The second hour was devoted to the two Maximian innovations: the "hypostatic mode" and the "gnômic will". We noted the various meanings of the Greek τρόπος ὑπάρξεως: "hypostatic mode", "mode of existence", "mode of being", but also "mode of action", "mode of use", and distinguished with Maximus two modes of action in every man, the first which makes him act "like someone", the second "like something". We then turned to the notion of θέλημα γνωμικόν: "will" or "gnômic will", of which we examined one definition: deliberative will "characterizing a fallen humanity that can only will in ignorance and uncertainty". On this basis, we were able to formulate Maximus' general thesis in response to that of Sergius: Christ, having no gnômic will as a man, but only the will natural to the assumed man, divinely willed the Passion with his human will, a thesis which founds the notion of theandric operation in canon 15 of the Lateran "council" of 649. We concluded with remarks on the "othering"of the Greek Fathers and the question of translation, examining the origin of the word gnômè, its meaning in Aristotle, its recovery and displacement in John of Damascus, where gnômè is the centerpiece of the definition of πῶς θέλειν, the "how" of will : the inability to render in current philosophical French θέλημα γνωμικόν "orientalizes" Greek theology.
18:00 - 19:00
