Folia Theologica 17. (2006)

László Perendy: A Christian Platonist

A CHRISTIAN PLATONIST

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pression ÚTtoKetpévov he attributes eternal existence to prime matter. In fact, this expression serves to demonstrate the absolute monarchy of God, which cannot be restricted even by chaos, or prime matter.

The other accusation, which has often been brought up against him, is that he uses Platonic categories in an obsequious way. However, the weakness of these accusations becomes apparent when we point out that even in his extant works he often demonstrates the contradictions between the various Platonic schools. In fact, he even judges the value of these schools by a special kind of exegesis of the relevant Platonic texts, using the Genesis narrative as a standard, to highlight the most important features of the Christian doctrine of God.

In fact, most of the accusations mentioned above have been formulated because the history of Academy was not studied carefully enough. So, in order to understand the intellectual milieu of the second century in which Justin lived, we must have a look at the various streams of Platonism during the centuries before Justin's time, and at the ideas of his contemporaries.

In his later years, Plato25 was more and more influenced by Pythagorianism, so he tried to find a mathematical model26 for the universe. His first principles were the One and the Indefinite Dyad. While the One is the active principle, which imposes limit on the opposite principle, the Dyad is infinitely divisible, infinitely large and small. It is not only the irrational aspect of the Soul27 28, but also the substrate of the physical world as well. In the Timaeus2s it is called úttóSoxov (the Receptacle)29.

25 For further studies see the following works:

I. M. CROMBIE, Examination of Plato's Doctrines, London, 19713.

E. N. OSTENFELD, Forms, Matter and Mind. Three strands in Plato 's metaphysics, The Hague-Boston-London, 1982.

J. B. SKEMP, The Theory of Motion in Plato’s Later Dialogues, Amsterdam, 1967.

26 See also L. ROBIN, La théorie platonicienne des idées et des nombres d'après Aristote, Paris, 1908 (reprint, Hildesheim, 1963).

27 See J. MOREAU, L’âme du monde. Du Platon aux stoïciens, Paris, 1939 (reprint: Hildesheim-New York, 1981).

28 See also the following works: