"Протоиерей Иоанн Мейендорф. Byzantine Theology " - читать интересную книгу автора

its character or the levels of its teaching were wanting. A centre of
theological learning was attested at the famous monastery of the Akoimetai
(the "Non-Sleepers"), and others certainly existed elsewhere, but very
little was specifically known about them. Theologians, who were active
during the fifth and sixth centuries, often received their training in
distant parts of the empire, such as Syria or Palestine. The Lavra of St.
Sabbas near Jerusalem, for example, was the scene of violent debates between
competing Origenist factions.
The imperial, secular University of Constantinople, founded by
Constantine and reorganized by a decree of Theodosius II (408-450), did not
include theology among its subjects; yet it certainly served as a channel
for the perpetuation of ancient Greek philosophical ideas. The university
remained bilingual (Greek and Latin) until the seventh century and until the
reign of Justinian and included pagans among its professors. But the drastic
measures taken by Justinian in excluding both, pagans and non-Orthodox
Christians, from the teaching profession and in closing the pagan University
of Athens must have emphasized that the role of secular studies in Christian
Byzantium was purely ancillary. Even if a small circle of intellectuals
perpetuated the philosophical traditions of the ancient Greeks, the official
position of both, Church and state, now considered philosophy as at best a
tool for expressing Revelation, but it never admitted that philosophy was
entitled to shape the very content of theological ideas. In practice, one
might readily admit that Aristotelian logic is to be taught in the schools,
but one would be consistently distrustful of Platonism because of its
metaphysical implications. Yet Platonism would subsist through patristic
literature mainly and especially through the Origenist tradition; but it
would never be formally acknowledged as a valid expression of religious
ideas.
Conservative in form and intent, Byzantine theology in the age of
Justinian continually referred to tradition as its main source. In
particular, the Christological debates of the period consisted chiefly of a
battle between exegetes of Scripture about philosophical terms adopted by
Christian theology in the third and fourth centuries and about patristic
texts making use of these terms. Liturgical hymnology, which began to
flourish at this time, incorporated the results of the controversies and
often became a form of credal confession. The various elements of Byzantine
theological traditionalism dominated in the fifth and sixth centuries,
constituted the basis of further creativity in the later periods, and
required very special attention.

Exegetical traditions.


"It is necessary for those who preside over the churches... to teach
all the clergy and the people... collecting out of divine Scripture the
thoughts and judgments of truth but not exceeding the limits now fixed, nor
varying from the tradition of the God-fearing Fathers. But, if any issue
arises concerning Scripture, it should not be interpreted other than as the
luminaries and teachers of the Church have expounded it in their writings;
let them [the bishops] become distinguished for their knowledge of patristic