Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Hypostasis (person / subsistence)

A distinct 'who' — a particular subject. In the Trinity, one of the three; in Christology, the one subject of the incarnate Word.

Greek hypostasis, literally 'that which stands under'; in Heb 1:3 used of the Son as the 'exact imprint' of the Father's being.

Hebrews 1:3 and Hebrews 11:1 use the word, though not yet as the later technical term.

The Cappadocians settled hypostasis as 'person' (distinct from ousia). Chalcedon used it in Christology: the union is 'in one hypostasis' — the person is the eternal Word.

A hypostasis is the ousia as particularised — 'the Father' is the one God existing as Father.

In Christology the miaphysites and Chalcedonians read the term differently, part of the historic divide.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.