RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Trinity, Doctrine of the Trisagion
ciples Confirmed by Trinitarian Testimonies; being Selections from the Works of eminent Theologians belonging to orthodox Churches, Boston, 1855; E. H. Bickersteth, The Rock of Ages; or, Scripture Testimony to the One Eternal Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, London, 1860, New York, 1861; I: A. Dorner, Die Lehre von der Person Christi, 4 vols., Stuttgart, 1846-56, Eng. transl., 5 vols., Edinburgh, 1861-63; C. W. H. Pauli, Great Mystery; or, How can Three be One? London, 1863; F. H. Burries, The Trinity, Chicago, 1874; C. Braun, Der Begriff ‘‘ Person” in seiner Anwendung auf die Lehre von der Trinwtit und Inkarnation, Mainz, 1876; A. Norton, A Statement of Reasons for not Believing the Doctrines of Trinitarians Concerning the Nature of God and the Person of Christ, 10th ed., Boston, 1877; J. Edwards, Observations Concerning the Scripture Economy of the Trinity and Covenant of Redemption, New York, 1880; H. Schultz, Die Lehre von der Gottheit Christi, Gotha, 1881; Abelard, Tractatus de Unitate et Trinitate Divina, ed., R. Stélzle, Freiburg, 1891; P. H. Steenstra, The Being of God as Unity and Trinity, New York, 1891; R. N. Davies, Doctrine of the Trinity, the Biblical Eyidence, Cincinnati, 1891; R. Rocholl, Der christliche Gottesbegrif, Gottingen, 1900; R. F. Horton, The Trim ondon, 1901; T. Weber, Trinitit und Weltschépfung, Gotha, 1904; G. Kriiger, Das Dogma von der Dreieinigkeit und Gottmenschheit, Tiibingen, 1905; S. B. G. McKinney, Revelation of the Trinity, London, 1906; J. R. Illingworth, Doctrine of Trinity apologetically Considered, London and New York, 1907; A. F. W. Ingram, The Love of the Trinity, New York, 1908; Novatian, De Trinitate, ed. W. Y. Fausset, ib., London, 1909; L. Berthé, La Sainte Trinité, Paris, 1911.
TRINITY, FESTIVAL OF THE. See Trinity
SUNDAY.
TRINITY SUNDAY: The first Sunday after Pentecost. It was introduced into the calendar by Benedict XI. in 1305, and in the West concludes the festival part of the church year. In the Anglican church the Sundays from Whitsuntide to Advent are counted as the first, second, etc., till the twenty-sixth, Sunday after Trinity. The universal use in the Western Church of this festival of Trinity Sunday dates from Pope John XXII. (1384).
TRIPOLIS. See PHenicia, Poenicrans, I., § 8.
TRISAGION: The term applied in liturgies to the Sanctus or Ter sanctus of Isa. vi. 3 (‘‘ Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory ’’), and also to a Greek formula, “‘ Holy God; holy, mighty; holy, immortal; have mercy upon us!’’ The trisagion of Isa. vi. 3 stands, more or less modified and amplified, in all liturgies of both East and West, usually in the preface to the mags, after praising God for the creation and before thanking him for redemption. In the Eastern liturgies, besides the universal insertion of “heaven ”’ (or “‘ heavens ’’) to supplement “ earth,”’ and the omission of ‘‘ whole,” three groups may be distinguished: those retaining ‘‘ Lord ” in the nominative in the first line and ‘ his”’ in the second; those retaining “‘ Lord” in the nominative but replacing ‘“‘ his” by “ thy”; and those changing the nominative ‘‘ Lord’ to the vocative (cf. Rev. iv. 8). To the first group belong the Clementine liturgy (Apostolic Constitutions, viii. 12), the Antiochian liturgy preserved by Chrysostom, the older Egyptian, and the Ethiopic. The second group includes the eucharistic prayer of Serapion, and the liturgies of St. Mark, Asia Minor, and the Coptic Jacobites. In the third group are comprised the Syriac and Greek Jacobite liturgies. The form of the trisagion
given in Rev. iv. 8 occurs only in a fragment on a Coptic ostracum.
In the West the Sacramentary of Gelasius shows Syrian influence, having the form, ‘‘ Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth: heavens and earth are full of thy glory; hosanna in the highest; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”” Though the Roman liturgy had the Ter sanctus as early as the time of Clement (I Clem. xxxiv. 6), the Liber pontificalis states that it was introduced into the mass by Sixtus I. (119- 128?). Other Western liturgies are profoundly influenced by that of Rome, though the Mozarabic shows particularly strong Syrian influence. While in the East the trisagion and the Benedictus were given by the congregation, and while Sixtus had the Ter sanctus,sung by the priest and the people, the Roman Church early placed it in the mouth of the subdeacon, and since the twelfth century it has been sung by the choir. From the Roman liturgy the trisagion was adopted by Lutheranism. In the Formula misse (1523) Luther placed it after the words of institution, only to drop it in the Deutsche Messe of 1526. Subsequent usage varied between the two precedents set by Luther, but the modern Lutheran liturgies have almost without exception restored the trisagion, which they connect with the Hosanna and Benedictus and append to the prayer of the preface. Reformed liturgies, on the other hand, do not recognize it.
The age and the origin of the Greek trisagion are obscure, though legend tells that in the patriarchate of Proclus (434-446), after four months of earthquake, the people, crying to God for mercy, saw a young man raised into the air, where he heard a divine voice bidding him tell the bishop and people to repeat their litany with the words, “‘ Holy God; holy, mighty; holy, immortal; have mercy upon us!’ When this was done, the earthquake ceased. At all events, the formula is older than the fifth century, and is certainly not Jewish in origin. It is found in all Oriental liturgies. The fact that it does not occur in the Clementine liturgy may be due either to age or to the circumstance that this liturgy is only for the consecration of bishops, and consequently is abbreviated in its earlier portions. The hymn became so popular that it is sung in the daily offices. Its regular place in the mass is before the lessons, though the Coptic and Abyssinian Jacobite liturgies put it immediately before the Gospel, while it is sung by the Syrian Jacobites between the first and second lessons. ‘The Greek trisagion owes its interest partly to the fact that it became the subject of a dogmatic controversy. While it was originally addressed to God, Petrus Fullo, patriarch of Antioch (about 470), added a phrase which made it an invocation of Christ, the result being deemed by certain circles compatible neither with orthodox trinitarianism nor with orthodox Christology (see THnopascHiTEs). The Concilium quinisextum of 692 rejected the addition of Fullo, but it continued to be used, even with amplifications, in Monophysite liturgies. The Greek trisagion was transplanted to the West, finding a place in the Gallican mass, and still being sung in the Mozarabic rite. It is likewise sung in the
Tristram Triumphus