CONSUBSTANTIAL

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this feast of St. Athanasius is, “Consubstantial.”

We’re familiar with that word “consubstantial” because it was reintroduced into the English translation of the Nicene Creed 2 years ago or so. 

And it caused a bit of an uproar. People said, including myself,  “Come on now…. The translation we were using was much better.”

Nope we were told, the word was to be “consubstantial” once again.

So “begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father” was changed to “begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father”.

HISTORY  - PREVIOUS UPROAR

A little history helps….

The question was: how to explain the Trinity in words? What words do we use?

Jesus talked about God his Father. Jesus talked about sending the Holy Spirit. Jesus talked about being one with the Father.

Jesus spoke in Aramaic…. The Jewish scriptures were in Hebrew.

Our thinkings and our talkings are in English. At least mine are.

The revelations about God were told in the Semitic thought patterns of Israel.

How do we tell the story  in Greek thought patterns - and Greek words?

Greek philosophy enters the picture - enters the conversation - steps out on the stage - when it comes to that question.

How can there be three persons in one God?

Are they all God? Are they all equal? Are they all the same?

What Greek nouns to use?

If we are to talk - we have to use some words.

For starters God is a Being. The Greek word for “being” is “OUSIA”.

All three persons in the Trinity are of the same being. The word for “same” in Greek is, “HOMOS”.

As I tell this story - I get nervous - because we’re talking about God here.

Adding to the difficulty and the complexity of all this - is the teaching and the tradition that Jesus was both human and divine.

In English we use the words “nature” and “person”.  That’s another whole history.

In the history of our Church there have been all kinds of heresies - mistakes - fights - discussions on what words to use - without going down the wrong path in talking about Jesus and in talking about the Trinity.

It took history - heresies - time and theology - councils and decrees - to come up with what we came up with.

So gradually the Greek term that was used for “same being” was “homoöusion”.

That was the word used for describing Jesus Christ at the Council of Nicea in 325.

A priest named Arius [258-336]  did not hold that Christ was God.

Some said he was human and God the Father put the “spark of God” in him.

Nope. All three persons in the Trinity were different - but all three were equally God.

Next - when we enter into the Latin, the Roman speaking world, what word do we use for “homoöusion”.  Answer: “Consubstantial. That became the Latin translation of the Greek word “homoöusion”.

It was a Latin word that Tertullian came up with - “consubstantialis”. It’s an adjective. It stuck - even though in time Tertullian struck out as a member of the Christian Church.

Another reality that makes all this complicated is that in Aristotle’s Greek Philosophy - and then Scholastic philosophy, “substance” means the essence - whereas in Western thought and in the English language “substance” often means material - matter.

In Aristotle’s ontology - how he sees being - there are 10 categories: the substance - what makes a chair a chair. That’s invisible. Then there are 9 accidents which can make one chair different from other chairs: quantity, quality, relation, habitus, time, place, position, action and passive.

This substance accident theory from Aristotle will help in talking about Christ in the Eucharist - in the bread. In transubstantiation the substance of bread changes - but the accidents remain the same.

But let’s stick with consubstantiation.

 So the bottom line is this: the Son is begotten, but before all ages, of the Father’s own being and the Spirit proceeds eternally.

Hello.

That’s a mouthful - far beyond our comprehension - but that’s roughly how the mystery of God as Trinity is talked about using Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin and English words.

So the uproar in coming up with that term at Nicea in 325 - was far bigger than the uproar a few years ago - when we got back to the word “consubstantial” when reciting the Nicean Creed.

To put into words the mystery of Christ - as human and divine - had to be done - but it can never be satisfactory. How could anyone but God understand the deepest mystery of God as Christians understand him: 3 persons in one God.

ENTER SAINT ATHANASIUS

Today we celebrate Saint Athanasius - his dates were around 298 - 373.

He fought all through his adult life for the theology about Christ and the Trinity that the Church accepted - and was sent into exile 5 times - for his beliefs.

So that is why he is known as the great defender of Christ and the Trinity that the Catholic Church holds today.

Attempts are made from time to time on how God is God - and sometimes theologians scream that something reworded is not correct. It’s heretical.

So I tread carefully in saying what I just said.

Enough already.