Byzantine Visual Culture: Conditions of “Right” Belief and Some Platonic Outlooks

Numen ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 210-244
Author(s):  
Anne Karahan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Culture Conditions ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
The Church

Monumental picture programs of Byzantine churches exist within a spatial and liturgical setting of rituals that depend on circumstances that create a distinction from profane to sacred. The core theme is the epic narrative of the holy drama of the incarnated son, i.e., the image of God (eikon tou theou), acknowledged as indivisibly as much human as divine. In a Byzantine religious sense, images of Christ prove the incarnation, yet human salvation depends on faith in the incarnation but also in the transcendent unknowable God. From the perspective of visual culture, the dilemma is that divine nature is, in a religious sense, transcendent and unknowable, beyond words and categorizations, unintelligible, as opposed to human nature, which is intelligible. This article concerns the strategy of Byzantine visual culture to weave together expressible and inexpressible in order to acknowledge “right belief,” without trespassing the theology and mode of thought of the church fathers on the triune mystery of the Christian God and the incarnation. In a Byzantine religious sense, circumscribed by time and space, the human condition is inconsistent with cognition ofwhat God is. Nonetheless, salvation depends on faith inthat God is, a “fact” acknowledged through holy images. Particular theoretical and methodological focus will be on how the three fourth-century Cappadocian fathers and Dionysius the Areopagite, but also Maximus the Confessor discuss God’s unintelligibility but also intelligibility, with some comparative Platonic outlooks.

scholarly journals The mercy of God as the foundation of charity of the Church

Diacovensia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-651
Author(s):  
Wiesław Przygoda
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Pope Benedict Xvi ◽  
Benedict Xvi ◽  
The Bible ◽  
1 John ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

Charity diaconia of the Church is not an accidental involvement but belongs to its fundamental missions. This thesis can be supported in many ways. The author of this article finds the source of the obligation of Christians and the whole Church community to charity service in the nature of God. For Christians God is Love (1 John 4, 8.16). Even though some other names can be found, (Jahwe , Elohim, Adonai), his principal name that encapsulates all other ones is Love. Simultaneously, God which is Love showed his merciful nature (misericordiae vultus) in the course of salvation. He did it in a historical, visible and optimal way through his Son, Jesus Christ through the embodied God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who loved the mankind so much that he sacrificed his life for us, being tortured and killed at the cross. This selfless love laid the foundations for the Church, which, in essence, is a community of loving human and God’s beings. Those who do not love, even though they joined the Church through baptism, technically speaking, do not belong to the Church since love is a real not a formal sign of belonging to Christ’s disciples (cf. John 13, 35). Therefore, charitable activity is a significant dimension of the Church’s mission as it is through charity that the Church shows the merciful nature of its Saviour. A question that needs to be addressed may be expressed as follows: in what way the image of God, who is love, implies an involvement in charity of an individual and the Church? An answer may be found in the Bible, writings of the Church Fathers of and the documents of Magisterium Ecclesiae and especially the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

scholarly journals MAN AND HIS QUALITY AS AN IMAGE OF GOD IN PATRISTIC THINKING

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
Edvica POPA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Patristic Literature ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The One ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

The notion of divine image is generously described by the patristic literature, each of the authors trying to identify the content of this special characteristic of human being, considered (in different positions) the defining element of the created rational being, indicating the possibility of opening to God not through something external, but from the inside of the human being. Since when they speak of God, the Church Fathers do not consider the reality of the one being, but that of the three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as when the question of the image of God is raised, they emphasize that this the image by which human nature is conformed is the image of the Son, or the image of the Word. In this article I set out to draw some points on this patristic feature of the Eastern Fathers.

scholarly journals Konsep Pembaruan Nous Berdasarkan Surat Roma 12:1-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-130
Author(s):  
Hendi Hendi ◽  
Eka Nur Cahyani
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
The Body ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
In Christ ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

The Concept of Renewal Nous in Christ Based on Romans 12: 1-2. This article discussing the renewal of nous in Christ through a syntactic and semantic approach to text analysis, namely the focus on the text itself, interactions with other texts and the writings of the Church Fathers. The renewal of nous is the starting point of the consequences of the journey of the believer after being baptized and becoming a Christian is to perfect the image of God in him which continues to be perfected until he becomes like Christ. There are two main points of discussion, namely the process of renewing Nous and the results of renewing Nous. The process of renewing nous is kenosis by offering the body and not becoming conformed to the world as a form of turning off the desires of the flesh so that it is no longer sold in sin. The result of renewal is having a front (the mind of Christ). Only Christians who renew their nous have the mind of Christ, guarding their souls with all vigilance to the likeness of His image. Abstrak Konsep Pembaruan Nous Di dalam Kristus Berdasarkan Surat Roma 12:1-2. Artikel ini membahas tentang pembaruan nous di dalam Kristus melalui pendekatan analisis teks secara sintaksis dan semantis yaitu fokus pada teks itu sendiri, interaksi dengan teks-teks lain dan tulisan para Bapa Gereja. Pembaruan nous adalah titik awal konsekuensi dari perjalanan orang percaya setelah dibaptis dan menjadi orang Kristen adalah menyempurnakan gambar Allah di dalam dirinya yang terus disempurnakan sampai menjadi serupa dengan Kristus. Ada 2 pokok pembahasan yaitu proses pembaruan nous dan hasil dari pembaruan nous. Proses pembaruan nous adalah kenosis dengan mempersembahkan tubuh dan tidak menjadi serupa dengan dunia sebagai wujud dari mematikan keinginan daging sehingga tidak lagi terjual di dalam dosa. Hasil dari pembaruan nous adalah memiliki fronew (pikiran Kristus). Hanya orang Kristen yang memperbarui nousnya yang memiliki pikiran Kristus, menjaga jiwanya dengan segala kewaspadaan hingga serupa gambar dan rupaNya.

Human Life as a State of Mediocrity in John Locke

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-105
Author(s):  
Giuliana Di Biase
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
John Locke ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Perfect Knowledge ◽  
Further Development ◽  
The Church

This chapter investigates the genesis and evolution of Locke’s idea of human life as a “state of mediocrity”. While this idea had ancient roots going back to the early Church fathers, it remained current in the seventeenth century where mediocrity was generally equated with a condition of partial ignorance and imperfection. Locke’s account of it is original; while life is a time of mediocrity, death opens the way to the extremes of eternal misery or eternal happiness. Initially, inspired by the Church fathers, Locke conceived of human life as a condition of intellectual mediocrity. Subsequently, and arguably prompted by his reading of the pessimistic outlooks of Nicole and Pascal, he redefined the state of mediocrity in more optimistic terms: humans are naturally suited to their mediocre state. A further development of his conception of mediocrity, again involving a partial rethinking of the human condition, can be found in the Essay, where Locke represents mediocrity as an imperfect state of insatiable desire. It is redeemed, however, by the ability of living human beings to attain perfect knowledge of morality.

scholarly journals Herezje wczesnochrześcijańskie – zagadnienia wprowadzające

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Bogdan Czyżewski
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Times ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

In the times of the Church Fathers the notion of heresy was related to the false doctrine what became the cause of derogations from the unity of the Church. It was a false tenet about God, hence the Fathers of the Church tried to define not only mistakes created within the Church, but also to develop orthodox doctrine. Due to the vastness of the this subject authors and texts defining heresies were se­lected. Firstly, attention was drawn on the Greek term a†resij contained in pagan literature and the writings of the New Testament, which allowed to see what was the impact, especially the biblical definition of heresy, on the understanding of the early Christian writers, especially before the first Council of Nice in 325. It was also necessary to ask about the origin of heresy and its characteristics. Fathers af­firmed unequivocally that their creation were associated mainly with making the wrong choices. The result of this were incorrect relations of heretics to the truth and to the Church, wrong image of God and abiding in stubbornness. Fathers also attempted to define more precisely the scope of meaning of schism and heresy, which are concepts often used as synonyms.

Varieties of Neopatristics

2020 ◽  
pp. 527-542
Author(s):  
Paul L. Gavrilyuk
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Liturgical Theology ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
Pavel Florensky ◽  
Liturgical Practice ◽  
Pseudo Dionysius ◽  
The Church ◽  
Organizing Principles

The chapter argues that the twentieth-century neopatristic theologies were not purely historical exercises, but theologically motivated enterprises. More specifically, Georges Florovsky’s ‘neopatristic synthesis’ was a response to his ‘modernist’ predecessors, such as Pavel Florensky and Sergius Bulgakov. The organizing principle of Florovsky’s neopatristics was Chalcedonian Christology. In contrast, Vladimir Lossky’s reconstruction of ‘mystical theology’ had the vision of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Gregory Palalmas as two focal points. It is argued that Alexander Schmemann’s liturgical theology may be likewise considered as a version of neopatristic theology with the emphasis on liturgical practice, and especially the eschatological dimension of the Eucharist, as the primary locus of theologizing. Thus, neopatristic theology cannot be regarded as a monolithic entity, but as a conglomerate of distinct theological visions, each with their own methods and organizing principles, which took as their inspiration the concept of a ‘return to the Church Fathers’ and creative appropriation of patristic heritage.

Maximus the Confessor and Christological Realization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Purpura
Keyword(s):  
Image Of God ◽  
Order Unity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Maximus The Confessor

Although Maximus hardly ever invokes the word “hierarchy” directly, he adopts the Dionysian concept of hierarchy as a theological given and draws on it to facilitate his own theological maneuvering of ecclesial authority. Maximus links the Dionysian ideal of hierarchy to a specifically orthodox confession of faith and adopts it as the foundation for his naming of that which renders both lay and ordained humanity divinized and God manifest. Maximus uses this concept to affirm the importance of order, unity, particularity, and liturgical hierarchy, even while the historical (and hagiographical) evidence of his life displays a discontinuity with what one might otherwise identify as ecclesiastical hierarchy. Maximus is an example of Dionysius’s hierarchic legacy existing beyond the mere adoption of a term as a way to name the boundaries of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, legitimate and illegitimate positions of authority, and the image of God in the world.

Late Roman Iconography and Style

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-221
Author(s):  
Susanna McFadden
Keyword(s):  
Visual Culture ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Wall Paintings ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Church ◽  
Late Roman

Discussions of late Roman style and iconography sometimes tend to emphasize the liminality of visual culture in late antiquity; monuments representative of the period such as the Arch of Constantine are neither fully “classical” nor “medieval” in their form and content; hence, the instinct to compare its style and iconography with that of the past or future monuments is hard to resist. The result of this lure to dichotomize is often a focus on what a late Roman work of art is not, rather than what it is (i.e., how an artwork or monument functions in its contemporary moment). This chapter therefore presents the wall paintings from the late third- to early fourth-century domus underneath the Church of Ss. Giovanni e Paolo on the Caelian Hill in Rome as a case study of a particular moment in late Roman visuality so as to better understand how engagements with iconography and style in the context of the late Roman home activate “modern” meanings and experiences.

Patristic Divergences about the Image of God in Man

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 69-79
Author(s):  
Stuart George Hall
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
The Church

The pathologically pious heresy-hunter Epiphanius, bishop of Salamis from 365 to 403, might be reckoned a champion of uniformity in the Church. Notoriously he promoted the campaign against Origen in Palestine, and in his Panarion attacks Origen’s theology at length. Never the brightest of the Fathers, he was confused by the question of the image of God in man. He comes to it when considering the sect of Audians, who were anthropomorphites; that is, they held God to have a bodily form which the human body replicates. According to Genesis 1: 26–7, God made man, male and female, in (after, according to) the image and likeness of God When Epiphanius gets to the detail of the Audian argument, it is plain that they argued from the use in Scripture of bodily language about God’s eyes, hand, feet, and other organs, and from the Lord’s appearances to Moses and the prophets, to demonstrate his bodily shape. Epiphanius can refute this in detail, but is aware of other suggestions about wherein what is ‘in the image’ consists, and regards none as wholly coherent with orthodox faith and Scripture. He mentions the theories that it is the soul that is in the image, or that it is virtue, or that it is the grace received in baptism, or that it applied to Adam only before his sin.

Economics in the Church Fathers

2014 ◽  
pp. 21-43
Author(s):  
Hennie Stander
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Property Ownership ◽  
Monastic Communities ◽  
The Church

The “Fathers of the Church” is used to refer, broadly speaking, to all the theological writers of the first six centuries who represent orthodox teaching. Their writings are not homogeneous, and there are important shifts in the fourth century when Christianity moves from being persecuted to being the religion of the Roman Emperors, with substantial property holdings and with the rise of monastic communities. Certain themes recur, and this chapter considers the Fathers’ writings on property ownership, the nature of wealth, trade, charity and almsgiving, slavery, and interest.

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