EN XIXa: αἱ μετουσίαι τοῦ πνεύματος

The expression μετουσία πνεύματος (‘participation in the Spirit’) in Origen occurs only in catena-fragments on the gospel of John and on the Psalms. These instances, however, at the points where μετουσία alone (but not ‘participation in the Spirit’) appears, are couched in the language of Didymus. By contrast, the term μετουσία in Didymus appears at more than fiftyfive points, of which at least seven refer to ‘participation in the Spirit’. From both this usage by Didymus and its occurrence in Theodoret, it can be inferred that Cassian wrote quoting from Didymus, while taking into account Theodoret, and certainly using his own vocabulary at the same time.

The notion of ‘participation in the Spirit’ recurs also in Gregory of Nyssa, but not in his namesake of Nazianzus, as well as in some other authors. The mysterious figure of Pseudo-Macarius champions the notion and expression μετουσία πνεύματος. One should notice that its employment is exclusive to Christian literature, even though the term μετουσία alone comes from very old times. As a matter of fact, this term is present in some of the best authors of Classical Greece, while it is not absent from the biblical glossary, not to mention its frequent occurrence in Philo. Nevertheless, the list of Christian authors using the notion of μετουσία τοῦ πνεύματος is rather short.