ITALIANO
A PROPOSITO DEI FONDAMENTI PLATONICI DELL’ICONA
Prof. Piero Scazzoso
Il mondo pre-greco, come è noto, non rappresentava il divino e si atteneva ad un concetto della divinità aniconica; i greci dell' età classica, pur avendo tramandato una ricchissima illustrazione dei loro dèi, specie sotto l’adombramento della mitologia, ci fanno sentire voci autorevoli di pensatori contrari ad ogni antropomorfismo. Per non parlare di Senofane, Platone, pur non negando le statue come oggetto di culto, inaugura però la vasta terminologia apofatica per stabilire che il divino sfugge ad ogni presa umana e che è comunque irraggiungibile da parte del pensiero. Anche nella Bibbia non esiste rappresentazione del divino e di Dio, se si escludono le immagini dei cherubini attorno all' arca: Dio rimane nascosto, nella sua impenetrabile trascendenza, agli occhi di qualsiasi creatura, anche angelica: «Qui posuit tenebras latibulum sui» (Ps. 17,12)
A proposito dei fondamenti Platonici dell’icona - I - II
A proposito dei fondamenti Platonici dell’icona - III
A proposito dei fondamenti Platonici dell’icona - IV
Dimitrios Salachas
Il Futuro dell'Europa Cristiana: Dal Punto di Vista Cattolico
From Orientamento Spirituale dell'Europa. Edizioni KYROMANOS, Thessaloniki, 1997
il futuro dell'europa cristiana
Pochi anni ci separano dall'alba del terzo millennio. Ιl 2000 si avvicina. La domanda è la seguente: Quale è il futuro dell'Europa cristiana? o piuttosto quale è il futuro del cristianesimo nell'Europa delle Nazioni e delle Religioni? Si tratta dell'Europa nella sua interezza, occidentale, centrale, orientale. Siamo spettatori di una Europa che si adopera a ricostruirsi in base ad una nuova ristrutturazione
nazionale e ad un pluralismo culturale.
1. Il futuro dell'Europa cristiana, cinquant'anni dalla fine della seconda guerra mondiale
2. Il futuro dell'Europa cristiana dipende dallo sforzo di sradicare tra i cristiani
3. Ιl futuro dell'Europa cristiana dipende dalla stabilità della «civiltà» di carità e di unità cristiana
4. Ιl futuro del cristianesimo dell'Europa delle Nazioni e delle Religioni
5. Ιl futuro dell'Europa cristiana si edifichera in base alla tradizione occidentale ed orientale
6. Ιl futuro dell'Europa cristiana richiede «una nuova evangelizzazione» dei cristiani europei
7. Ιl fututo dell'Europa cristiana richiede dalle Chiese fedeltà al Vangelo, capacità di testimonianza verso l'uomo contemporaneo e ogni allontanamento da interessi temporali e politici
8. Preoccupazioni per il futuro dell'Europa cristiana
Conclusione finale
LA VIDA MONÁSTICA EN LA IGLESIA ORTODOXA ORIENTAL
Panayotis Christou
Reimpresión de "The Orthodox Ethos", Studies in Orthodoxy vol. 1, Ed. by A.J.Philippou
Durante el siglo IV de nuestra era surgió dentro de la Iglesia un fuerte movimiento de retiro de la sociedad organizada al desierto un movimiento que tuvo un crecimiento aún mayor en el periodo subsiguiente" Para interpretar el repentino surgir de este movimiento los historiadores han propuesto diversas hipótesis siendo dos de ellas las más aceptadas" Según la primera la vida monástica tendría su origen en las religiones orientales en las que se practicaba el ascetismo desde tiempos antiguos tanto en soledad absoluta como en monasterios" A tenor de la segunda la vida monástica proporcionaba una salida cuando el contacto cercano del cristianismo con el mundo provocaba una reacción con el inevitable decaimiento de las normas morales"
El origen de la vida monástica
El desarrollo de la vida monástica
El sistema cenobítico
La difusión geográfica del monasticismo
Los ideales de la vida monástica
DEUTSCH
NIKOLAJ BERDJAJEW UND DIE BYZANTINISCHE PHILOSOPHIE
MARIOS BEGZOS
«DIE THEOLOGIE enthält immer irgendeine Philosophie, sie ist eine durch das religiöse Kollektiv legalisierte Philosophie, und das gilt ins-besondere für die christliche Theologie. Die gesamte Theologie der Kirchenväter enthielt eine sehr starke Dosis Philosophie» (1). Mit solchen Worten meldet sich Nikolaj Berdjajew (1874-1948), einer der berühmtesten russischen Philosophen unseres Jahrhunderts, zum immer brennenden Thema vom Verhältnis zwischen Theologie und Philosophie: Weder Unterdrückung noch Unabhängigkeit zwischen Philosophen und Theologen, sondern gegenseitige und respektvolle Anerkennung der beide Gebiete mit Dialogbereitschaft und Zusammenarbeit.
Das Wechselspiel zwischen Theologie und Philosophie lässt sich eindeutig am Beispiel der byzantinischen Philosophie zeigen, denn es handelt sich bei der byzantinischen Philosophie um eine eigenartige Vermischung von theologischen Motiven mit metaphysischen Denkweisen, so dass nur sehr schwer das Theologische vom Philosophischen unterschieden werden kann oder sogar getrennt werden dar. Bei der Untersuchung der metaphysischen Motive der griechischen Patristik entdecken wir die vitale und normale Koexistenz von Philosophie und Theologie im griechischen Mittelalter, welche in der europäischen Neuzeit verlorengegangen ist.
Die Überlegungen von Nikolaj Berdjajew sind dazu geeignet, dassman dieses Zusammenleben, diese Konvivenz von verschiedenartigen Elementen in der osteuropäischen Denkweise wahrnehmen kann. Das Begriffspaar von Theologie und Philosophie ist nur ein Beispiel. Noch einen besonderen Fall bildet die Dualität von Vergangenheit und Gegenwart bzw. Zukunft. Die byzantinische bzw. die mittelalterliche Philosophie kommt aus der Vergangenheit, aber das Denken von Berdjajew gehört zur Gegenwart und zwar zur aktuellen Situation der Nachkriegszeit. Ein fortschrittlicher Denker wie N. Berdjajew fusst auf die metaphysischen Prämissen der byzantinischen Philosophie, wie wir aufzuzeigen versuchen. Somit wird eine Denkweise der Vergangenheit mit einer Weltanschauung der Gegenwart verbunden. Mit rein metaphysischen Denkmitteln wird der Versuch unternommen, die Vergangenheit mit der Gegenwart und auch mit der Zukunft zu verknüpfen.
Intro
FRANÇAIS
L'ÉTAT DU MONT ATHOS
Hamilcar S. Alivisatos
Conférence donnée à la réunion de St. Georges de Venise, organisée à l'occasion du millénaire de la fondation de l'organisation monastique du Mont Athos, par l'initiative du Monastère Bénédictin de Chevetogne en Belgique, le 6 Septembre 1963.
Théologia, 36, Athènes 1965, p. 39-52.
ENGLISH
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH
SCHAFF PHILIP - VOLUME 1 - Christianus sum. Christiani nihil a me alienum puto
VOLUME I APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAINITY a.d. 1–100.
As I appear before the public with a new edition of my Church History, I feel more than ever the difficulty and responsibility of a task which is well worthy to occupy the whole time and strength of a long life, and which carries in it its own rich reward. The true historian of Christianity is yet to come. But short as I have fallen of my own ideal, I have done my best, and shall rejoice if my efforts stimulate others to better and more enduring work.
History should be written from the original sources of friend and foe, in the spirit of truth and love, "sine ira et studio," "with malice towards none, and charity for all," in clear, fresh, vigorous style, under the guidance of the twin parables of the mustard seed and leaven, as a book of life for instruction, correction, encouragement, as the best exposition and vindication of Christianity. The great and good Neander, "the father of Church History"—first an Israelite without guile hoping for the Messiah, then a Platonist longing for the realization of his ideal of righteousness, last a Christian in head and heart—made such a history his life-work, but before reaching the Reformation he was interrupted by sickness, and said to his faithful sister: "Hannchen, I am weary; let us go home; good night!" And thus he fell gently asleep, like a child, to awake in the land where all problems of history are solved.
TRUE ORTHODOX FAITH
SAINT PHOTIOS Photios the Great (+891):
ΙΝ ΤHΕ YEAR 858 Photios assumed his Patriarchal office in the midst of many internal difficulties, fully aware of the burdensome pastoral responsibilities. But at the same time, he found a serious split between the East and West. Ιn spite of the official declarations οn full communion, unfortunately, there was not an identity of views οn many doctrinal issues, identity of views being a distinctive mark of the undivided universal Church. Unity was already obscured, with many alterations of more or less importance. A slow process of differentiation and estrangement for centuries was slowly undermining the fellowship. Mistrust and suspicion were felt, influencing all sectors of life in both Churches: liturgy, canonical structures, theological language, way of thinking and of formulating doctrines, religious art, and canonical relations between the two sister Churches.
Label (2 Posts)
Posts analytical
Saint Photios the greatDefender of the True Orthodox
Saint Photios onTranscendence of Culturetrue orthodox faith
Language, paragon ofmistrust and divisiontrue orthodox faith
Sad developmentstrueorthodox faith
The role of culture forone's Identitytrue orthodox faith
Creative missionarymethodtrue orthodox faith
Conclusiontrue orthodoxfaith
CHRISTIANITY AS A CHURCH THROUGHOUT HISTORY
Ecumenical Patriarchate
Ecumenical Patriarch - Metropolis of Hong Kong
Metropolitan - Hong Kong - Taiwan - Philippines
Metropolis of Singapore
Singapore India Indonesia Malaysia Pakistan
The characterization of the Church by the Apostle Paul as the “Body of Christ” and Christ as Her “Head” (Coloss.1, 24:18) brought the Church into a direct association with Christ. Being joined to the eternal Logos of God, the Church is likewise eternal and pre-existent before the ages, within Christ. Her beginning, therefore, and Her origin are not located in mankind, but in God. The Church “is not of this world” (John 18:36); it is a mystery “withheld from the ages, in God” (Ephes. 3:9). The Church had already existed, in God’s eternal volition. Just as God’s plan for the salvation of mankind and the world in the Person of Christ was a pre-eternal one, thus also pre-eternal was His will for the founding of His Church in the world, for the perpetual realization of that salvation. According to Athanasius the Great, the Church, “being previously created by, was thereafter born of God” (PG 26, 1004/5).
Label (5 Posts)
The division of Christianity
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE BYZANTINE AND THE ROMAN CHURCHES
Milton V. Anastos
Constantinople and Rome
A Survey of the Relations between the Byzantine and the Roman Churches.
M. Anastos, Aspects of the Mind of Byzantium (Political Theory, Theology, and Ecclesiastical Relations with the See of Rome), Ashgate Publications, Variorum Collected Studies Series, 2001. ISBN: 0 86078 840 7.
The jealousy and discord which have long disturbed the relations between the Byzantine and Roman churches may, perhaps, be illustrated by an anecdote told of the meeting in 1438 between the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Pope of Rome. In those days Byzantium had suffered greatly at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, who had overrun much of the Empire and were threatening to capture the capital city itself. Help from the West was desperately needed in order to save Constantinople; and the Emperor John VIII Palaeologus (1425-48), like many of his predecessors, was prepared to purchase it by arranging a union of the Greek and Roman Churches, even if this involved, as he knew it did, recognition of a number of Roman dogmas, including that of papal supremacy, which the Byzantines had always opposed. In order to accomplish this purpose, he and the Roman Curia had arranged to hold an oecumenical council of the Church at Ferrara in 1438.
Label (4 Posts)
Relations between theByzantine and the Roman Church - Chapters 1-5
Relations between theByzantine and the Roman Church - Chapters 6-11
Relations between theByzantine and the Roman Church - Chapters 12-18
Relations between theByzantine and the Roman Church - Chapters 19-23
EAST AND WEST - CULTURAL DISSONANCE AND THE GREAT SCHISM OF 1054
MARGARET TRENCHARD-SMITH
Perception is an overwhelming force. Collective perceptions can be contra-factual. The memories of individuals, of institutions, often magnify the inconsequential, distort or omit. A failure of memory can be total, through accident or deliberate oblivion. Shared recollections and the narratives they form shape perceptions. Yet even when these things are faulty, they can have as much force as if they were sound—just as the effects of a rumor can be as damaging when false as when founded in fact.
The “Great Schism of 1054” is perceived by many to be the momentous event that resulted in the permanent sundering of the “Western” Roman Catholic and “Eastern” Orthodox branches of Christendom.
Label ( 5 Posts )
cultural dissonance and the great schism
Posts analytical
East and West : CulturalDissonance and the and the great schism of 1054
Filioque
The tenth and earlyeleventh centuries
The Crusades
Conclusion
SAINT DEMETRIUS
Christopher Walter
From The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition, published by Ashgate, England 2003.
For Byzantinists, Demetrius is certainly a most fascinating saint and this for several reasons. One is the rich complexity of the source material -literary, archaeological, cultic, iconographical - available about him. By no means all of it has been adequately studied. For example, no critical edition exists of his Passio prima and Passio altera. Also numerous Encomia of the Saint still remain in manuscript. As the late Paul Lemerle remarked, so long as these texts remain unpublished scientifically, no definitive appreciation of the Saint is possible.
Label ( 5 Posts )
5. Conclusion
WAYS OF RUSSIAN THEOLOGY
GEORGES FLOROVSKY
On August 11, 1979 Fr. Georges Vasil'evich Florovsky, one of the more influential of twentieth century theologians and historians of Christianity, died. With his death a part of our scholarly world also dies. The scholarly world finds itself in a rather unusual situation. Unlike other renowned writers who, upon their death, have already shared their best works with their contemporaries, only posthumously are Fr. Florovsky's greatest works being published in English - Ways of Russian Theology (in two volumes), The Eastern Fathers of the Fourth Century, and The Byzantine Fathers from the Fifth to the Eighth Centuries. One pauses with wonder when one realizes that Fr. Florovsky was so influential without these works having been published in a western language.
Ways of Russian Theology
The Crisis of Russian Byzantinism
Encounter with the West
The contradictions of the Seventeen Century
The St. Petersburg Revolution
Struggle for Theology
KALLISTOS WARE - BISHOP OF DIOKLEIA
Kallistos Ware Brief Biography
Born Timothy Ware in Bath, Somerset, England, Metropolitan Kallistos was educated at Westminster School (to which he had won a scholarship) and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took a Double First in Classics as well as reading Theology.
In 1958, at the age of 24, he embraced the Orthodox Christian faith (having been raised Anglican), traveling subsequently throughout Greece, spending a great deal of time at the Monastery of St. John the Theologian in Patmos. He also frequented other major centers of Orthodoxy such as Jerusalem and Mount Athos. In 1966, he was ordained to the priesthood and was tonsured as a monk, receiving the name Kallistos.In the same year, he became a lecturer at Oxford, teaching Eastern Orthodox Studies, a position which he held for 35 years until his retirement. In 1979, he was appointed to a Fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford, and in 1982, he was consecrated to the episcopacy as a titular bishop with the title Bishop of Diokleia, appointed to serve as the assistant to the bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate's Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira
On March 30, 2007, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated the Diocese of Diokleia to Metropolis and Bishop Kallistos to Titular Metropolitan of Diokleia.
MY JOURNEY TO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
KALLISTOS WARE - BISHOP OF DIOKLEIA
An absence and a presence
I can remember exactly when my personal journey to Orthodoxy began. It happened quite unexpectedly one Saturday afternoon in the summer of 1952, when I was seventeen. I was walking along Buckingham Palace Road, close to Victoria Station in central London, when I passed a nineteenth-century Gothic church, large and somewhat dilapidated, that I had never noticed before. There was no proper notice-board outside it — public relations have never been the strong point of Orthodoxy in the Western world! — but I recall that there was a brass plate which simply said "Russian Church."
My journey to the Orthodox Church - Third Part
TRANSFIGURATION MYSTICISM
Nicholas Arseniev
Transfiguration of the World and of Life in Mysticism
From "Mysticism and the Eastern Church". Translated from the German by Arthur Chambers. St, Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 1979.
Transfiguration of the world and of life in mysticism
Hans Urs von Balthasar - God
From his book, Cosmic Liturgy, The Universe according to Maximus the Confessor.
Translated by Brian E. Daley, S.J., Ed. A Communio Book Ignatius Press, San Francisco
CHRISTIANITY AND CIVILIZATION
ARNOLD TOYNBEE
From Civilization on Trial, Oxford University Press, 1948. Published by permission
"Greek and Roman society was built on the conception of the subordination of the individual to the community, of the citizen to the state; it set the safety of the commonwealth, as the supreme aim of conduct, above the safety of the individual whether in this world or in a world to come. Trained from infancy in this unselfish ideal, the citizens devoted their lives to the public service and were ready to lay them down for the common good;
Christianity and Civilization
DOGMATICS AND DOGMAS
Professor Metropolitan of Pergamus and Chairman of the Athens Academy I. Zizioulas
Dogmatics – as a particular ‘branch’ and ‘lesson’ of Theology – appeared in the West for the first time and was introduced in the Orthodox Theological Schools during later times. A major characteristic of this branch, as compared to other lessons of Theology, is its systematic character. While other branches of Theology are preoccupied with the dogmatic belief of the Church, Dogmatics approaches this faith by theme, and systematically expounds it.
The Church’s systematic preoccupation with the faith appears during the patristic period for the first time, especially with Origen (his work “On Principles”), and in a strictly organized way with Saint John the Damascene (Exposition of the Orthodox Faith). Ever since that time, this subject has continued to develop in the West during Medieval times (Thomas Aquinatus, SUMMA) and during the post-Reform period, with the blossoming of Confessional Theology, in which Orthodoxy (wrongly) participated (Mogila Confession, Cyril Lucareus, Dositheos etc). In later times (after Eugene Vulgaris), this phenomenon blossomed in the 19th century (Athanasios Parios “Epitome” 1806. Moschopoulos “Epitome of dogmatic and ethical theology”, 1851. Especially among the Russians, we note the Metropolitan Anthony, Makarios of Moscow – both widely acknowledged).
GOSPEL CULTURE
John Meyendorff
Christ as Word: Gospel and Culture
From International Review of Mission, 1985, No 294
Since you have learned to hear, Slavic people, Hear the Word, for it came from God, The Word nourishing human souls, The Word strengthening heart and mind....
(St Cyril and St Methodius, Prologue to the Gospels) During their famous mission to "Great Moravia, "the two brothers of Thessalonica, St Cyril (known also as Constantine "the Philosopher" before his tonsure as a monk) and St Methodius, were faced with strong opposition: the German clergy, who were competing for the souls of the Slavic converts, affirmed that scripture could be read only in three languages --Hebrew, Greek and Latin-- and that translation into Slavic was inadmissible. So, the two Byzantine missionaries became involved in a controversy that anticipated the great debates of the Reformation period on the issue of whether scripture should be made available to the laity. Indeed, their entire missionary endeavour was based upon the translation of the Bible and the Liturgy of the Orthodox Church into a language understood by their converts. They thus created "Church Slavonic" -the common vehicle of Christian culture among Orthodox Slavs.
Christ as Word: Gospel and Culture
HELLENISM AT THE DAWN OF CHRISTIAN ERA
Christos Sp. Voulgaris
Before we start speaking about Hellenism we have to clear out what we mean by the term. And when we start thinking about it we realize the real difficulty to give a precise definition to it. Ιn fact the word has a history and came to be used in different senses. At first it meant whatever is distinctive of the Greek people, with special reference to the use of their language, and those who did so were in turn designated as "Hellenists". Indeed, following the conquest of Western Asia and Egypt by the Greek army it was inevitable that many of the Orientals, influenced by the civilization and the habits of the Greeks, imitated them to a degree that they became knowm as "Hellenists", from the verb "hellenizein" which Plato used in the sense of "to speak good Greek" but which gradually came to mean "to imitate the ways of the Greeks" (Cf. 2 Maccabees 4,13 etc.). So used then, the term nο longer refers specially to national origin, but rather to the possession of the Hellenic culture or mentality. Το this effect it was Isokrates who designated as "Hellenes" all those sharing in Hellenic paedia and culture. Ιn modern times, ever since J.C. Droysen (Geschichte des Hellenismus, Ι-ΙΙ, Gotha 1836) gave vogue to it, avoiding the current and dreadful "Hellenisticism", the term "Hellenism" is commonly used to designate the long era from Alexander the Great (some believe it started a generation earlier) to the expansion of the Roman Empire. Ιn fact, however, it lasted longer than this because the conquering Romans were themselves conquered by the Greeks: "captive Greece captivated her captor". It is this Hellenistic culture which, through the Renaissance, which in turn is a revival of Greek learning forms the foundations of modern western culture in all its aspects. Indeed, much that is best in Western civilization today is marked by its Greek origin. Οn the contrary, when and where the world has revolted against Hellenism in art, learning, philosophy it lapsed into recess.
THE HOLLY SPIRIT IN THE ORTODOX TRADITION
Paul Evdokimov
From: Evdokimov, The Holy Spirit in the Orthodox tradition, Stella K. Plefraki trans., ed Foundation, the Evangelist, Thessaloniki 1991.
MONK ELEMENT OF BYZANTINE SOCIETY
Peter Charanis
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No 25, 1971
A PERUSAL of the third edition of the "Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca"(1) reveals some ninety persons, inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of that Empire in the fifteenth, who achieved sainthood. Of those ninety, at least seventy-five had been monks. This statistic by itself shows the importance, which Byzantine society attached to the monastic life. In Byzantium, the monk-at least as a projected ideal-embodied the aspirations of his society as a whole. That is why he, as a living being, was a vital element of that society and the monastery a characteristic feature of the Byzantine landscape.
Those monastic establishments in the Byzantine Empire throughout the duration of its existence were very numerous is a matter, which admits of no doubt: A considerable number of them, though unquestionably only a very small fraction of the total, have been identified and their general emplacement determined.
Hans-George Beck, in a remarkable book(2) -apparently restricting himself to monasteries about which something definite can be said -lists 160 monasteries which existed at one time or another during the history of the Empire after the end of the sixth century. Beck's list is admittedly and necessarily incomplete, and to it can be added a considerable number of known monasteries located in every region of the Empire, including Cappadocia, where, according to one scholar, the number of rock-cut monasteries astonishes the traveller. It has been possible to revise Beck's list upward to include a total of 241 monasteries by adding monastic establishments drawn from other lists and by eliminating monasteries mentioned by Beck but appearing elsewhere in our documentation,(3) or presumed to be included in such general estimates as that of R. Ρ. Β. Menthon, who says that the number of monasteries which at one time or another had been built on, or around, Mt. Olympus in Bithynia numbered no less than 100.(4)
monk element of byzantine
society
ORIGINS OF
THE WESTERN MONASTICISM IN THE 4TH AND 5TH C. A.D.
George Valsamis
THE ISSUE of the origins of organised monasticism has caused much talk. In St. John Cassian’s 18th Collatio abbot Piamoun uses the exemplar of the first apostolic community in Jerusalem (a common connection in ascetic writings), saying that even bishops (ecclesiae principes) ignored that model, by taking advantage of the leniency of the apostles towards the nations, they abolished the principle of poverty. Those who wished to keep a strict Christian life, left the cities in the course of time, they separated themselves from the lukewarm multitude of Christians. They did not get married and they did not keep any contact with their relatives in the world. This is how coenobitic monasticism was founded. For the austerity of their life and the abandonment of the world they were called μοναχοί (monachoi) and μονάζοντες (monazontes), while for their common life with each other they were called κοινοβιάτες (coenobiates).
George Valsamis
THE ISSUE of the origins of organised monasticism has caused much talk. In St. John Cassian’s 18th Collatio abbot Piamoun uses the exemplar of the first apostolic community in Jerusalem (a common connection in ascetic writings), saying that even bishops (ecclesiae principes) ignored that model, by taking advantage of the leniency of the apostles towards the nations, they abolished the principle of poverty. Those who wished to keep a strict Christian life, left the cities in the course of time, they separated themselves from the lukewarm multitude of Christians. They did not get married and they did not keep any contact with their relatives in the world. This is how coenobitic monasticism was founded. For the austerity of their life and the abandonment of the world they were called μοναχοί (monachoi) and μονάζοντες (monazontes), while for their common life with each other they were called κοινοβιάτες (coenobiates).
MYSTICAL THEOLOGY
Basil Tatakis
From: "Byzantine Philosophy". Translated, with Introduction, by Nicholas J. Moutafakis - Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis/ Cambridge
mystical theology
The current of speculative mysticism created by Pseudo-Dionysios and Maximos the Confessor continued uninterrupted during the entire span of the Byzantine period until the fall of Constantinople. It was the most precious fruit of monastic spirituality and constituted a living tradition that clearly revealed the intellectual, spiritual, and religious efforts of the Byzantine soul to comprehend through contemplation the divine in all of its purity. This attitude, though profoundly Christian, is intimately tied to Neoplatonism, to which it owes its method of understanding and its unquenchable thirst for contemplating the unity of the universe. Relegating to asceticism the task of examining the outward obligations of the Christian life, mystical theology is exclusively preoccupied with the inner life of the Christian in his immediate and spiritual relation to God. Controversies involving dogma and the proper interpretation of Scripture had left the field open to speculation, which explains in large part the predilection of Byzantine thought for mystical theology. Another characteristic of Byzantine mysticism is its attachment to ritual ceremonies not for their own sake but for the depth of their hidden meaning and symbolism. In discovering their meanings Byzantine mystics were able to develop their own meditations further. To understand the depth of mystical theology, we must remember that according to its principal founder, Dionysios, it can only be a negative theology. Man cannot bestow any positive definitions upon God, and all paths which reason offers must be rejected; for knowing God, who is inexpressible, discursive reasoning is more harmful than useless. One can reach God only by means of contemplation. Monks increasingly adopted this view because of their pressing need to sense and see suprasensible and supernatural realities. In this way, Platonic reflection is finally transformed into a personal mystical experience. Paul of Latros (circa 956) and Symeon the Stoudite, also called the Eulabes [the Reverent] (circa 986), had already described the vision of the uncreated light. Symeon the New Theologian, or Symeon the Younger (949/50-1022), spiritual follower of Symeon Eulabes simply followed the path traced by these two predecessors and earlier ascetic monasticism.
mystcal theology part one
mystcal theology part two
ORTHODOX THEOLOGY
© The Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos and St. Vlassios Hierotheos
There are clear and distinct boundaries between Theology and Science. Theology, as the Greek origin of the word suggests, is concerned with God - what God is and how one can attain communion with Him - whereas Science is concerned with the created world and is interested mainly in the use of the world.
In examining this simple sentence we realize that both Theology and Science move on different levels and, consequently, there can be no conflict between them or between theologians and scientists. A conflict developed and reached historic proportions in the West, when Metaphysics was identified with Theology. It is well known that the content of Metaphysics is one thing and the content of revealed Theology quite another. For example, according to Metaphysics there is an ungenerated world of ideas from which this world is derived either by a fall or an emanation. Therefore, when the West identified Metaphysics with Theology and indeed, when the advance of natural Science resulted in the shaking off of the foundations of Metaphysics, then the Theology which had been identified with Metaphysics was also questioned. Thus, an Athonite monk once jokingly referred to the conflict between Faith and Science as the «puns and riddles» of the West.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRADITION AND THE SELF
Henry Chadwick
From Interpreting Late Antiquity. Essays on the Postclassical World. Eds: G.W.Bowersock, Peter Brown & Oleg Grabar. Harvard University Press
philosophical tradition and the self
Neither classical Greek nor Latin had a word meaning "self" approximating the senses in which that term has come to be used in philosophical discussions since the time of Descartes in the 17th century. Nevertheless there were discussions especially in late antiquity which anticipate propositions heard in more recent times, and the Neoplatonists in particular explored ways and means of investigating the subject, not least because they had an interest in restating the mind-body problem in terms of a platonic dualism. They wanted to put distance between Platonism (received by them as authoritative truth) and both the materialist accounts of the soul characteristic of Stoicism and the Aristotelian middle position that the soul which gives life and form to the physical body cannot be thought of as existing apart from it and having sover-eign independence, though it is not a physical substance.
In late antiquity the logical works of Aristotle's Οrganon were read, and in Alexander of Aphrodisias in Caria, about 200, the master found a learned and very intelligent advocate whose writings on the subject were known to the Neoplatonists. In the interest of showing Aristotle to be in harmony with Ρlato, they produced voluminous commentaries on his logic, metaphysics, and ethics. Nevertheless Aristotle was largely a philosopher's philosopher read by an edu-cated elite, but not widely or popularly studied. Nemesius, the cultivated and widely read bishop of Emesa at the end of the 4th century, admired Aristotle's achievements.
Philosophical tradition and the self
THE MANY AND THE ONE: THE INTERFACE BETWEEN ORTHODOX AND EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT HERMENEUTICS
Grant R.Osborne
the many and the one - grant osborne
In any ecumenical dialogue, a discussion of perspectives toward the Bible as the Word of God is a primary issue. It is the contention of thiw paper that within Protestantism, the evangelical heritage provides the closest parallel to the Orthodox position on Scripture and hermeneutics. Both have a high view of Scripture and inspiration as well as a conservative approach to critical issues. The purpose of this study is to note agreements and differences in the respective hermeneutical approaches of these two Christian traditions and thus to enhance future dialogue. I have chosen key hermeneutical categories and under each will attempt both to describe each tradition’s approach and to distinguish the differences and similarities between them. Thus each category chosen below attempts to develop this interface further.
The Many and the One - Introductiont
The Corporate and the Personal
Scripture and Traditiont
Exegesis and Liturgy
History and Theoria
Conclusion
Schmemann Alexander (Protopresbyter (1921-1983)
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4 - 1961
The actual state of Orthodox theology must be characterized by two words: confusion and awakening. By confusion, I mean an obvious lack of unity among Orthodox theologians: unity of theological language, unity of method, consensus as to the nature of questions and the mode of their solution. Our theology develops in a plurality of theological "keys" and within several mutually exclusive intellectual frameworks. This confusion, however, is also the sign of an awakening, of a new search for a genuinely Orthodox theological perspective.
This situation is by no means accidental, for the fate of Orthodox theology has been a tragic one. On the one hand, since the collapse of Byzantium and the interruption of the creative patristic tradition, our theology endured a long "Western captivity" which deeply obscured and even deformed the Orthodox theological mind, while, on the other hand, the same post-patristic period was that of a radical transformation of the status and function of theology in the life of the Church. From being the concern — and the function — of the whole Church, it became that of the "school" alone and was thus deprived of the living interest and attention without which no creative effort is possible. Today the situation is changing.
Conflicts and divisions within the Church, the new "ecumenical" encounter with the Christian West, and, above all, the pressing challenge of the modern world, have placed theology in a new focus, restored to it an importance it has not had for many centuries. Hence both the confusion and the awakening, the unavoidable clash between ideas, the pluralism of approaches, the acuteness of the methodological problem, the new questioning of sources and authorities. Freed from official "conformity" which was imposed on it by extra-theological factors, Orthodox theology has not yet found a real unity. But it must find it. However understandable and even useful, the actual theological pluralism cannot last forever. It is a synthesis, i.e., an integration of all the more or less "private" theologies into one consistent whole that we must seek. For Orthodox theology is by its very nature a Catholic expression of the Church’s faith and the Church neither knows nor needs any other theology.
POETRY - LITERATURE
JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL
RICHARD BACH
It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.
A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.
But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisted curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one ... single ... more ... inch ... of ... curve .... Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgraced and it is dishonor.
Label ( 3 Posts )
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part one
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part two
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part three
ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΘΕΙΤΕ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΙΝΑΚΕΣ ΤΩΝ ΥΠΟΛΟΙΠΩΝ ΑΝΑΡΤΗΣΕΩΝ ΣΤΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΤΩ LINKS:
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Α΄
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Β΄
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Γ΄
ΑΓΙΟ ΟΡΟΣ
ΒΙΒΛΟΣ - ΠΑΛΑΙΑ - ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ - ΨΑΛΜΟΙ - ΩΔΑΙ
ΠΑΤΡΟΛΟΓΙΑ - J.P.MIGNE - ΒΕΠΕΣ
ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ
ΣΥΜΕΩΝ Ο ΝΕΟΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΣ
ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ - ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΟ
ΔΟΚΙΜΙΑ ΨΥΧΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ ΘΡΗΣΚΕΙΑΣ - ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ
ΥΠΕΡ ΚΕΚΟΙΜΗΜΕΝΩΝ - ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ ΝΕΚΡΩΝ
ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙΑ
ΦΩΤΗΣ ΚΟΝΤΟΓΛΟΥ - ΚΡΙΤΙΚΗ - ΚΕΙΜΕΝΑ
ПРАВОСЛАВНОЕ ХРИСТИАНСТВО
ENGLISH - FRENCH - ITALIAN - GERMAN
ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΗ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ - PATRISTIC THEOLOGY - СВЯТООТЕЧЕСКОГО БОГОСЛОВИЯ
ΟΡΟΙ ΧΡΗΣΗΣ ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ
JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL
RICHARD BACH
It was morning, and the new sun sparkled gold across the ripples of a gentle sea.
A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day beginning.
But way off alone, out by himself beyond boat and shore, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was practicing. A hundred feet in the sky he lowered his webbed feet, lifted his beak, and strained to hold a painful hard twisted curve through his wings. The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one ... single ... more ... inch ... of ... curve .... Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgraced and it is dishonor.
Label ( 3 Posts )
jonathan livingston
seagul
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part one
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part two
Jonathan Livingston Seagull - part three
ΕΝΗΜΕΡΩΘΕΙΤΕ ΓΙΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΙΝΑΚΕΣ ΤΩΝ ΥΠΟΛΟΙΠΩΝ ΑΝΑΡΤΗΣΕΩΝ ΣΤΑ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΤΩ LINKS:
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Α΄
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Β΄
ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ Γ΄
ΑΓΙΟ ΟΡΟΣ
ΒΙΒΛΟΣ - ΠΑΛΑΙΑ - ΚΑΙΝΗ ΔΙΑΘΗΚΗ - ΨΑΛΜΟΙ - ΩΔΑΙ
ΠΑΤΡΟΛΟΓΙΑ - J.P.MIGNE - ΒΕΠΕΣ
ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΧΡΥΣΟΣΤΟΜΟΣ
ΣΥΜΕΩΝ Ο ΝΕΟΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΟΣ
ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΗ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ - ΒΥΖΑΝΤΙΟ
ΔΟΚΙΜΙΑ ΨΥΧΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ ΘΡΗΣΚΕΙΑΣ - ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΙΣ
ΥΠΕΡ ΚΕΚΟΙΜΗΜΕΝΩΝ - ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΗ ΝΕΚΡΩΝ
ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΕΙΑ
ΦΩΤΗΣ ΚΟΝΤΟΓΛΟΥ - ΚΡΙΤΙΚΗ - ΚΕΙΜΕΝΑ
ПРАВОСЛАВНОЕ ХРИСТИАНСТВО
ENGLISH - FRENCH - ITALIAN - GERMAN
ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΗ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ - PATRISTIC THEOLOGY - СВЯТООТЕЧЕСКОГО БОГОСЛОВИЯ
ΟΡΟΙ ΧΡΗΣΗΣ ΠΑΤΕΡΙΚΗΣ ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑΣ
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