THE HOLY FATHERS, ENCYCLOPEDIC SPIRITS, AND THE ACTUALITY OF THEIR THOUGHT
THE HOLY FATHERS, ENCYCLOPEDIC SPIRITS, AND THE ACTUALITY OF THEIR THOUGHT

Summary/Abstract: The Holy Fathers' works, monuments of the Saint Tradition and inexhaustible sources of wisdom, were created in order to answer the spiritual necessities of the time that engendered them, and represent the proof of the permanent development of theology and its fundament. These creations of the Christian mind and feeling are not anchored into the past, they are actual, representing a living thesaurus that constantly draws our attention when we want to find answers to the questions that bother us today.Of all the patristic authors included in the academic curriculum, authors of the first Christian centuries, Saint Basil the Great detaches himself as an encyclopedic spirit with genuine scientific preoccupations. The Great Hierarch has the meticulosity of the researcher who carefully observes nature around him and sees the world as originating in God. In his turn, Saint Gregory of Nyssa explains the days of the creation, as they are described in the book of Genesis, looking for arguments, in accordance with the science of the day, arguments that might equally be in consonance with supernatural discovery and revelation. For him, the act of human understanding of the creation is connected to the communion between man and God, and to the illumination of the mind.The Holy Fathers were the brightest minds of their time and they continue to amaze us through the impressive wealth of their knowledge that goes beyond the scope of theology. They were also endowed by God with the illuminating grace that helped them understand the world in its complexity, a world created by God that continues to stay in His almighty care.

• Details
• Contents