Perpetual progress or eternal rest?

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-81
Author(s):  
Alexis Torrance
Keyword(s):  
Human Being ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Orthodox View

The idea of perpetual progress or epektasis has become a popular way to characterize the Byzantine and Orthodox approach to eschatology, whereby the human being forever stretches out in an unending ascent into God. Gregory of Nyssa is taken as the chief architect of this approach, but Maximus the Confessor is also frequently marshalled to the same cause. This chapter questions the applicability of epektasis to the theology of Maximus, and further challenges the hegemony of this idea as a general shorthand for the Byzantine and Orthodox view of eschatology. Without denying its presence as a component of Byzantine eschatological discourse, the far more prevalent interest in rest/stasis is brought out through an examination of Maximus’s eschatology. This is connected with the view that what is true of Christ’s humanity becomes true of the humanity of the saints by grace, and Christ’s enthroned humanity is no longer subject to growth or progress.

scholarly journals Eastern Church Fathers on Being Human—Dichotomy in Essence and Wholeness in Deification

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 575
Author(s):  
Olga Chistyakova
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Church Father ◽  
Byzantine Church ◽  
God's Image ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The article traces the formation of Eastern Christian anthropology as a new religious and philosophical tradition within the Early Byzantine culture. The notion “Patristics” is reasoned as a corpus of ideas of the Church Fathers, both Eastern and Western. The term “Eastern Patristics” means the works by Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers, who in the theological disputes with the Western Church Fathers elaborated the Christian creed. Based on an analysis of the texts of Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers, the most important provisions of Eastern Patristics are deduced and discussed, which determined the specificity of Christian anthropology. In this context, different approaches of the Eastern Fathers to the explanation of the Old Testament thesis on the creation of man in God’s image and likeness and the justification of the duality of human essence are shown. Particular attention is paid to considering the idea of deification as overcoming the human dualism and the entire created universe, the doctrine of the Divine Logoi as God’s energies, and the potential elimination of the antinomianism of the earthly and Divine worlds. The article reflects the anthropological ideas of the pre-Nicene Church Father Irenaeus, the non-canonical early Christian work The Shepherd of Hermas, and the teachings on the man of the classical Eastern Patristics period by Athanasius of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor.

La dimensione gnomica dell’uomo nel pensiero di Massimo il Confessore. Gli scritti dal 628-640

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 183-220
Author(s):  
Claudiu George Tuțu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Anthropological Perspective ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Theological Thinking

The Gnomic Dimension of Human Being in the Conception of Maxim the Confessor. Writings between 628-640. It is certain that any of the patristic researches regarding the thought of St. Maximus the Confessor must explore the philosophical, biblical and patristic roots of the Maximian Corpus. This is the main purposes of the present article: to explore the theological thinking of Maximus, throughout his writings, which were drafted between 628-640. It is useful for our research to highlight the historical process of the development of his anthropological perspective, in order to better understand the concept of gnome (γνώμη). Keywords: will, gnome, anthropology, Maximus Confessor, philosophy, patristic theology.

Presence and absence of προαίρεσις in Christ and saints according to Maximus the Confessor and parallels in Neoplatonism

2018 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54
Author(s):  
Grigory Benevich
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Presence And Absence ◽  
Natural Will ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

Abstract The article shows that prior to the debate with the Monothelites, Maximus the Confessor followed the Christian tradition going back to Gregory of Nyssa in recognizing the presence of προαίρεσις in Christ and the saints. Later during the debate, Maximus declined to apply προαίρεσις to Christ and started to speak about the deactivation of προαίρεσις in the saints in the state of deification. Maximus was the first Orthodox author who distinguished deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) and natural will (θέλημα), and defended the presence of natural will in Christ according to His humanity. At the same time, the opposition of desire (βούλησις) and deliberate choice (προαίρεσις) can be found in some Neoplatonists, such as Iamblichus, Proclus, and Philoponus. Iamblichus and Proclus rejected the presence of προαίρεσις in the gods and god-like humans, admitting only the presence of βούλησις - the desire for the Good. Thus, the evolution of the doctrine of Maximus the Confessor, regarding the application of προαίρε- σις to Christ and the saints, finds a parallel doctrine (and even possibly a source) in Neoplatonism.

scholarly journals Toward the philosophy of creation: Maximus the confessor

2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-155
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Seventh Century ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
The Core ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Philosophical Argumentation ◽  
Doctrine Of Creation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The article aims to present the philosophical argumentation in favor of the Christian idea of the creation of the world exposed in the work of the seventh century author Maximus the Confessor. Maximus the Confessor developed his doctrine of creation on the basis of the philosophical arguments of his Christian predecessors, above all, Gregory of Nyssa, Nemesius of Emesa and Dionysius the Areopagite. The core of Maximus? argumentation on the creation of the world is similar to the position of the Alexandrian philosopher John Philoponus (6th century), but it is additionally enriched with ideas deriving from the works of the aforementioned Christian authors. Some of the ideas that form the scaffolding of Maximus? doctrine of creation are: the fivefold division of beings, which has its climax in the division between the created and uncreated nature, the movement of creatures towards God, who alone is the true goal of their movement, the eternal existence of the world in logoi as expressions of divine will, God?s providential care not only for the universal but also for the individual beings and the deification of the entire created world as the initial purpose of creation. Maximus? views on creation are conveyed in a language that combines Aristotelian, Stoic and Neoplatonist philosophical vocabulary.

scholarly journals The synthesis of ancient philosophical doctrines on movement in the thought of St Maximus the confessor

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-176
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
The Third ◽  
Indirect Influence ◽  
Theological Thought ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

The paper aims to explore St Maximus the Confessor? teaching on movement in the light of his ancient philosophical sources. Maximus? employment of Neoplathonic terminology for the purpose of exposing his theological thought implies a direct or indirect influence of ancient thinkers on his work. In examining the themes of ancient philosophical heritage in Maximus, the paper proposes a fourfold division of his sources. The first source is pagan authors, such as Aristotle, Plotinus and Proclus, whom Maximus might know directly. The second source are ancient philosophical doctrines that through Christian authors such as Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Nemesius of Emesa or Dionysius Areopagite already entered the Christian tradition, and which are transformed to a certain extent. The third source are the Christian Neo-Platonists of Alexandria Academy, like John Philoponus, Elias, David and Stephen of Alexandria who attempted to interprete previous philosophical tradition in conformity with certain Christian principles, and the fourth source are the Christian authors, who independently of previous philosophical traditions shaped their metaphysical views. The focus of the paper is on the first three sources.

scholarly journals Eriugeny koncepcja powrotu: dzieło natury czy łaski?

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 31-58
Author(s):  
AGNIESZKA KIJEWSKA
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Divine Grace ◽  
First Cause ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius

This paper tackles upon John Scottus Eriugena’s concept of the return while presenting it against the background of the Neoplatonic teaching about return (epistrophe). The return belongs to the conceptual triad: mone-proodos-epistrophe which used to serve Neoplatonic thinkers to describe the structure of reality and its dependence on the First Cause. In the system of Eriugena who bequeathed that very teaching from the Christian Neoplatonists (Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nyssa), we talk about the return on metaphysical and mystical level in addition to the general return (reditus generalis) and the return of the elects (reditus specialis). Eriugena indicates the cyclical processes in the whole nature but at the same time he stresses that the return is caused by divine grace and the very condition of its possibility is the fact of taking fl esh (incarnatio) and taking human nature (inhumanatio) by Jesus Christ.

scholarly journals Pochodzenie i upadek człowieka w "Traktatach wielkanocnych" św. Gaudentego z Brescii

Vox Patrum ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 111-122
Author(s):  
Bazyli Degórski
Keyword(s):  
Human Being ◽  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
The Creation ◽  
John Cassian ◽  
Evagrius Ponticus

The article surveys the teaching of Gaudentius on anthropology and especially on the Creation of human being and his primordial fall. The doctrine of St. Gaudentius recalls that of the Fathers, since he was de­pending on them and at the same time he had an influence on their works, so he can be inserted in a theological sequence: Origen (ca. 185-254), Basil of Caesarea (329-379), Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), Ambrose (339-397), Evagrius Ponticus (345-399), Philastrius (died ca. 397), Gaudentius (died 410), Augustine of Hippo (354-430), John Cassian (360-435), Quodvultdeus (died 454). The anthropological teaching of St. Gaudentius is an essential part of the wider Patristic Tradition, from which he takes exegetical elements, while at the same time providing many original insights.

Philosophical Insights on the Human Being in Greek-Byzantine Patristics

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-152
Author(s):  
Olga V. Chistyakova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Life Goal ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Eastern Christianity ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Byzantine Church ◽  
Christian Apologetics

The article traces the formation of a new religious and philosophical tradition of consideration of the human being. It was formed in the texts of representatives of Eastern Patristics at the epoch of Trinity and Christology theological discussions in Byzantium from the 4th to 7th centuries. The author presents the early Church Fathers’ ideas of the period of Christian apologetics, who laid the foundation for early medieval Christian anthropology. The work analyzes the significant issues, the solution of which allowed Greek-Byzantine Church Fathers to shape the an­thropological tradition of Eastern Christianity. In particular, the author notes the differences in the justification of the Eastern Church Fathers’ Old Testament point on the creation of man in the God’s image and likeness. The researcher stresses the diversity of concepts about the contradictory nature of the human as­sociated with the confrontation of the soul (spirit) and body. In this context, the principle of antinomianism is deduced as the primary method of theorizing about the person in their relationship with God and the created world. Special at­tention is paid to the Patristics interpretation of the idea of deification, compre­hended as the life goal of an individual, and, at the same time, as a process of re­alization of the highest purpose by unifying two contradictory worlds – Divine and earthly – into one harmonious Universe. Deification is derived as an oppor­tunity to overcome man’s duality and as his righteous path guiding each individ­ual to self-improvement, self-knowledge, and spiritual unity with the Creator. The article is based on the analysis of the sacred texts of Eastern Christianity, specifically by Irenaeus, Athanasius of Alexandria, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Maximus the Confessor.

Carolingian renaissance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Marenbon
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Northern Europe ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Cultural Revival ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
History Of ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius ◽  
The Middle Ages

The ‘Carolingian renaissance’ is the name given to the cultural revival in northern Europe during the late eighth and ninth centuries, instigated by Charlemagne and his court scholars. Carolingian intellectual life centred around the recovery of classical Latin texts and learning, though in a strictly Christian setting. The only celebrated philosopher of the time is Johannes Scottus Eriugena, but the daring Neoplatonic speculations of his masterpiece, the Periphyseon (On the Division of Nature) are not at all characteristic of the time and are based on Greek sources (Pseudo-Dionysius, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor) generally unknown to his contemporaries. The mainstream of Carolingian thought is important for the history of philosophy in three particular ways. First, it was at this time that logic first started to take the fundamental role it would have throughout the Middle Ages. Second, scholars began to consider how ideas they found in late antique Latin Neoplatonic texts could be interpreted in a way compatible with Christianity. Third (as would so often again be the case in the Middle Ages), controversies over Christian doctrine led thinkers to analyse some of the concepts they involved: for instance, the dispute in the mid-ninth century over predestination led to discussion about free will and punishment.

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