Saint Athanasius
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, that special day in the church calendar when we pause to marvel at the heart of our faith: God is one, yet eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s a doctrine that stretches our minds and warms our hearts. Yet curiously, in many churches following the three-year lectionary cycle, Trinity Sunday isn’t always given its own dedicated set of readings in the same prominent way as other major feasts—sometimes it feels quietly observed or even somewhat overlooked amid the flow of the Novus Ordo Ordinary Time.
Despite that, Trinity Sunday invites us to reflect deeply on who God is. One of the greatest defenders of this truth was Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 296–373), a bishop who stood almost alone at times against popular opinion. His bold defense of the Trinity still matters for everyday believers like us.
Athanasius: “Athanasius Contra Mundum”
Athanasius earned the nickname “Athanasius Against the World” (Athanasius Contra Mundum) because he refused to compromise on the full divinity of Jesus Christ, even when emperors and large parts of the church pressured him. He was exiled multiple times for his stand. Why did he care so much? Because he believed the gospel itself was at stake.
In his writings, especially the Discourses Against the Arians, Athanasius argued against the teaching that the Son (Jesus) was a created being—less than the Father and not fully God. If Jesus wasn’t truly God, Athanasius insisted, then He couldn’t save us by uniting us to God.
“For if, being a creature, He had become man, man had remained what he was, not joined to God... How then could things originate undo sin?”
Only God can bridge the gap between God and humanity. In the Incarnation, the eternal Word became flesh so that we might be restored to fellowship with God. A famous line from Athanasius sums this up beautifully: “He [Christ] was made man that we might be made God” — meaning, we might share in God’s life and immortality by grace.
One God in Three Persons
Athanasius emphasized the unity of God while honoring the real distinctions between Father, Son, and Spirit. He championed the Nicene term homoousios — “of the same substance” or “one in being.”
“The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.”
He explained the intimate relationship using Jesus’ own words:
“I and the Father are one... I in the Father and the Father in Me.”
This isn’t about two beings squeezed together. It’s a profound unity of essence. The Son is the eternal Image, Radiance, and Word of the Father — not adopted or promoted, but eternally begotten from the Father’s own being.
Athanasius also defended the Holy Spirit’s full divinity in his Letters to Serapion. The Spirit isn’t a lesser force or creature but shares the same divine life and works alongside the Father and Son to sanctify us.
For ordinary Christians, this means the God we pray to, the Jesus we follow, and the Spirit who comforts and empowers us are not three competing gods, but one God in perfect, loving relationship.
The Cappadocian Support: Basil and Gregory of Nyssa
Athanasius laid crucial groundwork, and he was powerfully supported by the Cappadocian Fathers in the East. Basil the Great helped clarify the language by distinguishing between ousia (the one shared essence or substance of God) and hypostases (the three distinct Persons). He taught that we worship one God in nature, not in number, and emphasized that all divine actions flow from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit — showing perfect unity in operation.
Gregory of Nyssa, Basil’s brother, built on this in his treatise On “Not Three Gods.” He explained why we don’t say “three Gods” even though there are three Persons. Human language can be misleading (we say “three men” for people sharing one nature), but in God, the divine nature is simple and indivisible, and the three Persons share every divine action inseparably. This reinforced Athanasius’ insistence on one indivisible Godhead.
Together, these giants helped secure the orthodox understanding of the Trinity that was affirmed at the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Why It Matters for Us
On Trinity Sunday, we’re reminded that God is not a solitary, lonely deity but eternal love in relationship. This mystery shapes how we understand salvation, prayer, community, and even our own calling to live in loving relationship with others.
You don’t need a theology degree to appreciate this. When you pray “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” you’re stepping into the rich faith that Athanasius, Basil, and Gregory fought to preserve. It’s the faith that tells us we are loved by a God who is closer to us than we can imagine — one God who invites us into His own divine life.
This Trinity Sunday, let’s give thanks for these faithful witnesses and worship the one God in three Persons: blessed Trinity as our forefathers have on Trinity Sunday for well over a thousand years!
We hope this article was helpful and consider joining us this Sunday as we explore the doctrines of the Salvation and Jesus Christ each Sunday at 9:30 am. We begin the Holy Eucharist at 10:30 am.
