Dimitrios ZAGANAS - Against Origen and/or Origenists? Cyril’s of Alexandria rejection of John the Baptist’s angelic nature at his Commentary on John.

In his Commentary on John (1:6), Cyril of Alexandria rejects the conjecture (hyponoia) of some people (tines) that John the Baptist was an angel, sent by God, who took a human body. The text of Origen’s Commentary on John 1:6, which survives in Greek, enables us to identify ‘some people’ (tines) mentioned by Cyril as Origen, and to show, for the first time, the direct access that Cyril had to that particular work of Origen. Does Cyril, however, target Origen personally with this criticism? Does he seek to condemn him especially? No answer can be given, it seems, without taking into account the elements of Origen’s arguments made use of by the Bishop of Alexandria, and additionally, his reference to the many (polloi) who deny John the Baptist’s human nature.

Johannes Zachhuber - The 'Image of God' and the Created-uncreated Distinction in Gregory of Nyssa

Within the workshop 'The image of God in "Nicene" Theology' my paper will illustrate the Cappadocian contribution, esp. that of Gregory of Nyssa, to the notion of 'image'. I shall suggest that of the three strands Frances Young identified in fourth-century theological discourse on the image, only one, the archetype-image relationship between God and human nature is of central importance in Cappadocian theology. While there is only passing interest in the issue of icons and of visual representation, more centrally the image-relationship between Father and Son in the Trinity is transposed, on account of Cappadocian trinitarianism, into a relationship between God and Christ’s humanity. It thus effectively becomes a variant of the type required by Gen 1,27. This last one, then, assumes absolutely central importance especially within the thought of Gregory of Nyssa. My paper will explore the causes of this narrower focus and its significance for the Cappadocians and for subsequent theology. I shall argue that Gregory’s adoption of physis-terminology to describe both the intra-trinitarian unity and the unity of created reality leads to a levelling of vertical ontological hierarchy both within God and within the world. A precise conceptualisation of the divine-human image relation becomes crucial, therefore, for maintaining and defining the difference between created and uncreated. It is easy to see, I shall argue, how Gregory’s approach would lead to either Eriugena’s panentheism or to the volontaristic duality of God and world characteristic of later medieval theology.

Victoria Zimmerl-Panagl - The Latin Poet Sedulius and the Prex Eucharistica

During the Middle Ages passages from the writings of the Latin Church Fathers were adapted for latin liturgy, inter alia, for prefaces of the eucharistic prayer. In my paper I am going to show that some prefaces are based on the works of the late-antique poet Sedulius (5^th century). A philological examination of these texts allows to identify a sequence of modifications, which could help to establish the chronological order among these prefaces.

Kirill Zinkovskiy - "The term «ἐνυπόστατον» and its theological meaning" Hieromonk Methody (Zinkovsky), Hieromonk Kirill (Zinkovsky) St.Petersburg Orthodox Theological Academy

Modern theologians have expressed, and continue to suggest, different, sometimes contradictory, opinions regarding the historical usage of the term «enhypostatic» by various Church Fathers and more recent theologians. Touching on the history of the research works fulfilled in this field we concentrate on the main problem of the interpretation of the meaning of the term «ἐνυπόστατον» used by Leontius, John Grammaticus and St.John Damascene. The paper analyses in detail St. John’s definition of the term «ἐνυπόστατον», his explanation of the inequality of the notions «hypostasis» and «enhypostatic», correlation of the term «hypostasis» with the notions of «individuated nature» and  «πρόσωπον». It’s shown how the term «ἐνυπόστατον» acquired  its new meaning in the Christological context. A qualitative difference between incarnation of the God the Word as a Person and «incarnation by grace» is discussed. 

The central idea of this article is that the term «enhypostatic» enables the description of both the real subsistence of one or several distinct natures in one hypostasis, and that of one nature in several hypostases. It is suggested that the term «enhypostatic» is fairly universal and can be applied efficiently almost in all areas of theology. Meanwhile the primary meaning of the term (in the sense of really existing, objective as opposed to illusory) retains its great value. It is shown how this primary meaning stops one from manipulating the term arbitrarily.

The key characteristic of human likeness with God as hypostatic-natural unity is presented. It’s argued that this unity of hypostasis and nature is defined most powerfully by the term «ἐνυπόστατον». 

Laela Zwollo: St. Augustine on the Soul's Divine Experience: Visio Intellectualis from Book 12 of De Genesi ad litteram libri XII

St. Augustine taught that the verses Genesis 1:26-27: “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image after our likeness...God created man in his own image...” were referring to the image of God, imago dei, a potential within the highest region of the human soul (mens) or intellect.

My communication/paper will cover St. Augustine’s treatment of the imago dei in his work Gen ad litt, as it occurs in two contexts:

i. within his interpretation of the creation story, particularly the creation of the human soul in “intelligible heaven” in books 1 and 3; 

and ii. within his explanation of the “three visions” in book 12. 

In the latter, his interpretation of imago dei as existing in the human intellect bears a direct relationship to his discussion of images in the corporeal world and to the different kinds of sight. The sight of the mind’s eye, the visio intellectualis, is a potential force operating in the upper regions of the human mind which re-works the impressions of the visual world – with the grace of God - to a divine epistemological experience.

Ueli Zahnd: Denominating Augustine : The Controversial Reception of Augustine's Semiotics in Early Protestant Scholasticism

Throughout the Middle Ages up to the 17^th century, Augustine's conception of signs, as presented in De doctrina christiana II, was one of the common starting points of any semiotical discussion. Around 1600, however, the majority of Lutheran scholastics started, in open dispute with their denominational counterparts, the Calvinists, to explicitly reject the father's definition of a sign as “a thing which, in addition to the impression it makes on the senses, also brings something else to mind”. This controversy was caused less by differing logical assumptions and was motivated more by contradicting theological convictions concerning Christ's presence in the Eucharist: To keep the basic (and likewise Augustinian) conception of the sacrament as a sign, the Lutherans, defending Christ's real presence in the sacrament, had to concede a sign to be self-referential, while the Calvinists, conceiving of the sacrament only as a mnemotic sign of Christ's passion, could hold on Augustine's definition of a sign as referring to something else. It was this sacramental debate that determined the value of Augustine's semiotical sayings, giving thus a denominational shape to a merely logical matter. The paper aims to present this denominational reception of Augustine's semiotics, analysing its theological entanglements and tracing it back to the late medieval roots not only of the two conquering semiotical positions, but of their respective theological background as well.

Georgij Zakharov: Théologie de l'image chez Germinius de Sirmium

Ce rapport est consacré à Germinius de Sirmium – un des représentants principaux de la partie homéenne. En centre de notre étude est sa lettre aux évêques Illyriens (366) contre Ursace de Singidunum et Valens de Mursa (Hilar. Fr. XV) où il donne l’interprétation de IV-ème formule de Sirmium (359) à l’esprit de la théologie traditionnelle origéniste. Le Fils de Dieu est présenté comme l’image de Dieu le Père lui semblable dans tout (similis per omnia). Ce pourquoi Dieu le Fils peut donner à la création la possibilité indirecte de la communication avec le Seul Dieu Véritable. Mais les relations énergiques entre Dieu le Fils et le monde sont présentées comme séparées de ses relations personnelles avec Dieu le Père: «Sed haec omnia sic intellegimus et dicimus, ut virtutes et operationes Filii Dei intellegamus, non ut divinam eius ex Patre nativitatem huiuscemodi nominibus conparemus ». Dans cet aspect de sa théologie Germinius est très proche à la doctrine des Grands Cappadociens (Basil. Ep. 234).  Mais à la différence avec les derrières la position de Saint Esprit dans la théologie de Germinius est très indéterminée. Dans sa discussion  avec Heraclianus (366) Il a été nommé  la  créature  (PLS. I. 346) et ‘princeps angelorum’ (PLS. I. 347).

Rita Zanotto, Sulla politica edilizia di Teoderico: "dedicare" come "incipere"? (Anonymi Valesiani pars posterior, c. 71)

Riesame del significato di un passo del cosiddetto Anonimo Valesiano sul re Teoderico a Ravenna: "palatium usque ad perfectum fecit, quem (SIC!) non dedicavit". Il verbo “dedicare”, alla luce anche delle fonti archeologiche, può indicare il momento iniziale della costruzione, mentre "usque ad perfectum fecit" può essere inteso come restauro o compimento di un edificio già avviato da altri in precedenza.