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To: boatbums; kosta50; annalex; stfassisi; MarkBsnr; getoffmylawn
Sorry about the formatting!

"But Jesus is NOT a created being like an angel - I think the LDS got some of their screwy doctrine about Jesus and Lucifer being brothers from that idea."

bb, you are clearly serious about your beliefs. You should make an effort to understand it beyond the mere surface.

The icon is called, as the Greek words say, "The Hospitality of Abraham" and refers to the visit by three "men" to Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:1-8. The "angel" to the right is the Holy Spirit, the one in the center, as Kosta points out, is Christ and the one to the left is the Father. Each is holding a rod which are said to be half shepherd's crook half sceptre which demonstrate not only the obvious but also that They are equal. The cup in the middle of the table contains the calf which Abraham ordered be slaughtered and represents the sacrifice of Christ. Notice how the heads of both Christ and the Holy Spirit incline towards the Father who gazes steadily back to Them. This demonstrates the theology that the Father is the source as to procession and begetting of the other two, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father to prepare the way for the Son Who defers to the Father in all things. The gaze demonstrates the divine eros which connects the hypostasia of the Trinity into one ousia and which is in fact the uncreated energy of the Trinity which connects us to God. The three figures make a sort of circle designed to draw us into the Trinity, to a place the place where the Spirit points and where our Triune God surrounds us and enfolds us.

I posted the icon because it embodies precisely Who we Orthodox worship. As we chant at the end of the Liturgy:

We have seen the true light,

We have received the heavenly Spirit.

We have found the true faith,

We worship the undivided Trinity. For the same hath saved us

3,416 posted on 11/28/2010 6:41:24 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated)
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To: Kolokotronis; boatbums; kosta50; annalex; stfassisi; MarkBsnr; getoffmylawn
to prepare the way for the Son Who defers to the Father in all things

That sounds a little Arian, don't you think? How does deference in all things become co-equality in all things except the Fatherhood?

3,422 posted on 11/28/2010 10:14:43 AM PST by kosta50 (God is tired of repenting -- Jeremiah 15:6, KJV)
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To: Kolokotronis; boatbums; annalex; stfassisi; MarkBsnr; getoffmylawn
The "angel" to the right is the Holy Spirit, the one in the center, as Kosta points out, is Christ and the one to the left is the Father

That doesn't sound right, Kolo. If that were so, then the Son would be sitting to the left of the Father, and the Father to the right of the Son.

Moreover, the Son becomes the central figure, displacing the Father. The Son's aureole stands out and eclipses the Father's and the Spirit's, etc. This simply cannot be the right interpretation, or its theology and symbolism seem even heretical.

Here is the same icon from the Assumption Cathedral of Moscow (Kremlin), which really puts the above in perspective:

The angel on the left is not even looking at Christ, and the one on the right has a different afterglow. Moreover, only Christ's wings are fully spread, dominating the picture, and a Christ is again the central image, dominating the scene. Jesus' are aureole doesn't have the cross and the Ο ΩΝ in it.

Furthermore, the angle on the left is gazing at the one on the right, and so is Christ, and the one on the right is gazing straight, not looking at anyone.

Besides the fact that the one on the right also has some headpiece which too me looks very feminine, and a different color hair and some square white foreground to his capital afterglow. Curiously, Christ is sitting to the right of that angel, which at least gets that part theologically correct.

And then there is this whole "sitting to the right" problem: if the son is sitting tot he right of the Father, then the Father is sitting to the right of the Spirit. And if the Son's place is one of privilege, that makes the Holy Spirit a sort of a "third fiddle".

That's what happens when you mix Judas and Hellenism with a sprinkling of Zoroastrianism. :)

My understanding was that the Son visited with two angels. Can we get a clarification on this?

3,426 posted on 11/28/2010 10:43:23 AM PST by kosta50 (God is tired of repenting -- Jeremiah 15:6, KJV)
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