One of the earliest uses of ‘number' in theology concerned the very
possibility of counting hypostases as a mark of their spatio-temporal
distinctness. However, the council of Chalcedon allowed the use of
number for counting two natures, divine and human in one single
hypostasis of Christ. This statement and its implications raised severe
opposition from many Christians and it comes as no surprise that it
echoed two centuries later in the dispute between the Monothelites and
the Dyothelites. St Maximus the Confessor took position against the
former's interpretation of number as producing separation and opposition
in Christ and the aim of this paper is to present the structure of his
arguments as based mainly on Epistles 13-16. I hold that Maximus'
central thesis that number does not bring any relation (i.e. separation,
union etc) between beings is based on two key philosophical assumptions
of the theologian of Christ's two wills and energies: one, coming from
ontology, which proposes in a very Aristotelian manner that all activity
refers either to substance or accident and hence number cannot actually
introduce by itself a relation. The second originates in some of
Maximus' logical considerations regarding the interpretation of
difference as a relation between different relata. I will end with some
brief remarks on the modern view of number which I take to be relational
in exactly the sense criticized by Maximus.
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