10th Conference of the Hungarian Patristic Society on Ancient Christianity

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From the Ten Commandments to the Hymn of Love:

Ethical Doctrine in Christian Antiquity
 

24th June., Thursday

ABSTRACTS [DISCLAIMER: the abstracts follow as sent by the authors, with no editing, thus the Society is not responsible for contents or linguistc quality]

György GERÉBY
The problem of the "Haustafel" 
The instructions for Christian behaviour in the Pauline corpus were collected (and termed in this way) by Martin Dibelius in his 1912 commentary. The technical term "Haustafel" is applied to the admonitions contained in the passages Col 3,18-4,1; Eph 5,22-6,9; 1Peter 2,18-3,7; and similar issues are contained in Tit 2,1-10; and 1Tim 2,8-15; 6,1-2. I will try to investigate the problem along the monograph of J.P. Hering (2007), concentrating primarily on the relations  between these practical Christian exhortations and contemporary Hellenistic ethics, including historiographical problems. Are the "Haustafel" admonitions of Biblical or of Hellenistic origin (neo-Pythagorean moralising)? Or are there special characteristic of the Christian injunctions? What are their consequences for the institutional aspects of society? Are they suggesting a special Christian interpretation of the tension between chaos and social order, implying something like a hierarchy (in the original sense)?

Gábor KENDEFFY
Ethic and Christology and in Lactantius’ Divine Institutes
According to Lactantius’ account of the so called “two ways” in book 6 of the Diviine Intsitutes, one of the leaders (or guides) (dux) is God, the other is the Devil. It follows from the analysis of the Christological passages of book 4 and the texts regarding the doctrine of the two ways that the dux on the good way is eminently the incarnate Son of God, whose “leadership” consists in the fact that, by suffering all torture that a pious person could conceivably endure, This conclusion has great importance for interpreting Lactantius’ doctrine of the two ways. In the light of book 6 only, one has the impression that the mechanism of the two ways is in the service of a gigantic deceit of God, the purpose of which seems to be to maximize crimes rather than advance conversion. This impression is in contradiction with the fact that Lactantius himself reports with great enthusiasm on the increasing number of conversions in his age. The lesson of the Christological passages of book 4 might modify the first impression and resolve the contradiction.

Ágnes KRIZA
From Old Testament prohibition of images to the spritual law of devotion of icons: Ethical aspects in the sixteenth century Russian theology of icon.
The eminent figure of the the sixteenth century Russian theology is the hesychast Staretz Artemy. In his letters written against the antitrinitarian and iconoclastic protestants in Litvania he expounded his individual theology of icon. He based his polemic on the Letter to the Romans opposing the Old Testament law of flesh with the law of  Spirit in Christ. According Artemy the iconoclasts are the real idol worshipers who revile the icon of  incarneted God and thus they revile also its prototype, who is Christ itself. At this point Artemy used not the treatises of Byzantine defenders of icon, but the theory of symbol of Dionysios Areopagite. The symbol hides the Divine mystery from the babes in Spirit, that is the contempory iconoclasts, but also reveals them the truth. The paper shows an interesting early Russian interpretation of the patristic theology.

Moreno MORANI
De la lois naturelle des payens aux Commandements des chrétiens: quelque reflexion linguistique.
Le mot que la traduction grecque de la Bible utilise pour indiquer les commandements que le peuple d'Israël a reçu de la main de Dieu est entolé, qui en général correspond au mot mitsvā de l’hébreu. L'histoire de ce terme a des aspects intéressants: soit dans la langue littéraire de la tradition païenne soit dans la langue populaire, que nous connaissons à travers les papyrus, entolé est utilisé pour indiquer des ordres et des règles qui viennent d’une autorité supérieure, mais il est rarement utilisée pour indiquer des ordres donnés par une divinité. En outre, l'utilisation du pluriel entolaí est très rare. Ainsi, l'utilisation de entolé et son usage au pluriel (entolaí) pour indiquer les commandements de Dieu peut être considérée comme une innovation de la Septante. Le Nouveau Testament reprend ce mot: dans les paroles de Jésus les entolaì de Dieu sont opposées à la tradition des hommes (Marc 7, 3), et Jésus ajoute en même temps une nouvelle entolé (Jn 13, 34), «vous aimer les uns les autres; comme je vous ai aimés, aimez-vous les uns les autres». Comme il ressort aussi des paroles de Jésus dans un autre passage (Mt 22, 40), les entolaí sont la traduction spécifique de la loi (nomos, Tōrā en hébreu) dans l'expérience humaine. Au point de vue soi sémantique soit culturelle il y a donc un lien très étroit entre les Commandements et la loi (entolé et nomos), et l’obéissance à la loi est une partie intégrante de l'alliance que Dieu a faite avec le peuple qui a élu: obéir à la loi n'est pas un devoir moral, mais la manière de vivre et de se rapporter à Dieu pour l'homme qui appartient à ce peuple.
Ici nous trouvons l'une des différences les plus remarquables et nettes entre la tradition judéo-chrétienne et la tradition greco-romaine païenne. Même chez les grecs et les romains on reconnaît, déjà dans les textes les plus anciens, l’existence d'une loi morale supérieure et on sait que cette loi a une valeur universelle et a une garantie par les dieux: la loi de la cité doit se conformer à cette loi éternelle, et l'homme grec est même prêt à mourir pour elle, comme c'est le cas d'Antigone dans la tragédie de Sophocle. Seul l'homme qui suit cette lois peut aspirer au bonheur: suivre la loi morale signifie vivre selon la nature même de l’homme (physis): le bon usage de la raison humaine s’identifie avec cette loi. Mais l'homme doit utiliser la raison et chercher dans les profondeurs de sa conscience pour retrouver cette loi. Dans certaines traditions, la tâche de donner des lois aux hommes a été donnée aux grands hommes du mythe, tels que Minos, ou bien à des personnages renommés pour leur prudence et leur sagesse: selon quelques traditions, certains d'entre eux se rendaient aux sanctuaires des dieux et allaient à consulter les oracles pour demander aux dieux d'être éclairé. Mais c’est toujours l’initiative de l'homme qui détermine la formation de lois dont le caractère saint et intangible est bien reconnu, mais qui sont également imposées comme un devoir moral et une obligation pour les hommes.

Adalbertus Alexis NÉMETH:
Quomodo Minucius Felix in Octavio suo quaestionem de iudicio et reconciliatione tractaverit
Notissimum Martialis epigramma (XII. 80,) quaestionem de iudicio severo et humana reconciliatione et Christianis propositam sequenti modo praebet:
     Ne laudet dignos, laudat Callistratus omnes.
     Cui malus est nemo, quis bonus esse potest?
Ille quidem rebus principum studens per aliquod tempus secure agebat, aliter tamen post Christiani Minucius Felix eiusque amicus Octavius, quos inimicitias maximas propter Dominum suscepisse certum est. At omnes Christiani etiam inimicos suos amare debent, amore quidem Graecorum modo concepto, in quo etiam adiutorium factis praebendum intelligitur. Primum igitur ad emendandos eos iudicio opus est, quo facto fortasse ad reconciliationem revocantur. Aegre Caecilius severum Octavi iudicium fert, tamen hoc facto ad humanam reconciliationem revertitur. Minucius Felix S. Paulum secutus haec omnia Musaeo lepore decoravit. 

Atanáz OROSZ
I commenti morali greci ai Salmi graduali (anabathmoi) fino a Nicodemo Agiorita
Il primo periodo dei commenti patristici greci dei 15 Salmi graduali culmina in Eusebio di Cesarea, nei padri cappadoci e in Giovanni Crisostomo.
Il Crisostomo spiega i Salmi sempre con lo scopo morale di far sviluppare delle virtu simili ai giusti dell’Antico Testamento e dei discepoli del Signore. Alcuni esegeti bizantini lo hanno seguito in questo metodo.
Nel lavoro presente sull’esegesi morale dei Salmi, offriamo un riassunto dell’ermeneutica greco-bizantina dei Graduali attraverso una compilazione esegetica del Nicodemo Agiorita († 1809). La sua “Ermeneia ai 150 Salmi di David” è un adattamento in neogreco dei commenti di Eutimio Zigabeno (sec. XIIo) che lavorò sopratutto a partire dai commenti di s. Giovanni Crisostomo. Nicodemo si riferisce sopratutto ai commenti di Teofilatto di Bulgaria, ai Padri Cappadoci e ad alcuni rappresentanti delle scuole antiochena ed alessandrina. Sulle orme di Pseudo-Atanasio (PG 27, 1219) e di Eutimio, Nicodemo confessa, in maniera anagogica, che questi Salmi graduali conducono verso la Gerusalemme celeste.
Tra i testimoni più spesso richiamati (o citati) dall’esegeta agiorita ci sono Origene, i padri cappadoci, il Crisostomo, Teodoreto di Ciro e Massimo il Confessore. Nicodemo aggiunge alla sua traduzione del commento scientifico di Eutimio le sue proprie osservazioni, per renderlo comprensibile sia ai fedeli che ai monaci più semplici.

Elvira PATAKI
Nomoi agraphoi physeós: Ethics and ethology in St. Basil’s Hexaemeron
In recent years patristic research is keenly interested in the series of homilies about the Creation, written by the Cappadocian at the Lent of 370. The importance of the work reaches far beyond the fields of theology and philology. The Hexaemeron is one of the most important texts of late Antiquity about Nature, the relationship of man and his environment, which has become a starting point for completely different scientific movements and ideologies (including evolutionism, creationism, Intelligent Design). The lecture will treat St. Basil’s biological statements (borrowed from Greek natural philosophy) and examine their particular moral application in his Christian ethics. The Father of Church avoids the allegorical interpretation, and considers the herbs and the fish of the Scriptures as real plants and animals (see Hex. 9, 1). The system, the structure and, most of all, the behaviour of natural beings are undeniable proofs of the cosmic order. The sea urchin with his remarkable ability to forecast tempest, the peculiar ossature of the elephant are clear evidences for the teleologic mind of Providence. St. Basil shows a peculiar skill to apply natural observations directly in the moral teaching: his audience formed by fishermen, farmers and shepherds is guided to good morals by examples chosen from natural history and linked to the evangelical messages.

László PERENDY
Theophilus’ Incomplete Decalogue: The Law of the bishop of Antioch
In his work addressed to Autolycus, Theophilus, the bishop of Antioch recounts numerous commandments from the Exodus and the Deuteronomy on two occasions. He is the first Christian writer, who – following the gospels – quotes in extenso the Ten Commandments. These commandments in his mind form the essence of Christianity. However, in neither of these enumerations can we find those two (concerning blasphemy and the violation of the Sabbath), whose contravention precisely Jesus is accused of. What can the cause of this absence be? Why does Theophilus regard the Ten Commandments distinctly Christian legislation? What does the expression nomos (which can often be found in his work) mean for him: divine, natural or positive human law? These questions are of great importance also because the concept of nomos is more in the centre of his theological thought than in that of his contemporary apologists.     

Peter TÓTH
A Legend Without Saint – Narrative Ethical Instruction in the Greek Life of St. Martin of Tours
The Byzantine legend of St. Martin of Tours which is a real example of a "re-écriture" from 8-9th century Italo-Grec monasticism. It is not a politically modelled or ideologically motivated recast of the Vita by Sulpicis, just a simple narrative retelling of the basic facts of the life of a Western holy bishop. A text which, in lack of real and trustworthy data, transmits the traditional view of an ascetic-bishop illustrating his virtues by different 'apocryphal' narratives which are intended to provide a picturesque and lively image of a saint bishop commenting and illustrating his career as 'suscitator trium mortuorum' by interesting miracle-stories not known from any other stories. These cases provide us very good examples to observe the techniques of rewriting, a kind of narrative argumentation, a method which, instead of providing detailed scholarly treatises and texts, instructs the readers and the audience by the aid of newly invented stories and narratives, which replacing subtle doctrinal argumentations can much better transmit the traditional teaching of the church and the orthodox image of a holy man, than any other ways of communication. A process which is very similar to that of the genesis of the Biblical apocrypha and can even help us further to understand the origin and function of these hagiographical as well as Biblical apocryphal narratives. The Life of St. Martin - in my view - presents a tell-tale examples of this "narrative method" in work.

Miklós VASSÁNYI
From the Law to the Love of God: Mystical Ethics in Maximus the Confessor’s Ambigua.
Although an expression like “mystical ethics” will not be considered a self-evident term, yet we seem entitled to apply it to the summit of Maximus’ moral theology. Two of his chief philo-sophical works, the Ambigua ad Thomam and the Ambigua ad Johannem suggest that the con-cept of man as an ethical being does not become meaningless even when (s)he has reached the condition of mystical union with God.
Christian morality may start to develop in man when the Law of Nature (φυσικὸς νόμος) is recognized. On this stage, the believer may reach a knowledge of God by virtue of ratiocin-ation concerning the ordered structure of the world. On the second stage, he or she may reach a more perfect knowledge of God by living up to the commandments of the Written Law (γραπτὸς νόμος). Here, the essential identity of the Law of Nature and of the Written Law is also intuited.
But on the mystical stage of their ethical development, believers may supersede both kinds of law, and get out of their hold. In this final phase, they lose all relations (σχέσις) with the existing things by virtue of their love of God, and they attain the superessential Divinity after they have got rid of all sensitive, intellectual and intuitive operations. The main ethical feature of this condition is that the functioning of the willpower comes to a halt (ἠρεμία), which, however, does not entail the loss of this capacity.
In the proposed lecture, I hope to discuss this paradoxical thesis, especially on the bas-is of Ambiguum 10, considered to be a very important theological treatise by the technical lite-rature.

István M. BUGÁR
„Dominus legem dat": quam et cui?
The origin and meaning of the traditio legis scene -- one of the most widespread subjects in early Christian art from the middle of the fourth century until the first half of the fifth -- was vividly discussed some 50 years ago. The debate has been resumed in a modified form in the past decade. In my paper I take a closer look at the possible meanings of "lex" in this context. While offering different solutions, I support the view propounded among others by Y. Congar that the imperial terminology present in the Constantine"s speeches and letters as rendered by Eusebius -- and in Eusebius' Generalis elementa introductio -- together with the corresponding imperial imagery is responsible for the dictum of the scene, while the Christian rite of initiation is the context that provides the sensus. The image illustrates the closing words of Mathew's Gospel: πᾶσα ἐξουσία  (Chirst's gesture) μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (commission given to Peter and Paul),  διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν (lex)· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ' ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος (eschatological connotations). In this sense one may say that  traditio (as Scripture, liturgy, church-order) is more emphatic than lex, which signifies these very same concepts, as shown by quotations of decisive authors of the fourth century.

István BAÁN, Origen on the Decalogue