Someone may say that this is said of a king or of a bishop ordained by the law: "Therefore I have anointed Thee, O God, Thy God," for they also were called gods. But if this had been said of a king, or of a bishop ordained by the law, the prophet would not have said, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," for their throne is not eternal, but their throne has vanished with their kingdom.

One Only-begotten Son of God and our Lord Jesus Christ has a throne forever and ever, and it is said to Him: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." Likewise, the Prophet David goes on to say: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool" (Psalm 109:1). "How long" is not said about time, but as it is usually said in the Holy Scriptures.

For example, God said through the prophet: "I am, I am, and to your old age I will be the same" (Isaiah 46:4). It is clear that the existence of God does not cease with man's old age. Further, let no one think that it is said to the common man, and not to God, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy footstool," and that the dwelling at the right hand of God the Father is not eternal, but is limited in time, since there is the word "as long as there is."

Wishing to show that these words are addressed to God and that the dwelling of God the Son at the right hand of the Father is eternal, the prophet says a little further: "From the womb before Lucifer I begat Thee" (Psalm 109:3). The words "before Lucifer" mean that the Only-begotten Son of God was before all years and before the ages; the words "from the womb" testify to the unity of the Essence and Nature of the Father and the Son — thus the Father says: "Not in any other way, but from My Nature was born the Son."

Being of One Essence and of One Essence with the Father, the Son is co-enthroned with Him. Thus you see that the Son is co-enthroned with the Father, and not with the angels. Likewise, the Holy Spirit, equally worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets, is equal to and co-throned with the Father. The chief Apostle Peter testifies of Him: "For prophecy was never uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke it, being moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. 1:21).

Likewise, the all-wise Paul says of Him: "And there is one Holy Spirit, in Him are all things, and we are in Him. For the Spirit searches all things, and the depths of God... No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:10-11). And David says: "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be built" (Psalm 103:30). Similarly, Job says: "The Spirit of God created me" (Job 33:4). Joel says: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and they will prophesy" (Joel 2:28).

And Isaiah testifies: "The Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit" (Isaiah 48:16). And further: "The Spirit of the Lord led them to rest" (Isaiah 63:14). And again: "But receive My words and My decrees, which I have commanded through My Spirit to My servants the prophets" (Zech. 1:6). From this you see that the Son and the Holy Spirit are of one essence with the Father and have equal glory and honor with Him. If They are of one essence and have equal honor and glory, then all three are co-throned.

The courageous ascetic Paul said about the angels: "To which of the angels did God ever say, 'Sit at my right hand?'" (Heb. 1:13.) Angels are the creation and creation of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, ministers of Her eternal and incomprehensible glory, they know their ranks and their dignity. And enough about that. Let us consider further the mystery of the appearance of the Holy Trinity to Abraham. The Holy Trinity, ineffable and incomprehensible, appeared to Abraham ineffably, incomprehensibly and indescribably.

Abraham, as if talking to the Same Thing, turned now to the Three, then to the One. To Odin he addressed Odin thus: "Lord! if I have found favor in Thy eyes" (Gen. 18:3); to the Three thus: "And they shall wash your feet" (Gen. 18:4). There was a mysterious meaning in the fact that Abraham, seeing the Three, called Them One Lord — this is how the unity of the Godhead is declared in the Scriptures; but when Abraham addressed the Three, he thereby showed the Triune and the Three-Person Godhead.

Realize this great and wonderful mystery that God deigned to perform then in Abraham's tent! In the beginning, God revealed to Abraham the mystery of the Holy Trinity; then he ate with him, desiring to give him the good promise of Isaac's birth in old age, which prefigures the birth without the seed of the Saviour. All this is inexplicable and supernatural: for God to be in human form, for the Bodiless One to eat, for the barren to give birth in old age, for the Virgin to conceive and give birth without a husband, preserving virginity; but wherever God descends, Who is above all nature, there supernatural things happen.

The Scripture also says, "And the Lord said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? He answered, "Here, in the tent." The Lord said to him, 'I will be with you again at this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son'" (See Gen. 18:9-10. In the Synodal translation: "they told him", "one of them said"; in the Slavonic Bible the verb is used in the singular number: "he spoke" – but in the Slavonic editions of the Bible available to us the word "Lord" is absent in this passage. – Ed.).

Abraham remembered that God had promised him before, saying, "Sarah thy wife, thou shalt not call Sarah, but her name shall be Sarah; I... I will give thee a son by her" (Gen. 17:15-16). How could Abraham not understand that he had been visited again by the God who had promised to give him a child and was now fulfilling what he had promised? Although the Holy and One-in-Essence Trinity deigned to appear to Abraham in human form, it soon made him understand Its Divinity and power.

The Holy Scripture says: "And those men arose, and from thence went to Sodom and Gomorrah; And Abraham went with them, to see them off. And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham my servant what I will do?" (Gen. 18:16-17.) What stranger in poor clothes, who had neither soldiers nor servants in his service, could call Abraham a slave, since Abraham had many slaves and great wealth?

Further, the Lord says: "Surely from Abraham shall come a great and mighty nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 18:18). Again it became clear to Abraham that God had appeared to him, having said earlier: "In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (See Gen. 12:3, both in the Russian Synodal translation and in the Slavonic editions of the Bible available to us here: "the families of the earth." — Ed.).