SERGEY TROSTYANSKIY: “Basil the Great’s Theory of Time, its Philosophical Underpinnings and Eschatological Significance”

Basil’s exegesis of the creation narrative by and large defined the early church’s understanding of nature and its principles. An integral part of Basil’s hermeneutics of the scriptural account of creation was the theory of time. Questions of the nature of time, and its relation to motion and, in particular, the motion of the celestial bodies, defined Basil’s theoretical agenda framed within the Arian controversy over the notion of the origins of the Word of God.
Basil’s theory appeared faithful to Aristotle in that it did not tie time to the motion of celestial bodies. It also betrayed certain Stoic influences, at least as far as the definition of time was concerned. We can also see the influence of Platonism on Basil’s theory. Plato’s Timaeus, Philo’s De opficio mundi, and possibly also various Neoplatonist treatises on the subject, influenced Basil’s discourse on the topic in a range of ways. However, despite the fact that Basil operated with classical and late antique categorical taxonomies, his account of time appears unique in that it clearly exhibits a very Christian understanding of the natural world and its origins.
This article aims to analyze Basil’s account of time so as to track its philosophical underpinnings. It is also intended to demonstrate that Basil’s theory of time was premised on a uniquely Christian eschatological and liturgical vision.

Vladimir Cvetkovic: The Relationship between the Logos of Well-Being and Modes of Existence in Maximus the Confessor

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the notions of “logos of well-being” and the “mode of existence” in Maximus the Confessor. In pursuing this goal the paper addresses the problem of how to understand the logos of well-being, which belongs to the realm of the human will. Although it is possible that the human being may act against the logoi embedded in its nature, the question arises of how one’s mode of existence can be established by acting against one’s own will. In answering this question, I will first draw a parallel between the triad of the logos of being, the logos of well-being and the logos of eternal being on the one hand, and individual and universal logoi in human beings on the other. Secondly, I will attempt to demonstrate that by acting in accordance with the individual logos, the particular human being is led to make itself conform to universal logoi, such as the logoi of species, genera and genus. Thirdly, I will apply the same methodology to the triad formed of “being,” “well-being,” and “eternal being,” with the intention of proving that the precondition of human beings’ compliance with the logos of well-being is acting according to the logos of nature. The result of this investigation is to demonstrate that by acting in accordance with the logos of well-being, the human being establishes its own mode of existence – one that is always in compliance with the divine will.

Marcin Podbielski: Individual and Logos in Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor’s account of creation in terms of divine and created logoi is frequently interpreted as philosophically indebted to the Christian Medioplatonic view that the logoi of God function as formative principles for the created world. This interpretation views the logoi as close, in respect of their ontological function, to the Forms, which are thoughts of the Medioplatonic God. Were this interpretation correct, one could not speak, however, about the creation of individuals as such, since Forms, within Medioplatonism, are generic principles, determining the nature of things viewed as instances of species. As the Medioplatonic God is the source of order, and not of being, ideas of particulars are explicitly rejected in Medioplatonism. However, in Maximus’ Ambigua, God is explicitly characterized as the source of being of all particular things. Maximus treats the problem of individuality in the Ambigua in a very specific way, combining insights originating in Stoic metaphysics, Medioplatonic theology and Neoplatonic logic. His description of individuals offers a synthesis which is not easy to interpret. One has to decide whether his individuals are a combination of generic logoi/Forms, or a product of this combination, or only describable through this combination, and whether logoi themselves can be individualized and are distinct from things they inform.

Mark Huggins: (ps.)Chrysostom’s Catechetical Homily on Pascha (CPG 4605): A Case Study in Approaching the Question(s) ofPseudepigrapha

(ps.)Chrysostom’s Catechetical Homily on Pascha is an ideal case study in an examination of important questions concerning the study of pseudepigrapha, particularly those of John Chrysostom. The text has been incorporated into the Pascha vigil for over 1,000 years in Eastern Orthodox churches under Chrysostom’s name. However, in the 17thc. Saville pronounced it spurious. Montfaucon followed suit, and most scholars have accepted this pronouncement uncritically. Despite 400 years of considering the text spurious, I am aware of no evidence ever being produced to support the claim nor any analysis having been conducted. Moreover, a study of the text’s rich manuscript tradition reveals its intricate relationship with monastic catecheses from the 9th– 13thc., liturgical typika from Sicily to Jerusalem and Georgia, as well as apocryphal literature, such as the Gospel of Nikodemos. Finally, this text is intimately connected to the Byzantine reception of John Chrysostom; it has played a major role in making Chrysostom “the most important Father of the Orthodox Church”, in the words of Vasiliki Tsamakda – to such a degree that among Eastern Orthodox Christians today this Catechetical Homily is by far the most well-known text bearing Chrysostom’s name. Because of this text’s wide popularity and close connections to both monastic and popular, apocryphal religious traditions over a thousand years, I believe that the Catechetical Homily on Pascha offers the ideal case study for Chrysostomic pseudepigrapha.

Siam Bhayro: The Syro-Mesopotamian context of Bar Daisan and Sergius - Syriac scholarship in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages

In this paper, I intend to argue that the late antique and early medieval Syriac traditions, in articulating an ideal of how philosophy, theology and medicine should all be studied together, should not be understood as simply reflecting a Greco-Roman ideal. Although dressed in Aristotelean garb, this phenomenon actually reflects a long-held Syro-Mesopotamian notion that associated the healing arts with the scribal or priestly guilds.

Kevin Clarke: Maximus the Confessor's Anti-Severan Polemics in the Opuscula

Severus of Antioch is mentioned just as often in the Opuscula as is Nestorius; so why is there not a more specific polemic against the theological opponents of Maximus’s own day? Maximus is convinced that there is nothing new in the innovation of his day, but that it is a repetition of the Severan approach to nature (φύσις). This is a fascinating twist of irony in light of Severus’s anti-Chalcedonian attempt to be faithful to the thought of Cyril of Alexandria. Maximus shows how Severus not only fails to align with Cyril but actually sets himself up against Cyril, albeit in a reciprocal fashion from Nestorius’s opposition. For Maximus, Cyril is the midpoint between Nestorius and Severus, each of whom treads out his own path of resistance to Cyrillian Christology. With Nestorius, there is difference in the wrong place, while with Severus, there is mixture in the wrong place. It is quite a clever strategy because Maximus’s Constantinopolitan opponents do not want to be Severans any more than Maximus does. Such polemics also helps to explain why Maximus is not as keen on naming names in the more traditional sense of polemics, which would also present quite a risk if he were to openly indict his imperial adversaries by name. This essay will present a brief treatment of Maximus’s thought on nature against that of “Severus the senseless sophist” in the Opuscula. The Severan approach to nature renders the question of will and operation moot.

Lillian Larsen: Evagrius in the Classroom

In introducing his summative collection of Progymnasmata – a spectrum of school compendia that flowered in late antiquity (Atlanta 2003), George Kennedy argues that in order to understand the structural character of emergent ancient literature, one must begin in the classroom. Following Kennedy, this presentation examines the gnomic sentences attributed to Evagrius within a wider didactic and rhetorical frame. Highlighting the integral role accorded gnomic content in ancient education, it explores the particular merits of reading extant compilations of Evagrian source material through a classroom lens.