Trinity Sunday
Good morning, friends, today is Trinity Sunday, our last of Principal Feast days for the five months until All Saints Day late into Fall 2021. Here's from BCP page 15. I enlarged the print and adjusted the text, hope it appears decent on your screen.
The Calendar
of the Church Year
The Church Year consists of two cycles of feasts and holy days: one is dependent upon the movable date of the Sunday of the Resurrection or Easter Day; the other, upon the fixed date of December 25, the Feast of our Lord's Nativity or Christmas Day.
Easter Day is always the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21. It cannot occur before March 22 or after April 25.
The sequence of all Sundays of the Church Year depends upon the date of Easter Day. But the Sundays of Advent are always the four Sundays before Christmas Day, whether it occurs on a Sunday or a weekday. The date of Easter also determines the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, and the feast of the Ascension on a Thursday forty days after Easter Day.
1. Principal Feasts
The Principal Feasts observed in this Church are the following:
| Easter Day | All Saints' Day, November 1 |
| Ascension Day | Christmas Day, December 25 |
| The Day of Pentecost | The Epiphany, January 6 |
| Trinity Sunday |
These feasts take precedence of any other day or observance. All Saints'Day may always be observed on the Sunday following November 1, in addition to its observance on the fixed date.
And here in advance are handouts for this morning's Sunday School class.
Trinity (Andrei Rublev)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date: 1411 or 1425-27. Tempera. 56 in x 45 in. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The Trinity (Russian: Троица, tr. Troitsa, also called The Hospitality of Abraham) is an icon created by Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the 15th century. It is his most famous work and the most famous of all Russian icons, and it is regarded as one of the highest achievements of Russian art.
The Trinity depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18:1–8), but the painting is full of symbolism and is interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity. At the time of Rublev, the Holy Trinity was the embodiment of spiritual unity, peace, harmony, mutual love and humility.
The Trinity was painted on a vertically aligned board. It depicts three angels sitting at a table. On the table, there is a cup containing the head of a calf. In the background, Rublev painted a house (supposedly Abraham's house), a tree (the Oak of Mamre), and a mountain (Mount Moriah). The figures of angels are arranged so that the lines of their bodies form a full circle. The middle angel and the one on the left bless the cup with a hand gesture. There is no action or movement in the painting. The figures gaze into eternity in the state of motionless contemplation. There are sealed traces of nails from the icon's riza (metal protective cover) on the margins, halos and around the cup.
The icon is based on a story from the Book of Genesis called Abraham and Sarah's Hospitality or The Hospitality of Abraham (§18). It says that the biblical Patriarch Abraham 'was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day' by the Oak of Mamre and saw three men standing in front of him, who in the next chapter were revealed as angels. 'When he saw them, Abraham ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.' Abraham ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf, and set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate (Genesis 18:1–8). One of the angels told Abraham that Sarah would soon give birth to a son.
The subject of The Trinity received various interpretations at different time periods, but by the 19th–20th century the consensus among scholars was the following: the three angels who visited Abraham represented the Christian Trinity, "one God in three persons" – the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit. Art critics believe that Andrei Rublev's icon was created in accordance with this concept. In his effort to uncover the doctrine of the Trinity, Rublev abandoned most of the traditional plot elements which were typically included in the paintings of the Abraham and Sarah's Hospitality story. He did not paint Abraham, Sarah, the scene of calf's slaughter, nor did he give any details on the meal. The angels were depicted as talking, not eating. "The gestures of angels, smooth and restrained, demonstrate the sublime nature of their conversation". The silent communion of the three angels is the centre of the composition.
In Rublev's icon, the form that most clearly represents the idea of the consubstantiality of the Trinity's three hypostases (an underlying reality or substance, as opposed to attributes or to that which lacks substance) is a circle. It is the foundation of the composition. At the same time, the angels are not inserted into the circle, but create it instead, thus our eyes can't stop at any of the three figures and rather dwell inside this limited space. The impactful center of the composition is the cup with the calf's head. It hints at the crucifixion sacrifice and serves as the reminder of the Eucharist (the left and the right angels' figures make a silhouette that resembles a cup). Around the cup, which is placed on the table, the silent dialogue of gestures takes place.
The left angel symbolizes God the Father. He blesses the cup, yet his hand is painted in a distance, as if he passes the cup to the central angel. Viktor Lazarev suggests that the central angel represents Jesus Christ, who in turn blesses the cup as well and accepts it with a bow as if saying "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will". (Mt 26:39)
The nature of each of the three hypostases is revealed through their symbolic attributes, i.e. the house, the tree, and the mountain. The starting point of the divine administration is the creative Will of God, therefore Rublev places the Abraham's house above the corresponding angel's head. The Oak of Mamre can be interpreted as the tree of life, and it serves as a reminder of the Jesus's death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection, which opened the way to eternal life. The Oak is located in the centre, above the angel who symbolizes Jesus. Finally, the mountain is a symbol of the spiritual ascent, which mankind accomplishes with the help of the Holy Spirit. The unity of the Trinity's three hypostases expresses unity and love between all things: "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (John 17:21)
The wings of two angels, the Father and the Son, interlap. The blue colour of the Son's robe symbolizes divinity, the brown colour represents earth, his humanity, and the gold speaks of kingship of God. The wings of the Holy Spirit do not touch the Son's wings, they are imperceptibly divided by the Son's spear. The blue colour of the Holy Spirit's robe symbolizes divinity, the green colour represents new life. The poses and the inclinations of the Holy Spirit and the Son's heads demonstrate their submission to the Father, yet their placement on the thrones at the same level symbolizes equality.
Trinity Sunday
Proper Preface for Trinity Sunday. For with your co-eternal Son and Holy Spirit, you are one God, one Lord, in Trinity of Persons and in Unity of Being; and we celebrate the one and equal glory of you, O Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28 New Revised Standard Version
The Resurrection of Jesus
28 After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,[b] and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
The Report of the Guard
11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the priests[c] had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 telling them, “You must say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day.
The Commissioning of the Disciples
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[d]
Footnotes
[a] Matthew 28:6 Other ancient authorities read “the Lord”
[b] Matthew 28:7 Other ancient authorities lack “from the dead”
[c] Matthew 28:12 Gk “they”
[d] Matthew 28:20 Other ancient authorities add “Amen”
The following passage, from 1 John chapter 5, evidently written to show that the Bible supported the church's developing trinitarian theology, may not appear in your Bible. Included by Erasmus and making its way into the KJV and later Bibles based on it, it was reportedly not in oldest and best manuscripts and therefore has been dropped from some of the best modern day Bible translations:
1 John 5:7.
There are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Spirit, and these three are one.
Fr Tom’s thesis! As we left theological seminary on our way to ordination and most of us seeing ourselves going forth to serve God and God’s people in parish churches, our seminary professors encouraged us to make study and learning a lifelong habit, and to share with our congregations the many interesting and wonderful things we’d studied, discussed and learned during our years there. Unfortunately though, I have observed that most clergy hesitate to do that sharing, reluctant to “stir the pot” because they find that their parishioners cling fiercely to simplicity and naiveté, the literal truth of Bible stories that were read to them as children, innocent belief, and naive faith that they acquired growing up; and are not open, even are hostile, to examination and thinking. Or even, are not interested in bothering with scripture.
This class is different. This class is about challenge! In this class we differentiate between Heilsgeschichte (holy stories) and history. We give credence to modern BIble scholarship. We face up to what is reasonable, probable, scientifically not credible, sometimes even ludicrous. We are consciously not “flat-earthers” who hold unquestioningly to the beliefs and creeds and doctrines of ancient times when our faith documents, including Old and New Testaments, were written and our faith creeds were developed. We like to read, study and talk about.
We are not afraid of possibilities.
We may be no more intelligent than the ancients and the early church fathers, but, again, our worldview is very different. In this class there is no question that cannot be asked, nothing that cannot be challenged, no topic that cannot be discussed. We are Not a kindergarten Sunday school class of innocent children. Nor are we a gathering of fundamentalist Christians who hold doctrines of scriptural literalism and inerrancy, or that God personally dictated the Bible word for word to the humans who wrote the various books. We are adult 21st century Episcopalians who enjoy exploring the Bible, contemplating possibilities, and challenging our traditions. This is what we are all about for an hour in class on Sunday mornings.
In this regard do we open our eyes on Trinity Sunday, our one Principal Feast that commemorates doctrine as well as honoring and affirming its personages, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have previously discovered in class that God, including as Father; Jesus as both Son of God and God the Son; and the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God or the Spirit of the Lord, are commonly encountered throughout the Bible. But it appears that the only place the Trinitarian formuia is specifically said is in words that the evangelist puts on the lips of Jesus at Matthew 28:19.
We do not have to credit this as Jesus himself purposefully commissioning our church of Trinitarian Christianity. Matthew seems to have been written by an anonymous person, likely a male, more than half a century after Jesus’ time on earth. The writer, whom we call Matthew, wrote for specific reasons (that is, he had various agenda items), including declaring Jesus as the messiah, to the church of Jewish-Christians to/for whom he wrote. Matthew used Mark’s earlier gospel stories, plus stories that Matthew himself had heard, plus other stories that were later also used by the evangelist Luke; arranged, edited, and embellished as suited Matthew’s purposes, to produce his gospel. A gospel is a good spell, a great story.
Matthew begins with his own unique Nativity story of Jesus’ birth, and ends with his own tailored, even unique Resurrection story about Jesus. In closing the Gospel according to Matthew, either Matthew himself, or editor(s) after Matthew, used the new terminology of the developing infant Christian church (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) as originating from Jesus and therefore of dominical authority. The Christian church adopted and canonized the New Testament, including Matthew, over the next decades and centuries, and in the Fourth Century ecumenical councils embraced a Trinitarian creed as orthodox Christian doctrine.
In our class, we may not agree that “it’s Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because Jesus said so at Matthew 28:19”, but we may realize and face it that, over its early years, decades, centuries, the Trinity grew to be accepted as dominical from Jesus, and the basic theological doctrine of the Christian church.
Then, as a trinitarian mindset grew in the church, there was proof-texting (as indeed Matthew himself constantly proof-texts from the prophets, especially Isaiah), and an early “proof” (that, like Matthew’s proof-texting, was not at all the Jewish understanding of their Hebrew Bible) that, using LXX, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible “identified” the Trinity itself in the very first verses of the Bible:
LXX. Genesis 1:1-3
1 ΕΝ ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. 2 ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου, καὶ πνεῦμα Θεοῦ (Spirit of God) ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος. 3 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· (logos, the Word of God speaking creatively) γενηθήτω φῶς· καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς.
IN the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. 2 But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water. 3 And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
Perhaps also LXX Genesis 2:7, the Spirit of God breathed into anthropos the breath, Spirit of life into the human:
7 καὶ ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, χοῦν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐνεφύσησεν εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πνοὴν (derivation πνέω, breathe, blow, breath, wind, spirit) ζωῆς, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἰς ψυχὴν ζῶσαν.
7 And God formed the man [of] dust of the earth, and breathed upon his face the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.
And with further digging, more instances and “proofs”. The Trinity persons themselves visiting Father Abraham; perhaps the first agency of the Holy Spirit impregnating an unlikely woman, ninety-year-old Sarah, and the wonderful and entertaining story that develops, the start of it here:
Genesis 18:1-15 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9 They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10 Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”