NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

To his Brother Gregory, concerning the difference between and .guished from another, the definition by which each is known will no longer tally in all particularswith the definition of another, even though in some points it be found to agree.3. My statement, then, is this. That which is spoken of in a special and peculiar manneris indicated by the name of the hypostasis. Suppose we say “a man.” The indefinite meaningof the word strikes a certain vague sense upon the ears. The nature is indicated, but whatsubsists and is specially and peculiarly indicated by the name is not made plain. Supposewe say “Paul.” We set forth, by what is indicated by the name, the nature subsisting. 2024This then is the hypostasis, or “understanding;” not the indefinite conception of the essenceor substance, which, because what is signified is general, finds no “standing,” but theconception which by means of the expressed peculiarities gives standing and circumscriptionto the general and uncircumscribed. It is customary in Scripture to make a distinction ofthis kind, as well in many other passages as in the History of Job. When purposing to narratethe events of his life, Job first mentions the common, and says “a man;” then he straightwayparticularizes by adding “a certain.” 2025 As to the description of the essence, as having nobearing on the scope of his work, he is silent, but by means of particular notes of identity,mentioning the place and points of character, and such external qualifications as would individualize,and separate from the common and general idea, he specifies the “certain man,”in such a way that from name, place, mental qualities, and outside circumstances, the descriptionof the man whose life is being narrated is made in all particulars perfectly clear.If he had been giving an account of the essence, there would not in his explanation of thenature have been any mention of these matters. The same moreover would have been theaccount that there is in the case of Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and eachof the men there mentioned. 2026 Transfer, then, to the divine dogmas the same standardof difference which you recognise in the case both of essence and of hypostasis in humanaffairs, and you will not go wrong. Whatever your thought suggests to you as to the modeof the existence of the Father, you will think also in the case of the Son, and in like mannertoo of the Holy Ghost. For it is idle to bait the mind at any detached conception from theconviction that it is beyond all conception. 2027 For the account of the uncreate and of theincomprehensible is one and the same in the case of the Father and of the Son and of theHoly Ghost. For one is not more incomprehensible and uncreate than another. And sinceit is necessary, by means of the notes of differentiation, in the case of the Trinity, to keep1382024 ὑφεστῶσαν. & 195·πόστασις is derivatively that which “stands under” or subsists, ὃ ὑφέστηκε. cf. mynote on Theodoret, p. 36.2025 Job i. 1, LXX.2026 Job ii. 11.2027 The mss. vary as to this parenthetical clause, and are apparently corrupt. The rendering above is conjectural,but not satisfactory.427