{"slug":"khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","title":"De theologia","title_source":"De theologia","author":"John of Damascus","genre":"other","date":"","tradition":"greek","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T06:26:25Z","cost_usd":0.001056},"source":{"registry_id":"greek:khazarzar:khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","work_id":"khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","edition":"khazarzar","language":"","license":"Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/John%20of%20Damascus_PG%2094-96/De%20theologia.pdf"},"stats":{"passages":1,"english_words":281,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":1125,"commentary_units":6,"commentary_kinds":5,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":2,"work_notes":6,"external_links":0,"timeline":5},"summary":{"work":"khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","abstract":"De theologia is a systematic exposition of the Trinity by John of Damascus, employing Aristotelian categories (οὐσία, ὑπόστασις) to defend orthodox doctrine against Arian and Nestorian positions. The work survives in numerous Greek manuscripts from the 9th century onward, often transmitted with John's Dialectica and De fide orthodoxa. It was quoted extensively in later Byzantine florilegia and at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787) as a patristic authority on Trinitarian theology. The Khazarzar edition lacks critical apparatus, limiting its use for textual criticism.","historical_context":"Composed in the early 8th century, likely between 726 and 749, during John's monastic life at Mar Saba in Palestine. The dating rests on internal references to earlier councils and the absence of iconoclast controversy. The text reflects the Greek patristic tradition, drawing on Pseudo-Dionysius and the Cappadocian Fathers, and uses Aristotelian logic to articulate Trinitarian doctrine. It survives in numerous Greek manuscripts from the 9th century onward, often transmitted with John's other works. The Khazarzar edition provides no critical apparatus or manuscript sigla, limiting its use for textual criticism.","significance":"De theologia is a key text for understanding Byzantine Trinitarian theology and its use of Aristotelian categories. It was influential in later Orthodox theology and cited at the Seventh Ecumenical Council. The work also reflects John's role in synthesizing earlier patristic sources, though its reliance on Pseudo-Dionysius and the Cappadocians is unmarked.","timeline":[{"date":"c. 675–749","event":"Life of John of Damascus"},{"date":"726–749","event":"Probable composition of De theologia at Mar Saba"},{"date":"787","event":"Quoted at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II)"},{"date":"9th c.","event":"Earliest surviving Greek manuscripts"},{"date":"20th c.","event":"Critical edition by B. Kotter (Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos)"}],"relations":[{"work":"Dialectica","relation":"Often transmitted together with De theologia","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"De fide orthodoxa","relation":"Often transmitted together with De theologia","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Pseudo-Dionysian corpus","relation":"Unmarked source for Trinitarian theology","key":"","label":null,"url":null},{"work":"Cappadocian Fathers","relation":"Unmarked source for Trinitarian theology","key":"","label":null,"url":null}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The Khazarzar edition lacks critical apparatus and manuscript sigla, limiting its use for textual criticism.","The dating between 726 and 749 is inferred from internal references and the absence of iconoclast controversy; no external evidence confirms it.","John's use of Pseudo-Dionysian and Cappadocian sources is pervasive but unmarked; readers should consult Kotter's critical edition for source identifications."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000334,"generated":"2026-11-15T06:26:25Z"},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Patrologia Graeca text (khazarzar mirror)","url":"http://khazarzar.skeptik.net/pgm/PG_Migne/John%20of%20Damascus_PG%2094-96/De%20theologia.pdf"}],"checks":{"work":"khazarzar-john-of-damascus-de-theologia","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":1,"translated":1,"commentary_passages":1,"commentary_units":6,"english_words":281,"source_letters":1125,"commentary_kinds":5},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The work is a systematic exposition of the Trinity, using Aristotelian categories (οὐσία, ὑπόστασις) to articulate orthodox doctrine against Arian and Nestorian positions.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The text survives in numerous Greek manuscripts from the 9th century onward, often transmitted together with John’s other works, especially the Dialectica and De fide orthodoxa.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Quoted extensively in later Byzantine florilegia and in the acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea II, 787) as a patristic authority on Trinitarian theology.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"external","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"Composed in the early 8th century, likely between 726 and 749, during John’s monastic life at Mar Saba. The dating rests on internal references to earlier councils and the absence of iconoclast controversy.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The Khazarzar edition provides no critical apparatus or manuscript sigla; variant readings and scribal interventions are not recorded, limiting its use for textual criticism.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"John’s use of Pseudo-Dionysian and Cappadocian sources is pervasive but unmarked; readers should consult the critical edition by B. Kotter (Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos) for source identifications.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: other in ancient Greek; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 1 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: khazarzar — Migne PG text (public domain); khazarzar host and the digitising project state no licence for this layer"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":1},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"Τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Οὐ τοσοῦτον ἐκ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς τὸν περὶ τῆς Τριάδος διδασκόμεθα λόγον, ὅσον ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς ἀκολουθίας. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, περὶ τῆς θεολογίας.\n\nἘπὶ μὲν τῆς θεολογίας εἷς Θεὸς δοξάζεται καὶ προσκυνεῖται ἐν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσι· μία θεότης, μία φύσις, μία οὐσία, μία δύναμις καὶ ἐξουσία, ἓν θέλημα· τρία δὲ πρόσωπα, καὶ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ἑκάστη μετὰ τῆς ἰδιότητος. Ἴδιον γὰρ τοῦ Πατρὸς τὸ ἀγέννητον· ἴδιον δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸ γεννητόν· καὶ ἴδιον τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸ ἐκπορευτόν. Θεὸς ὁ Πατὴρ ἄναρχος· Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς συνάναρχος, εἰ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρός· Θεὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, συναΐδιον καὶ συνάναρχον, ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς προϊὸν, οὐχ υἱϊκῶς γεννώμενον ὡς Υἱὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκπορευτῶς. Ἓν τὰ τρία τῇ Θεότητι, κἀν τρισὶν ὑποστάσεσιν. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς οἰκονομίας τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Λόγου τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ εὐδοκίᾳ τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ συνεργίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος σαρκωθέντος, δύο φύσεις ὁμολογοῦμεν, καὶ μίαν ὑπόστασιν· ἕνα τε Υἱὸν τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Θεὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἓν πρόσωπον· δύο δὲ θελήσεις καὶ δύο ἐνεργείας· ἑκάστην φύσιν μετὰ τῆς ἰδιότητος, ἀδιαιρέτως καὶ ἀσυγχύτως. Ἴδιον μὲν γὰρ τῆς θεότητος, τὸ νεκροὺς ἀνιστᾷν, καὶ τὰς θεοσημείας ἐπιτελεῖν· ἴδιον δὲ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, τὸ πεινῇν καὶ διψῇν καὶ κοπιᾷν, καὶ τὰ πάθη ὑπομένειν. Ἀσυγχύτως γὰρ ἡνώθη τῇ σαρκὶ καὶ ἀδιαιρέτως, μεθ' ἧς σαρκὸς ἀνελήφθη, καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἥξει μετὰ δόξης ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκροὺς, Θεὸς σεσαρκωμένος","english":"Of the same. We are taught the doctrine concerning the Trinity not so much from divine Scripture as from natural consequence. Of the same, on theology.\n\nIn theology, one God is glorified and worshipped in three hypostases: one divinity, one nature, one essence, one power and authority, one will; but three persons and three hypostases, each with its own property. For the property of the Father is to be unbegotten; the property of the Son is to be begotten; and the property of the Spirit is to be procession. God the Father is without beginning; God the Son is co-beginning, even if from the Father; God the Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-beginning, proceeding from the Father, not begotten in a filial manner as the Son, but by way of procession. The three are one in divinity, even in three hypostases. In the economy of God and Word of God, who by the good will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit was incarnate, we confess two natures and one hypostasis; and one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, both God and man, and one person; but two wills and two energies; each nature with its own property, indivisibly and without confusion. For the property of divinity is to raise the dead and perform the divine signs; the property of humanity is to hunger and thirst and toil, and to undergo passions. For he was united with the flesh without confusion and indivisibly, with which flesh he was taken up, and sat at the right hand of the Father, and will come in glory at the consummation of the ages to judge the living and the dead, God incarnate.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The passage divides into two sections: the first on the immanent Trinity (θεολογία), the second on the incarnate economy (οἰκονομία) of the Word.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"ὑπόστασις","severity":"info","text":"ὑπόστασις (hypostasis) denotes the individual reality of a person in the Trinity, distinct from οὐσία (essence). The text uses it both for the three divine persons and for the single person of Christ.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"glossary","lemma":"ἐκπορευτόν","severity":"info","text":"ἐκπορευτόν (procession) is the property of the Holy Spirit, distinguished from the Son’s generation (γεννητόν). This term is central to later Filioque debates.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The opening claim that Trinitarian doctrine is learned more from natural consequence (φυσικῆς ἀκολουθίας) than from Scripture reflects a rationalist apologetic strand in Greek patristic thought, seen also in Gregory of Nazianzus.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"This text was influential in Byzantine and later Orthodox theology, especially for its concise formulation of dyothelite Christology (two wills, two energies) as defined at the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680–681).","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The phrase 'συνάναρχος' (co-beginning) for the Son is unusual; it may be a scribal variant or a deliberate nuance to stress co-eternity without implying the Father had a beginning.","cites":[],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The phrase 'οὐ τοσοῦτον ... ὅσον' could be read as a rhetorical contrast rather than a literal claim about the source of doctrine; the translation takes it as a strong assertion of natural theology.","The term 'συνάναρχος' is ambiguous: it may mean 'co-eternal' or 'having a beginning together with' the Father; the latter is theologically problematic and likely not intended."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}