Pseudo-Athanasius: The Sun As An Image of the Trinity

 Introduction

I am finishing up a translation of a series of Greek questions-and-answers falsely ascribed to St. Athanasius; at the least the main group of questions (the Questions to Antiochos) seem to date from the 7th century.  One group of questions, simply named "Other Questions," goes into detail about the metaphysics of the Trinity and the Incarnation.  Below is an excerpt from Q. 4 of the Other Questions, discussing how man can understand the Trinity.  I hope to release the full translation of these works soon. 

 

 The Sun As An Image of the Trinity

Pseudo-Athanasius (c. 7th c.) 

Listen with understanding, and you will know the Holy Trinity’s mystery, as far as the mind of men is able to know.  Or, rather, it seems to me, insofar as our words are able to tell.  For God is unexplainable, and, therefore, we cannot comprehend His nature, nor is He, like us, one-personed.  For if He were one-personed, we would know Him as we know each other.  But He is one God, yet His persons are three.  And see what is said now.  As the sun is one, but the sun has ray and light, so there are three persons in the sun—disc, ray, and light—and the disc is the chalice of the sun, and the ray descends radiantly and strikes towards earth, and the light illuminates darkened places without a ray.  And, behold! three persons: disc, ray, and light.  But we do not call it three suns, but one sun, nor do we say one persons, but three persons.  For if you are asked, “How many suns are there in the heavens?” you will say, “There is one sun”; but if you are asked, “How many persons of the sun are there?” you will say, “Three: disc, ray, and light”; thus one also thinks about God.  God is one, but the one God has three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  And from this we know that, as the sun is three-personed, so the one God is also tri-hypostatic.  For the sun’s disc is the type of the Father, the ray is the type of the Son, the light of the sun is the type of the Holy Spirit.  And so say this: “With regard to the sun’s disc, ray, and light, we do not say that there are three suns, but one alone; likewise with regard to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God, and not three.”  And, again, say this: “With regard to the sun, the disc, and the ray, and the light are unseperated; for they are not separated from one another; therefore, He is also called one God, and not three, since the three persons of the one God—of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—are not separated from one another.”  And as the sun’s disc begets the ray, and the light proceeds, so, too, God the Father begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeds.  See with comprehension: as the ray of the sun descends from heaven to earth, and is neither separated from the sun’s disc nor departs out of heaven, nor from the earth, but it is in the sun’s disc, and in heaven, and on earth, and everywhere, and does not depart from above nor from below, so, too, the Son and Word of God came down to earth and departed neither from the Father, nor from the heavens, nor from earth, but He was also unseparated in the bosom of the Father, both above and below, and everywhere, and He did not depart from anything.  And as the sun’s light is also in the sun’s disc and in the ray, and in heaven, and on earth, and enters into homes and everywhere, and enlightens them, so, too, the Holy Spirit is also with the Father and with the Son, both above and below, and He enlightens every man and does not depart at any time.  “For the Holy Spirit,” says the apostle Paul, “interprets everything, even the depths of God” (1 Cor 2:10).  Behold!  Therefore, just as there is someone we have never known, nor could we know where he came from, but, when we see his image, then we perceive a little about the character of his person, so, I think, is the case with God.  “For no one has seen God at any time” (cf. Jn 1:18).  Therefore, how can anyone comprehend Him?  But since He is light, and He is named “God,” we make an image of Him from this sensible light; thus, therefore, as we said above, we characterize the Holy Trinity with the type of the sun, saying that the Father is the disc, the Son, the ray, and the Holy Spirit, light from light.  And as the disc, and the ray, and the light are one and three, being undividedly divided, so too God the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is one and three, being divided in persons, like the sun, but undivided in persisting nature.  And as the disc of the sun alone is causing and unbegotten, and the ray is caused and begotten from the disc, and the light proceeds out of the disc alone, sent through the ray, and lighting what is earthly, so, too, God the Father Himself is alone causing the two [others] and unbegotten, and the Son is caused and begotten from the Father alone, and the Spirit Himself is caused and proceeded from the Father alone, but sent forth into the world through the Son.  And thus should you hold, and know, and believe about God. 

 

Source: PG 28:776A-777B. 

Translation ©2025 Brandon P. Otto.  Licensed via CC BY-NC.  Feel free to redistribute non-commercially, as long as credit is given to the translator.