Anhypostasia
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of Jesus Christ's humanity, such that it has its existence entirely from the hypostatic union, rather than from any independent human personhood (or hypostasis). The concept does not deny Jesus's personhood, but denies that Jesus's humanity has any personhood apart from the one hypostasis in which his humanity and divinity are united. no-plural
"[H]e [Henry Liddon] observes, "The anhypostasia (impersonality) of our Lord's humanity is a result of the hypostatic union: to deny it is to assert that there are two persons in Christ, or else deny that he is more than man. At his Incarnation, the Eternal Word took on him human nature, not a human personality.""
Example
More examples"[H]e [Henry Liddon] observes, "The anhypostasia (impersonality) of our Lord's humanity is a result of the hypostatic union: to deny it is to assert that there are two persons in Christ, or else deny that he is more than man. At his Incarnation, the Eternal Word took on him human nature, not a human personality.""
Etymology
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀνῠποστασία (anŭpostasía), from ἀνῠπόστᾰσῐς (anŭpóstăsĭs, “unsubstantiality”) + -ίᾱ (-íā, suffix forming nouns). ἀνῠπόστᾰσῐς is derived from ἀν- (an-) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *n̥- (“un-”)) + ὑπόστᾰσῐς (hupóstăsĭs, “existence; essence; substance”) (from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, “sub-”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *upo (“below, under”)) + στάσις (stásis, “standing”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“position, standing”))). By surface analysis, an- + hypostasis + -ia.
Related phrases
More for "anhypostasia"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.