Cyril Hovorun - Influence of Neo-Platonism on the formation of theological categories in the 4th-7th centuriesWorkshop title: The Church Fathers vis-à-vis the Neo-Platonists (# 0141)

The emergence of a wide variety of interpretations of the Trinity and Incarnation, and discussions and fights over these issues, resulted in the development of a commonly accepted framework of basic categories. Thus, theological controversies encouraged their participants to adopt a system of coordinates with the categories of οὐσία, φύσις, ὑπόστασις, ἰδιότης, ἐνέργεια constituting its axes. These categories were borrowed from the classical dialectics, with significant input from its contemporary Neo-Platonism. However, the use of  philosophical categories in the Christian theology was eclectic. Traditional categories were modified, re-interpreted, and re-labelled.

The paper explores how Neo-Platonism influenced the formation of the basic categories of the Christian theology, and how Neo-Platonic dialectics were reshaped when applied to theology. It cover the period from the 4^th to the 7^th centuries and engage names from Porphyry to Stephan of Alexandria.