Reading Group, 1b

1. Incomprehensibility of the Teaching About the Trinity

a.The reader may be intimidated by the thought that the dogma of the Trinity is incomprehensible.

b. There should be no perplexity is understanding the Lord as both One and Triune. It is more difficult to understand how God is One in Essence but Triune in hypostasis. The very contrast between “I and “not I” seems to be contradicted. It is easy to conceive of being a collective of “several beings,” but not of being “one being.”

c. A teaching completely incontiguous to our mind cannot give edification.

d. The natural mind is impotent in understanding the Holy Trinity.

Discussion Questions:

1. What distinction is Metropolitan Anthony making between understanding the Lord as One but Triune, and of the Three Persons comprising one Being? Why is the latter considered to be more difficult?
2. How convincing are the Metropolitan’s illustrations or similitudes to show Oneness and Triunity?
3. What is the difficulty, within a collective group, of being a single being?