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Ousia

'''''Ousia''''' ('''') is the Greek language|Ancient Greek noun formed on the feminine present participle of '''' (''to be''); it is analogous to the English participle ''being'', and the Greek ontic. ''Ousia'' is often translated (sometimes incorrectly) to Latin as ''substantia'' and ''essentia'', and to English as ''Substance theory|substance'' and ''essence''; and (loosely) also as (contextually) the Latin word ''accident'' — Philosophical Dictionary: Erasmus-Extrinsic which conflicts with the denotation of Accidental property|symbebekós, given that Aristotle uses ''symbebekós'' in showing that inhuman things (objects) also are substantive.Commentary on Aristotle's Physics

Philosophic and scientific use

The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle used ''ousia'' in their ontologies; their denotations are the contemporary philosophic and theological usages. Aristotle used ''ousia'' in creating animal phylum|phyla in biology, ''ousia'' denoting that which is shared: essence, form, and nature, and ''hypostasis'' denoting that which is particular: an individual instance or thing. Quite later, Martin Heidegger said that the original meaning of the word ''ousia'' was lost in its translation to the Latin, and, subsequently, in its translation to modern languages. For him, ''ousia'' means ''Being'', not ''substance'', that is, not some ''thing'' or some ''being'' that "stood"(-stance) "under"(sub-). Moreover, he also uses the bi-nomial parousia-apousia, denoting ''presence-absence'', and Hypostasis (philosophy)|hypostasis denoting ''existence''.

Theological significance

Origen, (d. 251) used ''ousia'' in defining God as ''one genus of ousia'', while being three, distinct species of Hypostasis (religion)|hypostasis: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Synods of Antioch condemned the word ''homoousios'' (same substance) because it originated in pagan Greek philosophy. The Paul of Samosata entry of the Catholic Encyclopedia says:
- ''It must be regarded as certain that the council, which condemned Paul, rejected the term ''homoousios''; but, naturally, only in a false sense, used by Paul; not, it seems, because he meant by it a unity of Hypostasis in the Trinity (so St. Hilary), but because he intended, by it, a common substance, out of which both Father and Son proceeded, or which it divided between them — so St. Basil and St. Athanasius; but the question is not clear. The objectors to the Nicene doctrine in the fourth century made copious use of this disapproval of the Nicene word by a famous council.''http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11589a.htm The general agreed upon meaning of ousia in Eastern Christianity is all that subsist by itself and which has not its being in another.St John Damascene gives the following definition of the conceptual value of the two terms in his Dialectic: Ousia is a thing that exists by itself, and which has need of nothing else for its consistency. Again, ousia is all that ''subsists'' by itself and which has not its being in another.Pg 50 The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, by Vladimir Lossky SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (ISBN 0-227-67919-9) In contrast to hypostasis which is used to mean reality or existence. Hypostasis meaning existence in general Pg 51 The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, by Vladimir Lossky SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (ISBN 0-227-67919-9) In 325, the First Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism and formulated Nicene creed|a creed, which stated that in the Godhead (Christianity)|Godhead the Son was '''Homoousios''' (same in substance) of the Father. However, controversy did not stop and many Eastern clerics rejected the term because of its earlier condemnation in the usage of Paul of Samosata. Subsequent Emperors Constantius II and Valens supported Arianism and theologians came up with alternative wordings like '''Homoios''' (similar) '''Homoousian|homoiousios''' (similar in substance), or '''Anomoios''' (unsimilar). While the ''Homoios'' achieved the support of several councils and the Emperors, those of an opposing view were suppressed. The adherents of the ''Homoiousios'' eventually joined forces with the (mostly Western) adherents of the ''Homoousios'' and accepted the formulation of the Nicene creed.

References

Bibliography

- Leo Donald Davis, The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325-787): Their History and Theology, Liturgical Press, 1983. (ISBN 0-8146-5616-1)
- Martin Heidegger, Being and Time.
- Vladimir Lossky The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, SVS Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-913836-31-1) James Clarke & Co Ltd, 1991. (ISBN 0-227-67919-9)

External links

- Catholic Encyclopedia: Homoousion
- P.F. Beatrice: ''The Word "Homoousios" from Hellenism to Christianity''
- Schaff's Seven Ecumenical Councils: Excursus on the Word Homousios
- Toward a Dynamic Conception of Ousia:Rethinking an Aristotelian Legacy Christopher P. Long Category:Philosophical terminology Category:Trinitarianism Category:Greek loanwords Category:Christian theology Category:Christian terms

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