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Aspects of Patristic Cosmology
Aspects of Patristic Cosmology
Vladimir de Beer
Access provided by Bibl. Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg (24 Jan 2017 09:54 GMT)
Vladimir de Beer
l o g o s 18 :3 s u m m e r 2015
82 logos
and irrational, and formed and formless. Thus all things to a greater
or lesser extent reflect an aspect of the Godhead.2 I will proceed to
sketch salient aspects of the patristic cosmology in both the Greek
and Latin traditions.
Epilogue
The patristic theologians never saw the study of nature as an end in
itself, but always as a means to a higher end. Origen, for instance,
wrote in his Commentary on the Song of Songs, The human mind should
mount to spiritual understanding, and seek the ground of things in
heaven.96 As summarized by D. S. Wallace-Hadrill, The Greek fa-
thers, for all their intense appreciation of nature, for all their interest
in the structures and processes of nature and their insistence upon
nature as a means by which God reveals his nature, nevertheless hold
that God and nature are not identical, and that the mind must pen-
etrate nature to find God.97
The patristic theologians thus continued the tension that was al-
ready evident in the New Testament between appreciation of nature
on one hand and a refusal to be seduced by its beauty on the other.98
In this way the living duality of God and creation is recognized.99
This duality of uncreated and created natures should not be con-
96 logos
fused with any kind of ontological or metaphysical dualism, since the
whole of the created order (both sensible and intelligible) receives
its existence from the Creator, and thus forms a unified cosmos, al-
beit entailing various ontological levels. That is to say, the cosmos is
a differentiated unity, and it should therefore not be conceived in
either monistic or dualistic terms.
I have attempted to sketch a broad patristic consensus on vari-
ous aspects of Christian cosmology, without wishing to ignore the
existence of differences between the Greek and Latin traditions.
For instance, there is no uncreated supernatural in the Christian
East; the Western Christian realm of the supernatural is none other
than the uncreated divine energies. Furthermore, God is the cause
of grace in the Christian West; in the Eastern Christian view, God is
the cause of creation, while grace refers to his self-manifesting ener-
gies.100 However, not too much reliance should be placed on termi-
nology, since different terms are often used to depict the same real-
ity. One may think in this regard of the Latin conception of God as
one substance in three persons, contrasted with the Greek doctrine
of one divine essence in three hypostases. Moreover, if one reads the
mystical literature on both sides, the theological differences often
become obscure in the face of similar personal experiences of the
divine energies.
Notes
1. John Romanides, An Outline of Orthodox Patristic Dogmatics, ed. and trans. George Dra-
gas (Rollinsford, NH: Orthodox Research Institute, 2004), 5, 9.
2. Philip Sherrard, The Greek East and the Latin West: A Study in the Christian Tradition (Lim-
ni, Greece: Denise Harvey, 2002), 32.
3. The Oxford Study Bible: Revised English Bible with the Apocrypha, ed. M. Jack Suggs, Kath-
arine Doob Sakenfeld, and James R. Mueller (New York: Oxford University Press,
1992), 11.
4. Graham Castleman, Cosmogony and Salvation: The Christian Rejection of Uncre-
ated Matter, Sophia:The Journal of Traditional Studies 9, no. 2 (2004): 11718.
5. Vladimir Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction, trans. Ian and Ihita Kesarcodi-
Watson (Crestwood, NY: St .Vladimirs Seminary Press, 1978), 5154.
aspects of patristic cosmology 97
6. Georges Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, The Collected Works of Georges
Florovsky,Volume III: Creation and Redemption (Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1976), 46.
7. Justin Martyr, First Apology X & LIX; Castleman, Cosmogony and Salvation, 117.
8. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, Book II.10, II.13, The Patristic Understanding of
Creation: An Anthology of Writings from the Church Fathers on Creation and Design, ed. Wil-
liam Dembski, Wayne Downs, and Fr. Justin Frederick (Riesel, TX: Erasmus Press,
2008).
9. Castleman, Cosmogony and Salvation, 123.
10. Henry Chadwick, Philo and the Beginnings of Christian Thought, The Cambridge
History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, ed. A. H. Armstrong (London:
Cambridge University Press, 1967), 171.
11. Castleman, Cosmogony and Salvation, 115.
12. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book II.XXVIII, in Patristic Understanding.
13. Chadwick, Philo, 189.
14. Origen, On First Principles, Book II.1.4, in Patristic Understanding.
15. Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word II.3, 4 & III.1, in Patristic Understanding.
16. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II.2, in Patris-
tic Understanding.
17. John Scottus Eriugena, Periphyseon (On the Division of Nature), Book III, 63481, trans.
I. P. Sheldon-Williams (Dublin: Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968, 1972, 1981).
18. Dermot Moran, The Philosophy of John Scottus Eriugena: A Study of Idealism in the Middle
Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 230.
19. Castleman, Cosmogony and Salvation, 120.
20. Ibid., 125, 127.
21. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 45.
22. Paul Ciholas, Plato: the Attic Moses? Some Patristic Reactions to Platonic Philoso-
phy, The Classical World 72, no. 4 (1978): 22425.
23. Commentary on Canticles iii.2; D. S. Wallace-Hadrill, The Greek Patristic View of Nature
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1968), 12021.
24. Gregory of Nazianzus, Homily 38; John Chryssavgis, Beyond the Shattered Image (Min-
neapolis: Light & Life, 1999), 133.
25. Alexei Nesteruk, Light from the East:Theology, Science, and the Eastern Orthodox Tradition
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 34.
26. Ibid., 3436.
27. Lossky, Orthodox Theology, 62.
28. Deirdre Carabine, John Scottus Eriugena (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000),
29.
29. Wallace-Hadrill, Greek Patristic View, 12829.
30. Philip Sherrard, Christianity: Lineaments of a Sacred Tradition (Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
1998), 24041.
31. Aristotle, Metaphysics Book XII, 1071b, The Basic Works of Aristotle, ed. Richard
McKeon, trans. W. D. Ross (New York: Modern Library, 2001).
98 logos
32. Romanides, Outline, 5, 7.
33. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 6465.
34. David Bradshaw, The Concept of the Divine Energies (2006), 10. http://www.uky
.edu/~dbradsh/papers/Concept%20of%20the20Divine20Energies.doc
35. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 68.
36. Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, trans. anonymous (Cam-
bridge: James Clarke, 1991), 74.
37. Gregory Palamas, Topics of Natural and Theological Science, 8587, The Philokalia,
Vol. 4, trans. and ed. G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (London:
Faber & Faber, 1995).
38. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 65.
39. Palamas, Topics, 68, 78, 92, 93.
40. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 67.
41. Romanides, Outline, 11.
42. Bradshaw, Divine Energies, 11.
43. Chryssavgis, Beyond, 86.
44. Frithjof Schuon, From the Divine to the Human: Survey of Metaphysics and Epistemology,
trans. Gustavo Polit and Deborah Lambert (Bloomington: World Wisdom Books,
1982), 2526, 47.
45. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 66.
46. Palamas, Topics, 133, 140, 150.
47. Sherrard, Lineaments, 241.
48. Dionysius the Areopagite, Divine Names 4:1 & 4:2, Pseudo-Dionysius: The Complete
Works, trans. Colm Luibheid (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1987).
49. Ibid., 5:5, 8.
50. Ibid., 13:2.
51. Palamas, Topics, 1, 2.
52. Lossky, Mystical Theology, 9293.
53. Wallace-Hadrill, Greek Patristic View, 108.
54. Eriugena, Periphyseon Book III, 63637.
55. Chryssavgis, Beyond, 123.
56. Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Hexaemeron III.10, in Patristic Understanding.
57. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 59.
58. Dionysius, Divine Names, 5: 8.
59. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 61.
60. Ibid., 60.
61. Palamas, Topics, 137.
62. I. P. Sheldon-Williams, The Greek Christian Platonist Tradition from the Cappado-
cians to Maximus and Eriugena, The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medi-
eval Philosophy, ed. A. H. Armstrong (London: Cambridge University Press, 1967),
43031, 459.
63. Carabine, Eriugena, 53.
aspects of patristic cosmology 99
64. Sheldon-Williams, Greek Christian Platonist Tradition, 49296.
65. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 51.
66. Lossky, Mystical Theology, 98.
67. Lossky, Orthodox Theology, 56.
68. Nesteruk, Light from the East, 36.
69. Ibid., 251.
70. Chryssavgis, Beyond, 57.
71. Lossky, Mystical Theology, 98.
72. Sheldon-Williams, Greek Christian Platonist Tradition, 49798.
73. Chryssavgis, Beyond, 58.
74. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 43.
75. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man XVI.12, in Patristic Understanding.
76. John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II.3 & II.6, in
Patristic Understanding.
77. Christos Yannaras, Elements of Faith: An Introduction to Orthodox Theology, trans. Keith
Schramm (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1991), 4041.
78. Sherrard, Lineaments, 240.
79. Yannaras, Elements of Faith, 4648.
80. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 4849.
81. Wallace-Hadrill, Greek Patristic View, 10405.
82. Basil, Hexaemeron V.1, V.10, IX.2, in Patristic Understanding.
83. Maximus the Confessor, To Thalassius 64, On the Cosmic Mystery of Jesus Christ: Selected
writings from St Maximus the Confessor, trans. Paul Blowers and Robert Wilken (Crest-
wood: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2003).
84. Eriugena, Periphyseon Book I, 44142.
85. Ibid., Book I, 449.
86. Basil, Hexaemeron V.10, in Patristic Understanding.
87. Sheldon-Williams, Greek Christian Platonist Tradition, 447.
88. Palamas, Topics, 21.
89. Plato, Timaeus 37d, Collected Works, ed. John M. Cooper, trans. Donald J. Zeyl (In-
dianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1997).
90. Ibid., 38b.
91. Basil, Hexaemeron I.6, in Patristic Understanding.
92. Augustine, On the Literal Meaning of Genesis IV.52, V.12, in Patristic Understanding.
93. Dionysius, Divine Names, 10:3.
94. Origen, On First Principles, Book II.3.
95. Nemesius of Emesa, On human nature V.25; Wallace-Hadrill, Greek Patristic View, 103.
96. Chryssavgis, Beyond, 75.
97. Wallace-Hadrill, Greek Patristic View, 129.
98. Ibid., 130.
99. Florovsky, Creation and Creaturehood, 47.
100. Lossky, Mystical Theology, 88.