Christian Understanding of Trinity3

TRINITY : M. M. NINAN
9. Trinity through History
manifestations, light , heat and the orb itself. The heat…( is
analogous to) the Spirit; the light to the Son; while the Father
himself is represented as the actual substance. The Son was at
one time emitted, like a ray of light; he accomplished in the world
all that pertained to the dispensation of the Gospel and man’s
salvation, and was taken back into heaven , as a ray is emitted
by the sun and then withdrawn again into the sun."(Epiphanius
Bishop of Salamis 375 AD. Adv. hareses Ixii.1)
Tertullian was the major opponent of this system. He wrote: "We
do indeed believe that there is only one God, but we believe that
under this dispensation, or, as we say, oikonomia, there is also a
Son of this one only God, his Word, who proceeded from him
and through whom all things were made and without whom
nothing was made. . . . We believe he was sent down by the
Father, in accord with his own promise, the Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete, the Sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the
Father and the Son, and in the Holy Spirit. . . . this rule of faith
has been present since the beginning of the Gospel, before even
the earlier heretics" (Against Praxeas 2 [A.D. 216]).
Noetus of Smyrna, the originator of the proposal was
condemned by a local synod, around A.D. 200. Sabellius, who
propagated the idea at Rome around A.D. 220, was
excommunicated by Pope Callistus.
The Subordinatians
The Subordinatians insisted too much on the real distinction
between the Persons and on the origin of the Son and the Holy
Ghost from the Father. They held that the Son and the Holy
Ghost were the effect of a Divine operation ad extra, and thus
were inferior to God, but above all other creatures.
The Tritheists
Tritheism is the belief that there are three distinct, powerful gods,
who form a triad.
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