Tag Archives: Gregory of Nazianzus

Mary Prokathartheisa: A Patristic Antecedent to the Immaculate Conception

Posted on 4 December 2019 by

In his monograph Immaculate Conception, Fr Christiaan Kappes advances a controversial thesis: invoking prokathartheisa (prepurified) as a title for the Theotokos, “the Greek Fathers—in the line of the Nazianzen until the introduction of Byzantine Thomism in the 14th century—never vacillated … Continue reading →

Posted in Gregory Nazianzen, Theotokos | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

St Basil of Caesarea, Pneumatomachoi, and the Divinity of the Holy Spirit

Posted on 6 June 2018 by

“I neither chose to name the Holy Spirit God nor dare to call him a creature,” declared Eustathius of Sebaste in response to the Neo-Arian denial of the divinity of the Holy Spirit. At first glance, Eustathius’s ambivalence seems reasonable. … Continue reading →

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Mary Prokathartheisa

Posted on 10 September 2015 by

In his monograph Immaculate Conception, Fr Christiaan Kappes advances a controversial thesis: invoking prokathartheisa (prepurified) as a title for the Theotokos, “the Greek Fathers—in the line of the Nazianzen until the introduction of Byzantine Thomism in the 14th century—never vacillated about … Continue reading →

Posted in Gregory Nazianzen, Theotokos | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

“I AM WHO I AM”: Thomas Aquinas and the Metaphysics of the Exodus

Posted on 11 May 2015 by

Soon to be doctor Eric Jobe has posted a blog article on the divine Name revealed to Moses—“YHWH Among the Gods.” The Tetragrammaton, we learn, is a third-person singular verb, probably originally meaning “he causes to be” or “he causes … Continue reading →

Posted in Aquinas, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

To See God Crucified: The Theopaschism of St Gregory Nazianzen

Posted on 10 October 2013 by

“We need an incarnate God, a God put to death, so that we might live, and we were put to death with him.” (Or. 45.28) Before there was Jurgen Moltmann, there was St Gregory the Theologian. Of the early Church … Continue reading →

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St Gregory the Theologian and the Apollinarian Nonsense

Posted on 8 October 2013 by

A God-man without a human mind—that appears to have been the view advanced by Apollinarius in the late 4th century. I suppose it makes some kind of sense. If the divine spirit effectively substitutes for the human mind in Jesus … Continue reading →

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Mixing and Blending: The Orthodox Recipe for Theanthropos

Posted on 7 October 2013 by

“He comes forth, God with what he assumed, one from two opposites, flesh and spirit, the one deifying and the other deified. O the new mixture! O the paradoxical blending! He who is comes into being, and the uncreated is … Continue reading →

Posted in Gregory Nazianzen | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments