Basil the Great on the Trinity
One substance, three persons, co-equal and co-eternal
Letter 236.6 — "we confess one essence or substance so as not to give a variant definition of existence"
THE POSITION
He supplies the Cappadocian grammar the West later took as standard — one ousia, three hypostases, the distinction being that of the general to the particular, as animal is to a particular man. He blocks both errors in one move: deny the common essence and you get polytheism, deny the distinction of hypostases and you get modalism. On the Spirit he argues for ranking and glorifying him with the Father and the Son.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
17 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Bishop of Caesarea and monastic legislator. Supplied the Trinitarian vocabulary the church still uses — one ousia, three hypostases — and argued the Spirit's deity in De Spiritu Sancto while deliberately never calling him God outright.
Cite this page
"Basil the Great on the Trinity", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/basil/trinity (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/basil/trinity).