TA 2/2015 (120. vuosikerta)

What Is Enough – What Is Too Much? Need (khreia) and Pleasure (hēdonē) in the Thinking of Gregory of Nyssa — This article argues that, for Gregory of Nyssa, need is a crucial principle that sets the standard for material consumption and physical wellbeing. After tracing common features of the ancient discourse on bodily needs, the article demonstrates Gregory’s close relationship to the Graeco-Roman notion of need as a limit of material desires and an inevitable, yet reasonable, requirement of Nature. However, the way in which Gregory repeatedly contrasts need and pleasure as two conflicting goals gives his discussion a unique emphasis. Finally, the article reflects on the relationship between need and happiness, suggesting points of contact between Gregory and the ancient tradition of eudaimonistic ethics.

Why Did the Christians in Upper Egypt Read Plato and Hermes? Nag Hammadi Codex VI and its Scarlet Thread — Nag Hammadi Codex VI is a collection of Christian and Hermetic writings with an excerpt from Plato’s Republic in their middle. One of the key themes reflected in the eight writings concerns the soul’s progress. In this article, I discuss Codex VI as a compilation made in the late 4th-century Egypt in an ascetic Christian context. The inclusion of Plato’s and Hermetic texts indicates a receptiveness to their teachings that was also evidenced by other Christian authors in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Although no direct commentary of Plato or Hermes is made, the excerpt from the Republic is translated in a way that creates a Christian interpretation of the text.

The Prince of Rus against the Ishmaelites: Early 12th-century Kiev as the Setting for the End of the World — In this paper I argue that the Primary Chronicle of Kiev, written at the beginning of the 12th century, was a full-fledged continuation of the tradition of Christian universal chronicles drawing parallels between historical events and events mentioned in sacred texts. I demonstrate how the Chronicle drew its typology from the Revelation of Pseudo-Methodius, a popular apocalypse widely known both in Byzantium and in Western Europe in the era of the Crusades. This typology fundamentally directed the narrative layout of the text, presenting the last two Kievan rulers – Svyatopolk Izyaslavich (ruled 1096–1113) and his successor Vladimir Monomakh (ruled 1113–1125) – in the role of the Last Emperor in the final battles before the End of the World.