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Fully Human, Beyond Gender
Insights from St Maximus the Confessor
Revd Dr Doru Costache
Senior Lecturer in Patristic Studies
SAGOTC/SCD
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Introduction
Patristic anthropology: pessimistic? St Maximus the Confessor (d. 662) viewed as a typical
Byzantine monk, nurtured by Neoplatonism
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Introduction
The progress of the paper: Various fragments from the Book of Difficulties /Ambigua, dealing
with Genesis 1-3 and Galatians 3:28
Difficulty41 Difficulty10
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
Bronwen Neil, The Blessed Passion of Holy Love:Maximus the Confessors Spiritual PsychologyAustralian
EJournal of Theology, February 2004, issue 2:
not a disconnected spirituality
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
Samples of misogynistic rhetoric in St Maximus Difficulty7: Eve as a harlot (prn)
1 Corinthians 6:13,15-6 St Andrew of Crete, The Great Canon, Tuesday of the first Lenten
Week, Ode 7.5
Difficulty10.28: Eve as a companion (synoikos) for Adam
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
Notes on gender and the divine plan in St Maximus Difficulty67
All created things, and more so humans, currently move between theiroriginal and final terms (krois, krn), towards perfection
Original term: Genesis 1:26 Middle term: Genesis 1:27 Final term: Galatians 3:28 Inspiration from St Gregory of Nyssas On the Making of Man 16
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Notes on gender and the divine plan in St Maximus Difficulty67
The underlying plan of the narrative, a trilogy: Origin (arch) Genesis 1:26 divine intention Middle or current state (mests) Genesis 1:27 gender
constitution Finality (tlos) Galatians 3:28 beyond gender, eschatological
perspective
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Notes on gender and the divine plan in St Maximus Difficulty67
Inaugurated by Christ, the existential mode beyond gender isactualised along the spiritual journey
An influence from St Gregory of Nyssas On the Making of Man 16 A two-stage creation, or a double-layered human nature? A double-layered structure: The image of God in us Our gender-marked condition
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Recent adherents to this misinterpretation: Andrew Louth,Maximus the Confessor(London & New York:
Routledge, 1996), 73.
Adam G. Cooper, The Body in St Maximus the Confessor: HolyFlesh, Wholly Deified, The Oxford Early Christian Studies
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 209-10. Against the idea of a double creation in St Maximus:
Lars Thunberg,Microcosm and Mediator: The TheologicalAnthropology of Maximus the Confessor(Lund: C.W.K. Gleerup,
1965), 161-3.
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Notes on the genderless state Difficulty67
Galatians 3:28 Christ is the essence of virtue (Difficulty7) The genderless state = living virtuously = spiritual journey
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Notes on the gender division Difficulty67
Human journey, from an extremity to an other, embraced by Godgender embraced by God
A positive appraisal of human nature Gender not obliterated by the spiritual experience Paul M. Blowers, Bodily Inequality, Material Chaos, and the Ethics of
Equalization in Maximus the Confessor Studia Patristica vol. 42
(Leuven-Paris-Dudley: Peeters, 2006), 51-6.
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On Eve, Adam and Related Topics
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Notes on the gender division
How can the sexual synthesis be both central andmarginal in St Maximus?
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Cosmic Liturgy: The Universe According toMaximus the Confessor, translated (from the second German
edition of 1961) by Brian E. Daley, SJ (San Francisco: IgnatiusPress, 2003), 199-200.
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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A theory/narrative of everything
Five polaritiesDomain First element Second element
1 Reality Uncreated Created
2 Creation Invisible Visible
3 Visible Sky Earth
4 Earth Paradise Civilised world
5 Civilised world Male Female
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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A theory/narrative of everything
Five synthesesFirst element Second element Accomplishment
1 Male Female Paradisiacal
humanity
2 Civilised world Paradise Transfigured earth
3 Earth Sky Unity of the visible
4 Visible Invisible Unity of creation
5 Creation Uncreated Union, deification
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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Genesis 1:27 LXX Male and female (rsen and thly) from the outset Positive appraisal of gender
To Thalassius, prologue Pleasure not prohibited, just delayed Necessity of a state of serenity and stability (aptheian kai atrepsan),
conducive to the capacity of tasting pleasure divinely, and not merely
in a human fashion (hs thes all ouk nthrpos)
Jean-Claude Larchet, Ancestral guilt according to St Maximus theConfessor: a bridge between eastern and western conceptions Sobornost
20:1 (1998), 28, 38.
Lars Thunberg, Microcosm and Mediator, 405.
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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What is problematic then? selfish love (philauta) and addictions misrepresentation of
nature misuse forgetfulness of God and the spiritual
journey existential, ontological and ecosystemic
consequences
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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Redeeming gender and related Christ and the saints Contemplative reinterpretation of nature/gender Spiritual/right use Virtue and the natural principle (lgos tou enai) of human
existence
St John Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascent28
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Difficulty41: From division to synthesis
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Prioritising the divine thought concerning our creation(kat tn progomenon lgon ts peri tn gnesin to
anthrpou)
Overwhelming the narrow and divisive character of thegender features (kat t thly ka t rsen iditta)
Contemplation of the human being as a human being(nthrponmnon)
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Difficulty10: Two ways towards the one goal
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Christ initiating the apostles into the mysteries ofmarriage and celibacy (t kat tn gmon ka tn agaman
mystria)
Moses, icon of marriage Elijah, icon of celibacy
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Difficulty10: Two ways towards the one goal
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Both ways, i.e. marriage and celibacy, as valid paths leadingto Christ
Prerequisites: living in accordance with reason (lg) andthe divine laws (nmous)
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Concluding remarks
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Necessary reinterpretation of Maximian spiritual messagein the light of his exposure to the experience of holiness
Necessary reinterpretation of Byzantine spirituality asholistic anthropology
Byzantium on the verge of a cultural revolution? Wisdom for us: taking the road less travelled
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