The Mystery of the Holy Trinity — Mahibere Teklehaimanot

The First of the Five Pillars

The Five Pillars of Mystery — known in Amharic as (Amdha Mestir) — form the core theological foundation of our Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Every believer is taught to understand and live by these five great truths. The first pillar — and the beginning of all right belief — is (Meshtire Sellassie), the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Our Church confesses that God is the only eternal Being — without beginning, without end, beyond time, beyond space, beyond change, beyond every limit. In the Anaphora of St. John of our Divine Liturgy, we pray:

“Thou hast no beginning, but Thou bringest all things to their end. Infinite art Thou, but for all things Thou didst set bounds.” Anaphora of St. John — EOTC Liturgy

The central mystery of God’s existence: God is one in three and three in one. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three distinct Persons — yet not three gods. They are one God, one divine essence, one glory, one kingdom, one authority, one worship.

What follows is fourteen teachings on this Mystery — each rooted in Scripture and confirmed by the Church Fathers, especially the great theologian St. Gregory of Nazianzus (fourth century), whose writings on the Trinity shaped the confession of the whole Orthodox Church.

Final Summary Confession

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church confesses one God in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three Persons are distinct in name, person, and personal property — but they are one in essence, divinity, will, power, authority, kingdom, glory, and worship.

The Father is unbegotten.

The Son is eternally begotten of the Father.

The Holy Spirit eternally proceeds from the Father.

None is before or after another. None is greater or less than another. The Trinity is co-eternal, co-equal, inseparable, unconfused, and undivided.

Therefore, the Church prays and confesses:

✝ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen. ✝