Kairos Podcast 6: BiblicalNicene Trinitarianism vs Early Heresies. Part 7 (bonus video)

1) “In the beginning both terms “hypostasis” and “ousia” were used as synonyms in the Nicene Creed. They amounted to the same thing. Both hypostasis and ousia describe positive, substantial existence. Their meanings were finetuned after much postNicene discussions.

2) Misunderstanding arose between the Western (Latin) church and the Eastern (Greek) church when the Greek and Latin equivalent terms were used in translation

Problem when Greek “One ousia, three hypostaseis” is translated to Latin – “One ousia (substance), three hypostaseis (substances)”: comes across as tritheism or three gods.

Problem when Latin “one substantia, three personae” is translated into Greek: “one substance, three hypostaseis (three prosopa, masks): comes across as Sabellianism.

The misunderstanding was clarified and resolved due to scholarship and statesmanship leaders like Athanasius and Basil of Caesarea. Athanasius alerted the church that linguistic confusion could have arisen from translation. However, the church should recognize that orthodoxy is a matter of intention, not formulae. It was also pointed out that both groups meant the same in opposition against Arianism and Sabellianism.

Conclusion: The Greeks were not teaching tritheism (trs. One ousia (substance, 3 hypostaseis (substance))
Likewise, the Latins were not teaching Sabellianism (3 hypostaseis = 3 prosopa).

Final settlement:
Ousia means a single object of which the individuality is disclosed by means of internal analysis, an object abstractly and philosophically a unit. But for hypostasis, the emphasis lay not on content, but an externally concrete independence or empirical objectivity, that is to say, in relation to other objects. Thus, when the doctrine of the Trinity finally came to be formulated as one ousia in three hypostaseis; it implied that God, regarded from the point of view of internal analysis, is one object, but that, regarded from the point of view of external presentation, He is three objects.” (GPT168169)

#nicenecreed #trinity #ousia #hypostasis #Athanasius