We must note, as Damascenus points out in De Fide Orthodoxa 1.8, that in creatures the nature common to each does not subsist in itself or according to itself, but it must be considered only on the basis of abstract thought (λόγῳ καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ).3 However, persons must be considered with respect to themselves, for they subsist separately and differ in number. But in the case of the deity, its common nature or essence is not something imaginary or only an abstract thought or something which only