Penthos

see Repentance Perichoresis

THEODOR DAMIAN

The term Perichoresis indicates the mode of existence of the persons of the Holy Trinity characterized by interpenetra­tion, co-inhabitation, mutual fellowship, surrounding, or indwelling. In Greek, peri- choreo means to “make room,” to “go or revolve around.”

The basis of the doctrine of Perichoresis lies in Christ’s declaration about the co­inhabitation between him and the Father (“I and the Father are one,” Jn. 10.30; “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me,” Jn. 14.11) which indicates a relation of consubstantiality (homoousion) of the trinitarian persons. Even so, the first appli­cation of the notion in patristic times was not in the context of trinitarian theology, but in Christology, and it was used in order to emphasize the unity of the one divine person and the distinctiveness of the two natures in Christ.

The idea appeared often in early patristic theological works (Justin the Martyr, Origen, Athanasius, Basil the Great) and though the term itself was also explicitly used in Sts. Gregory the Theologian and Maximos the Confessor, it was St. John of Damascus, in his work Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, who was really the church father to develop the term and concept most fully, especially where Perichoresis is used to describe the type ofintra-trinitarian relationships. It was from the trinitarian context that St. John extrapolated the concept back to Christology; the perichoretical relations in the Trinity being used by him as a paradigm for the coexis­tence of the two natures in Christ.

The term Perichoresis essentially indi­cates that at the heart of God’s life is supreme personal relationship; and that relation is one of total intimacy. According to St. John of Damascus, the persons of the Trinity live together in union in a relationship without coalescence or commingling; they cleave to each other and have their being in each other. When applied to the two natures of Christ, Perichoresis indicates their co-inhabitation and interpenetration, or mutual perme­ation, yet without any loss on the part of any of the two natures of its specific prop­erties, and without any confusion or mix­ture. The ekthesis (credal definition) of the Council of Chalcedon expresses the idea succinctly. Trinitarian perichoresis also grew in the Orthodox tradition to become a paradigm for the spiritual union and interrelation of members of the Chris­tian Church based on Christ’s intentions as expressed in John 17.21: “That they all may be one; as You, Father are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us.”

SEE ALSO: Church (Orthodox Ecclesiology); Council of Chalcedon (451); Holy Trinity; Patristics; St. John of Damascus (ca. 675-ca. 750)

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Crisp, O. D. (2005) “Problems with Perichoresis,” Tyndale Bulletin 56, 1: 119–40.

John of Damascus (1989) Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, in P. Schaff and H. Wace (eds.) The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

Lossky, V. (1968) The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. Cambridge: James Clarke. Prestige, L. (1928) “Perichoreo and Perichoresis in the Fathers,” Journal of Theological Studies 24: 242–52.

Staniloae, D. (1996) Teologia Dogmatica Ortodoxa. Bucharest: Editura Institutului Biblic si de Misiune al BOR.