Posts
Dear Parish Faithful,
Come, O people,
let us worship the Godhead in three Persons:
the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit.
For the Father timelessly begot the Son, co-eternal and co-enthroned with Him;
and the Holy Spirit was in the Father and is glorified with the Son.
We worship one Power, one Essence, one Godhead,
and we say: “Holy God,
Who hast created all things through Thy Son
with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit;
Holy Mighty,
through Whom we know the Father;
and through Whom the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the world;
Holy Immortal,
Comforting Spirit,
Who proceedest from the Father and restest in the Son.//
O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee!”
[Apostikha, Vespers of Pentecost]
____
In that vast, seemingly limitless body of Orthodox hymnography accumulated over the centuries, I cannot bring to mind a hymn that is as rich as this one is, theologically.
The task of the theologian - and a hymnographer is a theologian - is the search for words "adequate to God." And here is a hymn that actually approximates that lofty goal of expressing in words "adequate to God" a vision of the trinitarian splendor of the living God. And it is precisely in the form of a hymn that is sung or chanted that we are able to hear of that "strange doctrine" (an expression from a different hymn) of the Holy Trinity. "Strange" because the limits of logic are transcended in the revelation of God's trinitarian nature. It was St. Dionysius the Areopagite - author of The Mystical Theology - who claimed that true theology in actually to celebrate (literally, hymnein) God. Therefore, we are simultaneously praising and worshiping God as we sing or chant a hymn of a theological nature.
This means that true theology, as practiced at its best in the Church - as in the hymn above - is meant for everyone, not just "learned experts." As such it is not dry, boring or academic; but rather lively, joyful and even exciting. It stimulates the heart as well as the mind. Now, it was at the end of a long morning yesterday that we heard this hymn being sung. Following the Liturgy, we immediately served a shortened version of the Vespers of Pentecost with kneeling prayers. As our endurance was possibly being tested, the choir sang this marvelous hymn. If our capacity to concentrate was diminished at that point, here is an opportunity to absorb this hymn by carefully studying its marvelous insights into the three Persons of the Trinity and their inner-trinitarian relationships.
Enjoy this "feast of theology!"
