ABSTRACT
The present paper is meant to dwell upon the very close relations existing between the doctrine of the hypostases as it appears in the different exponents of Neoplatonism (from Plotinus to Damascius) and the views of some patristic Greek authors concerning the three persons of the Trinity. During the first centuries o f our era, the Christian trinitarian doctrine is not something immutable, unequivo cally established from the very beginning: as far as patristic Greek thought is concerned, it undergoes a process of growth and trans formation, and reaches its climax and its perfect orthodox formula tion only in the theological speculation of the Cappadocian Fathers. It will be the main purpose of this paper to show that a full compre hension of this process, as well as of the trinitarian theology of ps.- Dionysius Areopagita, can by no means afford to disregard the contemporary Platonic tradition.
