ARTICLES
Christos Terezis
University of Patras, Greece
terezis@upatras.gr
Lydia Petridou
Hellenic Open University, Greece
petridoulydia@yahoo.gr
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 7-22
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-7-22
Keywords: Plato, Charmides, temperance, Ontology, Epistemology.
Abstract. The purpose of this article is to investigate how the discussion in Plato’s “Charmides” is formed with respect to a) the ontological and epistemological approaches of the virtue of temperance and b) how the transition from a general definition of a virtue to its presence to a person is accomplished. After a concise presentation of those discussed in the passage 156d-157c, where we follow Plato’s views on the soul to that time, we focus on how dialectics between Socrates and “Charmides” develops in the passage 157c-158e. Our article includes, apart from an introduction and an epilogue, two chapters. The first one is mostly analytical and the second is mainly formed by synthetic judgements. They are both crucial mostly for methodological reasons, since through them we can follow how temperance turns gradually into a question to be investigated and how the Athenian philosopher attempts to set the foundations of a discussion based on rational reason with the main reference focusing on the criteria which someone can use to prove that he possesses temperance.
Kazimierz Pawlowski
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University (Warsaw, Poland)
kazimierzpawlowski2007@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 23-43
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-23-43
Keywords: Asclepius, Hermes Trismegistus, Hermetic Philosophy, Hermetic Anthropology.
Abstract. The paper discusses anthropological and eschatological issues in the work of Pseudo-Apuleius entitled Asclepius, sive dialogus Hermetis Trismegisti. In this context, the issue of evil in the moral sense and the question of the sources of evil understood in this way are raised.
Evangelos Rousakis
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
evangelosfilosofia82@gmail.com
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 44-55
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-44-55
Keywords: allegory, Eleatics, Plato, parricide, metaphysics.
Abstract: In this essay, the function of the personification of Parmenides himself with the horse of Ibycus in the dialogue of Plato’s Parmenides will be elaborated. The analytical process of this reference by Parmenides will focus to demonstrate that the personification is an allegorical element of Plato whose role in the dialogue is crucial for the understanding of the author's objective about the second more extended part of the Parmenides.
Junyan Song
University of Iowa (USA)
Junyan-song@uiowa.edu
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 56-63
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-56-63
Keywords: Chronos, Aion, Orphism, Greek Mythology, Aion, Damascius.
Abstract. This paper discusses the identification of god figure depicted as a man with a lion's head, which has been associated with Aion and equated with Orphic god Chronos. The author challenges the equation of Aion with Orphic Chronos, drawing on evidence from Proclus and Damascius, who both distinguish Aion as a separate entity from Chronos. Additionally, the author presents an attempt to illustrate the Orphic god Chronos based on Damascius' description.
Alexander A. Sinitsyn
Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
aa.sinizin@mail.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 64-79
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-64-79
Keywords: Petronius Arbiter, “Satyricon”, Federico Fellini, “Love in the City” (L’amore in città, 1953), “A Marriage Agency” (Un’agenzia matrimoniale), Trimalchio’s feast, cena Trimalchionis, cinema, insula, werewolf (versipellis), Niceros’ story, novel.
Abstract. The article makes an assumption about a probable reference to Petronius’ Satyricon, occurring in Federico Fellini’s novel A Marriage Agency (Un’agenzia matrimoniale), which is part of the anthology film Love in the City (L’amore in città, 1953) made by a group of Italian film directors. Many a time did the Italian film maker admit that he had discovered Petronius as early as his years at the lyceum in Rimini. The author of the article adduces arguments testifying to a possible influence Petronius may have had on Fellini; he draws parallels between the ancient horror-story told by a freedman, Niceros, at the feast held by Trimalchio (Sat. 61–62) and the modern story created by Federico Fellini. These parallels in the stories about werewolves (versipellis), found in Petronius’ Satyricon and in Fellini’s A Marriage Agency, are credible coincidences. Fellini chose the tale about a werewolf, which may have been inspired by Petronius’ novel that had had a great influence on him in his green years. And the horror-story about a lycanthrope told by Niceros is undoubtedly one of the most memorable ones at the cena Trimalchionis. If the assumption in the article is true, then the story A Marriage Agency is Fellini’s yet another film that, along with Satyricon, features the Petronius subject, and, what is most important, this happened half a decade before his ‘historiographic’ masterpiece.
Aleksandr Mishurin
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow
a.n.mishurin@iph.ras.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 80-114
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-80-114
Keywords. Xenophon, Socrates, political philosophy, economics, teaching, rule.
Abstract. The present study seeks to deepen the understanding of Xenophon’s political philosophy as it is reflected in Socrates’ investigation of economic knowledge in the dialogue titled Oeconomicus. The study concentrates on the six conventional parts of the oikos or household (house, things, slaves, land, horses, and wife), which are loosely connected with six facets of human life (pleasure, order, rule, leisure, enrichment, and education), as presented by the perfect gentleman (rich and successful) Ischomachus and his pupil, the (poor and wretched) philosopher Socrates. It demonstrates how the latter, learning Ischomachus’ economic teaching, radically transforms it, simultaneously showing the most serious possibilities lying behind the common notions of economic and political life and the inherent limitations of their fulfillment and threatening to undermine (and, indeed, undermining, in the personal case of Socrates) said ways of life as they are conventionally perceived.
Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer
Universität Leipzig
stekeler@uni-leipzig.de
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 115-130
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-115-130
Keywords: Soul, Mind, Ethos, Formation, Sociality.
Abstract. Explicit reflections on intellectual faculties and their good applications begin by talking about a divine spirit and a human soul. Heraclitus seems to be the first to explain that all higher mental capacities rest on ethical formation. Self-conscious thinking leads therefore, as Hegel also sees, to normative sociality as its transcendental basis.
Dmitrii Chernoglazov
Sociological Institute of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg)
d_chernoglazov@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 131-147
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-131-147
Keywords: Michael Italikos, Michael Psellos, Theodoros Prodromos, Manuel Karantenos, Plato, “Gorgias”, rhetoric, philosophy, Komnenian renaissance.
Abstract. The problem of the correlation between philosophy and rhetoric, which was widely discussed in the late antiquity, regains relevance in Byzantium in the 11th – 12th centuries. The task of this article is to determine what position on this issue was held by Michael Italikos († before 1157), a Byzantine scholar, rhetorician and Neoplatonist philosopher. It has been already noted that in two of his works Italikos articulated two opposing views: in one he argued that philosophy is useless and far inferior to rhetoric, while in the other he exalted philosophy being capable not only of investigating abstract subjects but also of caring for the human good. The paper analyzes these and other texts in which Italikos argues about philosophy and rhetoric. It is demonstrated that Italikos awarded primacy to philosophy but also valued eloquence highly. It is concluded that the ideal of Michael Italikos, as well as other authors of that period, was a synthesis of philosophical thought and rhetorical elegance. Examples are given from his works, showing how this synthesis was realized in practice. This position is contradicted by only one small essay by Italikos, where he asserts the superiority of rhetoric over philosophy. This text, quite unusual in the context of the late antique and Byzantine tradition, is probably an example of rhetorical play that does not reflect the author’s views.
Maria Varlamova
Sociological Institute of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg, Russia).
boat.mary@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 148-165
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-148-165
Keywords: the prime matter, cosmos, creation of the world, Byzantine philosophy, Michael Psellos, John Italos, John Philoponus.
Abstract. In this article, I discuss the concept of matter - both the first matter and the physical matter of the world, that is, elements - in Byzantine philosophy of the 11th century, namely, in the works of Michael Psellos and John Italos. In particular, I am interested in how the concept of matter is interpreted in connection with the idea of Creation and the finiteness of the world. I trace the connection between the philosophy of the 11th century and the late ancient discussions about matter. I focus on Philoponus' arguments against the eternity of the world and his definition of matter as a three-dimensional extension as well as on the Simplicius' analysis of matter as a principle of corporality. However, it is important for me to show not only the dependence of the Byzantine philosophers on Philoponus and Simplicius, but also their autonomy in defining philosophical terms. The intellectual horizon of Michael Psellos' and John Italos' thought, which influences the approach of these philosophers to the discussion of physical concepts, differs from the horizon of late ancient philosophy.
Grigory S. Belikov
Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature RAS
grbelikoff@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 166-184
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-166-184
Keywords: Maximus of Tyre, active and contemplative life, Plato, Anaxagoras, apology of Socrates, double speeches.
Abstract. The paper deals with two speeches of Maximus of Tyre, dedicated to active and contemplative life (XV–XVI). Parallels with other authors (Apuleius, Alcinoos) show that this theme became popular in the Platonic tradition. Maximus takes up well-developed material but uses a new form for its presentation – double speeches (disputatio in utramque partem). This article gives a brief overview of the problem of the active and contemplative life in order to outline the context relevant for Maximus' philosophical speeches. Although there are no original ideas in the orations, it seems interesting to examine the use of Platonic material and the choice of dialogues, which were used to argue the thesis and the antithesis. The analysis of the speeches shows the ways in which Maximus uses the dialogues Gorgias and The Republic, i.e. borrowing some images and thematic passages. Plato's Apology of Socrates occupies a special position in the composition of the XVI speech. Using Plato's work as a model, Maximus writes a speech that Anaxagoras could have held in front of the citizens of Clazomenoi, defending his way of life.
Faris O. Nofal
Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow)
faresnofal@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 185-203
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-185-203
Keywords: al-Fārābī, Plotinus, Proclus, pseudo-Aristotle, “Theology of Aristotle”, “Elements of Theology”, Falsafah, Medieval Arab Philosophy, Neo-Platonism, Eastern Mysticism.
Abstract. The article peers at a problem of attribution in the texts quoted by faylasuf al- Fārābī in his book ‘The Harmony between Two Sages’. The author proves that regardless of modern Western scholars (P. Adamson, F. Zimmermann) opinion, al-Fārābī knew thoroughly vulgate-version of apocrypha ‘Aristotle’s Theology’ well-known to the researchers, used by him while working at the text of ‘The Harmony…’. It also shows that sporadically the thinker referred to the fragments of ‘Elements of Theology’ by Proclus that were included into Arab Aristotle corpus. Separately the article discusses the role of ‘Theology’ by Pseudo-Aristotle in establishment of eastern peripatetics’ mystical teachings.
Daniil Shulga
Siberian Institute of Management – the branch of Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (Novosibirsk, Russia)
Petr Shulga
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk, Russia)
alkaddafa@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 204-223
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-204-223
Keywords: Keywords: Great Silk Road, Hellenism, early nomads, Northern China, Qin Empire.
Abstact. China’s contacts with the Greek world, as shown in previous research, are chronologically extensive. It is certain that they began in antiquity and continued until the developed Middle Ages (Roman Embassy to the Song China). However, in domestic and foreign scientific literature there are often very dubious examples of the Far East and Hellenic culture links. In this article we will examine some of them. It is noteworthy that in the Greek-Chinese contacts study it is often necessary to decide questions concerning the ethno cultural situation in the «world of early nomads». The latter extended from the Northern Black Sea to Transbaikalia and Ordos. The article also considers the problem of correlation of «ethnonyms» from narrative sources with archaeological cultures, the sites of which were found in the north of the People’s Republic of China.
Vladimir Brovkin
Institute of Philosophy and Law SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
vbrovkin1980@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 224-238
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-224-238
Keywords: Epicurus, history of philosophy, physics, ethics, nature, society, fears, desires
Abstract. The article deals with the question of the relationship between ethics and physics in the philosophy of Epicurus. It is established that physics plays a primary role in Epicurus. According to Epicurus physical theory contributes to the formation of a person's special view of the world, which eliminates fears of the forces of nature, elevates above social reality, frees from myths and ensures a life without anxiety and unrest. Ethics in Epicurus plays the role of an additional teaching, which is designed to get rid of empty desires and anxieties, the source of which is society.
Andrey Tikhonov
Southern Federal University
avtihonov@sfedu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 239-251
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-239-251
Keywords: Plato, Being, “Parmenides”, Dialectic, Metaphilosophy.
Abstract. Based on the assumption that the divine is presenting in the “Parmenides”, the author refers to such a tradition of comments on this dialogue, which indicates the presence in it of a certain ontology, namely – “the doctrine of ideas”, which presupposes the fundamental primacy of the “one” (“ideal”) over the “many” (objects of physical world). The nature of the connection between the “one” and the “many” in the “Parmenides” is fixed; the belonging of objects to “ideas” correlates with the process of creation of the physical world, which makes it possible to join Plato's commentators who combine the dialogues “Parmenides” and “Timaeus” into one group of a dialogues describing ontology. However, the difference between “Parmenides” and “Timaeus” is that in “Parmenides” we see the ontology, that can be considered as an ideal construction of physical reality, which was presented in “Timaeus”. The difference in the description of reality allows us to make a hypothesis of the presence of some higher, meta-realistic level of the description of being in Plato's teaching.
Rustam Galanin
Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
mousse2006@mail.ru
Nadezhda Volkova
Russian State University for Humanities (Moscow, Russia)
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 252-267
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-252-267
Keywords: sophistry, subject, morality, rhetoric, ancient philosophy.
Abstract. The article attempts to reconstruct Gorgias’ theory of logos. It is shown that the logos, hiding reality, produces infinite existential possibilities in the consciousness of the subject, connected not with truth, but with doxa. The article also suggests that Gorgias, unlike Parmenides, limited the use of the logos only to this world. In our world, the phenomena of consciousness, qualia, all perceptual acts are somehow linguistically encoded. When we approach the realm of the transcendent, the language falls silent, and any attempt to describe such an experience turn out to be profanation. Of the diverse discourses that exist in our world, according to Gorgias, only poetic creativity is authentic, which, being in no way connected with objective reality, creates an entirely fictional world of art, where only true empathy through catharsis, i.e. morality, is possible.
Igor Tantlevskij
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
i.tantlevsky@spbu.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 268-277
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-268-277
Keywords: Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Shakespeare’s sonnet 146, Renaissance Neoplatonism, “Plato’s Theology” by Ficino, anima nutritiva.
Abstract. Sonnet 146 not only stands apart from Shakespeare’s sonnets, but, in fact, is a complete philosophical and theological poetic pamphlet. As for the soteriological context of sonnet 146, which represents the idea of abandoning the concerns of the body and saving the soul by “feeding” it with the body, one could, first of all, note the New Testament passages from apostle Paul about “mortification” of the flesh and fleshly passions for the salvation of the soul: Rom. 8:13 (cf. also: 7:5; 8:7); Col. 3:5 (cf. further, e. g.: 1 Cor. 3:1, 3); Gal. 5:24. But as for the allegory of the soul’s salvation through its “feeding” on the flesh — instead of feeding the flesh, as it is usually done by the people that death “feeds” on — one can see here a reflection and a kind of “reverse” reinterpretation of M. Ficino’s doctrine of the “nutritive/sc. feeding soul” (anima nutritiva), which he develops in his “Plato’s Theology”. Passages of “Plato’s Theology” VII, 9; XIII, 5; VI, 12; XVIII, 9 are particularly representative in this regard. In XVIII, 9 Ficino writes: “If at present the life of the composite man is subject to the conditions of his decay-prone body, in the future it will follow the conditions of the immortal soul. As a result, death will give way to life in accord with the most perfect kind of natural beginnings. Death, which has lost its power, as the prophets tell us, will be swallowed up by life... There will arise... eternal bodies.” By “prophets” here primarily Hosea (13:14), whom the apostle Paul quotes (1 Cor. 15:55 [cf. also: 1 Сor. 15:26; Rev. 21:4]), and Isaiah (25:8 [cf. its reminiscence in 1 Cor. 15:54]; cf. also, e.g.: Isa. 26:19, 41:14; Dan. 12:2, 13) are meant. The last line of sonnet 146 (“And death once dead, ther’s no more dying then” [сf. also: sonnets 55, line 13; 60, line 13; 122, line 4]) correlates with Rev. 21:4, as well as with the passage from Ficino XVIII, 9.
Roman Svetlov
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad, Russia)
spatha@mail.ru
Nikita V. Kuznetsov
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
nikita2554@mail.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 278-285
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-278-285
Keywords: Julian the Apostate, Chaldean Oracles, heliocentrism, astronomy and religion, Neoplatonism.
Abstract. Heliocentrism played an important role in the formation of ancient theoretical astronomy. However, as we know, the geocentric theory won the competition. Nonetheless, in the writings of Julian the Apostate we can see the reminiscences if not of the heliocentrism of Aristarchus of Samos then elements of the cosmology of Heraclides Ponticus. The paper points out to what extent these “reminiscences” have a rhetorical character, emphasizing the influence of the heliolatry of the Chaldean Oracles on Julian. It also interprets to what extent the emperor-philosopher himself accepted “unorthodox” models of the universe. Perhaps the intuition that the cosmology of Neoplatonism of the Syrian and Pergamon school deviated from the traditional one for their epoch can be seen in Dmitri Merezhkovsky’s novel The Death of the Gods (Julian the Apostate).
Oleg Donskikh
Novosibirsk State University
Novosibirsk State Technical University (Russia)
olegdonskikh@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 286-317
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-286-317
Keywords: Ancient Israel, Ancient India, monotheism, Brahmanism, Upanishads, mantras, meditation, asceticism, authorship.
Abstract. This article discusses the question of how the personal element, which became the starting point of the movement toward individual thinking, manifested itself in the culture of ancient Israel and the culture of ancient India. The article attempts to describe the features of these cultures, which unlike the ancient Egyptian and Sumero-Akkadian, allowed to pass this way to the end. The process of formation of monotheism from the pre-state period to the great prophets is traced. It is noted that socio-political life, which determined with such force the status of man in a number of other Near Eastern cultures, in Israelite culture was subordinated to religious life, which otherwise determined the consciousness of man's status. In doing so, henotheism is gradually overcome. In the consciousness of the Israelite people the idea of complete dependence on God, who reveals himself through the prophets and establishes the requirement of a personal relationship to him, is established. At the same time, God, acting as a guarantor of justice, is revealed through the problem of theodicy, which can be posed only by a free personality. The movement of thought in ancient India turns out to be the opposite of what we see in ancient Israel: while the latter is affirmed through a long but persistent movement towards monotheism, Indian Brahmanism accepts the great diversity of divine reality and through the affirmation of its unity only multiplies the number of its components The decisive period for the emergence of individual consciousness was the period of the Upanishads. At this time, the deepened comprehension of the texts of the Vedas leads to the fact that a philosophical knowledge is built over religious knowledge. The specificity of Indian consciousness is determined by the long period of its oral existence, when the sounding speech in ritual or in the process of meditation acquires the key importance in the realization of the unity of the world. Individual consciousness is manifested in the process of concentration, directed towards understanding rather than mere reproduction of ritual mantras. The practice of asceticism played a role here. Just as in other cultures during the Axial time in India individual authorship emerges.
TRANSLATIONS
Eugene Afonasin
Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (Kaliningrad, Russia)
afonasin@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 318-332
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-318-332
Keywords: Orphic theogony, ancient sources, myth, interpretation, Chronos, Phanes.
Abstract. The Orphic “theogony of Hieronymus and Hellanicus” is known thanks to Athenagoras (2nd century) and Damascius (6th century) and our informants approach the text of the theogony in very different ways. Athenagoras reads it literally, thus seeking to show all the immorality of Orphicism, whereas Damascus, in typical Neoplatonic fashion, understands it allegorically and uses it to illustrate his own theological position. We do not know who Hieronymus and Hellanicus are, but the theogony told in their name is remarkable, unique in many respects, and appears as a kind of transitional type between the early Orphic theogony and the later Rhapsodic theogony. This is achieved, above all, by expanding the number of entities involved in the story. Whereas the early theogonies usually began with the figures of Night and Oceanus with Tethys, they are now preceded by Chronos. In addition, in Hieronymus and Hellanicus (if Athenagoras uses only one source) and then in the Rhapsodies, Dionysus appears in the theogony, completing the genealogy of the gods: having copulated in the form of a serpent with Demeter, Zeus gives birth to Persephone, who, also in union with Zeus, becomes the mother of Dionysus. In this article we offer the reader an analytical reading of the extant fragments of this version of Orphic theogony, providing them with a detailed commentary.
Alexei Garadja
Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow)
agaradja@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 333-346
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-333-346
Keywords: Michael Psellus, Neoplatonism, theurgy, demonology.
Abstract. The publication presents a commented Russian translation of a short compilation entitled Τίνα περὶ δαιμόνων δοξάζουσιν Ἕλληνες (“What are the Hellenes’ Opinions of Demons”, Latin Graecorum opiniones de daemonibus) attributed to Michael Psellus (1018 – ca. 1078). The text is a compact overview of religious and adjacent practices of the “Hellenes”, meaning the pagan Greeks, from the Neoplatonic perspective, which goes back, eventually, to the Chaldaic Oracles, the “Bible of Neoplatonists” as Franz Cumont has named that fragmentarily extant collection of ii century a.d. Indubitably Michael Psellus has been strongly influenced by the Oracles, as well as by the lost commentary on this work by Proclus. Nevertheless, the attribution to Michael Psellus of the Opinions, as well as of the dialogue Timotheus, or On demons (Τιμόθεος ἢ περὶ δαιμόνων), another, somewhat more extensive essay on the same topics (demonology, sacrifices, mysteries, sorcery, magic, divination), seems to be definitively unconvincing, judging by purely formal (lingual) criteria. It would be much more plausible to attribute these writings to some students or followers of this prominent representative of Byzantine proto-Humanism, conveniently designating these anonymous authors as “Pseudo-Psellus”. The text of the Opinions allows to promptly identify many cross-references not only to Proclus, but also to other Neoplatonists (Porphyry, Iamblichus, Synesius), and the section on the mysteries almost literally borrows (though not without blatant distortions) from Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus. The Russian translation is based on Paul Gautier’s edition (1988), which is itself based on the oldest manuscript, Vaticanus gr. 1411 (fin. s. xiv), containing the text of the compilation (ff. 33r–34v).
Fedor Nekhaenko
National Research University «Higher School of Economics» (Moscow)
fvnekhaenko@edu.hse.ru
Language: English
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 347-386
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-347-386
Keywords: Hugh of Saint-Cher, Aristotle, eternity, Cathars, divine dualism, Sentences.
Abstract. The paper contains the the first Latin transcription and an English translation of the first part of the second book of Hugh of Saint-Cher's Opus, his commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences accomplished between 1231 and 1234. The transcription is based on the codex Vat. lat. 1098 collated with five auxiliary manuscripts. In line with William of Auxerre and Alexander of Hales Hugh critically disavows pagan and heretical stances represented by Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Manichean regarding the creation of the world. My foreword sheds light on the philosophical value of presented arguments plus the historical background of the issue and Hugh's relation with contemporary theologians whose ideas Hugh rearranges and modifies in one concise text. I argue that Hugh blends together these four authorities to challenge and reject the concepts of eternity and dualism. The theologian imputes dualism — contrary to the run-of-the-mill attribution of three beginnings — to the Stagyrite while putting the concept of opposite principles from Aristotle referenced before by William in Cathar's mouth. Even Plato and Epicurus become proponents of the heretical repudiation of creation from nothing in favor of divine production from adjacent matter which aligns the Greeks with Cathars' metaphysics. Hugh's Opus, if not original in the modern sense, anticipated a surge of refutations aimed at heretics and “Averroists”. The proposed isomorphism between Aristotle-Heretic and Cathar-Peripatetic partially molded early arguments in the theological Sentences as well as inquisitorial Summa. Whereas the focus on Сathars' dualism diminished when they were brutally wiped off the map, William, Alexander, and Hugh's reasons against the Peripatetic view on eternity continued to draw attention among theologians fighting back “Averroism”.
REVIEWS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Irina N. Mochalova
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
mochalova@yandex.ru
Danil S. Popov
St. Petersburg State University (Russia)
Evseviy-Dan@yandex.ru
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 387-409
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-387-409
Keywords: Stoicism, Stoic philosophy, Russian philosophy, Russian periodicals of the XIX century.
Abstract. The scope of the study is the history of the reception of the Stoic legacy in the Russian periodicals (journals, newspapers, collections of works) published during the XIX century. The Russian periodicals of the first half of the 19th century inherited in their character and content the materials of the 18th century. They mostly had edifying and entertaining character, demonstrating sometimes the lack of scholarship and originality. A landmark event that influenced significantly the revitalization and reformatting of the educated Russian public's interest in the Stoics was the broad discussion in a number of major journals and newspapers about the works of G. Boissier, C. Martha, and E. Renan published in 1879 —1881. In the last decades of the 19th century, periodicals in Russia contributed to a surge of interest in the philosophers of Portico. On the pages of journals and newspapers moral strategies and religious views of the Stoics were extolled and overthrown; new translations of Stoic texts and critical works on the Stoics were actively discussed; certain aspects of Stoic ideas came into the focus of attention of publicists of various kinds — from revolutionaries to scholars and theologians. Due to the fact that periodicals had their own specificity, distinct from works written for scholars or students, they played an important role in generating and sustaining interest in the Stoics among an educated public. They also contributed to the preparation of the foundation for the formation of Stoic (and more broadly, Ancient) studies in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.
PUBLICATIONS
Manea Erna Shirinian
Institute of Ancient Manuscripts – Mashtots’ Matenadaran (Yerevan, Armenia)
Erna.shirine@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 410-426
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-410-426
Keywords: Acts of the Apostles, John Chrysostom, medieval Armenian exegesis, Introduction to Holy Scripture, isagogical scheme, Book of causes, prolegomena.
Abstract: The article deals with the title of the “Acts of the Apostles”, which has been a subject of discussion since early Christianity. St. John Chrysostom paid attention to this question as well. Except his commentary on the Acts of Apostles consisted of 55 chapters (In Acta apostolorum) there are also 4 sermons entitled as In principium Actorum, which concern the question of the title of the Acts of Apostles and this writing was called “Acts” and not “Signs” or “Miracles”. We tried to show that the latter opus should be regarded not as an interpretation, but as an isagogical chapter or prolegomenon. Such introductory chapters, necessary for teaching and training, were written in the early ages of Christianity by many authors before they compiled their interpretations of any work. Those not bulky writings were serving as sort of paratexts and did not always reach us. In the unpublished yet medieval Armenian collection on the Biblical Isagogics composed in the late 12th - early 13th centuries by the abbot of the Sanahin monastery Grigor, son of Abas there is a prolegomenon ascribed to John Chrysostom, which deals with this title in question, i.e. the Acts of Apostles. In fact, this isagogical chapter is an abridged version of 4 homilies, having at the same time some passages that differ from the work in question. Data preserved in this Armenian textbook is quite useful for elucidating many questions. It is concluded that John Chrysostom also used the isagogical scheme, which has so far been attributed only to neo-Platonic commentators and two or three Christian authors, such as Origen and Proclus.
Andrey Schetnikov
a.schetnikov@gmail.com
Language: Russian
Issue: ΣΧΟΛΗ 18.1 (2024) 427-468
DOI: 10.25205/1995-4328-2024-18-1-427-468
Keywords: Architectural ornament, Islamic geometric design, girih, polygons in contact, polygonal technique.
Abstract. This article deals with the art of geometric ornaments, widely spread in the whole Islamic world. This art appeared at the beginning of the 11th century in Khorasan and Transoxania, rapidly developed in the next two centuries until the Mongol invasion, transferred from here to Damascus, Cairo and further to the Maghreb countries, and then flourished again in the Timurid Empire, when multi-color solutions were added to complicated geometry of star polygons. We consider various principles for constructing these patterns, with special attention to so called “polygonal technique”.
