Introduction: The Three Pillars of Orthodox Pneumatology
III.1. What is the "Comma Johanneum"?
In the Russian Synodal translation, which was made from the Greek manuscripts of the 1st Epistle of John, chapter 5, verses 7-8, we read:
"For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are in agreement."
In the Latin tradition, this verse is known as the Comma Johanneum ("Johannine comma").
In some Greek manuscripts (starting from the 4th century), these words are absent. Critics of the Comma claim that it appears in late Greek manuscripts (14th-15th centuries) under the influence of the Latin text, where this phrase was present from antiquity (2nd-3rd centuries). However, the Latin text was translated from older Greek manuscripts of the 2nd century, in which these words were present, unlike the Greek manuscripts of the 4th century. This verse is also preserved intact in Armenian and Syriac manuscripts. In other words, this verse was used everywhere except during the period of Arian domination in the East.
In essence, the meaning of this brief history lesson is that we understand that for nearly half a century, a significant portion of Christianity in the Greek-speaking eastern part of the empire – including the two most eminent and prestigious patriarchates – was firmly in the hands of Arianism. By order of Emperor Constantine (father of Constantius II, who himself had Arian sympathies), a person with Arian leanings was tasked with preparing an "official" version of the New Testament, which was completed during the reign of his son. It is entirely reasonable to assume that, given these circumstances, the powerful Trinitarian testimony of the Comma would have been removed from the "official" and subsequent copies of the New Testament in Greek. Moreover, given the overwhelming and long-lasting dominance of Arianism in the region, it is entirely legitimate to question the extent of the consequences of the removal of the Comma from New Testament manuscripts in this region, for most subsequent manuscripts will come from the copies that form the corpus of the "parent" manuscripts.
"This is the true God and eternal life": a brief apologetic summary on the Holy Trinity.
Division of the empire among the heirs of Constantine the Great: orange – Constantine II; green – Constans; yellow – Dalmatius; blue – Constantius II the Younger. Territory of Europe and Asia Minor during the reign of Emperor Constantius II (a ruler with Arian sympathies).
In light of this, it is interesting to note that the official Greek New Testament used in the Greek-speaking Orthodox Churches – the edition authorized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1904 – contains the Comma, as does the Synodal text of Scripture. This edition was prepared from approximately twenty manuscripts of the New Testament of the Byzantine type from a monastery on Mount Athos, and represents a solid textual tradition in accordance with the Byzantine tradition. This suggests that the Byzantine textual type of the Greek witnesses in which the Comma was absent, because they originated from or were copied in the Eastern regions under Arian influence, was not as corrupted in the non-Arian part of the East, such as Greece and the region around Constantinople. In other words, more specifically, in the Byzantine textual type of the New Testament of the non-Arian part of the East – Greece and the Balkan Peninsula – the Comma was present. This is explained by the fact that the power of Emperor Constantius II did not extend to this part of the ancient world.
Critics (Jehovah's Witnesses, liberal Protestants, Muslim polemicists) claim that this is a late insertion, and on this basis, they reject the doctrine of the Trinity (or "prove" that the Trinity is a 4th-century invention).
III.2. Position of the Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, following conciliar reason, accepts this text as authentic testimony about the Trinity, even if it is not present in some ancient Greek codices. Why?
Principle of conciliar acceptance: The Church has read and cited these verses for millennia in liturgy and theology (especially in the West, but also in the East after the 7th-8th centuries).
Theological necessity: even without these verses, the doctrine of the Trinity is fully proven from other passages of Scripture (Matthew 3:16-17; 28:19; John 14-16; 2 Corinthians 13:13; Hebrews 1, etc.). But the presence of these verses provides direct Trinitarian testimony in one of the key passages of the New Testament.
III.3. Argument from the Old Testament law on two or three witnesses
Father Daniel Sysoev does not enter into manuscript debates, but puts forward a theological argument that makes the "Johannine comma" necessary.
"At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." (Deuteronomy 19:15)
This principle also applies in the New Testament. In the 1st Epistle of John, it is a question of testimony:
On earth, three witnesses testify: the spirit, the water, and the blood (v. 8).
If there are three witnesses on earth, there must be three witnesses in heaven for the testimony to be complete. Otherwise, the heavenly testimony would be incomplete (one or two witnesses are not enough according to the law).
Therefore: without the "heavenly witnesses" (the Father, the Word, and the Spirit), verse 8 ("these three are in agreement") hangs in the air. What exactly do the spirit, the water, and the blood testify about? Verse 7 gives the answer: they testify that the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are one.
Thus, the "Johannine comma" does not contradict Scripture, but completes it, revealing the meaning of verse 8. Consequently, if one accepts the textological correction of the Arians, it indeed looks like a falsification of the text.
III.4. Historical and Patristic Argumentation
Although this phrase is absent from 4th-century Greek manuscripts due to the Arian censorship that prevailed in this period in the East, it appears very early among the Latin Fathers:
Tertullian (c. 160-220) , in his treatise "Against Praxeas" (ch. 25), cites: "Thus, the relationship between the Father and the Son, and between the Son and the Comforter, implies the existence of three whole Persons, distinct from one another. These three are one (unum) in essence, and not one (unus) as a Person, as it is said: 'I and the Father are one (unum)'" – by unity of essence, and not by numerical unity. Tertullian cites John 10:30 to clarify that the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit are one by unity of essence, and not by numerical unity. His words "These three are one" exactly repeat the words at the end of the verse (1 John 5:7). He cites "These three are one", then clarifies that it is "one" in essence, but not in Person. It is quite obvious that he is referring to the Comma. It is also important to note that the work "Against Praxeas" was specifically chosen to explain and defend the doctrine of the Trinity against the Sabellian heresy, which explains why Tertullian insists on unity in essence, not in Person. Thus, his use of the Comma a century and a half before the Trinitarian controversies with the Arians (at a time when, supposedly, the holy Fathers did not mention the Comma) is remarkable in itself, as it shows that this verse WAS in use at such an early time, which undoubtedly means it is authentic.
Tertullian's geographical place of residence indicates that he most likely had access to the Latin manuscripts of Scripture in use at that time in North Africa. And his citation of the Comma testifies to its presence in the old African Latin textual tradition. Furthermore, it must be understood that the Old Latin text of Scripture was translated from Greek. Scholars debate whether Tertullian used an Old Latin manuscript, or whether he simply read the Greek text, subsequently translating it into Latin in his works. In any case, however, we must understand that the testimony of the existence of the Comma in the Greek text of Scripture goes back to the end of the 2nd century AD.
Saint Cyprian of Carthage directly refers to this verse between 200 and 258 AD: "He who breaks the peace and law of Christ is against Christ; he who gathers elsewhere than in the Church scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says: 'I and the Father are one'; and it is also written of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: 'and these three are one.'" Given the citation of the Comma by two ancient North African Christian writers simultaneously, in the period from 193 to 258 AD, as well as all the other evidence listed above, we can state with even more certainty that the Comma existed in the Greek text of the 1st Epistle of John from time immemorial, from where it passed into the Old Latin text of Scripture in North Africa during its translation.
Saint Hilary of Poitiers (4th century) , in his treatise "On the Trinity" (Book 10, ch. 4), directly cites 1 John 5:7-8 in the Latin translation.
Blessed Augustine (4th-5th centuries) , in his treatise "Against Maximinus" (Book 2, ch. 22), cites this passage as Scripture.
Saint Athanasius the Great (4th century) – the next one who relied on 1 John 5:7 in his work – is Athanasius the Great (Greek), an eminent defender of the orthodox faith in the first half of the 4th century. Gill notes that Athanasius cited this verse in his work against the Arians. (Note: this work is known as "Contra Arianos" and was written by Athanasius the Great during his exile in Rome (c. 339-346).)
In the East, this phrase is used by Saint Athanasius the Great (in the Latin translations of his works) and by later Greek authors (14th century). But it is important that the dogmatic content (the three Witnesses in heaven) is contained in the entire patristic tradition.
III.5. Conclusion on the "Johannine comma"
Textologically – the exclusion of this verse leads to an obvious textual falsification of Scripture.
Historically – it is an integral part of Holy Scripture, which was subjected to Arian censorship in some Greek-type manuscripts, but was present in older Greek manuscripts, as well as in Byzantine-type Greek manuscripts.
Apologetically – even without it, the doctrine of the Trinity remains unshakable.