Prayer and reading guides · English

The Holy Trinity: One God

Every Coptic prayer begins, "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen." This short line holds the deepest truth of the faith: God is one, and God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One God, not three

The Scriptures are clear: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Christians keep this faith. We do not worship three gods.

Three persons

The same Scriptures show us the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the Lord's baptism in the Jordan, the Son stood in the water, the Spirit came down like a dove, and the Father's voice said, "This is My beloved Son" (Matthew 3:16-17). The risen Lord sent His apostles to baptize "in the name," not names, "of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).

How can three be one?

The Fathers of the Church used simple pictures, while always saying that God is greater than any picture. St. Athanasius compared the Father and the Son to the sun and its light: the light is never without the sun, and the sun is never without its light. They are distinct, yet one.

Tip: You do not need to understand God fully to love Him. A child loves a parent long before understanding them.

Why it matters

God is love (1 John 4:8), and love needs someone to love. Before the world was made, the Father loved the Son in the Holy Spirit. God did not create us because He was lonely; He created us to share the love He already has.

Living it

Quick questions

Is the word "Trinity" in the Bible?

The word is not, but the truth is. The Church chose the word to name what the Scriptures teach.

Was the Son created?

No. The Creed says He is "begotten, not created, of one essence with the Father." St. Athanasius gave his life to defending this.