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Florovsky Georges: The Byzantine Fathers of the 5^th century, Pournaras, Thessaloniki, 1992.

This book constitutes the second part of a tetralogy, which starts with the Fathers of the 4^th century, to end, in the fourth part, with the Fathers of the eighth (century). This is a meaty piece of patristic research with concrete theological grounding and no lack of historical and philological references. Besides, this tetralogy emanates from the author’s conviction that patristic studies should not be exhausted simply to a grammatological and historical presentation of the persons and works of the Fathers, but should also extend to the “dialectic” of their ideas, the development of their problematic so as to both face the heretic challenges and theologically construct the body of the Church.

In Fr. Georges’ days there was a drive in this direction, not least due to the development of patristic theology with critique monographs gaining in publicity and the fully established by the 20^th century related academic discipline of Doctrinal History. Thus, Fr. Georges’ main concern, though not an original one, was to establish Patrology as something more than a sort of literature history. His goal was to create a fertile and creative imprint of the dialectic of theological ideas and the fermentations of Christianity in its history, as well as to construct a theology framework as live testimony of the Christian truth.

The book starts with the presentation of the New Testament heritage, which, according to the author, is a deep expression of early Christianity’s existential agony about the Person of the “Son of Man” and His relationship to the Father. He, then, moves on to the later experience of the above truth, as it was expressed in the works of the early Christian writers. He stands on crucial points of the process of the Christian Doctrine, such as Monarchianism, Tertyllian and Hippolytus, Origenis, to reach Nice and from there on to Ephesus.

Equipped with the above analyses, the author elaborates on the main persons and ideas, which marked the 5^th century Christological problematic.

He addresses the theological presence of Theodoros Mompsuestias with an analytical presentation of his work, the theologian’s relationship with John Chrysostomos, but also the concept of the “Antiochian Christology”, which stems from his work. He present Nestorios’ prevailing theological trend, but also the theology of Cyrill of Alexandria as the opposing theological trend.

The evolution of Christological ideas from Nestorios to Eutiches, offers an opportunity for the development and synthesis of the Chalcedon Christology. The role of Kyros Theodoritos and the “volume” of Pope Leon express the dialectic theological background that the Chalcedon Synod ought to clarify.

Fr. Georges Florovsky follows this course of the Christological problematic, equipped with the deepest historical-doctrinal knowledge and its simple, but complete methodological presentation. These virtues of his render the volume charming and easy to follow.

Georges Florovsky, Landmarks of Russian Theology, Pournaras, Thessaloniki, 1983.

This book constitutes a systematic and rigorous overview of the course of the Russian Christianity. From the idolatry period until modern times, at the end of the 19^th century, Florovsky follows, with objectivity and historical impartiality, as well as with the consciousness of the historian who participates in the formation of historical facts, the course of the theological thought and spiritual – ecclesiastical life of the Russian people in the course of history.

We follow contradictions and palinodes, the crisis of the “Russian Byzantinism” as an attempt to come of age, the blooming of translations and domestic philology, the development of monasticism and mostly of eremitism.

The apotheosis of mysticism to the point of exaggeration, which reveals the quality of the Russian soul, western and eastern influences, Peter the Great and Baroque inform of the size of the confusion and the lack of criteria and are indicative of a course in the search for truth. A course, which, through mistakes and palinodes, but also with the anxiety of seeking the truth on the road to authenticity, concludes, in the mind of the author, in a case of demonstrating and clarifying the criteria. These criteria, according to Fr. George Florovsky, are no other than the emergence of the authentic patristic tradition, in its fertile and creative transposition to the needs and demands of each time. The authentic patristic teaching and its equally authentic historical experience constitute, for the Harvard professor, the only credible impetus of theological life and the ecclesiastic experience in the course of history.

This reality is so stable and alive in the mind of the Russian theologian and intellectual that he will not hesitate to instigate, in the face of the revival of theological studies in his days, the “return to the Fathers”, as a return to the living, practical, but also creative theology.

Georges Florovsky, Byzantine Ascetic and Spiritual Fathers, transl. Panayiotis K. Pallis, Pournaras, Thessaloniki, 1992, pp. 419.

In the last volume of his patristic tetralogy, professor Fr. Georges Florovsky presents Byzantine ascetics and spiritual fathers. The Dessert and spiritual life constitute an extensive  chapter of Christian theology, which cannot be established beyond the assessment of philology and doctrinal history.

The ascetic ideal is at the centre of Christian thought and constitutes one of its basic ingredients as early as the time of the New Testament. This is why Fr. Georges begins this presentation from early Christianity and the experience of proto-christian societies. Perfection, philanthropy, prayer, fasting, purity, penitence, humiliation, and particularly love constitute fundamental priorities of New Testament thought. The shortcomings of N. NYGREN’s critique on love as “a re-capitulation of all ancient values” is located, according to Florovsky, in its weakness to comprehend the new, radical Christian love in the actual anthropological response to God’s call, which marks the beginning of spiritual and ascetic life.

In the substantiated historical and theological analysis of monasticism phenomenon which follows, the Orthodox researcher traces the development of Christian spirituality from Anthony the Great to anachoritic monasticism, the Cappadoceans Vassilios and Gregory of Nyssa, Pseudo-Makarius, Evagrius Ponticus, Isidorus Pilousiotes and Diadochos Fotikes, right up to the aeropagitic Corpus.

The observations and the designation of Gregory of Nyssa as one of the “most original thinkers to ever appear in the history of the Church” is not only aimed at Nygren’s weakness to comprehend the ecclesiastical Father’s Christian spirituality, but points out the Cappadoceans’ contribution as a store of knowledge for mystical ascension to Divination.

The development of Christian spirituality cannot be a timeless, idealised and hyper-historical unfolding of the state of the heavens. It wrestles in complex ways with a variety of historical villainy, which often attempts to transform the positive and remarkable aspects it contains. For Fr. Georges Florovsky this marks the case of Makarius’ Spiritual speeches, as well as the areopagitic corpus. Whatever messalianic and stoic colouring there is to be found in the first and neo-platonic slant in the latter are dissected with the scalpel of Orthodox theology to uncover their deep roots in the solid tradition of Christian spirituality.

Georges Florovsky, Issues of Ecclesiastic History, Pournaras, Thessaloniki, 1979.

            Some special studies, published in various scientific journals and conferences, infused with the wealth of the patristic thought, as well as with the mobility and historic dynamics of modern years, always under a central prevalence of historicity, constitute the content of the volume, titled: Issues of Ecclesiastic History.

In this volume Fr. Georges deals with a variety of issues. With his usual authority and depth of work, he deals with the tendencies and particularities of theology in our days, as well as with cutting-edge issues of the patristic thought and problematic.

The presentation of the so-called “Greek dogma” by W. Gass as a gradual deviation and falsification of the ancient Christian faith constitutes the starting point for the development of Fr. Georges’ thought on the meaning of tradition. It also constitutes an ideal opportunity to realize the causes and challenges, that is the pretexts, for the formulation of dogma, during the period of the united Church, as well as for the understanding of the dogmatic formulation as guarding of the saving truth and Its self-consciousness. The expression «επόμενοι τοις αγίοις πατράσιν» (the Fathers are next to the saints) is not just a declaration of compliance to Tradition, but also a creative re-employment of the latter, and its use today, in the face of all types of challenges.

This is the kind of logic also used by the Fathers to deal with the Old Testament. Justine reaches the point of saying, as the author notes, that this book belongs to the Judeans no more, but to the Christians. The connection of faith and theology to worship and Christian life seems to be a safety valve that saves, time and again, the originality, but also the authenticity of patristic thought.

In this volume, too, as of course in others, Fr. Georges Florovsky does not miss the opportunity to deal with the dogma of creation (here on the occasion of Athanasios), which constitutes a Christian novelty in the field of philosophy. The creation of the world ex nihilo, solely by the holy creative command, does not constitute just the specific distinction of Christian faith and thought compared to previous philosophical and religious concepts, but constructs a whole pattern–framework of the biblical revelation and ecclesiastic experience. The distinction between “creation” and “genesis”, as well as the notions of salvation and restoration of creation, emerge organically from such questions.

The dynamics, however, of the sotiriological fact was impossible to exhaust itself, according to the patristic thought, in shapes and expressions of the philosophical thought. The resurrection of the dead and the salvation of the world are eschatological experiences, which define the effort of Fr. Florovsky to describe the central pillars of patristic eschatology. An eschatological hope, founded on the faith in Christ the Saviour and leads, with a sense of internal necessity, to the hope of the future century.

With the same systematic rigor and the same theological depth, he deals with the modern expressions of the life and history of the Church. The Russian missions, for example, or any western influences in the Russian theology mostly during the 18^th century, the roads of Russian theology from the middle of the 16^th century of the detachment from the Byzantine birthplace, to Gogol, Dostoevsky and the Slavophiles, the history of the theological thought in Russia reflects a recent problematic and the course towards the modern era and its problems.

For Florovsky, as a historian, the “world theological constant” of a creative, yet not arbitrary and subjective course, is the patristic theology. And the “return to the Fathers” constitutes the continuous command every time any theological truth is at risk from the temptation of deterioration and corruption.