Circumincession

CIRCUMINCESSION. - A term of Greek derivation, by which is indicated the mutual immanence of the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity, each of which resides in the other two, according to the formula of the Council of Florence, taken from St. Fulgentius (De fide ad Petrum, ch. 1, no. 4: PL 65, 674): "The Father is wholly in the Son, wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father, wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father, wholly in the Son" (Denz-U, 704). This truth, explicitly revealed in Sacred Scripture (Jn. 10, 38; 14, 11; 17, 21; 1 Cor. 2, 10-11) and universally attested by tradition, is based on the numerical unity of the divine essence and presupposes the real distinction of the persons from one another, as well as a certain vital circle, which entails the vital origin of one person from another and the vital return of the proceeding person to its principle. Thus the Son proceeds from the Father, returns to the Father and dwells in the bosom of the Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, to whom it returns and in whom it resides.

This latter dynamic aspect of circuminsession is expressed more clearly by the Greek word περιχώρησις (περιχώρησι = a going around) and by the Latin circumincessio (circum-incedere = to move, to walk around), whereas circuminsessio emphasizes the static aspect of the same truth (circum-in-sedere = to sit in, to sit around). Περιχώρησι is used for the first time by St. Gregory of Nazianzus (Ep., 101: PG 37, 182), but only to denote the mutual compenetration of the two natures in Christ. As a Trinitarian term, περιχώρησις is not encountered before St. John Damascene (De fide orthod., I, 8, 14: PG 94, 820). Its Latin translation, circumincessio, owing to Burgundio of Pisa (d. 1194), is used neither by Peter Lombard nor by St. Thomas, whereas it occurs frequently in the works of St. Bonaventure and of the other Franciscan authors. Later this word was replaced by circuminsessio, which is encountered for the first time in Henry of Ghent (d. 1293), after whom it is used universally even outside the Franciscan school. Circuminsession sums up in itself the whole Trinitarian doctrine and constitutes the briefest refutation of all the errors relating to this mystery.

Emanuele Chietini