Kay Cude Poetry: The Trinity
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WHEN WE PICTURE THE TRINITY TO BE A SINGLE PEARL
Oration 37, Gregory of Nazianzus
–I set before you the One Deity and Power, found in the Three-in-Unity, embracing the Three one-by-one, equal in essence and nature…
Picture the Trinity to be a single pearl, alike on all sides, equally glistening. If any part of the pearl is damaged, the whole loveliness of the precious stone is gone. So when dishonour the Son in order to honour the Father, the Father doesn’t accept your honour. How can the Father glory in the Son’s dishonour? Likewise, if you dishonour the Holy Spirit, the Son doesn’t accept your honour. For although the Spirit doesn’t come from the Father in the same way as the Son, yet He comes from the same Father. Either honour the whole or dishonour the whole, and so have a consistent mind! I can’t accept your half-godliness. I would have you altogether godly.
Oration 37, Gregory of Nazianzus, (AD 330-390) Source: “Shapers of Christianity,” Nick Needham Banner of Truth Magazine, No. 706-July 2022
ORATION 40, CHAPTER 41 – GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS
I set before you the One Deity and Power, found in the Three-in-Unity,
Embracing the Three One by One, equal in essence and nature,
Neither increased nor decreased by ideas of greater or less;
In every way equal, in every way the same,
Just as the loveliness and hugeness of the heavens are one:
The infinite oneness of Three Infinite Ones,
Each of whom is God when seen individually in Himself.
As the Father is God, so is the Son,
And as the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit;
And the Three are likewise One God when seen together.
Each is God because they are of the same essence,
And they are One God because of the single principle of Deity.
The very instant I conceive of the One,
I am enlightened by the brightness of the Three;
The very instant is differentiate them,
I am carried straight back to the One.
When I regard any One of the Three, I think of Him as the Whole;
My sight is filled to the brim,
And the greater part of what I am thinking of eludes me!
I cannot grasp the greatness of One of the Three
So as to reckon a greater greatness to the Others.
And when I see the Three together, I see only one torch,
And I cannot divide or share out the Undivided Light.
Kay Cude Author Statement:
“I [Kay Cude] was reading the July 2022-Volume 706 Banner of Truth Magazine when I came upon an article by Nick Needham, “Shapers of Christianity-Gregory of Nazianzus (AD 330-390).”
Mr. Needham begins, “The fourth century is often considered the Golden Age of the Early Church Fathers, owing to the sheer intellectual and spiritual brilliance of that century’s Christian thinkers in expounding the faith doctrinally and practically. Among its most influential figures were the Cappadocian Fathers.”
‘”This was a group of three theologians from the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor –Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and his friend Gregory of Nazianzus. Of the three Cappadocians, Gregory of Nazianzus came to be the most treasured by following generations. Greek speaking Christians reverentially called him “Gregory the Theologian,” as if he were the first true theologian after the apostle John. In the Greek East, the term “theologian” had special reference to the Doctrine of the Trinity. The apostle John was held to be the first great theologian in that sense, and Gregory the second.”
