The concept of divine persons in St. Gregory of Nyssa's works

grantor: University of St. Michael's CollegeChapter One deals with the status quaestionis and the methodology, as well as the fact a notion of person did not exist in antiquity prior to the Cappadocian Fathers. Chapter Two considers some philosophical concepts which contributed to a pre-history of the concept of person: individuals and relations in Aristotle, individuals in Stoicism, the individual as a collection of properties in Platonism, and the Plotinian will of the One. I contend that Gregory probably used these concepts to shape his own concept of person. Besides philosophical sources, however, he used extensively the Bible and the writings of his Christian predecessors. In Chapters Three to Five I analyze the most relevant works in which Gregory deals with divine persons. Here is a summary of the concept of divine persons emerging from these writings. First, to refer to a person in general, Gregory uses Greek terms such as: hypostasis, prosōpon , perigraphousa (or perigraphē), merikē ousia, idikē ousia and even atomon. Second, to distinguish a divine person from the nature which that person owns in common with two other persons, he uses the analogy of the individual and the universal. Also, to distinguish between nature and persons, Gregory believes that, unlike nature, persons are enumerable entities. Third, to establish the identity of each divine person and why each is unique, Gregory adapts for Christian usage the Platonic view of an individual as a unique collection of properties. Fourth, to express the particularizing notes of each divine person, Gregory also speaks of causal relations: the Father is the cause, the Son is from the cause or directly from the first, and the Spirit is from the cause (i.e. from the Father) through that which is directly from the first (i.e. through the Son). Under the influence of Aristotle's category of relation, Gregory underscores that the three divine persons are relational entities. Fifth, relations in Gregory's theology mean more than mere ontological causality. They are manifested in the perfect communion existing among the three divine persons. This communion allows for both the distinction of each person and the perfect unity among them. It is communion that makes the three collections of properties persons. Last but not least Gregory conceives of God as a willing subject who always chooses the good and wishes to be what he is. The ontological view of the will of God betrays a Plotinian influence.Ph.D