Beliefs and Tradition
What does the Coptic Orthodox Church teach about the Holy Trinity?
The Coptic Orthodox Church believes in one God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is the faith into which Christians are baptized and the name in which the Church worships.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
One God In Three Persons
The Church confesses one divine essence and three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father; yet the Three are one God, equal in glory and worshiped together.
This mystery is confessed more than it is solved. The Church teaches it from Scripture, receives it in the Creed, and prays it constantly in the Liturgy. Every sign of the Cross, every Trinitarian blessing, and every Baptism places the faithful inside this confession.
The Trinity In Coptic Prayer
Coptic worship is Trinitarian in shape. The Church prays to the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. The doxologies glorify the Holy Trinity. Baptism is performed in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Eucharistic prayer gives thanks to the Father and asks for the Holy Spirit to sanctify the gifts.
The doctrine is the living faith of the Church: God reveals Himself, saves His people, and brings them into communion
- The Holy Trinity, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Catechetical lecture on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
- The Holy Trinity Continued, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Continuation lecture on Trinitarian doctrine and theological language.
- Where Does the Trinity Doctrine Come From?, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States Q&A. Pastoral answer on biblical and historical grounding for the doctrine of the Trinity.
- The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil, CopticChurch.net. Service text and introduction for the most commonly used Coptic Divine Liturgy.
Orthodox: Right worship and right belief, naming the Church's received apostolic faith and the life of worship that preserves it.
Holy Trinity: The one God confessed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one essence and three Persons, worshiped and glorified together.
Mysteries: The Orthodox name for the sacraments, calling attention to God's grace given through visible rites such as Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, and the Eucharist.
Creed: The Church's shared confession of faith, proclaimed in the Liturgy before the Eucharistic prayer as the faithful stand together in apostolic belief.
Sign of the Cross: The Christian gesture of tracing the Cross on the body while confessing the Holy Trinity and Christ's saving Cross.
Baptism: The sacrament of new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, joining a person to Christ's death and resurrection and to the life of the Church.
Confession: The sacrament of repentance in which a person confesses sins before God in the presence of the priest and receives absolution and guidance.
Holy Communion: The faithful receiving the true Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, after baptismal life, repentance, confession, fasting, reconciliation, and pastoral preparation.