Theological understanding of St. Gregory Nazianzus themes of the priesthood in the sociocultural context of Late Antiquity (based on the material of Word 3) [abstract]

Contents General characteristics of the work Degree of development of the topic Scientific novelty of the research Theoretical and practical significance of the research Theses submitted for defense: Degree of reliability and testing of the research results Characteristics of the range of sources List of works published on the topic of the dissertation Publications in peer-reviewed scientific publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Other publications General characteristics of work Priesthood 1 is one of the elements constituting the existence of the Church and ensuring Her self-identity, objectified in sacramental unity and continuity of ordination from the disciples of Christ to our time. At the same time, the Church realizes its unchanging salvific mission in history, which gives its action, in addition to the mystical, a sociocultural dimension. The involvement of the Church in the historical process determines the constant variability of the forms of priestly service and ways of reflecting on it. In this regard, it is necessary to consider the development of ideas about the priesthood in their correlation with the sociocultural reality of a particular period. At the same time, the forms of social organization and communicative practices inherent in a particular era largely determine the historical specifics of priestly service, and changing cultural characteristics set the approaches and languages ​​for its description and justification. The period of Late Antiquity should be recognized as a particularly significant stage in the development of ideas about the priesthood. It is well known that the era under study is a period of fundamental changes in the relationship between the Church and the Empire, as well as the Church and the ancient polis communities, and at the same time it is an era of unprecedented intra-church conflicts, mainly the Arian crisis, which, in addition to the doctrinal one, also had a significant ecclesiological dimension 2. One should also point out the Donatist 3, Novatian 4 and other schisms, which were less significant from a theological point of view, but had a significant influence on church practice. The same period was marked by the rise of patristic thought, marked by the creation of a Christian picture of the world, which, on the one hand, adopted some elements of Hellenistic culture, and on the other, competed with the worldviews that arose within its framework. Taking into account the fundamental importance for the development of the church structure of all the above historical trends, it should at the same time be emphasized that the social ideas of the late antique era, with which the phenomenon of the priesthood is inevitably correlated in patristic texts, are not only a reflection of the social practices characteristic of this time, but are largely determined by the constants of ancient culture, dating back to classical Greek philosophy of the 4th century. BC. It is also worth considering that the ancient tradition was not characterized by the establishment of a stable relationship between cult practices and a worldview that belonged rather to the sphere of philosophy, while Christianity combined both liturgical life and compulsory dogma. In this sense, it is not surprising that some early Christian authors described Christianity as a true philosophy. In the development of Christian ideas about the priesthood, the second half of the 4th century should be considered a turning point, since it was at this time that the key texts on the priesthood were created in Greek and Latin: “Apology” (3rd word / or. 2) 5 St. Gregory the Theologian, “Six words about the priesthood” by St. John Chrysostom, “On the Duties” of St. Ambrose of Milan, “Letter 49 to Nepotianus” bl. Jerome, some sermons of Bl. Augustina 6, etc. This dissertation research is devoted to the chronological study of the first of them. Let us immediately make a reservation that the specific content of the “Apology” of St. Gregory the Theologian, which will be revealed later, encourages us, when contextualizing it, to turn first not to specific historical trends in the life of the late antique city, but to the social ideas that persist in this era, determined by classical ancient philosophy. The relevance of the study is determined by the following factors: Firstly, the significance of the heritage of St. Gregory the Theologian and, especially, his “Apology” in the development of Christian ideas about the priesthood. A separate study is required to assess the extent of its influence on subsequent Christian writing, but familiarity with this treatise by key authors in both the Greek and Latin traditions 7 indicates its unique position in the history of Christian pastoral thought. Secondly, the importance of studying the topic of priesthood for a holistic understanding of the heritage of St. Gregory the Theologian, which, given his place in the Orthodox Tradition, is a significant task for pathological science as a whole. As one of the greatest patrolologists of the 20th century, Jean Bernardi, writes, the theme of the priesthood occupies the work of St. Gregory, a place almost as extensive as the doctrine of the Trinity 8. A significant amount of research has been devoted to the triadology of the Theologian, which cannot be said about the second of the named elements; Thus, without analyzing the ideas of St. Gregory about the priesthood, a synthesizing view of his work turns out to be impossible. Thirdly, practical church necessity. The Russian tradition of pastoral theology calls the “Apology” of St. Gregory the Theologian one of the main sources on its subject, along with other patristic treatises on the priesthood 9. Church hierarchs indicate that this text is a “handbook for ministers of the Church”, which “is studied by future priests in theological seminaries” 10. At the same time, the lack of the necessary pathological basis leads to the fact that the indicated status of the “Apology” in pastoral theology is not supported by real practice: in fact, we do not find in Russian textbooks of pastoral theology a meaningful appeal to the thought of St. Gregory (with the exception of a few striking quotations - see footnote 11). This is quite natural, since neither in Russian nor in world patrol we find such an analysis of the “Apology” that could be considered sufficient for its holistic perception, as well as for the creation of a commentary edition with a modern translation - without which statements about the special significance of this text for (future) shepherds will remain largely declarative. Degree of topic development Research tradition on the topic of priesthood throughout the corps of St. Gregory was considered by us separately 11. Studies of the Apology carried out before the critical edition in SC by J. Bernardi in 1978 12 seem overly general and prone to listing the main topoi of the text rather than analyzing and contextualizing it 13 . Here it is worth highlighting only the monograph by F. Portmann 14, which provides a meaningful comparison of the “Apology” with Plato’s “Republic”. A key milestone in our question was the research of S. Elm, who compared the ideas of St. Gregory and Emperor Julian. This comparison, which began with one article 15, led to the publication in 2012 of a monograph, without which research into the work of St. Gregory is now poorly represented 16. A significant part of this monograph (pp. 147–265) is devoted to the Apology. Works examining the “Apology” within the framework of the formation of the image of the monk-bishop in Late Antiquity concentrate on several paragraphs of the text (mainly or. 2. 6–7), rich in ascetic vocabulary 17 . At the same time, since the 60s of the XX century. there is a tradition of reading these same paragraphs in a platonic context when analyzing the philosophical elements of the legacy of St. Gregory. Within its framework, the primary development of the theme of the priesthood through the prism of such a significant opposition for the philosophical and political thought of Antiquity as contemplation - practice 18 is of particular importance. Thus, at the moment, the research tradition has described the general historical context of the Apology (Bernardi, Elm); Platonic elements of the image of a priest are identified (Portmann, Elm); different strategies have been proposed for interpreting the path to becoming a priest (Sterk 19, Elm, Gauthier 20); the connection between the priesthood and basic theological intuitions is revealed (K. Bili 21, D. Opperval 22, E. Hofer 23); in a number of works the ethical conflict of the text is formulated, but not consistently analyzed (Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) 24, etc.); the need to approach the “Apology” as a “mosaic” is postulated, which involves a careful analysis of the different elements of the image of the priest in this text (M. Lochbrunner 25). There is also a rather tendentious interpretation of this and other texts of the saint as “self-canonization” (for example, N. McLinn 26). The question of the combination of autobiographical and theoretical elements in the Apology will become the starting point for our research. Mention should also be made of the recent German-language edition of the Apology, ed. M. Fidrovich 27 with his own introductory article. Analysis of ideas about the priesthood of St. Gregory in this introduction is interesting by highlighting its main aspects, but does not concentrate on the text as a whole statement and therefore does not reconstruct the main ethical conflict to which, from our point of view, this text is dedicated. The object of our research is the legacy of St. Gregory the Theologian in the sociocultural context of Late Antiquity. The subject is theological ideas about the priesthood in the “Apology” of St. Gregory the Theologian. The purpose of the study is to provide a contextual interpretation of the theme of the priesthood in the Apology of St. Gregory the Theologian. Correct achievement of this goal is possible only taking into account the rhetorical features of the theological thought of St. Gregory, which largely determines the objectives, methodology and structure of our research. As we have seen from the review of the research tradition, this text provides grounds for its interpretation both as a text about oneself and as a text about the priesthood, since in it we find both autobiographical material and a description of the nature, position and functions of the priesthood. Holistic reconstruction of the saying of St. Gregory on the priesthood, which harmonizes these two approaches, is possible only by correlating the results of the analysis of different aspects of this text. The order of their consideration in the dissertation is determined by two considerations: 1) first you should answer the question of how this text is structured, and then analyze various aspects of its content; 2) the sequence of addressing these aspects - theological intuitions, the functions and position of the priest, his ethics - is due to the fact that we propose a reading of the Apology as an ethical treatise; accordingly, an analysis of its basic theological, philosophical and other intuitions must precede the identification of the ethical content correlated with them. At the same time, the understanding of the proposed St. Gregory's ethics of accepting the priesthood cannot but influence our final reconstruction of his vision of the phenomenon of the priesthood. 1. Identify the structural and genre features of the “Apology” and, on the basis of this, determine the author’s strategy of St. Gregory. 2. To reconstruct the system of allusions and images present in the Apology, to determine the range of vocabulary used in describing the figure of the priest, as well as the author’s principles for working with them. 3. Contextualize in the light of the entire theological thought of St. Gregory's theological intuitions of the "Apology", describing the position of the priest, and reconstruct on the basis of this, implicitly contained in the thoughts of St. Gregory theological foundations of the priesthood. 4. Identify the main categories with the help of which St. Gregory describes the position of the priest, and defines the specifics of their use. 5. Identify and analyze the main elements of the Apology that define its ethical content, and reconstruct the ideas of St. Gregory the Theologian, related to the ethical problem of becoming a priest. These tasks are supplemented by a comparative element: 6. Compare the “Apology” with the texts of previous or contemporary literature to understand the meaning of the thought of St. Gregory on the priesthood in Church Tradition. The methodology and structure of the study correspond to the presented objectives. It is based on a set of general humanities historical and philological methods: analytical, descriptive, hermeneutic and historical-comparative - which allows us to reconstruct the ideas of St. Gregory on the priesthood and correlate them with late antique and the intellectual tradition that preceded it. At the same time, each of the indicated levels of the text requires a corresponding method of study, which determines the interdisciplinarity of the dissertation research. In the first chapter, based on structural and genre analysis, as well as contextualization in late antique rhetorical theory, the author’s strategy of the “Apology” is reconstructed, i.e. “the author's intentionality in relation to the reader and the hero” 28 or, in other words, the pragmatics of the text. In the second chapter, based on ideas about the poetics of literature of this period (and focusing on the classic work of S. S. Averintsev), we focus on identifying connections between the “Apology” and the texts of the previous tradition, as well as on the image of the priest in this text given by these connections. In the third chapter we use the method of systematic reconstruction to determine the place of ideas about the clergy in the structure of the theological thought of St. Gregory. In the fourth chapter, within the framework of historical and philosophical reconstruction, an analysis of the categorical apparatus is presented, with the help of which St. Gregory describes the position of the priest in the local Church. In the fifth chapter, through the reconstruction of the interrelations of a number of ethical categories and narrative analysis of the text, the statement of St. Gregory on the ethics of becoming a priest in the Apology. The conclusion summarizes the results of the study and offers a synthesizing view of the Apology. In addition, the theological component of the study should be identified. The theological method in the sense of a specific humanitarian operation “correlating a cultural-historical phenomenon with the norm of religious consciousness,” as defined by Archpriest. K. Polskov 29 is not constitutive for patrolological research, since patrolology within the framework of this approach can be understood in two ways. Firstly, as a correlation of the ideas of a particular holy father on any issue with the reconstructed “norm”, and in this case it can be described by the method of Arch. K. Polskova. Secondly, as the identification and formalization of this “norm of religious consciousness” through the analysis of authoritative texts of the Orthodox Tradition, which is necessary for the subsequent correlation of any phenomena with it. Our research follows the latter path and therefore fits better into other programs of theological research. Thus, K. M. Antonov, justifying the scientific status of theology, points out that in this capacity it is not the “science of God”, but the “science of the faith of the Church,” the purpose of which is “to clarify the norms of religious consciousness of a particular church community in the horizon of the history of the Church” 30. In a similar way, patrolology can be perceived as the foundation of theological science in the vision of Rev. P. Khondzinsky, who defines it as a church science that fixes, with the help of humanitarian means, the unity of church Tradition at its intellectual level 31 - i.e. reconstructing the history of church thought, based on the premises set by the Church. Summarizing these positions, we can say that the theological specificity of patrolology (which distinguishes it from the non-confessional history of thought) is determined by the interdependence of the subject of research and the position of the researcher. Since the holiness of certain authors and, consequently, the special normative significance of their texts and thoughts for the church tradition are determined by the Church itself, pathological (not reducible to philosophical or philological, etc.) research should be considered one in which the position of the Church is accepted by the researcher as his own. The basic element of such a study will be a contextual reconstruction of aspects of the thought of individual authors, followed by an attempt to correlate them with each other in order to identify the “norms of religious consciousness of the church community,” i.e. voices of Tradition. Scientific novelty of the research The study is the first to examine the problem of the genre of the Apology and propose its holistic reading as a text about the priesthood in the context of late antique rhetorical practices. For the first time, an analysis of the vocabulary of the description of the priesthood was carried out on the material of the Apology; A systematic reconstruction of the theological ideas of St. was carried out. Gregory the Theologian, related to the theme of the priesthood. An analysis of the key categories and platonic context of the Apology, parallel to that existing in historiography, was also carried out, which made it possible to propose a new reading of them. “Apology” was interpreted as a holistic statement about the ethics of becoming a priest. Theoretical and practical significance of the study The theoretical significance of the study is determined by the need to develop church ideas about shepherding at the intersection of patrolological and late antique research paradigms; The presented study, offering a reading of one of the key texts on the priesthood of this period and the Orthodox Tradition as a whole, provides grounds for further deepening fundamental research on this topic. The practical significance of the study lies, firstly, in the need for scientific enrichment of pastoral theology, which has been actively developing in the Russian Orthodox Church in recent decades; secondly, the need to create a corpus of new annotated translations of the main treatises on the priesthood for pastoral training programs. The results of the study can be used in programs in pastoral theology and patrolology. Theses submitted for defense: 1. "Apology" of St. Gregory the Theologian can be called the first treatise on the priesthood of the Christian tradition after the “Pastoral Epistles” (1–2 Tim, Titus), in the sense that it is the first text created to form a certain ethos of the clergy and addressed to the clergy. The main problem, the solution of which is proposed in this text by St. Gregory, the question is about who should and who should not become a priest. 2. St. Gregory in the Apology presented a “mosaic” image of the church pastor by contaminating quotes, paraphrases, allusions, images and vocabulary from the contextual fields of different traditions of previous writing. Thus, the ministry of the priest, described with the help of ancient categories and images interpreted from the perspective of the Gospel, was thoroughly included in the sociocultural space of Late Antiquity. 3. The priesthood is included by St. Gregory into the general theological horizon through a description of his place in the history of salvation, and not through correlation with individual provisions of the Trinitarian and Christological teaching of the Church. This inclusion occurs in diachronic and synchronic perspectives. In diachrony, the clergy is included among the rulers of Old and New Israel. In synchrony, the priesthood acts as a “co-worker” (συνεργός) of God in the work of salvation in the period beginning after the Ascension of Christ, when the gracious action of the Holy Spirit is predominantly manifested in the life of the Church. 4. The role of the priest in the local Church is determined by his mediatory position between the Chief Shepherd Christ and the flock, conceptualized in the polis categories of power (ἀρχή), service (λειτουργία), accountability (ὑπεύθυνος), etc. This position is conceived as a special type of power, which is limited by the principle, prescribing to act “not by violence, but by persuasion,” and is aimed at the benefit of the governed, with accountability to God rather than to the community. 5. This position of the leader of the community unites in the opinion of St. Gregory in the ministry of a priest contains everything necessary for the full life of the community: priesthood, preaching and counseling. Different aspects of the ministry integrate this position into the world order in different ways and define different requirements for clergy. As a preacher, the priest is called to have the education and rhetorical skills that enable him to act as a source of unanimity in the congregation. By receiving the authority to perform the sacraments, the priest takes a closer position to God (as indicated by the category of “mediation”), and this requires personal purity from him. The spiritual leadership of the flock is interpreted by St. Gregory uses the terminology to describe power, which shows its metaphorical nature and at the same time determines the authority of the priest’s position in the community. It is also the basis for the highest demands on a priest related to his success on the path of deification. 6. When characterizing the path to becoming a priest, St. Gregory refers to such basic categories of ancient ethics as “contemplation” and “practice”. The priesthood in his view uniquely and paradoxically combines a practical way of life with a contemplative inner dispensation. 7. Representations of St. Gregory on the priesthood were formulated in response to the crisis of the clergy he felt and embodied in the image of the hero of the text. Being a person who meets the normative requirements presented in the text (education, experience, age), he accepts the priesthood out of fear of disobedience to the will of God. However, he himself does not want this because of the desire for a contemplative life and fear of the height and danger of this service. Thus, when reading the Apology, the reader, who identifies himself with the hero of the text, is offered a given structure of reflection on the priesthood, which helps determine his attitude towards this ministry. 8. The description of the specifics of the priestly position and the ethics of joining the clergy turn out to be interdependent in the Apology. The highest responsibility placed on the priest makes the ordination an ethical issue (a Christian cannot consider himself worthy and desire to be ordained); at the same time, the path of the hero of the text to the priesthood shows that the very nature of the priesthood implies the fundamental impossibility for a person to correspond to the height of this service, and, thus, the understanding of one’s unworthiness turns out to be the main feature of the priest’s ethos. Degree of reliability and testing of research results The main results of the dissertation were presented and discussed at the international congress "Leeds International Medieval Congress" (2022), the annual conferences of St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (2021), MDA (2021), SDA (2021) and KazPDS (2019), the scientific and practical conference "IX Zlatoust Readings" (2022), as well as a number of conferences, round tables and seminars of PSTGU (2017–2022). The main provisions of the dissertation research are presented in 11 scientific publications of the author, including 3 articles published in journals included in the list of peer-reviewed scientific publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation. Characteristics of the range of sources The main source of our research is the Apology of St. Gregory the Theologian, numbered in the Patrologia Graeca (hereinafter - PG) and the Sources Chrétiennes series (hereinafter - SC) as oratio 2, and in pre-revolutionary publications in the series Works of the Holy Fathers in Russian translation (hereinafter - TSO) - word 3 32. A post-PG critical edition of this text was carried out by J. Bernardi 33 . The text in it, based on the PG edition, is divided into 117 paragraphs, thus, the Apology is one of the most extensive texts of St. Gregory 34. Pre-revolutionary translations of the homilies of St. Gregory, as already mentioned, were carried out according to the previous PG edition, which resulted in the absence of paragraph numbering. In the 2007 edition of the saint's works, 35 the pre-revolutionary translation is divided according to generally accepted numbering, which is also used in this work. The dissertation presents the author's translation of the Apology, with the exception of a number of fragments where the translation is taken from the 2007 edition with minor changes. It should also be noted that Bernardi's textual work has been partially criticized on the basis of a revision of the principle of manuscript selection inherent in the entire SC project of publishing the homilies of St. Gregory 36. At the same time, it must be emphasized that the proposed amendments to the Greek text of the “Apology” (SC 247) in Article 37, specifically dedicated to this issue, are not absolute in nature, i.e. the proposed corrections to the Greek original in most cases do not concern passages that are meaningfully important to us, although in some cases they seem interesting for interpretation. It should be noted that this article, in turn, was criticized by other researchers 38 . As a result, it can be argued that SC 247 can still be used in the study of the Apology. This situation, as well as the problem of dating this text, is discussed in more detail in § 1.1 of our study 39 . In addition to the Apology, the sources in the study are other texts - words, poems and letters of St. Gregory, the appeal to which is aimed mainly at identifying the place of ideas about the priesthood in his entire theological worldview. Identifying the genre specificity of the “Apology” requires turning to the rhetorical tradition of Antiquity (Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Aelius Theon). Contextualization of the philosophical layer of the “Apology” is carried out on the basis of its comparison with ancient texts, mainly with Plato’s “Republic” and “Politician”. Finally, to clarify the meaning of the thought of the priesthood, St. Gregory the Theologian for the Christian Tradition draws on a circle of early Christian sources containing statements about the clergy, texts of modern St. Gregory of the authors, as well as the subsequent Byzantine and Latin traditions for the initial establishment of points of reception of his heritage. MAIN CONTENT OF THE WORK The “Introduction” poses the research problem and substantiates the relevance of its topic, characterizes the degree of development of the problem, formulates the purpose and objectives of the study, and its methodological foundations. In the first chapter, “Is the Apology the First Text on the Priesthood?” , the question is raised in what sense the Apology can be called a text on the priesthood. The chapter contains two paragraphs: “The Apology as a text about the priesthood” (§ 1.1) and “The author’s strategies for texts with instructions for the clergy, written earlier than the Apology” (§ 1.2). In § 1.1 “Apology as a text about the priesthood” the problem of dating this text (1.1.1), its genre features (1.1.2) is considered, the author’s strategy of St. is reconstructed. Gregory when writing this text (1.1.3). § 1.1.1. “The Dating Problem” is devoted to the question of the date of creation of the “Apology,” which does not have a clear answer in the research literature. What is important to us is not the solution to the dating question itself, but the understanding of what it says about the nature of this text. Without denying the very fact of the flight of St. Gregory in Pontus, we propose to see in the “Apology” a declamatio - a text imitating speech in certain conditions - created in the form in which we know it, most likely, after 381, and aimed not at defending one’s actions, but at solving a generally significant church problem. In § 1.1.2 “Genre Features” it is shown that the judicial defensive speech is not the only genre self-identification of the “Apology”: the middle of the speech is marked (in or. 2.47) as a deliberative speech - apotreptic (ἀποτροπή). The judicial “frame” of the text, firstly, sets its structure, and secondly, it allows you to introduce your ideas from the most advantageous rhetorical position, in which St. Gregory may have been guided by Plutarch’s theoretical treatise “On How to Praise Oneself.” The main part of the text (or. 2. 9–70) is a deliberative speech, in which the author, through a versatile description of the nature of priestly service, its principles and tasks, convinces the reader of the impossibility of considering himself worthy of it (the service). § 1.1.3 “Pragmatics of the text” is devoted to the issue of coordination of the two indicated parts of the text. Consideration of the genre features of the “Apology” in the context of the principles of the functioning of texts in this era allows us to conclude that this treatise is aimed at changing the internal structure of the reader, comprehending his path to the priesthood. He is offered a reflection on the height of this service, as well as descriptions of what emotions the hero (“I”) of the text experienced during this reflection. The very path (i.e., the sequence of emotional states) of the hero of the text from leaving the ministry to accepting it becomes the basis for the reader to correlate his situation with the situation of the hero. § 1.2. is called “Correlation with the author’s strategies of the previous “Apology” texts containing instructions for the clergy.” An examination of these texts shows that the Christian tradition before the Apology of St. Gregory the Theologian was focused rather on describing the structure of the local community or the Church as a whole, and it was from this perspective that it addressed the issue of the position and ethics of clergy. The exceptions are private epistles, of which, of course, the “Pastoral Epistles” occupy a special place. Thus, the “Apology” can be considered the first text of the Christian tradition after the “Pastoral Epistles”, created to form a certain ethos of the clergy and addressed to the clergy. The second chapter, “Images, allusions and vocabulary of the priesthood in the “Apology””, examines the principles of organizing the “fabric” of the text under study. The chapter consists of 8 paragraphs. In § 2.1 “Paraphrase of Plato’s “Republic” in or. 2. 9" the difficult-to-interpret paragraph or is analyzed. 2.9, where a paraphrase of the dialogue between Thrasymachus and Socrates from the first book of Plato’s Republic was found. This analysis serves to illustrate the poetics of St. Gregory and at the same time allows us to determine the context in which St. Gregory thinks about the position of a priest. Starting from this specific textual connection, § 2.2 examines in more detail the Platonic context of the Apology. It expanded and substantiated the intuitions of F. Portmann 40, which made it possible to show the constitutive role of Plato’s “Republic” for the initial part of the “Apology”. In § 2.3 “Terminology” for describing the clergy” it is shown that in the “Apology” there is no established terminological apparatus for describing the clergy; its vocabulary is full of metaphors and typological imagery of the Old Testament. In § 2.4 “Verbal Portrait of a Priest,” a frequency analysis of nouns and verbs describing the priest’s positions and actions is proposed. It shows that power lexemes prevail over others. Further, in § 2.5 “The “Position” of the προστασία priest”, other ways of connecting church and political/philosophical contexts are considered using the example of the word προστασία that permeates the entire “Apology”. This word, which is not found either in Scripture or in the texts of Plato and Aristotle, is actively used in describing political realities by ancient historians and rhetoricians, as well as in the previous St. Gregory of the Christian tradition. The use of this word allows us to attribute both biblical and polis images to church realities. In § 2.6 “Imagery and vocabulary of Scripture” we record/demonstrate a certain “politicization” of St. Gregory of biblical material. In paragraphs or. 2. 53–70 author's words are significantly fewer than biblical quotes; however, with their help, St. Gregory, both through a comparison of quotations from different prophetic books and through the author’s combination of them, affirms the succession of the contemporary clergy in relation not to any one type of Old Testament ministry, but precisely to the position of power in Israel as such. The central words are two, which are also the same in the rest of the text - “shepherd” and “priest”. In § 2.7 “Pastoral imagery” the role of the pastoral imagery of the “Apology” is considered. It plays a key role in a number of passages devoted to ecclesiological ideas (or. 2. 3–4), in a significant passage about the Old Testament leaders of Israel (see above), etc. In combination with the “pastoral hymn” in the final paragraphs of the Apology, where two paragraphs account for 13 derivatives of ποιμήν, this allows us to speak about the synthesizing role of pastoral imagery for the multitude contexts, topoi and images presented in this text in describing the priestly ministry. § 2.8 “The place of the image of the priest from the Apology in early Christian writing” is devoted to a comparison of the development of priestly (ἱερεύς/sacerdos) and shepherd (ποιμήν) imagery when describing church leadership in early Christian writing. Following the research of B. Stewart 41, we define the function of priestly vocabulary as dissimilarity: priests existed in the ancient world, Christianity, with the help of a typological transfer of the Old Testament priesthood to church realities, created its own analogue of “priesthood”, simultaneously inscribing itself in this way into ancient society and defining its unique position in it. Pastoral imagery served exclusively the second task: since it was not inherent in ancient political rhetoric, its use made it possible to record a new social type of relationship, that is, the hierarchical structure of the local Church. At the conclusion of the second chapter, it is concluded that St. With his text, Gregory, forming the image of a priest, inscribes him into the late antique social space, defined in his case by the Christian gospel. The key role here is played by the choice of material (“Plato’s Republic” and “political” fragments of Scripture), its transformation and transfer to church realities using contexts or “neutral” vocabulary. Pastoral vocabulary turns out to be integrative, allowing one to combine these intuitions and mark power relations that are different from existing political ones. The third chapter, “The Theological Foundations of the Priestly Ministry,” reconstructs those theological intuitions of the Apology that describe the nature of the priesthood. The chapter consists of two paragraphs with subparagraphs: § 3.1 “The priesthood in the thought of St. Gregory the Theologian”, § 3.2 “Theology of the priesthood in the Apology”. In § 3.1.1 “Priesthood in the system of knowledge of St. Gregory" emphasizes the fact that in the works of the Theologian, containing or setting forth his system of knowledge, the priesthood is almost always absent. The poem carm, which is an exception in this aspect, is analyzed. 1. 2. 34. § 3.1.2. “The theme of the priesthood in the corpus of texts of St. Gregory" demonstrates that the theme of the priesthood, occupying a modest place in the systematic texts of St. Gregory, is of key importance for his texts devoted to the practical aspects of church life. In the second part of the chapter devoted to the theological intuitions of the Apology, in § 3.2.1. ““Helpers” (συνεργοί) of Oikonomia” shows how the priesthood is included in the horizon of the theological thought of St. Gregory. The role of the clergy is to help the saving work of Christ. The statement that the priesthood continues the work of Christ is complemented by the historical and theological intuition of St. described in § 3.2.2 “Rulers of Israel”. Gregory that the priest succeeds to all those whose “office” (προστασία) was to rule (οἰκονομία) over Israel (see or. 2. 52, 57–68). This intuition allows for the abundant use of Old Testament vocabulary and examples to describe the different aspects of the power of the priest, both mysterious (through the images of the Levitical priesthood and the church topic) and “socio-political”, since the local Church is described as a people (typologically conceptualized Old Israel), led by a shepherd. § 3.2.2 “God-established clergy” refers to the fragment or. 2. 3–4, in which we see a synthesis of the indicated theological intuitions and the principles of text construction presented in the second chapter. Thus, in the thoughts of St. Gregory distinguishes two elements of the history of Oikonomia: Divine action (the history of the Testaments and Revelations) and the socio-political dispensation (Old and New Israel), responding to this action and striving to organize itself accordingly. These lines converge in Christ, Who Himself was (and remains) the incarnate divine Word, the performer of the sacrament of salvation, and the leader of the Church. The clergy, thus, turn out to be “helpers” of Oikonomia, i.e. continuers of the work of Christ, both in accomplishing salvation (in the sacraments) and in leading the Church as the New Israel. The fourth chapter, “The position of the priest in the church community,” contains paragraphs “Transformation of ancient categories” (§ 4.1), “The image of the laity” (§ 4.2), “Mediation (μεσιτεία)” (§ 4.3), “Functions of the shepherd” (§ 4.4), “Archpastor - shepherd - flock” (§ 4.5). § 4.1 “Transformation of ancient categories” is devoted to understanding the opposition λειτουργία ὑπεύθυνος / ἀρχὴ ἀνεξέταστος (or. 2. 8) - accountable service / unlimited power. Combining this understanding with the analysis of the image of the laity in § 4.2 of the same name, we come to the conclusion that St. Gregory introduces an opposition of two types of ἀρχή: the first is self-closed, i.e. has itself as a source and is aimed at its own good (ἡγεμονία; ἀρχὴ ἀνεξέταστος,), the second lies in the position of a mediator between God and people. God, and not the people (as would be implied in the context of the polis), is the source of power and the “accountable authority” for the priest, while his actions are aimed at the benefit of the people. The power of the priest is fundamentally limited by the opposition “not to rule by force, but to lead by conviction” (or. 2. 15). § 4.3 “Mediation” analyzes the use of St. Gregory of the priestly vocabulary of the Old Testament and the expression “μεσιτεία Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων”. It is shown that ἱερεύς and its derivatives are found in the Apology exclusively in Old Testament contexts. Contextualization of the expression μεσιτεία Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων (St. Athanasius the Great and the Didascalia) allows us to assert that the word “mediation” through the transfer of connotations of the Old Testament priest to the clergy of the Church refers exclusively to his mysterial service. The next § 4.4 “Functions of the Pastor” (4.4) attempts to analyze how the two types of action of the priest: in word and in the sacrament, i.e. counseling and secret services - form his position in relation to God and the community. The ability to perform the sacraments, according to Gregory, elevates a person in the hierarchy, understood as the world order, which is determined by closeness to God. The basis for counseling is not the objective – but the sacred – closeness of the priest to God, but “subjective”, i.e. personal holiness, described by Gregory in completely Platonic terms. In § 4.5 “Archpastor – shepherd – flock” when analyzing or. 2. 34. it is shown that the priest is thought of by St. Gregory, as a figure occupying a place in the community analogous to Christ in relation to the Church. At the same time, for St. Gregory, it is fundamental that God directly guides the life of the Church. A comparison is made here with the position of the politician in Plato’s dialogue of the same name. This comparison makes it possible, in the presence of isomorphic features, to emphasize the differences: in Plato, the politician leads the people under God, who “withdrew to his observation post” (272e); in St. Gregory, the priest turns out to be a dependent - intermediary - figure, dependent on God, Who acts in the world through Providence and through the Sacraments, but at the same time, the shepherd is also the leader of his community. The fifth chapter, “The Ethical Statement of the Apology,” consists of five paragraphs: “Philosophy, Contemplation, Practice” (§ 5.1), “Criteria for Readiness to Accept the Priesthood” (§ 5.2), “The Ethics of the “Two Fears”” (§ 5.3), “Preliminary Conclusions” (§ 5.4), “Contextualization” (§ 5.5). In § 5.1 “Philosophy, contemplation, practice” an interpretation of these categories in the corpus of texts of St. is proposed. Gregory and separately in the Apology, since they are the key ones in the ethics of the Theologian. Our interpretation suggests reconsidering S. Elm's conclusions. We show that her proposed consideration of the path of the hero of the Apology as an ascension within the framework of three ways of life: practical - contemplative - political, can only take place with significant reservations. The priesthood should be considered a paradoxical, practical way of life that requires a contemplative inner attitude. At the same time, the hero of the “Apology” is presented in it as one who strives for a philosophical way of life, and not as one who asserts that he is already “a political philosopher chosen by divine providence” and is worthy of the priesthood, as S. Elm interprets it 42. From our point of view, the hero of the Apology has begun to comprehend philosophy and has initial experience in it, which is why he acts philosophically, i.e. accepts what is unpleasant to him (even a non-philosophical way of life), but in relation to which he has a duty to others. § 5.2. “Criteria of readiness to accept the priesthood” is devoted to identifying these criteria in the image of the hero of the text and explicit statements about priestly service. Several main criteria are identified: theological knowledge and skills necessary for preaching, age, which is understood not as a formal criterion, but as an indicator of experience, which marks a certain success in philosophy/asceticism, as well as knowledge of life and different types of people, which are preparation for further counseling. In § 5.3. “The Ethics of “Two Fears”” reconstructs the ethical scheme that St. Gregory embodies in the description of the hero's acceptance of the text of the priesthood. If the main part of the text instills in the reader a fear of taking orders, then the second part convinces the reader of the impossibility of disobeying the will of God. This position between “two fears” results in an ethical maxim, expressed in Aristotle through the principle of the golden mean: “I maintain a middle ground between those who are too daring and between those who are too timid; I am more fearful than those who grab hold of any authority, and more daring than those who run away from everyone” (or. 2. 113). In § 5.4 “Preliminary conclusions” it is argued that the views of St. Gregory on the priesthood (described in chapters 3 and 4) make it necessary to assert that anyone who wants to become a priest does not understand the essence of this ministry. The priest, based on our reconstruction of the ideas of St. Gregory, can be someone who, firstly, meets normative criteria, secondly, strives for a philosophical life and therefore does not want to accept a practical way of life, and, thirdly, has an adequate understanding of the ministry of a priest and therefore understands that he is unworthy of it. Accordingly, such a person will not strive for the priesthood, and will probably actively resist, so bringing him to consecration is the task of others. At the same time, it is precisely the fear of disobedience to God’s will that turns out to be stronger than the fear of rank and the reluctance to lose the previous way of life. In § 5.5. “Contextualization” shows that, despite the use of St. Gregory of a number of topoi common in his era, this way of speaking about the priesthood is not the only one in the period of Late Antiquity. The study of the common places and differences of the “Apology” from other texts on the priesthood of this era is the most productive way of studying the church’s understanding of the priesthood, which will allow us to identify its unchanging constants. In conclusion, the results of the study are summed up and the contextual sections placed in different chapters are summarized, which makes it possible to show the place of the “Apology” in Church Tradition. The appendices to the dissertation, placed after the conclusion, are a translation of a fragment from a little-known but significant study by F. Portmann, and a previously untranslated fragment from Eusebius of Caesarea’s Demonstratio Evangelica. List of works published on the topic of the dissertation Publications in peer-reviewed scientific publications recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission under the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation: 1. Antonov N.K. On the issue of the author's strategy of St. Gregory the Theologian in his “Apology” (Homily 3 / Or. 2) // Bulletin of the Ekaterinburg Theological Seminary. 2021. No. 35. pp. 31–51 43. (1.5 a.l.) 2. Antonov N.K. Review of research literature on the topic of the priesthood in the works of St. Gregory the Theologian // Questions of Theology. T. 3. 2021. No. 2. pp. 177–208 44. (2.6 a.l.) 3. Antonov N.K. Categories of the formation of a priest in the teaching of St. Gregory the Theologian // Christian reading. 2017. no. 2. pp. 98–111 45. (0.8 a.l.) 1. "Apology" of St. Gregory the Theologian and “Six Words on the Priesthood” by St. John Chrysostom: the problem of connecting texts // Chrysostom Readings. Collection of reports of the scientific and practical conference on February 2–3, 2022. M., 2023. pp. 478–493. (0.8 a.l.) 2. Nazianzena Rossica. St. Gregory the Theologian: research and translations. Collection of articles / Scientific. Ed.: N.K. Antonov, P.A. Pashkov. – M.: PSTGU, 2022. (24/author’s contribution – 5.95 al.) 3. Antonov N. The Ἀρχή of the Priest in the “Apology for his Flight” (or. 2) of Gregory of Nazianzus // Philosophy. The Journal of the Higher School of Economics. Vol. 6. 2022. No. 4. P. 13–35 46 . (1.5 a.l.) 4. Antonov N.K. Pastoral imagery in the “Apology” of St. Gregory the Theologian // Steps. T. 7. No. 2. 2021. pp. 193–211 47. (1.45 a.l.) 5. Antonov N.K. [Review] // Bulletin of PSTGU. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies. 2022. Issue. 99. pp. 136–140 – Rec. In the book: Hornung C. Monachus et sacerdos: Asketische Konzeptualisierungen des Klerus im antiken Christentum. Leiden: Brill, 2020. – 271 p. (0.2 a.l.) 6. Antonov N.K. A new look at the epistolary heritage of St. Gregory the Theologian // Bulletin of PSTGU. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies. 2020. Issue. 91 – Rec. on: Storin B.K. Self-Portrait in Three Colors: Gregory of Nazianzus's Epistolary Autobiography. Oakland: University of California Press, 2019. – 276 p. (0.5 a.l.) 7. Antonov N.K. The Second Ecumenical Council in the historical and theological context // Bulletin of PSTGU. Series II: History. History of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2020. Issue. 95. pp. 9–32. (1.5 a.l.) 8. Antonov N.K. [Review] // Bulletin of PSTGU. Series I: Theology. Philosophy. Religious Studies. 2020. Issue. 87. pp. 145–148 – Rec. In the book: Gomola A. Conceptual Blending in Early Christian Discourse. A Cognitive Linguistic Analysis of Pastoral Metaphors in Patristic Literature. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2018. – 244 p. (0.25 a.l.) 9. Antonov N.K. The doctrine of the priesthood of St. Gregory the Theologian in the context of the ancient cultural tradition (based on the III word - Apology) // Materials of the X International Student Scientific and Theological Conference April 25–26, 2018, pp. 8–12. (0.4 a.l) The abstract was published by decision of the dissertation council 99.2.097.02 on the basis of the Educational Private Institution of Higher Education "Orthodox St. Tikhon's Humanitarian University" and the Religious Organization - Spiritual Educational Organization of Higher Education "St. Petersburg Theological Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church" dated 06/26/2023. The attention paid within the framework of this study to the vocabulary with which the authors of Late Antiquity described the clergy prompts us to make a reservation that the word “priest” and its derivatives will be used further specifically to indicate the object of description of the text being studied. It will be taken into account that St. Gregory used it in a different way from today, which will be discussed separately below (§ 2.6). It should be noted that St. Gregory clearly distinguishes between the presbyteral and episcopal ranks, as evidenced by the phrase: “someone might think... that I considered this rank humiliating, wanting more” (or. 2.5), from which we understand that St. Gregory describes his entry into the rank of presbyter. Meanwhile, we emphasize that the same vocabulary in his other texts will be used to describe episcopate. Consequently, the subject of interest both to our research and to St. Gregory – “priest”, i.e. the shepherd of the Church who can celebrate the Eucharist. See: Zakharov G.E. “...For there must also be differences of opinion among you”: Ecclesiological problems in the history of Arian disputes. M.: PSTGU Publishing House, 2014. pp. 84–110. It is precisely the rivalry between Catholics and Donatists that R. Van Dam explains the fact that out of approx. There were 1000 bishops of the Western Empire, almost 800 (from both movements) at the turn of the 4th–5th centuries. departments in North Africa, see: Van Dam R. Bishops and Clerics during the Fourth Century: Numbers and Their Implications // Episcopal Elections in Late Antiquity / Leemans J., Van Nuffelen P., eds. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2011, pp. 224–225. Associated with it was the transformation of confession practices under bishop. Necatria of Constantinople (381–397), as recorded by church historians, see: Hermias Sozomenos. Historia Ecclesiastica. 7. 16 and Socrates Scholasticus. Historia Ecclesiastica. 5.19. "Apology" of St. We call Gregory the Theologian his 3rd word by numbering TSO. The fact is that in PG J.-P. Minya, and resp. in all critical editions and Western translations, this text is numbered "Oratio 2", while the Russian tradition here follows the earlier edition. The title “Apology,” in my opinion, best follows the thoughts of the author, who several times calls his text this way (see or. 2.2, 110). Rufinus when translating this word into Latin at the end of the 4th century. called him "Apologeticus" (CSEL 46). 425. De moribus clericorum and 426. De vita et moribus clericorum. This topic has been practically unexplored: even a comparison with “Six Words on the Priesthood” by St. John Chrysostom has not been carried out exhaustively (see our publication: Antonov N.K. “Apology” of St. Gregory the Theologian and “Six Words about the Priesthood” of St. John Chrysostom: the problem of connecting texts // Chrysostom Readings. Collection of reports of the scientific and practical conference on February 2–3, 2022. M., 2023. P. 478–493). At the same time, the tools of the TLG database show that quotations from the “Apology” are given in the letters of St. Isidore Pelusiota (ep. 1641, 3. 127), in the “Stories” of the imp. Justinian (Novelellae. 696), in the section on episcopacy of the florilegium “Sacra Parallela”, most likely compiled by John of Damascus (PG 95. 1541. 30), as well as in the “Great Catechism” of St. Theodora Studita (Magna Catechesa. 1. 1–2; 10. 63). Regarding the influence on the Western tradition, one should point out the fact that St. was familiar with the Apology to some extent. Gregory the Great, which was reflected in the quotation of its fragment in his “Pastoral Rule” (Liber Regulae Pastoralis. 1. See: Holder A. Gregory the Great: Book of Pastoral Rule // Christian Spirituality: The Classics / ed. by A. L. Holder. N. Y.: Routledge, 2009. P. 77. The question of substantive influence requires a separate study). The history of the reception of the Latin translation of the Apology, made by Rufinus of Aquileia c. 400 together with eight other Words of the Theologian. Gregory (Konissky), St. A book about the positions of parish elders. M.: 1806. P. 6–7. Anthony (Amphitheaters), archimandrite. Pastoral theology. Kyiv: Printing house of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, 1851. P. 15, 19. Kirill (Naumov), archimandrite. Pastoral theology. St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Council of Guardians, 1853. pp. 27–29. Anthony (Khrapovitsky), archimandrite. Pastoral theology. Publishing house of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, 1994. P. 57; Veniamin (Fedchenkov), Metropolitan. Lectures on pastoral theology with asceticism. M.: PSTGU, 2006. pp. 28–29; A clergyman's handbook. Volume 8. M.: Publishing house of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1998. pp. 35–36. Pastoral Theology: Textbook for Bachelor of Theology / Hilarion (Alfeev), ed. M.: Poznanie, 2021. P. 14. Hilarion (Alfeev), bishop. Life and teachings of St. Gregory the Theologian. M.: Publishing house of the Sretensky Monastery, 2007. pp. 209–210. More than 150 studies were reviewed, see: Antonov N.K. Review of research literature on the topic of the priesthood in the works of St. Gregory the Theologian // Questions of Theology. 2021. Vol. 3, No. 2. pp. 177–208. Bernardi J. Introduction // Grégoire de Nazianze. Discourse 1–3. P. 7–70. Ullmann C. Gregor von Nazianz, der Theologe. Darmstadt: Verlag von Carl Wilhelm Leske, 1825. S. 509–533; Gregorius Nazianzenus. Opera quae existant omnia / J.-P. Migne. P., 1862 (Patrologia Graeca. Vol. 35). P. 401–406; K. S. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus as an accuser of unworthy shepherds // Proceedings of the Kyiv Theological Academy. 1869. No. 4. P. 3–13; Menn. Zur Pastoraltheologie Gregors von Nazianz // International Theological Review. 1904. Vol. 12. P. 427–440; Serra M. La caritá pastorale in San Gregorio Nazianzeno // Orientalia Christiana Periodica. 1955. Vol. 21. P. 337–374; Bellini E. La figura del Pastore d’anime in san Gregorio Nazianzeno // Ibid. 1971. Vol. 99. P. 261–296; Gonçalo Alves de Sousa P. El sacerdocio permanente en la “Oratio II, Apologetica” de San Gregorio Nacianceno // Escritos sobre el carácter sacerdotal / J. Ibánez, ed. Burgos: Aldecoa. 1974. P. 25–41. Let’s add here Gallo P. “Apologeticus de fuga” di San Gregorio Nazianzeno: studio sul sacerdozio e traduzione in italiano. Roma: Pontificia Universitas Lateranense, 1985. Portmann F. X. Die göttliche Paidagogia bei Gregor von Nazianz: eine dogmengeschichtliche Studie. St. Ottilien, 1954. Elm S. Orthodoxy and the Philosophical Life: Julian and Gregory of Nazianzus // Studia Patristica. 2001. Elm S. Sons of Hellenism, fathers of the church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the vision of Rome. Berkley, LA; London: University of California Press, 2012. Sterk A. Renouncing the World, yet Leading the Church: The Monk-Bishop in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004; Demacopoulos G. E. Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007; Patrucco M. F. Bishops and Monks in Late Antique Society // Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum. 2005. No. 8. P. 332–345; Gwynn D. M. Episcopal Leadership // The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity / ed. by S. F. Johnson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012; Hornung C. Monachus et sacerdos. Asketische Konzeptualisierungen des Klerus im antiken Christentum. 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Author's strategy as a literary category: methodological aspect //Philological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice. 2015. T. 44. No. 2. P. 13. Polskov K. O. On the issue of scientific theological method // Questions of Philosophy. 2010. No. 7. pp. 93–101. Antonov K. M. Theology as a scientific specialty // Questions of philosophy. 2012. No. 6. pp. 73–84. Khondzinsky P., prot. The humanitarian component in theological education, or does the Church need scientific knowledge? // Christian pedagogy in the modern world: Materials of the II international scientific and practical conference. Penza, 2018. P. 88. The difference in numbering is due to the fact that the translations of the homilies of St. Gregory were carried out according to the previous PG edition attributed to J. Billius. See sn. 10 in: Bibliographic index to “Works of the Holy Fathers in Russian translation.” Ed. A. G. Dunaev and Hieromonk Dionisy (Shlenov). Part 1. 1843–1854 Preface by Hieromonk Dionysius (Shlenova) // Theological Bulletin 2003. Vol. 3. No. 3. P. 280. Gregoire de Nazianze. Discourse 1–3/ed. by J. Bernardi. (Sources Chrétiennes. Vol. 247). Only word 4 against imp is larger than it. Juliana (124 paragraphs), the next text in volume Word 43 about St. Vasily (81 paragraphs). Gregory the Theologian, saint. Creations. T. 1: Words. M.: Sibirskaya blagozvonnitsa, 2007. SC is based on the study of T. Sinko (Sinko Th. De Traditione Orationum Gregorii Nazianzeni. Pars prima. Cracovie, 1917), whose approach was revised in the study by V. Somer (Somers V. Histoire des collections complètes des Discours de Grégoire de Nazianze. Louvain-La-Neuve, 1997). Dubuisson M., Macé C. La place des versions anciennes dans l'histoire du texte de Grégoire de Nazianze. Le cas du Discours 2 // OCP. Vol. 68. 2002. P. 287–340. Dubuisson M., Macé C. L'apport des traductions anciennes a l'histoire du texte de Grégoire de Nazianze. 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The article was published within the framework of the grant project “Grigory Nazianzus’ Understanding of Religious Leadership in the Sociocultural Context of Late Antiquity” (2020–2023), project No. 20–311–90020, supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The article was published within the framework of the grant project “Grigory Nazianzus’ Understanding of Religious Leadership in the Sociocultural Context of Late Antiquity” (2020–2023), project No. 20-311-90020, supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. The article was published as part of the grant project “The Priest in the Face of Modernity” (2016–2017), supported by the Living Tradition Foundation. The article was published within the framework of the grant project “Categories of religious leadership in the modern era: the opposition “personal vs. institutional” (2022–2024), project No. 19–78–10143, supported by the Russian Science Foundation. The article was published within the framework of the grant project “Bearers of Spiritual Authority in Byzantine Literature: Historical and Conceptual Aspect” (2021–2022), supported by the Living Tradition Foundation.