The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities (also known as The Two Trinities or The Pedroso Holy Family) is an oil painting on canvas of c. 1675–1682 by the Spanish artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo in the National Gallery, London. It depicts a young Jesus with the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph (the three of whom make up the Holy Family, the earthly trinity of the painting's title), together with God the Father and the Holy Spirit (who with Christ as God the Son form the Holy Trinity). The subject, inspired by the Finding in the Temple, is rare, though it does appear elsewhere in Spanish and Flemish art.
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The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities in the context of Incarnation (Christianity)
In Christian theology, the incarnation is the belief that the pre-existent divine person of Jesus Christ, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, who is also the Logos (Koine Greek for 'word'), was "made flesh" by being conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who is also known as the Theotokos (Greek for "God-bearer" or "Mother of God"). The doctrine of the incarnation then entails that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully human.
In the incarnation, as traditionally defined by those Churches that adhere to the Council of Chalcedon, the divine nature of the Son was united but not mixed with human nature in one divine person, Jesus, or according to those adhering to the Council of Ephesus, the divine and human natures of Christ are fully united into one composite nature "without mixing, confusion, or separation". This is central to the traditional faith held by most Christians. Alternative views on the subject (see Ebionites and the Gospel of the Hebrews) have been proposed throughout the centuries, but all were rejected by Nicene Christianity.
The Heavenly and Earthly Trinities in the context of Subordinationism
Subordinationism is a Trinitarian doctrine wherein the Son (and sometimes also the Holy Spirit) is subordinate to the Father, not only in submission and role, but with actual ontological subordination to varying degrees. It posits a hierarchical ranking of the persons of the Social Trinity, implying ontological subordination of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was condemned as heretical in the Second Council of Constantinople.
It is not to be confused with Arianism, as Subordinationism has been generally viewed as closer to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan view. While Arianism was developed out of it, it did not confess the personhood of the Holy Spirit and of the Son, both eternal.