New Testament Trinity
This Image of the Life-Creating Trinity is also called “New Testament Trinity.” When this icon is juxtaposed with the Image of the Holy Trinity, “Old Testament Trinity,” one can see many differences. Here there are no symbolic buildings, trees, or mountains, the robes on the angels are different, the angels are wearing red shoes, the wings are more elaborate, the entire icon is much more decorative, but mainly, the table shape is different, and instead of the cup with a bloody ox, there is an image of Christ Emmanuel in a red circle.
The Orthodox Church Fathers speak of a “Great Council” before all time, where God decreed the creation of the world, the creation of humanity, and the salvation of humanity. This icon extends the arc of these decrees and depicts the ultimate stage of the journey—the future Divinization of mankind. It is a council of Divine Liturgy where the bloodless sacrifice unites mankind to God. Salvation is the first, not final, step. Christian doctrine teaches that man is made in the Image of God and grows into his Likeness, thereby uniting with God. This New Testament Trinity is about the presence of Divine Light in man, the penetration of that Light for all of eternity, and the final union of God with his people.
The New Testament council is the joyful, exuberant party of the Eighth Day, the mystical day of completion, the end of the journey of spiritual ascent. It is life within the feast given by the Life-Giving Trinity. Accordingly, the perspective in the icon is spherical, “universal”— it is as if it is the perspective of God, who is infinite and can see everything simultaneously. The decorative patterns are interwoven and repetitive, the table is not “flat” but lifted up, and none of the angles are correct from a rational point of view. The angels are wearing red shoes—the scarlet slippers of royalty—instead of sandals. The robes are the appropriate Eighth-Day colors for each angel: the Father, whose stable will is revealed in Glory, is in gold and blue; the Son now wears a bright red robe, which signifies perfect, transfigured man; and the Spirit’s green robe represents Life-Giving Love.
In the center of the table is a figure we’ve seen before, the Logos Spermatikos, Logos Emmanuel, God-With-Us, who takes away the sins of the world. It is the activated, growing Logos who leads the believer into the great banquet hall of the Kingdom of God. And here now we can begin to understand the prayer of Saint Basil the Great: “May we not fall away into sloth, but take courage and, being roused to action, be found ready and enter into the joy and the Divine bride-chamber of his glory, where the voice of those that feast is never silent, and the delight of those that behold the inexpressible beauty of thy countenance passeth all telling; for thou art the true Light that enlighteneth and sanctifieth every manner of thing, and thee doth every creature hymn. Amen.”