Abstract
ABSTRACT: In ancient Stoicism, tension ( tonos ) was a principle of psychosomatic unity, individual and collective cohesion, and a virtuous disposition. Orthodox theologians deployed the notion of weak tension to discredit theaters and stadia as spaces of transmission of listlessness and vice. At the same time, they applied the concept of tension to sanctify places of torture and imprisonment, as well as the religious edifices commemorating martyrdom. This article will assess both the emancipatory and repressive aspects of the theological discourse on tension in their philosophical and medical contexts. Works of Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, and Severus of Antioch will be examined in the light of hagiographic, epigraphic, and papyrological evidence.
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