Introduction
Lately, there has occurred a view
that there is some “new
presence”
of the Holy Trinity in men and that this presence is a recent
phenomenon that has been actualized in the late 1800s. According to
that view, there is no mention of a Trinitarian indwelling among the
Christians until the 19th century.
Current work is to show that such
a statement is not true and that the faith in the indwelling of the
Holy Trinity in man was already present in the Catholic Church from
the very beginning. This
work is not to condemn anybody but only to show the truth in this
matter, to prevent this little historical error from spreading.
On the expression “new presence”
First of all, we cannot speak of
the “new
presence”
of God because He Himself is unchanging in His essence. But we can
speak of some “new
presence”
of Jesus while He was a Man on earth and resurrected from the dead.
The same expression however cannot be referred to all the Persons of
the Holy Trinity otherwise than by the allegory. Thus it would rather
be proper to speak of the “new
action”
of God or the “new
action”
of the Holy Trinity. Hence it seems that this expression “new
presence” can be accepted only allegorically.
Traces of the teaching on the indwelling of the Trinity in the Holy Scripture
As for the very truth of the
indwelling of the Trinity in man, it was already expressed in the
very beginning by our Lord Jesus Christ when he said:
“If
anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him and make our home with him” (Jn. 14:23).
And because the Father and the Son are always with the Holy Spirit,
it is certain that They will make Their home together with the Holy
Spirit, just as John testifies in his epistle
about the indwelling of God in these words: “And this is His
commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus
Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who
keeps His commandment abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we
know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us” (1
Jn. 3:23-24). So the Spirit is already present together with the
Father and the Son in us who believe in the name of Jesus Christ and
love one another.
The
consubstantiality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is the
faith of the Catholic Church from the very beginning, although it was
expressed officially at the Council of Constantinople in the year
381.1
This
Council did not formulate any new laws or beliefs but did formulate
in new words those truths that were confessed by the Holy Church from
the very beginning. So when the believers
of that times
confess the consubstantiality of the Three Persons of God and they
take
to heart the
words of Jesus about making a home in the man who loves Jesus and
listens to His word (Jn. 14:23), they believe at the same time that
it is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit who are making their
home in the faithful.
Our
Lord Jesus says also: “In
a short time the world will no longer see me; but you will see me,
because I live and you will live. On that day you will understand
that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you” (Jn. 14:19-20).
Take a closer look: He speaks of His resurrection and His secret
indwelling in the hearts of the faithful. He will live in His
disciples and they will live in Him, but He is in the Father, so if
the disciples live in Him, they will live in the Father too. And
again, it is certain that the Father and the Son are always together
with the Holy Spirit. So when Jesus says “you
will understand that… I am in you” He gives to His disciples this
faith that He will be in them together with the Father and the Holy
Spirit.
Saint
Paul writes about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who is called the
Spirit of God (Rm. 8:9,11; 1 Co. 6:19), but next to it, he writes
about the indwelling of Jesus Christ too (Ga. 2:20, Rm. 8:10). It
should be noted that the orthodox Christians never believed that the
Father would be separable from Jesus and the Holy Spirit. So when
Saint Paul writes about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the
indwelling of Jesus Christ he brings the notion of the indwelling of
the Father too. Because “he
who acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 Jn. 2:23), and it
is likewise with the one who acknowledges the Holy Spirit.
Moreover,
when Paul says about Christians that they are the temple of God (1
Co. 3:16), it means in the intention, that they are the temple of all
the Trinity. “And that is what we are – the temple of the living
God. We have God’s word for it: I will make my home among them and
live with them; I will be their God and they shall be my people” (2
Co. 6:16).2
And
it should be known that “when we speak of three persons: Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, we confess that they are one God, one divine
substance. And contrariwise, when we speak of one God himself, the
one divine substance are three persons”.3
So when Paul writes that “we are the temple of the living God”,
it is the
expression of the
truth that all the Three
Persons
of God live in us.
The teaching on the indwelling of the Trinity according to the writings of the Church Fathers
Besides
the Gospel and St. Paul testimonies
we can notice that the truth of the indwelling of the Holy Trinity
was confessed by the Fathers of the Church, and so for this, let us
take a look at the brief topic
“Indwelling
of Trinity”
in
A Patristic
Greek Lexicon
edited by Lampe (Oxford 1961, p. 1406). First, will be given the
quotation and below, the translation:
τριάς, ἡ,
II. group
of three,
triad;
B. Trin.;
7. ref.
spiritual life of Christians;
c. indwelling
of Trin. κατοικητήριον [sc. the soul] τῆς ὁμοουσίου
τ. Alex.Sal.Barn.proem.7(438E);
ὁ...τοῦ...πατρὸς...λόγος ἑκάστῃ μυστικῶς
ἐνυπάρχει τῶν οἰκείων ἐντολῶν· ὁ
δὲ πατὴρ ὅλος ἐστὶν ἀχώριστος
ἐν...τῷ...λόγῳ· ὁ τοίνυν δεχόμενος
ἐντολὴν...τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ δέχεται λόγον.
ὁ δὲ τὸν λόγον...δεξάμενος δι' αὐτοῦ
τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ...ὄντα συνεδέξατο πατέρα
καὶ τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ...πνεῦμα ἅγιον...ὁ γοῦν
ἐντολὴν δεξάμενος καὶ ποιήσας αὐτὴν
λαβὼν ἔχει μυστικῶς τὴν ἁγίαν τ.
Max.cap.theol.2.71(M.90.1157A);
μακάριος ὄντως ἐστὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς...τυχὼν
οὐ μόνον ἑνώσεως τῆς πρὸς τὴν ἁγίαν
τ., ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑνότητος τῆς ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ
τ. νοουμένης, ὡς ἁπλοῦς καὶ...μονοειδὴς
κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν ἁπλὴν...κατὰ
τὴν οὐσίαν γεγενημένος id.ambig.(M.91.1196B);
cf. ὑπὲρ τὴν ὑλικὴν δυάδα γενέσθαι
διὰ τὴν ἐν τῇ τ. νοουμένην ἑνότητα
Gr.Naz.or.21.2(M.35.1084B);
πάσης τῆς αἰσθητικῆς οὐσίας πρὸς
τὴν αἰσθητὴν ἀποθεμένους φυσικὴν
οἰκειότητα, τῆς δὲ θείας μόνης γνησίως
ἐπιλαβομένους ἐφέσεως διὰ τὴν...νοουμένην
ἐν τῇ τ. ἑνότητα Max.ambig.(1193D);
ib.(1196A);
Translations:
“A
dwelling [sc. the
soul] of the consubstantial Trinity”4
– Alexander Salaminus (527-565),
Laudatio in apostolum Barnabam,
7, in: Acta
Sanctorum – Junii – tomus secundus,
Antwerp 1688, p. 438E;
[Below the quotation will be
full, not as in the Lampe’s lexicon:]
“God the
Word of God the Father is mystically present in each of his own
commandments. God the Father is by nature completely inseparable in
the whole of his Word. Therefore the one who receives the divine
commandment and accomplishes it receives in it the Word of God. The
one who has received the Word through the commandments has received
along with him the Father who is in him by nature, as well as the
Spirit who is also in him by nature. For the Scripture says, “Amen
I say to you, the one who receives anyone whom I send receives me;
and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Therefore the one who has accepted a commandment and performed it has
received in mystical possession the Holy Trinity”5
– Maximus the Confessor (580-662), Capitum
theologicorum et oeconomicorum duae centuriae,
2.71, in:
Patrologia Graeca,
v. 90, ed. Migne,
Paris 1865, c. 1157A;
[Here likewise, the quotation
will be full:]
“Such a
person, I say, is truly blessed, since he has attained not only true
and blessed union with the Holy Trinity, but also the “unity
perceived in the Holy Trinity”,
insofar as he has become simple, indivisible, and of a single form as
much as is possible in relation to simple and indivisible being,
imitating the simple and indivisible Goodness through his habitual
exercise of the virtues, and laying aside the condition of his
naturally divided faculties thanks to the grace of God, with whom he
has become one.”
– Maximus the Confessor (580-662),
Ambiguorum liber,
in: Patrologia
Graeca,
v. 91, ed. Migne, Paris 1865, c.
1196B;6
The above explanation was about
the sentence: “[they]
passed
beyond the material dyad on account of the unity perceived in the
Trinity”7
– Gregory Nazianzenus (329-390), Orationes
21, 2,
in: Patrologia
Graeca,
v. 35, ed. Migne, Paris 1857, c. 1084C;
“In setting
aside the natural bond that sensation has with sensible objects, they
nobly took hold of desire for the divine alone, “on account of the
unity,”
as I said, “perceived in the Trinity.””
– Maximus the Confessor,
Ambiguorum liber,
in: Patrologia
Graeca,
v. 91, ed. Migne, Paris 1865, c.
1193D, and the
same, c. 1196A;8
Now, in addition to these
examples from A
Patristic Greek Lexicon,
we can take a look at a few chosen quotations from the Church
Fathers:
“Learn
[as follows]. Having received the forgiveness of sins, and placed our
trust in the name of the Lord, we have become new creatures, formed
again from the beginning. Wherefore in our habitation God truly
dwells in us” (The
Epistle of Barnabas,
16, in: Ante-Nicene
Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
New York 1903, p. 147).
“The
Word of God who dwelt in man, and became the Son of man, that He
might accustom man to receive God, and God to dwell in man, according
to the good pleasure of the Father” (Irenaeus, Against
Heresies,
3, 20, 2, in: Ante-Nicene
Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
New York 1903, p. 450).
“God
dwells in those who act uprightly” (Irenaeus, Against
Heresies,
4, 30, 3 in: Ante-Nicene
Fathers: Volume I – The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus,
New York 1903, p. 504).
“Christ
dwells in us, and where Christ dwells God dwells. And when the Spirit
of Christ dwells in us, this indwelling means not that any other
Spirit dwells in us than the Spirit of God. But if it is understood
that Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, we must yet
recognise this Spirit of God as also the Spirit of Christ. And since
the nature dwells in us as the nature of one substantive Being, we
must regard the nature of the Son as identical with that of the
Father, since the Holy Spirit Who is both the Spirit of Christ and
the Spirit of God is proved to be a Being of one nature. I ask now,
therefore, how can They fail to be one by nature? The Spirit of Truth
proceeds from the Father, He is sent by the Son and receives from the
Son. But all things that the Father hath are the Son’s, and for
this cause He Who receives from Him is the Spirit of God but at the
same time the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit is a Being of the nature
of the Son but the same Being is of the nature of the Father. He is
the Spirit of Him Who raised Christ from the dead; but this is no
other than the Spirit of Christ Who was so raised. The nature of
Christ and of God must differ in some respect so as not to be the
same, if it can be shewn that the Spirit which is of God is not the
Spirit of Christ also” (Hilary
of Poitiers [310-367], On
the Trinity,
8, 26, in: Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers: Second Series, Volume IX – Hilary of
Poitiers, John of Damascus,
Oxford 1893, p. 144-145).
“The
Only Begotten is by Nature Life: for in
Him we live and move and are [Ac.
17:28]. But He is introduced into us of a surety through faith, and
dwelleth in us through the Holy Ghost: and the blessed John the
Evangelist will testify saying in his epistles Hereby
know we that He dwelleth in us, because He hath given us of His
Spirit
[1 Jn. 4:13]. Christ will therefore quicken them that believe in Him,
as being Himself Life by Nature and dwelling in them. But that the
Son indwelleth in us by faith, Paul will furnish proof, saying, For
this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, of Whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you according to
the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit;
that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith [Ep.
3:14-17]. Since then through faith Life by Nature entereth into us,
how is he not true that saith, He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting Life?
that is to say, the Son Himself, nought else than Him being conceived
of as Life” (Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary
on the Gospel of John,
vol. 1: 2, 4, concerning Jn 3:36, Oxford 1874, p. 198-199).
Final words
In
the end, the words of God said through the prophet Ezekiel, and a few
remarks from the True
Life in God:
“I
shall put my spirit in you” (Ezk. 36:27). See that His Spirit is
the Holy Spirit, and He is the One God, so wherever the Spirit dwells
there the Holy Trinity dwells.
“I
shall put my spirit in you, and you will live” (Ezk. 37:14).
“I am not giving you any new
doctrine, I am only reminding you of The Truth and leading those who
wandered astray, back to the complete Truth;” (TLIG, 20.12.1988)
“do not expect any new
revelation; His Calls are only a reminder of the Divine Truth, a
reminder of how to live holy, a reminder that God is Love;” (TLIG,
3.03.1989)
“I reveal nothing new;”
(TLIG, 10.01.1990)
“My Signs are not given to you
to make a sensation on this earth;” (TLIG, 3.03.1989)
“this Message is not given to
them to draw sensation but to make them realise the urgency, the
graveness and the importance of My Call; the urgency of their
conversion; the graveness of the condition of their soul; the
importance to change their life and live holy; the importance of My
Messages which are spiritual food, a nourishing supplement to their
spirituality, a medicinal ointment to their wounds inflicted on them
in this darkness
by the evil one;” (TLIG, 18.05.1991)
Written and collected by Jakub
Szukalski
Notes:
1 As
for the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the
Son, it was expressed officially at the Council of Constantinople II
in the year 553.
2 Cf.
Lv. 26:11-12 (“I
will set up my dwelling among you, and I will not cast you off. I
will live in your midst; I will be your God and you shall be my
people”), Ezk. 37:27-28 (“I shall make my home above them; I
will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will
learn that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary
is with them for ever”), Zech. 2:14 (“I am coming to dwell in
the middle of you”).
3 Council
of Rheims 1148,
DZ 390.
4 English
translation is found in Appendix
B: Laudatio Barnabae apostoli,
125-126,
in: Michael R. Cosby, Creation
of History: The Transformation of Barnabas from Peacemaker to
Warrior Saint. Second Edition,
Eugene (OR) 2021, p. 187.
5 English
translation is found in Maximus the Confessor, Selected
Writings,
2, 71, New York/Mahwah (NJ) 1985, p.
162.
6 English
translation is found in Maximos the Confessor,
On Difficulties in the Church Fathers. The Ambigua,
vol. 1, Harvard
2014, p. 323.
7 Ibidem,
p. 321.
8 Ibidem,
p. 321.
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