The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 2: The Time Before Time • 73

“Keep in mind that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity took time to develop,” he replied, without answering my question. “But I thought you said the Church had always believed in the Holy Trinity,” I objected. “Of course,” he agreed, “but it took the fathers time to comprehend and to explain what all Christians everywhere had always believed .” 9 “In other words,” said Joseph, “they didn’t have words for everything they believed in?” “Precisely,” agreed Father Greg. “So did the Nicene Council invent the word Trinity ?” asked Cesar. Father Greg took a deep breath, rubbed his eyes and went over to speak with Mentor who, in turn, spoke to the witnesses; two of them saluted at once. “There,” said Father Greg, “these two witnesses not only wrote about the Trinity, but also used the actual term in their writings.” 10 “And they attended the Nicene Council?” asked Cesar. “These fathers lived a hundred years or more before Council met!” replied Father Greg. “So much for YouTube,” I teased Cesar, “the Nicene Council did not invent the Trinity and did not even coin the term Trinity .” 9 Known as the Vincentian Canon, the statement, “What has been believed everywhere, always, and by all” (Latin: quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est ), was formulated by Vincent of Lérins (c. AD 450s) to settle questions of orthodox (right) belief.

10 These were Theophilus and Origen.