homoiousian means having a similar but not identical essence, especially with reference to the first and second persons of the Trinity. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
homoiousian is pronounced /hɒmɔɪˈuːzɪən/.
Why “homoiousian” is a great word
HOMOIOUSIAN — [Adjective] Having a similar but not identical essence or substance, especially regarding the relationship between the Father and the Son in the Trinity. From the Ancient Greek ὁμοιούσιος (homoioúsios), from ὅμοιος (hómoios, "like, similar") + οὐσίᾱ (ousíā, "essence, substance"). Unlike homoousian, which asserts an identity of essence, or heteroousian, which denies any essential likeness, homoiousian stakes its claim on the thinnest of theological margins. It is the shimmer of heat haze above a desert that looks like water but is not, the perfect copy that passes every test save the most unforgiving light, and the strained familial resemblance in a faded portrait—a doctrine built on the shifting sand of a single, anguished vowel, the melancholy resonance of a schism born from a devout desire to measure the immeasurable.
adj
- Having a similar but not identical essence, especially with reference to the first and second persons of the Trinity.“Human ill-nature needs but some Homoiousian iota, or even the pretence of one; and will flow copiously through the eye of a needle: thus always must mortals go jargoning and fuming […].”
noun
- One of the Semi-Arians of the 4th century who held that the Son was of like, but not the same, essence or substance with the Father.“The Greek word, which was chosen to express this mysterious resemblance, bears so close an affinity to the orthodox symbol, that the profane of every age have derided the furious contests which the difference of a single diphthong excited between the Homoousians and the Homoiousians.”