PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY IN THE SYSTEM OF BYZANTINE THOUGHT IN THE AGE OF ECUMENICAL COUNCILS

Abstract

The present article deals with the problems of methodology in studying Byzantine philosophy in the age of Ecumenical councils. Since in the works of Christian authors of that period philosophical and theological elements could not be fully separated, one can speak about a phenomenon of «philosophical-theological unity» as an essential feature of the Byzantine thought. The impossibility to withdraw the philosophical constituent from the corresponding theological context leaves to a researcher no other means, but only the complex approach to philosophical-theological systems with subsequent defi nition and description of the proper philosophical elements. One needs to take note of the philosophical constituents in the theological discussions, because the infl uence of the philosophical factors in the theological polemics could have an essential and sometimes a key signifi cance