With the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, fulfilling the final promise that Christ had made before His Ascension, the Church was born. Thus, it is appropriate that, on the very next Sunday, we celebrate one of the central mysteries of our faith: the Holy Trinity.
We often think that what separates Christianity from other monotheistic religions such as Judaism and Islam is the Incarnation--Christ becoming man--and, in one sense, that's true. But the difference runs a bit deeper, since Christ is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. In attacking Christ's divinity in the early fourth century, Arius, who believed that Christ was merely an exalted man, attempted to undermine Christian belief in the Trinity. His heresy led to the Council of Nicaea (325), which gave us the Nicene Creed, expressing the truths of both the Trinity and the Incarnation.
Arius's great opponent was Athanasius, one of the 33 Doctors of the Church, and Athanasius is said to have composed his own creed, the Athanasian Creed or Quicumque (the first word of the creed in Latin). Traditionally, the Athanasian Creed was read in churches on Trinity Sunday, though few churches do so today.
More About Trinity Sunday:
- Trinity Sunday
- When Is Trinity Sunday?
- The Athanasian Creed
- The Baltimore Catechism on the Unity and Trinity of God
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