English

Adjective

monoousian ‎(not comparable)

1. (theology) Having one and the same nature or essence, especially with regard to the persons of the Trinity.
   • 1678, Ralph Cudworth, The True Intellectual System of the Universe, Volume I, Gould & Newman (1837), pages 803-804:

     But the homoousian Trinity of the orthodox went exactly in the middle, betwixt that monoousian trinity of Sabellius, which was a trinity of different notions or conceptions only of one and the self-same thing, and that other heteroousian trinity of Arius, which was a trinity of separate and heterogenous substances (one of which only was God, and the other creatures); […]

   • 1867, The American Presbyterian and Theological Review, Volume 5, Number 18, April 1867, page 339:

     The use of the word "monoousian," as above, may mislead; for the orthodox view of the trinity has unquestionably and necessarily a monoousian basis; there is, and can be, but one essence in the godhead.

   • 1884, Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Volume III, T. & T. Clark (1884), pages 676-677:

     The trinitarian idea of personality lies midway between that of a mere form of manifestation, or a personation, which would lead to Sabellianism, and the idea of an independent, limited human personality, which would result in tritheism. In other words, it avoids the monoousian or unitarian trinity of a threefold conception and aspect of one and the same being, and the triousian or tritheistic trinity of three distinct and separate beings.

Synonyms

• monoousious

Translations

See also

• homoousian
• homoiousian
• heteroousian