Chapter 42

The term hypostasis has two meanings. Sometimes it means simple existence. In this sense, substance and hypostasis are the same thing, which is why certain of the holy Fathers have said: cthe natures, that is to say, hypostases.’ At other times, it means the existence of an individual substance in itself. In this sense, it signifies the individual, that which is numerically different, which is to say, Peter and Paul, or that certain horse.

Now, one should know that substance which is devoid of form does not subsist of itself, nor does an essential difference, nor a species, nor an accident. It is only the hypostases, the individuals, that is, that subsist of themselves, and in them are found both the substance and the essential differences, the species and the accidents. The simple substance, moreover, is found in the same manner in all hypostases: in inanimate and animate substances, in rational and irrational, in mortal and immortal. The essential differences, however, are one thing in inanimate substances and another in animate, one thing in rational and another in irrational, and, similarly, one thing in mortal and another in immortal. To put it simply, with the hypostases belonging to each most specific species, the same essential differences connect them one to another by reason of their substance, but they separate them from the hypostases of another species. In the same way, the accidents in these, that is, in the hypostases, are considered as separating each hypostasis from the other hypostases of the same species. For this reason the term hypostasis has been properly applied to the individual, since in the hypostasis the substance, to which the accidents have been added, actually subsists.

[28] {Περὶ ὑποστάσεως.} Τὸ τῆς ὑποστάσεως ὄνομα δύο σημαίνει: ποτὲ μὲν τὴν ἁπλῶς ὕπαρξιν, καθὸ σημαινόμενον ταὐτόν ἐστιν οὐσία καὶ ὑπόστασις, ὅθεν τινὲς τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων εἶπον αὐτὰς φύσεις ἤγουν τὰς ὑποστάσεις: ποτὲ δὲ τὴν καθ' αὑτὸ καὶ ἰδιοσύστατον ὕπαρξιν, καθ' ὃ σημαινόμενον τὸ ἄτομον δηλοῖ τῷ ἀριθμῷ διαφέρον ἤγουν τὸν Πέτρον, τὸν Παῦλον, τὸν τινὰ ἵππον. Χρὴ γὰρ γινώσκειν, ὡς οὔτε οὐσία ἀνείδεος ὑφέστηκε καθ' ἑαυτὴν οὐδὲ διαφορὰ οὐσιώδης οὔτε εἶδος οὔτε συμβεβηκός, ἀλλὰ μόναι αἱ ὑποστάσεις ἤτοι τὰ ἄτομα καὶ ἐν αὐτοῖς αἵ τε οὐσίαι καὶ αἱ οὐσιώδεις διαφοραί, τά τε εἴδη καὶ τὰ συμβεβηκότα θεωροῦνται. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἁπλῆ οὐσία ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὑποστάσεσιν ὡσαύτως θεωρεῖται, ἔν τε ταῖς ἀψύχοις καὶ ἐμψύχοις, λογικαῖς τε καὶ ἀλόγοις, θνηταῖς τε καὶ ἀθανάτοις. Αἱ δὲ οὐσιώδεις διαφοραὶ ἄλλαι ἐν ταῖς ἀψύχοις καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἐμψύχοις ἕτεραι, ἐν ταῖς λογικαῖς ἄλλαι καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀλόγοις ἕτεραι, ὁμοίως ἐν ταῖς θνηταῖς ἄλλαι καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀθανάτοις ἕτεραι, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἐν ταῖς ἑκάστου εἰδικωτάτου εἴδους ὑποστάσεσιν αἱ αὐταὶ συνάπτουσαι μὲν αὐτὰς ἀλλήλαις τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οὐσίας, χωρίζουσαι δὲ αὐτὰς ἐκ τῶν ἑτεροειδῶν ὑποστάσεων. Ὁμοίως καὶ τὰ συμβεβηκότα ἐν αὐταῖς ἤτοι ταῖς ὑποστάσεσι θεωροῦνται χωρίζοντα ἑκάστην ὑπόστασιν ἐκ τῶν ὁμοειδῶν ὑποστάσεων. Διὸ καὶ τὸ ἄτομον κυρίως τὸ τῆς ὑποστάσεως ἐκληρώσατο ὄνομα: ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ ἡ οὐσία ἐνεργείᾳ ὑφίσταται προσλαβοῦσα τὰ συμβεβηκότα.