Terminology Tuesday: Perichoresis
PERICHORESIS is the interpenetration or co-indwelling of each member of the Triune God.
PERICHORESIS
(Gk. πειχώρησις). A term in Neoplatonic anthropology that was used to
explain how the soul was intimately united to the body without being
confused with it; by means of analogy, Gregory of Nazianzus applied it
to the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ (Ep. 101; Or. 38,13). In
this sense, it was reused by Byzantine authors who saw in the human
composite an analogy of the incarnation (Lampe 1077ff.). *Maximus the
Confessor developed the concept to explain the unity of the person
against the monothelites (Bausenhart 173), using the example of a piece
of iron placed in a fire, an example Origen had used to illustrate the
union of the soul with the Logos. Following the thought of ps.-Cyril (PG
77, 1144B, 1163B), *John of Damascus adopted the term perichoresis in
an analogous sense for the inseparable, but not confused, union of the
three divine persons (Expos. 8; 14; 49). Thanks to the Latin translation
of John of Damascus’s Expositio made by Burgundio of Pisa, scholastic
theology also received the idea under the Latin term circumincessio.
B.
Studer, Die theologische Arbeitsweise des Johannes von Damaskus, Ettal
1956, 112–113; G.L. Prestige, Dio nel pensiero dei Padri, It. tr.
Bologna 1969, 297–305; H.A. Wolfson, The Philosophy of the Church
Fathers, Cambridge, MA 1964 (It. tr. Brescia 1978), 418–428; P. Stemmer,
Perichorese: HWP 7 (1989) 255–259; G. Bausenhart, “In allem uns gleich
ausser der Sünde.” Studien zum Beitrag des Maximus des Bekenners zur
altkirchlichen Christologie, Mainz 1992; G. Greshake, Perichorese: LTK3
8, 31–32. (bibl.); E. Durand, La périchorèse des personnes divines,
Paris 2005 (see also Lateranum 72 [2006] 553–575).
B. STUDER
Studer, B. (2014). Perichoresis. In A. Di Berardino & J. Hoover (Eds.), J. T. Papa, E. A. Koenke, & E. E. Hewett (Trans.), Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity (Vol. 3, p. 143). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; InterVarsity Press.