The Unity, Power and Energy of the Holy Trinity in the Theology of Gregory of Nyssa

• Authors: Viktor Zhukovskyy

Abstracts

EN

The article discusses the problem of the ontological distinction between God’s transcendence and immanence in the theological thought of Gregory of Nyssa, a Church Father of the 4th century. The author presents the main conceptual and terminological apparatuses that Gregory used in his antinomic approach to the complex interpretation of apophatic and kataphatic images of God. He analyzes the main characteristics of these two dimensions of the nature of God. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the Trinitarian approach in answering the question: how can God, who is completely ontologicaly removed from creation, be at the same time actively present in the world and filling it. In this context the author analyzes the key notions, which express the ontological remoteness of the divine essence of the Holy Trinity and God’s active nearness in relation to created being.

Keywords

EN

Gregory of Nyssa; apophatic; kataphatic; essence; power; energy; divine work; antinomy

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Studia Ceranea
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 13
• Pages: 695-713

Dates

published

2023

Contributors

author

Viktor Zhukovskyy

• Ukrainian Catholic University, Faculty of Philosophy and Theology, Theology Department

• https://orcid.org/0000000331478173

References

• Gregorius Nyssenus, Ad Ablabium quod nοn sint tres dei, ed. F. Mueller, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.1, Leiden 1958, p. 35–57.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Ad Eustathium de Sancta Trinitate, ed. F. Mueller, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.1, Leiden 1958, p. 3–16.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Ad Graecos ex communibus notionibus, ed. F. Mueller, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.1, Leiden 1958, p. 19–33.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Adversus Macedonianos de Spiritu Sancto, ed. F. Mueller, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.1, Leiden 1958, p. 89–115.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Antirrheticus adversus Apollinarium, ed. F. Mueller, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.1, Leiden 1958, p. 131–233.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Contra Eunomium, ed. W. Jaeger, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. I–II, Leiden 1960.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, De beatitudinibus, ed. J. F. Callahan, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. VII.2, Leiden 1992.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, De vita Moysis, ed. H. Musurillo, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. VII.1, Leiden 1964, p. 1–145.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, In Canticum canticorum, ed. H. Langerbeck, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. VI, Leiden 1960, p. 3–469.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, In Ecclesiasten homiliae, ed. P. J. Alexander, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. V, Leiden 1962, p. 277–442.
• Gregorius Nyssenus, Oratio catechetica, ed. E. Mühlenberg, [in:] Gregorii Nysseni Opera, vol. III.4, Leiden 1996, p. 1–112.
• Aghiorgoussis M., Christian Existentialism of the Greek Fathers: Persons, Essence, and Energies in God, “Greek Orthodox Theological Review” 23, 1978, p. 15–41.
• Anatolios K., Athanasius. The Coherence of his Thought, London–New York 1998.
• Anatolios K., Retrieving Nicaea. The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine, Grand Rapids 2011.
• Ayres L., On not Three People: the Fundamental Themes of Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Theology as Seen in to Ablabius: On not Three Gods, [in:] Rethinking Gregory of Nyssa, ed. S. Coakley, Malden 2003, p. 15–44.
• Balas D. L., Metousia Theou: Man’s Participation in God’s Perfections according to Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Rome 1966.
• Balthasar H. U. von, Presence and Thought. Essay on the Religious Philosophy of Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco 1995.
• Barnes M. R., The Power of God. Δύναμις in Gregory of Nyssa’s Trinitarian Theology, Washington 2001.
• Daley B. E., Divine Transcendence and Human Transformation: Gregory of Nyssa’s Anti-Apollinarian Christology, “Modern Theology” 18, 2002, p. 497–506, https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0025.00200
• Daniélou J., L’être et le temps chez Grégoire de Nysse, Leiden 1970, https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004433632
• Ferguson E., God’s Infinity and Man’s Mutability. Perpetual Progress According to Gregory of Nyssa, “Greek Orthodox Theological Review” 18, 1973, p. 59–78.
• Heine E., Perfection in the Virtuous Life. A Study in the Relationship between Edification and Polemical Theology in Gregory of Nyssa’s De Vita Moysis, Cambridge 1975.
• Houdret J. P., Palamas et les Cappadociens, “Istina” 19, 1974, p. 260–271.
• Karfikova L., Svyatitel’ Grigoriy Nisskiy. Beskonechnost’ Boga i bezkonechniy put’ k Nemu cheloveka, trans. I. Bey, Kiív 2012.
• Ludlow M., Universal Salvation. Eschatology in the Thought of Gregory of Nyssa and Karl Rahner, Oxford 2000, https://doi.org/10.1093/0198270224.001.0001
• Meredith A., Gregory of Nyssa, London–New York 1999.
• Moutsoulas E. D., “Essence” et “Energies” de Dieu selon St. Gregoire de Nysse, [in:] Studia patristica, vol. XVIII.3, Leuven 1983, p. 517–527.
• Pottier B., Dieu et le Christ selon Grégoire de Nysse. Etude systématique du “Contre Eunome” avec traduction inédite des extraits d’Eunome, Namur 1994.
• Przyszychowska M., Nauka o łasce w dziełach św. Grzegorza z Nyssy, Kraków 2010.
• Strękowski S., Sofiologia św. Grzegorza z Nyssy. Elementy teologii trynitarnej i antropologii w Homiliach do Pieśni nad Pieśniami, Kraków 2006.
• Zachhuber J., Human Nature in Gregory of Nyssa. Philosophical Background and Theological Significance, Leiden 2014.

Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/2084-140X.13.32

Biblioteka Nauki

31234033