Doctrine of Angels in «The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith» of St. John of Damascus

В Священном Писании ангелы изображаются неизмеримо более совершенными существами, чем человек, но при этом в Послании к Евреям человек ставится гораздо выше служебных духов, посылаемых в помощь имеющим наследовать спасение (Евр. 1, 14). Очень немногие Отцы предпринимали попытку систематического обсуждения онтологического статуса и роли небесных сил. Даже в самом известном трактате об ангелах, «О небесной иерархии», Дионисий Ареопагит рассуждает об ангелах в рамках неоплатонической иерархической парадигмы, используемой в качестве концептуальной основы для учения об ангелах как посредниках в передаче божественного откровения, по большей части игнорируя радикальный и парадоксальный «слом» онтологических иерархий в Воплощении и возвышенную роль человеческой природы, телесно пребывающую одесную Отца на престоле славы в ипостаси Сына. Альтернативное Дионисию учение об ангелах содержится в краткой главе об ангелах в «Точном изложении православной веры» Иоанна Дамаскина, где подчёркивается равный людям онтологический статус ангелов как части тварного мира. В других произведениях Иоанн Дамаскин даёт убедительное христологическое решение дихотомии между ангельским возвышенным состоянием и человеческим ограниченным состоянием в духе Послания к Евреям, предлагая два ярких примера в качестве разрешения: Богородицу, неизмеримо превосходящую все ангельские силы, возвышенную более херувимов и превознесённую превыше серафимов, а также участие в Евхаристии, дарованное людям, но не ангелам. In the Holy Scripture, angels are described as immeasurably more perfect beings than humans, yet at the same time, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, humans are placed much higher than the «ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation» (Heb. 1, 14). Very few Fathers have attempted to systematically discuss the ontological status and role of the heavenly powers. In the most famous treatise on angels, On the Celestial Hierarchy, Dionysius the Areopagite discusses angels in the Neoplatonic hierarchical paradigm used as a conceptual basis for the archaic doctrine of angels as intermediaries in the transmission of divine revelation, and for the most part underplaying the radical and paradoxical “collapse” of ontological hierarchies in the Incarnation and supreme role of human nature placed bodily at the right hand of the Father on the throne of glory in the hypostasis of the Son. An alternative doctrine of angels to that of Dionysius appears in a short chapter on angels in John of Damascus’ Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, which emphasizes the ontological status of angels equal to humans as a part of the created world. In other writings, John Damascene provides a convincing Christological solution to the dichotomy between the angelic exalted state and human limited state in the spirit of the Epistle to the Hebrews, offering two striking examples as a resolution: the Mother of God, immeasurably superior to all angelic powers, exalted more than cherubim and exalted above the seraphim, and participation in the Eucharist granted to people, but not to angels.

Philosophical, anthropological and axiological aspects of Constantine’s definition of philosophy

This paper focuses on the philosophical-ethical foundations of Constantine’s definition of philosophy, as well as its anthropological and axiological aspects. The focus is placed on the relationship between definitions of philosophy postulated by Constantine the Philosopher and John of Damascus, the latter of which traces the six classical definitions systematized by Platonic commentators. Byzantine thinkers proposed a method of unifying both the theoretical and practical aspects of ancient philosophy with a Christian way of life by interpreting the classical definitions of philosophy and dividing it into theoretical and practical parts, the latter including ethics. Constantine understood philosophy in the sense of the second (knowledge of things Divine and human) and the fourth (becoming like God) meanings of earlier definitions, with the addition of the Christian sense of acting in accordance with the image of God. In addition to these gnosiological and anthropological aspects, the paper also observes the axiological aspect of Constantine’s definition of philosophy, which appears to be a foundation for exploring human behaviour as in compliance with Christian laws encouraging changes in ethical principles so as to follow a new code of ethics, through which new values were presented to the Slavs.

Сборник переводов Андрея Курбского из книжного собрания Войновского старообрядческого монастыря

The author introduces the previously unknown handwritten text of the translation of “Logic” of St. John of Damascus. The article gives the paleographic description of the manuscript, presents the structure of the text and determines the research prospects for working with the manuscript in the future. The author provides a review of scientific sources on the translations of Andrei Kurbsky and a brief textual analysis of the manuscript from Wojnowo. The texts from the book collection of former Savior and Holy Trinity Monastery in Wojnowo supplemented the list of works created (translated) in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and adopted by the local Old Believer book tradition. The analyzed manuscript is a unique monument to the book heritage of the Old Believers of the Baltic countries, since other lists of translations of philosophical works originating from the Kovel circle of Kurbsky are currently unknown.

Philosophical background of the cosmological polemics in Contra Manichaeos by John of Damascus

This article analyzes the philosophical arguments used by John of Damascus against the Manichaean dualist cosmological system in his Dialogue contra Manichaeos, showing some parallels with his Dialectica, and revealing a common Aristotelian background. The philosophical argument in the Dialogue seems to be a practical application of philosophical doctrines formulated in the Dialectica. From a wider perspective of anti-Manichean polemics used in part for instructional purposes for students of philosophy and theology in Late Antiquity, the conclusion is made that the purpose of the Dialogue was aimed not so much against the Manichaean cosmogony and cosmology, but against the Manichaean theodicy, which might have been attractive to some Christians of John’s times.

The problem of understanding liturgical texts and its solution on the example of Gregory of Corinth’s exegesis

The orthodox liturgy was finally established during the 8th and 9th centuries. The two stepbrothers and eminent Byzantine poets St. Cosmas of Maiuma and St. John of Damascus greatly contributed to its development. They composed the majority of the irmi and troparia that are still performed during the liturgy today. During their lives, however, worshippers were facing certain difficulties in understanding the meaning of church odes. This is also true today when orthodox liturgy occasionally becomes an obstacle on the path to God for the worshippers. Greater efforts are also required in order to understand the liturgy and this is not always easy. One of the reasons for this is an incorrect translation of many odes into Russian and Slavonic. Comments from 12th century Byzantine writers and poets can help us clarify their meaning. Gregory of Corinth and his 23 commentaries on the liturgical canons are particularly noteworthy. In the current article, a philological analysis is conducted of two complex, “obscure” and unclear passages from the Canon of Pentecost. At the same time, Metropolitan Gregory’s exegeses of these extracts, which can help us better understand the meaning not only of these passages but also of the whole celebration, are cited.