![]() The Russian Fathers proclaimed: "Those who have intelligence will not depict the Holy Spirit in the likeness of a dove, for on Mount Tabor, He appeared as a cloud and, at another time, in other ways ( ibid.). It is most absurd and improper to depict in icons God the Father with a grey beard and the Only-Begotten Son in His bosom with a dove between them, because no-one has seen the Father according to His Divinity, and the Father has no flesh and the Holy Spirit is not in essence a dove, but in essence God. The Synod held that since only God the Son assumed visible human form, the rationale behind sanctioning icons would be limited to depicting figuratively the Second Person of the Trinity only: Figurative representation of the Father remained controversial among the Russians until after nearly nine hundred years of debates the Great Synod of Moscow (1667) finally made up the Russians' minds and outlawed all illustrations of the Father in human form. The Syrians, Armenians and Indians followed suit while the Ethiopians allowed the depiction of the Holy Trinity as three distinct Persons. Debates continued among the Orthodox Churches and divergent views emerged with the Coptics prohibiting figurative portrayals of the Father though allowing His conceptual image through abstract illustration. Although the Council declared that since the Son became incarnate, depicting Jesus was allowed, the Russian situation regarding the Father remained unclear due to other underlying theological issues. Although debates regarding the legitimacy of representing God in art were more or less settled by the Second Council of Nicaea (787), the Russian Orthodox still found portraying the Father as problematic. ![]() The Russian Orthodox Church never fully resolved the iconoclastic controversy until 1667. Rublev's Trinity displays a rare arrangement of three angels symbolizing a solemn visual Trinitarian theology that conforms to the Russian Orthodox tradition. Rather than depicting the classic Father, Son and Holy Spirit breakdown as old bearded man, Jesus and the dove, Rublev's subject matter is certainly uncharacteristic of Western Trinity representations. ![]() Many outside the Russian Orthodox tradition wonder what it is about this image that represents the Trinity. In addition to being one of the highest achievements of Russian art, Rublev's icon - also known as "Old Testament Trinity"- portrays a profound theological meaning of the unity of Persons in the Trinity along with the spiritual nature of God's Divine Essence by depicting the Triune God as simply three angels. Besides this figurative personification there is a complex theology that renders the Trinity in a rare iconography seen superlatively in Andrei Rublev's icon Trinity. El Greco's mannerist version is among the finest examples. ![]() The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is commonly expressed in Christian art, particularly in the Western tradition, as God the Father with a grey beard, Jesus the Son in his bosom and a dove hovering overhead. Russian Orthodox Trinitarian theology in its most famous artistic expression ![]()
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