English

Noun

tetratheism ‎(uncountable)

1. A belief in four gods.
2. (Christianity) The belief that there are four elements in the Christian Godhead—the three hypostases (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) of the Trinity and a divine essence out of which each of these originates.
   • 2002, Hauben, Hans, “On the Invocation of the 'Holy and Consubstantial Trinity' in Byzantine Oath and Dating Formulas”, in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, volume 139, Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, ISSN 00845388, JSTOR 20191434, page 160:

     […] "consubstantial Trinity" could have been a reaction against the supposed heresy of […] Damian […] who was accused of "tetratheism" (or "tetradism", distinguishing four different entities in the Godhead), a response to, but as it seems a variant of, the very influential "tritheism" of John Philoponus (distinguishing three Deities in the Trinity) […]

   • For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:tetratheism.

Derived terms

• tetratheist

Related terms

• tritheism
• polytheism
• monotheism
• henotheism
• atheism

References

• tetratheism in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• Tetratheism in Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary, London, W. & R. Chambers, 1907. p. 1003.
• Tetratheism in Canney, Maurice A. An Encyclopaedia of Religions, London, G. Routledge, 1921. p. 351. OCLC 652285640.
• Hook, Julius N. The Grand Panjandrum and 2,699 Other Rare, Useful, and Delightful Words and Expressions. Revised and expanded. New York: Collier Books, 1991. p. 132. ISBN 9780020332886.

See also

• trinitarianism