Podcast episode

April 19, 2023

Episode 163: Father Sergey Trostyanskiy on the Cappadocian Fathers, Part II

In this continued interview, Father Sergey expands on ideas adumbrated in Part I. We explore the parameters of ‘Christian mysticism’ in the Cappadocian fathers, looking at the Platonist ideas behind the ‘mystical drive’ in these writers, the ideas of divine excess (and even of divine darkness) they developed about the unknowable god, and how language and philosophy relate to all this ineffability in the Cappadocians. We discuss the open-ended truth-claims of scriptural and doctrinal teaching in the Orthodox faith.

Interview Bio:

The Rev. Dr. Sergey Trostyanskiy is rector of St. Gregory the Theologian Eastern Orthodox Church. He has taught theology and philosophy at Union Theological Seminary, General Theological Seminary, Marist College and The City University of New York. He is the former chair of the Institute for Studies in Eastern Christianity at Union Seminary. He has published a number of books and articles; recent publications include “The Eschatological Thought of Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa” in (2021) Hilary Marlow, Karla Pollmann and Helen Van Noorden, Eschatology in Antiquity and “Units, Limits and the Order of Nature: Basil the Great’s Theory of Time and Creation” in (2021) Studia Patristica.

Works Cited in this Episode:

Our special SHWEPisode on Ammonius, Origen, and Plotinus: Exploring an Enigma.

Our interview on early Syriac asceticism with Paul Pasquesi is here: Episode 154.

Our interview with Henny Fiska Hagg on Clement’s apophaticism is here: Episode 93.

Recommended Reading:

See notes to the previous episode.

Themes

Apophatic Writing, Cappadocian Fathers, Christian Mysticism, Demonology, Esoteric Christianity, Evagrius of Pontus, Interview, Plotinus