Advent Devotional: December 1

"If, then, God is One, one is the name, one is the power, of the Trinity. Christ Himself, indeed, saith: 'Go ye, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19). In the name, mark you, not in the names.'

Moreover, Christ Himself saith: 'I and the Father are One' (Jn 10:30). 'One,' said He, that there be no separation of power and nature; but again, 'We are,' that you may recognize Father and Son, forasmuch as the perfect Father is believed to have begotten the perfect Son, (Matt 5:48) and the Father and the Son are One, not by confusion of Person, but by unity of nature.

We say, then, that there is one God, not two or three Gods, this being the error into which the impious heresy of the Arians doth run with its blasphemies. For it says that there are three Gods, in that it divides the Godhead of the Trinity; whereas the Lord, in saying, 'Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,' hath shown that the Trinity is of one power. We confess Father, Son, and Spirit, understanding in a perfect Trinity both fullness of Divinity and unity of power."

Come, Thou Redeemer of the earth,
And manifest thy virgin-birth:

Let every age adoring fall;

Such birth befits the God of all.

Begotten of no human will,

But of the Spirit, Thou art still

The Word of God in flesh arrayed,

The promised fruit to men displayed.

The virgin womb that burden gained

With virgin honor all unstained;

The banners there of virtue glow;

God in His temple dwells below.

Forth from His chamber goeth He,

That royal home of purity,

A giant in two-fold substance one,

Rejoicing now His course to run.

From God the Father He proceeds,

To God the Father back He speeds;

His course He runs to death and hell,

Returning on God's throne to dwell.

O equal to the Father, Thou!

Gird on Thy fleshly mantle now;

The weakness of our mortal state

With deathless might invigorate.

Thy cradle here shall glitter bright

And darkness breathe a newer light,

Where endless faith shall shine serene,

And twilight never intervene.