the revelation of the trinity:

“‘But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:22-23).

“For you are God ineffable, inconceivable, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever the same, you, and your only-begotten Son, and your Holy Spirit” (Anaphora of St. John Chrysostom).

In the beginning, God wanted to share his life with us, but Adam lost communion with God by his sin and his fall into death. Christ, in his love for mankind, reveals to us the Holy Trinity – the inner life of God – so that we may restored to that communion. The Gospel of Mark records, “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’” (Mark 1:9-11)

It was the will of God to reveal his triunity at his baptism, and to this day we sing, “At your baptism in the Jordan, O Lord, worship of the Trinity was revealed, for the Father’s voice bore witness to you, calling you his beloved Son, and the Spirit in the form of a dove confirmed the truth of these words. O Christ, you appeared and enlightened the world. Glory to you!” (Troparion of Theophany) Only by the revelation of this foundational mystery may we worship the Father in his Spirit and in his Truth (the Son).

There is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). And yet the one God is a communion of three divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), co-equal, co-eternal, equal in power and majesty, one-in-essence, and undivided (Divine Liturgy). All three are God and uncreated, and yet there are not three gods. The Father is alone unbegotten and unoriginate, the source of the Godhead. The Son or Word is begotten of the Father before all time (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed), receiving his being from the Father. The Spirit likewise proceeds from the Father (John 15:26) from before all ages, receiving his being from the Father through the Son (Union of Brest). “We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the essence” (Athanasian Creed).

After the revelation of Christ, we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, brought into that very communion through our shared human nature with God the Son. Everything in the Church is done in the name of the Holy Trinity, often three times in honor of the three persons, animated by the divine life which we have been given through baptism. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith” (CCC 234).

After his baptism, Christ began his public ministry, during which he called his twelve apostles (Matthew 10) and taught them the good news, which we call the Gospel, proclaiming the kingdom of God on earth and preaching repentance (Mark 1:15). To the apostles he taught all the truths which we must know for our salvation, and established the seven Holy Mysteries by which he showers us with his grace.