Trinity in Unity

The Western Tradition tends to emphasise the simplicity of God and unity of God as explored in Platonic metaphysics and later taken up by Aristotlean philosophy: the Latin theological tradition gravitates towards the teaching of Saint Augustine, which begins with the unity and simplicity of the divine essence and then moves to consider the Trinitarian Communion of Persons in the one Deity. Saint Photius of Constantinople, representative of the Eastern Tradition, flatly rejects this approach and, in common with the Eastern patristic consensus, declares that orthodox Christian theology must first begin with the revelation of God in Scripture and paradosis as Three Persons in One Substance, and moving from the Tri-Hypostatic relation or communion in the Godhead we then and only then should consider the unity of the Trinity based in the arche, the eternal Beginning and Origin in the Father. East and West have had, at least since the early Middle Ages, strikingly different approaches to the unity and simplicity of God. And, as usual, I incline toward the position of the Holy Fathers as represented by the consensus patricum, the traditio ecclesiae, best manifetsed by the East. The Eastern Fathers see theology begun with the simplcity of God as a pagan philosophical instrusion and speculation into the biblical doctine of the Trinitarian and personal relatio, or perichoresis, the mutual indwelling, of the Three Persons in One Life, Essence, and Being.

For the Eastern Fathers, it is not a shared simple essence of God that unites the Godhead in one Being, but rather the Father, the First Person of the Holy Trinity, Who is in Himself the Source of the Trinity's union, unity and communitarian Being. The Trinity is only defined by relationship, the relation of One Person of the Holy Trinity to the other Two, and the basis, the root, origin and source of the Divine Communion is the Father alone. In the West we have historically focussed on a given simplicity or simple essence shared by all Three of the Persons of the Godhead equally as a substance or force that unites them. In the East, the Father from all eternity causes the Son and the Holy Ghost to exist, an eternal procession of the Two equally from the One: the only-bgeotten Son is begotten of the Father before all worlds, eternally begotten of the Father alone; the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father alone, as the Spirit rests in the Son and is possessed by the Son and proceeds in His temporal mission through the Son (dia) to creation. It is vital in this Trinitarian theology to distinguish between the economic Trinity and the eternal Trinity, the economic Trinity is God as He reveals Himself to the Church in the created order salvifically and the eternal Trinity is God as He is in Himself. In both, the Father sends the Son and the Holy Ghost either into existence or into the world, what Saint Irenaeus of Lyons calls the 'two hands of God,' by personal generation or procession.

The Orthodox East contends that only by maintaining the hierarchy in the Trinity, the Monarchy of the Father and the eternal origin of the other Two Persons from the Father, can the Trinity be maintained as a Tri-Unity, a perfect Triune equality of Three Persons in one God. The Son and the Holy Ghost relate to each other on the basis of the their relationship to the Father. You can see, given this emphasis on the primacy of the Trinitarian nature of God and the Headship of the Father, why the Orthodox consider the filioque clause in the Creed of Constantinople highly suspect: a double procession of the Spirit from the Father and Son as from two origins or principles in the Godhead breaks the equality of the Spirit to the Son and subordinates Him to the Son, depersonalising Him. The Spirit is 'the Spirit of Christ,' 'the Spirit of the Son' precisely because the Spirit belongs to the Son, rests in the Son, shines through the Son, and is sent to the Church in His temporal procession, His temporal mission again through the mediation of the Son. But the eternal breathing-forth, spiration, procession, ekporousis, of the Spirit belongs to the Father as the unique source, principle and origin in the Godhead. God is perfectly one because He is perfectly Three, His unity, being, and Communion grounded in the primacy and pre-eminence of the Father. Otherwise, the Orthodox say, the Son and Spirit can be depersonalised and actually subordinated, instead of preserving the right understanding of their divinity. Please note this is not 'subordinationism', but a divine hierarchy of being within the eternal communion of God Himself - an utter and inscrutable mystery. The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are co-equal and co-eternal, but the Son and the Spirit derive their eternal divinity forever from the Father.

I firmly believe the Eastern patristic metaphysic is more faithful to the content, language and revelation of the New Testament and the Creeds than the Western speculative Aristotlean view, for the Holy Fathers strictly abide by the categories and terminology of the revealed doctrine. In other words, whereas the West has delved into trying to explain the unity of God by invoking a common simple essence which all Three Persons share, thus undermining the absolute priority and necessity of the Three Persons qua personality, the Three Persons being mere manifestations or projections of a simple essence (which sounds creepily like Modalism or Sabellianism), the East asserts that the full revelation of God as Trinity demands that we take into consideration first the reality and relationship of the Three distinct Persons in the Communion of God, and then contemplate that the Three are united by virtue of the eternal principle and originating Life of the Father. Anglican fathers and theologians are indebted to SS. Augustine and Aquinas while also reverencing and utilising the teaching of the Eastern Fathers.

Even more 'simply' (pun intended) we can say:
West = Artistotle's simple essence, from which Three Divine Persons are discerned and extracted
East = Trinity as Communion of Persons, in which the Father originates the life of Son and Holy Ghost

Clearly I think the East is closer to the original vision of the Apostolic teaching and proclamation.

Here follows the official statement of the Second Reunion Conference of Bonn, August 1875, in which the Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Anglican Churches agreed on Trinitarian doctrine:

We have formulated our consent in the words of John of Damascus. We have chosen him on the following grounds: he stands at the end of the whole chain of patristic tradition; he has put together in short compass the doctrine of the old Church on the Trinity, the Incarnation, etc., and the result of theological development till the council of the year 680; he has, about 750, composed the first complete text-book of the theology of the fathers, especially the Greek fathers. Experience has shown that we have rightly done in placing ourselves on the ground of John of Damascus. We have united on the six Articles, which I will presently read. With regard to the third article, the Orientals had reserved themselves the definite declaration; but they will now assent to the same without reserve when to this third article there are added a further citation from John of Damascus, to be immediately read, and to the introductory proposition, the words "in the sense of the doctrine of the old, undivided Church," against which, on our side, there is nothing to allege.

The articles run thus:

We accept the doctrine of St. John of Damascus on the Holy Ghost, as the same is expressed in the following paragraphs, in the sense of the doctrine of the old, undivided Church:

1.The Holy Ghost goes forth out of the Father (ek tou patrou) as the Beginning (arche), the Cause (aitia), the Source (pege) of the Godhead.

2. The Holy Ghost goes not forth out of the Son (ek tou Uiou), because there is in the Godhead but one Beginning (arche), one cause (aitia), through which all that is in the Godhead is produced.

3. The Holy Ghost goes forth out of the Father through the Son.

4. The Holy Ghost is the Image of the Son, who is the Image of the Father, going forth out of the Father and resting in the Son as the force beaming forth from Him.

5. The Holy Ghost is the personal Production out of the Father, belonging to the Son, but not out of the Son, because he is the Spirit of the Mouth of the Godhead, which speaks forth the Word.

6. The Holy Ghost forms the mediation between the Father and the Son, and is bound together to the Father through the Son.

So far, therefore, we are one, and theologians know the question of the Holy Ghost is therewith exhausted; a dogmatical position is consequently, in reference to this question, no more between us. God grant that that which we have here agreed upon may be accepted in the churches of the East in the spirit of peace and of distinction between dogma and theological opinion. What we have accomplished gives us new ground for hope that our efforts will be blessed by God, and that we shall be yet more successful, whilst the spirit of the earlier union transactions creates the impression that the blessing of God has not rested upon them. I think that it is not rash to believe that here we see the blessing of God, there His malediction. Let us only remember how at Lyons and Florence, illusion, deceit, a complication of falsification, the lust of tyrannical power were employed: how both parties always had the consciousness of having something else specially in view than agreement in the great truths of Christian faith. I hope we will be able in the next year, to continue these international conferences. What joy if then the Orientals can proclaim to us: our bishops, synods and churches have assented to our agreement!"

Indeed, we may note as the turning-point of the discussion the eloquent appeal of Bishop Reinkens, at the close of the third conference, for mutual forbearance; and the broad basis of agreement laid down by the Archpriest Janyschew, in the speech directly following the Bishop's earnest words. These propositions were as follows:

1. The Godhead, the divine attributes, the divine Being, are the same in all three divine Persons. In this point of view, any separation whatsoever between the Father and the Holy Ghost can as little be asserted as a separation between the Son and the Holy Ghost. In that we are all one.

2. The special property of the first Person is this, that he alone is the pege, aitia, or arch, as well of the Son as of the Holy Ghost, and that Himself is anarchos. In this sense the two other Persons are the production of the first, the Son through the birth, the Holy Ghost through the procession.

3. The special property of the second Person is, that He is the Son, the Only Begotten, the Logos, who is eternally with God, and is sent, as also the Holy Ghost, into the world.

4. The special property of the third Person, the Holy Ghost, is, that he, according to His existence, goes forth from the Father, according to His operation or manifestation--be it in eternity, be it in time--not only from the Father, but also from the Son.

Following this happy beginning Dr. Von Döllinger [of the Old Catholic Church] at the opening of the seventh Conference announced the agreement of the Committee on the following fundamental principles:

1. We agree in the reception of the Oecumenical creeds, and the determinations of faith of the old undivided Church.

2. We agree in the acknowledgment that the addition of the Filioque to the Creed did not take place in an ecclesiastically legitimate way.

3. We own on all sides the statement of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as it has been presented by the fathers of the undivided Church.

4. We reject every representation and every mode of expression in which any acceptance whatsoever of two principles or arcai or aitiai in the Trinity is contained.