Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa Giulio Masperobib26.pusc.it/teo/p_maspero/Oxford.pdf · Giulio Maspero I anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7) 3 PUSC Intro Conclusion Introduction

Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa

Giulio Maspero

PUSC

Giulio MasperoI anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7)

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Outline

Conclusion

Introduction

1. The Negative Moment

2. The Positive Moment


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Intro

Conclusion

Introduction




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Eros Myth

Eros

+Gregory of Nyssa


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Eros Myth

Eros

+Gregory of Nyssa

and


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Eros Myth

Eros

+Gregory of Nyssa

and

Myth of Eros


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Eros Myth

Eros

+Gregory of Nyssa

and

Myth of Eros


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Perspective

Theology

Theology

Philology


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Perspective

Theology

Theology

Philology }Nyssian Method


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1 st Part

Conclusion

Introduction




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Initial Theological Remark

(1) Diotima is a priestess(2) Context: revelation and religious initiation(3) - = honouring God(4) Sacrifice which saved Athens(5) Eros has a priestly role

The Eros Myth has a clear religious meaning:


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Initial Theological Remark

(1) Diotima is a priestess(2) Context: revelation and religious initiation(3) - = honouring God(4) Sacrifice which saved Athens(5) Eros has a priestly role

The Eros Myth has a clear religious meaning:

}


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Symposium, 202.d.8-203.a.5.

I said: so, what is Eros? Is he a mortal? Absolutely not. And what, then? As already said, he is something intermediate between a mortal and an immortal ( ). What is he, then, Diotima? He is a great daemon ( ), Socrates. In fact, every daemon is intermediate () between god and mortal. I asked: and what kind of power has he? That of interpreting and of bringing ( ) to the gods from men and to men from gods prayers and sacrifices of the first and orders and rewards of the latter. He, who is halfway between them, completes () both of them, so that he gives unity in himself to the whole universe ( ). By means of him, every mantic and the priestly art ( ), and what is connected with sacrifices, initiations and spells and every divinization and magic takes place. A god does not mix himself up with a man (

), but by means of him gods have every relation and communication with men, both sleeping and awake. And who is wise about such things is a daemonic man.


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Philosophical Framework

Soul as first motor in Leges, 893.b-896.a

in Lysid, 219.d

Metaphysical chain or ontological ladder:

The picture is completely different in Gregory's thought


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Oratio Catechetica, 32,40-46.54-61 (GNO III/4, 79-80)

In the Gospel everything is said or happens with a supreme and divine meaning and there is nothing in it that is not such to look as a real compenetration of divinity and humanity ( ), because the expression and the facts are narrated in a human form, but the hidden meaning reveals the divine element. [...] We learn that through the Cross, whose form is divided in four parts, so that one counts four branches, starting from the middle ( ) that in itself keeps them together ( ): He who was stretched on the Cross at the moment () of the economy of His death is the One who in Himself brings to unity the Universe ( ) and harmonises it, leading the different natures of the beings to a unique conspiration and harmony ( ).


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The Cosmic Cross

Why the Father asked the Son to die precisely on the Cross?

God's power and the four dimensions of the world (cfr. Eph 3, 18)

Recourse to some Platonic quotations


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Texts Similarities

Plato

(202.e.6-7)

(202.e.6)

(203.a.1-2)

Gregory

(32,59)

(32,56-7)

(32.43)


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(Anti)-parallelism

Gregory

is historical and has a

is absolutely physical and horizontal

active

Harmony and beauty are gifts of God

Plato

is a , i.e. an intermediate ontological level

is vertical, reference to a void which is filled

passive

Harmony and beauty ontologically present


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Yes and No through Allusions

denying ontological ladder and metaphysical intermediate degree

affirming Christ's mediating role and salvation, perfect God and perfect Man

Gregory has to meet two needs simultaneously:

The very literary form has a theological

meaning}


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Refutatio, 139,10-140,8 (GNO II, 372)

In fact, because of his being Son and generated, He has been made obedient in words and in actions. Meaningless doctrine: you make the Word obedient to the words and put other words before the One Who is really the Word, so that another word acts as a mediator ( ) of the Word that is in the Principle, bringing ( ) to the Word the will of the Principle. And this word is not unique, but there are different words halfway ( ) between the Principle and the Word, inserted by Eunomius, words which make use of the obedience of the Word as they like.


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2 nd Part

Conclusion

Introduction




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Pars construens

Pars destruens: no intermediate ontological degree between God and man (Trinity and creation)

Pars construens: the saints, who are creatures, can be described with some traits of Eros


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When the Saints Go Marching In

In Inscr. 57: Moses is between the changeable nature and the eternal one and passes on ( ) God's mercy (cfr. Symp., 202.e.3)

De Vita Moysis, II,231,1-8: He is possessed by a loving passion ( ) for the essential Beauty and he is the passionate lover ( ) of Beauty

In Bas. 7: Paul is the lover of the divine Beauty ( ) Michelangelo, S. Peter

in Vincoli


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De Vita Moysis, II,24,1-5 (SC 1bis,38)

It seems to me that the great Moses ( ) in the theophany came to know that nothing of what is under the domain of the senses and of what is known by reason really subsists, but only the transcendent Being, Cause of everything and Cause on which the unity of the universe depends ( ).

Moses as Eros is a great daemon in Symp. 202.d.13 recalls again the in Symp. 202.e.6-7 lines that follow in the Nyssian text (24,6-25,11) are clear reference to Symp. 210.e-211.b (J. Danilou 1944, p. 66)


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Phaedrus and Symposium

Attic ceramic, 470-450 aC

Gregory's tendency to fuse Phaedrus and Symposium (Cherniss 1930, p. 69, n. 36)

Philologically definition of Eros as in Phaedrus, 252.b.9

Theologically same framework:

(1) purification rite(2) initiation context(3) citation of Delphi and Dodona priestesses


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The Helper

The word can help to understand Gregory's originality and new perspective:

Socrates says precisely to Phaedrus, that for the soul who seeks the true Beauty, there is no better helper () than Eros (Symp. 212.b.3)

For a Christian, through the Sacraments, the change itself becomes helper in the never-ending ascent ( ) towards God (In Cant., 8)


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End

Conclusion

Introduction




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Nyssian Method

Known: Gregory has free recourse to Plato's terminology to express concepts of his own (J. Danilou 1944, p. 154)

New: This usage has a theological motive and a theological meaning:

(a) Response to the theological questions posed by the Platonic intuitions.

(b) Christ as universal answer to human desire.

Conclusion: the very Nyssian method is theologically inspired

Documents

Remarks on Eros in Plato and Gregory of Nyssa Giulio Masperobib26.pusc.it/teo/p_maspero/Oxford.pdf · Giulio Maspero I anno, I sem (ver. 2006-7) 3 PUSC Intro Conclusion Introduction