HRIŠĆANSKI ASPEKTI POJMA IPOSTAS (LIČNOST) U BIBLIJSKIM SPISIMA

Abstract

The term hypostasis represents one of the key theological terms used by the holy fathers in an effort to define the meaning and significance of the person in theological disputes during the historical life of the Church. Although the term hypostasis which we find in the Orthodox Christian tradition is not found in the ancient Hebrew text as an exact term as we find one in the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, it does not mean that the meaning of this term is foreign to biblical thought. On the contrary, there are other terms by means of which we conclude that its meaning can still be read from the corresponding Old Hebrew expressions. In that sense, we believe that the ancient Jewish ideograms, both in their internal meanings and as ideographic gatherings that constitute biblical words, form in many ways the foundation of today’s Orthodox perception of this theologically important concept. By his acts of worship, or by his active presences, God himself participates in the economic historical appearances of the chosen people. Epiphanies as divine active presences are in some way imprinted in the Divine naming, which makes the holy biblical writings God-established ideographic testimonies and messages, which speak of divine actions as actions of certain divine Persons. In that sense, biblical expressions like rbdm lwqh,, ynda,, hwhy,, ~ yhla,, rbd, םyhla xwr,, hwhy xwr,, hwhy! kvm, etc., as ideographic signs of the divine plan of salvation, point to the appropriate Old Testament revelations of the divine hypostases of God the Father, the Son of God and the Spirit of God, which divinely guide the history of salvation of man and the world from sin and death. Keywords: hypostasis, (ancient Hebrew) ideograms, face (of God), presence (of God), God, Lord, word (of God), spirit (of God), naming of God