The Antinomy of Distinction and Identity in the Triadic Canons of the Octoechos in Church Slavonic

Abstract

This study explores how the antinomic character of Orthodox theology is expressed linguistically in Church Slavonic hymnography, with reference to the original Greek texts, and how this makes it possible to address the theological problem of human epistemological capacity. The trinitarian antinomy of distinction and identity raises the question of the boundaries of divine knowledge, as well as the verbal means by which the triune nature and unity of the Godhead are expressed in the triadic canons of the Sunday Midnight Office of the Octoechos, composed by Saint Mitrophanes of Smyrna in the 9th century. Accordingly, it is relevant to examine the various dimensions of how this antinomy is understood in the Octoechos, both in the Church Slavonic and the original Greek, within the framework of a theological and philological study that includes a semantic analysis and a theological evaluation of selected troparia, interpreted through the lens of Scripture and the patristic tradition. The analysis demonstrates that antinomy, as a poetic principle in triadic hymnography, reflects the patristic vision of Trinitarian theology. It functions
as a key mode of theological reflection, and emerges as a natural linguistic principle for articulating the mystery that transcends the limits of the human mind. The study concludes with a synthesis of the main lines along which the doctrine of the Trinity developed in the triadic canons of the Octoechos.