MONARCHY

MONARCHY. Monarchy has a double referent, political and theological, in Orthodox thought. Politically, until the present century it has signified the form of government preferred by the Orthodox Church since its inheritance of the theology of imperial Rome, via Eusebius of Caesarea (qq.v.), in the 4th c. (See Church and State.) Theologically, “monarchy” is a term of great importance for the Orthodox understanding of the Trinity (q.v.). According to the Cappadocian Fathers (q.v.) in particular, still the ground of present Orthodox teaching, the monarchy of the Father is the very glue of the Trinity, the core of the divine unity. It is the Father who is the single source (arche in Greek, hence monarchia, unique source) of the Son and Spirit. Both the latter receive their being and hypostatic (personal) existence from the Father’s person and being (ousia). The doctrine of the monarchy of the Father is thus at the root of the adamant Eastern opposition to the Western addition of the filioque to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (qq.v.).