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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 4

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Dogmatic Theology — Topic 4

Trinitology

The Dogma of the Holy Trinity

Attributes: natural, hypostatic and accidental

The concept of “attribute” (characteristic, feature, trait, property, etc.), as in English, can be rendered in Greek by various terms (e.g., ἰδιότης, χαρακτήρ). An attribute is not something that exists by itself, as a hypostasis does, but rather it exists in a hypostasis, in a particular thing. For example, each individual person has this or that skin color, eye and hair color, height, age, weight, character traits, etc.

In theology the following systematization of attributes is accepted. A natural attribute applies to all things that have a common nature. For example, in man these are reason and freedom, common physical characteristics (two arms, two legs, one head, etc.). For the Persons of the Trinity, the natural characteristics are all the apophatic and cataphatic properties of God. All three Persons possess them equally.

The hypostatic (individual, personal) attribute is that which is inherent in one hypostasis, distinguishing it from other hypostases of the same nature. In Trinitology we spoke at length about the hypostatic properties of each of the Persons of the Trinity. For man, such properties are the characteristics listed above.

Then there are the incidental, contingent properties (from the Latin accidens). These are characteristics of changeable things. For example, a particular person now sits, then gets up and walks, and goes to bed in the evening. The very ability to sit, walk, and lie down is a natural property, but each particular action is not endlessly characteristic to a person, so it is an accessory, that is, a changeable property. God, being immutable, is devoid of accidentia.

Differentiating the essence from the energy according to St. Gregory

Palamas

In theological terms, these propositions were formulated by St. Gregory Palamas as part of his doctrine on the distinction between essence and energy in God:

  1. There is a Divine distinction between essence and energy in God. Essence is the cause of energy. Essence does not permit outside things to communion with itself, while energy does. The essence of the Divine can only be spoken of in the singular, energy – in the plural. The essence of the Divine is indefinable (i.e., not expressible by any word(s), it can only be spoken of in negative formulas), whereas energy is definable. The essence of God is incomprehensible, the energies can be comprehended by the intellect.
  2. The energy is uncreated Divine grace. It proceeds from the essence, but in its proceeding it is not separated from the essence. The divine energies are not emanations of Deity in the Plotinian sense: they are not some partial manifestations of Deity, but God Himself in His action and revelation to the world. Every energy of God, being inseparable from the essence of God, contains in itself the whole of God.
  3. The distinction in God between essence and energy does not contradict the simplicity of the Godhead. We encounter examples of this kind in the created world as well. The human mind is such an example, according to St. Gregory Palamas, being that, on the one hand, we can distinguish between essence of the mind and, on the other hand, between the various actions and faculties which are inherent of the mind. In spite of this distinction, however, no one would argue that the human mind is something complex and composed of various parts.
  4. Energy can be called “God: Energy is God Himself, or, more correctly, a particular way of being outside of God’s own essence.
  5. Communion with God is communion with His energies, not with His essence. But this does not mean that the energies, being the link between God and the created world, are “mediators” between the created and the Uncreated: they are not some intermediate nature, different from the Divine and the created. All of the energies are uncreated and Divine, all of them being God Himself, the Deity Himself in His outward manifestation.

Differentiating the essence from the energy according to St. Gregory

Palamas

Hypostatic Attributes and the interrelation of the Persons of the Trinity

According to Church teaching, the Hypostases of the Trinity are Persons, not impersonal powers. However, the Hypostases have a single Divine essence. Naturally, the question arises as to how to distinguish Them One from Another. All the attributes of the Divine essence, both apophatic and cataphatic, belong to the common essence (reason, love, truth, omniscience, omnipresence, etc.), that is, they are characteristic of all three Hypostases and therefore they cannot express by themselves the differences of the Divine Persons. Thus it is impossible to define each Hypostasis absolutely by using one of these Divine names.

Starting from about the end of the fourth century we can speak of a certain well-established and generally accepted Trinitarian terminology, according to which the hypostatic properties are expressed in the following terms:

· the Father’s (Πατήρ, Pater) – unbornness(ἀγεννησία, innativitas);

· the Son’s (Υἱός) or the Word’s (Λόγος) – begottenness (γεννησία, generatio) and the only-begotten (ὁμογενής);

· the Holy Spirit’s (Ἅγιος Πνεῦμα) – procession(ἐκπορεύσις, processio).

The Father is begotten of no one and has no cause of His existence, He is unconditionally without origin, but is Himself the cause of individual being for the Son through pre-eternal birth and the Holy Spirit through pre-eternal procession.

The Holy Fathers used other terms as well. Particularly, they called the Father the Unoriginate (Ἄναρχος), the Causeless (Ἀναίτιος), and in relation to the other Persons, the Beginning (Ἀρχή, principium), the Reason or Cause (αἰτία, causa), with respect to the Son the Father, with respect to the Spirit the One-who-brings-forth.

The interrelationship of the Persons of the Holy Trinity is also presented by the Holy Fathers in light of their permeation (περιχώρησις) of One Another. The Father is in the Son as in His Own image, and the Son in the Spirit, and conversely, the Holy Spirit abides in the Son and the Son in the Father, just as the Father in the Spirit and the Spirit in the Father.

  • The Dogma of the Holy Trinity
    • Patristic analogies of the Holy Trinity
    • The Holy Trinity in the Old Testament
    • The Holy Trinity in the New Testament
    • Hypostatic Attributes and the interrelation of the Persons of the Trinity
    • Trinitarian terminology: essence (οὐσία)
    • Trinitarian terminology: hypostasis (ὑπόστασις)
    • Trinitarian terminology: nature (φύσις)
    • Trinitarian terminology: person (πρόσωπον)
    • Attributes: natural, hypostatic and accidental
    • The principle of natural “activity” (ἐνεργία) and the will
    • Differentiating the essence from the energy according to St. Gregory Palamas

Patristic analogies of the Holy Trinity

Being the cornerstone of Christian doctrine, the dogma of the Most Holy Trinity is at the same time a dogma that is mysterious and unfathomable to the rational capacities. However, it would be a mistake to think that due to the unfathomability of the dogma of the Holy Trinity that it is impossible to have any true idea of the Trinity. The Holy Fathers, in order to somehow bring the doctrine of the Holy Trinity closer to the understanding of man, used various analogies borrowed from the created world.

Thus St. Basil the Great with the intention of explaining the difference between essence and hypostasis (person) used a “social” analogy – the example of three people. Peter, John and James are all three different human hypostasis or person, while at the same time possessing a common essence or nature. Nonetheless, unlike the three people the Persons of the Trinity are indivisible, They do not divide the Divine essence: Each Person possesses the Divine essence in its entirety.

Western Fathers, as a rule, used the example of three connected vessels from which and into which flows a shared liquid. This image leads western theology to the danger of dividing the Divine essence and Hypostasis.

Other analogies use phenomena found in nature: the sun and the light and warmth that radiates from it; a river – the source of water, the water in the river and the current. Some also see an analogy in the tripartite composition of the human soul. In such a spirit St. Anastasios of Sinai saw the likeness of God the Trinity in man, distinguishing the soul, its rational capacity and the mind.

Nonetheless, all of these analogies are very much imperfect. In the first analogy, the sun and its rays and warmth, there is assumed to be a certain process in time. The second analogy, the source, its water and its flow, is completely theoretical, being differentiated solely in our imagination, but in reality are a single element of water. The analogy of the composition of the soul is also imperfect because the mind and rational capacity are simply attributes of the soul, not separate entities. In other words, the main conclusion drawn from the teaching of the Holy Fathers is that there are no images to represent truly this dogma in our mind.

The Dogma of the Holy Trinity

The truth of the Divine Tri-unity is the pinnacle of God’s Revelation to man. Although man can know God as the Creator or as the one true God by means both natural and supernatural, nevertheless no speculative philosophy could have ascended to understanding the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

The word “Trinity” itself (Τριάς, Τριάδος) is not of biblical origin. It was introduced into the Christian lexicon in the second half of the 2nd century by the apologist St. Theophilus of Antioch.

The dogma of the Trinity is the basis for all Christian faith and ethics, for example: the doctrine on creation of man and the world, on the Sacraments of the Church, and most importantly on the redemption and salvation of man. The dogma of the Holy Trinity is the basis for Christian love. This mystery of the Trinity is grasped and experienced (incompletely) only in the spiritual life.

Dogmatic formula: God is one in essence, but triple in persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Trinity one in essence and undivided.

The doctrine of the Triune God is expressed in the following three propositions:

  1. God is a trinity because there are three Persons (Hypostases) in God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

  2. Each Person of the Holy Trinity is God, but They are not three Gods, rather they are a single Divine Being.

  3. All three Persons differ in their individual or hypostatic properties.

The Holy Trinity in the New Testament

![](https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.a5117256e5bb1a0d536b38e1dbcb211c?rik=zCn0UNBNQG%2bcbA&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.tolleetlege.com%2fwp- content%2fuploads%2f2015%2f01%2fbaptism-of- christ-1483.jpg&ehk=4XPPhJj8UC%2fIutrSbR7VojsDEfOpjbatJlnuRrxdoyM%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0)But whereas in the Old Testament references to the inward plurality in God were made very discreetly, in the New Testament there is clear and explicit proclamation of the Holy Trinity. Christ speaks about God the Father, about Himself and about the Holy Spirit as different Persons multiple times in the Gospel ([Matthew 11:27](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew- Chapter-11/#::text=All%20things%20are%20delivered%20unto%20me%20of%20my%20Father%3A%20and%20no%20man%20knoweth%20the%20Son%2C%20but%20the%20Father%3B%20neither%20knoweth%20any%20man%20the%20Father%2C%20save%20the%20Son%2C%20and%20he%20to%20whomsoever%20the%20Son%20w); [John 14:31](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-14/#::text=But%20that%20the%20world%20may%20know%20that%20I%20love%20the%20Father%3B%20and%20as%20the%20Father%20gave%20me%20commandment%2C%20even%20so%20I%20do.%20Arise%2C%20let%20us%20go%20hence.); [John 5:17](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-5/#::text=But%20Jesus%20answered%20them%2C%20My%20Father%20worketh%20hitherto%2C%20and%20I%20work.); [John 5:19-26](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-5/#::text=Then%20answered%20Jesus%20and,have%20life%20in%20himself%3B); [John 10:15](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-10/#::text=As%20the%20Father%20knoweth%20me%2C%20even%20so%20know%20I%20the%20Father%3A%20and%20I%20lay%20down%20my%20life%20for%20the%20sheep.); [John 14:14-17](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/John- Chapter-14/#::text=If%20ye%20love,be%20in%20you.), etc.). The Apostle Paul ([1 Cor. 12:3](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1-Corinthians- Chapter-12/#::text=Wherefore%20I%20give%20you%20to%20understand%2C%20that%20no%20man%20speaking%20by%20the%20Spirit%20of%20God%20calleth%20Jesus%20accursed%3A%20and%20that%20no%20man%20can%20say%20that%20Jesus%20is%20the%20Lord%2C%20but%20by%20the%20Holy%20Ghost.); [2 Cor. 13:14](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Corinthians- Chapter-13/#::text=The%20grace%20of%20the%20Lord%20Jesus%20Christ%2C%20and%20the%20love%20of%20God%2C%20and%20the%20communion%20of%20the%20Holy%20Ghost%2C%20be%20with%20you%20all.%20Amen.)) and other Fathers of the Church also clearly distinguish the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity (cf. St. Clement of Rome, First Letter to Corinthians, Ch. [8](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement- roberts.html#::text=CHAPTER%208%20%2D%2D%20CONTINUATION%20RESPECTING%20REPENTANCE.), [16](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement- roberts.html#::text=CHAPTER%2016%20%2D%2D%20CHRIST%20AS%20AN%20EXAMPLE%20OF%20HUMILITY.), [22](http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement- roberts.html#:~:text=CHAPTER%2022%20%2D%2D%20THESE%20EXHORTATIONS%20ARE%20CONFIRMED%20BY%20THE%20CHRISTIAN%20FAITH%2C%20WHICH%20PROCLAIMS%20THE%20MISERY%20OF%20SINFUL%20CONDUCT.), 42, 46; St. Ignatius the God-bearer, Magnesians, Ch. 13; Ephesians, Ch. 9, 18). Therefore it is a false statement that the Church began to teach the doctrine of the Three Hypostases in God only beginning in the fourth century, from the time of the First Ecumenical Council, and that before this such a doctrine was either not known at all, or had a different meaning.

The Holy Trinity in the Old Testament

Abraham offers hospitality to the three angels.In the Old Testament there are plenty of references to God as the Trinity of Persons. We will start with those that subtly witness to the plurality of Persons in God without stating a specific number, rather than with those that speak plainly about the Trinity. This plurality is indicated from the first line of the Bible: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth(Gen. 1:1). The verb “bara” (created) is in the singular, while the word Elohim is in the plural (-im is the plural ending, like seraph, seraphim), thus literally “Gods.” Other examples of this “discontinuity” which suggests a plurality in unity are seen in other places in Genesis: Gen. 1:26; Gen. 3:22; Gen. 11: 6-7.

Besides this there exist in the Old Testament indications not only of an abstract plurality in God, but also of concrete Divine Hypostasis. First of all, it is necessary to consider the doctrine of the so-called Angel of Yahweh (Malakh YHWH) or the Angel of the Lord.

The Angel of the Lord is a person separate from God-Yahweh, but nonetheless the commands of the Angel of the Lord are received by people as God’s commands. He is the special protector of the entire nation of Israel ([Is. 63:8-10](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Isaiah- Chapter-63/#::text=For%20he%20said,fought%20against%20them.)), in Him is established the name of “He Who is” (Exd. 3:1-20), i.e. the genuine presence of God, while other angels submit themselves to the Angel of the Lord. He has the power to forgive sins ([Exd. 23:20-21](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Exodus- Chapter-23/#::text=Behold%2C%20I%20send,is%20in%20him.)). Sacrifices are offered to Him, and He receives these sacrifices ([Jud. 6:11-24](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Judges- Chapter-6/#::text=And%20there%20came,of%20the%20Abiezrites.)). Those to whom He reveals Himself are convinced that they see God, calling Him “Lord” (Adonaih) ([Gen. 16:7-14](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis- Chapter-16/#::text=And%20the%20angel,Kadesh%20and%20Bered.)). None of this is possible if He is simply a created angel. In patristic tradition the Angel of the Lord is identified as the Son of God, as the Logos.

In the Old Testament the concept of the “Wisdom of God” also plays a significant role. Sometime Wisdom is listed as one of the attributes of God: With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding (Job 12:13); With him is strength and wisdom(Job 12:16); This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom (Is. 28:29).

However, in three biblical books (Proverbs, The Wisdom of Solomon, and The Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach) Wisdom is presented as a power of God, endowed with the characteristics of a living spiritual being. In Proverbs, Wisdom is spoken of as an independent Person, generated by an eternal birth from God ([Proverbs 8:22-26](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Proverbs- Chapter-8/#::text=The%20LORD%20possessed,of%20the%20world.)). Wisdom was the intermediary of God in the creation of the world ([Proverbs 8:27-31](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Proverbs- Chapter-8/#::text=When%20he%20prepared,sons%20of%20men.)).

The concept of the Word of God also plays an important role in the Old Testament. The Word of the Lord is forever established in heaven ([Psalm 119:89](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms- Chapter-119/#::text=For%20ever%2C%20O%20LORD%2C%20thy%20word%20is%20settled%20in%20heaven.)). It is the power by which God governs nature and all creation ([Psalm 147:15-18](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms- Chapter-147/#::text=He%20sendeth%20forth,the%20waters%20flow.)). The Word of the Lord is not like the word of man: it is like fire or a hammer that breaks rock ([Jeremiah 23:29](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah- Chapter-23/#::text=Is%20not%20my%20word%20like%20as%20a%20fire%3F%20saith%20the%20LORD%3B%20and%20like%20a%20hammer%20that%20breaketh%20the%20rock%20in%20pieces%3F)). The Word of God is closely related to the Spirit of God: the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue ([2 Samuel 23:2](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/2-Samuel- Chapter-23/#::text=The%20Spirit%20of%20the%20LORD%20spake%20by%20me%2C%20and%20his%20word%20was%20in%20my%20tongue.)). In the creation of the world the Word and the Spirit work together: By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth ([Psalm 33:6](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms- Chapter-33/#:~:text=By%20the%20word%20of%20the%20LORD%20were%20the%20heavens%20made%3B%20and%20all%20the%20host%20of%20them%20by%20the%20breath%20of%20his%20mouth.)). However, the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, except in some isolated passages, is seen without personal attributes: rather, it is the breath of God, His energy, His creative and life-giving power.

The principle of natural “activity” (ἐνεργία) and the will

The most important property of any thing is its action (activity, function, movement) (ἐνεργία). In philosophy, all things, even inanimate objects, have action. For example, the activity of a table consists in the fact that one can sit at it, study at it, eat at it, and so on. Only non-existence is devoid of action. Thus, if fire does not burn, it does not exist. Likewise, natural action is action inherent in all things of the same nature. Thus, the natural action of man (a reasoning living being) can be defined as living rationally. At the same time, each person lives in their own way.

Another very important property of sentient beings (God, angels, demons, and human beings) is the will. The Church defines the will as the striving of the subject for what is desired. The natural will of man is defined by the “desire to live rationally.” Even so, each person’s desires are different.

We confess the Holy Trinity to be consubstantial (one-in-essence) and undivided. Consubstantial means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three independent Divine Persons, possessing all the Divine perfections, but they are not three separate beings, not three gods, but one God. They are of one undivided Divine nature. Together They inseparably possess one will, power, authority, and glory. The monarchy of God the Father was seen as the basis for the consubstantiality of the Trinity. The Father is not only without beginning, without cause, but is Himself the “cause” and “beginning” not only of creation, but also of the hypostases of the Son and the Spirit. Both the Son and the Holy Spirit simultaneously originate from the Father as from one cause; however, it must be borne in mind that, while maintaining that the birth and procession are two different forms of origin of the Divine Persons, Orthodox theologians, in keeping with the tradition of apophatic theology, reject any attempt to establish what exactly this difference is.

It follows from the doctrine of the consubstantiality of the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity that the Godhead exhibits a single activity. At the same time each of the Persons of the Trinity acts in a unique way, that is, each acts together with the other two, but each acts in a particular way.

This can be explained in the following example. In relation to wisdom, the Father is the source of wisdom, the Son is the very hypostatic Wisdom, the manifestation of wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is the power that imparts wisdom to man. We can say that the Father wills (decrees, desires), the Son acts (accomplishes), and the Holy Spirit perfects creation in goodness and beauty. Yet this is a single unified activity.

Trinitarian terminology: essence (οὐσία)

Fundamentally, the Trinitarian terminology that we continue to use to this day was developed by the great Cappadocian Fathers. Their merit lies first of all in the fact that they were able to define precisely the meaning of the following terms in regard to God the Trinity: “essence,” “hypostasis,” “person.” This terminology was then transferred to Christology during the era of the Christological controversies (V-XII cc.).

The first of these theological terms, “essence,” is a very important concept in ancient philosophy. The Greek word is οὐσία. It comes from the verb εἰμί (to be) through the present participle ὁ ὤν (masculine singular: “the one who is” – one of the Divine names), ἡ οὖσα (fem. sing.), το ὄν (neut. sing.), ὄντος (genitive singular: hence “ontology,” the study of being). The Latin equivalent of οὐσία is essentia(from esse – to be). However, the Latin term substantia , whose etymological derivation is the same as ὑπόστασις (sub-stance – that which underlies, basis, foundation), became more popular for translating the term οὐσία from Greek.

Related terms are: ἰδέα (idea), εἶδος (view), both from the verb εἴδω (to see, contemplate), γένος (genus) from the verb γίγνομαι (to be born, to grow, to become, to emerge, to appear, etc.).

The common meaning of the word οὐσία is “property,” “wealth.” The philosophical meaning is “being.” Thus Plato, contrasting essence with non- existence, identifies essence with being (τὸ εἶναι). It is clear that according to Plato essence is an idea (εἶδος), living in the world of ideas.

For Aristotle, οὐσία is the first of the ten categories, the most important of them all. In fact the other nine describe it. In the proper sense, essence is the thing itself, the primary, personal essence. Aristotle also speaks of a secondary, general essence (examples are species and genus). The common essence lives in the thing itself, in the primary essence, not in the world of ideas, but in things of the same genus or kind. Any singular thing only has the first essence, since it is not united with anything else into a common genus or species.

According to Aristotle, essence is also the cause, the goal, the essence of being of a thing. Furthermore the secondary essence is matter, while the primary is the form of being of such matter, i.e. the primary essence is the realization of the secondary essence.

Trinitarian terminology: hypostasis (ὑπόστασις)

The term ὑπόστασις (hypostasis, literally “sub-stance,” “under-lying”), like “essence,” could mean “property” or “wealth” in common usage. In ancient philosophy, as a rule, there was no distinction between the terms “essence” and “hypostasis”; they were used as synonyms. The Neoplatonists, Plotinus and Porphyry started to make a distinction between the these terms. By essence the later Neoplatonists meant being in general, and by hypostasis they meant something concrete and definite. This idea was borrowed by the Cappadocians, first of all by St. Basil the Great, who in his distinction between essence and hypostasis established the relation between them as between the general and the particular.[1] From this time onward in Christian theology “hypostasis” was taken to mean the concrete, separate independent being, i.e. Aristotle’s primary, personal essence. And “essence” began to refer to Aristotle’s secondary, common essence.

There is no analogous word in Latin for the term “hypostasis,” since its derivation, “substance,” is used as a synonym for “essence.”

[1] Basil the Great. Letter 38, To his brother Gregory, concerning the difference between οὐσία and ὑπόστασις.

Trinitarian terminology: nature (φύσις)

Another term that is synonymous with Aristotle’s concept of essence as the general common essence is that of “nature,” in Greek φύσις, in Latin natura. The term φύσις was applied infrequently with regard to the Divine essence during the Trinitarian controversies because of its etymology. Φύσις comes from the verb φύω, to give birth, to create, to grow, i.e. the word φύσις implies change, growth. Therefore, the Fathers tried not to employ it in reference to the Divine essence. It was not until the age of the Christological controversies that the term began to be used in reference not only to man, but also to the Deity of Christ.

Trinitarian terminology: person (πρόσωπον)

Additionally, the Cappadocian Fathers equated the term “hypostasis” with the term “person” (πρόσωπον, from one of the verbs for vision). The Latin equivalent is persona. This association is true only for personal natures characterized by the presence of will, mind, and freedom. In this case a person is also a subject, that is, an acting person. For things which do not possess a will, only the term hypostasis, but not person, is applicable. The term individual (individuum: lit. - indivisible) applies to any hypostasis; it simply means separateness from other individuals/individual things. However, the term “individual” is not applicable to the Persons of the Trinity, since the Persons of the Trinity are inseparable. Nor can the term “subject” be equated to the term “Person” as regards the Trinity. Acknowledging three subjects in the Trinity would be tritheism, and one monolithic subject would be Sabellianism. Therefore it is more correct to say that the Trinity is a Triune subject.

The term “person” was highly insufficient for the tasks of Trinitarian theology because the word itself was not a philosophical term. It was more of a descriptive term; it could mean form, countenance, appearance, muzzle, an actor’s mask, etc. In Trinitarian theology, the term was compromised by Sabellius, for whom the Persons were not independent hypostases, but rather disguises or personae which the Godhead consecutively wore.

By identifying the concept of person and hypostasis, the Cappadocians not only regularized the terminology of Christian theology, but also the word “person” received an ontological weight which it previously lacked. It moved from the descriptive to the ontological sphere, and the term “hypostasis” was imbued with a personal content.

Thus, the relationship between the categories “essence” and “hypostasis” (“person”) is as follows: hypostasis, or person, in relation to essence is the image, manner, form of being of essence; that which contains essence in itself; that in which essence exists and in which it is perceived, while essence in relation to hypostasis is its inner content.

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