Homoiousian

Homoiousios (ὁμοιούσιος from ὅμοιος, hómoios, "similar" and οὐσία, ousía, "essence, being") is a Christian theological term, coined in the 4th century to identify a distinct group of Christian theologians who held the belief that God the Son was of a similar, but not identical, essence (or substance) with God the Father. It is often claimed that Homoiousianism arose as an attempt to reconcile two opposing teachings, namely, Homoousianism and Homoianism: Homoousios is a keyword in the Nicene Creed of the year 325 and means "same substance." Homoousianism was a continuation of that concept and taught that the Son is of the same (ὁμός, homós, "same") substance as the Father. Consequently, the Son is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. Homoianism, on the other hand, refused to use the term οὐσία (ousía, "essence"). Homoians believed that the Son is "like" or "similar" (ὅμοιος, hómoios) to the Father but subordinate to the Father. It is then proposed that Homoiousian (similar substance) theology was an attempt to reconcile the Homoousian (same substance) theology with the Homoian notion of similarity. However, Homoiousianism was “most prominently associated with ... Basil of Ancyra” and "the term homoiousios plays no role in Basil's surviving texts," implying that such a compromise was not the purpose. More recently, Lewis Ayres proposed that Homoiousianism was not merely a compromise but "a significant and persistent strand in earlier eastern theology." There are indications that this theology was a restatement or development of the theology of Eusebius of Caesarea, as stated in the letter he wrote to his home church after the Nicene Council, to explain why he accepted that Creed: Ritter described Homoiousianism "as the right wing of the Eusebian party.” “Basil ... prefers the term 'image of the ousia' to define the Son's relationship to the Father; it is worth noting that this term was favoured by Eusebius of Caesarea ... and also is found in the Second ('Dedication') Creed of Antloch 341.