BRIEF INTRODUCTION INTO THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE AND HYPOSTASIS IN THE TRIADOLOGY OF THE SAINT BASIL THE GREAT
/KRÁTKY VSTUP DO CHÁPANIA PODSTATY A HYPOSTÁZY V TRIADOLÓGII SVÄTÉHO VASIĽA VEĽKÉHO/

Pavol KOCHAN

assistant professor, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, University of Presov, Masarykova 15, 080 01 Presov, Slovakia, pavol.kochan@unipo.sk, 00421517724729

Abstract

The issue of understanding the difference and relationship between the theological expressions of nature/ousia and hypostasis, which were adopted and defined by the Holy Fathers of the First ecumenical council, is a fundamental theme that opens the door to the theological efforts of all ecumenical councils in the first millennium of Christianity. At the same time, it is a fundamental question for expressing the whole teaching of the Church, on which it stands and falls the soteriological significance of God's revelation for man. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity began to take shape in the ecclesiastical environment from about the 3rd century. The Christian faith was in the spirit of soteriology at the time of the apostolic fathers. The first real truth to be examined and doubted was the truth about the Deity of Log. The expressed conciliar triadology is contained in the text of the Nice-Constantinople symbol of faith, which is preserved intact to this day only in the Orthodox Church. St. Basil the Great on the question of the relationship or difference between nature and person gives an example of man, which he explains in Letter 38 addressed to his brother Gregory (of Nyssa) for fear that Gregory, like many others at the time, should not confuse meaning and the difference between the words nature and hypostasis.

Keywords

Basil the Great, nature (substance), hypostasis, Holy Trinity, salvation

SUMMARY

Saint Basil the Great sheds an important light on the trinitarian issue of distinguishing between hypostasis and ousia, based on the definition of what it means to be common and what it means to be unique. By way of example, the difference between the words "man" and a particular name (Paul, Peter..) presents a characteristic of the nature that is common and relates to a common Deity, and a characteristic of a person that is defined by unique qualities different from others. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are different and unique hypostases, and the unity of the Deity is not the unity of the Hypostasy, but of the nature (ousia). However, they are so united in their being that there is no space or time between them that would separate them from each other. Thus St. Basil defines the content of two new theological expressions that refuted deviations from the pure teaching of the Church about the Holy Trinity.

(Language: slovak)

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