Granì (Aug 2019)
“The Golden Age of Patristics”: Hellenophonic Patristic Discourse in the 4th–6th Centuries
Abstract
In the early 4th century the Roman Empire suffered a number of important socio-political changes. The Edict of Milan (313), having recognised in full the existence of the Church and its rights for worship, declared religions toleration, and put the end to the era of persecutions, but at the same time actualised and reinforced the struggle of ideas between Christians and pagans. This controversy between Christians and pagans contributed immensely to process of the becoming of Christian intellectual culture. In order to answer the most burning questions and challenges of the time, the fathers of the Church deepened understanding and interpretation of the message of the Bible, created a large moral and ascetic literature, designed the dogmatic system. The main purpose of the present study is to specify the origins and main directions of patristic thought. In order to do this I examine how fathers of the Church solve complex philosophical and theological issues, focusing on the epistemic aspect of the issue. According to the patristic tradition, the first step to acquire the true knowledge is to cleanse the self from every impurity of sin and passions. It is attained through keeping God’s commandments and maintaining ascetic efforts. The sign of correct spiritual growth is a specific ability to penetrate into nature of things, which the fathers call “διάκρισις”. The fathers of the Church and Christian writers of the epoch recognise this ability as a religio-intuitive. One who receives this gift of divine grace becomes able of self-knowledge, distinguishing between good and evil, and understanding of the will of God. A Christian who possesses it becomes fully aware of personal spiritual condition, and as a result becomes capable to make the right choice of the way of salvation. There are two sources of the knowledge of God: natural (from the experience of being into the world) and supernatural (divine revelation). The cognitive process therefore has two major aspects: sensual and speculative. The senses allow knowing God from his creation, as the mind or intellect enables man to contemplating ofincorporeal. The latter aspect enables one to self-knowledge or introspection and contemplation of the mind or soul, which has been created in the image and likeness of God. The clarification of the Hellenophonic patristic discourse in 4th–6th centuries, on a large scale, allows reconstructing another important phenomenon of this period, known as the “Golden Age” of Patristics.
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