The paper analyses the doctrine of man contained in the Epistle to Dio-gnetus, a Christian apologetic work of the 2nd century. It is not mentioned by anyancient author, and its text had been preserved in a sole manuscript of the XII-XIVcenturies, now lost. Although in form the Epistle pertains to the epistolary genre, itscontent allows to define the work as a small treatise or protreptic. The author's styleof writing is especially remarkable, availing of a rhythmic prose in a similar manneras the Apostle Paul's Epistles. An important feature of the anthropology inherent inthe Epistle is its direct implication with soteriology and ecclesiology related to the di-dactic and polemical purposes of the author. Despite the negative assessment of thecultural heritage of the Graeco-Roman world, the author actively draws on a numberof inherited philosophical concepts. The Platonic World Soul transforms into an imagethat explains the relationship between the Church and its members. The interrelationof micro- and macrocosm is drawn as a model upon which the interaction betweenChristians and the earthly world is based. Thus, the author of the Epistle incorporateselements of the philosophical thinking of the pagan world, introducing them into theframework of the Christian ideological paradigm. Apparently, the goal of attractingthese concepts is not only the desire to form a common conceptual field with paganintellectuals, but also the author's need for terminology allowing him to put his ownideas into words.

Translated title of the contributionANTHROPOLOGICAL DOCTRINE OF THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS
Original languageRussian
Pages (from-to)146-157
JournalПЛАТОНОВСКИЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ
Volume9
Issue number2
StatePublished - 2018

ID: 39457908