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Namesake, not author

You seemed to be saying that the Athanasian Creed was the product of the Council of Nicea. In fact it comes from the 7th or 8th century and has nothing (except doctrine) to do with Athanasius.

Michael Merriman
Transfiguration
Dallas, Texas, USA
4 June 2012

(Editor: we did seem to be saying that, didn't we? We've corrected the wording. Anyone who read Anglicans Online after this might be mystified by your letter, but as our readers are clever, we know that they will figure it out.)

Triune fabric

I love the graphic using carbon and its forms to explain the Trinity. Another example comes from the Persian poet Seyyed Ahmad Hatef Esfahani, who writes, "Silk does not become three things if thou callest it Parniyán, Ḥarir, and Parand” Norman Sharp translated this as

"Silk will not three things be, though it appears
Sometimes as satin, damask or brocade!"

The peace of the Lord be with you.

Judy Goans
Good Shepherd, Knoxville
Clinton, Tennessee, USA
5 June 2012

Simple but important

"Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat catholicam fidem: ... Fides autem catholica haec est: ut unum Deum in Trinitate, et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur."

It is the most important doctrine, and yet it can be simply stated: the Trinity means that God IS love. That is the essence of God's Being: love. Like all other love, it is relation. God is the relations of love that generate and bind Father, Son and Spirit into an indivisible unity, yet that respects the distinctiveness of each of the Three.

Bottom line: God is love. No Trinity, no love. No Trinity, no Incarnation, and no Paraclete. No faith. No hope. And certainly no love: every instance of human love is but a pale reflection at best of the fierce unbounded love of the Trinity.

Ut teneat catholicam fidem, indeed.

Pierre Whalon
Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
Paris, FRANCE
Bishop@tec-europe.org
4 June 2012

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All published letters are in our archives.