Ousia (
) is the
Ancient GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
noun formed on the feminine present participle of
(
to be); it is analogous to the English participle
being, and the Greek
onticIn philosophy, ontic is physical , real or factual existence."Ontic" describes what is there, as opposed to the nature or properties of that being...
.
Ousia is often translated (sometimes incorrectly) to
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as
substantia and
essentia, and to English as
substance*Substance theory, in philosophy, that element of an object without which it would not exist, or what exists only by itself *Chemical substance, in chemistry, any material with a definite chemical composition*Substance...
and
essenceIn philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the object or substance has contingently, without...
; and (loosely) also as (contextually) the Latin word
accident — which conflicts with the denotation of sumbebekos, given that Aristotle uses
sumbebekos in showing that inhuman things (objects) also are substantive.
Philosophic and scientific use
The Greek philosophers
PlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world...
and
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
used
ousia in their ontologies; their denotations are the contemporary philosophic and theological usages. Aristotle used
ousia in creating animal
phylaIn biology, a phylum ["Phylum" is adopted from the Greek phylai, the clan-based voting groups in Greek city-states.] is a taxonomic rank below Kingdom and above Class...
in biology, and
hypostasis denoting general existence (reality), and
ousia denoting a specific substance, essence, being, person, or thing.
Quite later,
Martin HeideggerMartin Heidegger was an influential German philosopher. His best known book, Being and Time, is considered to be one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century...
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 denoting
existence.
Theological significance
OrigenOrigen was an early Christian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished of the early fathers of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Egyptian who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had...
, (d. 251) used
ousia in defining God as
one genus of ousia, while being three, distinct species of
hypostasisIn Christian usage, the Greek word hypostasis has a complicated and sometimes confusing history, but its literal meaning is "that which stands beneath".-Hellenic philosophy:...
: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The
Synods of AntiochBeginning with three synods convened between 264 and 269 in the matter of Paul of Samosata, more than thirty councils were held in Antioch in ancient times. Most of these dealt with phases of the Arian and of the Christological controversies...
condemned the word
homoousios (same substance) because it originated in pagan Greek philosophy. The
Paul of SamosataPaul of Samosata was Bishop of Antioch from 260 to 268. He was a believer in monarchianism, and his teachings anticipate adoptionism.-Life:...
entry of the
Catholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and it was completed in April 1914...
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.
The general agreed upon meaning of ousia in Eastern Christianity is all that subsist by itself and which has not its being in another. In contrast to hypostasis which is used to mean reality or existence.
In 325, the
First Council of NicaeaThe First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 325 CE...
condemned
ArianismArianism is the theological teaching of Arius , a Christian priest, who was first ruled a heretic at the First Council of Nicea of 325, later exonerated in 335 at the First Synod of Tyre, and then pronounced a heretic again after his death at the First Council of Constantinople of 381...
and formulated
a creedThe Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325...
, which stated that in the
GodheadIn Christianity, the term Godhead is a form of the word "godhood", and denotes the divine character of the Christian God. The term the Godhead may also be used as a title for God, or the Trinity....
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 IIFlavius Iulius Constantius, known in English as Constantius II was a Roman Emperor of the Constantinian dynasty.-Early life:...
and
ValensFlavius Julius Valens was Roman Emperor , after he was given the Eastern part of the empire by his brother Valentinian I...
supported Arianism and theologians came up with alternative wordings like
Homoios (similar)
homoiousiosHomoousian is a technical theological term used in discussion of the Christian understanding of God as Trinity. The Nicene Creed describes Jesus as being homooúsios with God the Father — that is, they are of the "same substance" and are equally God...
(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 creedThe Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325...
.
See also
- Consubstantial
- Essence-Energies distinction
The Energies of God are a central principle of theology in the Eastern Orthodox Church, understood by the orthodox Fathers of the Church, and most famously formulated by Gregory Palamas, defending the hesychast practice. Which involves the vision of a "Divine Light" against charges of heresy...
- Noumenon
The noumenon is a posited object or event as it is in itself, independent of the senses. It classically refers to an object of human inquiry, understanding or cognition. As a concept it has much in common with objectivity...
- Duns Scotus
Blessed John Duns Scotus, O.F.M. was one of the more important theologians and philosophers of the High Middle Ages. He was nicknamed Doctor Subtilis for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought.Scotus has had considerable influence on Roman Catholic thought...
- Ontic
In philosophy, ontic is physical , real or factual existence."Ontic" describes what is there, as opposed to the nature or properties of that being...
- Quiddity
In scholastic philosophy, quiddity was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness," or "what it is." The term derives from the Latin word "quidditas," which was used by the medieval Scholastics as a literal translation of the equivalent term in Aristotle's Greek.It...
- Hypokeimenon
- Haecceity
Haecceity is a term from medieval philosophy first coined by Duns Scotus which denotes the discrete qualities, properties or characteristics of a thing which make it a particular thing...
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