Patristic theology and Aristotle

The main distinctive mark of Patristic theology was its “existential” character. The Fathers theologized, as St. Gregory of Nazianzus put it, “in the manner of the Apostles, and not in that of Aristotle,” alieutikos ouk aristotelikos (Hom. XXIII. 12). Their teaching was still a “message,” a kerygma. Their theology was still a “kerygmatic theology,” even when it was logically arranged and corroborated by intellectual arguments. The ultimate reference was still to faith, to spiritual comprehension. It is enough to mention in this connection the names of St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Maximus the Confessor. Their theology was a witness. Apart from the life in Christ theology carries no conviction, and, if separated from the life of faith, theology may easily degenerate into empty dialectics, a vain polylogia, without any spiritual consequence. Patristic theology was rooted in the decisive commitment of faith. It was not just a self-explanatory “discipline,” which could be presented argumentatively, i.e., aristotelikos, without a prior spiritual engagement. This theology could only be “preached,” or “proclaimed,” and not be simply “taught” in a school-manner; “preached” from the pulpit, proclaimed also in the word of prayer and in sacred rites, and indeed manifested in the total structure of Christian life. Theology of this kind can never be separated from the life of prayer and from the practice of virtue. “The climax of purity is the beginning of theology,” in the phrase of St. John Klimakos (Scala Paradisi, grade 30). On the other hand, theology is always, as it were, no more than “propaideutic,” since its ultimate aim and purpose are to bear witness to the Mystery of the Living God, in word and in deed. “Theology” is not an aim in itself. It is always but a way. Theology presents no more than an “intellectual contour” of the revealed truth, a “noetic” testimony to it. Only in an act of faith is this contour filled with living content. Yet, the “contour” is also indispensable. Christological formulas are actually meaningful only for the faithful, for those who have encountered the Living Christ, and have acknowledged Him as God and Saviour, for those who are dwelling by faith in Him, in His Body, the Church. In this sense, theology is never a self-explanatory discipline. It appeals constantly to the vision of faith. “‘What we have seen and have heard, we announce to you.” Apart from this “announcement” theological formularies are of no consequence. For the same reason these formulas should never be taken out of their spiritual context. It is utterly misleading to single out certain propositions, dogmatic or doctrinal, and to abstract them from the total perspective in which only they are meaningful and valid. It is a dangerous habit just to handle “quotations” from the Fathers and even from the Scripture, outside of the total structure of faith, in which only they are truly alive. “To follow the Fathers” does not mean simply to quote their sentences. It means to acquire their mind, their phronema. The Orthodox Church claims to have preserved this mind and to have theologized ad mentem Patrum. ~ Georges Florovsky