The term “hypostasis,” used mainly in philosophy and Christian theology, has been known since ancient times. Many generations of ancient Greeks used this word in completely different meanings than it does now. Famous thinkers tasted the word and used it to interpret global issues of existence. It is included in the well-established expression “three hypostases of God,” which is known to every modern person.
The origins of the term, its basic meanings, their evolution and application are discussed in this article.
Use of the term in Scripture
In the canonical books of the Septuagint, the word “hypostasis” appears 19 times. It also occurs once in the Deuterocanonical book of the Wisdom of Solomon and twice in the apocryphal book of the Psalms of Solomon. Through the word υποστασις the Septuagint conveys in various contexts the meanings of 13 different Hebrew words that do not have a clear philosophical meaning.
In the New Testament the word υποστασις is used five times.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul uses it twice in the usual non-philosophical sense. This word is used in a similar way in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. In addition, the word υποστασις is used by the author of the letter to the Hebrews when defining the concept of faith: “Now faith is the substance (υποστασις) of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Here this word already acquires a noticeable philosophical content.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews chooses the same word to characterize the relationship between the Father and the Son: “This being the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). This is the only place in the Synodal text of the Holy Scriptures in which the word “hypostasis” is left without translation. The Holy Fathers in their theological works paid special attention to the consideration of this verse. It was on this verse that they relied heavily, giving the word υποστασις the status of one of the main theological terms.
Literally
The first version of the meaning of “hypostasis” in the dictionary is interpreted as follows. This is an ecclesiastical term that in Christianity designates one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. For a better understanding of the meaning of the word in the first interpretation, it would be advisable to give several examples of its use.
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Example 1. In the “Catechism” of Plato (Levshin) it is said that at the very moment when the body of the Son of God from the pure blood of Mary began to be depicted, that is, at the moment of conception, the reunification of humanity with the Divine took place. Or humanity was accepted by the Divine, and a terrible and unspeakable hypostatic unity was realized, in other words, the union of two natures in a single hypostasis.
Example 2. The conversation, which began with simple things, moved into a more serious direction, and the conversation turned to the trinity in all areas of life, in ideas, in the visible elements of the social structure, in the hypostases of deity.
Example 3. In K. Penzak’s book “Development of Abilities” it is said that gods and goddesses are hypostases of a single spirit, which lead to a closer relationship with the deity.
Philosophical and theological use of the term
It should be noted that until the century in pagan philosophy, as well as in Christian theology, the terms hypostasis and essence were used as synonyms. So Blessed Theodoret of Cyrus, answering the question: “Is there any difference between essence and hypostasis?” states: “According to external wisdom, no. After all, essence means being, and hypostasis means existence.” In “History of the Church,” Blessed Theodoret cites the words of the Council of Sardicia in 343: “One Hypostasis... of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And Blessed Jerome wrote in the 70s of the 4th century: “The school of secular sciences... does not know any other meaning of the word hypostasis than essence” [2].
The first to distinguish “essence” as “being in general” from “hypostasis”, as “definite being”, was Plotinus, and the Neoplatonists even distinguished between these terms, however, “on what this distinction was based and what they believed the difference between the terms to be: unknown "[3].
“For Aristotle, it (the term hypostasis) meant what truly exists, as opposed to concepts and ideas, and was often used as a synonym for the word “nature.” Moreover, it was understood as equivalent to the Latin sub-stantia. In it, more definitely than in the term “nature,” individual existence was assumed” [4].
In the 4th century, at the height of the Trinitarian disputes, through the works of the Great Cappadocians, the term υποστασις acquired an independent meaning, different from the meaning of the term “essence”. This happened due to the convergence of the concepts of hypostasis and face. Thus, St. Basil the Great, in his 210th letter “To the Neo-Caesarean Scholars,” writes: “It is not enough to list the differences of Persons, but one must confess that each Person exists in a true hypostasis.”
Clarifying the trinitarian terminology, the Great Cappadocians first of all distinguished the concepts of essence and hypostasis as general and particular. In the 38th letter of St. Basil the Great “To Brother Gregory” he writes: “So, “hypostasis” is not an indefinite concept of essence, which does not stop at anything in terms of the community of what is signified, but a concept that depicts and outlines in what way by visible distinctive properties - the subject is general and indefinite” [5].
Etymology
Etymological scientists were able to trace the origin of the object being studied back to the Proto-Indo-European language. There is a stem sta, meaning “to stand, to put.” Further in ancient Greek we find the verb ἵστημι, which is translated as “to arrange, place, stand, erect.”
From it the noun στάσις was formed meaning “arrangement, establishment.” Then the prefix ὑπό was added to it, meaning “under, below,” and the ancient Greek word ὑπόστασις was obtained, which is interpreted as “maintenance, existence, personality, essence.”
Next, synonyms for the word “hypostasis” will be given.
Definition of the term
There is a certain difficulty in differentiating the term “hypostasis”. So the Holy Fathers wrote:
St. Basil the Great:
“The concept of the general refers to the essence, and hypostasis is
the distinctive feature
of each (Person)” [6];
“So the unborn is a way of being
, not the name of the entity” [7];
St. Amphilochius of Iconium:
“After all, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the names of a way of existence, that is, a relationship
«;
St. John of Damascus:
“(Hypostasis) means that which exists in itself
, on one's own";
Abba Thalassius of Libya:
“Hypostasis defines a nature with personal properties
; so that each hypostasis has both that which is common to nature and that which is proper to the hypostasis” [8];
Archimandrite Cyprian (Kern) testifies: “For both Gregori (Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory the Theologian) the Hypostasis is not only a separate individual with its own distinctive features, but also a really existing rational person. Hypostases are thus ways of Divine existence
» [9];
Father Oleg Davydenkov: “Hypostasis indicates not only the difference
, but also on
the self-identity
of a thing, its numerical difference, that is, on
a separate existence
” [10];
V.N. Lossky spoke about the irreducibility of hypostasis to essence: “Hypostasis is that which is ousia.”
(essence), all the properties are applicable to it - or all the negations - which can only be formulated in relation to the “super-essence”, and,
however, it remains irreducible to us
. This irreducibility can neither be grasped nor expressed outside the relationship of the three Hypostases, which, strictly speaking, are not three, but “Three-Unity” [11]. And this difference can be expressed by the fact that nature answers the question “what,” while hypostasis answers the question “who,” which is answered only with a proper name.
The one God of Christianity is not the impersonal essence of philosophical speculation, nor is it an abstraction devoid of a living personal relationship to man. He has a specific Personal (Hypostatic) existence, His nature exists personally, it is a living personal being. Moreover, the personal existence of God, who created the world, exceeds human reason. The human mind is created, and God, who created it, infinitely surpasses created nature, revealing himself to man in the incomprehensible unity of the indivisible Divine Persons of the Trinity, which is the Beginning of everything, the Creator of the world.
What is hypostasis
This term does not have a single unambiguous meaning. To understand its semantics, let’s consider its origin and application in the context of history.
Origin of the word
The Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary gives the following explanations about the roots of the word. This is a transliteration of the Greek hypostasis - “substance”, “essence”, “nature”, which originates from the ancient Greek hyphistasthai - “to be under something”: hypo - the prefix “under”, histamai - “to make stable”.
Meaning in religion
The concept is usually understood in two ways. Considered in a general sense, it means being in general and is equated with existence, with everything that exists, with nature. In a narrow sense, this is an individual, somehow unique from the entire population. The latter meaning of the word is used in Christianity to explain the essence of Divine existence, its triplicity, unity and differences of its persons.
Definition of philosophy
In philosophy, this concept is used to define any substrate, i.e. that which underlies the phenomenon, state or object under consideration and is an unchanging and important part. The concept is contrasted with attributes that relate to the object in question and tend to change.
You can also find the use of some personal principle like “personality” among personalists as a definition.
Words with similar meaning
Among them are the following:
- face;
- essence;
- substance;
- quality;
- base;
- function;
- appearance;
- nature;
- first principle;
- nature;
- origin;
- quintessence;
- image;
- attribute;
- kit;
- belonging;
- role;
- view;
- image;
- role;
- mission;
- appointment;
- range of duties;
- reflection;
- expression;
- embodiment;
- form;
- class;
- side;
- edge.
To conclude our study of the issue of hypostasis, it is worth saying a few words about the debate among church representatives around this concept.
Hypostasis of the Son, Jesus Christ
If no questions arose with the nature of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, then in the Person of the Son of God two natural components are combined - Divine and human.
Jesus Christ unites in Himself two natures - Divine and human
Some clergy speak about a complex Hypostasis specifically in relation to Jesus Christ, and complexity, in this case, means consisting of two. Before coming to earth, the Essence was simple, uniform in nature. After the incarnation of God's Son into Jesus, it is called complex, that is, consisting of the Divine and the human. The two natures are represented by one hypostatic nature, but they cannot be separated; this connection is true and inseparable.
The two natures made up one complex Person of the Son of God, while maintaining individual differences. God remained immortal, but Jesus knew death. Previously, the Son of God was a simple Hypostasis without a body; he became Jesus, a complex personality with a dual nature.
According to the teachings of pagan philosophers, there is substance and nature. Substance is something common, but nature had differences; it can be rational and unreasonable, mortal and immortal. According to their conclusions, all people, animals of every species, angels belong to nature in general, and hypostases have individuality.
Important! According to the teaching of the Holy Fathers of the Church, nature is called substance, and the individual is called person.
Hypostasis is a substance that has accidents, can exist independently and is tangible through sensations.
Further theological debate about the Trinity
These discussions continued into the fifth to seventh centuries. In this era, for the establishment of orthodoxy, it was necessary to officially interpret such a complex concept as the Theanthropic essence of Christ. Hypostasis is precisely the philosophical term that has greatly helped theologians in resolving this problem.
Theologians Maximus the Confessor, Leontius of Byzantium and some others proposed a theory according to which two natures were united in Christ. Thus, He represented a complex hypostasis. This term was also used to interpret the trinity. This is mainly characteristic of Greek patristics.
The remaining Persons of the Trinity were also understood as hypostases of the divine trinity. They were likened to the root, fruit and trunk of a tree.
What is the difference between hypostasis and personality?
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There are many differences between these two concepts. Personality has nothing to do with existence, is not a natural part of something. At the same time, God is expressed in a hypostatic existence, which cannot be comprehended by the human mind.
For this reason, it is a mistake to consider the Lord as some kind of abstraction, a faceless image, having no personal relationship with people.
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Scholasticism
In medieval Western European philosophy, the discussion about the term “hypostasis” has once again revived. The synonym of this word in Latin continued to sound like “substance”. The scholastic “realists” believed that only the essence of the triune God can be called true.
The world of ideas, “universal categories” is independent of sensory manifestations. Therefore, only essences are real. And the hypostases of God are only names or manifestations of His power and strength.
The nominalist scholastics, on the contrary, asserted that it is concrete things that are real. Therefore, only the hypostases of God can be called this way. And Pierre Abelard and John Roscellin believed that the nature of the Persons of the Trinity is one, but each of them has it separately. Therefore, the hypostases of God are something like independent individuals.
