view of the Trinity. Quran 5:73-5 states, “Truly they disbelieve who say that Allah is the third of three.” Orthodox theologians would never deny that God is one God, and not three gods. The great dogmatic debates of the early centuries of Christendom dealt specifically with reconciling the great paradox that God is one and yet is known as three persons. Islam believes that Allah’s word and spirit are always with him. In Father Daniel’s theology, this provides an inroad for Muslims to comprehend the Trinity. It is possible for a Muslim to believe in the incarnation of the word of Allah in the form of spoken and written revelation—the Quran. It is only necessary to present the Christian teaching that the To convey this concept to Word and Spirit of God have been Muslims, Father Daniel references revealed to us as persons, not merethe theological approach of the ly as emanations of God. early Church Fathers known as the Father Daniel adds that the “economic Trinity.” According to St Theophilos of Antioch, the Trinity the Quran attacks is not that Word of God remained within God of the Christians, but rather a misbefore the creation of the cosmos, interpretation. For example, the and then was “expressed” at the Quran states: “Allah will say: O Isa time of creation. This same Word son of Mariam! Did you say to of God is later incarnate as Jesus men, ‘Take me and my mother for Christ. He is not a separate god, two gods besides Allah?’ He will but rather exists from the Father say: ‘Glory be to You, it did not and has the same essence. In both befit me that I should say what I Christian and Islamic teaching, the had no right to say’” (5:116). Here, Word of God is distinct from the Mary the Theotokos is confused Father. Because the Word is uncre- for the third person of the Trinity, ated and thus divine, the Church perhaps reflecting Christian devoFathers reasoned that His distinc- tion that had developed by that tion from the Father means that He time. (Evidence exists that an icon possesses a personal (hypostatic) of Christ and the Theotokos was existence. Although Muslim the- placed at the pagan shrine in ologians do not agree, there is Mecca where Muhammad would nothing explicit in the Quran that have worshipped as a youth; thus denies the personal existence of he may have misinterpreted the Allah’s word and spirit. Christian veneration of the Virgin.) So it is not necessarily the Trinity This leads us to the Islamic proclaimed in the Orthodox It is true that the Quran explicitly denies that Allah could beget a son (Quran 112:1-4). But this is not problematic for Orthodox Christians, whose theology likewise denies that God could beget a son in the human sense of the term. As the Cappadocian Fathers emphasized, we cannot perceive of “begetting” (of the Son) or “procession” (of the Spirit) in human terms. Since the Father, who is the source and cause of the other two Persons of the Trinity, is uncreated and outside of time, human concepts of sonship are meaningless. The Church adopted the name “Son” for the Word of God through divine revelation, and not as a result of human reason.
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Church that is attacked in the Quran, but a skewed version of it. After formulating his approach to evangelizing Muslims, Father Daniel returned to Indonesia in 1988 to begin mission work. Beginning with the conversion of his own family members in the city of East Java, Father Daniel’s mission grew rapidly. The stories he related from the mission’s early days resemble the Book of Acts, replete with miracles and many conversions to Orthodoxy. Because of the growth of the fledgling Indonesian Orthodox Church, Father Daniel began to push for legal recognition by the state. Due to his diligence, the Indonesian granted legal status to the Church in November, 1991. Father Daniel brought the Church under the canonical auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, who then elevated him to the rank of Archimandrite. Today, the Indonesian Orthodox Church has approximately 2,000 adult members, and continues to grow daily, with numerous indigenous clergy. Father Daniel relocated to the United States several years ago, entrusting the mission to his disciples, and keeping in constant contact with the faithful. He currently lectures throughout North America, translates texts into his native languages, and hosts a popular podcast show on Ancient Faith Radio titled Christ the Eternal Kalimat. It was our joy to welcome Fr. Daniel into our midst, and we pray that God will give him – and us – many more opportunities to share the Fullness of Faith with all whom God puts in our paths.