Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian belief in one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is the first Sunday after Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday 2027 falls on Sunday, May 23, 2027. Western churches keep it as a separate feast, while Orthodox churches honor the Trinity at Pentecost.
When Is Trinity Sunday?
What Trinity Sunday Means
Trinity Sunday celebrates the central Christian understanding of God as one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It comes after the great events of the church year (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost) as a moment to worship the God revealed through all of them. The Trinity is a mystery the church confesses rather than fully explains, a God who is love in his very being, an eternal relationship of self-giving love.
Trinity Sunday in the Bible
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”
How Trinity Sunday Is Observed
Trinity Sunday is observed with worship focused on the nature of God, often using the historic creeds. It opens the long season of Ordinary Time that follows.
Catholic
In the Catholic Church, the Most Holy Trinity is a solemnity on the Sunday after Pentecost, the first Sunday of Ordinary Time after the Easter season. Pope John XXII extended the feast to the whole Western church in 1334.
Orthodox
Orthodox churches do not keep a separate Trinity Sunday. Pentecost itself is called Trinity Day, and the Sunday after it honors All Saints.
Protestant
Anglicans list Trinity Sunday among the principal feasts. Many Anglican and Lutheran calendars number the following Sundays after Trinity or after Pentecost, and churches often recite the Athanasian or Nicene Creed and sing Holy, Holy, Holy.
Where It Falls in the Christian Year
Trinity Sunday follows Pentecost and comes four days before Corpus Christi. For a short explanation of the doctrine, see the Trinity in our glossary.
Trinity Sunday FAQ
When is Trinity Sunday 2027?
Trinity Sunday 2027 is Sunday, May 23, 2027, one week after Pentecost. In 2028, Trinity Sunday falls on Sunday, June 11, 2028.
What is Trinity Sunday?
Trinity Sunday is a feast honoring the Holy Trinity, one God in three persons. After the church year has followed the work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit from Christmas to Pentecost, this Sunday gives thanks for who God is.
Is the Trinity in the Bible?
The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but Christians find the teaching there, for example in Matthew 28:19, where Jesus commands baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and in Paul's blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14.
When did Trinity Sunday begin?
Local churches kept a feast of the Trinity in the Middle Ages, and Pope John XXII made it a feast for the whole Western church in 1334.
Do Orthodox Christians celebrate Trinity Sunday?
Not as a separate day. In the Orthodox Church, Pentecost is called Trinity Day, and the following Sunday is the Sunday of All Saints.
Sources
- Scripture quotations: the King James Version, from our KJV Bible.
- USCCB, Liturgical Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States, 2027
- Orthodox Church in America, Pentecost
- The Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer (1979)
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 232-237
Related Christian Holidays
The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, called the birthday of the Church.
Learn moreCorpus Christi celebrates the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, observed mainly in the Catholic Church and some Anglican traditions.
Learn moreCelebrated forty days after Easter, marking Jesus being taken up into heaven.
Learn moreThe resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the central and defining event of the Christian faith.
Learn more