Trinity

The Holy Triad (Art by AnonMoos)

### Aliases

The Threeness, Holy Trinity, Perfect Trinity, Most Holy Trinity, Divine Trinity, The Godhead, Monotheistic Trinity God, Triopotence, Triune God, The Godhood

## Organization

### Enemies

Unholy Trinity

The **Holy Trinity**, or simply the **Trinity**, refers to the group of aspects that God presents himself through who are venerated in Christianity; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

## Description

According to this central mystery of most Christian faiths, there is only one God in three persons: while distinct from one another in their relations of origin, and in their relations with one another, they are stated to be one in all else, co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial, and each is God, whole and entire". Accordingly, the whole work of creation and grace is seen as a single operation common to all three divine persons, in which each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, so that all things are "from the Father", "through the Son" and "in the Holy Spirit".

It is said that God exists as three persons or hypostases, but is one being, having a single divine nature. The members of the Trinity are co-equal and co-eternal, one in essence, nature, power, action, and will. As stated in the Athanasian Creed, the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated, and all three are eternal without beginning."The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" are not names for different parts of God, but one name for God because three persons exist in God as one entity. They cannot be separate from one another. Each person is understood as having the identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.

In the synoptic Gospels the baptism of Jesus is often interpreted as a manifestation of all three persons of the Trinity: "And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.' Baptism is generally conferred with the Trinitarian formula, "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

## Myths and Legends

Various Christian interpretations have been created to try to explain the Holy Trinity paradox.

### Christianity

The Holy Trinity is said to be the triad godhead which makes up the three aspects of God, which is more widely known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is three con-substantial persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit, as "one God in three Divine Persons". The three persons are distinct, yet are one "substance, essence or nature". In this context, a "nature" is what one is, whereas a "person" is who one is.

### Mormonism

In Orthodox Mormonism, the Godhead is the divine Triad formed by God the Father, whom Latter-day Saints call Elohim, God the Son whom Latter-day Saints call Jehovah, and the Holy Ghost, with the three together existing in eternal harmony, balance and love. Latter-day Saints believe that God the Father and God the Son have physical bodies, as physical as any human being, while God the Holy Spirit has a spiritual body and has no physical form. They also believe in the idea that there are other gods besides Godhead, including a Heavenly Mother, who would be the wife of God the Father.

Other different views on the Godhead also exist in Mormonism, such as the now-rejected doctrine of Adam-God, that according to the doctrine, Adam was once a mortal man who was resurrected and exalted. From another planet, he then came as Michael to form Earth. Adam was then given a physical body and a wife, Eve, where they became mortals by eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. After begetting mortal children and establishing the human race, Adam and Eve returned to their heavenly thrones, where Adam serves as God and is the Heavenly Father of mankind. Later, Adam returned to Earth to the ancient prophets and to become the literal father of Jesus.

### Gnosticism

Gnosticism had a distinct view of the Holy Trinity, since the Gnostics believe in the concept of emanation and amthropocentrism of concepts, which consequently was reflected in their view of the Gnostic God. The Father of the Holy Trinity was the Bythos, also called The One, who was the first spirit and the most basic and simple principle of all existence, being the all in all, giving rise to itself.

However, although Bythos is "The Father", it is sometimes identified as female or neuter. The Son of the Holy Trinity is the Autogenes, sometimes identified as the earthly Jesus, who is the historical Jesus, sometimes identified as a separate person from the Aeon Christ. Regarding the Holy Spirit, the Gnostics had a peculiar view of him, or rather, her. The Holy Spirit, also known as Barbelo, was the second emanation of the One, being the spiritual mother of Jesus, sometimes described as the Mother, or Father-Mother, indicating androgyny.

Father, Mother and Son, this is the Holy Trinity of Gnosticism. Although these are most often referred to as the three powers and there being nothing beyond them, some Gnostic texts indicated that there was a power even more external to the three, which would have emanated from the Father, Mother and the Son, with that in particular being the unknown God that Jesus came to reveal.

### Modalism

Modalism, aka Modalistic Monarchianism, has the interpretation of the Holy Trinity in a different way from Orthodox Christianity, stating that God the Father, Son and Spirit are the same person, but manifesting through different personas or masks. The biblical terms Father, Son, and Spirit are only different names for the same Person, according to the Monarchian.

Modalistic Monarchianism teaches that the unity of God is incompatible with a distinction of Persons within the Godhead. According to modalism, God has variously manifested Himself as the Father (initially in the Old Testament), as the Son (initially from Jesus’s conception to His ascension), and as the Holy Spirit (initially after Jesus’s ascension into heaven). Modalism, however, was seen as heresy, as it would be denying the Godhead of each person of the Holy Trinity, as if all the members of the Trinity were the Father, when the Christian Bible implies that no, the Father and the Son are separate (Jesus prayed to the Father), and the same for the Holy Spirit (which is the spirit of Yahweh, but not Yahweh).

### Partialism

Partialism is the interpretation considered heretical for saying that each member of the Holy Trinity is not God, but something like a third of God or 33.3% God, and when all three parts of God are together they form the one God. This however was interpreted as heresy not only by the biblical interpretation, but also by the logical interpretation, since since God is infinite, there is no way for Him to have parts or pieces, which means that each member of the Trinity is 100% God. Some partialists – but not all – would extend this idea by claiming that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are each “1/3 of God”.

## Trivia

* Although the concept of the Holy Trinity is a Christian concept, the concept of a triad of gods exists in other religions such as the Trimurti in Hinduism; the trinity of Bythos, Barbelo and the Autogenes in Gnosticism; the trinity of Zeus, Hades and Poseidon or the trinity of Amenominakanushi, Takami-Musubi and Kami-Musubi.