Atenagora din Atena
| Acest articol (sau părți din el) este propus spre traducere din limba engleză!
Dacă doriți să vă asumați acestă traducere (parțial sau integral), anunțați acest lucru pe pagina de discuții a articolului. |
| La acest articol se lucrează chiar în acest moment!
Ca o curtoazie față de persoana care dezvoltă acest articol și pentru a evita conflictele de versiuni din baza de date a sistemului, evitați să îl editați până la dispariția etichetei. În cazul în care considerați că este necesar, vă recomandăm să contactați editorul prin pagina de discuții a articolului. |
Atenagora din Atena (gr. Ἀθηναγόρας ὁ Ἀθηναῖος - Athenagoras ho Athenaios) este un apologet creștin grec care a trăit în a doua jumătate a secolului al doilea. Era atenianm filosof și convertit la creștinism. A fost considerat unul din cei mai capabili apologeți creștini din secolul al II-lea.
Viața și opera
Atenagora s-a născut în către anul 133 și a murit în anul 190 d.Hr. Se cunosc puține despre viața lui. Calitatea literară și oratorică a scrierilor sale sugerează că a fost un om școlit, familiar cu platonismul, binecunoscut și cu influență în rândul contemporanilor săi. Doar două din scrierile sale [1], Apologia sa (sau: Solicitare pentru Creștini - gr. Πρεσβεία περί των Χριστιανών, Presbeìa perì ton Christianòn) și Tratatul despre înviere, au ajuns până la noi. The absence of any mentioned of his writings among other Christian writers may have been due to his anonymous writings having been thought to be the work of other writers.
His writings bear witness to his scholarship and culture, his power as a philosopher and rhetorician, his keen appreciation of the intellectual temper of his age, and his tact and delicacy in dealing with the powerful opponents of Christianity. Thus, his writings are credited by some later scholars as having had a more significant impact on their intended audience than the now better-known writings of his more polemical and religiously-grounded contemporaries.
The Apology[2], the date of which is fixed by internal evidence as 176 or 177, was not, as the title Embassy (presbeia) suggests, an oral defense of Christianity, but a carefully written plea for justice to the Christians made by a philosopher, on philosophical grounds, to the Emperors Marcus Aurlius and his son Commodus, whom he flatters as conquerors, "but above all, philosophers". He first complains of the illogical and unjust discrimination against the Christians and of the calumnies they suffer, and then meets the charge of atheism. It should be noted that a major complaint directed at the Christians of his day was that by not believing in the Roman gods, Christians were showing themselves to be atheists. He establishes the principle of monotheism, citing pagan poets and philosophers in support of the very doctrines for which Christians are condemned, and argues for the superiority of the Christian belief in God to that of pagans. This first strongly-reasoned argument for the unity of God in Christian literature is supplemented by an able exposition of the Trinity. Then, taking the defensive, he justifies the Christian abstention from worship of the national deities on grounds of its absurdity and indecency, quoting at length the pagan poets and philosophers in support of his contention. Finally, he meets the charges of immorality by exposing the Christian ideal of purity, even in thought, and the inviolable sanctity of the marriage bond. The charge of cannibalism is refuted by showing the high regard for human life that leads the Christian to detest the crime of abortion.
The treatise on the Resurrection of the Body [3], the first complete exposition of the doctrine in Christian literature, was written later than the Apology, to which it may be considered an appendix. Athenagoras brings to the defense of the doctrine the best that contemporary philosophy could adduce. After meeting the objections common to his time, he demonstrates the possibility of a resurrection in view either of the power of the Creator, or of the nature of our bodies. To exercise such powers is neither unworthy of God nor unjust to other creatures. He shows that the nature and end of man demand a perpetuation of the life of body and soul.
Surse
Legături externe
Note
- ↑ Scrierile sale sunt publicate în Clavis Patrum Græcorum 1070-1071
- ↑ en: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/athenagoras-plea.html
- ↑ en: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/athenagoras-resurrection.html
