Responding to John Philoponus: Hypostases, Particular Substances and Perichoresis in the Trinity

Abstract

This article offers an in-depth discussion of John of Damascus’ Expositio fidei, where the concept of Trinitarian perichoresis appears for the first time. The article identifies the sources on which John drew and describes the ways in which he modified the positions of his predecessors. It suggests that the concept of perichoresis is derived from Christology where two natures interpenetrate, or ‘become one’, and that it is therefore possible that it was the Monophysites who first introduced the concept, and that Chalcedonian theologians learnt it from them.