Unity of the Church in the image of the Holy Trinity

This article by Archimandrite Sophrony offers a theological meditation on the mystery of the Trinity and its relationship to the unity of the Church. Beginning with a historical overview of the limits of human knowledge of God — from Greek thought to Old Testament revelations — the author shows that only the Revelation in Jesus Christ grants access to knowledge of the tri-unitary God. Drawing on the Athanasian Creed, he examines the aporias that Trinitarian dogma poses to natural reason, before setting forth the ecclesial path to knowledge of God through love and the observance of the commandments. The central contribution of the article lies in the analogy between Trinitarian consubstantiality and the unity of the human race: the observance of the commandment to love one's neighbor restores the ontological unity of humanity in the image of the consubstantial and indivisible Trinity.