Konisskii, a Peripatetic Orthodox
Adam Drozdek
440 College Hall, College of Liberal Arts, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 USAAbstract
Georgii Konisskii, an Orthodox bishop of Belarus canonized by the Synod of the Belorussian Orthodox church, was at first a lecturer in the Kiev Academy and his philosophy lectures have been preserved. As a philosopher, he was a peripatetic through and through accepting all the major tenets of the Aristotelian system: he accepted matter and form; the four types of causes; rejection of atomism; the idea of the soul being a form; three types of the soul: vegetative (nutritive), sensory (animal), and rational; rejection of actual infinity; rejection of the void in nature. He made modifications only when forced by the Christian theology: the world was created and will have its end; God is the major efficient cause, not only the final cause. His theology remained traditional with no attempts to modify anything or to explain if there were areas not clearly delineated by Orthodoxy. Konisskii stressed very strongly the spiritual aspect of theology and the necessity of manifesting this theology through one’s spiritual life. Orthodox theology was for him an inviolable foundation that should be accepted without questioning and his role as a pastor was to imbue people with reverence of this theology and urge them to make it the way of their temporary spiritual journey through this world heading to the eternity in the afterlife.
Keywords:
Konisskii, Aristotelianism, Orthodoxy, theology, eschatologyReferences
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440 College Hall, College of Liberal Arts, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282 USA
