Publications

The texts I have revised testify the line developed from the more “naïve” and ontologizing discourse of Ps.-Macarius to the discourse where the unity is spoken of as a phenomenon revealed for intellectual abilities, which suggests an indication of unity in a certain respect and preserves from interpreting this unity as a merge of unified natures. For the latter we can distinguish the strategy of cognition / recognition, which Maximus the Confessor and Symeon the New Theologian adhered to. According to this strategy, by the properties displayed by incandescent iron, we can discern the nature of fire revealed in iron, and, in the same way, we can conclude that human is god (of small letter) on the basis of that he manifests himself as God, that is, exposes the divine features.  

I show that Gregory of Nyssa used significant points from a passage of Porphyry’s Isagoge while developing his doctrine of the general and the particular.

The article analyzes some key moments in the history of temporal logics in late antiquity (conception of integral time, relationship between temporal and eternal, extended and instant in the systems of Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius and Simplicius), and genesis of Christian forms of temporal logics, which transform the everlasting homogenous time of κόσμος into history of universal salvation, alterate unextended νῦν, moment of psycho-physical time of late Neoplatonists, with καιρός, eschatologically charged instant of decision and act that can interrupt the continuity of time and to achieve instantaneously the end, τέλος of history.

In this article I seek to show in what manner the Stoic principle of total blending, illustrated by the example of the penetration of fire into iron, finds its refraction in Byzantine Christological teachings. According to the Stoics, total blending occurs when one body accepts certain qualities of the other, while remaining itself, or when both mixed bodies acquire qualities of each other while preserving their natures. I argue that Origen’s use of the example of incandescent iron had an effect on the later theological discourse. There it appears in two contexts, Christology and deification. In this article the focus is on Christology. I claim that the example was introduced into the Christological discourse by Apollinarius of Laodicea. Then, I investigate how it was transformed in later theological writings by (Ps.-) Basil of Caesarea, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cyril of Alexandria, Sever of Antioch, John of Damascus, and the Corpus Leontianum. In this context, I pay special attention to the discrepancy between John of Damascus and Leontius of Jerusalem as regards the issue of the complexity of Christ’s hypostasis. I clarify the causes of this discrepancy. 

The author shows how the Stoic principle of total blending of physical bodies finds its refraction in the Byzantine Christological teachings on the example of penetration of fire into iron. According to the Stoics, total blending occurs when one body accepts certain qualities of the other, however, remaining themselves, or both mixed bodies acquire qualities of each other preserving their natures. Analysis. The author asserts that Origen’s use of the example of iron incandesced by fire turned out to be paradigmatic for the subsequent Christian literature, and influenced the formation of two directions of using this example at once: in Christological context, as well as to describe deification of man. Further, the author addresses to Christological problematics and claims that using the incandesced iron example in Byzantium literature in properly Christological context began with Apollinarius of Laodicea. The paper also investigates the specificity of the refraction of this example in Christological perspective in (Ps.-) Basil of Caesarea, Theodoret of Cyrus, Cyril of Alexandria, Severus of Antioch, John of Damascus, and Corpus Leontianum. Results. In this context, the author pays special attention to the discrepancy between John Damascus and Leontius of Jerusalem regarding the issue of the complexity of Christ’s hypostasis. The researcher clarifies prerequisites of this discrepancy.

Gregory of Nyssa in his Against Eunomius cites a fragment of Eunomius’ Apology on Apology, where Eunomius speaks of “greater and lesser” activities, claiming that the works of the Son and the Holy Spirit are inferior to those of the Father, while the works of the Spirit are inferior to those of the Son. However, discussing this quotation, Gregory misinterprets Eunomius’ own words. He reads Eunomius as if he applied the principle of “the more and the less” not to the activities but to the substances of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. I argue that this is not what Eunomius actually wrote. Appealing to testimonies from the Thesaurus by Cyril of Alexandria, I show that the two opponents (Gregory of Nyssa and Eunomius) used the same Aristotelian position, which prohibits the application of the principle of “the more and the less” to the category of substance, in order to argue against each other.

SummaryMaximus’ idea of appropriation of the divine will by deified humans, in any consistent interpretation, would mean their deprivation of their own freedom – exactly in the same manner as it could be in the case of servitude to sin. Maximus’ own logic, however, was paraconsistent when applied to the case of deification (whereas not to the opposite case of the servitude to sin). A recourse to a paraconsistent deontic logic was not a uniquely Maximian tool even in the Middle Ages and could serve as an inspiring example for logicians today.

Gregory of Nyssa at the outset of his ‘Against Eunomius’ cites Eunomius, where the latter speaks about “greater and lesser” activities. However, discussing this quotation later in the treatise, Gregory misinterprets the words of Eunomius. He reads Eunomius as if he applied the principle of ‘the more and the less’ not to activities but to substances. Such interpretation cannot be proved on the basis of what Eunomius actually wrote. Actually, the two opponents (Gregory of Nyssa and Eunomius) used the same Aristotelian position, which prohibits the application of the principle of ‘the more and the less’ to the category of substance. This position was used by the two polemists in order to argue against each other. At the same time, Gregory developed his own philosophical system founded on the principle of ‘the more and the less’ in the course of this polemics with Eunomius.

The article gives the analysis of practice of the latest appointments of Duma and Muscovite ranks in Russia in the end XVIIth and early XVIIIth centuries. The author studies the first Peter’s the Great rank system reforms in the context of social and political events. The research reveals biographies those people who had high ranks, it also names the last honorees having moscow ranks and gives details of their ranks granting. The analysis showed the significance of promotion in Muscovite ranks as the way of communication between supreme power and service elite. The attention is drawn to the fact that rank granting was limited to function as honours for service. Finally, it is underlined that duma and Muscovite ranks had been in active use among courtiers and officials inspite of the “Table of ranks”.

I review the central propositions of Neilos Kabasilas's Rule of Theology and analyze the pre-history of a particular theme of vital importance for the treatise's wider theological tradition: the distinction between the warmth and light of fire (the sun) in Palamite theology. This analogy meant to clarify the distinction between the divine essence and energies, as well as between the energies themselves.

The so-called “Museum” Slavonic translation of the Song of Songs contains a specific recension enrooted in Jewish Second Temple traditions. It becomes more plausible that the Slavonic translation has been produced in the earliest period of Slavic writing directly from Syriac rather than from Hebrew, as it was proposed earlier.

The purpose of this article is to trace two lines of interpretation of the philosophical status of Palamism and Barlaamism in the context of the Name-Glorifiers’ dispute in Russian thought of the early 20th century. One line, proposed by Fedor Uspensky, associated Palamism with Aristotelianism and nominalism, and Barlaamism – with Platonism and realism. The other, formulated by Mitrofan Muretov, on the contrary, associated Palamism with Platonism, and Barlaamism – with nominalism. The article explores the development and the transformation of these lines in the course of the Name-Glorifiers dispute. Although Anthony Bulatovich did not speak about the philosophical qualifications of Palamism and Barlaamism, he recaptured Palamism, put forward the doctrine of forms in the context of the doctrine of Onomatodoxy, and polemically attributed Barlaamite position to his opponents. Sergey Troitsky, opponent of the Onomatodoxy, criticized Bulatovich’s doctrine of forms and returned the accusation of Barlaamism to him, linking it to Platonism, partly following Fedor Uspenskiy in this scheme. Vladimir Ern and Pavel Florenskiy, on the basis of their own philosophical attitudes and acting as apologists for Onomatodoxy, developed Muretov’s understanding. The article shows that these opposing interpretations of the philosophical foundations of Palamism and Barlaamism are based on various passages from The Synodikon of the Sunday of Orthodoxy in the edition by Fedor Uspensky.

The work discusses an example of unexpected similarity, in the dissolve of series of logical temporality problems, between some textes of the late Neoplatonists (Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius) and the last Leo Karsavin's manuscript, "On th Time" (1949).

Two main discourses of participation used by Origenes— natural participation (N) and individual participation (I) — are identified in this article. N refers to participation of the beings of the created world in the divinity according to their natural capacities, or to participation of the beings of the material world in the principles and logoi of the intellectual world according to the natural qualities of the beings. This type of participation is employed when Origenes addresses the relationship between the Persons of the Holy Trinity, or the connection of the humans with God. Having analyzed these discourses in Origenes, the author identifies four subtypes in N and two subtypes in I. First subtype of N indicates the order in the participation of species of the created beings in the Persons of the Holy Trinity. According to the second subtype of N, all created beings naturally participate in the logoi contained in the Logos-Wisdom. The third subtype is associated with the natural capacity of all intellectual beings to participate in the divine substance (the union with God). According to the fourth subtype, all humans naturally participate in the capacity of reasoning which constitutes the human nature.

Russian book market is one of the largest in the world in terms of new titles in print. However, this market is  underexplored. There is no research dealing with an empirical demand or supply function estimation for this market. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the book demand function and to check whether this kind of demand is price and income elastic. On the basis of results retrieved, managerial recommendations are to be offered. For this purpose, the demand function for books is built and estimated both on the total sample and for particular literature genres. The peculiarity of the demand model estimation is the introduction in the model covariates indicating the book content quality such as the amount of people who gave rating on the website, average rating of the book from the website and the combined effect of these two variables. An empirical estimation of these factors influence has not been considered in the previous research yet. Model estimation was based on the data of one North-Western Federal District book retail chain. According to the estimation results, book demand is price inelastic; moreover, books are estimated to be luxury goods. The analysis of demand functions for separate genres suggests that the demand for each genre is price-insensitive. Only Russian and foreign prose, foreign fiction and poetry are luxury goods among all the genres analyzed. A foreign detective, Russian fiction and sentimental novel are normal goods, whereas Russian detective is an inferior goods. The results of the research might be of a particular interest for books retail chains and publishers

The book prepared for the purposes of The 2nd World Congress on Logic and Religion, organised by the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Warsaw. 

The book contains the final version of the abstracts submitted by majority of speakers.

A 364-Day Calendar Encapsulated in the Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath of the Betä Ǝsra’el of Ethiopia

Gregory of Nyssa’s concept of United Man, vividly discussed in the current academic literature, will be reviewed. According to this concept, all people constitute, in a certain sense, a single person, and the word “man,” which points to the humankind in general and not to a human individual, could be properly used only in the singular but not in the plural form. It is suggested that Gregory of Nyssa’s course of thought is familiar with Wittgenstein’s line in analytic philosophy. Despite the reconstruction of the historical and philosophical background of this concept proposed by J. Zachhuber and R. Cross, it is suggested that there is no need to look for the sources of Gregory’s inspiration in either Alexander of Aphrodisias or Neoplatonic authors. Instead, I argue that, in his general treatment of these subjects, Gregory relied on the Peripatetic philosophical context, manifested, for example, in his use of the principle of “greater–lesser” and the concept of participation of individuals in their natural species. The main source of the Peripatetic ideas for Gregory was Porphyry’s /ƐĂŐŽŐĞ, which is especially evident in the concepts of “whole man” as well as the association of the individual with “divisibility” and the general with “unity”, although Gregory might also have been aware of other writings belonging to the tradition of commentaries on Aristotle’s ĂƚĞŐŽƌŝĞƐ. The present study is a part of a larger project ζ 16Ͳ18Ͳ10202, “History of the Logical and Philosophical Ideas in Byzantine Philosophy and Theology”, implemented with a financial support of the Russian Science Foundation.