Folia Theologica et Canonica 4. 26/18 (2015)

SACRA THEOLOGIA - László Perendy, God’s impassibility and His compassio in Chrisin the patristic tradition

FOLIA THEOLOGICA ET CANONICA (2015) 61-72

László Perendy

GOD’S IMPASSIBILITY AND HIS COMPASSICI IN CHRIST IN THE PATRISTIC TRADITION*

The problems connected to the question of God’s impassibility played an important role in the dispute about Christian antiquity during the theological debates of the 19th and 20lh centuries. In Adolf von Hamack’s opinion the idea of the patristic age was a typical example of the process of Hellenization during the first Christian centuries, i.e. the stiffening of the original, uncorrupted gospel into a doctrine alien to life.1 In his opinion the Hellenized picture of God of the early church was formed under the influence of the Hellenistic philosophy against the original picture of God in the Bible. In Harnack’s opinion this image suggests that God keeps away from the sufferings of the human world. To his mind not only the teachers of Gnosticism distorted the gospel, but the orthodox writers as well, although in their case we are faced with a slowly emerging process.2 In Paul Gavrilyuk’s opinion Hamack’s argumentation is a typical case of logical mistake, but it is still present in the thinking of several authors in an implicit way. One of its version can be found e.g., in one of Joseph M. Hallman's studies.3 According to this view in opposition to the opinion of the majority of Christians there was indeed a minority which accepted that God can experience passion. Hallman thinks that to this minority group belong some of the orthodox writers who applied so-called Theopaschite formulas and two heretic groups: the modalistic patripassionists and that of the Theopaschite Monophy- sitism. But in his opinion the voice of this tiny minority was supressed by the choir of the majority, who blindly accepted the Hellenistic philosophy. But even in Hallman’s version can be found the five characteristic features which are present in all versions of Hamack’s delusion: Is': in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy impassibility is one of God’s inseparable attribute; 2nd: the early

* This lecture was delivered on 29,h May 2015, at the Department of Theology of Passau University, in the framework of the German-Hungarian study day titled Der Gottesglaube und das Leid.

' In my contribution I will rely mainly on the following excellent work, which is particularly relevant to the theme of suffering: Gavrilyuk, P.L., The Suffering of the Impassible God. The dialectics of patristic thought (Oxford Early Christian Studies), Oxford 2004 (reprint 2005).

2 Cf. Gavrilyuk, P. L., The Suffering of the Impassible God, 3-4.

3 Hallman, J. M., The Seed of Fire. Divine suffering in the Christology of Cyril of Alexandria and Nestorius of Constantinople, in Journal of Early Christian Studies 5 (1997) 369-391, especially 369.