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 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 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.

scholarly journals St Maximus the confessor’s teaching on movement

2013 ◽  
pp. 33-48
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic
Keyword(s):  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Christian Philosophy ◽  
Dionysius The Areopagite ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Cappadocian Fathers ◽  
Maximus The Confessor ◽  
Supreme Being

The article aims to present how the Byzantine scholar St Maximus the Confessor perceived the notion of movement (kinesis). St Maximus exposed his teaching on movement in the course of his refutation of Origenism, which regarded the movement of created beings away from God as the cause of breaking the original unity that existed between the Creation and the Creator. By reversing Origen?s triad ?rest? - ?movement? - ?becoming? into the triad ?becoming? - ?movement? - ?rest?, St Maximus viewed the movement toward God as the sole goal of created beings, finding in the supreme being the repose of their own movement. In addition to the cosmological view of the movement, St Maximus developed a psychological and an ontological view on movement, relying on previous Christian tradition. By transforming and adapting Aristotelian and Neoplatonic notions to the basic principles of Christian metaphysics, St Maximus creates a new Christian philosophy of movement which he supported primarily with the views of the Cappadocian Fathers and Dionysius the Areopagite.

Costituzione e religione

2009 ◽  
pp. 5-46
Author(s):  
Silvio Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
The State ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Legislation And Jurisprudence ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Religious Background ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
The World

- An examination of a country's Constitution offers useful pointers for understanding how the state in question conceives and regulates its relationship with religion. In this essay, the author analyses the constitutions of all the countries of the world, considering three groups of enactments: the ones that concern a constitution's inspiring ideals and principles, the ones that deal with the sources of law and, lastly, the ones that regulate the relationships between the state and religions. An examination of this material paints a picture of the position accorded to religion in each country's legal system and above all highlights the differences attributed to the cultural and religious background that inspires them: in particular, the differences between the Western countries with a Christian tradition and the Arabian countries with an Islamic tradition, but also the differences found, within the Islamic world itself, between Arabian and non-Arabian countries. While recognising that any comparison between constitutions needs to be completed by an analysis of other sources of legislation and jurisprudence, this article indicates several directions for future research to develop on this work.

scholarly journals Seeing the Face of Christ

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-169
Author(s):  
Derek S King
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Divine Hiddenness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Hiddenness Of God ◽  
The Church

The problem of the hiddenness of God has at least two kinds: an experiential and an intellectual problem. Despite differences, a solution to either would require some account of how God is personally known. Yet for the Christian tradition, God is known in the man Jesus Christ. I suggest, then, a Christological reformulation of the hiddenness argument, and proceed to offer an account of how Christ is known. With special attention to the ecclesiology of Gregory of Nyssa, I offer an account of knowing Christ in the church. I then explore this as a response to the problems of divine hiddenness, and anticipate a considerable objection to my response.

scholarly journals „Uporządkujcie we mnie miłość” (Pnp 2, 4, LXX) w egzegezie wybranych autorów wschodu i zachodu

Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 477-497
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Nocoń
Keyword(s):  
Augustine Of Hippo ◽  
Gregory Of Nyssa ◽  
Moral Aspect ◽  
Theodoret Of Cyrus ◽  
In Christ ◽  
East And West ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
John Cassian

“You set charity in order in me” (Song 2:4, LXX) is one of the most funda­mental biblical texts for the concept of the ordo caritatis. The Author seeks to examine how this text was read in the East and West, analysing the commen­tary of three Greek authors (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and Theodoret of Cyrus), and three Latin authors (Augustine of Hippo, John Cassian and Apponius). There commentaries, he notes, agree with one another for the most part, and refer more or less to Origen’s exegesis of this verse. However, some differences can be noted. The Eastern Fathers, for example, hold that, in the order of charity, the criterion of merit is more important than the criterion of blood relationship; that is to say, the greater love is to be shown to those who have been born in Christ (cf. 1Cor 4:15) over those born of the flesh. Only the Eastern Fathers explore what the ordo caritatis means also in relation to one’s enemies. The Western Fathers, for their part, tend to underline the moral aspect of the ordo caritatis, insofar as upholding that order is virtue, while infringing it is sin. In this regard, a casuistic approach can occur in their commentary more frequently than in those of the Eastern Fathers. The novelty of the commentaries of the Western Fathers is also found in their reflection on the ordo caritatis within the Holy Tri­nity, as well as the manner in which they expand the embrace of this order to other categories of people: friends, fellow citizens, strangers. Some of the Western Fathers (Apponius) apply the ordo caritatis not only to people but also to works of mercy, while others (Augustine) bring out the aesthetic element in the ordo caritatis, noting that the effect of order of any kind, including the order of charity, is beauty.

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.

From Superstitio to Heresy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Renee Salzman
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
Imperial Authority ◽  
Religious Behaviors ◽  
Fundamental Shift ◽  
Divine Law

There are obvious similarities between Roman laws against superstitio—defined as excessive religious credulity, hence magic and private divination, and then paganism—and Roman laws against heresy: both sets of laws represent attempts by the state to define and prohibit religious behaviors. Yet for all their similarities, justifications for laws against heresy were significantly different from those against superstitio. Heresy laws prohibited not just behaviors but beliefs. A comparison of laws on superstitio and heresy in the early fifth-century Theodosian Code shows how heresy laws were directly tied to a Christian tradition of divine law that focused on the precepts and rules laid down by the Christian God himself—God’s law—in a way that was not the case for laws on superstitio. This chapter thus elucidates a fundamental shift in the nature of imperial authority as emperors aligned themselves with a new, unassailable source of power.

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