Greek and Latin Fathers After Nicaea
The great orthodox Fathers after the Council of Nicaea: Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen, John Chrysostom, Ambrose, Jerome, and their philosophical contributions.
The great orthodox Fathers after the Council of Nicaea (325 AD) achieved a synthesis of Greek philosophical culture and Christian revelation that shaped the intellectual culture of the medieval world. The Cappadocian Fathers — Basil of Caesarea (330–379), Gregory of Nazianzus (329–389), and Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395) — refined the doctrine of the Trinity using the distinction of ousia (substance) and hypostasis (person), and Gregory of Nyssa contributed the first systematic Christian philosophy of mystical union. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444) defended the unity of person in Christ against Nestorius. In the Latin West, Ambrose of Milan (340–397) introduced Neoplatonism and Stoic ethics into Latin theology. Jerome (347–420) produced the Vulgate translation of Scripture. John Chrysostom (347–407) developed pastoral and moral theology. Together these Fathers established the form in which Christianity would engage philosophical reason for the next millennium.
Article I. Greek and Latin Fathers after Nice
a) The Greek Fathers; b) The Latin Fathers. Some of the Fathers named in the’ following lists were not philosophers in any strict sense. Yet the Fathers here mentioned constitute the group of learned men who kept and transmitted to posterity the body of philosophico-theological learning achieved in their age; and the philosophers among them added to this body of doctrine, directly continuing its development.
a) The Greek Fathers who flourished after the Council of Nice, and who have a more or less prominent place in the History of Philosophy are : i. St. Athanasius (about 295-373), Archbishop of Alexandria. He is known for all times as the champion of truth against the errors of Arianism. ii. St. Basil (331-379), Archbishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia. He was a man of unusual ability, and was well versed in letters, sacred and profane. iii. St. Gregory of Nazianzen (about 330-391), Bishop of Sasima, a friend of St. Basil. iv. St. Gregory of Nyssa (about 332-395), brother of St. Basil, and Bishop of Nyssa. v. Synesius (about 370-413), Bishop of Ptolemais. vi. Nemesius of Phoenicia (5 century), author of a work On the Nature of Man. The works of the foregoing Fathers are largely theological and deal in the main with the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Yet their writings are examples of applied philosophy. Their philosophy is Platonic in cast, after the type of that of the Alexandrian School. St. Gregory of Nyssa is more markedly Alexandrian than the others, and comes close to Origen in his philosophical doctrines. Progress in philosophy was made, in this age, in the department of Ethics; the questions that received close study being those of the duties and rights of man, and of the nature of virtue and vice. In Psychology, the spirituality of the soul was discussed and established; Nemesius taught the pre-existence of souls. With the Greek Fathers may be mentioned Sergius of Rai- sain and Paul the Persian, Christian philosophers who flourished in Syria in the 5 and 6 centuries.
Here also may be mentioned “Pseudo-Dionysius,” a writer of the 5 century, who edited his writings under the name of Dionysius (or Denis) the Areopagite, a convert of St. Paul. His philosophy is Neoplatonic, his reasoning mystical and obscure, but his fundamental doctrine is clearly Christian. The Pseudo-Dionysius extended its influence through the Middle Ages. Wherever Neoplatonism appears in the post-Patristic centuries (up to and including the 13) it is almost invariably traceable to Pseudo-Dionysius or to commentaries written on his works.
b) The Lat in Fathers of the post-Nicene period who should be mentioned in the History of Philosophy are : i. St. Hilary (about 320-366), Bishop of Poitiers, the author of 12 books On the Trinity against the Arian heresy. ii. St. Ambrose (about 340-397), Bishop of Milan, author of theological works and ethical writings. iii. St. Jerome (about 331-420), the great translator of Scripture and author of commentaries thereon. iv. St. Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo, the greatest philosopher of the period. The next article is devoted to a discussion of his teachings. v. St. Leo the Great (about 400-461), Pope. vi. St. Prosper of Aquitaine (died about 463). vii. Claudius Mamertus (died about 473) wrote in vindication of the spirituality and immortality of the human soul. viii. Boethius (about 480-522), a Roman senator and patrician, translated the Isagoge of Porphyry and some of the works of Aristotle. He wrote commentaries on Cicero’s Topica and composed The Consolations of Philosophy, an ethical work of lasting fame. Boethius is the most notable link in the chain of philosophers that unites the Patristic with Medieval philosophy, and, although he is not a “Father,” we mention him here for this reason. ix. St. Gregory the Great (540-604), Pope. x. St. Gregory of Tours (539-594), Bishop of Tours.
159 xi. St. Leander (534-601), Archbishop of Seville. xii. St. Isidore (570-636), Archbishop of Seville, brother and successor of St. Leander. xiii. St. Ildephonse (died 667), Archbishop of Toledo. xiv. St. Bede the Venerable (674-735), an English monk, famous for his achievements in the fields of history, exegetics, and dogmatic theology.