ETYMOLOGICAL-SEMANTIC ASSUMPTION BEHIND THE TERM AGAPE
Abstract
In this paper we deal with the Christian use of the term agape, in a
semantic, etymological, philosophical-theological, and historical sense – from Homer to St.
Maximus the Confessor. Since the philosophical and theological elaboration of the problem
of love essentially culminated in the work of St. Maximus the Confessor, in the paper we
concentrate on the use of the term agape in his piece Chapters on Love. Based on the
analysis of these fragments and our etymological interpretation of the word ἀγάπη we have
concluded that the word originally contained the idea of the force, divine energy having the
power to bring us to our common Father.
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