Hierarchy and Virtues in Patristic Thought
Hierarchy and Virtues in Patristic Thought

Summary/Abstract: A discussion of virtues and virtuous life in the writings of the Church Fathers is a very complex enterprise. This article presents several important orientations in patristic thought concerning the perspective on human freedom of action and the role of virtues in man’s life. They are actually as many paths of research since the writers, namely St Basil of Cappadocia, St Gregory of Nyssa, St Augustine and St Maximus the Confessor, initiated a line of cultural investigation on the topic that is as relevant today as it was in their lifetime. Although the authors are presented in chronological order, important ideas are taken up and sometimes placed in a new perspective, which shows on the one hand the originality of the writers and the contexts that prompted their arguments and on the other hand, the consistency and the harmony of patristic thinking in general.

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