Expunerea învățăturii de credință ortodoxe despre Sfânta Treime în creația imnografică a Sfântului Ioan Damaschin
The Exposition of the Teachings of Orthodox Faith about the Holy Trinity in the Hymnographic Creation of Saint John of Damascus

Summary/Abstract: A main characteristic of the hymnographic work is the ability to convey the exact christian teaching and, thus, to preserve the purity of the orthodox faith. The dogma of the Holy Trinity represents the fundamental truth of Christianity, the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost being specific to the Revelation of the New Testament. The teaching about „a God in Trinity” is a major Mystery because it cannot be fully understood in a rational way, but only through faith. By synthetizing the patristic teaching on the Holy Trinity within his systematic works, Saint John of Damascus also included it into his liturgical hymns. Saint John of Damascus taught „all the sons of the Church to sing with piety the Unity honoured within the Trinity”. The Holy Trinity is One, an idea expressed by Saint John of Damascus as follows: „One Trinity” or „light in three states”, and also Trinity of Persons („a God in Trinity”), with us praising „the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost”. The divine persons differ from one another due to the nature of their origin, the Father unborn, the Son begotten, and the Holy Ghost proceeded. Saint John of Damascus highlights all throughout his liturgical hymns the equality and the co-substantiality of the Three Divine Persons who are „godly united, but distinct, and in separation, unseparated”, as „the Son is within the Father and the Ghost, the Ghost is within the Father and the Son, and the Father is within the Son and the Ghost, without excluding, mixing or confusing one another”. One of the definitions given to God is that of harmony, because „The Trinity is a perfect unity”. Saint John of Damascus highlights within his works the identity of being, will and work related to the Persons of the Holy Trinity, because, even though we sometimes feel like an attribute or a work is specific only to one divine Person, as if it were Its own, it actually belongs to the other two Persons as well.

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