Eastern Fathers

Ambiguum 10 is an important sample of Maximus the Confessor’s philosophical exegesis which has not received concentrated scholarly attention so far. This volume includes a new critical text edition by Prof. Carl Laga and a new English translation by Dr. Joshua Lollar. It also offers a unique insight into the universe of the great Christian thinker showcasing his extensive knowledge of Aristotelian Platonic and Neoplatonic philosophy and offering possible parallels with the Corpus Hermeticum and Ps-Dionysius the Areopagite. The present volume is the first attempt to bring together scholars from different traditions to understand the message and the reception of this seminal work.

In 1925 G. Morin attributed the ancient Latin translation of Origen’s Commentary on Matthew to the author of the Incomplete Work on Matthew (Opus imperfectum in Matthaeum OIM) without the proposal being accepted. Taking up the question again a century later this article finds in the translation stylistic biases characteristic of the OIM shows that the translator does share the Riminian (i.e. Homaean) theology of the anonymous author at the Trinitarian and Christological levels and finally analyses a mention of the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions in similar terms in the two works. The Latin translator of Origen thus seems to be the author of the OIM and this fact confirms the essential place he gives to the Commentary on Matthew by the Alexandrian master.

This article examines the exegetical use of a series of statements identifying the Son with the Name of the Father. These statements were used in the patristic era to signify the thesis of the revelation of the name “Father” by the coming of the Son but their meaning was transformed when they were adopted by the glossators of the early Middle Ages for whom “Filius nomen est Patris” becomes the expression of the identification of the Son with the Name: it is this second meaning which is transmitted to all of medieval exegesis. With the birth of scholasticism appeared the first attempts to theorize the theological thesis expressed by this adage around the analogy between the relationship of a name with the thing it designates and the relationship between the Father and the Son.

There is no scholarly consensus on when to date the public discussion between Augustine and Pascentius and their subsequent correspondence (epp. 238–241). The suggested dates range from 400 to 429. Possidius’ brief account of the discussion and Augustine’s scattered comments establish certain historical conditions necessary for any proposed date: the debate happened in Carthage in the presence of Alypius and other distinguished people when Pascentius served as comes domus regiae. Following the discussion Pascentius mischaracterized the exchange and accused Augustine of failing to state his faith. Augustine wrote ep. 238 to give his account of the discussion and to state his faith in writing for Pascentius. A careful consideration of the theological and exegetical arguments of ep. 238 noting especially the correspondence of these arguments with other works by Augustine that can be more firmly dated indicates that the letter dates sometime between 414–420. When we combine these insights from ep. 238 with the historical conditions identified by Possidius and Augustine the likely date for the debate is the summer of 418 or 419. Although the evidence supports both dates one additional item the theft of De Trinitate in 418 and Augustine’s resumption of it in 419–420 lends weight to the summer of 418. If this is the case the encounter with Pascentius his harassment of Catholic priests and abuse of Augustine during Augustine’s time in Caesarea in Mauretania during the fall of 418 may have precipitated the unauthorized publication of De Trinitate. Although this final point cannot be proved directly there is circumstantial evidence to support it.

The thought of Symeon the New Theologian on the one sensitive power of the soul is intended to reveal the extent to which the latter has been affected and deprived of its natural exercise since the fracture of the Adamic covenant which rendered man ‘insensitive’ to the divine and therefore insensitive to the nature of reality. Not only did the New Adam have to restore in his mission the ancient Adamic prerogatives given back to man but he also had to consciously receive in baptismal grace the fruits of this restoration. And this was made possible by the mediation of a divine illumination that revealed the fact that sensation is fundamentally one in its nature. This restored sensitivity to God made man sensitive once again to the nature of beings and things.

In the Ambigua to John the great early Byzantine monastic theologian and philosopher Maximus the Confessor (580–662) is at work in his most creative and expansive mode. Using difficult passages in Gregory Nazianzen as starting points for his thinking Maximus draws together various strands of the theological and philosophical traditions he inherited and shapes an ever-moving kaleidoscopic vision of the journey through the world of place time and materiality to final dynamic repose in eternity. Throughout the text Maximus takes his readers along the many paths his own mind traveled to clarify this breathtaking reflection of the teachings of Scripture and the patristic tradition. In this translation of the first fully critical edition of Maximus’s text the streams of the Confessor’s divine philosophy are revealed in their own right. This translation will be followed with the first full commentary on the Ambigua to John in English to appear in Corpus Christianorum in Translation.

The source text of this volume will appear in Corpus Christianorum Series Graeca vol. 84.

The rich literary production of Gaza in the fifth and sixth centuries AD has received quite some attention in recent scholarship. Yet the figure and work of Procopius the Sophist as author of catenae compiler and epitomist of patristic exegesis have remained relatively unknown and under-explored. This collection of essays delves deeply into Procopius’ exegetical work. At the outset a strong case is made that one should distinguish between the famous orator of Gaza and "the Christian sophist" Procopius. A first large section of the book deals with the Genesis Epitome that is studied from three different angles: the limited and as a rule critical use of Origen and his tradition; the importance given to Theodore of Mopsuestia’s exegesis of Gen 1–3; and the relations between Procopius’ Epitome and John Philoponus’ De opificio mundi. The section on the Exodus Epitome studies the specificity of Procopius’ work in comparison to the Catena on Exodus the way the material is organised and the literary genre of the work. The volume further contains contributions on the connections between the Scholia on Kings attributed to Procopius the type B catena and the so-called "Catena Lipsiensis"; the relations between Procopius’ Catena on Proverbs and other catenae on this book; the sources of the Isaiah Epitome that show a diligent and able compiler at work; and the comparison between the characteristic features of Procopius’ Epitomes and those of the Catena III on Obadiah. As a whole it offers a wide perspective and significantly advances research on and our knowledge of Procopius the Christian sophist a still somewhat mysterious early Byzantine author and scholar.

Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine active between the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth is the Christian author who has handed down to us in the form of quotations the greatest number of Greek philosophical texts. Yet his precise relationship to philosophy has never been the subject of a comprehensive study.

This book which brings together contributions by leading specialists aims to provide an initial overview. The analyses covering most of Eusebius’ works starting with the Preparation for the Gospel show the importance of philosophy in his thought. Beyond the use he makes of philosophers sometimes to criticise them sometimes to appropriate their ideas Eusebius stands out for his fairly good knowledge of philosophy especially Platonic philosophy the issues of which he seems to understand well. Although he takes up from his Christian predecessors the idea that Christianity is as such a “philosophy” this claim sometimes implies a technicality that is revealed not only in the way he quotes and comments on the philosophers but also in the presence in his work less visible at first sight of concepts and methods of exposition that bear witness to a real philosophical culture. At the end of these studies Eusebius of Caesarea too often reduced to a “court theologian” or to the status of “Father of Ecclesiastical History” emerges more as the scholar he was both Greek and Christian whose work and thought are inseparable from the philosophical context in which they were born.

This book offers an investigation into the basic structures of St Maximus the Confessor’s thought in the context of ancient and late antique philosophy. The introduction explains what is meant by the term ‘metaphysics of Maximus’ and discusses possible senses of terms like ‘Christian philosophy’ and ‘Byzantine philosophy’. On the background of a definition of ‘Christian philosophy’ the author devotes two chapters to discuss Maximus’ ideas of knowledge of the created world and of God. The chapters that follow are devoted to the doctrine of creation the function of the so-called logoi (divine Ideas) in the procession and conversion of the totality of beings in relation to God and the relation between the logoi and the so-called divine activities. The logoi eternally comprised in God’s knowledge as the divine thoughts in accordance with which everything is created are then shown to function as principles of a rather complex order of being: the cosmos instituted as a whole-part system. This whole-part system secures the possible communion between all creatures and facilitates the conversion of everything to the divine source as a unity in plurality deified by God. The last chapter treats of the doctrines of Incarnation and deification in order to clarify the exact sense of deification for all beings. In the final part of the book the author applies Maximian metaphysics to a major ethical challenge in our days: the environmental crisis thus proving that late antique philosophy still has relevance today.

Les Actes apocryphes de Thomas qui racontent l’activité missionnaire et le martyre de l’apôtre en Inde figurent au nombre des cinq grands Actes apostoliques anciens avec ceux de Jean de Pierre d’André et de Paul. Connus par une version syriaque et une version grecque ainsi que par des formes dérivées en latin et dans plusieurs langues orientales les Actes de Thomas sont les seuls à nous être parvenus en entier. Même s’ils appartiennent au genre du récit romanesque et se rapprochent à ce titre des romans de l’Antiquité gréco-latine les Actes de Thomas intègrent des éléments que l’on ne retrouve guère dans cette littérature : des prières des épiclèses ou invocations baptismales et eucharistiques des discours où l’apôtre propose un message caractérisé par un idéal de renoncement sexuel des descriptions de rites baptismaux et eucharistiques et des hymnes dont le plus fameux est sans contredit l’«Hymne de Judas Thomas l’apôtre quand il était au pays des Indiens » mieux connu sous le titre d’«Hymne de la Perle» ou d’«Hymne de l’âme». Transmis en syriaque et en grec par un seul manuscrit dans chacun des cas et par une paraphrase byzantine l’Hymne de la Perle se présente sous la forme d’un récit qui raconte l’épopée d’un jeune prince oriental envoyé en Égypte pour en rapporter une perle précieuse et unique gardée par un serpent. On a volontiers vu dans ce poème dont la composition est antérieure à celle des Actes de Thomas une évocation de la destinée de l’âme d’origine céleste en exil dans le corps et la matière. Une lecture plus attentive de l’hymne permet cependant de le situer dans un contexte historique et doctrinal précis celui de la réappropriation des Actes de Thomas par les manichéens qui ont vu dans l’hymne une évocation poétique saisissante de la vocation et de la destinée de Mani. Cet ouvrage propose une édition une traduction française et une synopse des trois versions de l’Hymne de la Perle précédées d’une introduction et suivies d’un commentaire.

Paul-Hubert Poirier professeur émérite de l’Université Laval (Québec) est membre de l’Institut de France (Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres) et de la Société royale du Canada. Ses recherches et ses publications portent sur les littératures gnostique manichéenne et apocryphe notamment les traditions relatives à l’apôtre Thomas les Actes de Thomas et l’Évangile selon Thomas. Avec Jean-Pierre Mahé il a codirigé la publication des Écrits gnostiques. La bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi dans la «Bibliothèque de la Pléiade» (Paris Gallimard 2007).