St Maximos’ Distinction between λόγος and τρόπος and the Ontology of the Person

Abstract Maximos’ distinction between logos of being and tropos of existence has sometimes been given a decidedly ‘existential’ interpretation by some modern scholars (including me). The terms logos and tropos find their origins in Trinitarian theology, logos designating being, ousia, held in common, and tropos the mode (or origin) of the distinct existence of the persons. The logos/tropos distinction, transferred to Christology, came to be used to clarify the meaning of personhood. However, Maximos rarely uses this distinction directly in relation to human persons; rather, he uses the logos/tropos distinction to make a difference between God’s activity in creation and in recreation, between theologia and oikonomia: its function is to preserve Maximos’ cardinal doctrine of the inviolability of the logoi of creation, tropos being used in relation to God’s renewal of nature in redemption, without calling in question the integrity of God’s creation.