What does it mean - “In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen

The essence of the dogma

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which is the dogma of Holy Trinity, occupies a central place in the liturgical practice of many Christian churches and is the basis of Christian doctrine. According to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed:

  • God the Father is the creator of all things (visible and invisible)
  • God the Son is eternally born of God the Father
  • God the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father.

According to the teachings of the church, God, one in three persons, is an incorporeal invisible spirit (John 4:24), living (Jer. 10; 1 Thess. 1:9), eternal (Ps. 89:3; Exod. 40:28; Rom. 14:25), omnipresent (Ps. 139:7-12; Acts 17:27) and all-good (Matt. 19:17; Ps. 24:8). It is impossible to see it, since God does not have in himself such things as the visible world consists of.

« God is light and in Him there is no darkness"(John 1:5). God the Father is not born and does not come from another Person; The Son of God is eternally born from God the Father; The Holy Spirit comes eternally from God the Father. All three Persons are completely equal in essence and properties. Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God, born “before all ages,” “light from light,” eternally with the Father, “consubstantial with the Father.” There always was and is the Son, just like the Holy Spirit. Through the Son, all things were created: “In Him all things were,” “and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3. God the Father creates all things through the Word, i.e. His Only Begotten Son, under the influence of the Holy Spirit: “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"(John 1:1). The Father was never without the Son and the Holy Spirit: “ Before Abraham was, I am"(John 8:58).

Despite the common nature of all the Persons of the Holy Trinity and Their equivalence (“equality and co-thronehood”), the acts of pre-eternal birth (of the Son) and procession (of the Holy Spirit) differ in an incomprehensible way from each other. All Persons of the indivisible Trinity are in ideal (absolute and self-sufficient) mutual love - “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The birth of the Son and the procession of the Spirit are recognized as eternal, but voluntary properties of the divine nature, in contrast to how God out of nothing (not from His Nature) created the countless angelic world (invisible) and the material world (visible by us) according to His good will (according to His love), although he could not have created anything (nothing forced Him to do this). Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky states that it is not the abstract Divine nature (forced) that produces three Persons, but vice versa: Three supernatural Persons (freely) assign absolute properties to their common Divine nature. All the faces of the Divine Being remain unfused, inseparable, inseparable, unchangeable. It is unacceptable to represent the three-personal God either as three-headed (since one head cannot give birth to another and exhaust a third), nor as tripartite (Reverend Andrew of Crete in his canon calls the Trinity simple (non-composite)).

In Christianity, God is united with his creation: “ On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you."(John 14:20)), " I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser; Every branch of Me that does not bear fruit He cuts off; and every one that bears fruit he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me and I in you"(John 15:4-6)). Based on these gospel verses, Gregory Palamas concludes that “ God exists and is called the nature of all things, for everything participates in Him and exists by virtue of this participation.».

Orthodox doctrine believes that during the incarnation (incarnation) of the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity of God the Son into the God-man Jesus Christ (through the third hypostasis of the Holy Trinity of God the Holy Spirit and the Most Pure Virgin Mary), during the earthly life of the Savior, during His suffering on the cross, bodily death, His descent into hell, during His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, the eternal relations between the Persons of the Holy Trinity did not undergo any changes.

The doctrine of the Trinity God is given with complete certainty only in the New Testament, but Christian theologians find its beginnings in the Old Testament revelation. In particular, a phrase from the book of Joshua "The God of gods is the Lord, the God of gods is the Lord"(Joshua 22:22) is interpreted as confirming the triune nature of God.

Christians see indications of the involvement of Christ and the Holy Spirit in the divine nature in the teaching about the Angel of Jehovah (Gen. 16:7 ff.; Gen. 22:17, Gen. 22:12; Gen. 31:11 ff.; Exod. 3: 2 words; Ex. 63:8), the angel of the Covenant (Mal. 3:1), the name of God who dwells in the temple (1 Kings 8:29; 1 Kings 9:3; 2 Kings 21:4), the glory of God, filling the temple (1 Kings 8:11; Isa. 6:1) and especially about the Spirit of God emanating from God, and finally, about the Messiah Himself (Isa. 48:16; Isa. 61:1; Zech. 7:12) .

History of the formation of the dogma

Pre-Nicene period

The beginning of the theological revelation of the dogma of the Trinity is laid by St. Justin the Philosopher († 166). In the word “Logos” Justin finds the Hellenic-philosophical meaning of “reason”. In this sense, the Logos is already a purely immanent divine principle. But since Justin one-sidedly presents only the external world as the subject of divine thinking, then the Logos emanating from the Father becomes dubious in relation to world-making. “The Son is born when God in the beginning created all things through Him.” The birth of the Son, therefore, although it precedes creation, is in close relationship with it and seems to take place before creation itself; and since the will of the Father appears to be the cause of birth, and the Son is called the servant of this will, He becomes in a relationship of decisive subordination - έν δευτέρα χώρα (in second place). In this view one can already discern erroneous trends, in the struggle against which the proper revelation of the dogma was finally accomplished. Both the Jewish-religious view, brought up on the Old Testament revelation, and the Greek-philosophical one equally gravitated towards the recognition of an absolute monarchy in God. The only difference was that Jewish monotheism came from the concept of a single divine will, and philosophical speculation (which found its completion in Neoplatonism) understood absolute being in the sense of pure substance.

Formulation of the problem

The Christian doctrine of the Redeemer as the incarnate Son of God posed a difficult task for theological speculation: how to reconcile the doctrine of the divine nature of Christ with the recognition of the absolute unity of the Divine. There were two ways to solve this problem. Coming from the concept of God as a substance, it was possible to pantheistically or deistically imagine the Logos as participating in divine existence; Based on the concept of God as a personal will, one could think of the Logos as an instrument subordinate to this will. In the first case there was a danger of turning the Logos into an impersonal force, into a simple principle inseparable from God; in the second case, the Logos was a separate personality from God the Father, but ceased to be a participant in the inner divine life and being of the Father. The fathers and teachers of the ante-Nicene period did not give a proper formulation of this question. Instead of clarifying the internal, immanent relationship of the Son to the Father, they focused more on clarifying His relationship to the World; Insufficiently revealing the idea of ​​the independence of the Son as a separate divine hypostasis, they weakly emphasized the idea of ​​His complete consubstantiality with the Father. Those two trends that are noticeable in Justin - on the one hand, the recognition of the immanence and equality of the Son with the Father, on the other, His decisive placing in subordination to the Father - are observed in them in an even more dramatic form. With the exception of St. Irinius of Lyons, all writers of this period before Origen, in revealing the doctrine of the relationship of the Son to the Father, adhere to the theory of the difference between Λόγος ένδιάθετος and Λόγος προφορικός - the Internal Word and the spoken Word. Since these concepts were borrowed from the philosophy of Philo, where they had the character not of purely theological, but rather of cosmological concepts, church writers, when operating with these concepts, paid more attention to the latter - their cosmological side. The utterance of the Word by the Father, understood as the birth of the Son, is conceived by them not as the moment of the internal self-revelation of God, but as the beginning of revelation ad extra. The basis for this birth lies not in the very essence of God, but in His relation to the world, and the birth itself seems to be a matter of the will of the Father: God wanted to create the world and gave birth to the Son - he spoke the Word. These writers do not express a clear consciousness of the idea that the birth of the Son is not only generatio aeterna, but also sempiterna (always present): birth seems to be an eternal act, but taking place, so to speak, on the border of finite life. From this moment of birth, the Logos becomes a real, separate hypostasis, whereas at the first moment of its existence, as Λόγος ένδιάθετος, it is conceived more as a property of only the spiritual nature of the Father, by virtue of which the Father is a rational being.

Tertullian

This doctrine of the dual Word was developed with the greatest consistency and sharpness by the Western writer Tertullian. He contrasts the internal Word not only with the spoken Word, as with previous writers (Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus of Antioch), but also with the Son. From the moment of just the utterance - the “birth” - of the Word, God and the Word enter into the relationship of Father and Son. There was a time, therefore, when there was no Son; The Trinity begins to exist in its entirety only from the moment of the creation of the world. Since the reason for the birth of the Son in Tertullian seems to be the desire of God to create the world, it is natural that subordinationism appears in him, and, moreover, in a sharper form than in his predecessors. The Father, giving birth to the Son, already determined His relationship to the world as the God of revelation, and for this purpose, in the birth itself, he humiliated Him a little; The Son, precisely, includes everything that philosophy recognizes as unworthy and unthinkable in God, as an absolutely simple being and supreme of all conceivable definitions and relationships. Tertullian often presents the relationship between the Father and the Son as a relationship of a part to the whole.

Origen

The same duality of direction in the disclosure of dogma is also noticed in the most prominent representative of the pre-Nicene period - Origen († 254), although the latter renounces the theory of the difference between the internal and spoken Word. Adhering to the philosophical view of Neoplatonism, Origen thinks of God as an absolutely simple beginning, as an absolute enad (perfect unity), the highest of all conceivable definitions. The latter are contained in God only potentially; their active manifestation is given only in the Son. The relationship between the Father and the Son is therefore conceived as the ratio of potential energy to actual energy. However, the Son is not simply the activity of the Father, the actual manifestation of His power, but a hypostatic activity. Origen decisively ascribes a special Person to the Son. The birth of the Son seems to him, in the full sense of the word, to be an inherent act taking place in the inner life of God. By virtue of divine immutability, this act exists in God from eternity. Here Origen decisively rises above the point of view of his predecessors. With the formulation of the teaching given by him, there is no longer any room left for the thought that Λόγος ένδιάθετος was not at some time at the same time Λόγος προφορικος. Nevertheless, this victory over the theory of the dual Word was not yet decisive and complete: the logical connection between the birth of the Son and the existence of the world, on which this theory rested, was not completely broken by Origen. By virtue of the same divine immutability by which Origen recognizes the birth of the Son as an eternal act, he considers the creation of the world equally eternal and places both acts in such a close connection that he even confuses them with each other and in their first moment merges them to the point of indistinguishability. The creative thoughts of the Father are presented not only as contained in the Son - the Logos, but are also identified with His very hypostasis, as components of one whole, and the Son of God is considered as an ideal world. The force that produces both acts is represented by the all-sufficient will of the Father; The son turns out to be only an intermediary through whom he becomes possible transition from the absolute unity of God to the plurality and diversity of the world. In the absolute sense, Origen recognizes only the Father as God; only He is ό Θεός, αληθινός Θεός or Αυτόθεος, the Son is only simply Θεός, δεύτερος Θεός, God only by participation in the Divinity of the Father like other θεοί, although, as the first to be deified, he surpasses the latter to an immeasurable degree in his glory. Thus, from the sphere of absolute Deity, the Son was relegated by Origen to the same category with created beings.

Monarchianism

Holy Trinity Monastery of Jonas. Kyiv

The opposition of these two directions appears with complete clarity if we take them in their one-sided development on the one hand in Monarchianism, on the other in Arianism. For monarchism, which sought to bring to rational clarity the idea of ​​the relationship of the trinity to the unity in the Divine, church teaching seemed to conceal a contradiction. Economy, the dogma about the Divinity of Christ, according to this view, was a negation of the monarchy, the dogma about the unity of the Divinity. In order to save the monarchy, without unconditionally denying economy, there seemed to be two possible ways: either denial of the personal difference of Christ from the Father, or denial of His Divinity. Whether to say that Christ is not God, or vice versa, that He is precisely the one and only God Himself - in both cases, the monarchy remains intact. According to the difference between these two ways of solving the issue, monarchians are divided into two classes: modalists and dynamists.

Monarchianism modalistic

Modalistic monarchianism in its preparatory stage found expression in the patripassianism of Praxeus and Noetus. In their view, the Father and the Son are different only secundum modum. The One God, insofar as he is thought of as invisible, unborn, is God the Father, and insofar as he is thought of as visible, begotten, is God the Son. The basis for such modification is the will of God Himself. In the mode of the unborn Father, God appears before his incarnation; in the act of incarnation He enters into the mode of the Son, and in this mode He suffered (Pater passus est: hence the very name of this faction of modalists, Patripassians). Modalistic monarchianism finds its completion in the system of Sabellius, who for the first time introduced the third hypostasis of the Trinity into the circle of his contemplation. According to the teachings of Sabellius, God is a monad alien to all differences, which then extends outward into a triad. Depending on the demands of the world government, God takes on this or that person (πρόσωπον - mask) and conducts the corresponding conversation. Living in absolute independence as a monad, God, starting from Himself and beginning to act, becomes the Logos, which is nothing more than the principle underlying further forms of revelation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As Father, God revealed Himself in the Old Testament; in the New Testament He took upon Himself the face of the Son; the third, finally, form of revelation in the person of the Holy Spirit occurs from the moment the Holy Spirit descends on the apostles. Each role ends when the need for it has passed. When, therefore, the goal of revelation in the person of the Holy Spirit is achieved, this mode will cease to exist, and the “reduction” of the Logos into the former monad will follow, that is, the return of the latter to the original silence and unity, tantamount to the complete cessation of the existence of the world.

Monarchianism is dynamic

In a completely opposite way, dynamic monarchianism tried to reconcile the monarchy in God with the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, whose representatives were Theodotus the tanner, Theodotus the banker, Artemon and Paul of Samosata, from whom this form of monarchialism received its highest development. To save the monarchy, the Dynamists directly sacrificed the Divinity of Christ. Christ was a simple man, and, as such, if he existed before his appearance in the world, it was only in divine predestination. There can be no question of the incarnation of the Divine in Him. The same divine power (δύναμις) that had previously acted in the prophets acted in Him; only in Him was it in incomparably more complete measure. However, according to Theodotus the Younger, Christ is not even the highest phenomenon of history, for above Him stands Melchizedek, as a mediator not of God and men, but of God and angels. In this form, monarchianism no longer left room for the Trinity of revelation, resolving the trinity into an indefinite plurality. Pavel Samosatsky combined this view with the concept of Logos. Logos, however, for Paul is nothing more than the only known side in God. He is approximately the same in God as the human word (understood as a rational principle) is in the human spirit. Consequently, there can be no question of the substantial presence of the Logos in Christ. Between the Logos and the man Jesus, only a relationship of contact could be established, a connection in knowledge, in will and action. Logos is conceived, therefore, only as the principle of the influence of God on the man Jesus, under which the moral development of the latter takes place, which makes it possible to apply divine predicates to him [In this form of monarchianism one can see a great similarity with the latest theories of German theology. Ritschl's theory, which is widely used, is essentially no different from the views of Paul of Samosat; the theologians of the Richlian school go even further than the dynamists when they deny the fact of the birth of Christ from the Virgin, which was recognized by these latter.].

Formation of Creeds

In Eastern theology, the final word belonged to John of Damascus, who tried to understand the concept of the unity of being with the trinity of persons in God and to show the mutual conditionality of the existence of hypostases, the doctrine of περιχώρησις - the interpenetration of hypostases. The theology of medieval scholasticism believed that its entire task in relation to the dogma of T. was to indicate the exact boundaries of permissible expressions and turns of speech, which cannot be transgressed without falling into one or another heresy. Having torn dogma away from its natural soil - from Christology, it contributed to the fact that it lost its lively interest in the religious consciousness of believers. This interest was reawakened only by the German the latest philosophy, especially Hegel. But this same philosophy showed in the best possible way what the Christian doctrine of the Trinity God can turn into, once it is torn away from the soil on which it grew and they try to derive it from only general concepts mind. Instead of the Son of God in the biblical sense, Hegel has a world in which Divine life, instead of the Holy Spirit - absolute philosophy, in which God comes to Himself. The Trinity was here transferred from the sphere of divine existence to the region of the exclusive human spirit, and the result was a decisive denial of the Trinity. It should be noted that this dogma was adopted at the first ecumenical council by vote, that is, by a show of hands, after the dogma on the divine essence of Jesus Christ was issued at the same council.

Many of us grew up in an environment of atheism under the Soviet Union. Many - in conditions of mass “fascination” with religion, when crowds of people flocked to churches on Easter holidays, for example. But to true faith Not everyone has come and continues to come. I don’t want to say only a few, but it would be very nice if more people turned their gaze towards what God is.

For a long time I could not understand who the Holy Spirit from the Holy Trinity was. With God the Father and God the Son, it seemed more or less clear, but the third character was incomprehensible and mysterious to me. Once, in a conversation with colleagues, I expressed my doubts. To which came a half-joking/half-serious answer: your task is to find out and explain to us. Then I had no idea that the Universe would hear our conversation and direct me in the right direction to find out the truth.

The vastness of the Internet, as in general Information system, are very huge, but there are High power, guiding our hand. You should not say otherwise, even if it is impossible to see with your eyes and understand with your mind. The world is structured very wisely and much more complex than we think. I think that’s why I came across a book from which I learned a lot of useful and necessary information. This book is called “The Divine System” by Vladimir Popov. I will not retell its meaning, but anyone who is interested in the topic of the structure of the universe and how they can alleviate their ordeals and sufferings can, if desired, find it and acquire it.

So, God the Son- this is the most famous person in the history of mankind, Jesus Christ, and at the same time God Manifested or the material world. What we see, hear, feel and sense. Including ourselves. This is why it is said that God created us in his own image and likeness.

Holy Spirit- This God Unmanifest , or energies. What we cannot see or touch with our hands. But it is as real as matter. This back side the material world familiar to us. After all, in order for the body to come to life, it is necessary to “breathe” life into it.

These two realities exist simultaneously, and together form a single, common world, or God the Father, One God . This is also where our world comes from, manifesting itself in the unity and opposition of concepts.

Two realities

We are all given a body, one and only, into which we come into this world, and which we leave, going into another world. The body is our home, the home of the soul or what we are. Although we are both the body and our beliefs, thoughts and roles at the same time. We can control all this, and at the same time the body lives as if on its own, when we are carried away by thoughts or automatically perform some actions. And only a few people can control the work of the heart and breathing through long and hard training.

We have become accustomed to the material world since childhood. We see our parents, people around us. We see mountains, fields, plains. We walk on hard asphalt and soft grass. We fall asleep in a warm bed, move in space using Vehicle. Houses, streets, cities, cars and computers have become an integral part of us. This is our world - do you see, hear, feel?

We have gone so deep into the material that we simply forgot about the other side of life. And it is so connected that by adding in one, the second is definitely depleted. And this second is the invisible world of energies. This is why lack of energy in people is so common now. The harmony that each of us strives for, consciously or subconsciously, has been disrupted.

Ignorance of the laws does not exempt you from responsibility. This statement is also true in the case of subtle matters. We are still only at the very beginning of the journey of understanding this part of our world. But even what has long been known to humanity is forgotten, discarded, trampled upon... Where do you think Evil comes from? Any evil is a flaw. Just like darkness is simply the absence of light. Even a small spark can defeat darkness. A smile is also capable of small miracles. Every great thing starts small.

For some reason, many of us think that God is an old man sitting on a cloud. But it's just as true as flat earth on three elephants or whales. The One God is everything that surrounds us, this is the world itself, visible and invisible. Including ourselves, we are an integral part of God. We are inseparable from him. We are like cells in a single organism. It seems that everyone is on their own, but that’s just it. By helping others, we improve our own world; by destroying someone, we poison our own existence.

This is very important to understand. To change what people have already done. Don't blame someone or something. It's stupid and useless. Turn your gaze inward, start with yourself. Be able to discern the Divine principle in yourself. Feel yourself part of the huge One God. If you succeed, consider it a huge breakthrough. And then take the next step - send love to all this, that is, to God. And this is it the main objective in the life of every person - to learn to love. It would be very easy if it weren't so difficult...

In conclusion, I want to express one more thought.

Parallel worlds are very close - the world of insects, microorganisms, the world of galaxies and atoms. All of them can only guess about our existence. Or they may not even realize it. But this doesn’t change anything - we continue to live.

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Believe it or not...

The Holy Trinity appeared to him

August 30 (September 12 according to the "new style") 1533. Repose of St. Alexander of Svirsky the Wonderworker

Venerable Alexander of Svirsky Workshop of Alexander of the Svirsky Monastery. Mid-16th century

Venerable Alexander Svirsky (15.6.1448-30.8.1533) - a rare phenomenon among the host of Russian saints. He was born in the village of Mandera on the Oyat River on Novgorod land, opposite the Ostrovsky Vvedensky Monastery. They named him Amos. His parents Stefan and Vassa were poor, pious peasants; they gave their children a Christian education. When Amos came of age, his parents wanted to marry him, but he only thought about leaving the world for the sake of saving his soul.

He learned about the Valaam monastery early and often remembered it and, finally, by the will of God, he met the Valaam monks. Their conversation lasted for a long time about the holy monastery, about its rules, about the three kinds of life of monastics. And so, inspired by this conversation, he decided to go to “northern Athos.” Having crossed the Svir River, on the shore of Lake Roshchinskoye, the monk heard a mysterious voice, telling him that he would create a monastery in this place. And a great light dawned on him. When he came to Valaam, the abbot accepted him and tonsured him with the name Alexander in 1474. He was then 26 years old. The novice monk zealously began to strive in labor, obedience, fasting and prayer. Then his father came to Valaam looking for him; The monk managed not only to calm the irritated father, but also to convince him to become a monk along with his mother. Stefan took monastic vows with the name Sergius, and his mother with the name Varvara. Their graves are still venerated in the functioning Vvedeno-Oyatsky Monastery.

Alexander continued to asceticize on Valaam, amazing the strictest monks with the severity of his life. At first he labored in a hostel, then in silence on the island, now called the Holy Island, and spent 10 years there. On the Holy Island there is still a narrow and damp cave, in which only one person can hardly fit. The grave that the Monk Alexander dug for himself has also been preserved.

One day, while standing in prayer, Saint Alexander heard a divine voice: “Alexander, get out of here and go to the place shown before, where you can be saved.” The Great Light showed him a place in the southeast, on the banks of the Svir River. This was in 1485. There he found “the forest was very red, this place was forests and the lake was full and red everywhere and there was no one there who lived before.” The monk placed his hut on the shore of Lake Roshchinskoye. Half a mile away from it there is Lake Svyatoe, separated from it by Stremnina Mountain. Here he spent several years in complete solitude, eating not even bread, “but the potion growing here.”

The hermitage of the ascetic was, by the will of God, first discovered by the nobleman Andrei Zavalishin while chasing a deer while hunting, and through him this Holy place It later became known to many people. The monastery began to grow, and the fame of the gift of insight and healing of physical and spiritual ailments given to its abbot soon spread throughout all the surrounding lands. During his lifetime, the Orthodox people revered Alexander Svirsky as a saint.

In the 23rd year of the saint’s settlement in the desert, in 1507, big light appeared in his temple and he saw three men entering him. They were dressed in light clothes and illuminated by the glory of heaven “more than the sun.” From their lips the saint heard the command: “Beloved, as you see Him speaking with you in Three Persons, build a church in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Consubstantial Trinity... But I leave you My peace and give you My peace”. Few people have seen the entire Holy Trinity - this is the rarest miracle in human history.

By God's command, St. Alexander built a chapel on this place, and to this day the human soul trembles at this place, thinking about the closeness of God to His people. What is striking in the Life of St. Alexander is that despite the great abundance of divine visits given to him, he always remained a humble monk, wanting to serve the brethren and simple villagers who came to the monastery in everything.

Several years before the death of the Reverend, God put into his heart the good idea of ​​creating a stone church in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos with a refectory. And then one night, when the laying had already been completed, at the end of the usual prayer rule The monk saw an extraordinary light that illuminated the entire monastery, and at the base of the Church of the Intercession, on the altar, in royal glory, the Most Pure Mother of God sat on the throne with the Eternal Child, surrounded by a host of incorporeal heavenly powers. The monk fell face down on the ground before the majesty of Her Glory, since he could not contemplate the radiance of this inexpressible light. Then the Most Pure Lady commanded him to stand up and consoled him with the promise to remain constant with the Monastery and to help those living in it in all their needs, both during the life of the Reverend and after his death.

A year before his death, the Reverend, calling all the brethren to him and announcing to them that the time would soon come for his repose from this temporary, sad and sorrowful life into another eternal, painless and always joyful life, appointed after himself four holy monks: Isaiah, Nicodemus, Leontius and Herodion to elect one of them as abbot. Then, until his death, he did not stop teaching his brethren to live a godly life.

The Monk Alexander reposed on August 30, 1533, at the age of 85, and, according to his dying will, was buried in the waste hermitage, near the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, according to right side altar. In 1547 he was canonized. In 1641, his relics were found completely incorrupt: “The saint’s face did not seem dead, like other people’s, but as if alive, showing his spiritual purity and the reward he received from God,” the description says. The holy relics were placed in a silver ark sent by Sovereign Mikhail Feodorovich.

All pilgrims who had various ailments, coming to his honest tomb and falling with faith before it, received abundant healing: the blind received their sight, the paralytic were strengthened in their limbs, those suffering from other diseases received a complete recovery, demons were driven away from the possessed, childbearing was given to the childless.

An amazing feature of the relics of St. Alexandra - their perfect incorruptibility - protected them during the time of Jewish Bolshevik persecution after the revolution. When they began to destroy churches (the monastery of St. Alexander of Svirsky was turned into the Svirlag concentration camp) and desecrate the relics of saints, the Bolsheviks did not dare to do anything with the St. Alexander, mistaking the relics for a fresh human corpse, “passed off as relics.” To expose the forgery and refute the antiquity of the relics in December 1918. The Presidium of the Executive Committee of the Northern Region (chaired by Zinoviev) created a “medical commission with a chemist”; the coffin with the body was taken “for a forensic medical examination” to Lodeynoye Pole, then to Petrograd under the jurisdiction of the People’s Commissariat of Health, and then they forgot about it. The doctors also took care of this and preserved the relics in the anatomical museum of the Military Medical Academy without registering them under the guise of an “anatomical preparation.”

There the holy relics, after a long search, were found in 1997. They say that the monk greeted the seekers with a strong stream of myrrh. The relics were re-opened for veneration in the Holy Trinity Alexander Svirsky Monastery, which was then transferred to the Church, on July 30, 1998 - on this day their second discovery is celebrated. Miraculous healings at the great shrine also resumed.

In the monastery, which from “Svirlag” alternately turned into a nursing home, an orphanage, a technical school, a state farm, last years there was a psychiatric hospital. Despite the abomination of desolation that reigned there, the monks soon restored the temples and fraternal buildings with the generous donations of numerous pilgrims.

“Wonderful in His Saints, our All-Good God, who glorifies His saint in this temporary life, working with his hand signs and wonders, deigned even after death to place his incorruptible, honest and holy body, like a great luminary, in His Church, so that it would shine there with its glorious miracles."

Remembering that the question of the hierarchy of celestial beings is not salutary, let's look at the Bible texts about the Holy Trinity.

The Holy Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible itself. This concept was introduced by the church in order to unite those mentioned in one name. Holy Scripture three divine persons: God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The meaning of the word “saint” was discussed in detail in the chapter “” of my book. Let us briefly recall that in the Bible everything that is separated from the ordinary and close to God, as well as sinlessness, is called holy. The Lord is called a saint in the Holy Scriptures: "Holy Father"(John 17:11, see also Hos. 1:9), "Jesus...Holy"(Mark 1:24, see also Acts 4:27) "Holy Spirit"(Acts 13:2, see also Luke 12:12). Therefore, the word Trinity acquired an almost merged adjective “Holy”.

The Holy Trinity is mentioned already in Old Testament. It is worth being fair and saying that we see three faces in only one text of the Old Testament Scripture:

Is. 48:12 Listen to Me...Israel...: I am the same, I am the first and I am the last. ... 13 My hand founded the earth, and My right hand stretched out the heavens ... 16 Come to Me, listen to this: I did not speak in secret at first; from the time this happens, I was there; and now he sent Me(1 person) God(2nd person) and His Spirit(3rd person).

The fact that we are talking about Christ here is clear both from the context and from the New Testament. The Book of Revelation directly names Jesus to us “First and Last”:

Open 1:17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead. And He laid His right hand on me and said to me: Do not be afraid; I am First and last, 18 and alive; and he was dead, and behold, he is alive forever and ever.

The New Testament tells us that Jesus took a direct part in the creation of the earth and heaven:

Col. 1:16 For by Him all things were created, that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible: whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers - all things were created by Him and for Him.(see also John 1:3).

And the Gospel of Matthew confirms that, as shown in the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Spirit could send the Son. The Spirit of Jesus sent into the desert for testing before responsible ministry:

Matt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led up (in the original – to bring, to send) by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil.

That is, in Isa. 48:12 we see a mention of the Holy Trinity - together the three persons of the Divine celestial beings at the same time. Also, several persons of God in His unity (as we perceive the Holy Trinity today) are always mentioned when talking about the Creator. Starting from the first page of the Bible, the word God in the original is used everywhere in plural, and the verb that describes His actions is singular. Jewish theologians still do not find complete unity in the explanation this fact, suggesting that God here speaks of Himself together with the Angels. Although then it seems necessary to admit that Angels and God have the same nature, because Scripture says that God created man “in OUR likeness”…

Gen.1:26 And God said (plural): Let us create (singular) man in Our image in Our likeness

Thus, seeing in the Old Testament the obvious “plurality” of God with His unity, and delving into the message of the New Testament, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that the Bible teaches about the Divine Holy Trinity.

In the text of the New Testament itself, the Holy Trinity is also repeatedly mentioned together. Look, Jesus asks to baptize believers in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit:

Matt. 28:19 Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

The Apostle Paul also specifically points to the division of functions in the Holy Trinity, although he does not dwell on the concept of the Trinity in his letters:

2 Cor. 13:13 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not recognize the Holy Trinity. They do not consider the Holy Spirit to be a person, but perceive Him simply as Divine energy, which naturally excludes the concept of the Trinity. I will write about the Holy Spirit later, but first we will talk about Jesus...


Valery Tatarkin


Jesus Christ Lord God >>

The Christian Trinity is perhaps one of the most controversial issues of faith. The ambiguity of interpretation introduces a lot of doubts into the classical understanding. "three", triangles, cups and other signs are interpreted differently by theologians and researchers. Some associate this symbol with the Freemasons, others with paganism.

Opponents of Christianity hint that this faith cannot be integral, and blame it for the presence of three main branches - Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Protestantism. Opinions agree on one thing - the symbol itself is one and indivisible. And God should be given a place in the soul, and not in the mind.

What is the Holy Trinity

The Holy Trinity is the three hypostases of the one Lord: the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son. However, this does not mean that God is embodied in three different beings. These are all faces of one that merge into one.

It is worth noting that the usual categories, in this case numbers, do not apply to the Almighty. It is not divided by time and space, like other objects and beings. There are no gaps, intervals or distances between the three hypostases of the Lord. Therefore, the Holy Trinity represents unity.

Material embodiment of the Holy Trinity

It is generally accepted that the human mind is not able to comprehend the secret of this trinity, but analogies can be drawn. Just as the Holy Trinity is formed, the sun also exists. His hypostases are the form of the absolute: circle, heat and light. Water serves as the same example: a source hidden underground, the spring itself and the stream as a form of existence.

For human nature the trinity lies in the mind, spirit and word, which are inherent in people as the main spheres of existence.

Although the three beings are one, they are still separated by origin. Spirit is without beginning. It comes from, not is born. Son implies birth, and Father implies eternal existence.

The three branches of Christianity perceive each of the hypostases differently.

Trinity in Catholicism and Orthodoxy

Interpretation of the threefold nature of God in different branches Christian faith due to historical milestones of development. The Western direction was not long influenced by the foundations of the empire. The rapid transition to the feudalization of the social way of life eliminated the need to connect the Almighty with the first person of the state - the emperor. Therefore, the procession of the Holy Spirit was not tied exclusively to God the Father. There is no leader in the Catholic Trinity. The Holy Spirit now emanated not only from the Father, but also from the Son, as evidenced by the word “filioque” added to the second decree. The literal translation means the whole phrase: “And from the son.”

The Orthodox branch was for a long time under the influence of the cult of the emperor, because the Holy Spirit, according to priests and theologians, was directly connected with the Father. Thus, God the Father stood at the head of the Trinity, and from him came the Spirit and the Son.

But at the same time, the origin of the Spirit from Jesus was not denied. But if it comes from the Father constantly, then from the Son it comes only temporarily.

Trinity in Protestantism

Protestants place God the Father at the head of the Holy Trinity, and it is he who is credited with creating all people as Christians. Thanks to “His mercy, will, love,” it is customary to consider the Father to be the center of Christianity.

But even within one direction there is no consensus; they all differ in some aspects of understanding:

    Lutherans, Calvinists and other conservatives adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity;

    Western Protestants divide the holidays of Trinity and Pentecost as two different ones: on the first, divine services are held, while the second is a “civil” version, during which mass celebrations are held.

Trinity in ancient beliefs

As already mentioned, the origins of the trinity go back to pre-Christian beliefs. To find the answer to the question “what is the Holy Trinity in Orthodoxy/Catholicism/Protestantism,” you need to look into pagan mythology.

It is known that the idea of ​​​​the divinity of Jesus is taken from the filthy faith. In fact, only names were subject to reform, since the very meaning of the trinity remained unchanged.

The Babylonians, long before the advent of Christianity, divided their pantheon into the following groups: Earth, Sky and Sea. The three elements that the inhabitants worshiped did not fight, but interacted equally, therefore the main and subordinate ones did not stand out.

There are several manifestations of the Trinity in Hinduism. But this was not polytheism either. All hypostases were embodied in one being. Visually, God was depicted as a figure with a common body and three heads.

The Holy Trinity among the ancient Slavs was embodied in the three main gods - Dazhdbog, Khors and Yarilo.

Churches and cathedrals of the Holy Trinity. Image discrepancies

There are many such cathedrals throughout the Christian world, because they were erected for the glory of the Lord in any of his manifestations. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity was built in almost every city. The most famous are:

    Trinity-Sergius Lavra.

    Church Life-Giving Trinity.

    Stone Trinity Church.

Holy Trinity or Trinity-Sergius, built in 1342 in the city of Sergiev Posad. The Church of the Holy Trinity was almost razed to the ground by the Bolsheviks, but in the end it was simply deprived of its status as a historical heritage. It was closed in 1920. The Lavra resumed its work only in 1946 and is open to visitors to this day.

The Church of the Life-Giving Trinity is located in the Basmanny district of Moscow. It is not known for certain when the Holy Trinity was founded. The first written memories of her date back to 1610. For 405 years now, the temple has not stopped working and is open to visitors. This Church of the Holy Trinity, in addition to services, also holds a number of events to introduce people to the Bible and the history of the holidays.

The Church of the Holy Trinity existed no longer than until 1675. Since it was built of wood, it has not survived to this day. Instead of the old building, from 1904 to 1913, a new temple with the same name was built. During the fascist occupation, it did not stop working. You can still visit the temple today.

Partially the embodiment of the glory and greatness of the Holy Trinity is conveyed by cathedrals and churches. But about graphic image the triumvirate still differs in opinion. Many priests argue that it is impossible to depict the Holy Trinity, since man is not given the ability to comprehend the nature of the creature and see the material personification.