Timur Shchukin, Oleg Nogovitsin. Anonymous treatise “On the Common Nature and the Trinity” in the context of christlogical and triadological discussions of the VI century. Vol. 1. No. 1. 2016

Publication Details

Anonymous treatise “On the Common Nature and the Trinity” in the context of christlogical and triadological discussions of the VI century
Title in the language of publication:
Анонимный трактат «Об общей природе и Троице» в контексте христологических и триадологических споров VI века
Author:
Timur Shchukin
Research Fellow at the Institute of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Campus in Perm.
Address: 38 Studencheskaya Ulitsa, Perm 614070, Russia.

Oleg Nogovitsin
PhD in Philosophy, Associate Professor, Associate Research Fellow at the Sociological institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Address: 25/14 7-ya Krasnoarmeyskaya str., St. Petersburg 190005, Russia.
Issue:
P. 312–337.
Language: Russian
Document type: Research Article (introdaction)
 
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Abstract

The anti-Monophysitic anonymous treatise On the common nature and the Trinity was written in the 550–560s for the educational purposes in philosophy and theology. Therefore, its content was perceived in this time as something certainly traditional. It reflects theological discussions of its time, thus making feel the degree of complication of the current theological situation and the extent of mutual comprehension between the rivalry parties. The anonymous author normally keeps himself within the conceptual language of the late Neoplatonism, especially the school of Ammonius of Alexandria known by its interest to peripatetic instruments. The author himself is a Chalcedonian. When rejecting both “Nestorian” and “Severian” Christologies, he claims that the human nature became a constitutive element of the hypostasis of Christ (consisting of two common natures) and by no means an independent hypostasis. There are some similarities with the teaching of Leontius of Byzantium’s Against the Nestorians and the Eutychians and Refutation of the Syllogisms of Severus, whereas the present author is much more succinct, and his exposition is simplified. For instance, unlike Leontius of Byzantium, he does not distinguish the contexts, where the notions of nature and essence could be used differently; he does not states explicitly that the human nature within the hypostasis of Christ is the common nature and not a particular nature. The latter term is used but never explained. The treatise is a curious witness of the relevance of an inter-Monophysite controversy for the Chalcedonians.

Keywords

Christology, Chalcedonism, Monophysitism, Tritheism, particular nature, Leontius of Byzantium, John Philoponus, Severus of Antioch.

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© Timur Shchukin, 2016  © Oleg Nogovitsin, 2016