Смерть и идея индивидуализации у Афинагора Афинского как опровержение современного понимания смерти в качестве смерти личности

Priest Pavel Malnov

doi:10.21638/spbu28.2023.203

Authors

Priest Pavel Malnov Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies, 4/2, Pyatnitskaya ul., Moscow, 115035, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2023.203

Abstract

The article is about the critical analysis of the modern understanding of the “death of personality”. The point of view of the early Christian teacher of the Eastern Church Athenagoras of Athens is taken as the basis of this consideration. His heritage “On the Resurrection of the Dead” tells us that man is an immortal being. The author introduces a certain terminology to describe the process of immortality to human nature. According to Athenagoras, death is an ordinary process, like a comparison with sleep. Death is not the final stage of human life, rather it is a phase of change from corruption to incorruption. To provide evidence, Athenagoras discusses the judgment of God, where each person personally needs to answer for the actions committed during lifetime. There is no precise definition of personality in the author’s work, but his arguments about the immortal soul and the resurrection of the human body as an integral part of the human hypostasis allow us to imagine a person as a hypostasis, which means a personal creation of God. The meaning of all described is the contemplation of God. In total, the hypostasis is a person who is not subject to death.

Keywords:

God, Athenagoras of Athens, man, death, personality, corruption, incorruption, resurrection, immortality, change

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

References

Annas J. (2003) Plato. A very short introduction. New York, Oxford University Press.

Athenagoras Apol. (1972) “De resurrectione”, in Athenagoras. Legatio and De resurrection. Ed. by W. R. Schoedel. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Athenagoras Apol. (1972) “Legatio sive Supplicatio pro Christianis”, in Athenagoras. Legatio and De resurrection. Ed. by W. R. Schoedel. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Bandurovskii K. V. (2010) “Person”, in The new philosophical encyclopedia. In 4 vols, vol. 2. Ed. by V. S. Stepin, pp. 400–401. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ. (In Russian)

Barnard L. W. (1972) Athenagoras: A study in second century Christian apologetic. Paris, Beauchesne rue de Rennes.

Benevich G. I., Biriukov D. S., eds (2009) Anthology of Eastern Christian theological thought orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Moscow, Nikeia Publ.; St. Petersburg, Russkaia khristianskaia gumanitarnaia akademiia Publ. (In Russian)

Boiko O. A. (2021) “Plato’s teaching about the soul”, in Mezhdunarodnyi zhurnal gumanitarnykh i estestvennykh nauk, no. 10-1, pp. 67–72. (In Russian)

Hippocrates (1840, Repr. 1961) “De aëre aquis et locis”, in Hippocrates et Corpus Hippocraticum Med. Ed. by É. Littré. Paris, Baillière.

Iannaras Kh. (1992) The faith of the Church. An introduction to Orthodox theology. Transl. by G. V. Vdovina. Moscow, Tsentr po izucheniiu religii Publ. (In Russian)

Iustin (Popovich), prep. (2004) A collection of creations. Biography. On the God-human path. The path of Knowledge of God. Moscow, Palomnik Publ. (In Russian)

Kiprian (Kern), archimandrite (1996) The anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas. Moscow, Palomnik Publ. (In Russian)

Kirill (Zinkovskii), hieromonk (2013) “Ideas about matter and the human body in the writings of Athenagoras”, in ΣΧΟΛΗ. Filosofskoe antikovedenie i klassicheskaia traditsiia, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 272–289. (In Russian)

Kirill (Zinkovskij), hieromonk (2014) The doctrine of matter in the sacramental-anthropological aspect in the works of the theologians of the Alexandrian school, the Great Cappadacians and the Rev. Maxim of the Confessor. Dr. Sci. Thesis in Theology. Moscow, Obshchetserkovnaia aspirantura i doktorantura imeni sviatykh ravnoapostol’nykh Kirilla i Mefodiia; St. Petersburg, Russkaia khristianskaia gumanitarnaia akademiia. (In Russian)

Lebedev A. V. (2014) The logos of Heraclitus. Reconstruction of thoughts and words. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ. (In Russian)

Lipich E. I. (2016) Anthropology of Christian Apologists (Athenagoras’ treatise “On the Resurrection of the Dead”). Master’s Thesis in Philosophy. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University. (In Russian)

Losskii V. N. (2012) An essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. Dogmatic theology. Sergiev Posad, Sviato-Troitskaia Sergieva Lavra Publ. (In Russian)

Mazaev R. M. (2018) “Apologetics of Athenagoras of Athens”, in Sibirskii filosofskii zhurnal, no. 4, pp. 276–287. (In Russian)

Mefodii (Zinkovskii), hieromonk (2015) Personality and its nature. Available at: https://pravoslavie.ru/82254.html (accessed: 05.04.2023).

Mironositskii P. P. (1894) Athenagoras, the Christian apologist of the 2nd century. Kazan, Tipolitografiia Imperatorskogo universiteta Publ. (In Russian)

Pelikan J. (2003) Credo: Historical and theological guide to creeds and confessions of faith in the Christian tradition. New Haven, Yale University Press.

Petrov N., transl. (1899) Origen. On the first principles. Kazan, Tipolitografiia Imperatorskogo universiteta Publ. (In Russian)

Plato (1967) Phaedo. Ed. by J. Burnet. Oxford, Clarendon Press.

Plato (1993) “Phaedrus”, in Plato. Collected works. In 4 vols, vol. 2. Ed. by A. F. Losev, V. F. Asmus, A. A. Takho- Godi, рр. 135–191. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ. (In Russian)

Plato (2017) “Phaedo, or About the soul”, in Plato. The complete works in one volume. Transl. V. Karpov, рр. 44–87. Moscow, Al’fa-kniga Publ. (In Russian)

Pouderon B. L. (1986) “L’authenticité du Traité sur la Résurrection attribué à l’apologiste Athénagore”, in Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 40, iss. 3, pp. 226–244.

Runia D. T. (1992) “Verba Philonica, ΑΓΑΛΜΑΤΟΦΟΡΕΙΝ, and the authenticity of the De Resurrectione attributed to Athenagoras”, in Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 46, iss. 4, pp. 313–327.

Svetlov R. V. (2015) “Job, Plotinus, Plato”, in Vestnik Russkoi khristianskoi gumanitarnoi akademii, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 137–147. (In Russian)

Svetlov R. V. (2021) “Anthropology of Plato Revisited”, in Vestnik Permskogo universiteta. Filosofiia. Psikhologiia. Sotsiologiia, no. 4, pp. 493–499. (In Russian)

Svetlov R. V. (2020) “The argument from analogy in the apology of St. Theophilus of Antioch ‘To Autolycus’”, in Trudy kafedry bogosloviia Sankt-Peterburgskoi Dukhovnoi akademii, vol. 3 (7), pp. 8–16. (In Russian)

Veisman Α. D. (2006) Greek-Russian dictionary. Moscow, Greko-latinskii kabinet Yu. A. Shichalina Publ. (In Russian)

Walker A. E. (1988) Cerebral death. Rus. ed. Moscow, Meditsina Publ. (In Russian)