“”There was never a time when either of Them “was not”.””
I love Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev explanation of Trinity..
God the Trinity is not a frozen entity, not something static or lifeless. On the contrary, within the Trinity there is the plenitude of life and love. ‘God is love’, says St John the Theologian (1 John 4:8; 4:16). Yet there can be no love without the beloved. A lonely, isolated monad can love only itself: self-love is not love. An egocentric unit is not a personality. As the human person cannot experience his personhood save through communion with other persons, so in God there can be no personal being save through love for another personal being. God the Trinity is the plenitude of love, each hypostatic Person exists in a relationship of love for the other Persons.
The Trinity is therefore a relational entity. The relations between the three Persons are relations between ‘I’ and ‘Thou’, or ‘I’ and ‘He’. ‘Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee’, says Christ (John 17:21). Concerning the Holy Spirit, our Lord says, ‘All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that he will take what is Mine and declare it to you’ (John 16:15). We read in St John’s Gospel: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God’ (John 1:1). The Greek text actually says ‘and the Word was towards God’ (pros ton Theon). This underscores the personal nature of the relationship between God the Word and God the Father: the Son is not only born from the Father, He not only exists with the Father, He is turned towards the Father. Thus each Hypostasis in the Trinity is turned towards the other Hypostases.
The icon of the Holy Trinity by St Andrei Rublev portrays three angels sitting at a table upon which is a Cup, the symbol of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice; the three Persons of the Trinity turn simultaneously to each other and to the Cup. The icon has captured the divine love which reigns within the Trinity. The greatest manifestation of this love was the incarnation of the Son of God for the redemption of humanity. Orthodox Tradition regards Christ’s saving sacrifice as a common act of love and self-emptying of all three Persons of the Trinity. It is in this sacrifice that the love which exists within the Trinity was given and became known to humans. As St Philaret of Moscow said, it is the ‘crucifying love of the Father, the crucified love of the Son, and the love of the Holy Spirit triumphing through the power of the Cross’.-Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev
“There is a power within God , an eternal companion of the divine nature , which brings him to an opening , transmission , communion; which brings him to the world. It is the energy , which dogmatists call «goodness» and the mystics call «eros.» The corresponding power is man’s eros , which is directed to God. The two powers are closely connected to one another , although they belong to two different words; the Spirit unites them. As was seen at an earlier point in this discussion , Gregory Palamas , wishing to emphasize the particular energy of the Holy Spirit in the work of man’s perfection , characterized the Spirit as the eros of the divine mind directed to the Word (Reason) , as the eros of the Father directed to the Son.[x] He further stated that even man’s spirit is the eros of his mind directed to his word , his reason. The conveyor of God’s eros to man is the Holy Spirit , and the conveyor of man’s eros to God is the human spirit.
Eros is the mover of transmission and communion. It creates in both God and man «ekstasis» coming out of oneself , coming out of
the mystery and exclusiveness of God. The ecstasy of God leads to dialogue and union with man; the ecstasy of man leads to dialogue and union with God. Of course , the two movements are different; for , whereas God conde - scends , man a - scends.” Panagiotis Christou, Partakers of God
...‘God is love’, says St John the Theologian (1 John 4:8; 4:16). Yet there can be no love without the beloved. A lonely, isolated monad can love only itself: self-love is not love. An egocentric unit is not a personality
When I first heard that, years ago, it sounded so right, SFA, but on deeper reflection—when I managed to find courage to question the unquestionable—I realized that what he is saying is that God created the 'beloved' because, without us, for eons God was an incomplete (imperfect) "egocentric non-personality."