This is another stained-glass window from my church, and like the
Luther Seal Window, it is situated way in the back of the balcony, where it is rarely seen by churchgoers.
It looks like a Trinity symbol......Father/Pater, Son/Filius, Holy Spirit/Spiritus Sanctus. In the middle is "Deus", meaning "God", I presume. But, what about the three "NON-EST" words? In the dictionary, the definition for this Latin phrase is, "it is not; not there; absent". So I'm assuming this means "Father is not, Son is not, Holy Spirit is not"..........not God alone?? Father alone is not God, Son alone is not God, Holy Spirit alone is not God??? Meaning, of course, that God is Three in One. Maybe someone with theology knowledge can comment on whether this is correct, or tell us what it really means.
Perhaps this window was hidden away up there in the rear of the balcony so no one would see it and ask for its explanation! (Just kidding.)
Anyway, its something to ponder on this Sixth Sunday of Easter. I think today is Holy Pascha (Easter) in the Orthodox Church; I wonder why East and West celebrates Easter on different days??
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4 comments:
Jeannelle, I tried to post a comment earlier but it seems to have gone off into cyberspace.
You have it exactly right on the Trinity window in your church. It can be expanded to say, God (Deus) is Father (Pater), Son (Filius), and Holy Spirit (Spiritus Sanctus). The Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Son. And the Father is not the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. All three persons together make up the Godhead, in what Dr. Scot McKnight of North Park University in Chicago calls "the perichoretic dance of mutual interpenetrability." I can't begin to get my arms around such a concept, but I believe it. It is a mystery.
And the reason East and West celebrate Easter on different dates is that the West (meaning Rome) changed it, probably to divorce the Christian observance from its Jewish connection. Eastern Orthodox churches observe the same lunar 13-month calendar that Judaism does, so Orthodox Easter always falls at the same time as Passover, just as it did originally. The Last Supper was a Passover Seder meal. Roman Catholicism changed Easter to--are you ready for this?--"the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox." And thus dispensed with its religious roots.
May I have permission to use your photograph of the Trinity window on my blog?
rhymeswithplague,
I appreciate your informative comment! I really was not reading the window correctly.
YES, you may use the window photo on your blog! The church was built in 1873, so this window is quite old.
Oh my! I hate to sound shallow, but I wonder how many parishioners have understood that window over the last 100 years?
Now I've got to check out rhymeswithplague's blog.
caution,
No, you don't sound shallow. That's a logical question. Probably very few parishioners even know that symbol is up there in that window. Honestly.....I had never taken notice of it until I took the photo!
And who of us truly does understand the Trinity concept, anyway? Did Jesus say much about it? Except for His words, "I and the Father are one." We have to take it on faith.
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