Notes from my class ... by Dr. Scott Horell"It is John of Damascus who explicitly employs the term perichoresis to describe the mutual indwelling of the members of the Trinity—a concept expressed also by the Latin term circumincessio. So present in Jesus is the Father, that without confusing the persons, Jesus can say that to see him is to see the Father.
In a similar sense believers are called to so allow the Father and the Son to live
within them that we too enter this perichoresis, experiencing the living presence of the
other in ourselves. As the Christian seeks to live spiritually, to live “in Christ” (in Paul’s
terms), John calls us to allow the entire Godhead to make itself present in our being, in
our comportment and in our love for one another. Indeed, there is even a sense in
which the Christian is called to so love other believers that we in a sense carry their
presence within ourselves as well.
The more the Christian allows the presence of God to reign in
his life, the more splendidly he blossoms as truly the unique, beautiful person God created
him or her to be. Because God exists in triunity, the individual is not destroyed by
unity nor the unity by individuality. The inter-penetration of God in us, and of us in
God, is truly as much a key to our own Christlikeness as it is a mystery as to how it can
happen."
painting Andrei Rublev Trinity (the open place at the table is for you... and me) we are welcomed into this beautiful dance.
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