Essay April

8/2/2019 Essay April

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The idea of political community in early Christian thought.

St. Basil the Great and Augustine's anthropology

The purpose of this essay is to investigate the anthropological basis of the political community and

what forms the societal bond in early Christian political thought.

I will show how orthodox and catholic views of the political society differ and I will argue that the

differences in anthropological visions have consequences on the quality of interaction among

people in society.

IN CONCLUSION, I WILL SUGGEST THAT THE DOCTRINE DERIVING FROM THE FATHERS OF THE

ORTHODOX CHURCH COULD PROVIDE FOR REMEDIES TO CONTEMPORARY DILEMAS WITH ROOTS IN

THE CATHOLIC AND SCHOLASTIC ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.

1.BYZANTINE POLITICAL THOUGHT IN THE IVTH CENTURY:COMMUNITY AS ONTOLOGIC NECESSITY

SAINT BASIL THE GREAT'S POLITICAL CONCEPTION CAN ONLY BE INDIRECTLY DEDUCTED FROM THE

WIDER CONTEXT OF HIS DEEP THEOLOGICAL WORK. I MAINLY CONCENTRATE IN THIS ESSAY ON THE

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT OF HIS ANTHROPOLOGICAL VISION, THAT

PRODUCES A POWERFUL IMAGE ABOUT MAN'S ONTOLOGICAL CONDITION.

Man as Prince of Creation and his potential

IN HIS ANTHROPOLOGICAL VISION, ST. BASIL THE GREAT ENFORCES THE VIEW THAT MAN WAS

ENTRUSTED WITH THE CAPACITY TO REPLICATE ON EARTH THE HEAVENLY KINGDOM. MAN IS THE

CROWN OF CREATION. MAN HIMSELF IS A MICRO-COSMOS1

AND KNOWLEDGE OF ONE SELF BRINGS

KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE (HOM. I:1, HOM. II:14, P. 267 SOURCES CHRETIENNES). MAN, THEINTERIOR MAN AS ST.BASIL POINTS OUT, WAS CREATED BY THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.

THAT IS TO SAY, HE WAS GIVEN THE SUPERIORITY OF REASON THAT PUTS HIM ABOVE ALL CREATION

(HOMILY I:7, P.183SC) IN ORDER TO MASTER THE CREATION (HOMILY I:8).

Furthermore, man bears the potentiality of becoming into the likeness of God. Even with the Fall,

this pottentiality was not abolished (Homily I:2), because it is a matter of man's free will to use the

forces he was endowed with to become into the likeness of God (Hom. I:16). St. Basil interprets

God's words (Grow and multiply h Gen. 1, 28) as refering not only to a bodily, but also to a

spiritual context, that is to say to a growth and multiplication of the richness of the spirit until the

fulfilment of man's vocationbecoming into the likeness of God, returning to the initial state of

man's creation, personified by Christ (Hom. I:17, p. 211 SC, Hom. II:5, p. 237 SC).

Man's creation as an act of communion

ST.BASIL MAKES AN IMPORTANT POINT THAT MAN'S RELATIONAL NATURE DERIVES EVEN FROM THE

UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS CREATION. MAN'S CREATION WAS A COMMUNAL EVENT THAT

INVOLVED THE JOINT EFFORTS OF THE HOLLY TRINITY (HOMILY I:4 LET US MAKE(MAN), AS

COMPARED TO THE IMPERSONAL LET THERE BE (LIGHT, HEAVEN, EARTH, CELLESTIAL BODIES,

LIVING CREATURES IN THE WATERS, AIR AND ON LAND)). THE COMMUNION OF CREATOR'S THREE

HYPOSTASES AT THE MOMENT OF MAN'S CREATION IS NOT SPLIT INTO AGREGATED COMPONENTS, BUT

ALL THREE PARTS, ALTHOUGH DISTINCT, FULFILL EACH OTHER IN THE UNIQUENESS OF THE TRIUNE

1The notion of micro-cosmos is found also in Aristotle, Physique, 9, 2, 252 b 27;


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GOD (P.175SOURCES CHRETIENNES).THUS, THE ONTOLOGICAL CONDITION OF MAN AS COMMUNION IS

ESTABLISHED FROM INCEPTION.

MOREOVER, IN ST.BASIL'S ECCLESIOLOGY, THE SOCIETY OF MEN IS CONCEPTUALISED AS ECCLESIA,

THE CHURCH. MAN CAN ACHIEVE ON EARTH THE HEAVENLY MODEL OF EXISTENCE THROUGH

BAPTISM. HE CAN REPLICATE CHRIST'S MODEL ON EARTH IF HE AGREES TO DIE FOR THE CARNAL

EXISTENCE AND TO BE REBORN IN CHRIST (DE SPIRITU SANCTO 35). IMITATION OF CHRIST ISNECCESSARY ON EARTH FOR REACHING THE ONTHOLOGICAL DESTINY OF MAN.ECCLESIA IS NO

LONGER THE PERFECT POLITICAL COMMUNITY OF THE POLIS BECAUSE IT IS SELFSUFFICIENT2

IN THE

NATURAL SENSE THAT IT DOES NOT NEED ANY EXTERIOR OUTPUT IN ORDER TO REALISE THE GOOD

LIFE H OF ITS CITIZENS.ECCLESIA IS THE MODE OF EXISTENCE THAT TRANSCENDS THE STATE OF

NATURE AND THE ONLY POSSIBILITY OF MAKING MAN INTO THE LIKENESS OF GOD. THEOSIS,

THEREFORE, IS THE BASIC LINK BETWEEN PEOPLE IN SOCIETY.

COMMUNITY MODE BASED ON FREE WILL

MAN'S MODE OF EXISTENCE AS COMMUNION IN THIS WORLD, AS IMMITATION OF THE HEAVENLY

GENUINE CONDITION, NECESSARILY ENTAILS MAN'S FREE OPTION. MAN CAN ALSO CHOSE TO LIVE

OUTSIDE COMMUNITY, BUT THAN HE WOULD HAD LIVED IN SIN, THAT IS TO SAY, IN ILLNESS,SEPARATED FROM GOD. THE CORRUPTION OF MAN'S NOBLE NATURE AND DIGNITY, OF RATIONAL

BEING MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD AND AS PRINCE OF CREATION INTERVENES WHEN MAN CONSENTS

TO THE SIN, BECOMES A SLAVE OF PASSIONS.BUT MAN CAN MASTER HIS SINS AND PASSIONS THROUGH

THE GIFT OF REASON (HOM. I:19,ST. BASIL GIVES A MORAL INTERPRETATION TO THE TEXT OF THE

SCRIPTURE (GEN.1:26)- MAN AS MASTER OF WILD BEASTS, FOURNISHING A SCRIPTURAL BASE TO A

LARGE TRADITION OF ASCETIC PRACTICE OF MASTERING ONE'S PASSIONS).MAN'S FREE WILL TO USE

THE GIFTS HE RECEIVED IN ORDER TO RESTORE HIS INNITIAL CONDITION IS NECESSARILY COUPLED

WITH THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT THROUGH BAPTISM AND THIS UNION ALONE RESTORES MAN TO

PARADISE BOTH IN THIS WORLD AND IN THE WORLD TO COME, AS ST.BASIL SAYS (DSS35).

THE COMBINATION OF FREE WILL AND THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE CLEANSING OF MAN'S

SOUL, SHOWS BOTH THE LIMITS OF MAN'S POSSIBILITIES WITHOUT GOD'S INTERVENTION AND ALSO

UNDERLINES THE CRUCIAL IMPORTANCE OF MAN'S AGENCY IN HISTORY IN GENERAL AND WITH

RESPECT TO HIS OWN DESTINY, IN CONTRAST TO THE AUGUSTINIAN IDEA OF PRE-DETERMINATION.

MOREOVER,ST.BASIL, FROM THIS COMBINATION IN INTERPRETATION, PRODUCES A MESSAGE OF

HOPE, THAT GOD'S KINGDOM CAN ALSO BE ACHIEVED IN THIS WORLD, WHICH HAS IMPORTANT

IMPLICATION FOR THE ORTHODOX EXPECTATIONS FROM THE POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT.

For instance, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, emperor Constantine the Great's official historian,

the emperor aims at recalling the whole human race to the knowledge of God (Oration in Praise of

Constantine pronounced on the thirtieth anniversary of his reign, Ch. 2:4). Therefore, the purposeof the kingdom on earth cannot be other than replicate the aim of the whole Creation: communion

with God, the same purpose as the individual salvation3.

2. Augustines political thought: Society as anthropological fatality

2... besides, whatsoever produces the final cause and the end which we desire, must be best; but a governmentcomplete in itself [self-sufficient] is that final cause and what is best Aristotle, Politics, Book I, ch. II, lines 1252b

& 1253 a3In Oration, Eusebius states that ... by an indescribable power he filled the world in every part with his doctrine,

expressing by the similitude of an earthly kingdom that heavenly one to which he earnestly invites all mankind, and

presents it to them as a worthy object of their hope. (ch. 4:3) ... And in this hope our divinely favored emperor

partakes even in this present life (Ch. 5:1)


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Man as a middle ground between angelic and bestial4

Augustine's vision of man's horizon of potentiality, as it appears in The City of God, is quite modest.

Man was innitially designed and ranked between the angelic orders and the bestial and offered the

potential for becoming in the ranks of angels and receive also a blessed and endless immortality.

That was man's full potential, which he could have reached, had he remained in subjection to His

Creator and kept His Commandments (Book XII, Chap.21, p. 412). Man was also created in the

image of God, and by this, Augustine understands that God created for man a soul that wasendowed with reason and intelligence h (Book XII, chap. 23). There is no discussion concerning

the likeness of God h. St. Basil's apologetic tone as regards man is absent at Augustine and, on

the substance, both the position of man in Creation and the promise encapsulated in the words of

the Scripture into the image and likeness of God h are not taken out of a natural state of affairs.

BUT, SINCE MAN FELL FROM HIS INITIAL STATE (WHICH WAS NOT SO IMPRESSIVE ANYWAYS5), HE DOES

NOT HAVE ANYMORE THE POSSIBILITY OF TRANSCENDENCE OF THE STATE OF NATURE, WITHOUT

HAVING TO DIE AND BE BORN AGAIN.IN THIS WORLD THERE IS NO POSSIBILITY FOR MAN TO RECOVER

HIS INNITIAL CONDITION AT HIS CREATION.THIS VISION HAS DEEP IMPLICATIONS AS TO WHAT

AUGUSTINE EXPECTS FROM THE EARTHLY KINGDOM.

Sin, at Augustine, is a moral category. This can also be seen from the language employed to

describe it: man transgressed God's commandments, fell from obedience by the proud anddisobedient use of his free will h(ibid.). Consequently, he was punished with becoming like beasts

in the state of nature and with eternal damnation after death.

Man's social condition and society as utilitarian necessity

1. Man has an autonomous nature. Unlike St. Basil the Great, Augustine finds in his reading of the

Genesis that God was pleased to produce the human race from the one individual whom He

created, than if He had originated it in several men. Only for man did God proceed this way, and

not for the other living creatures. In their case, He called into being several at once (City of God,

Book XII, chap. 21).

Nevertheless, man was designed as a social being also, not destined to a solitary existence. Themeaning of God's creating only one individual at first and not several was to make the bond of

society more profound. That is to say, not to base it only on natural similarity, but on family

affection(The City of God, Book II, chap. 21, p. 412).

Concord, not theosis (like at St. Basil), is the purpose of common life, its aim in a perfect state of

things. Augustine contends that man had been propagated from one individual for the very purpose

of commending concord (idem, chap. 22, p. 412). But, against all God's efforts at the moment of

creation of ensuring peace among the autonomous men who had to live in collectivity, man, with

his fallen nature, would create a society less peacefull and secure than that of beasts6

(ibid.). Peace

and security becomes therefore the purpose to be attained in society in order to aproach as much as

possible in this world the innitial state man was created for. In this view, society has a purpose

which is an external necessity, not one intrinsic for the realisation of man's destiny.2. Man's ontological autonomy from other men appears also from Augustine's conception of

predetermination. Man does not need the others in order to recover his innitial prelapsarian state.

Only by the Grace of God can man be restored to the fulfillment of his potential (The City of God

Book XII, Chap. 22). God by advance has a plan with a certain number of people that will be

called for adoption (Book XII, chap. 22).

In view of this anthropological vision, it is unsurprising that Augustine does not believe that the

political rule is a replication of God's kingdom. In general, he perceives the state as essentially

4This is a quotaton from Augustine, The City of God, Book II, chap. 21, p. 412, Great Book of the Western World,

Robert P. Gwinn, Publisher, Encyclopaedia Britannica, INC., Fourth Printing 1993;5There are Orthodox fathers of the Church that are of the opinion that man, even in his fallen state, ranks higher than

angels in the hierarchy of Creation (by virtue of his free will and for being created into the likeness of God).6And one further quote regarding the lack of concorde (peace and security) ... there is nothing so social by nature , so

unsociable by its corruption, as this race , laments Augustine (The City of God, Book XII, chap. 27)


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coercion, contrasting with man's initial freedom. Government, viewed as a subjection of man to

man7, was considered a divine punishment for sin, and a departure from the natural state of man

8.

Accordingly, although man is a social being because he lived in groups even in the state of nature,

the organisation of society into an hierarchycal structure of coercive authority is not in the

normality of things9.

THE STATE'S ONLY PURPOSE IS TO MAINTAIN ORDER, OR PEACE, SO THAT THE GOOD WAS NOTDISTURBED.SO, ORDER BECOMES THE BOND OF SOCIETY WITH AUGUSTINE AND MORE CLEARLY WITH

THOMAS AQUINAS, WHO DIFFERENTIATES SHARPLY BETWEEN ANY NOTION OF VIRTUE AND THE

COMMUNITY TIES: THE FINAL END OF A CONGREGATED MULTITUDE, THEREFORE, IS NOT TO LIVE

ACCORDING TO VIRTUE, BUT THROUGH A VIRTUOUS LIFE TO ARRIVE AT THE ENJOYMENT OF GOD H

(DEREGNO,II,3, P.274).FOR ARISTOTLE, THE BASIS OF THE POLITICAL COMMUNITY IS MORALITY.

THOMAS AQUINAS TENDS TO SHIFT THIS BASIS FROM MORALITY TO NATURAL NECESSITY. THIS IS

EASILY UNDERSTOOD IF WE AGREE THAT AQUINAS EMBRASSES AUGUSTINE'S IDEA THAT MAN, BY SIN,

FELL LOWER THAN THE CONDITION OF BEASTS.FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, IT IS PLAUSIBLE THAT THE

HOBBESBIAN VISION OF SOCIETY AS A PERPETUAL CONFRONTATION AMONG MEN THAT CAN ONLY BE

STOPPED BY A SKILFUL BALANCE AMONG MEN'S DESIRES, COULD HAVE DERIVED FROM THE WESTERN

CHRISTIANITY'S ANTHROPOLOGICAL VISION.

IN ORTHODOXY, BY CONTRAST, THE ORGANIC CHARACTER OF THE COMMUNITY MODE OF EXISTENCE

FOR MAN IS NOT AS MUCH LINKED TO THE SHARED VALUES, AS TO THE VERY EXISTENCE OF EACH

INDIVIDUAL. THE TRUE MODE OF EXISTENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL IS A RELATIONAL ONE THE

PERSON'S EXISTENCE IS A COMMUNITY CREATIVE ACT AND MAN DEFINES HIS OWN INDIVIDUALITY

(LIKE THE HERACLITHIAN TRUTH) ONLY IN RELATION WITH OTHERS. LIKEWISE, MAN FULFILLS HIS

POTENTIAL (BECOMING INTO THE LIKENESS OF GOD) ONLY WITH THE HELP OF OTHERS.

3.CONCLUSION: THE QUALITY OF INTERACTION IN TWO ANTHROPOLOGICAL VISIONS

AUGUSTINE'S VIEW OF THE EARTHLY SOCIETY IS OF AN EXTERNAL UNAVOIDABLE NECESSITY.

COLLECTIVE LIFE IS AN IMPERFECT CONDITION, RESULT OF THE INITIAL SIN, AND AUGUSTINE'S FIXING

IT AS A PRODUCT OF THE NATURAL STATE DEVOID BY ITSELF OF THE POSSIBILITY OF TRANSCENDENCE,

DEGRADES THE QUALITY OF INTERACTION. PEOPLE REMAIN CONFINED TO A NATURAL LOGIC, A

COMPETITION FOR LIMITED RESOURCES, AND ALL THEY CAN HOPE TO ACHIEVE IN A GOOD SOCIETY IS

A GOOD LIFE ACCORDING TO THE STANDARDS OF THE STATE OF NATURE. MOREOVER, SINCE

ANTHROPOLOGICALLY MAN IS AN AUTONOMOUS PERSON, AND PUTS HIS HOPE FOR DESTINY

FULFILMENT IN A PRIVATE, INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, THE MEMBERS OF THE

COLLECTIVITY AS SUCH AND THES

TATE DO NOT HAVE A PRECISELY DEFINED ROLE IN THE

INDIVIDUAL'S MAIN AIM OF SALVATION. RELATIONSHIP AMONG MEN IS LEFT, THUS, TO A NATURAL

LOGICS, AND THE OTHER H COULD THUS BECOME A POTTENTIAL THREAT TO THE INDIVIDUAL

FREEDOM AND FULFILMENT OF NATURAL DESIRES OF EACH PERSON (L'ENFER C'EST LES AUTRES H

TO CITE SARTRE). AND THIS VISION RESEMBLES VERY MUCH TO THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL

PRESSUPOSITIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, WHEREAS MAN IS CONCEIVED AS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO'S VERY

7In the earthly city, ...the princes and nations it subdues are ruled by the love of ruling (The city ofGod, Book XIV:

288RATIONAL MAN, MADE IN THE DIVINE IMAGE, WAS ONLY INTENDED BY GOD TO LORD OVER IRRATIONAL THINGS; NO

MAN OVER MAN, BUT MAN OVER CATTLECITY OFGOD XIX,15

9IN THE CITY OF GOD,THE PRINCES AND THE SUBJECTS SERVE ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE, THE LATER OBEYING, WHILE THEFORMER TAKE THOUGHT FOR ALL CITY OFGOD,XIV,28 AND THE JUST DO NOT RULE OUT OF A LUST TO

DOMINATE, BUT OUT OF THE DUTY TO LOOK AFTER THINGS ; THIS IS WHAT THE ORDER OF NATURE PRESCRIBES, THIS IS

HOW GOD INSTITUTED MANCITY OFGOD,XIX,14


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DISTINCTIVENESS IS THREATHENED BY THE TERROR OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY AND BY THE RIVAL

CLAIMS OF THE OTHER MEN THAT ALL COMPETE OVER THE LIMITED RESOURCES OF INNUMERABLE

LITTLE FREEDOMS AND ENTITLEMENTS.

BUT ORTHODOXY BRINGS IN THE HOPE THAT INDIVIDUALITY CAN HAVE A HARMONIOUS

RELATIONSHIP WITH UNITY.IN THE ORTHODOX ANTHROPOLOGICAL VISION, COMMUNITY IS ANINTRINSIC NECESSITY AND MAN EVEN IN THIS WORLD CAN TRANSCEND HIS NATURE AND ACHIEVE HIS

TRUE POTENTIAL (BECOMING INTO THE LIKENESS OF GOD).MOREOVER, SINCE PEOPLE NEED EACH

OTHER AS INDISPENSIBLE CONDITIONS FOR THEIR OWN EXISTENCE, AND SINCE THE TRUE PURPOSE OF

COMMUNITY IS TRANSCENDENTAL AND ONTOLOGICAL AND NOT TO ACHIEVE A PROPER BALANCE

BETWEEN NATURAL LIMITED RESOURCES, THERE ARE PREMISES FOR MEN TO LIVE IN HARMONY.

HUMAN INTERACTION CAN BE CONCEIVED IN THIS KEY AS NOT COMPETITIONAL BUT AS A MUTUALLY

FULFILLING SOCIAL EVENT.

THE FASHION IN WHICH THE ORTHODOX ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRESUPPOSITION COULD BE TRANSLATED

INTO PRECISE LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL SETUPS IS AN ISSUE FOR FURTHER THOUGHT.THE SAME

COULD BE SAID OF THE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE PRESENT DAY GLOBAL SOCIETY (SUCH AS

ATOMISATION, ABSTRACTISATION, INSTRUMENTALITY, PARTIALITY) OF THIS SHIFTING OF THE BASISOF SOCIETY FROM JUSTICE (AS WITH ARISTOTLE) TO PEACE AND SECURITY (FROM AUGUSTINE TO

AQUINAS) AND COMPLETE IGNORANCE BY THE MODERNS OF THE ONTOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE

RELATIONAL MODE OF EXISTENCE (AS IN ORTHODOXY).

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