Κατάφασις, ἀπόφασις și λογόφασις la Sfântul Grigorie de Nyssa
Κατάφασις, ἀπόφασις and λογόφασις in Saint Gregory of Nyssa

Summary/Abstract: Apophaticism means an epistemiological reserve with respect to truth. Apophaticism is as old as theology itself and as widespread as mysticism itself. Saint Gregory of Nyssa founded the apophatism of the Eastern Church. Theological thought of the Church Fathers is developed from his apophatic formulations. Saint Gregoryapophatic approach is a safeguard against the temptation to think that God can be defined by any system, whether negative or positive. Instead, he sees the need to have a plurality of speech. No speech by itself will be able to define or surprise the reality of God. These four, (1) the division between the created and uncreated, (2) the theory of language, (3) the distinction, but not the separation οὐσία / ἐνέργεια and (4 ) the argument concerning the power and the goodness of God, are elements of a system to be called apophatic. Apophaticism is the freedom of theology over against all fixed conceptual necessity.

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