The Metaphrast

The Image of Origen and the Four Main Virtues in the «Address of Thanksgiving to Origen» of St. Gregory the Thaumaturgus

Kholodov Evgeny Viktorovich — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The article discusses the image of Origen and his pedagogical methodology based on the early Christian monument «Address of Thanksgiving to Origen», compiled by his student St. Gregory of Neocaesarea. Particular attention is paid to the ethical component. The doctrine of the four main virtues, self-knowledge and likeness to God, as well as the connection between the ethical teachings of Origen and the philosophical tradition of Platonism and Stoicism are considered. The four main virtues that Plato introduced into philosophy became an integral part of ancient paideia , they were actively used in his religious and philosophical synthesis by Philo of Alexandria. In the Alexandrian Christian tradition, they received their further disclosure, becoming an integral part of the Christian moral system and Christian philosophy.

The Problem of the Written Sources of the «Spiritual Meadow»: Borrowing and Intertextualitys

Shilkin Roman Igorevich — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The article concerns the issue of using written sources by John Moschus in the «Spiritual Meadow». It is known that the author of this work heard most of the stories in Palestine, Egypt, Sinai, Syria, Syria and Cilicia. These stories were later described by him in his work during his many years of pilgrimage. However, on the pages of the compositions there are plots and even fragments of the text, which are similar to earlier works, and often even textually coincide with them. In this regard, the question arises of the possibility of using written sources by John Moschus. The answer to this question can only be obtained as a result of a textual comparison of sources, which was undertaken under this article. Some excerpts of coinciding texts are demonstrated here, the very possibility and degree of borrowing the text of an earlier source is analyzed in detail, and hypotheses regarding the issue under study were proposed.

Martyrius-Sahdona. The Book of Perfection

Maxim (Sudakov), hierodeacon — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The publication presents the Syriac text of «The Book of the Perfection» of Martyrius-Sahdona. This text is contained in the manuscript M45N from the holding of the New Finds of the library of the St. Catherine's Monastery on Sinai. The Syriac text is accompanied by Russian translation, foreword and commentaries. The foreword contains the paleographic characteristics of the manuscript, information about place of this text in relation to the edited parts of the work, about technical principles of the edition of the Syriac text, about sources used by Martyrius-Sahdona and about some important aspects of the contents.

Saint Augustine of Hippo. Against a Letter of Parmenian

Chernov Svyatoslav O., Tkachev Eugeny V. — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The article includes the translation from Latin to Russian the first book of the work of St. Augustine «Against a Letter of Parmenian». The polemical treatise consists of three books and represents Augustine’s response to the letter of the Donatist Parmenian to Tichonius. The treatise is important both for the study of the history of the Donatist schism and for the disclosure of Orthodox ecclesiology. Augustine’s Anti-Donatist works have not been studied deeply enough by Russian theological science. This translation is an attempt to translate into Russian one of the most important works of the Anti-Donatist cycle of St. Augustine.

Protopresbyter John Romanides (1972–2001): Professor, Theologian, Historian

Larionov Alexander, priest — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The personality of Protopresbyter John Romanides stands out against the other outstanding Greek theologians of the twentieth century in his striving for «otherness», which was expressed by a constant search for deep answers to those questions of theology and history that had long seemed settled and resolved for most. This striving manifested itself in all the main areas of Fr. John: creating dogmatics of a «different kind», developing his own understanding of history, expressed in the so-called «Roman theory», and also creating a special direction in theology - «therapeutic». Like the work of the proto-presbyter, professor and theologian, his life itself was a living expression of a certain aloofness in relation to the outside world. A Greek-Asian-American who lived a considerable part of his life in Athens, he always remained a «sign of contention» both in relation to contemporary Greek society and in the midst of professional academic theology and the Church hierarchy. The biography and significance of Fr. John Romanides' work is the subject of the present publication.

Nicholas Cabasilas and His Sacramental Synthesis

Đorđević Milan; Elimanov Vadim E. — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The article proposes a new approach to understanding the concept of theological-philosophical synthesis within the framework of Byzantine philosophy. On the example of a comparative analysis of the theology of two outstanding Christian writers of the rights. Nicholas Cabasilas and Gregory Palamas proves that synthesis cannot be presented only as a conceptual explication. The theological-philosophical system of Cabasilas's thought, rich in its depth and scope, is based on the same theological and philosophical ideas as Palamas' system of thought. However, if in the latter case the synthesis is presented in the form of a conceptual explication, i. e. formulated and expressed in a strict theological and philosophical language, then in the first case the conceptual explication itself is placed in the liturgical and spiritual-ascetic practice and actualized in it. If the activity of Palamas corresponds to the stage of «unfolding» of tradition, when tradition is forced to give new and precisely formulated answers to external challenges, then the activity of Cabasilas is characterized by the stage of its «devolution», in which all the richness of the conceptual apparatus developed at the stage of «unfolding» is introduced into sacramental practice. And although the exact formulations and terms (i.e. the entire conceptual apparatus) sink and dissolve in sacramental practice, however, they are undoubtedly present in it and, if necessary, can be again «explicated from it». It is the «devolution» of tradition that completes the next cycle of synthesis. And it was Cabasilas who became the one in whose theological and philosophical thought the palamite synthesis was completed.