Questions & Answers

Trinity

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Our Lord and the Faith › Trinity

The question

Does each person of the Holy Trinity have a different personality or is it one personality?

The answer

Saint Gregory Nazianzen says, "It is necessary both to maintain the one God and confess the three Persons, each in his own individuality". According to Saint Gregory, the God is three persons without division and the three persons are united but with distinctions. Because of this both the division and the union are paradoxical. So you can say They are One with Three distinct (not different) personalities.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Related questions

Where does the Trinity Doctrine come from? I can not find the word "Trinity" in the Holy Bible. When and how did it originate?
Would it be correct to think of God as a great body having different limbs only three of which we (mankind) have perceived?
Is the Trinity something we just came up with using the Father Son and the Holy Spirit or is it really mentioned in the Holy Bible as the Trinity?

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 668 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.