Radiance of Spirit

Prayer of Perichoresis - home

Perfectible Harmony - home
The Nicene Creed is a statement of beliefs that distinguished the Church which organically
grew from the original apostles from various sects with different interpretations of the persons
and interrelationships of the "Father and Son" which the Gospels tell us about. In the original
creed of 325, there was only one simple indistinct sentence concerning the third person of the Tinity:
[We believe] in the Holy Spirit. As time went on, the Church needed more detail and came up with the
notion that the Spirit proceeds from the Father. That didn't seem quite right to a large enough portion
of the Church that the procession from the Father was amended to include the Son. A case can be made
either way since the Spirit was only explicitly made known after Jesus had ascended into heaven.
It could have been the Father alone from whom the Spirit proceded out of his joy in the Son's
ascension. Or the Spirit could have proceded from the mutual joy of the Father and the Son.

Way back then, the authors were thinking of the Father and Son in terms of substances or natures
or persons. That conceptualization spilled over to the third constiuent of the Trinity: the Spirit.
A substance, person or nature can proceed, but is that really how we 'feel' the Spirit?
1,800 years ago we did not have a scientific understanding of energies, waves, the
interchageability of energy and substance as expressed by e=mc^2 or the actuality
of light being both particle and wave phenomenon simultaneously. Can these
mysteries of science be brought to bear on this elusive mystery of faith?

Jesus explicitly refers to himself and "the truth" in John 14.6 and we refer to the
Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Love. I don't recall the Father being equated with beauty
but I don't think alluding to the "awesome beauty of the Father" would be out of character.
The three unique charateristics associated with the three unique persons of the Trinity allows
us the opportunity to reflect on the dynamic relationships of the Trinity in parallel conceptual
terms and perceptual experience. I've written about Beauty, Truth and Love on another page which
casts love as an affirming force and energy. Energies radiate and if love for beauty is strongest
when the pinnacle of beauty coincides with the true measure of the state rendering that beauty,
then what is love other than a radiation affirming the perfect harmony of truth and beauty?

That said, I think it's fair to propose a revision to the Nicene Creed applicable to all of Christianity:

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
loving radiance of the perfect harmony of Beauty and Truth
which has been more intimately conveyed to us
in the persons of the Father and the Son.
Who with the Father and the Son is ...
NOTICE: This website does not use cookies. I couldn't care less about any of your personal information.
If anyone does email me I'll reply if it seems a reply is in order, but I'm not going to put an email list together or engage in any kind of general mailing.