The Meaning of Perichoresis

Abstract Perichoresis is an old theological concept that is eliciting great interest today, but nevertheless it is felt there is still not enough clarity about the very meaning of the word, especially about the semantic connection between the verb περιχωρέω and the noun περιχώρησις. The main goal of this paper is to shed light precisely on this semantic ground of the notion, and for this purpose we have investigated the meaning of the verb περιχωρέω showing that there is a good reason for lexicographic division of περιχωρέω into two separate verbs. Applying the findings of our philological research, we have also expounded the original patristic conception of perichoresis which, in some important aspects, has appeared to differ from the approaches dominant in Western theology from the Middle Ages to our own day.


Introduction
With the increasing interest in perichoresis that is now occurring not only among theologians, but also among philosophers,1 it seems that we have reached the point when there is a need for a greater clarity about the exact meaning of that Greek word: περιχώρησις. For despite this great interest in our time we are still vacillating in what we see as its real etymology and original meaning. 2 We know now that perichoresis as a theological terminus technicus originally appeared in the late Patristics (7 th and 8 th century) and that it irretrievably entered the theological endeavour through the influential work of John Damascene ( †750 AD), De fide orthodoxa (On the Orthodox Faith). Being, as it were, the concluding word of Patristics, this is a work of the utmost importance in which he faithfully expounded the syntheses of the Church Fathers' theology, crowning himself thereby with the title of a Church Father and becoming their chief spokesman not only in the East, but also in the West, where the translation of this book into Latin began early. Namely, after several partial translations, it had eventually been completely translated in 12 th century by Burgundio of Pisa, who forged for perichoresis the Latin word circumincessio, frequently used later on in the form of circuminsessio. Both of these words were previously unknown in Latin and it seems that the terms -expecially the former -were not easy to understand, even for the Latins.
In this paper we will attempt to determine the original content of that notion, and this will require tracking down its linguistic origin and, to a certain extent, its interesting path through the history of theology.3 Thomas Aquinas does not use either of the terms, and it is quite possible that he intentionally avoids them, being conscious that not everything is absolutely clear about them; however, it is obvious that he is familiar with its theological content. Thus, in one place in his Summa, where he considers the liturgical practice of repeating three times Kyrie eleison to the Father, three times Christe eleison to the Son, and then again three times Kyrie eleison to the Holy Spirit, he remarks that this is done "against the triple misery of ignorance, sin, and punishment, or to point out that all the three persons are mutually in each other."9 In other words, he believes that this act simultaneously expresses and praises perichoresis, simply because the triple invocation of mercy from each person of the Trinity expresses awareness that all the three persons are present in each other. Therefore, it is understandable why his explanation is translated into English as: "to express the circuminsession of all the Divine Persons."10 But how does the Medieval philosopher and theologian understand this perichoresis?
This can be best seen in one section of his Summa where he, in his known style, takes up the question "Whether the Son is in the Father, and conversely?," and then, referring to the words already mentioned above, i.e., Ego in Patre, et Pater in me est, goes on to say: I respond by saying that, regarding the Father and the Son, three points are to be considered, namely the essence, the relation, and the origin; and by each of them the Father is in the Son and conversely. Namely, the Father is by essence in the Son, for the Father is his essence and communicates his essence to the Son, doing this not by any transmutation of himself; then from this follows, since the essence of the Father is in the Son, that the Father is in the Son. Similarly, since the Son is also his essence, it follows that the Son is in the Father, being in him his essence.11 We can see from this that Aquinas understands what was termed in Greek περιχώρησις and in Latin circumincessio and circuminsessio just in the sense that can be faithfully rendered into English by that oldfashioned term inexistence: namely, as the existential presence of the divine persons in each other. What is clear from the his explanation is that this presence of the one person in the other is actually the presence of the common essence in each of the persons taken individually: the Father is in the Son because the essence of the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father because the essence of the Son is in the Father. And what is valid for the essence is also valid for the relation and the origin.12 But why is this called perichoresis? Actually, this word in Greek does not sound as if one is trying to express the state of "being in" or "existing in." Like we have already said, it could be easily expressed in Greek with such words as ἐνουσία or ἐνύπαρξις, and the appropriate words for this also exist in Latin, not only inexistentia and immanentia, but also inhabitatio (=indwelling) and inhaerentia (=inherence). Why then this need for such complicated words as circumincessio and circuminsessio if the point is only to express that something is in something? And, as we have seen, there are many terms in Latin suitable for expressing this idea (and most of them are inherited by the principal western languages). Had not this idea been expressed already by Irenaeus, and not only by him, but also later on, in the more prolific way by Hilary of 9 Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, III, q. 83, a. 4.: "Secunda pars continet commemorationem praesentis miseriae, dum misericordia petitur, dicendo kyrie eleison ter pro persona patris; ter pro persona filii, cum dicitur Christe eleison; et ter pro persona spiritus sancti, cum subditur kyrie eleison; contra triplicem miseriam ignorantiae, culpae et poenae; vel ad significandum quod omnes personae sunt in se invicem." 10 The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas,III,q. 83,a. 4 Poiters, whose teaching on this matter is in fact concisely expressed in Aquinas' explanation cited above (and whom he quoted immediately after that). Namely, at the end of the fifth book of his work De Trinitate, Hilary, fighting against the Arian negation of the Father's and Son's consubstantiality, finally concludes: God is the Father, and God is the Son as well. For in God God is. [...] If you recognize in them The One rather than The Solitary God, you will profess the religion of the Church, which confesses the Father in the Son. But if, in ignorance of the celestial mystery, you blot out the truly one God with your own idea of solitude, you remain outside the knowledge of God, for then you don't confess God in God.13 As we can see, the principle of inexistence as the reason of unity between the Father and the Son had been recognized very early, and it only needed to be extended so as to apply to the Holy Spirit to become the principle of unity in the Trinity. Actually, this principle had been already expressed by Christ himself when he said "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," but, of course, many had no ears to hear this (as is often the case with Jesus' words). Now, if this is the whole conceptual content of perichoresis, it would mean that we are talking about the concept which had been present in the Christianity from its very beginning. However, we have expressed our doubt that inexistence is quite the same thing as perichoresis, although we agree that inexistence and perichoresis must be closely related, and even that inexistence has to be implied in some way by perichoresis. But if it is true that perichoresis as a theological term appeared only in the late Patristics, then it could not be true that Irenaeus, Hilary and Aquinas are expressing here the conceptual content of perichoresis. What they express here, in the best case, can be only one of its aspects that had been known even before perichoresis.14 Therefore, perichoresis must be something different from inexistence, something that explains and implies it in some way, and makes it thus more comprehensible.
So, it is obvious that this strange theological mathematics according to which 1+1+1=1 had been advocated very early (suffice it to remember the Nicene Creed), while perichoresis as the theological terminus technicus, which evidently sheds some precious light on that strange mathematics, occurred rather lateactually only towards the end of the Patristic era. Thus, a question arises: What makes perichoresis a new, supplementing concept in relation to inexistence? For, although we know that perichoresis is closely related to inexistence, the real meaning of the word is not at all clear to us. This is the point where we usually ask for its etymology.
What we know about it is that the noun περιχώρησις comes from the Greek verb περιχωρέω which is compounded from two words: the preposition περί, which is very frequent prefix in Greek and usually means "around" (we have it in the word perimeter), and the verb χωρέω as the main supplier of meaning. And it seems now that, if we neglect some funny misunderstandings, there is overall agreement among the scholars that the original Greek verb meant "go around, circle around."15 But if we take a look on the corresponding Latin terms we can see that although both words have the prefix circum (around), one of them, the original Burgundio's one, contains the verb incedĕre, which means step, march, attack, seize, take over, overcome, spread out, extend, infiltrate, etc., while the other one, which is not Burgundio's, includes insidĕre, which means to sit down inside of something or on something, to occupy the place of s. or usurp something. And this is not the same: in both cases we do not have the simple meaning of movement that is merely modified into circular movement by the prefix circum.
Indeed, it is not difficult to notice that such an etymological explanation doesn't work: obviously, it confuses us more than it helps us understand something. Therefore, it is not surprising that we can 14 The principle of inexistence as the reason for divine unity in the Trinity was really widely in use among the anti-Arian writers, such as Athanasius and Hilary of Poiters, and later on Cyril Alexandrian. 15 Thus for example one author, trying to sum up the serious opinions on etymology, says: "The literal meaning of the verb περιχωρεῖν can be rendered as 'to go round' or 'to come round to (something)' or to 'encircle,' or also as 'to rotate' or 'to return to the same point by a circular movement.'" Govaerts,Cosmic Prayer,177. frequently find in the theological literature that περιχώρησις originally means a circle dance, which is a mistake that had a very fertile effect in some recent theological deliberations on perichoresis to which many remained attached even after they had come to know that this was a wrong interpretation16 based on an incompetent use of the Greek dictionary: namely, somebody thought that περιχώρησις comprises the verb χορεύω "to dance,"17 whereas its inceptive verb is actually χωρέω, semantically quite remote from that, as we will see later.
Therefore, it is important to ascertain that the correct meaning is the one that starts from the verb περιχωρέω which, according to dictionaries that contain this entry, really means to go around, circle around. So the fact that this stands as an etymological explanation of perichoresis is not at all surprising. But what is the link between this meaning and the theological concept of perichoresis, and is this meaning the one that is relevant for perichoresis at all? Namely, it is not clear how could any circling or going around explain the mystery of unity in the Holy Trinity, unless it had been really thought that the Holy Three Persons are doing the circle dance. But, if the Church Fathers had really wanted to explain their unity by that, it is strange that none of their contemporary opponents dared to say the same thing for the Greek gods on Mount Olympus; for they could easily reconcile monotheism and polytheism in that way. However, in that case the inceptive verb would really be "to dance," but, as we have seen, this was not the case and the Latin terms do not really seem as wanting to evoke an image of some circular dancing movements. On the contrary, they are rather emitting a military overtone: there is somebody there trying to besiege (circumincedĕre) something from all sides, or is succeeding to besiege it (circuminsidĕre), also from all sides.
It is obvious that we need to investigate the original Greek word more closely and reflect a bit more which additional dictionaries should be consulted so that we can compare other possible meanings with contexts in which it had been used for the first time in theology. Namely, we have said that the term perichoresis occurred only in the late Patristics, which means that there is a possibility that it was based on the meaning which had been rare or even absent in the Classical Greek language, and that this might be the reason why it had not been recorded in those Classical Greek dictionaries usually referred to for the etymological explanation of perichoresis.
But, let us first start from the lexicographic treatment of that word.

In Quest for the Meaning of the Verb περιχωρέω
The lexicographical meaning usually referred to in the interpretation of perichoresis is in fact based on only two classical sources. Namely, the verb περιχωρέω is very rare in Classical Greek or, more precisely, it is very poorly affirmed in the preserved texts, and the noun περιχώρησις has been used only by one single author. This is the reason why even the most comprehensive Classical Greek dictionaries, such as the English Liddell-Scott and Italian Montanari, do not mention any other source for περιχώρησις besides the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaxagoras, who used it together with the verb περιχωρέω in cosmological and astronomical context referring to the circular movement of the cosmos, i.e. to the rotation of spheres and their celestial bodies.18 Such meaning is not surprising when we have in mind the components of the word: as it has been already said περί means around, about, while χωρέω is primarily the verb of movement. However, it is very interesting that none of the other Greek writers except Anaxagoras used this word in that sense. They always preferred other words in such a context, such as περιφορά or some other terms. Given that the Latin equivalent for this meaning is the verb circumire (or circuire), and that the Latin noun circumitio (and circuitio) was really used in astronomical context for the rotation of celestial bodies, Burgundio would have likely chosen that word if the patristic concept of perichoresis were based on that meaning. The other classical source which also shows that the verb περιχωρέω has been used for circular movement is one place in Aristophanes' play The Birds (Ὄρνιθες), where the main character, Pisthetaerus, on the occasion of offering a sacrifice, orders his servant to go around the altar with a holy water.19 The verb is in imperative, and it seems that it should be translated just so, as go around or circle (where the first version faithfully reflects its literal meaning). This shows us that such meaning of the word was well-known to Classical Greek speakers. Namely, one can hardly imagine that Aristophanes would have used in that place a word which Athenians would not normally use in similar situations. Admittedly, someone could take into account a comic effect here, but this is not really plausible: as typical for verbs of movement, χωρέω frequently comes with various prefixes and it comes here quite naturally with the prefix περι-. Anaxagoras' use also lends support to this.
However, it does not follow that this is the only meaning of that verb. If we have in mind how polysemantic the verb χωρέω is, it is quite likely that the compound word περιχωρέω is also polysemantic, all the more so when we know that περι-as a prefix can also have different functions in the compounds. It is clear that the patristic perichoresis must be founded on some other meaning, for it cannot be that something is in something because it circles around it. It would be meaningful only if approached from the opposite perspective, from the perspective of the encircled thing, but in this case the meaning would not be to go around or circle around, but being encircled or enclosed. However, even in that case the matter remains obscure and confusing, because there is still a sharp distinction between a circling subject and an encircled object, so that it cannot be said that one is in the other, save in the sense in which, for example, the fish is in the net -and in the context of the Trinity this doesn't seem very convincing.
Therefore, for a better understanding of the other meanings of περιχωρέω, it should be useful to deal a little bit with the verb χωρέω and with some other meanings of the prefix περι-.
The verb χωρέω is directly related to the noun χώρα, meaning space (frequently place or land). Thus Thales allegedly said: μέγιστον τόπος· ἅπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ,20 which means: The greatest is the space, for it comprehends everything. Therefore, χώρα in the meaning of space is conceived in the Greek language as she that receives and embraces everything, because basically the verb χωρέω means to cede a place to or to make a room for something. However, someone might prefer to say that space is the greatest because it is the only thing that extends everywhere. And, just as the space can be perceived in two ways -now as something extending or spreading, and now as something receiving and containing -similarly, the verb χωρέω also behaves in two ways: now as a verb of movement with a diverse application, and now meaning to have/make a room for, hold, contain or, more completely, comprehend, because it can be used also in a metaphorical sense: to grasp something, understand or sense it properly.
This embracing sense that χωρέω has as a transitive verb corresponds to the Latin capĕre. Some biblical examples of this meaning can be found in John 2:6, when, during the wedding at Cana, it is said for the stone waterpots in which the water was going to be turned into wine that "each is χωροῦσαι twenty to thirty gallons," obviously containing or holding (which is equivalent to the Jerome's capientes). Likewise, the same meaning occurs in the last sentence of John's Gospel, where he says: "There is much else that Jesus did. If it were all to be recorded in detail, I suppose the whole world could not χωρῆσαι the books that would be written," where the word obviously means: hold, contain or comprehend. But we should keep in mind that these meanings are in fact derived from the basic meaning of χωρέω which cannot be expressed in English by a single word, but only descriptively as we have already done using the words: cede a place to or make/have a room for. All these meanings occur only in the transitive usage of the verb, i.e. when it has a direct object of action.
The kinetic sense which χωρέω has as an intransitive verb is even more polysemantic, and the corresponding Latin word for this meaning is the verb cedo, cedĕre which is contained in Burgundio's translation of περιχώρησις. Namely, as the Latin verb cedĕre sometimes denotes movement backwards and giving up or yielding (hence the meaning of the words ceding, conceding and concession), and sometimes simply denotes movement, whether concrete or abstract (hence the meaning of the words procedure and process), so also in Greek χωρέω is a verb of movement whose meaning can be divided into two groups after its two kinds of movement: a) withdraw, draw back, go away, leave, recede, retreat, retire, etc.;21 and b) go, come, pass, pass through, penetrate, spread, proceed, progress, succeed, etc.
As we have succeeded to distinguish three principal semantic fields in the verb χωρέω, one that it has as a transitive verb, and two as an intransitive verb, it is understandable that the compound word περιχωρέω could also assume many different meanings. Actually, it had been recorded in its literal physical sense of circular movement only in Anaxagoras and Aristophanes. And now the question is which of these three semantic fields was contained in the patristic περιχωρέω? Burgundio's circumincessio (which is obviously a calque), shows that he excluded that backwards meaning of the verb cedĕre, as he did not use circumcessio, but circumincessio: namely, cedĕre and incedĕre differ in that incedĕre never refers to backward movements -it can mean only a movement ahead, into (lat. in) something. So, the Burgundio's incedere reveals to us that of all specified meanings of the verb χωρέω the most relevant for perichoresis are those from the third semantic field, especially: pass through something or penetrate into, extend, spread out, advance, succeed, because these meanings also belong to the Latin incedere. This would demand that the meanings under a) should be ignored, as they exclude each other. But what about that transitive meaning of χωρέω which, as we have seen, corresponds to the Latin capĕre?
There is a precious linguistic commentary to Burgundio's term in one scholium to Bonaventura's interpretation of circumincession in his Commentaria in librum primum sententiarum, and this scholium runs like this: Circumincessio (περιχώρησις), by double preposition (circum-in), expresses in some way a double sense of the Greek word, namely: invadere and capere. In our times it is frequently called circumincessio, although it seems to be less suitable for expressing that profound sense of the Greek word.22 This interpretation by the obviously well-versed Latin thinker shows us, first of all, that he understood the Burgundio's incedĕre as invadĕre, i.e. as penetration, forcible going into something and invading it (hence the word invasion), but even more precious for us is his indication that perichoresis also contains the meaning which is equivalent to the Latin capĕre, and these are the meanings of transitive usage of the verb, those that we have already mentioned above, together with some biblical examples of them. As this meaning proved to be relevant for perichoresis, it would be useful to try to get a more complete picture about it. Namely, we have exemplified only literal meanings of the transitive use of χωρέω, saying that they mean hold, contain or comprehend, and more basically also cede a place to or make a room for something, but we did not show any examples where it is used in a metaphorical sense.
One biblical example of this is in John 8:37, when Jesus is saying to the Jews that they seek to kill him because ὁ λόγος ὁ ἐμός οὐ χωρεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν, which can be understood either as "because my word has no place in you" or "has no hold on you," or as "because my word cannot enter in you" or "penetrate you," i.e. "permeate your heart." Likewise, those well-known words of Jesus "He who is able to comprehend it, let him comprehend it" (Mat 19:12) run in Greek like this: ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω, which is often literally translated into English as: "Who is able to receive it, let him receive it," but in fact the real sense is comprehend it.23 These meanings are very precious for the understanding of perichoresis because they show us that 21 It is worthy here to notice also the connection with ἀναχωρέω (to withdraw), another important word for early Christian forms of life from which is derived ἀναχωρητής, "anchoret, hermit" (lit. retreater). For, a withdrawal for prayer and meditation actually means to make a room for Christ. although the verb in its literal meaning had denoted some kind of physical act in which something was penetrating into something (invadere), and as received and contained or comprehended by it, was held in it (capere) -the meaning had not been exhausted at the physical level, but could easily be conveyed onto spiritual, heart knowledge level, just as it is the case in English with the verb comprehend which functions on both physical and mental level (although its mental usage is in fact prevalent in English). Now, after all that has been said above, it appears transparent that the meaning of the verb upon which the concept of perichoresis is based cannot be the one found in the dictionary (go around, circle around), and that any reference to that meaning is misleading; namely, the Anaxagoras' perichoresis is the cause of separation between previously-mingled things,24 while the patristic perichoresis is the cause of joining one thing with another, i.e, it is the cause of unity.

"Circumincessio
It becomes discernible now that the verb we are investigating is the one whose literal meaning can be precisely expressed by the verb permeate or pervade; however, we have also seen that its meaning was not fully exhausted in the physical sense, and to include its additional, mental or spiritual sense, περιχωρέω can be even better expressed by the verb penetrate as it also has a corresponding metaphorical meaning (as in the sentence "His words were penetrating my consciousness to the core of my being," and different use in the sense of comprehend).
So far, our investigation has confirmed firstly that the verb περιχωρέω in the Classical Greek was really used to express some forms of circular movement, just as we have seen that it is often indicated in the etymological interpretation of perichoresis; however, we have called attention to the fact that such use of that word was not very frequent, and we have also observed that, given the polysemanticity of the verb χωρέω, it can easily be that the compound verb περιχωρέω was also polysemantic; and finally, we succeeded, with a help of Burgundio's calque into Latin, to discern which of that meanings is relevant for perichoresis. With this, however, we have established only one more meaning of the verb περιχωρέω, while other possible meanings are still unknown to us. To get a fuller semantic picture of this word (which will be useful later when considering the historical development of the concept of perichoresis), we will briefly present the findings of our philological research, which was by no means intended to be comprehensive but only sufficient to achieve this fuller idea.
The verb περιχωρέω in the meaning of going around was also used once (and only once!) by Diogenes Laertius,25 but this time not in the exterior sense of circling around something, but in the same sense as we can use it when visiting a museum or walking around a town or travelling around a country, for example. Here we can see how περιχωρέω, besides movement around something on the outside, easily changes its meaning into movement inside or within something, implying a possibility of reaching various spots or parts of that something. This shift in the meaning is altogether understandable to English speakers, as the same is with the phrase going around. However, the most frequent use of περιχωρέω in Classical Greek proved to be the one which occurred for the first time in Herodotus. Being so, let us see this case: Having told us a story on how the Persian king Cyrus had an unusual dream about his newly-invaded countries and how he concluded from this dream that the son of his friend Hystaspes, young Darius, was plotting against him, Herodotus tells us this: Therefore, thinking that Darius was plotting against him, Cyrus told this [to Hystaspes, Darius' father, whom he invited for conversation after that warning dream, translator's remark], while in fact, deity was foretelling him that he himself would die there, in that land, and that his kingdom would pass to Darius (περιχωρέοι ἐς Δαρεῖον).26 24 Anaxagoras considered that in the beginning everything was mingled together and compressed in the infinitely small. On the impulse of Mind that rules over everything -as the only thing that is separated and unmixed -this point of the confused matter started to move in a circular way giving rise to the rotation (περιχώρησις) by which it started the process of differentiation and separation within the matter, and as this rotation is ever-expanding, it furthermore causes ever-growing differentiation and separation. 25 Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum, I 1.44. 26 Κῦρος μὲν δοκέων οἱ Δαρεῖον ἐπιβουλεύειν ἔλεγε τάδε: τῷ δὲ ὁ δαίμων προέφαινε ὡς αὐτὸς μὲν τελευτήσειν αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ μέλλοι, ἡ δὲ βασιληίη αὐτοῦ περιχωρέοι ἐς Δαρεῖον. Herodotus,Historiae,I,210. We see here that περιχωρέω can also mean pass to someone or fall into the hands of someone, hence inherit or become the owner. It is also used in this same meaning by Pausanias in his Description of Greece (even three times!),27 and also by Plutarch (speaking about a gift that could at the end pass to another person).28 Not far from that meaning is the one uttered by Cassius Dio,29 who used it in a political context where a hope is expressed that the anger of the Roman senate towards a certain person would be meanwhile shifted away to some other person who also deserved their anger.
The greatest number of the occurrences of περιχωρέω is present in Plutarch, and his usage clearly proves what we predicted, that it was an extremely polysemantic verb, for we finally see that one and the same author uses it almost always in a different sense. Thus, that circularish meaning that we are the most familiar with, he used in a military context with the meaning of encircling a place with armed forces, hence besieging, surrounding.30 But in another place, although not losing the same circularish meaning, it has a completely opposite, pacific sense that could be defined as approach the matter in a roundabout way.31 Then again he used it in the context of literature, saying that a narrator does not have to stick to the facts, but can reverse or turn around the facts as it suits him.32 This meaning of reversing or turning things upside down, i.e. of changing them to their opposites, what implies transforming or becoming something else, we also find in one interesting place in Lucian (of Samosata) which will be considered later. All these meanings, including those of Anaxagoras and Aristophanes, have in common the idea of circular movement in some sense, but we see how different semantic results can be generated in different contexts.
Most probably we have not exhausted here all the meanings of the verb περιχωρέω, but we certainly now have a fuller picture of it that enables us to establish a difference between περιχωρέω 1 and περιχωρέω 2 . Our proposal of such a lexicographical division is based on the fact that it is possible, as we will see, to identify two essentially different functions in various meanings for both word components. If we gather up all the primary meanings that have been mentioned above, we will be able to present these verbs in this way:33 περιχωρέω 1 go around, circle around, encircle (=surround), pass to, shift away, approach in a roundabout way, reverse, turn around (=change to its opposite), etc. περιχωρέω 2 permeate, pervade, imbue, penetrate (through and through), etc. Now we should explain reasons for such a lexicographical division. The first reason is that both components of the compound are taken in a quite different way. To see this, we should remember that the verb χωρέω has a twofold use, transitive and intransitive, which, interestingly, corresponds to a twofold understanding of space: as something receiving and as something extending. In accordance with the extending nature of the space χωρέω is a verb of movement, but we know that χωρέω also has completely different, static meanings: contain, hold, comprehend (which are obtained from its original meaning of ceding a place and having a room for s.), and these meanings are, of course, in accordance with the receiving nature of the space (this in fact reflects original Greek concept of space). However, we see that χωρέω is taken in περιχωρέω 1 in one sense only, namely as the verb of movement, while in περιχωρέω 2 it is taken in both senses; namely, permeation is a movement, for it is a process of penetration into something else and of extending itself in it (with the result of filling it completely), but at the same time it is receiving that into itself and holding it within itself. Therefore, these two χωρέω are not the same: the first one has only an active meaning, while the second one has also a static meaning, which is completely absent from the first one.
But nor are the same περι-. For in περιχωρέω 1 περι-serves only to give a direction to movement, either circular or from one place to another, while in περιχωρέω 2 περι-actually expresses the completeness of permeation, or intensity of penetration into something. Namely, χωρέω by itself is already quite sufficient for expressing the idea of penetration as we have seen earlier, and περι-only reinforces its meaning expressing how in that penetration nothing remains untouched and not filled.34 Furthermore, as we have two essentially different meanings of the prefix, we also have two essentially different senses of movement: the movement in περιχωρέω 1 is curvilinear, whether circular or shifting from one place to another, while in περιχωρέω 2 it is rectilinear and getting into. So they signify two completely different types of movement. From this also follows that they have completely different figurative meanings. As περιχωρέω 1 does not contain the transitive meaning of χωρέω, it cannot have the figurative meaning of comprehending, peculiar to περιχωρέω 2 , which, because of its specific usage of prefix περι-, could also mean to see through and through (with penetrating eyes or mind). As we can see, both components in the compound were conceived rather differently and they generate completely different semantic results.
But there is still another reason why it would be better to structure that dictionary entry in such a way, and this is found in the fact that περιχωρέω 2 , according to all accounts, does not exist in the Classical Greek, for all presently-known instances are relating to περιχωρέω 1 . Therefore, if there is no trace that philologists have found a single instance of using περιχωρέω 2 in the Classical Greek35 and if there has been no evidence, at least till now, of the use of περιχωρέω 2 before the 4 th century AD, and if it was preserved only in Christian writers, we must conclude that περιχωρέω 2 belongs to another linguistic period and the cultural spherethat of the Patristics -and that we have in it a word peculiar to the Koine Greek.
Now it is clear why Classical Greek dictionaries, such as Liddell-Scott, could not be of much help in explaining the semantic ground of patristic perichoresis: all that was found was relevant only to Anaxagoras' perichoresis. Instead of Liddell-Scott, the right tool for that purpose was Lampe's Patristic Lexicon. Although we would find in it that perichoresis, in John Damascene, meant interpenetration, even this extremely precious tool would be misleading for our topic in some important points, as we will see later.

The Real Sense of Perichoresis
Now that we have shown that besides περιχωρέω 1 there is also περιχωρέω 2 , meaning to permeate or pervade, and that the patristic meaning of perichoresis is not rooted in περιχωρέω 1 but in περιχωρέω 2 , we can see the difference between περιχώρησις and all those Latin borrowed terms inexistence, inherence, indwelling (from lat. inhabitatio) or immanence. For although all these terms express in some way that something is in something, none of them can express the very act on which that being in is grounded or that special way of that being in which is meant by περιχώρησις.36 Namely, περιχώρησις expresses permeation of a being, and as to permeate some being means to enter into that being and become present within that entire being, it is obvious that perichoresis inevitably implies inexistence as well, but this inexistence is now much more defined: for it is such active presence of one being within another that the attributes or nature of one are being communicated or passed on37 to the being of another which, receiving these attributes to its own measure of fullness, becomes completely united with it.
As we can see, two things are needed for perichoresis: difference and unity. For, how could any perichoresis or permeation make sense without the difference? And without the unity, it would mean that permeation or perichoresis did not happen at all; namely, permeation necessarily leads to union, to the state of unity. But what is peculiar to the permeation, what makes perichoresis a very special unity, different both from mixing and merging, is the fact that despite of this unity, the difference is not lost -it 34 This second meaning of the prefix περι-is obtained from its original meaning around, because if something is going around within something, it tends to reach every place of it, and then its action becomes complete. This is why with the verbs it sometimes expresses the completedness of action or its intensification, instead of roundish movement. 35 Here the term Classical Greek is used in a wider sense that comprehends also the writers of the first three centuries of the common era if they reflect classical language. 36 John Damascene in his Capita philosophica (Chapter 38) makes the distinction between 11 different meanings of that to be in. 37 Remember how περιχωρέω 1 was used by Herodotus, Pausanias and once by Plutarch to express that something is passed on to someone, which implies that someone has inherited or become the owner of something. So, if some Classical Greek etymology is searched, this is the one. still exists. In perichoresis, therefore, what is different becomes united without losing its difference. We know that the notion of unity or union is an important concept in the mystical and dogmatic theology, well grounded in a number of scriptural texts. Let us only remember the Jesus': "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30). However, the precious light which perichoresis sheds on that unity consists in that it also expresses preservation of the difference in that unity. Therefore, although the notion of perichoresis implicitly expresses both previously known concepts of inexistence and unity, it also includes an additional element not explicitly present in these notions, and that additional element consists of the preservation of difference. But this is not the only additional element. We could already see that perichoresis also implicitly expresses the idea of communication of attributes, which is a special and important effect of permeation.
In addition, it could be also noted that perichoresis is both an act and the state at the same time. Namely, as we have already said, permeation is an act of entering and spreading through or within something, but it necessarily results in the state of permeation, which is the state of union. This is why Bonaventura's scholiast says that circumincessio "by double preposition (circum-in), expresses in some way a double sense of the Greek word, namely: invadere and capere." This is also the reason why circumincessio frequently occurs as circuminsessio as well. Namely, as the theological interpretation of perichoresis among Latins had usually overlooked its original dynamic sense, reducing it to only one of its dimensions, to the static one, it seemed that this conception was better expressed by insessio (sitting in something) than by incessio.38 In this way, the perichoresis had been reduced to indwelling, inherence or inexistence, being deprived of its peculiar meaning. To save the day, we now often resort to the thesis that circumincessio expresses the dynamic or active aspect of perichoresis, and circuminsessio the static or passive aspect.39 This is obviously correct from a purely semantic view, but if we look at its real usage through the history of Western theology, what we find is that both of them are understood mainly in the same sense, the static one, and the reason for this lies in the fact that the Latins' interpretation of perichoresis had early lost from sight its dynamic aspect, as it is obvious in Aquinas (who just followed the approach of Peter Lombard). So, we completely agree with Marija Pehar when she says: "Western theology of those times did not, therefore, have a vivid awareness either of the origin of this concept, or of the original content it had in the Greek language…"40 The proper meaning of perichoresis had been rediscovered in the West only when the knowledge of Greek became widespread among intelligentsia. So, when Jacobus Faber (alias Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples) decided in the 16 th century to retranslate the famous Damascene's work into Latin, he no longer translated περιχώρησις as circumincessio but with immeatio, permeatio and with similar already existing and generally-known Latin words expressing the idea of permeation. The fruits of this are visible in a Lexicon of Philosophical Terms from the 17 th century, where the term περιχώρησις is included being defined like this: So, even when the original meaning of perichoresis had been understood correctly, the Latin term firmly clung to its traditional meaning which contained only the static aspect of the term -i.e. inexistence or indwelling. Although the real meaning was correctly understood by some writers,43 that conventional scholastic interpretation, which reduced perichoresis to inexistence, was always dominant in the overall theological perspective. The abstruseness of the Latin term had only made it easier.
In addition, the problem was not only in the fact that the traditional understanding of perichoresis was insufficient, but even more that it was theologically sterile. A major progress had been made only in the 20 th century, with the appearance of a number of significant theologians who found the concept of perichoresis very inspiring. However, we are interested here only in the patristic conception of perichoresis.

Patristic Conception of Perichoresis
As we have already said, the concept of perichoresis is generally used today within the Trinitarian theology, and the direct source from where it was disseminated in theology was the work of John Damascene De fide orthodoxa.44 In that work the notion of perichoresis occurs some twenty times in various verbal and nominal forms, always in the meaning of permeation, and it sometimes comes with very interesting figurative comparisons.
Beginning his exposition of the true faith with the very concept and existence of God, John goes on with a consideration of each particular Divine Person, so that already in Chapter 8 he comes to the problem of Trinity. And now, trying to explain their strange and confusing unity, he says that it is to be understood not in the sense of mutual blending (συγχεῖσθαι), but in the sense of possessing each other by the reason of mutual perichoresis, i.e. by the reason of their perfect mutual permeation or interpenetration "without any merging or mixing."45 This means that the three Holy Persons are united in such a way that they are really one God, but that they nevertheless remain distinct from each other, thus really being at the same time the three Divine Persons. The concept of permeation is obviously seen as suitable here because it is the only way of union that is able to produce real unity and preserve the difference.46 However, as all the three Persons have the same divine nature, differing from each other only by the mode of their existence, perichoresis appears in this Trinitarian context as the permeation of what is consubstantial and connatural. To explain it in a vivid way, John depicts three unified suns, with their three lights mingled into one light.47 However, Damascene uses perichoresis not only in the Trinitarian context, but also in the Christological one, where it serves him for the explanation of Christ's simultaneous unity of his Person and duality of his nature. Jesus Christ has two natures, human and divine, but this does not mean that there are now two persons, for the human and divine nature are united hypostatically, i.e. so that they both belong to the one and the same personal being. But what is this unity like? It turns out that only if we understood it as the permeation it would be possible to avoid all those baffling difficulties which had been tearing Christians apart at the time of Church Fathers. But now perichoresis appears in a rather different way, namely as the permeation of the heterosubstantial and heterogeneous, so that John now begins to use somewhat different figurative comparisons.
Thus one of the most telling places where perichoresis is mentioned is perhaps the one in Chapter 61 which deals with the deification (θέωσις) of Jesus' human nature. For in Jesus not only has God or Logos 47 This image is in fact taken from Gregorius Nazianzus (Oratio 31.14): ...καὶ οἷον ἐν ἡλίοις τρισὶν ἐχομένοις ἀλλήλων, μία τοῦ φωτὸς σύγκρασις (= ...and just as in the three suns containing each other there is one commixture of light). It is also used in the De Trinitate of Ps.-Cyril who is the first author that speaks of perichoresis in the Trinitarian context. become a man, but the man has become Logos or God as well. But how should we understand this? Had the divine nature undergone some change? And had the human nature been changed by becoming divine, so that it was no longer human? John answers that this happened "not by the change of nature, but by the world-caring unification [...] and mutual permeation of natures, as we say that happens with a red-hot iron."48 As we know, the nature of iron had not changed when it became red-hot, for it did not turn into gold but, although permeated with fire, continued to be iron. Likewise, the human nature of Jesus had not changed by his deification, but continued to be human; however, as the iron can cause, because of its permeation with fire, the effects that are not natural to iron as they are natural for fire -likewise, Jesus' human nature, because of his permeation with the Divine, was able to take part in divine acts which are not natural for man as they are for God. Therefore, a man had become God not in the sense that he turned into God, but in the sense that human nature, through the permeation with the divine, was given to take part in the divine nature, still continuing to be human. In the same way, God did not become man in the sense that He has turned into man, but only that He had assumed the human nature and came with it to us.
Thus, neither the human nature turned into the divine, nor the divine turned into the human, but either of them, each retaining its own nature, became permeated with the other, and because of this deep interpenetrating union they communicate to each other their own attributes. Here we see that perichoresis at the same time stands as the ground of what is known in theology as communicatio idiomatum. Therefore, without understanding the perichoresis one cannot see how is this communication of attributes possible at all without any changes in the natures, neither can it be understood how can one say that God had suffered on the cross, nor it is possible to say this without blasphemy. We will try now to track down the historical roots of that interesting concept, to see where its beginnings are and what way had it passed before it came to John Damascene.

Patristic Roots of Perichoresis
Contemporary investigations of the historical development of perichoresis49 reveal that the term περιχώρησις had been used before John Damascene only by two theologians from the 7 th century: by Maxim the Confessor and Pseudo-Cyril (of Alexandria), as the anonymous writer of the perichoretic treatise De Trinitate is usually called.50 However, the verb περιχωρέω in the sense of permeation occurred already in the 4 th century, and it was used by Gregory of Nazianzus. There are only three occurrences of the verb περιχωρέω in his writings and we hold that περιχωρέω 2 was used twice, considering that one occurrence is obviously περιχωρέω 1 . However, περιχωρέω 2 is used only once in a theological context -in his famous Epistle 101, considered to be most significant in the theological respect. However, he did not use it in the Trinitarian context, but in the Christological one: interestingly, just on occasion when he was explaining the principle known to us as communicatio idiomatum.
Namely, while criticizing those who had been saying -based on the words "no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven" (John 3:13), and other similar places from the New Testament -"that the body of Jesus came down from heaven and was not from here and from us," Gregory says that such statements "should be understood as uttered because of the union with man, just as that everything came into being by Christ and that Christ dwells in our hearts, not by God's manifestation, but by that which is unmanifested (i.e. spiritual; lit. noetic; translator's remark); just as it is with the natures that they are being mingled and mutually permeating by the reason of their cohesion, so it is with names" (literally but more ungainly: "being mingled just as the natures, so also the names, and permeating mutually by the reason of their cohesion").51 It is important to see clearly that this "permeating" (περιχωρουσῶν) relates here primarily to natures, and only consequentially to names, as it is obvious from the addition "by the reason of their cohesion" (τῷ λόγῳ τῆς συμφυΐας), which can relate only to natures. Therefore, we cannot agree with Leonard Prestige, who thought that it related only to names, and that περιχωρέω does not mean here permeate, but interchange.52 Leonard Prestige published a paper in 1928 on the meaning of περιχωρέω and περιχώρησις where he brought forward the thesis that the meaning of permeation or, as he says, interpenetration,53 did not occur before the very end of patristic period, i.e. that it is implied only in the works of Pseudo-Cyril and John Damascene.54 He considered that prior to these writers the verb περιχωρέω in Christological context was meant as "interchange" and περιχώρησις as "reciprocity." The results of his investigation are visible in the Greek Patristic Lexicon by G.W.H. Lampe, who simply adopted them with a remark: "it is often difficult to distinguish whether π. is used in sense 1 or 2" (1 is interchange, and 2 interpenetrate). 55 We hold that in this regard his dictionary explanations are misleading, because, as we have shown, there is nothing in περιχωρέω and περιχώρησις that allows the meaning of interchange and reciprocity, and they never express such an idea. 56 We are not the first who have observed that Prestige had misread a number of citations, including both occurrences of Gregory's περιχωρέω that we consider to be περιχωρέω 2 (of which much more important is the one presented above).57 Nevertheless, his thesis that περιχωρέω acquired the meaning of permeation 51 The whole passage runs as follows: Εἴ τις λέγοι τὴν σάρκα ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατεληλυθέναι, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐντεῦθεν εἶναι καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν, ἀνάθεμα ἔστω. Τὸ γὰρ «Ὁ δεύτερος ἄνθρωπος ἐξ οὐρανοῦ», καὶ «Οἷος ὁ ἐπουράνιος, τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ ἐπουράνιοι», καὶ «Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου», καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο τοιοῦτον, νομιστέον λέγεσθαι διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸν οὐράνιον ἕνωσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ «διὰ Χριστοῦ γεγονέναι τὰ πάντα» καὶ «κατοικεῖν Χριστὸν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν», οὐ κατὰ τὸ φαινόμενον τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ νοούμενον, κιρναμένων ὥσπερ τῶν φύσεων, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τῶν κλήσεων καὶ περιχωρουσῶν εἰς ἀλλήλας τῷ λόγῳ τῆς συμφυΐας. [...] propter unionem cum coelesti dici existimandum est: quemadmodum et illud, Per Christum omnia facta esse, et Christum in cordibus vestris habitare, non secundum id Dei, quod oculis cernitur, sed secundum id, quod intellectu percipitur, commixtis videlicet, ut naturis, ita etiam nominibus, atque ob arctissimam conjunctionem inter se vicissim commeantibus. (PG 37,181,. 52 This is also confirmed by the curious fact (which is very important for the history of perichoresis) that this sentence was freely quoted by Theodore of Raithu (in his Praeparatio) who obviously understood it as referring to both the natures and the names. Cf. PG 91, 1496B. And actually, without the first, the second would make no sense, for, as was rightly pointed out by Scalise: "The mingling of the names happens because of the logically-prior mingling of the natures." (Scalise, "Perichoresis in Gregory Nazianzen and Maximus the Confessor," 59). 53 Perichoresis is very often conveyed in English as interpenetration. But we should know that the prefix inter-is not included in the word περιχώρησις, and yet, we can add it because in its theological context it always comes with the word ἀλλήλαις "each other." Here English is capable to say in one word what in Greek is said in two. But the proper equivalents of περιχώρησις are in fact permeation, pervasion, and, surely, penetration, but only if taken as completely filling penetration. What is important here is, of course, spiritual dimension of this term, for it expresses the mystical knowledge of the heart, heart's comprehension. This sense seems to be better expressed by the word penetration, but permeation can also be used figuratively, as when we speak about possibility of "being permeated/pervaded by truth," or as it could have been used in hesychastic context when they speak of merging of heart and mind. 54 Prestige, "ΠEPIXΩPEΩ and ΠEPIXΩPHΣIΣ in the Fathers." 55 See the lexicographic entry περιχωρέω in Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon. 56 It is not difficult to see what caused the wrong conclusion. Namely, being convinced that every περιχωρέω imply some circular movement, Prestige was always trying to see in that verb and its noun some sense derivable from this meaning and he found it in the meanings of interchange and reciprocity. But this impression was possible not because the meaning of περιχωρέω is just that, but because of the added meaning by the word ἀλλήλαις "each other," which always accompanies περιχωρέω and περιχώρησις in thelogical contexts. If περιχωρέω already by itself means interchange, then why this need for ἀλλήλαις, for in Greek it is pleonastic. This impression was caused by the fact that in its context perichoresis implies exchanging of the properties, but it happens because of the mutual permeation: exchanging appears only as a result of it. 57 For a disagreement with Prestige's reading see Harrison, "Perichoresis in the Greek Fathers," 56. Of other authors that share this view we refer also to Scalise, "Perichoresis in Gregory Nazianzen and Maximus the Confessor," 59-60. only much later can be very simply refuted by precious information preserved in the Lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria, in which we find:58 περιχωρεῖ: συμμίσγεται [= lat. commisceor; commingle, mix up, unite, couple, etc.] Hesychius' Lexicon deals with less known words, and in many instances these words are localisms; Hesychius sometimes mentions a dialect that a certain word belongs to, but frequently he simply deals with less known words and with less known meanings of words. As Hesychius compiled his dictionary sometimes in the 5 th century, this means that the language which he described was the same language that had been used by Gregory of Nazianzus.59 His lexicographic entry indisputably proves that περιχωρέω 2 had been used at least since the 4 th century.
The appearance of περιχωρέω 2 in the Greek language might be explained in two ways. One would be that it was actually a localism that was in usage in Cappadocia, where Gregory comes from. This thesis is supported by the fact that Hesychius frequently mentions localisms, and that both instances of περιχωρέω 2 occur in Gregory's letters to Cappadocians: once when he writes to his mother, and once to his close friend, the priest Kledonius. This thesis is also supported by the fact that Gregory does not use it anywhere else, although he had a good reason to use it in many cases. However, a second explanation is also possible: that it was simply a matter of a rare use of the verb in Koine Greek which has not been noticed so far in the literature preceding the 4 th century, or no texts in which it was present were preserved (namely, one should have in mind that only a small part of what had been written in ancient times, especially during Hellenism, is now at our disposal.) And there are some facts that go in favour of this thesis, namely that Hesychius doesn't say indeed that it is a Cappadocian idiom as he usually does, but even more so that the verb χωρέω had been frequently used in the meaning of penetration through something or permeation of something,60 so there is no reason why it could not be used in the same sense also with the prefix περι-in an intensified meaning. At the same time, this would explain the fact that the later Church Fathers, who were not Cappadocians, had easily accepted the verb in that meaning, although they were probably more familiar with the meaning of περιχωρέω 1 . Which of these two theses is more plausible, and whether some combination of them, or something third, is possible, we are leaving to a reader to judge by himself.
Be that as it may, it seems that Gregory Nazianzen, with his unique involvement of the verb περιχωρέω in its rare meaning, became the first one responsible for the invention of the term περιχώρησις. His employment of that word was most likely quite unintentional, and he certainly did not have any idea that it would give birth to an important theological concept. However, a question is now how is it possible that such a tiny drop, almost unnoticeable, generated a valuable potion which enabled successful coping with the greatest theological difficulties from the period of Patristics. The answer to this is, in fact, very simple: there were some who had been carefully reading this Nazianzen's letter and meditating upon it (and one of the most important among them was Maxim the Confessor).61 Indeed, when one carefully reads this letter, it becomes obvious that although περιχωρέω had occurred only once and quite incidentally, he actually expounded there the perichoretic doctrine about the Christ, which is in fact the main topic of the whole letter. In other words, although he is totally unfamiliar with perichoresis as a term, the very 58 See Hesychii Alexandrini lexicon, kol. 1232. It is interesting that the next entry is περιχώρησον which is explained as μέτρησον, περίστησον; the verbs are in imperative, meaning "to measure out," "to encompass, encircle" where measuring probably refers to the circumference of something -this is obviously still another meaning of περιχωρέω 1 . 59 Hesychius' entry περιχωρεῖ has the same verb form as the one found in Gregory Nazianzus (Oratio 18.42). This might be merely a coincidence, but as his name Hesychius suggests that he was a Christian (the name of course is not a guarantee), it is not quite impossible that this was the source of his entry, for his explanation συμμίσγεται has a very good sense in the context of this Gregory's oration. 60 When speaking of perichoresis, it is sometimes observed that χωρέω in the meaning of penetration or permeation is often used in Stoic physics, but it does not mean that Stoics had some special usage of that verb, for it can be frequently found among Christian writers as well. We can rightly say that there is a close correlation between perichoresis and the Stoic term κρᾶσις δι' ὅλου, but they probably did not use the term περιχώρησις at all. 61 He is in fact the first author who self-consciously employs the notion of perichoresis, but we have no space here to deal with his usage. concept of perichoresis is present in its highly developed stage, not only in this letter, but also in some of his other writings; only he does not have any fixed term for it, but resorts to various other expressions, even inadequate notions such as mixing or blending (μίξις, κρᾶσις, σύγκρασις...). In this paper we cannot expose numerous perichoretically interesting places in that letter or in his other writings, but, instead of that, we can quote one perichoretic expression of another great Cappadocian, Gregory of Nyssa, in whom he found, as we know, a close spiritual friend and brother-in-arms.
It has been already noted that in many Christological debates of Church Fathers one can find perichoretic motives, including figurative comparisons such as Damascene's red-hot iron,62 but the Trinitarian perichoresis doesn't occur in the proper sense of that word for a long time -it occurs, instead, only as inexistence. In Gregory of Nyssa, however, we find one interesting perichoretic expression which relates to Trinity. Namely, after he had explained that none of the Trinity Persons can be taken as separated from the other two, saying that this is because "among them there is an ineffable and inconceivable communion and separateness (καὶ ἡ κοινωνία καὶ ἡ διάκρισις) at the same time," when he had completed all his thought, he added: And do not be astonished if we say that the same thing is both united and separated, and if, as in a riddle, we have suggested that it is a strange and paradoxical unified separateness and separated union (διάκρισίν τε συνημμένην καὶ διακεκριμένην συνάφειαν).63 This place, as well as a number of other places which we cannot quote now, shows us that great Cappadocians certainly had a highly developed perichoretic understanding, both of the unity of two natures in the Christ and of the unity among the three hypostases in the Trinity. Namely, the notion of perichoresis implicitly includes exactly that sort of unity described in that Gregory's paradoxical expression both unified separateness and separated union -the union to be recognized later by Maximus' insightful eye as permeation, i.e. perichoresis.
However, the common impression is that perichoretic moments in the Patristics are much rarer in the Trinitarian context than in the Christological one. This means that, unlike today's theology, perichoresis in the Patristics had its main role in Christology,64 and only after the perichoretic conception of the relation between the divine and human in the Christ had been deeply adopted was it then applied to the Holy Trinity. In other words, Christological perichoresis in the time of the Church Fathers was the basis for the Trinitarian perichoresis, while nowadays the latter is normally taken as a starting point.

Perichoresis on Its Road from a Concept to a Term
If we are to understand the historical development of the concept of perichoresis, a distinction should be made between the very history of the concept and the history of the term. Normally, it is much easier to establish the history of the term, because getting to a concept or conception is something that takes place in a mind, while the establishing of a term is something that takes place in the language. For the former, 62 This comparison has, in fact, a very long history, for it was employed already by Origen (De princ. II 6.6.,. But in context of this paper we strongly recommend the case of Theodoret of Cyrus (c.393-c.465) who used that metaphor to explain his paradoxical perichoretic expression "unmingled mingling" (or "unmixed mixture"). See Teodoret Cirski, Eranistes, 231-233. 63 Citing in a more detailed way: [...] ἀλλά τις ἄῤῥητος καὶ ἀκατανόητος ἐν τούτοις καταλαμβάνεται καὶ ἡ κοινωνία καὶ ἡ διάκρισις, οὔτε τῆς τῶν ὑποστάσεων διαφορᾶς τὸ τῆς φύσεως συνεχὲς διασπώσης, οὔτε τῆς κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν κοινότητος τὸ ἰδίαζον τῶν γνωρισμάτων ἀναχεούσης. μὴ θαυμάσῃς δὲ εἰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ συνημμένον καὶ διακεκριμένον εἶναί φαμεν, καί τινα ἐπινοοῦμεν, ὥσπερ ἐν αἰνίγματι, καινὴν καὶ παράδοξον διάκρισίν τε συνημμένην καὶ διακεκριμένην συνάφειαν. PG 32, 333. 64 It is not surprising at all that perichoresis as a technical term appeared only in the late Patristics, i.e. only after those Christological formulas articulated by the Council of Chalcedon (451). For as we know, Chalcedonian Confession defines that one and the same Christ is acknowledged "in Two Natures unconfusedly (ασυγχύτως), unchangeably (ατρέπτως), indivisibly (αδιαιρέτως), inseparably (αχωρίστως), the difference of the Natures being in no way removed because of the Union, but rather the properties of each Nature being preserved, and (both) concurring into One Person and One Hypostasis," and the notion of perichoresis was coined only as a means to explain how such a thing is possible. therefore, we need an understanding of opinions that have been occurring in certain periods, while for the latter we need only to establish when and in which contexts a certain term occurs during the history; and, as we know, this can be easily done today with the aid of computer (admittedly, thanks to great efforts made by those who have converted all that literature into various digital forms and made them available for us).
Thus, if we look at perichoresis as a theological terminus technicus, then it appears to be established only in the late Patristics: namely, as a term it was first employed only by the theologians of the 7 th century (Maxim the Confessor, Thalassios the Libyan, and Pseudo-Cyril), gaining at last its full theological relevancy and affirmation through the great final work of the Patristics -De fide orthodoxa by John Damascene.65 However, if we are interested not only in the term but also in the concept or idea that the term perichoresis expresses, such approach is by no means sufficient. Namely, it can be easily shown that this concept was employed much earlier,66 and that the principal exponents of this concept were actually the two great Cappadocian theologians from the 4 th century, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa,67 who had been expressing that idea in various ways, first within Christology, and then also within the Trinitarian theology. However, they had not fixed this idea to one recurring term, and although Gregory of Nazianzus used the verb περιχωρέω at one point to express that divine and human nature permeate each other in the Christ, it seems that for some reason they did not regard that word as a very suitable expression for their idea as Maxim the Confessor and other theologians after him did, for otherwise they would have used it again in a similar context. On the contrary, it seems that in such instances they had preferred to use words such as κρᾶσις (used by Stoics as a technical term for permeation), ἀνάκρασις68 or σύγκρασις, or even μίξις, although all these words appear less appropriate for expressing their idea than περιχώρησις. Therefore, a question is why did not they establish περιχώρησις as a term for their conception of unity in the Christ's duality and divine Trinity? Some believe that the reason for this was in Stoic connotations of that term.69 But then why had Gregory used the notion κρᾶσις, which was a known term from the Stoic physics? In fact, the word περιχώρησις is not found among the Stoics. Yes, it's true that Stoic connotations were possible, because in the Stoic physics the verb χωρέω was used in the meaning to penetrate,70 but all evidence shows that they used κρᾶσις to express the effect of that activity, not περιχώρησις. So, if Cappadocians did not hesitate to use κρᾶσις, which was the Stoic terminus technicus, we must ask why didn't they coin the term περιχώρησις if περιχωρέω 2 was present in the vocabulary of Gregory Nazianzen?71 The avoidance of Stoic connotations could have been the reason only in the first few centuries of Christianity, when Stoicism had been widely spread among the opposition, but not later, when Christian writers no longer care much about Stoics, and usually knew nothing about their theory on the combination of elements. This is also confirmed by the fact that both Stoics and Christians were using the example of the red-hot iron.72 It seems to us that the reason for this could rather be of a linguistic nature. Even if περιχωρέω 2 had not been the Cappadocian idiom, but simply a rare, though understandable meaning in the common language, the verbal noun περιχώρησις could have been in this case undesirable because of its close relation with the meanings of περιχωρέω 1 . Which of these meanings is the hindering one?
Let us remember how we mentioned earlier that Plutarch had once used περιχωρέω in the context of literature saying that a narrator doesn't have to strictly keep to the facts, but has the freedom to turn around things as it suits him, i.e. to change them, even to their opposite. Namely, this usage shows that the verb περιχωρέω could have been used to express a thought that something turns into or becomes something else. In this meaning περιχωρέω was used by Lucian in his satirical presentation of Heraclitus. Namely, while presenting Heraclitus' philosophy of a constant change -which has a circular flow, for everything in this flow constantly turns into its opposite to become again what it had been -Lucian puts into Heraclitus' mouth: [...] and nothing is constant, but everything, just like in a dish, is blending together; and one and the same are joy and sorrow, knowledge and ignorance, big and small, up and down, being all turning around and changing in that child's game of Time.73 Lucian's application shows that the verb περιχωρέω -which is in fact quite natural if we have in mind the meaning of its components -could have been used in the sense of turning into something else, changing to its opposite, such as joy into sorrow, or immortal into mortal, etc. It is quite clear that this is the hindering meaning in the context of perichoresis as it shows that περιχώρησις, both in the Christological and Trinitarian context, might be understood not in the sense of permeation, i.e. as dynamic inexistence, but in the sense of turning into something else or changing to its opposite, which was in fact a well-known heretical thought, considered as caused by a mistaken understanding of the famous evangelical phrase: "And the Word became flesh" (John 1:14).
An additional support to this thesis we also find in the fact that the verb περιχωρέω was once used with that meaning by Gregory Nazianzen himself. Namely, Gregory, in one of his orations where he, at one point, asks his listeners to remember the maxim how there is a measure of satiety in everything, in the food, in the dream, etc., states how "everything satiates, not only what is boring, but also what is pleasant, and even what is the most pleasant," continuing as if he were Heraclitus himself: And all turn and convert into another.74 We also see here that περιχωρέω in this usage is synonymous with περιτρέπω (turn upside down, convert, divert) so that this usage offers us an evidence of the vivid presence of that, in a theological context undesirable, meaning of the verb περιχωρέω. Now we can understand better why the Cappadocians, although they cherished a strong perichoretic approach to Christian mysteries, had not felt much need to use the word περιχώρησις, and why even the verb περιχωρέω 2 was used so rarely; in fact, in a theological sense (as far as we know) only once, when its meaning was quite clear from the context. The point is that one could not -or rather did not want -to express this theological conception by using the word that could be understood just in the sense that had to be refuted by that concept.
So, we know now that in the time of the Capadocian Fathers the verb περιχωρέω was generally used in its classical sense of περιχωρέω 1 , but we also know that it could be used as περιχωρέω 2 , although this 73 Ἡράκλειτος: [...] καὶ ὅτι ἔμπεδον οὐδέν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅκως ἐς κυκεῶνα τὰ πάντα συνειλέονται καί ἐστι τὠυτὸ τέρψις ἀτερψίη, γνῶσις ἀγνωσίη, μέγα μικρόν, ἄνω κάτω περιχωρέοντα καὶ ἀμειβόμενα ἐν τῇ τοῦ αἰῶνος παιδιῇ. Lucian, Vitarum auctio, sect. 14. 74 καὶ πλησµονὴ πάντων, οὐ τῶν ἀλγεινῶν µόνον, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ τῶν ἡδίστων, καὶ πάντα εἰς ἄλληλα περιχωρεῖ τε καὶ περιτρέπεται· omniumque non modo molestarum sed etiam jucundissimarum rerum saturitas et fastidium tandem oboriatur, cunctaque inter se vicissim immeent, et convertantur. Oratio XXII, 4. PG 35, 1136Β. (In Latin it is translated as if this περιχωρέω is also περιχωρέω 2 (equivalent with immeare), but this must be περιχωρέω 1 , for Gregory wants to say that even the most pleasant thing once turns to be boring, and by the last phrase he only makes a generalization of it.) meaning was less known, as it is clear from Hesychius' Lexicon. And even though περιχωρέω 2 was a very good word for their theological conception, they were not willing to use the word that could be confounded with περιχωρέω 1 . We can exemplify their baffling linguistic situation in English by the word inexistence. As this word is widely known in the sense of nonexistence, we almost always choose other words in a theological context, such as indwelling or inherence, although inexistence can be easily understood in this sense. But if we see that this usage has some advantages over other possible words -and we really consider it as the best equivalent for scholastic understanding of perichoresis -we can spread it in its less known meaning without any problem. This is what happened with περιχωρέω, and it seems that Maxim the Confessor was the first who used it predominantly as περιχωρέω 2 creating by nominalization a new περιχώρησις, completely different from old Anaxagoras' περιχώρησις. Maxim had probably made an influence on the unknown writer of De Trinitate (if it was really written in 7 th century), and after that John Damascene only accepted this usage.

Epilog
In a long-lasting and complex process, the Church Fathers had developed the concept of perichoresis to make more acceptable their obviously confusing answer to the two most important theological issues over which the battles were fought during the patristic period. Namely, to the first question, which was: is Jesus Christ God or man, it had been resolutely answered, contrary to all advocates of one or the other option, that he is both God and man, moreover true God and true Man; and to the second question, is God one or there are three Gods -the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit-it had been resolutely answered, in the same way and in the same spirit, that God is both one and three: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The concept of perichoresis had been devised in a great struggle to understand/explain that something can be united without blending and be different without separation, and the main representatives and fervent exponents of that perichoretic conception were Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa.
Their perichoretic conception could be defined as a view by which two or more different entities create unity by entering into each other without blending or merging, but either of them remains what it is and, at the same time, participate in the others. Or more briefly: perichoresis or permeation is unity of the different, where the difference remains completely preserved despite the communication of one to the other.
The meaning of perichoresis as permeation clearly shows us that this is primarily a physical notion, derived from the observing of nature, and the examples of which can be shown in the nature, i.e. which is applicable in its literal, physical sense to certain physical phenomena (and the Stoics had used the term κρᾶσις for such a phenomenon). In this connection, one should have in mind that perichoresis is used in philosophy and theology not so much in this literal as in a metaphorical sense. Namely, perichoresis in its literal meaning is permeation which takes place between physical and physical, but in philosophy and theology it is taken more as a physical symbol for something happening between the spiritual and physical, or between the spiritual and spiritual. Perichoresis is, therefore, especially in theology, a metaphorical expression.
In addition, there is a difference between the Christological and Trinitarian perichoresis. In the Christological one, perichoresis expresses the unity of different natures in one and the same person, and in the Trinitarian one it expresses the unity of different persons/hypostases in one and the same nature. That is: in the Christological perichoresis the "two what's" are united "in one who", while in the Trinitarian the "three who's in one what."75 But one should have in mind here that the permeation of divine and human nature in one and the same person implies that that person is divine even in its human aspect, for a red-hot iron is not a mere iron, but a red-hot iron.
Western theology has preserved only the Trinitarian perichoresis, the one that sees perichoresis as a permeation of consubstantial and homogenous. The Christological perichoresis, however, shows that permeation is also possible between that which is heterosubstantial and heterogeneous. So, if perichoresis is also possible between the heterosubstantial, a question arises: is there a place in theology for a third kind of perichoresis, i.e. the one between the Trinitarian God and His creation, together with man and the entire nature?
Therefore, we conclude our paper with a third, and supplementary, meaning of perichoresis that occurs in the context of its patristic context as a vital issue by quoting one scriptural passage and one John Damascene's point. Thus, in the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon it is said about Sophia, the hypostasis of God's Wisdom:76 For in her is the spirit of understanding, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, brisk, penetrating, undefiled, clear, unhurtable, lover of good, quick, unhamperable, beneficent, benevolent, steadfast, assured, secure, all-powerful, all-overseeing, and penetrating all intelligent, pure, and most subtle spirits.77 For wisdom is more active than all active things: she spreadeth and penetrateth through all things78 by reason of her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty: and therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself, she maketh all things new: and in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it. For after this cometh night, but vice shall not prevail against wisdom. She reacheth from one end to another mightily: and sweetly doth she order all things.