Brief information about St. John of Damascus and his creations

Contents Brief information about St. John of Damascus and his creations Brief information about St. John of Damascus and his creations St. John of Damascus was born at the end of the 7th century in Damascus, then the main city of Syria, the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate 1. He came from a noble family known for Christian piety. His father, Sergius Mansur, was the manager of the treasury of the Damascus caliph and used his influence at court for the benefit of the Church of Christ. Sergius entrusted the upbringing and education of John and his half-brother Cosmas (later Bishop of Mayum) to the learned pious monk Cosmas from Calabria, whom he ransomed from captivity. The successes of the students soon justified the trust placed in the monk by the pious husband. “Thanks to the superiority of their talents and zeal, they in a short time mastered all the most difficult knowledge, both grammar and dialectics and the art of proof. In moral philosophy, they succeeded so much that they not only adorned their minds with teaching, but also humbled their spiritual passions. And just as an eagle looks at the sun, so they gazed intently at the foundations of nature” 2. After the death of his father, John became the heir to his fortune and soon became one of the caliph's closest advisers. Among his government activities, John found time to write a number of dogmatic and dogmatic-polemical works. He entered into the struggle for Orthodoxy with the Monophysites and wrote a lengthy denunciation against them on behalf of the Damascus Archbishop Peter. Probably, there, in Damascus, St. John also wrote a short essay “On the Right Way of Thinking,” in which he sets out the foundations of Orthodox Christian doctrine. Meanwhile, in 726, a new enemy of the Church appeared - iconoclasm, inspired and supported by the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian (716–741). The new heresy quickly spread throughout Byzantium and beyond, and soon the zealots of the purity of Orthodox teaching came out in defense of the truth. Among them the first was St. John of Damascus, who saw in iconoclasm a false teaching that was contrary to the very essence of Christianity. Immediately after the appearance of the decree of Leo the Isaurian, in which he prohibited the veneration of holy icons (726), Damascus wrote his first inspired word “Against those who reject holy icons” and sent it to Constantinople: “It would be fitting for us, who always feel our unworthiness, to remain silent and confess our sins to God. But since... I see that the Church... is worried and confused under the uncontrollable onslaught of evil spirits..., I decided to speak, not putting the height of kings above the truth... Even more prompted me to say that the word of a king is capable of deceiving his subjects. So, first of all, having established the observance of church law, through which salvation occurs, as some beginning or basis of reasoning, I opened the field for the word and released it ... "3. The second and third Words were written by Damascus after 730, when the emperor, by decree, not only forbade the writing and worship of icons, but also ordered their destruction both in churches and in private homes. John's epistles were eagerly read in Constantinople and other places: “the weak were supported by them in Orthodoxy, and the strong were strengthened in strength” 4 . The biographies of the saint testify that Emperor Leo did not leave his accuser without vengeance. Unable to act against St. John openly, he resorted to cunning and slandered him before the Caliph for political treason. The caliph immediately ordered John's removal from office and his right hand. The monk began to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos and ask for healing, which She gave him 5 . After this, St. John distributed his property to the poor and, together with his half-brother Cosmas, retired to the Lavra of St. Sava the Sanctified near Jerusalem, which was distinguished by its particularly strict monastic life. In the monastery, Damascene went through the entire narrow path of monastic asceticism: obedience, cutting off the will, humility. The then abbot of the Lavra, Nicodemus, handed him over to the elder, a simple and strict monk, who imposed on John the commandment not to do anything of his own free will, to remain in constant prayer, to banish from his soul any image of worldly life, and forbade him even to write anything. Meanwhile, one monk, having lost a close relative, strongly asked John to write him something to relieve his grief. After much hesitation, John agreed and wrote those touching hymns, beginning with the words “What earthly sweetness remains unaffected by sorrow,” which the Church subsequently adopted as its own and which are now sung at funerals. However, the elder’s commandment was violated, and he expelled John from his cell. After much persuasion by all the brethren, the elder agreed to accept John back on the condition that he himself clean out all the unclean places of the monastery. John hastened to fulfill the will of the elder, but he, touched by such humility, stopped him and, kissing him, said: “Oh, what a great ascetic of blessed obedience I have given birth to in Christ” 6 . And after some time, having received a special notification from the Mother of God, the elder blessed John to write both church-poetic and theological works. Patriarch of Jerusalem John V (706–735), under whose jurisdiction was the Lavra of St. Sava, summoned Damascus to Jerusalem and ordained him a presbyter so that he would be a preacher at the Church of the Resurrection 7 . In this position, St. John stayed for some time and it was then that he pronounced all the Words and Conversations known to us. Probably, after the death of the Patriarch, which soon followed, Damascene returned to the monastery of St. Sava, where he continued to strive in ascetic work and theological works. St. died John “in peace and old age” on December 4, when his memory is celebrated. The year of his death is not known exactly, 8 but it is obvious that he died earlier than 787, since at the VII Ecumenical Council of St. John, together with Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople and George, Bishop of Cyprus, was proclaimed eternal memory: “To German Orthodox, eternal memory. Eternal memory to John and George. Eternal memory to the preachers of truth. The Trinity glorified three, whose reasoning may we be worthy to follow, by the mercy and grace of the First and Great Bishop of Christ our God, by the intercession of our Most Immaculate Lady, the Holy Mother of God and all the Saints” 9 . Patriarch John of Jerusalem, completing the life of Damascus, writes: “He departed to Christ, whom he loved. And now he sees Him not in an icon and worships Him not in an image, but contemplates Him Himself face to face, looking with an uncovered face at the glory of the blessed Trinity” 10. His holy relics were transferred from the Lavra of St. Sava the Consecrated to Constantinople under Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (1282–1328) 11. In his numerous works, which will forever remain a source of true piety, orthodox theology and church education, St. John of Damascus appears both as a dogmatist, expounding the system of Christian doctrine, and as a moralist, revealing the greatness and power of virtues and the harm of vices, and as a polemicist, who zealously and fearlessly fought and defeated the Nestorians, Monophysites, iconoclasts and Muslims with the power of his word, and as an exegete who compiled commentaries on all the letters of the Apostle Paul, and as an inspired poet-hymnographer, who owns such unsurpassed examples of liturgical poetry as the Easter service, canons for Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, etc., and, finally, as a major speaker-preacher. The main and most famous dogmatic creation of St. John of Damascus, dedicated by him to his half-brother Cosmas of Mayum, is called “The Source of Knowledge.” This extensive doctrinal code is divided into three unequal parts - “Philosophical Chapters”, “On Heresies”, “An Exact Statement of the Orthodox Faith”. The three-part structure corresponds to the pedagogical plan of Damascus 12: first to provide the reader with the tools of thinking, then to warn which paths of thought are rejected by the conciliar mind of the Church, and, finally, to offer a systematic presentation of Orthodox dogma. Accordingly, the first two parts can be considered as introductory: “Philosophical Chapters” (or in other words “Dialectics”), based on Aristotle’s “Categories” and Porphyry’s “Introduction” to them, constitute the philosophical part. Here is given the concept of philosophy, which, with the depth characteristic of patristic thought, synthetically comprehends both on the categorical-ontological, and on the mystical-ascetic, and on the vital-practical levels: “Philosophy is the knowledge of being as a being, that is, the knowledge of the nature of being. And philosophy is also the knowledge of the Divine and human, visible and invisible. Further, philosophy is concern for death, both voluntary and natural. For... death is twofold: firstly, natural, that is, the separation of the soul from the body, and secondly, voluntary, when we despise the present life and rush to the future. Further, philosophy is likeness to God. We become like God through wisdom, that is, true knowledge of the good, and through justice, which is impartial retribution to everyone’s due, and through meekness above justice, when we do good to those who offend us. Philosophy is also the art of arts and the science of sciences, for philosophy is the beginning of all art, and through it all art and all science are invented... Further, philosophy is the love of wisdom; but true Wisdom is God, and therefore love of God is true philosophy” 13. In subsequent chapters of Dialectics, Rev. John of Damascus gives an interpretation of a number of logical concepts and philosophical terms, many of which were and are of significant importance in presenting the Trinitarian and Christological teachings of the Orthodox Church. The second part of the trilogy, the book “On Heresies in Brief,” can be considered a historical and theological introduction. It is a short list of heresies and errors (103 in total), compiled primarily on the basis of the works of Epiphanius of Cyprus and Blessed. Theodoret of Cyrrhus. Written entirely independently by Rev. John only the last section of the book, which deals with Mohammedanism and iconoclasm. This hereseological essay concludes with a theological confession of faith. “An exact exposition of the Orthodox faith” shows us the system of Christian doctrine, set forth in the words of the fathers and teachers of the Church and the oros of the Ecumenical Councils. In Damascene's presentation, quotes follow quotes, extracts after extracts (the works of St. Gregory the Theologian, other Cappadocians, St. Cyril of Alexandria, the Areopagite corpus are especially often used), but it should be remembered that St. John does not claim independence; on the contrary, it seeks to express a common, truly catholic opinion and faith. “I will not say anything of my own, but to the best of my ability I will put together and present in a concise presentation what was developed by selected teachers,” 14 he testifies at the beginning of “The Source of Knowledge.” “At the same time, he freely and creatively understands the theological tradition, distinguishes between the main and the secondary, does not go into controversial discussions, but does not close the problems either” 15. “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith”, now traditionally published in four books (traces of such a division are noticeable already in the 13th century - in the writings of Thomas Aquinas), by St. by the father it was divided only into chapters. The first book speaks of God in His supreme existence, as One in essence and trinity in Persons, about His properties and incomprehensibility. The second treats about the creation of the world (visible and invisible), about paradise, about man and his original life, his properties, states and passions, about God's providence. The third book deals with the Divine Economy, the incarnation of God the Word, the two natures in Jesus Christ and the unity of His Hypostasis, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Savior’s descent into hell. Finally, the fourth book contains the doctrine of the glorification of the God-man, the cross, the sacraments, the veneration of holy relics and icons, the canon of the Old and New Testaments, the origin of evil, the Antichrist and the resurrection. It can be said that the “Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” is the first Christian Catechism, i.e. the educational book of the Church, and precisely as a textbook it did not require and did not allow originality in the usual sense. According to the fair remark of S.S. Averintsev, something fundamentally different was required from this type of essay: “to present material drawn from anywhere, in a systematic order that would best meet the real needs and real capabilities of students” 16. And this task was carried out by Rev. John of Damascus was extremely successful. Combining simplicity and accessibility for everyone with the depth and rigor of theology, the “Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” to this day serves as both a textbook for the Church, a rule of faith, and a witness to our confession before the non-Orthodox 17 . The enormous merits of creation (the penetration of the Holy Father into the deep essence of each dogma, the desire to substantiate the latter on the data of Holy Scripture and church tradition, the closest possible approximation of dogmatic truth to the human mind, and especially the strict fidelity of the system of John of Damascus to the spirit of the ancient Universal Church) determined its unique influence in both the East and the West. Already in the 10th century, among the first patristic works, the “Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” was translated into Slavic by John, Exarch of Bulgaria. Perhaps, even during the life of Damascus, his work was translated into Arabic. In the 11th century, on behalf of Pope William III, the “Exact Exposition” was translated into Latin, and this, although not a very successful translation, was used by both Peter of Lombardy and later Thomas Aquinas. From other dogmatic works by Rev. John must be mentioned first of all three famous words “Against those who reject holy icons,” which from time immemorial were considered the best that has ever been written in defense of icon veneration. It was Damascene who expressed the basic principles of the teaching about icons, its Christological basis and meaning: “Icons are possible only by the power of the Incarnation, and icon painting is inextricably linked with the renewal and deification of human nature that took place in Christ; hence such a close connection between the veneration of icons and the veneration of saints, especially in their sacred and incorruptible remains” 18. Damascus refers to and defines the main functions of icon images, as they were interpreted and formed in the church tradition by the 8th century. Together with the verbal text, icons perform didactic-informative (“Icons replace books for the illiterate,” De imag. I. 17) and commemorative (reminder) functions (I. 17). They also have a decorative meaning - they decorate the church. However, the main functions of the icon are actually sacred. Firstly, the icon (like any religious symbol) does not close the attention of the one contemplating it on itself, but raises his mind “through bodily contemplation to spiritual contemplation” (III. 12). Secondly, sacred images not only elevate the mind to spiritual essences, but are themselves involved in the sublime, the heavenly, for the Savior (the Sublime - ὁ ὑψηλ ό ς), having descended through His incarnation to the “humble wisdom” of people, retained His “sublimity” (I. 1264 C). Icons with images of Christ also bear the stamp of the sublime. Thirdly, icons have “divine grace”, which is given to them “for the sake of the name of those depicted on them” (I. 1264 B). This grace is “always co-present” “with the holy names, not in essence, but in grace and action” (I. 19), i.e. is given to the icon by the Holy Spirit and can manifest itself energetically. With the help of the charismatic (χάρις - grace) energy of the icon, believers become involved in the saints and sacred events depicted and through this receive sanctification. “An image of the exploits and sufferings of the saints,” writes Rev. John, I place before my eyes in order to be sanctified through them and encouraged to zealous imitation” (I. 21). Finally, the icon is an object of worship. “Worship is a sign of reverence, that is, humiliation and humility” (III. 27). At the same time, they worship, of course, not the substance, the matter of the icon, but the image imprinted in it (II. 19), and this worship is addressed to the prototype itself. “So, we worship icons, worshiping not matter, but through them those who are depicted on them, for the honor given to the image passes to the prototype, as the divine Basil says” (III. 41) 19. All of the above points can be found in Damascene’s predecessors (for example, in the first word there are 20 quotations from the Holy Fathers, in the second - 27, in the third - 90), however, it was he who brought together everything that had been scattered before him through numerous treatises, sermons and epistles of the Holy Fathers, into a single and holistic theory of the image. Of Damascene's other dogmatic and polemical works, the book “Against the Jacobites” is of particular interest, which is accompanied by a number of dogmatic and polemical essays against the Monophysites, Monothelites and Manichaeans. A number of small treatises (“On the Right Way of Thinking”, “Elementary Introduction to Dogmas”, etc.) deal with issues that were then discussed in more detail in “The Source of Knowledge”. Finally, in this section we should mention the “Conversation of a Saracen with a Christian,” in which the incomparable superiority of Christianity is proved, the incarnation of God the Word is defended and fatalism is refuted, as well as a small fragment “On Dragons and Ghosts,” devoted to the condemnation of superstition from the position of consistent religious sobriety, which requires the explanation of natural phenomena by natural causes. A special place among the works of Damascus is occupied by the extensive collection “Sacred Comparisons” - a kind of theological dictionary, which contains the sayings of the Holy Scripture on issues of faith and piety and the corresponding sayings of the Fathers and teachers of the Church. This work of St. John of Damascus is important in that it contains many fragments from writings that either have not survived at all or have come down to us only in fragments. Asceticism is represented in the heritage of St. John in three small treatises: “On Holy Fasts”, “On the Eight Spirits of Malice”, “On Virtues and Vices”. The last of them was included in the Greek “Philokalia”, and from it in the Slavic translation by St. Paisiy Velichkovsky. As an exegete of St. John of Damascus composed commentaries on the Epistles of St. Apostle Paul, guided by and sometimes literally reproducing the interpretations of St. John Chrysostom, bl. Theodoret of Cyrrhus and St. Cyril of Alexandria. The homiletic heritage assimilated by the Saint is relatively small (no more than 15 words), and the number of sermons undoubtedly belonging to him is even smaller, some of which have reached us only in Arabic or in Latin translation 20 . The most interesting theologically are the Words for the Feasts of the Theotokos (three for the Dormition and one for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), which represent a very expressive and complete disclosure of the Orthodox teaching about the participation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the matter of our salvation, which was formulated by the Venerable himself. John in “An Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.” Being works of great dogmatic significance, the Words for the Nativity of the Theotokos and her Assumption are at the same time a striking example of mature Byzantine homiletics, representing, as it were, an encomium (ἐγκώμιον), a hymn of praise to the Most Holy Theotokos, clothed in the form of a sermon. They have such a pronounced liturgical character that a number of fragments (the appeals “Come”, “Rejoice” are used, the phrases are structured rhythmically) both in content and formally are close to certain types of liturgical hymnography: stichera, ikos, troparia of the canon. Individual expressions and entire parts of phrases are common to sermons and holiday canons, which, by the way, were compiled by the Venerable himself. John and St. Kosma Mayumsky. Reading the Words for the Dormition and the Nativity of the Theotokos, it is easy to imagine how an organic part of the divine service they were when they were directly pronounced, how naturally the festive hymns and readings glorifying the Most Holy Theotokos were replaced by the jubilant words of the preacher addressed to the Mother of God, what an abundance of “dishes” was offered to the believers at the “spiritual meal” (the expression of St. John of Damascus, Homily on the Dormition, III. 1). The works of Damascus as a hymnist acquired special well-deserved fame. Already in the Chronography of Theophanes (c. 760–818) he is called “Golden Stream” - “according to the abundance of the grace of the Holy Spirit in him, flowing in his words and in his life” (PG 108, 841). Accurately determine the volume of song creativity of the teacher. It's not easy for John. Tradition calls him the compiler of the Octoechos, but this opinion is only partly true. The formation of Octoechos, and the vocal system as a whole, was the work of several generations. One might think that it was Damascene who brought the generally established order of service to a certain unity and himself composed some of the design components of Sunday services - dogmatics and canons of Christological content. The fruit of the poetic genius of St. John of Damascus are such hymns of Bright Week as Easter Matins and all Easter hours, a number of festive canons (for Christmas, Epiphany, Transfiguration, Ascension, Annunciation, Dormition and others - together with canons for saints up to 64), touching funeral hymns, including the troparion “With the saints rest, O Christ, the soul of Thy servant...”, and a number of wondrous prayers and hymns to the Most Holy Theotokos, which the Orthodox Church has adopted as its own (“I rejoice in You...”, “Open the doors of mercy for us...”, “Many are my sins, Mother of God...”, “I place all my hope in Thee,” etc.). Concluding this brief overview of the works of St. John of Damascus, by no means claiming to be a comprehensive analysis of the theology of one of the greatest systematizers of the Byzantine era, 21 we would like to draw the attention of the pious reader only to some features of his heritage that are of particular relevance in the modern era. First of all, Damascene is characterized by that special force, even against the backdrop of the entire patriotic tradition, with which he emphasized the importance of the Holy Tradition of the Universal Church. Rev. John, as a theologian, is primarily a zealot of patristic tradition. Everything that he wrote about the Holy Trinity, Christ, the Mother of God, he draws from the “divine Tradition”, which is revealed to us and transmitted by God through the entire House of Christ (Exact. Ill. 1, 1). Damascene affirms the verification of one’s own opinion by church tradition as an unconditional norm for the Orthodox theologian in the search for truth. “Let us stand, brethren, on the rock of faith and on church tradition, without changing the limits that our Holy Fathers set, without giving room to those who wish to introduce new things..., let us accept church tradition in the simplicity of our hearts, and not with many reasonings,” he calls on both his contemporaries and us in the third Sermon “Against those who reject the Holy. icons" (РG 96, 1356–1357). Damascus’s own fidelity to the Tradition of the Church consists, first of all, in the fact that, just like Scripture and the Fathers, Damascus looks at everything and interprets everything Christologically. God the Word, One from the Holy Trinity, born of the Virgin for the sake of our salvation, is the central theme of all Scripture and Tradition, and, consequently, the entire theology of St. John of Damascus, so that not only in the “Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” of the four books more than two and a half are dedicated to Christ, but even in the words on the feasts of the Mother of God, special, it would seem, on the topic, Christology dominates. Orthodox theology of St. John of Damascus is primarily a Christology, which embraces, of course, soteriology, anthropology, and the doctrine of the personality of the blessed Virgin Mary. Need I say that there are no traces of any autonomous “sophiology” in the works of St. Father, whose teaching is in direct connection with the “ancient and true” Council of God about “the incarnation of the Word and our deification” (Homily on the Dormition, 1). And one more characteristic feature of the legacy of Rev. John cannot be ignored, this time in terms of the methodology of his thinking. This is the consistent sobriety of his theology, which does not exclude, of course, the fervor of faith, connected with it, but strikingly contrasting with the boundless mysticism, the search for the mysterious, characteristic of false religiosity. Reverent before the mysteries of God, he distinguished from them and rejected the hazy darkness and twilight of dreamy-mystical spiritual soarings and deliberately unclear and foggy ideas. This sobriety is also needed in our time, when a stream of various kinds of esoteric sects and mystical movements, astrologers from science and sorcerers from medicine poured into the place vacated by atheistic ideology. Let our answer to them be the words of Rev. John of Damascus: “All this nonsense is invented by certain heretics who are hostile to the Holy Church in order to turn the simple people away from right understanding” (PG 96, 1604). The works of St. John of Damascus were translated into Russian either a very long time ago, or generally only in fragments, 22 while they undoubtedly deserve the attention of both specialist patrolologists and all pious readers, representing, on the one hand, an important component of the theological heritage of the patristic Byzantine era, and on the other hand, being a truly spiritually beneficial and edifying reading. This publication is intended to give this reading into the hands of the Orthodox Christian today. The translation of Christological and polemical treatises was carried out by D. E. Afinogenov, the translation of Words for the Feasts of the Mother of God and the treatise “On Dragons and Ghosts” - Priest. Maxim Kozlov. The main sources for the biography of our venerable and God-bearing father John of Damascus are: 1) an Arabic life written around 1085 by Hieromonk Michael from the monastery of St. Simeon the Divnogorets near Antioch [in all likelihood, with the help of Patriarch John of Antioch] (Biographie de Saint Jean Damascène. Texte original arabe. Publié par P.C. Bacha. Harrisa (Liban), 1912. Russian translation by A. Vasiliev, see Complete Works of St. John of Damascus, vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1913, pp. 1–22); 2) translation of this life into Greek, carried out by Patriarch John VIII of Jerusalem (1106–1156) (Published in PG 94. 429–489. For the Russian translation, see the Complete Works of St. John of Damascus, vol. I, St. Petersburg, 1913, pp. 23–43.) with significant revision of the original text; 3) a somewhat more extensive life of the Saint, created on the basis of this translation, compiled by Patriarch of Jerusalem Ioann IX Mercuropolos (1156–1166) (Published by A. Papadopoulos-Keramevs in Ἀνάλεκτα Ἰ εροσολυμιτικῆς Σταχυολοίας ἐν Πετροπόλει, τ. IV, 330–350. Greek Life 11; Russian lane according to cit. ed., p. 29. Archbishop Filaret (Gumilevsky). Historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church. T. III. St. Petersburg, 1882, p. 195. In the Serbian Helendar Monastery on Athos, the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the Three Hands, which was transferred there from the Lavra of St. Sava the Consecrated by St. Sava, Archbishop of Serbia († 1235), has been preserved to this day. This is the same icon in front of which St. John of Damascus prayed, asking for healing See: Φωκυλίδης Ι. Ἱ ερὰ Λάβρα ἁ γίου Σάββα τοῦ Ἡ γιασμένου. Ἀλεξάνδρεια, 1927, σ. 351–352. The date of death is determined very differently: from 750 to 777/8. For a review of opinions on this issue, see the article Παν. Xр ήστου. Ἰ ωάννης ὁ Δαμασκηνός // Θρησκευτικὴ καὶ Ἠ θικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία, τ. 6– ος, Ἀθῆναι, 1965, σ. 1218 et seq. See more in the book: Kartpashev A.V. Ecumenical Councils. Paris, 1963, p. 747. See: Archbishop. Sergius (Spassky). Complete monthly book of the East, T. P. Vladimir, 1901, p. 494. See about this: Averintsev S.S. Philosophy VIII-XII centuries. // Culture of Byzantium. Second half of the 7th-12th centuries. M., 1989, p. 41. Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos. Besorgt von P. B. Kotter. Bd. I. B., 1969, S. 28–29, 55. Or. cit., S. 53, proooem.60–63. Prot. Georgy Florovsky. Eastern fathers of the V-VII centuries. Ed. 2nd. Paris, 1990, p. 229. Averintsev S.S. Uk. cit., p. 40. Among other things, and in such an important issue as the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit, the creation of St. John of Damascus testifies authoritatively against the Latin false doctrine of the filioque. Prot. Georgy Florovsky. Uk. cit., p. 254. See more about this: Bychkov V. V: The meaning of art in Byzantine culture. M., 1991, p. 46 ff. See: Weight k H .– G . Die theologische Literatur im Byzantinischen Reich. München, 1959, pp. 483–484. For an experience of such analysis, see: Prot. Georgy Florovsky. Uk. cit., p. 231–254. For more information on this, see the corresponding introductory notes to the translation.