Gregory Benevitch. Maximus Confessor’s Interpretation of Abraham’s Hospitality in Genesis 18 and the Preceding Orthodox Tradition. Vol. 4. No. 1. 2019

Publication Details

Abstract

In Orthodox exegesis, there are two main interpretations of God’s theophany to Abraham in Gen 18: the three ‘men’ were either the pre-incarnate Christ and two angels, or, later, they were a type of the Trinity. This article deals with Maximus the Confessor’s exegesis of this passage. His interpretations are treated in the context of his teaching on love, his philosophical ideas and his mystical teaching. It shows that Maximus’ exegesis can be understood as a creative synthesis of the preceding Orthodox tradition’s two interpretations. According to Maximus, receiving three men as identical with him in nature, Abraham acknowledged, in them and through them, God as the Good Father and Creator of all human beings. Maximus’ statement that Abraham knew “all as one and one as all” (Max. Ep. 2), does not mean that all human beings were exactly alike for Abraham, that is totally identical. It means that for Abraham each human being was God’s own, and Abraham’s love for humankind (φιλανθρωπία) in relation to any human being, was God’s love for humanity. It is that very God’s love for humankind that God perfectly revealed by becoming man in Christ.

Maximus’s God is certainly the god of philosophers, since he was very close to the One and Good of the Neoplatonists. At the same time, He is also the God of Abraham, seen from the Christian perspective. He actively interferes with the human sphere, for example, revealing Himself as it happened with Abraham. This revelation, however, was possible, according to Maximus, thanks to Abraham’s philosophical virtues. Such virtues were Abraham’s love for humankind and contemplation of the human nature’s logos or the overcoming of the matter-form duality and his unity with the One (Max. Thal. 28).

Keywords

Orthodox exegesis, Maximus the Confessor, theophany, Old Testament, gnomic will, virtues, love.

References 

Baehrens W. A. (hg.) (1920) Origenes. “Die 16 Genesishomilien”. Origenes Werke. Bd. 6. Homilien zum Hexateuch in Rufins Uebersetzung. Teil 1. Die Homilien zu Genesis, Exodus und Leviticus. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte. Bd. 29): 1–144.

Bucur B. (2015) “The Early Christian Reception of Genesis 18: From Theophany to Trinitarian Symbolism”. Journal of Early Christian Studies. Vol. 23. No. 2: 245–272.

Constas N. (ed.) (2014) Maximos the Confessor. On Difficulties in the Church Fathers. The Ambigua (ed., tr. by N. Constas). Vols. I–II. Vol. I. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library).

Evagrius (1994) “Practicus et epistula ad Anatolium”. Tvoreniya avvy Evagriya. Asketicheskie i bogoslovskie traktaty [The Works of Abba Evagrius. Ascetical and Theological Treatises] (tr., intr., comment. by A. I. Sidorov). Moscow: Martis: 94–112. (in Russian).

Hannah D. D. (1999) Michael and Christ. Michael traditions and angel Christology in early Christianity. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe. Bd. 109).

Henry P., Schwyzer H.-R., Armstrong A. H. (eds.) (1988) Plotinus. Enneads. 7 vols. (ed. by P. Henry, H.-R. Schwyzer, A. H. Armstrong, English tr. by A. H. Armstrong). Vol. 7. Enneads VI. 6–9. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: Heinemann (Loeb Classical Library. № 468).

Grypeou E., Spurling H. (2009) “Abraham’s Angels: Jewish and Christian Exegesis of Genesis 18–19”. The Exegetical Encounter between Jews and Christians in Late Antiquity (ed. by E. Grypeou, H. Spurling). Leiden: Brill (Jewish and Christian Perspectives Series. Vol. 18): 181–204.

Laga C., Steel C. (edd.) (1980) Maximus Confessor. Quaestiones ad Thalassium. Vol. I. Quaestiones I–LV una cum latina interpretatione Iohannis Scotti Eriugenae iuxta posita. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers (Corpus Christianorum. Series Graeca. Vol. 7).

Laga C., Steel C. (edd.) (1990) Maximus Confessor. Quaestiones ad Thalassium. Vol. II. Quaestiones LVI–LXV una cum latina interpretatione Iohannis Scotti Eriugenae iuxta posita. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers (Corpus Christianorum. Series Graeca. Vol. 22).

Maximus Confessor (1993a) “Capita de caritate”. Tvoreniya prepodobnogo Maksima Ispovednika. Kn. I. Bogoslovskie i asketicheskie traktaty [Works by saint Maximus the Confessor. Vol. 1. Theological and ascetical works] (tr., intr., comment. by A. I. Sidorov). Moscow: Martis (Svyatootecheskoe nasledie. T. 1 [Patristic heritage. Vol. 1]): 96–145. (in Russian).

Maximus Confessor (1993b) Tvoreniya prepodobnogo Maksima Ispovednika. Kn. II. Ch. 1 [Works by saint Maximus the Confessor. Vol. 1. Part 1]. Quaestiones ad Thalassium. Quaestiones I–LV (tr., comment. by S. L. Epifanovic, A. I. Sidorov). Moscow: Martis (Svyatootecheskoe nasledie. T. 2 [Patristic heritage. Vol. 2]). (in Russian).

Maximus Confessor (2010) Quaestiones et dubia (tr. by D. A. Chernoglazova, ed., intr., comment. by G. I. Benevitch). Moscow; The “Holy Mountain” (Mount Athos): Nikeya; Pustyn’ Novaya Fivaida Afonskogo Russkogo Panteleimonova monastyrya (Vizantiiskaya filosofiya. T. 6 [Byzantine philosophy. Vol. 6]; Smaragdos Philocalias). (in Russian).

Maximus Confessor (2015). Pis’ma [Letters] (tr. by Y. Nachinkin, intr. by J.-C. Larchet, comment., ed. by G. I. Benevich). 2nd ed., corrected and augmented. St. Petersburg: Izd-vo Olega Abyshko (Biblioteka hristianskoj mysli [The Library of Christian Thought]; Vizantiiskaya filosofiya. T. 17 [Byzantine Philosopy. Vol. 17]; Smaragdos Philocalias). (in Russian).

Thunberg L. (1966) “Early Christian Interpretation of the Three Angels in Gen. 18”. Studia Patristica. Vol. 7: 560–570.

Törönen M. (2007). Union and Distinction in the Thought of St Maximus the Confessor. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford Early Christian Studies).

© Gregory Benevitch, 2019