"Hypostasis": the Threeness of God, The Cappadocian Fathers, Pt 4, Prof. Christopher Veniamin

Series: Mystical Theology
Episode 19: "Hypostasis": the Threeness of God, The Cappadocian Fathers, Pt 4, Prof. Christopher Veniamin

In Part 4 of “The Cappadocian Fathers”, Episode 19 of our series in “Mystical Theology”, we present the doctrine of the mystery of the Threefoldness of God.

Themes broached are listed in the Timestamps below.

Q&As available in The Professor’s Blog: https://mountthabor.com/blogs/the-professors-blog

Recommended background reading: Christopher Veniamin, ed., Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies (Dalton PA: 2022): https://mountthabor.com/products/saint-gregory-palamas-the-homilies ; The Orthodox Understanding of Salvation: "Theosis" in Scripture and Tradition (2016): https://mountthabor.com/products/the-orthodox-understanding-of-salvation-by-dr-christopher-veniamin ; and Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church: According to the Spoken Teaching of Father John Romanides, Vol. 1 (2012), Vol. 2 (repr. ed. 2020).

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Transcript

Recap of Parts 2 & 3: the Oneness of God

Speaker 1 0:00

As you will recall , we were looking at the theology of the Cappadocian fathers and in particular we were outlining how St Basil the Great , st Gregory the Theologian and St Gregory of Nyssa emphasized the oneness of God in addition to the homoousion of Saint Athanasius , or , in a way that was unpacking , if you will , the homoousion of Saint Athanasius the Great . We noted four points . We said that , first of all , they emphasized the unity of the Holy Trinity by saying that arithmetic was not applicable In the case of created beings one plus one plus one equals three , but in the case of God , one plus one plus one equals one . And then we said something about the mutual indwelling of each of the three divine hypostases , how they co-inhere , how they interpenetrate one another perfectly and wholly , and that the whole of the hypothesis of the Son and Word of God abides in the Father and he has , in his turn , the whole . Father abide in him , and Father , son and Holy Spirit indwell one another totally . So each is transparent and totally interpenetrated by the other two . And we mentioned the term perichoresis in that context , although the term itself actually comes a little later with the Christology of St Maximus the Confessor , and then St John Damascene applies perichoresis , to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity .

Speaker 1 2:31

The third way that the oneness of God is emphasized is by the doctrine that there is one shared single energy and one shared single will in the Father , the Son and the Holy Spirit Three men or three angels . Each of them has his or her own will , his or her own will , and in the case of the Holy Trinity this is fundamentally different . Father , son and Holy Spirit have one single shared will and one single shared energy , energy . And then , finally , the fourth way by which the Cappadocians express the uniqueness of the divine unity is by the monarchy , the monarchia of the Father . And we said that the Father is the cause of the hypostases of the Son and the Holy Spirit , but not of the essence . He is not the cause of their essence and natural energy , which they have in common . The Father communicates or makes common his essence and natural energy to the other two hypostases , but he is not the cause of them , because the divine essence and the energy that follows naturally after the divine essence are his . He can't be the cause of his own essence .

The diversity in God: Hypostasis

Speaker 1 4:35

So that brought us to the point where we began to look at the great contribution of the Cappadocian fathers , which was in the area of the diversity in God , the hypostasis that God is one and yet three , the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity . We said in all that they do have one shared single energy , one shared single will .

Speaker 1 5:10

But what about the incarnation ? If all that we know about God we know from his activity in the created order , and if God's energy in the created order is always one , then how do we in fact know that God is not just one but also three ? We pointed to first of all the Incarnation as an example of the diversity and we pointed also to the great mystery of the divine Eucharist . So we said that when it comes to the incarnation , of course only the Son , only the second hypostasis , becomes incarnate , although the Father and the Holy Spirit are also involved . Only the Son suffers in the flesh on the cross . Although the Father anducharist , we can say , yes , the Spirit is present in Holy Communion as well as the Son , but it is a different kind of presence . The Spirit did not become incarnate . Therefore , the Spirit has no body and blood . We receive the body and blood of christ , but not the body and blood of the holy spirit .

Three distinctive hypostatic characteristics

Speaker 1 6:53

So we are able to distinguish three sets of distinctive characteristics . First of all we have , as the Cappadocians called them , the three modes of existence or the three modes of subsistence , the droboe and parxios . So for the first hypostasis the distinctive characteristic is fatherhood and unbegotten . For the second hypostasis , the characteristics correspond to the first , but in reverse sonship and begottenness , while for the third person the distinctive characteristic is proceeding borefsis . And Saint Basil also suggests that sanctification is in a special sense characteristic of the spirit agiasmos ,

Observations re the hypostatic characteristics

Speaker 1 8:11

agiasmos . And we left off as we began to notice several things about this pattern . Firstly , the distinctions between the persons . We have an implied relationship between father and son , but that should not be pressed too far , because although that's true of the hypostatic characteristics of the first and second divine hypostases , it's not true of the

Gregory the Theologian: σχέσις

Speaker 1 8:36

third .

Speaker 1 8:37

St Gregory of Nazianzus develops this point in his first theological oration on the Son . In his first theological oration on the Son , oration 29 , paragraph 16 , where he says the name Father is not the name of an usia , of an essence , it's not the name , equally , of an energy , energia , but it is the name for a skesis . Skesis means relationship . If we say father , we mean father of a son . Of course we may ask , but how are we to understand this particular use of the term Father . Does it not remain a mystery ? Since the Father here is both divine and uncreated , our understanding of this term is based on what we know of animal , or at best human , fatherhood among creatures .

Concept of “relation” and Augustine of Hippo

Speaker 1 9:47

Now there are some who say there you have it , schesis of the members of the Holy Trinity . Of course , another point that we might raise here is that , yes , st Gregory the theologian does use the term schesis . Father denotes a schesis , but he doesn't say what that schesis is . He doesn't analyze what schesis means in the particular case of Father and Son . And here , if we were to take the approach of what some say about the interrelationship of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in terms of relation , here we shall see a point of convergence with Saint Augustine , because the entire doctrine of the Holy Trinity for Saint Augustine is based on schesis , is based on relationship . We'll take a look at that in due course .

Speaker 1 11:13

But a second comment is in the case of the first and second hypothesis , when we speak of fatherhood and sonship , unbegottenness and begottenness , a clear analogy is implied , although , as we said , it should not be pressed too literally , though the terms father and son are not to be understood as bearing exactly the same sense as among humans . Yet a relationship is conveyed . But then what do you do about the question of the Holy Spirit ? The word for the Holy Spirit , we said , is procession , and this is a much more elusive term in terms of relation . It doesn't help us very much to say that the characteristic of the Holy Spirit is agiasmos , sanctification , because surely this is characteristic of all three persons of the Holy Trinity . Now , the word ekporepsis has a scriptural basis John 15 , 21 , where we are told that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father . But the word proceed does not convey any specific relation , any analogy , at least not in the way that the words begottenness or birth do . So what the Cappadocians are trying to do here is to distinguish between the causing of the Son and the causing of the Holy Spirit . They mean to affirm that the relationship of the Spirit to the Father is not the same as the relationship of the Son to the Father .

Procession of Holy Spirit in the Creed

Speaker 1 13:21

Remember in Constantinople , the second ecumenical council , where they add to the creed the part about the Holy Spirit . Because in Nicaea it says and in the Holy Spirit period In Constantinople , with the help of St Gregory the theologian , influenced by St Basil the Great , and so on , we have what we have today an unpacking of what it means to believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father , who , together with the Father and Son , is worshipped and glorified , son is worshipped and glorified , who spake by the prophets , and so on . In the practica of the Second Ecumenical Council it says the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father by procession and not by generation . By procession and not by generation . In other words , precisely to emphasize that there's a difference

Basil the Great

Speaker 1 14:30

On the Holy Spirit , st Basil says that the tropos iparxios of the Holy Spirit , his manner of existence , is unknown to us , section 1741

Gregory the Theologian

Speaker 1 14:46

. And St Gregory of Nazianzus , st Gregory the theologian , in his 22nd oration , goes further than that . He says you hear that there is generation . Do not waste your time seeking after the how . You hear that the Spirit proceeds from the Father . Oration 22 , paragraph 8 , which is St Gregory's fifth theological oration specifically on the Holy Spirit . He says you ask what is the procession of the Holy Spirit ? You tell me first what is the unbegottenness of the Father , and I will then explain to you the physiology of the Son's generation and the Spirit's procession , and we shall both of us be stricken with madness for prying into the mysteries of God . So there it is , once again , an appeal to the divine mystery

Gregory of Nyssa: “through” the Son

Speaker 1 16:06

.

Speaker 1 16:07

Now St Gregory of Nyssa gives us an angle . He doesn't disagree with St Gregory the theologian by any means , but he does go a little further than the other two in indicating a distinction between the Son and the Holy Spirit . If you look , for example , at the end of the work by St Gregory to Ablabius , that there are not three gods , and I'm using here the translation of William G Rush in Sources of Early Christian Thought , page 160 . And there is the same passages in Christology of the Later Fathers in Library of Christian Classics by Hardy and Richardson editors , and for those of you who want the Greek , it's in Patrologia Graeca , volume 45 , column 133AC . So St Gregory of Nyssa goes a little further and says While confessing the unchangeableness of the nature , we do not deny the difference in cause and causality by which alone we seize the distinction of the one from the other .

Speaker 1 17:39

It is by the belief that one is the cause and the other is from the cause . There is the one which is from the first and there is the one which is directly through that which is from the first , directly or immediately . Thus it is that the aspect of only begotten undoubtedly remains in the Son . The mediation of the Son , although it guards for him , his only begottenness , does not prevent the Spirit from a relation , a schesis by nature , to the Father . But speaking of a cause and from a cause , we do not , through these names , signify nature , for no one would say that the word for cause and nature is the same , but we disclose the difference in the manner of being , topos ine , the how of being . So there it is . Saint Gregory says that the Father is the cause , and the Son and the Spirit are both the cause . But he adds a further distinction , and he says that , regarding the way in which they are caused , the Son is caused directly , whereas the Holy Spirit is caused through the intermediary of the Son . So through the Son not , and from the Son , not filioque .

Speaker 1 19:27

I remember Henry Barclay Sweet , who wrote his famous book on the Holy Spirit . He says what a shame that St Augustine did not content himself with the formula of St Gregory of Nyssa , and , by the way , so too does Prestige in his book God in Patristic Thought . Yes , and Prestige even goes one step further and suggests that we should go back to pre-Augustinian theology . Well , so in the case of the Son , we see him as being immediately from the Father , whereas in the case of the Spirit , we say that he is from the Father through the Son . What is Saint Gregory of Nyssa doing ? Here Again , as he says himself , he's trying to preserve the uniqueness of the existence of the second person , of the Holy Trinity , of the Son as only begotten . In what sense do we understand that ? Saint Gregory of Nyssa gives us this angle by which we can approach this mystery ? Ultimately , it remains a mystery , but St Gregory gives us an angle of approach , a safe angle of approach .

Augustine of Hippo

Speaker 1 20:58

So it's time for us now to turn , for now , to St Augustine of Hippo and look at his theological approach , especially at his doctrine of the Holy Trinity and how that compares with what the Cappadocians give us . And I want to give you a slightly wider context in which to read St Saint Augustine of Hippo , whose years are from 354 to 430 . Now , as you know , saint Augustine of Hippo is the saint , the father of the Western theological tradition , at least of the Western theological tradition that developed after him and following him , based on him . So the reference point for the West is not a Saint Athanasius the Great , it's not the Cappadocians . If there is a disagreement , a discrepancy between what the Cappadocians or Athanasius say and what Saint Augustine says , it's really too bad , because it's Saint Augustine that has prevailed in

The Oxford Patristics Conference

Speaker 1 22:28

the West .

Speaker 1 22:29

I will tell you that I was impressed when I attended my first patristics conference at Oxford . You know , at Oxford they have a patristics conference every four years . It's like the Olympic Games Every four years . You have this huge conference . It's an amazing , amazing event . So during the mornings you have communications , which are brief presentations given by various specialists , but you have 20 minutes to do so . So you time yourself , so you make sure that your presentation lasts for not more than 12 minutes and then you have eight minutes for discussion . So there's this tremendous activity and there are different lecture rooms assigned to different subjects . So you have St Athanasius and the early 4th century in one lecture room and you have the Cappadocian Fathers and St John Chrysostom in another , and it goes like that . But when it came to St Augustine , they had two lecture rooms just for St Augustine . So that impressed me because it's an indication of just how dominant Saint Augustine is , has been and still is in Western patristic thought and , by the way .

Speaker 1 24:02

It never ceased to amaze me that Quaston in his Patrology says that Saint Augustine is the greatest of all the fathers . That's not

Tertullian

Speaker 1 24:12

surprising . But who do you think he places second in the West ? To be fair to Quaston , he says in the West the second greatest father is Tertullian . So it's very interesting

Patristics in Roman Catholic Seminaries

Speaker 1 24:27

.

Speaker 1 24:28

A friend of mine , a Roman Catholic priest now , was absolutely thrilled that he managed to find in France , in his home country , a seminary that taught patristics . He wanted Greek patristics and he found a seminary eventually that taught one semester of Greek patristics . Patristics were two semesters , one semester the Greek fathers and the other semester St Augustine . But then I asked him how . 16 courses of philosophy , and mixed into that they added one semester of Augustine and one semester of the Greek Fathers . He was very pleased that he could find that . So there it is . So it's not St Athanasius that the West looks to for the canon , as it were , it's Saint Augustine .

Western perspective on the “Monarchy” of the Father

Speaker 1 25:37

And the doctrine of the monarchy of the father , from the Western perspective , I must tell you , is approached with some suspicion because it still represents in some measure for Western scholars the subordinationist approach of origin . And curiously , there probably the ecclesiastical writer with whom Augustine has most in common is Origen . We'll talk about that later .

Augustine writes “De Trinitate” on “Proprium” of Holy Spirit

Speaker 1 26:23

And thirdly , there is this belief and we'll see it when we actually quote St Augustine that the Cappadocians have not told us clearly what the distinctive characteristic of the Holy Spirit is . So St Augustine writes his De Trinitate addressing this question . So we have these criticisms and , of course , we can offer answers to these criticisms and it's along these lines that we need to examine closely what the Cappadocians teach and how that differs from what Saint Augustine taught

Appeal

Speaker 1 27:16

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