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Tag Archives: hypostasis
Perichoretic Trinity in Transcendence
Just how personal are the divine persons? We know that when the Eastern Church sought an appropriate vocabulary by which to distinguish the Father, Son, and Spirit from the divine substance, it finally settled on the impersonal word hypostasis, which … Continue reading
Posted in Holy Trinity
Tagged baptism of Christ, David Hart, divine communion, divine persons, God, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, Khaled Anatolios, social trinity
6 Comments
St John of Damascus on the Holy Trinity
Perhaps the greatest theological challenge of the early Church was the articulation of the trinitarian identity of the one God. How do we express both the unity and distinctiveness of the divine persons, or as Charles Twombly puts it, their … Continue reading
Posted in Book Reviews
Tagged Charles Twombly, coinherence, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, indwelling, John of Damascus, perichoresis
16 Comments
St Gregory of Nyssa: The Grammatical Rules of the Trinity
“Transpose then to the divine dogmas the same principle of differentiation which you acknowledge with regard to substance and hypostasis in our affairs, and you will not go wrong” (EpPet. 3e). Well, I’ve been pretty good at basic grammar ever … Continue reading
Posted in Gregory of Nyssa
Tagged divine persons, God, grammar, Gregory of Nyssa, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, Khaled Anatolios, language of faith, ousia, substance
3 Comments
St Gregory of Nyssa: Differentiating Ousia and Hypostasis
In the early fourth century the terms ousia and hypostasis were synonyms and virtually interchangeable in philosophical usage, yet by the end of the fourth century orthodox theologians were using them differently to speak of the one God who is … Continue reading
Posted in Gregory of Nyssa
Tagged Cappadocians, God, Gregory of Nyssa, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, Letter 35, ousia, proper names, substance
3 Comments
St Gregory of Nyssa: On the Divine Ousia and Hypostasis
The epistle To Peter on the Divine Ousia and Hypostasis has long been attributed to St Basil of Caesarea; but during the past century patristic scholars have come to believe that it probably was composed by St Gregory of Nyssa, … Continue reading
Posted in Gregory of Nyssa
Tagged Cappadocians, divine substance, Gregory of Nyssa, hypostasis, Khaled Anatolios, ousia, Trinity
5 Comments
Father, Son, Spirit as Divine Selves
“Three selves, one being”—does it work as a trinitarian formula? Well, why not? It all depends on what we mean by the word “self.” Dale Tuggy defines self as a center of individual consciousness, volition, and agency—i.e., someone who is … Continue reading
St Basil the Great and the Search for Hypostasis
“As I see it,” St Basil the Great writes, “while there is much that distinguishes Christianity from Greek error and Jewish ignorance, I think there is no doctrine in the gospel of our salvation more important than faith in the … Continue reading
Posted in Basil of Caesarea
Tagged Basil of Caesarea, Cappadocians, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, ousia
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“The three men I admire most”: St Basil and the Idiomata
We all know the classical formulae—”three persons, one substance”; “one being in three hypostases”—and perhaps we even know that St Basil of Caesarea was partly responsible for securing this conceptuality in the Eastern tradition. But while everyone involved in the … Continue reading
Posted in Basil of Caesarea
Tagged Basil of Caesarea, Cappadocians, Eunomius, Holy Trinity, hypostasis, idiomata
2 Comments
