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The Theology of Eros THE THEOLOGY OF EROS Vladimir Moss © Vladimir Moss, 2013. All Rights Reserved. This book is dedicated to my godson James and his bride Katarina, on the occasion of their wedding in the Orthodox Church. 2 Contents FOREWORD............................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................7 The Problem Stated....................................................................................................7 Naturalism, Manichaeism, Platonism, Stoicism.......................................................9 The “Realistic” and “Idealistic” Views of Eros.......................................................17 1. EROS IN THE BEGINNING............................................................................19 Introduction: The Limitations of our Knowledge....................................................19 Male and Female......................................................................................................21 Dominion through Love...........................................................................................25 The Creation of Eve..................................................................................................37 Neither Male nor Female .........................................................................................43 The Image of God and Sexuality..............................................................................48 Angelic and Sexual Modes of Procreation...............................................................53 Impure Means to a Pure End? ................................................................................56 Natural and Unnatural Modes of Procreation........................................................62 The Bonds of the Family ..........................................................................................68 2. EROS IN THE FALL.........................................................................................72 Marriage in the Fall.................................................................................................72 The Garments of Skin ..............................................................................................77 Innocent and Guilty Passion...................................................................................88 Original Sin.............................................................................................................93 Sexual Sin................................................................................................................99 Sexual Shame.........................................................................................................102 The Lust of Demons...............................................................................................105 Homosexuality.......................................................................................................113 Fornication and Adultery......................................................................................119 Sinful Thoughts .....................................................................................................124 Contraception and Abortion..................................................................................126 3. EROS IN CHRIST............................................................................................129 The Annunciation and the Nativity......................................................................129 “Genesis” and “Gennisis”.....................................................................................134 The Marriage at Cana............................................................................................136 The Wedding of the Lamb......................................................................................141 The Two Mysteries ................................................................................................146 4. MARRIAGE AND MONASTICISM ............................................................155 The Definition of Marriage....................................................................................155 Remarriage and Divorce........................................................................................170 Mixed Marriages ...................................................................................................174 3 The Two Mysteries ................................................................................................183 The Purposes of Marriage......................................................................................192 Marriage and Monasticism ...................................................................................196 Lourié’s Thesis .......................................................................................................205 Stars differing in glory ..........................................................................................213 5. EROS AND HUMAN NATURE..................................................................216 The Nature of Eros.................................................................................................216 The “Sublimation” of Eros ....................................................................................219 Sublimation and “Falling in Love” .......................................................................227 Sublimation and Marriage ....................................................................................239 The Resurrection of the Body.................................................................................244 Eros and Agape......................................................................................................249 The Cult of Romantic Passion ...............................................................................257 Eros: Human and Divine.......................................................................................262 CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY...................................................................265 APPENDIX 1: THE MARRIAGE IN CANA OF GALILEE...............................271 APPENDIX 2: “FLEE FORNICATION” .............................................................275 APPENDIX 3. DIALOGUE BETWEEN AN ORTHODOX AND A MANICHAEAN ON MARRIAGE..................................................................................................285 4 FOREWORD This book owes its origin to a recent debate in the Russian Orthodox theological literature and internet web-forums on the nature of eros and the status of married Christians and sexual love within marriage.1 This debate shows no sign of dying out, and I have felt the need to present what I have learned from it in a more systematic form in English and for English-speaking readers. The result is the present work, which attempts to expound the nature of eros, marriage and monasticism from the perspective of the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church. My main debt, of course, is to the Holy Fathers, especially the Greek Fathers from the fourth to the fourteenth century, from St. John Chrysostom to St. Gregory Palamas. I have also made use of Russian Fathers, such as St. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, St. Seraphim of Sarov, Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, Bishop Theophan the Recluse, St. John of Kronstadt, Archbishop Theophan of Poltava and New Hieromartyr Gregory (Lebedev). Also cited have been some more recent Orthodox philosophers and theologians such as Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich, Archpriest Lev Lebedev, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose, Vladimir Soloviev, S.L. Frank, S.V. Troitsky, Vladimir Lossky, I.A. Ilyin, John Romanides, Panagiotis Trembelas, Panagiotis Nellas, Georgios Mantzaridis, Anestis Keselopoulos and Philip Sherrard. Among non-Orthodox authors who have helped me I should like to mention the contemporary English philosopher Roger Scruton, as well as the great bard, William Shakespeare, whose struggles with the concept of sexual love first aroused my interest in the subject. I should point out that the fact that I quote from an author does not necessarily imply that I agree with all his teachings. In addition, I wish to thank my friend, Anton Ter-Grigorian, for his stimulating discussion of the issues raised in this book, and my pastor, Hieromonk Augustine (Lim), who struggles constantly to keep me on the strait and narrow in thought and deed. After writing the first draft of this book, I read the following words by Fr. Seraphim Rose: “All of this [the true nature of sexuality, and of human nature before the fall, from a patristic point of view] should one day be written out and printed, with abundant illustrations from the Holy Fathers and Lives of the Saints – together with the whole question of sexuality – abortion, natural and unnatural sins, pornography, homosexuality, etc. With Scriptural and patristic sources, this could be done carefully and without offensiveness, but clearly…”2 1 See Hieromonk Gregory Lourié, Prizvanie Avraama (The Calling of Abraham), St. Petersburg, 2000; Protopriest Michael Makeev, V. Moss, A. Ter-Grigorian, I. Grigoriev, Supruzhestvo, Zakon i Blagodat’ (Marriage, the Law and Grace), Moscow, 2001 (in Russian). 2 Rose, in Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen), Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works, Platina, Ca.: St. Herman of Alaska Press, 2003, p. 804. 5 This is what I have tried to do in this book. It is up to the reader to judge the extent
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