THE WISDOM OF ST CONSTANTINE AND SOPHIA, THE WISDOM OF GOD

  • Stoyan Tanev Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
Keywords: St Emperor Constantine, Sophia, Wisdom of God, Arian controversy, Divine essence and energy, Gregory Palamas, David Dissipat, Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos, Fr. John Meyendorff

Abstract

The paper will emphasize the theological insights of St Constantine who, by giving the name Sophia to the Church that was initiated by him in 326, pointed out the relevance of the Sophia theme in the theology of the Christian Church. It is not by accident that the construction work on the St Sophia Church began in 326 - the year after the convocation of the Council of Nicaea which discussed the question about the created or uncreated nature of Christ. The ongoing theological discussions on the different aspects of the Arian controversy are sometimes missing an important part of its context by not emphasizing enough that the entire debate started on the occasion of a discussion between Bishop Alexander and his presbyter Arius about the meaning of the verse “The Lord created me a beginning of His ways unto His works” (Proverbs, VIII.22) which refers to the Wisdom of God. The interpretation of Sophia, Wisdom of God, became the subject of other theological controversies in the 14th and in the 20th centuries. For example, in his Introduction à l’Etude de Grégoire Palamas Fr. John Meyendorff pointed out that the problematic associated with the Divine Wisdom was of great interest to the Byzantines in the 14th century and that this interest found an expression in iconography. The issue emerged in the debate between St. Gregory Palamas and the philosopher Nicephorus Gregoras, in the works of the Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos as well as in the works of David Dissipat, one of the closer followers of St Gregory Palamas who was involved in the debates from the very beginning and whose works represent a significant interest for contemporary scholarship on the theological debates in the 14th century. In his works Dissipat provides one of the most refined elaborations on how the Son of God could be called the Wisdom of God and how such name refers to the energies belonging to Him by nature. The paper highlights a contextual reversal in the theological debates in the 14th and in the 20th century: i) in the 14th century it was the theological controversy on the distinction between essence and energies that led to the need of discussing the meaning of Sophia, the Wisdom of God; ii) in the 20th century it was the theological controversy on the meaning of Sophia, the Wisdom of God, that led to the need of discussing of the Orthodox teaching on the distinction between Divine essence and energies. The reversal demonstrates the theological affinity between the concepts of Sophia and Energeia and shows the deeper theological and historical reasons behind the so-called “rediscovery” of the teaching of the Divine energies in the 20th century. Ultimately, it refers back to the theological issues of the 4th century and the wisdom of St Constantine who was able to point out a theme that will become a key issue in Orthodox theology. 

Author Biography

Stoyan Tanev, Associate Professor, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Theology, Sofia University, Bulgaria

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Published
2013-05-05