[B-Greek] Origen hypostasis

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Sun Oct 9 19:44:49 EDT 2005


Dear Octavio,

>    I don´t have the Greek of this text of Origen 
>(Fragm in Jo. 37 ) , however , Origen said about 
>the Holy Spirit  that "  is an active 
>substantial being" . If he used "hUPOSTASIS" , 
>perhaps it mean "person" or an individual being.
>For example , Tertulian (That is before Origen) 
>used the term "personae" for the Holy Spirit.
>It is possible that Origen read Tertulian (Adv 
>.Preaxeam) and translated   hUPOSTASIS to 
>personae Latin .
>Is it possible ?.

HH: I'm not an expert. Perhaps someone else would 
know. It seems to be used that way in later 
Church thinking about the Trinity, but I don't 
know about Origen.  According to LSJ, the word 
hUPOSTASIS is used to show substantial existence, 
and with IDIOS it could indicate a separate 
existence. BAGD adds the idea of "actual being." 
They give "real being" for hUPOSTASIS in Heb 1:3.

(Concerning your earlier question, in Heb 11:1 
LSJ favors the interpretation "confidence" for 
hUPOSTASIS. BAGD like "realization" at Heb 11:1: 
"in faith things hoped for become realized" or 
"things hoped for become reality." I prefer LSJ's 
interpretation.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard




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