The Trinity

Orthodoxy has Proper Trinitarian Theology

"Jesus, our Lord says that he came in order to reveal, or to make known, or to exegete, God the Father to us. We find it throughout the Gospels, but especially in the Gospel of John. Upon becoming a Christian, when I first became Protestant, I discovered that in non-Orthodox Churches there is great confusion about to whom one directs ones prayers. This is because fundamentally the relationship between the three persons of the Trinity are confused, That, we know, comes from the original change of the Creed by the Roman Catholics, that was inherited by the Protestants; the Filioque clause was inserted, changing the understanding of the relationship of the Trinity. Additionally there is such an emphasis upon experiencing Jesus as a "super friend" or even as a "cosmic buddy" that leads to a loss of reverence and awe in worship. I found in contrast the Orthodox Christian Church has a very clearly defined Trinitarian theology, in which essentially worship is directed to God the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. We do pray at times to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, but preeminently the prayers are directed to God the Father. In Orthodox Christianity, the person of God the Father is a source of unity in the Godhead, not the common divine nature shared by the three persons of the Trinity. That's why, in our Nicene Creed, we say, 'I believe in one God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth,' and we do not say, 'I believe in one God the divine nature.' -- Fr. James Bernstein, The Illumined Heart Podcast, Ancient Faith Radio, May 22nd, 2008.