Questions

Is There a Relationship Between the Christian Trinity and the Pagan Trinity?

Is There a Relationship Between the Christian Trinity and the Pagan Trinity?¹

Question
Is there a relationship between the Christian Trinity and the pagan trinity? Or what is the difference between them?

Answer
There is a very great difference between the Christian Trinity and what is sometimes called a trinity in paganism.

1. The first and serious difference is that the Christian Trinity is connected to monotheism, that is, the Three are One. This does not exist at all in paganism. If monotheism is separated from the Trinity in Christianity, the Trinity loses its meaning, concept, and essence.
   Many people give the example of Isis, Osiris, and Horus in Pharaonic worship and think that Christianity took from this trinity and similar ones… but the reality is otherwise…
   Christianity says: “The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God.” Did the Pharaohs believe that Isis, Osiris, and Horus were one god? They undoubtedly believed that they were gods.

2. Another difference is that the pagan trinity includes a father, a mother, and a son, and this son resulted from physical procreation, as a result of marriage between the father and the mother.
   Isis married Osiris and gave birth to a son from him, who is Horus.
   As for the Christian Trinity, there is no woman in it, no wife, and no physical procreation…
   The Son in the Trinity is not born from a god father and a goddess mother—far be it… Rather, He is like thought when it is born from the mind, or like heat that is generated from fire… It is a non-physical birth.
   We will give an example of the Christian Trinity:
   From fire heat is generated, and from it light emanates, and fire with its light and heat is one thing. Fire cannot exist without heat and without light… Likewise the Christian Trinity: God, with His mind and His Spirit, is one being. And God cannot exist without His mind or without His Spirit.

3. Therefore, we present a third difference in the pagan trinity, which is the temporal difference between its members. The father and the mother existed before the existence of the son. There may also be a temporal difference between the age of the father and the mother themselves…
   But in the Christian Trinity there is no temporal difference between the Father and the Son. Both are equal in eternity. God has existed since eternity with His mind, with His thought, with His Word, with His wisdom, with His knowledge. There is no temporal difference. That is, there was not a time that passed and then this rational Word or this speaking Mind was born to Him, as happens with a physical father and his son… Rather, the Son exists in the Father since eternity without any temporal difference.

4. A fourth difference between the Christian and pagan trinities is the element of mutual indwelling. The Father is in the Son in the Holy Spirit, and the Son is in the Father in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is in the Father and the Son… without separation. As the Lord Christ said: “I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:11), “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
   As for the pagan trinity, there is separation in it. Each person is separate from the other, having an independent self-entity.

Question: Is every wrong thought that passes through my mind considered a sin? And am I held accountable for it, such as thoughts of blasphemy that frighten me and make me feel that there is no forgiveness for me?

Answer: Not every wrong thought that passes through your mind is considered a sin, because there is a great difference between wars of thought and sins of thought.
Wars of thought come to you from outside and pressure you, and you do not accept them. Your struggle with them may continue for a period of time in which your mind becomes weary, such as thoughts of blasphemy, for example. These thoughts are not a sin, and your struggle against them has a reward and a crown.
As for falls of thought and its sins, they occur when you surrender to the evil thought and consent to it, and perhaps even reach enjoyment of it and keeping it in your mind for a longer period… All of these are sins that are counted against you, indicating that your heart loves sin and loves its thoughts—whether the thought springs from within you, or comes to you as an external war and then you are defeated in this war and surrender to it…

Question: It was said in the Book of Genesis that God created light on the first day (1:3), while it was said that He created the sun, the moon, and the stars on the fourth day (1:14–18). What is the difference between the two matters, and when did light exist—on the first day or on the fourth day?

Answer: On the first day, He created the substance of light. On the fourth day, He made from this substance the sun, the moon, and the stars, and established the laws of astronomy, its systems, and the fixed relationships among these heavenly bodies.

Question: What is the first sin that the world knew?

Answer: The first sin is pride. By it Satan fell and lost his angelic dignity. This fall was rebuked by divine inspiration in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God… I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:13–14).
On earth, the first sin is envy, into which Satan also fell. Therefore, we say in the Divine Liturgy: “the death that entered into the world by the envy of the devil,” for he envied man. The first sin that man fell into is evil companionship, as he sat with the serpent and was influenced by its words.

1. An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Fifth Year – Issue Four – 26/10/1974.

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