Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa Giulio...
Transcript of Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa Giulio...
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Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa
Giulio Maspero
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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Outline
Conclusion
Introduction
1. The Negative Moment
2. The Positive Moment
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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Intro
Conclusion
Introduction
1. The Negative Moment
2. The Positive Moment
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Eros Myth
Eros
+Gregory of Nyssa
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Eros Myth
Eros
+Gregory of Nyssa
and
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Eros Myth
Eros
+Gregory of Nyssa
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Myth of Eros
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Eros Myth
Eros
+Gregory of Nyssa
and
Myth of Eros
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Perspective
Theology
Theology
Philology
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Perspective
Theology
Theology
Philology }Nyssian Method
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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1 st Part
Conclusion
Introduction
1. The Negative Moment
2. The Positive Moment
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Initial Theological Remark
(1) Diotima is a priestess(2) Context: revelation and religious initiation(3) - = honouring God(4) Sacrifice which saved Athens(5) Eros has a priestly role
The Eros Myth has a clear religious meaning:
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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Initial Theological Remark
(1) Diotima is a priestess(2) Context: revelation and religious initiation(3) - = honouring God(4) Sacrifice which saved Athens(5) Eros has a priestly role
The Eros Myth has a clear religious meaning:
}
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Symposium, 202.d.8-203.a.5.
I said: so, what is Eros? Is he a mortal? Absolutely not. And what, then? As already said, he is something intermediate between a mortal and an immortal ( ). What is he, then, Diotima? He is a great daemon ( ), Socrates. In fact, every daemon is intermediate () between god and mortal. I asked: and what kind of power has he? That of interpreting and of bringing ( ) to the gods from men and to men from gods prayers and sacrifices of the first and orders and rewards of the latter. He, who is halfway between them, completes () both of them, so that he gives unity in himself to the whole universe ( ). By means of him, every mantic and the priestly art ( ), and what is connected with sacrifices, initiations and spells and every divinization and magic takes place. A god does not mix himself up with a man (
), but by means of him gods have every relation and communication with men, both sleeping and awake. And who is wise about such things is a daemonic man.
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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Philosophical Framework
Soul as first motor in Leges, 893.b-896.a
in Lysid, 219.d
Metaphysical chain or ontological ladder:
The picture is completely different in Gregory's thought
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Oratio Catechetica, 32,40-46.54-61 (GNO III/4, 79-80)
In the Gospel everything is said or happens with a supreme and divine meaning and there is nothing in it that is not such to look as a real compenetration of divinity and humanity ( ), because the expression and the facts are narrated in a human form, but the hidden meaning reveals the divine element. [...] We learn that through the Cross, whose form is divided in four parts, so that one counts four branches, starting from the middle ( ) that in itself keeps them together ( ): He who was stretched on the Cross at the moment () of the economy of His death is the One who in Himself brings to unity the Universe ( ) and harmonises it, leading the different natures of the beings to a unique conspiration and harmony ( ).
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The Cosmic Cross
Why the Father asked the Son to die precisely on the Cross?
God's power and the four dimensions of the world (cfr. Eph 3, 18)
Recourse to some Platonic quotations
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Texts Similarities
Plato
(202.e.6-7)
(202.e.6)
(203.a.1-2)
Gregory
(32,59)
(32,56-7)
(32.43)
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(Anti)-parallelism
Gregory
is historical and has a
is absolutely physical and horizontal
active
Harmony and beauty are gifts of God
Plato
is a , i.e. an intermediate ontological level
is vertical, reference to a void which is filled
passive
Harmony and beauty ontologically present
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Yes and No through Allusions
denying ontological ladder and metaphysical intermediate degree
affirming Christ's mediating role and salvation, perfect God and perfect Man
Gregory has to meet two needs simultaneously:
The very literary form has a theological
meaning}
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Refutatio, 139,10-140,8 (GNO II, 372)
In fact, because of his being Son and generated, He has been made obedient in words and in actions. Meaningless doctrine: you make the Word obedient to the words and put other words before the One Who is really the Word, so that another word acts as a mediator ( ) of the Word that is in the Principle, bringing ( ) to the Word the will of the Principle. And this word is not unique, but there are different words halfway ( ) between the Principle and the Word, inserted by Eunomius, words which make use of the obedience of the Word as they like.
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2 nd Part
Conclusion
Introduction
1. The Negative Moment
2. The Positive Moment
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Pars construens
Pars destruens: no intermediate ontological degree between God and man (Trinity and creation)
Pars construens: the saints, who are creatures, can be described with some traits of Eros
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When the Saints Go Marching In
In Inscr. 57: Moses is between the changeable nature and the eternal one and passes on ( ) God's mercy (cfr. Symp., 202.e.3)
De Vita Moysis, II,231,1-8: He is possessed by a loving passion ( ) for the essential Beauty and he is the passionate lover ( ) of Beauty
In Bas. 7: Paul is the lover of the divine Beauty ( ) Michelangelo, S. Peter
in Vincoli
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De Vita Moysis, II,24,1-5 (SC 1bis,38)
It seems to me that the great Moses ( ) in the theophany came to know that nothing of what is under the domain of the senses and of what is known by reason really subsists, but only the transcendent Being, Cause of everything and Cause on which the unity of the universe depends ( ).
Moses as Eros is a great daemon in Symp. 202.d.13 recalls again the in Symp. 202.e.6-7 lines that follow in the Nyssian text (24,6-25,11) are clear reference to Symp. 210.e-211.b (J. Danilou 1944, p. 66)
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Phaedrus and Symposium
Attic ceramic, 470-450 aC
Gregory's tendency to fuse Phaedrus and Symposium (Cherniss 1930, p. 69, n. 36)
Philologically definition of Eros as in Phaedrus, 252.b.9
Theologically same framework:
(1) purification rite(2) initiation context(3) citation of Delphi and Dodona priestesses
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The Helper
The word can help to understand Gregory's originality and new perspective:
Socrates says precisely to Phaedrus, that for the soul who seeks the true Beauty, there is no better helper () than Eros (Symp. 212.b.3)
For a Christian, through the Sacraments, the change itself becomes helper in the never-ending ascent ( ) towards God (In Cant., 8)
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End
Conclusion
Introduction
1. The Negative Moment
2. The Positive Moment
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Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)
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Nyssian Method
Known: Gregory has free recourse to Plato's terminology to express concepts of his own (J. Danilou 1944, p. 154)
New: This usage has a theological motive and a theological meaning:
(a) Response to the theological questions posed by the Platonic intuitions.
(b) Christ as universal answer to human desire.
Conclusion: the very Nyssian method is theologically inspired