Cyril Hovorun: The Figure of Socrates in the Patristic Culture Wars

The figure of Socrates was central to the intellectual culture of Antiquity, and his trial turned to the key reference point in the ancient literature and moral philosophy. They were also widely debated in the patristic literature. In my paper, I will focus on a particular aspect of Fathers’ and Mothers’ attitude to Socrates’s texts, life, and death. This was a proto-ideological attitude, based on a more inclusive or more exclusive approaches to the external (θύραθεν) culture and paideia. This attitude also shaped the way how the patristic authors treated internal church issues, such as acceptance of lapsi and general ecclesial discipline. In other words, the attitude to Socrates became a litmus test that indicatedtwo basic worldviews that characterised patristic authors: open and closed.In our days, we observe the same worldviews affecting our churches and societies. We know their clash as “culture wars”. The purpose of this paper is to recreate a picture of “culture wars” in the patristic era. Of course, anachronistic parallels with our days should be avoided in painting this picture. The patristic era did not know ideologies, which are a construct of modernity. I therefore use the term “proto-ideology” in application to ideological preferences of the Fathers and Mothers of the church. I try to identify the features of these proto-ideologies with the help of the figure of Socrates.