The term prohairesis has a long history; its usage is crucial for the
development and understanding of basic ethical and anthropological
assumptions in ancient Hellenic philosophy. In this article the author
analyses the most important moments for the semantic transformation of this
term, with particular reference to the implications of its usage in Byzantine
theological and philosophical heritage, with the ultimate expression in work
of St Maximus the Confessor and his christological synthesis. The equation
between the terms prohairesis and gnome and their separation from the
authentic human nature, as well as the usage of the term thelesis for the
original ?human will?, represents the thorough revision of the antique
philosophical heritage which could be compared with the distinction of the
terms ousia and hypostasis by Cappadocian Fathers. In this article the author
will show the extent to which and the way in which Byzantine theological and
philosophical thought adopted and transformed its own Hellenic heritage.
St. Maximus the Confessor claims that the logos of created beings represents their essence as an icon. This claim gives us the opportunity to understand the term essence as a dynamic reality, and not as a given static. Essence is not something that the being is, but what it is supposed to be. The idea of icon is herein present as ultimately ontological. The icon is no mirror of reality, but rather its eschatological realization. That which will be uncovers the truth of the being. This way, St. Maximus founded a dynamic ontology, which is a fundamental step away from the Hellenic heritage. The equalization of the essence of beings and the icon is only possible in an Eucharistic view of the world, wherein the Eucharist represents in an iconic way the presence of the eschatological truth in history.
In this paper, our intention is to present the main aspects of the
understanding of the logos in Philo of Alexandria. Philo?s reception of this
notion is especially important because his insights significantly influenced
the development of patristic philosophy, and these influences, through the
mediation of scholasticism, reached the modern age. Philo has a very
important role in creating the Judeo-Christian heritage, and represents an
important link for understanding the formation of the basic matrices of this
worldview. For the first time, a thorough synthesis of Semitic and Hellenic
heritage was performed with him. The use of the term logos in that synthesis
proves to be one of the key ones, since it is precisely this term, which has
never lost its philosophical significance, partly and thanks to Philo, that
is identified with the Son of God of the Christian tradition.
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