International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

THE HOLY FATHERS OF THE CHURCH ‒ PART 1
Chairs: 
Fr. Maximos Constas, Rev. Vladimir Vukašinović
H. E. Bishop Maxim Vasiljević 
Στοχαζόμενος, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀποφαινόμενος: 
St Maximus the Confessor as an Interpreter of St Gregory of Nazianzus
Holger Hespen
, 
Does the Soul Need a Body? 
The Late 6
th
Century Debates about the Interaction between the Living and the Dead
Bogna Kosmulska
, 
Was There a Place for 
Parrhesia
in the 7
th
Century Byzantium?
Jesús Hernández Lobato
, 
“Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit, for Theirs Is the Kingdom of Heaven”. 
Evagrius Ponticus on Mystical Knowledge
Еirini Artemi
, 
The Term 
Perichoresis
from Cappadocian Fathers to Maximus Confessor
Milan Đordević
, 
Ideology and Virtue in the Ascetical Ethics of Saint Maximus Confessor
Philippe Vallat
, 
The Logical and Theological Difficulty with Maximus the Confessor’s Doctrine of Gnomic Will

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386
H. E. Bishop Maksim Vasiljević
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia; 
[e-mail] 
Στοχαζόμενος, ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἀποφαινόμενος: 
St Maximus the Confessor as an Interpreter of St Gregory of Nazianzus
One can ascertain that Sts Gregory of Nazianzus and Maximus the Confessor formulated a 
complete teaching about communion, beginning with the communion which prevails between 
Persons of the Triune God and, reaching, by way of the dimensions of creation, the world and the 
Church, human reality. In a unique way Maximus combines Gregory’s theological and ascetical 
tradition with his monastic experience. He offered his best thoughts by interpreting Gregory of 
Nazianzus. Our task is to see now much faithfully Maximus expresses the Cappadocian and to 
indicate if Gregory’s theology finds its organic continuity in Maximus, which will help us understand 
to what extent is Maximus original with regard the theological tradition behind him. From Maximus 
we learn an important hermeneutic lesson in theology: to be faithful to patristic thought means to 
make explicit what is implicitly said in the Fathers.