the Holy Spirit.

Reference: Orthodox Spirituality by Fr, Dumitru Staniloae, pp 46-55.

Christian Way of Knowing

What is Christian Way of Knowing?

What makes the faith of a Christian unique is the belief in a Trinitarian God––The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. This belief is not shared by Jews, Muslims and many other religions. For them the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is not a god but only a prophet. As Christians we cannot deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who is both fully God and fully human. Jesus Christ is not just some super human being or a prophet, but He is God, being the same in essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Yet, we also hold firm to the belief in One God as do the Jews and Muslims. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, but of three persons. They act in total harmony (model of total love) but as different persons. This trinitarian nature of the one God is surrounded with mystery because it is not totally rational, nor deducible from a set of propositions. It is with this fundamental mystical Trinitarian concept of God where Christian knowing must begin.

Where did this belief come from? It did not come though any intellectual deductions, but from God's revelations to mankind.  It is expressed in a veiled way in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament it is fully revealed with the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, His adoration of the Father, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Modern theologian Dumitru Staniloae writes,

By becoming incarnate the Son is also avowing as man his filial love of the Father, but is an obedient love; likewise he reveals the Father to men so that they may love him precisely as Father.  ...Through the Son the Father is avowing his own love as Father.  Morever, the Holy Spirit makes spiritual the humanity assumed by the Son and deifies it, which is ti say, makes it fit to participate in the love which the divine hypostasis of the Son has toward the Father. The revelation of the Trinity...has no ther purpose than to draw us after grace, to draw us through the Holy Spirit into the filial relationship the Son has with the Father.

So what is the significance of this Christian belief that defies logical proof?  

The truth it embraces is that we only know ultimate reality though God's revelation to us.  We are not always able to provide a clear rationale for the revelations provided to us. We must have a bit of humility as we are God's creation and therefore have limitations in the knowledge of the Creator and His creation. The ultimate knowledge cannot come from man's own metal constructs or logical deductions but must exist on a higher plane.  The only way we can be assured of knowing the full truth of reality is through a relationship with God Himself.  This ability to have such a relationship is the uniqueness of our creation as human beings, where we embody both body and spirit, linking creation and the spiritual. Christian knowledge is therefore personal and based on a relationship with God. 

Paul tells us in his letter to the Colossians,

I struggle that their hearts may be comforted and for them to be united in love obtaining the treasure that is in the full assurance of understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God the Father and of Christ.  In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! ( Col 2:2-3)

This is why we seek out and trust people who are called holy for spiritual guidance.  These are people who have perfected themselves is such a way that they have been blessed with a personal relationship with God and filled with the activity of the Holy Spirit.  They can be found mainly today in the monasteries of the Church. When we encounter such persons, they have a special presence or radiance of an "uncreated light." We immediately sense that they posses a wisdom that we can all have, but do not yet posses, even though we may be highly knowledgeable of Scripture, Church Tradition, and highly skilled in logic and rhetoric. Such knowledge is not dependent on our level of education. Do you remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira.  The first Christians formed a community where all things were shared in common.  Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a possession and secretly held back a part of the proceeds for themselves.  Peter had the insight of the Holy Spirit to know what they had done.  He says, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart so as to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?" (Acts 5:3) This is the nature of a holy person. They are given powers of insight beyond our normal senses. This indicates a higher level of knowing.

The closer we come to God, the wiser we become, the more we know, the more powers we are given, and the better we are able to commune with Him. This is what is significant.  You see, its not our intellectual knowledge that makes us wiser, but our ability to commune with God.  Our ability to know truth is personal and based on a intimate relationship with a Trinitarian God.  Our possession of it depends on how well we develop this relationship with God. This is the basis of the Christian way of knowing.  Trinitarian knowing is not one of logic, but one based on a closeness to God where He reveals to us His fulness of the truth.

This is not an easy view for us to hold, because since the Enlightenment we have believed primarily that truth is based on reason and our scientific exploration of God's physical creation. This has been tempered in modern times with relativism which denies any absolute truth reducing all claims of truth to a relative and potentially meaningless position. For a Christian, truth cannot be  based on propositions or intellectual conclusions or obscured in relativity. Reality is based on the existence of a Trinitarian God with whom we can form a personal relationship and experience His energies. 

What does this say about the role of objective knowledge for a Christian? Clifton Healy in his article, "A Project for Faithful Thinking" writes,

A Christian understands that no human being can have purely objective knowledge. We believe that as creations of God, ours is a contingent knowing, inescapably subjective per se. But this subjectivity is balanced and transformed by the only being who can claim pure objectivity, the Holy Trinity. The Christian has access to the objectivity which God himself provides in and through the Holy Spirit and his testimony in the Church, the Scriptures and the life of the Church, also known as Tradition. There is no other focal point outside the Holy Spirit’s work in the Body of Christ through which any of us can have access to unchanging Truth. 

As the Apostle Peter tells us in his epistle that God’s “divine power has granted us all that we need to live in godliness through the knowledge of  Him who called us by His own glory and virtue. Through these things, He has granted to us His precious and tremendous promises so that... you may become partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:3–4)

If it is the case that truly Christian thinking is, at its core, a partaking of the divine nature, and if Christian thinking, to be faithful, must be whole, and can only be whole insofar as it is in real communion with the Holy Trinity, then it clearly must also be the case that Christian thinking, if it is to be faithful, must be holy. For our God is a consuming fire, whom, without holiness, no one will see...

What is the Christian way of knowing and thinking?  It is attention that is centered on knowing God and His revelations in a personal yet universal way. It is attention whose aim is to bring us into a more intimate relationship with God. It is attention that strives to understand what it is that God wills us to do and then to maintain the discipline in our bodies to actually do it.  The way of knowing for a Christian is about bringing our bodies in harmony with the nature of God's love demonstrated in the nature of the Holy Trinity so we in total wholeness form a union with Him. "It is in Christ we find all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Unidentified quotes from Clifton D. Healy on his blog: This Is Life!: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis, A Project for Faithful Thinking.