Cappadocian Fathers Research Articles

Vassiliki M. Limberis, Architects of Piety. The Cappadocian Fathers and the Cult of Martyrs

Vassiliki M. Limberis, Architects of Piety. The Cappadocian Fathers and the Cult of Martyrs

La controversia anti-apollinarista in Severiano di Gabala

To study Severian of Gabala from the point of view of anti-heretical polemic allows us to delve into a character who is obscure and often overlooked. When looking at the argument against the Apollinarists, a task which requires a capacity for extensive speculation, Severian comes out as less significant in comparison to the other great theologians of his time, like the Cappadocian Fathers, although he adheres to the same doctrinal line. The more demanding arguments – as in his homily De centurione, fully devoted to this controversy – are missing. Despite a common Antiochene origin, he also separates himself from Chrysostom by engaging in a more allegorical form of exegesis and by his defense of orthodoxy, whereas in John the pastoral concern for the lives of the faithful stands out. This study does not intend to re-evaluate or diminish Severian even more than has been done, but attempts to contextualize him and his anti-Apollinarian work morecompletely.

Bóg a stworzenie w teologii prawosławnej

The question of the genesis of the world and the attitude of God toward the worldis one of the main issues discussed in theology, philosophy, and natural sciencesthrough centuries. The Orthodox Church while answering the question relies onthe thoughts of Fathers and Teachers of the Church as well as liturgy displayingspiritual experience of many a generation of saint ascetics much more than otherChristian Churches. Asking the question of creation it analyses the views of Origen,Cappadocian Fathers, Saint Basil the Grea, Gregory the Theologian, St. Gregoryof Nyssa and further Fathers such as Maximus the Confessor, Symeon the NewTheologian, Gregory Palamas. The author of the paper introduces orthodox theologyconcerning the world and man vewing those realities from two perspectives: beforeand after the sin, he discusses such issues as the act of creation, human body, ascetiscs,and the responsobility for the creation. The issue of creation is divided between twothemes, of the Church and the Mother os God.

Architects of piety: the Cappadocian Fathers and the cult of the martyrs

ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS INTRODUCTION 1. Life Centered around the Martyrs 2. Ekphrasis: Materializing Martyria Then and Now 3. Kinship with the Martyrs 4. Gender and Martyr Piety CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gregorii Nysseni in Hexaemeron. Edited by HUBERTUS R. DROBNER.

This excellent edition of Gregory's addendum to his brother Basil's great work is an important further step in the modern reinterpretation of Gregory and indeed of the collective achievement of the Cappadocian Fathers. Drobner dedicates it to the memory of the much missed Andreas Spira, to whom, as to Drobner of course also, and to all his modern editors, you might say that the sainted doctor himself owes a debt of gratitude. The edited series of Gregory's writings in which this book belongs was begun by Werner Jaeger in 1920 on a proposal from Wilamowitz eleven years earlier. A hundred and more years do not suffice in modern times for a task completed (unsatisfactorily it must be admitted but much more speedily) in the seventeenth century. In more recent times Forbes produced an improved edition of the In Hexaemeron in 1855 and latterly in 1999 F. X. Risch published a German translation which I have not seen; it has apparently been drawn on, to some extent, by Drobner, who also, of course, takes note of Forbes's edition, standard until the present and inconvenient of access.

Meletius von Antiochien: Studien zur Geschichte des trinitätstheologischen Streits in den Jahren 360-364 n. Chr. (review)

Reviewed by: Meletius von Antiochien: Studien zur Geschichte des trinitätstheologischen Streits in den Jahren 360-364 n. Chr. Kelley Spoerl Thomas R. Karmann Meletius von Antiochien: Studien zur Geschichte des trinitätstheologischen Streits in den Jahren 360-364 n. Chr. Regensburger Studien zur Theologie 68 Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2009 Pp. ix + 541. This study is a slightly revised version of a dissertation accepted at the Catholic Theological Faculty of the University of Regensburg in 2006. Its subject is Meletius of Antioch, who, prior to his death during the council, presided over the resolution of the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Scholarship has seen Meletius as an important exponent of the neo-Nicene Trinitarian position, though his literary record is much slimmer than that of other representatives of this tradition, notably, the Cappadocian Fathers. Because of the dominance of the Cappadocians in studies of Greek theology in the second half of the fourth century, this study is all the more valuable. Karmann seeks to look at Meletius not only to illuminate the career and thought of a prominent churchman of the period, but to shed light on the origins of neo-Nicenism in general. He focuses on what the historical sources reveal about Meletius and his theological views between the critical years of 360 and 364. Karmann starts by examining the church political situation in Antioch prior to Meletius's election to the see sometime in the winter of 360-361. He considers Meletius's origins and his earlier episcopal appointments. Karmann establishes convincingly that Meletius came to Antioch under homoian auspices, probably having had an earlier relationship with Acacius of Caesarea, a leading figure in the homoian movement. Karmann, correctly in my opinion, notes that Acacius's theology was likely more shaped by the mainstream tradition stemming from Eusebius of Caesarea than by what later became identified as heteroousian theology, the proponents of which were in some instances protected by homoian bishops. Karmann then proceeds to examine in detail four documents that reveal Meletius's theological developments in the initial years after his episcopal appointment at Antioch. These include a sermon on Prov 8.22 Meletius is reported to have delivered in the presence of the emperor Constantius shortly after his election, Athanasius's Tomus ad Antiochenos from 362, a letter from a synod Meletius held in Antioch in 363 directed to the emperor Jovian, and a pseudo-Athanasian [End Page 141] document critical of the aforementioned synodical letter (also written probably in 363), the Refutatio hypocriseos Meletii et Eusebii Samosatenses. According to Karmann, the sermon on Prov 8.22 indicates that Meletius began his career at Antioch formally as a Homoian, since the sermon adheres to the homoian line, while nevertheless suggesting some sympathies with theological ideas congenial to the Homoiousians (purged at Constantinople 360) and even to supporters of the Nicene homoousion. Even so, Karmann says (contrary to much of the historiographical and hagiographical tradition about him), Meletius was unlikely to have been deposed shortly after his installation for explicitly Nicene views, but more likely for personnel decisions he made early in his time in Antioch. These may have included readmitting to communion Homoiousians and Nicenes who had been banned under the previous homoian bishop Eudoxius. However, Meletius cannot be seen as neo-Nicene at this stage in his career. The first glimmers of that position appear in the Tomus ad Antiochenos, where the Meletians in Antioch, with reference to whom the council fathers write, are invited to accept the Nicene creed as the only orthodox statement of faith, combining it with two key statements central to neo-Nicene theology: acceptance of three hypostases in the Christian godhead and denial of the creaturely status of the Holy Spirit. While Karmann cautiously notes that there is no clear distinction between ousia and hypostasis in the Tomus, he suggests that the outlines of one are indicated insofar as the Tomus suggests that hypostasis and ousia can be deployed differently in equally orthodox accounts of the faith. More direct evidence for Meletius's developing theology is provided by the synodal letter to Jovian, wherein Meletius and his associates endorse the Nicene homoousion...

Doubt as Methodology and Object in the Phenomenology of Religion

The Holy Grail in the phenomenology of religion (and, to a lesser extent, the sociology of religion) is a definition of religion that actually works, but, so far, this seems to have been elusive. Classical definitions of religion—substantive (e.g. Tylor) and functionalist (e.g. Durkheim)—fail, in part because they attempt to be in three places at once, as it were: they attempt to distinguish religion from non-religion; they attempt to capture what religions have in common; and they attempt to grasp the 'heart', or 'core', of religion. Consequently, family resemblance definitions of religion replace certainty and precision for its own sake with a more pragmatic and heuristic approach, embracing doubt and putting forward definitions that give us a better understanding (Verstehen) of religion. In this paper, I summarise some 'new' definitions of religion that take this approach, before proposing and defending another one, defining religion as non-propositional and 'apophatic', thus accepting that doubt is central to religion itself, as well as to the analysis of religion.

A test ontológiája a halálban

The contemplation on death in respect to the redeeming crucifixion of Christ in the thinking of the first Christian Church Fathers, the most prominent persons of their age, was basically determined by the Biblical teaching concerning the resurrection of the body, with the promise of eternal corporal life for Christians. For those educated on Platonic writings the latter teaching was sheer stupidity. Even Paul the Apostle was ridiculed for it on his mission to Athens. The Church Fathers, educated in the paideia, the educational system of the Roman Empire, could not neglect the questions about death that had cropped up in the philosophical and cultural tradition. They had to investigate these questions in the junction of theological, anthropological, philosophical (ontological) and partly aesthetical problems.In my study I try to investigate what questions are raised and how they are raised in the centre of thinking of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, who investigated death and the dead body in the context of resurrection. Living in the tension generated between everyday, ephemeral experience (the physical decay of the dead body) and belief-hope (resurrection in the body), Gregory tries to answer the questions of identity (what is the aim of resurrection, if it is not me who is resurrected) by integrating the tradition of Neoplatonic philosophy (especially the concept of eidos) into Christian theology. My study, putting aside the discursive frame of Gregory’s works, tries to give a summary on the ontology of the dead and the resurrected body in the theology and anthropology of the Cappadocian Father.

Hagios Gregorios Theologos Church in Cappadocia

Hagios Gregorios Theologos church is the one of the most important monument of Gelveri, a small town in the region of Cappadocia which is one of the first settlement areas in Anatolia, in central Turkey. The church is dedicated to Gregory the Theologian who is the Cappadocian father of the church in the fourth century. The building consists of three distinct phases of construction: the apse, the naos with a narthex west of it, and the parekklesion, north of the naos. Hagios Gregorios Theologos church was suffered important interventions after the date he’s erected in 385. The building was used till the migration in 1924 and then was converted to a mosque. Situated in a region known with his rock-cut architecture, the building differs with his construction of masonry and maintain tradition of built architecture. It distinguished by the qualified use of the harder volcanic stone. In this paper, the planning and the structure analysis of Hagios Gregorios Theologos church is aimed to be presented.

„Szaty ze skór”: kara czy ratunek dla człowieka? Patrystyczna interpretacja Rdz 3, 21

In giving different allegorical meanings to the „garments of skins” (Gen 3:21) given to man after the Fall (mortality, corporeality, carnal mentality, animality, passions), the patristic authors tried not only to describe the effects of the sin of the first people, but also and above all to show what God did to ensure that the consequences of the Fall did not last forever and that a return to paradise might be possible. What most interested them was the meaning of these garments in the history of salvation. So Irenaeus of Lyon formed the concept of these garments as an antidote or medicine for sin, a concept developed later by the Cappadocian fathers. Gregory of Nyssa emphasized the fact that they permitted the preservation of man’s freedom and other characteristics of his having been formed in the image of God (rationality). In short, they were given in order to open a road for man to God, to make possible a return to paradise. Even if they signify the effects of the fall of man, which effects can be held to be burdensome and trying, they are not an expression of the Creator’s anger and punishment, but rather deliverance for man and a chance of salvation. They can at most be considered as „a divine way of punishing”, which is ultimately „a manifestation of mercy” (Gregory of Nazianzen).

Two Different Gods or Two Types of Unity? A Critical Response to Zizioulas’ Presentation of ‘The Father as Cause’ with Reference to the Cappadocian Fathers and Augustine

AbstractJohn Zizioulas is not only a prolific writer but arguably one of the most original and influential Orthodox scholars of our present time. His originality can be most clearly observed in his development of a personal and relational ontology. Central to this approach is his assertion that the Father as cause should be understood as the one God rather than the divine ousia. Zizioulas subsequently asserts that the divine ousia should be understood in terms of divine communion. While this approach might be original, it is not without its difficulties, not least the possible implication that there are two different Gods. It is our contention that this problem arises out of a failure by Zizioulas to adequately distinguish between two distinct types of divine unity particularly located in the writings of the Cappadocian Fathers. The first is located solely in the ousia and ensures the ontological oneness of God, the second may be observed in the relational role of the Father as a point of reference for the Son and the Spirit. Finally, although these two forms of unity are identified by the Cappadocians we will suggest that the second is more adequately located with the Spirit by Augustine.

Evagrius Ponticus. By A. M. CASIDAY.

Evagrius of Pontus (c.345–99) has of late been the subject of a thoroughgoing rehabilitation, much of which is due to the sterling labours and striking perspicacity of Fr Gabriel Bunge. Augustine Casiday has set himself very much in the train of this eremitical scholar, to whom this volume is respectfully dedicated. As Casiday observes, Evagrius has been decisively retrieved from the ‘dustbins of history’ through the efforts of Bunge and others. Crucial to this process of retrieval has been the eschewal of a hermeneutic of heterodoxy, reading back from the Origenist controversies of the sixth century (in which context Evagrius has garnered more than his fair share of opprobrium) and its replacement by a hermeneutic of orthodoxy, reading Evagrius more obviously in the line of the Cappadocian Fathers and the spiritual traditions of the Egyptian desert. This is not to imply any blanket approval of Evagrius in all his conjectures nor to deny the thoroughgoing influence of Origen but rather to allow for an encounter with Evagrius that is free from anachronistic retrojection of suspicion.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CAPPADOCIANS: PAST AND PRESENT

AbstractTheologians have long recognized that the Cappadocian fathers are a valuable resource for contemporary reflection on the Holy Spirit. The modern use of their work, however, tends to reflect only a thin sampling of their many writings; it shows little awareness of their complicated historical situation; and it generally operates on the false assumption that Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa offer but three versions of the same theological project. This article provides a new comparative assessment of Cappadocian pneumatology in connection with larger Trinitarian concerns and with practical matters of spirituality, monasticism, and the role of divine grace in the Christian life. It highlights the distinctive character of each theologian's approach to the Holy Spirit by analyzing their relationships to prior fourth‐century traditions, their respective uses of Origen, and their differing stances in the contemporary debates with the Pneumatomachians. It argues that Basil's work on the Spirit is less fully Trinitarian and ascetically weaker than that of the other two, that Gregory Nazianzen offers the most fully Trinitarian and methodologically insightful pneumatology of the three, and that the Holy Spirit plays only a minor role in Gregory of Nyssa's theological and ascetical system. In conclusion, it identifies three key areas in which the Cappadocians can still make a significant contribution to current work on the Holy Spirit.

Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus

Gregory Thaumaturgus was a third-century bishop in Pontus in northern Asia Minor. Regarded by the later Cappadocian Fathers as one of the greatest of their forebears in the Christian faith, he has left behind a few writings, a legend full of miracles, and now also a ‘Bermuda triangle’ of critical questions.

Three Versus One? Some Problems of Social Trinitarianism

This paper examines the question whether we should prefer the so-called 'social' doctrine of the Trinity, which figures so prominently in contemporary trinitarian reflection, to its 'Latin' alternative. After a sketch of some evident attractions of social trinitarianism, it is argued that these attractions conceal as many problems—problems which may be rather devastating in the end. First of all, the practical and ethical usefulness of the social doctrine turns out to be highly questionable. Second, contemporary social trinitarianism deviates in crucial aspects from the Cappadocian (and other) Fathers. And third, the claim that social trinitarianism is in fact the best way to appropriate the biblical witness is found wanting. The paper concludes with the suggestion that social trinitarians today use the doctrine of the Trinity to answer questions which the Fathers answered by means of Christology.

Precedents for Palamas' Essence-Energies Theology in the Cappadocian Fathers

AbstractFollowing a brief summary of the main tenets of Palamas' theology relating to the immanent divine ενεργειαι, this article will explore possible precedents for such a concept in the Cappadocian Fathers. The aim is twofold: first to argue against the exclusive use of ενεργεια language in attempting to outline precedents for Palamite thought in the Cappadocians, and second to propose a framework for discussing the topic in terms of sanctification and deification. Through such an approach, I contend, it is possible to remain true to the Cappadocians, whilst concurrently finding striking precedents to the theology of Palamas.

The Trinity between Athens and Jerusalem

AbstractThis article uncovers the roots of the doctrine of the Trinity in the 'prototrinitarian grammar of discourse on God' of the New Testament and in its Old Testament presuppositions. Contrary to the well-worn thesis of Harnack, it is argued that it was Jerusalem rather than Athens—i.e., the biblical witness rather than Greek metaphysics—that gave rise to the dogma of the Trinity. Greek metaphysics only came in when the early Christians had to express the universality of the truth they claimed for God's self-disclosure through Christ in the Spirit by engaging with Greek philosophy. This was a risky experiment, since it implied a conceptual redefinition that went against the doctrine's original import. It is shown, however, that the crucial link to the biblical witness was re-established by the Cappadocian fathers and subsequently adopted by the Council of Constantinople (381).

Le dépassement des genres chez les Cappadociens et chez Grégoire de Nazianze en particulier. À propos de la Métaphysique des sexes de Sylviane Agacinski

In her Métaphysique des sexes (2005), S. Agacinsky tracks the androcentrism in all the doctrinal aspects of the patristic literature from the five first centuries. She drives it out under three main shapes: a ‘‘metasexual’’ divine masculinity ; a physical and spiritual presexual masculinity in the ‘‘image’’ of God that the feminine alterity compromises ; an ethical ideal of spiritual virility that the - asexual or sexless - eschatological state fullfills. Regarding the paulinian universalism of Gal 3, 28, it does not question the hierarchy of the sexes here below, which is spiritually indifferent. Ambrose of Milan would have been the only one exception to this massive androcentrism. A study of the surpassing of the genders by the Cappadocian Fathers, this paper contests such a vision. It especially considers the case of Gregory of Nazianzus, which Agacinsky’s work ignores, but who has been a feminist in his time. In the Cappadocian theology, the divinity transcends not only sexes, but even genders. At the anthropological and soteriological level, we find a complete equality between man and woman, carnal as well as spiritual, with a shared responsibility in the original Fall. Regarding the ethical ability to live the virtuous, ascetic, life, the woman is even more courageous or enduring. Last but not least, the Nazianzen advocates the equality of rights for both sexes in matrimonial matter.

Ressourcing the Fathers? A Critical Analysis of Catherine Mowry LaCugna's Appropriation of the Trinitarian Theology of the Cappadocian Fathers

Abstract: Often as part of the so‐called ‘revival’ in trinitarian theology, the Cappadocian Fathers are ressourced to justify a ‘social’ and ‘relational’ way of thinking about God's triuneness. The goal of this article is to explore this social trinitarian ressourcement of the Cappadocian Fathers by comparing the Cappadocians’ theology to that of Catherine Mowry LaCugna, who claims the Cappadocians articulated a more fully trinitarian theology by emphasizing the plurality of the divine ‘persons’ as ‘relations’. My conclusion is that the ontological and epistemological differences between LaCugna and the Cappadocians, coupled with the opposing purposes of their respective trinitarian theologies, create a discontinuity between the two projects that is too great for LaCugna to ressource the Cappadocians in any positive manner in her own trinitarian theology.

Oὐσíα and ὑπóσταıς in the Trinitarian Theology of the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil and Gregory of Nyssa

ABSTRACT Der vorliegende Artikel vertritt die Auffassung, daß die Trinitätstheologie Basilius' des Großen und Gregors von Nyssa – namentlich die Hypostasenlehre – sich ganz wesentlich der Tradition christlicher Schriftexegese, dem Vermächtnis des Konzils von Nicaea sowie dem Werk des Athanasius verdankt, daß sie jedoch gleichzeitig Resultat der intellektuellen Rahmenbedingungen ihrer Zeit ist. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, wie Basilius und Gregor sich mit den philosophischen Entwürfen Plotins, Porphyrius' und Iamblichs auseinandersetzen, indem sie diese teils widerlegen, teils aber auch adaptieren und weiterführend umgestalten. Dies gilt insbesondere für die Debatte in Iamblich, De mysteriis zwischen Iamblich, der auf der Bedeutung eines ungewordenen Prinzips beharrt, und Plotin, der in seiner früheren Sicht das Eine als causa sui versteht – eine Auseinandersetzung, die sich in der Position des Eunomius widerspiegelt. Die Verknüpfung von Ursache und Verursachtem in der Theorie Plotins von der innerlichen Inhärenz des Intellekts ist damit weniger direkte Quelle für die Hypostasenlehre Basilius' und Gregors als vielmehr ein hilfreiches Gerüst aus dem „intellektuellen Klima“ der Zeit heraus, dessen sich beide Theologen bei der Entwicklung ihrer trinitätstheologischen Konzeptionen bedient haben.