The Holy Trinity The central mystery of the Christian faith The Holy Trinity The central mystery of the Christian faith. Jesus revealed God as a Trinity of Persons

The First Person -------------------- God the Father The Second Person -------------------- God the Son The Third Person ------------------------ God the Holy Spirit Rather: Not three gods One God Not three spirits One Being Not three beings But mysteriously, God is three distinct persons, in one divine nature.

Holy Trinity: God is three distinct Persons in One Divine Nature

The Incarnation human divine the Son (2nd Person of the Trinity Caro (Latin: flesh); carne (Italian: meat) Christians believe that the Second Person of the Trinity (God the Son) joined a human nature (became ‘carne’). He did not “change” into a man; rather, he joined a human nature to Himself in order to ‘reveal’ Himself. In revealing Himself, He reveals the Father, for the Son is the Word (logos) of the Father. Jesus is two natures, One Person human divine the Son (2nd Person of the Trinity

Heresy The denial or doubt by error of judgment, publically or privately, by a baptized, professed person of any truth revealed by God and proposed for belief by the Catholic Church. Heresy must be: Deliberate (with a sufficient knowledge of the true teaching. Obstinate (the person continues in the error of judgment without seeking further to learn the truth.

The Heresy of Arianism Arius – a priest of Alexandria taught that the Son of God is not of one nature or substance with God the Father, nor equal to Him in dignity. He also denied that the Son was co-eternal with the Father.

The Council of Nicaea (325) This council was called by Constantine the Great to settle the dispute over the relationship between the First and Second Persons of the Trinity. It finally condemned the heretical teaching of Arius.

The Heresy of Nestorianism Nestorius: a priest of Antioch. Eventually he became the bishop of Constantinople in 428. He declared that the Blessed Virgin was mother only of Christ’s human nature and he banned the term “Theotokos”, which means “Mother of God”. He also taught that only Christ as man (not as God) died on the cross.

Nestorianism continued This is significant because if Jesus is two natures, but one Person, then Mary is indeed the Mother of the Person of Jesus, who is the Person of the Son. Jesus cannot be split in two as Nestorius conceived him.

Nestorianism Furthermore, if Jesus died on a cross, and if he is the Person of the Son, then Christ as God (Person of the Son) died on a cross. We can truly say the God suffered (in his humanity).

The Council of Ephesus (431) It condemned both Nestorianism and Pelagianism (that a person can be saved without divine grace). It defined the Catholic dogma that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. It defined the hypostatic union of the two natures, divine and human, in the one divine Person of Christ. Established the Nicene Creed as the true statement of faith.

The Heresy of Monophysitism Mono: one Physis: nature The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature of Christ had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine person of God’s Son assumed it. Monophysitism teaches that there was only one nature in Christ, and that Christ was not both God and Man. The Council of Chalcedon (451) condemned Monophysitism

A Note on the Holy Spirit