Hi
@Jonaitis, I don't believe the doctrine of the Trinity teaches "modes" per say, since
(except in a special sense, see the definitions below) that would mean that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is One God/One Person (manifesting Himself/appearing to us in three different ways, not as three different/distinct Persons). The Trinity is quite specific in its Biblical insistence that there is one God who exists from/to everlasting as three distinct Persons.
I believe that we should take the time we need to understand each other as best we can (as this can all become pretty confusing if we do not), so perhaps some additional definitions would be in order? Here are some that may prove to be useful in the discussion
(to at least help us make sure that we are all on the same page, so to speak). Most are taken from Shedd's,
Dogmatic Theology.
Mode = a manner in which something is expressed or experienced.
Modalism = the teaching that God is but a single Person who manifests Himself successively as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are not distinct Persons in the Godhead but rather are masks or roles in which God reveals Himself to His creation. Thus, modalism denies the ontological Trinity, which is the view that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit refer to three actual, internal distinctions within the Godhead itself. For modalists the Trinity is purely an economic Trinity.
Modalism is also called Sabellianism after Sabellius, an early proponent of the teaching. It is also sometimes called patripassianism, because by this theory the Father suffered on the cross in his manifestation as the Son. Modalism should not be confused with the orthodox trinitarian concept of modus subsistendi (mode of subsisting). ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 957). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Sabellianism = antitrinitarian heresy named after Sabellius, a third-century proponent of modalism. Consequently, modalism is also called Sabellianism. ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 961). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Ontological Trinity = the internal, intratrinitarian distinctions ad intra or within the Godhead itself. ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 959). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Economic Trinity = the offices or functions performed by each of the three members of the Trinity. The economic Trinity concerns the roles that each member performs in terms of the created order ad extra or outside of himself. ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 954). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Notae Internae and Notae Externae = “internal characteristics” and “external characteristics” that designate characteristics of the ontological Trinity and economic Trinity respectively. The notae internae refer to the peculiar properties that distinguish the Persons from One Another, ontologically speaking.
The “internal characteristic” of the Father is paternity. This characteristic entails His own unbegottenness, as well as His generation of the Son and spiration of the Spirit. The Son is characterized by filiation (i.e., that He is begotten of the Father) and spiration of the Spirit. The Spirit is characterized by procession, that is, He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Because these distinctions entail activities within the very nature of the Godhead, they are also called the “internal operations” or opera ad intra.
On the other hand, the notae externae refer to the characteristics of the trinitarian Persons in their operations outside of the Godhead, that is, with reference to the opera ad extra. The Father is particularly associated with His role as Creator, Preserver, and Ruler of His creation; the Son is connected most closely with redemption; and the Spirit’s work is peculiarly tied to inspiration, regeneration, and sanctification. Thus, the notae externae are those characteristics of the trinitarian Persons viewed from the standpoint of the economic Trinity. ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 958). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Modus Subsistendi = the different ways or “modes” in which the divine nature subsists, namely, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is therefore the functional equivalent to the term person, though more philosophically precise, as the unqualified usage of the word person in everyday speech most naturally suggests three separate beings, which in the context of the Godhead would be tritheism. The expression mode of subsisting should not be confused with modalism, because in modalism the one God has only one mode of subsistence, ontologically speaking, but chooses to reveal himself in three different ways. In the trinitarian view, God has within himself a threefold life, eternally subsisting in three modes. ~Shedd, W. G. T. (2003). Dogmatic theology. (A. W. Gomes, Ed.) (3rd ed., p. 957). Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Pub.
Tritheism = denotes a unity of will and affection, rather than of nature.
--David