The Holy Trinity appearing to Alexander Svrisky
For there are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father,
the Word,
and the Holy Ghost:
and these three are one
1 John 5:7
(Comma Johanneum)
I have become interested in the Holy Trinity once again. Not by my own doing, however.
At Priestly Formation, we spoke a bit about the Trinity, which was interesting on a few levels; one being how some don't really care about it that much as a concept, another, I thought I understood it. I don't, really. We spoke of heresy, and it was mentioned that at a certain conference some priests were speaking abouty the Trinity and placing the position of the Spirit as higher than the Father and Son. I didn't really get why that would necessarily be heresy.
The previous day, I had placed this picture on my desktop at work.
Holy Trinity
Fridolin Leiber
When I returned after going up to Newcastle, I was informed by many on my choice of desktop picture:Fridolin Leiber
It is Hindu.
It is hideous.
I suppose everyone likes different art.
It is heretical.
Why is it heretical?
It must be to do with the fact that all three persons are depicted as Jesus.
I preached on the Transfiguration on the following Wednesday. Afterwards, Fr Steven pointed out a part that may have been heretical:
At the Transfiguration, it wasn't Jesus changing into something, or becoming GodThis is called subordination. I was placing the Son in a position lower than God.
So much learn, so much to learn.
1 comment:
You are on such an amazing journey- I look forward to reading more posts!
It's interesting how different bits of theology effect different people. The whole idea of the trinity has become crucial to my understanding of the Gospel in the last few years. (This is not to say I feel I have it all figured out, however). I'm not exactly sure why this is-- but I think in part it has to do with reading some Colin Gunton and recently becoming a father.
...I'm not a big fan of the picture, either, I have to say. But not for any of the reasons you mentioned. Well, I suppose since all parts of the Trinity are depicted as some Salman-esque version of Jesus it does negate the importance of seeing them as separate. Mainly I just think it's not very good visually.
Admittedly, trying to depict the Trinity in a narrative format is as impossible as fully understanding it in the first place!
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