title: Philosophical renovation in the 3rd century: The polemical component of Porphyry’s Vita Plotini in relation to Gregory of Neocaesaria’s Oratio Panegyrica
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Soloviev, Roman S.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2023-08-22T19:24:51Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2023-08-22T19:24:51Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2023-03
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Soloviev R. S. Philosophical renovation in the 3rd century: The polemical component of Porphyry’s Vita Plotini in relation to Gregory of Neocaesaria’s Oratio Panegyrica. Philologia Classica 2023, 18 (1), 16–32. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2023.102
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2023.102
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/43839
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: This paper offers an analysis of similar and parallel developing projects of creating a true philosophy by the disciples and followers of Origen and Plotinus. Two texts permeated by the eulogy of the scholarch are analysed: Gregory the Wonderworker’s The Address of Thanksgiving to Origen and the Life of Plotinus by Porphyry. Gregory was a student of Origen, while Porphyry attended his school long enough to become familiar with the doctrine, teaching methods and personality of the scholarch. The author establishes the structural, thematic and lexical similarity of both texts. The text by Gregory the Wonderworker, chronologically earlier, was a pushing away point for Porphyry in creating an image of the ideal scholarch in the person of Plotinus. This is confirmed by the structural and lexical contrast in the portrayal of Plotinus in Vita Plotini and Origen in the passage preserved by Proclus (Procl. In Tim. I.63. 29–33). In particular, the negative image of Origen in Vita Plotini 13. 10–17 is echoed by the figure of Thaumasius, dissatisfied with the protracted dispute between Plotinus and Porphyry, which rarely draws the scholars’ attention. Nowhere else mentioned, Thaumasius appears as a marginal figure: either he himself was interested in general statements and wanted to hear Plotinus speaking in the manner of a set treatise (trans. Armstrong), or he wanted Plotinus to “faire une conférence suivie et propre à être écrite” (trans. Bréhier). The author hypothesises that it is not a proper name but a nickname. The author suggests that Thaumasius is not an accidental participant in a specific episode of the Neoplatonists’ school life but the philosophical rival of the Neoplatonists, theologian Origen, ironically presented in an unattractive manner. Thus, the deliberately constructed episode with Plotinus and Thaumasius is a polemical jab at Origen’s followers, who put forward a programme of philosophical renovation alternative to the Platonic, and the very depiction of Plotinus as a ‘divine man’ (θεῖος ἀνήρ) responds to the image of Origen painted by his followers. The supposed allusions in Vita Plotini 13. 5–17 testify to the openness of the Roman Neoplatonic school to the already-formed Christian version of philosophy. For this reason, Porphyry chose to portray a situation in which Plotinus showed attention and patience in interpreting difficult philosophical questions for three days. In contrast, Origen, in a similar situation, showed impatience and irritability.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: en
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Philologia Classica;Volume 18; Issue 1
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Neoplatonism
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Porphyry
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Life of Plotinus
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Thaumasius
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Gregory of Neocaesarea
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Oratio Panegyrica
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Origen
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: Philosophical renovation in the 3rd century: The polemical component of Porphyry’s Vita Plotini in relation to Gregory of Neocaesaria’s Oratio Panegyrica
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 02.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/43839/1/02.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 741,44 kB