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The Theology of Eros THE THEOLOGY OF EROS Vladimir Moss © Vladimir Moss, 2009 This book is dedicated to my godson James and his bride Katerina, on the occasion of their wedding in the Orthodox Church. 2 FOREWORD .............................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................7 The Problem Stated....................................................................................................7 Naturalism, Manichaeism, Platonism, Stoicism.......................................................8 The “Realistic” and “Idealistic” Views of Eros.......................................................17 1. EROS IN THE BEGINNING ..............................................................................19 Introduction: The Limitations of our Knowledge ....................................................19 Male and Female......................................................................................................20 Dominion through Love...........................................................................................24 The Creation of Eve..................................................................................................37 Neither Male nor Female .........................................................................................42 The Image of God and Sexuality..............................................................................47 Angelic and Sexual Modes of Procreation...............................................................52 Impure Means to a Pure End? ................................................................................55 Natural and Unnatural Modes of Procreation........................................................61 The Bonds of the Family ..........................................................................................66 2. EROS IN THE FALL ..........................................................................................70 Marriage in the Fall.................................................................................................70 The Garments of Skin ..............................................................................................75 Innocent and Guilty Passion ...................................................................................85 Original Sin.............................................................................................................90 Sexual Sin ................................................................................................................96 Sexual Shame ...........................................................................................................99 The Lust of Demons...............................................................................................102 Homosexuality .......................................................................................................109 Fornication and Adultery ......................................................................................112 Sinful Thoughts .....................................................................................................117 Contraception and Abortion ..................................................................................119 3. EROS IN CHRIST.............................................................................................122 The Annunciation and the Nativity ......................................................................122 “Genesis” and “Gennisis”.....................................................................................126 The Marriage at Cana............................................................................................128 The Wedding of the Lamb ......................................................................................133 The Two Mysteries ................................................................................................138 4. MARRIAGE AND MONASTICISM ...............................................................148 The Definition of Marriage....................................................................................148 Troitsky’s Thesis ....................................................................................................151 The Role of the Church ..........................................................................................155 Remarriage and Divorce ........................................................................................162 Mixed Marriages ...................................................................................................166 The Purposes of Marriage......................................................................................170 Marriage and Monasticism ...................................................................................174 3 Lourié’s Thesis .......................................................................................................184 Some Test-Cases ....................................................................................................190 Stars differing in glory ..........................................................................................192 5. EROS AND HUMAN NATURE .....................................................................195 The Nature of Eros.................................................................................................195 The “Sublimation” of Eros ....................................................................................197 Sublimation and “Falling in Love” .......................................................................206 Sublimation and Marriage ....................................................................................217 The Resurrection of the Body.................................................................................223 Eros and Agape......................................................................................................228 The Cult of Romantic Passion ...............................................................................235 Eros: Human and Divine.......................................................................................239 CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY ......................................................................243 APPENDIX 1: THE MARRIAGE IN CANA OF GALILEE...............................250 APPENDIX 2: “FLEE FORNICATION” .............................................................254 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 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). 5 patristic sources, this could be done carefully and without offensiveness, but clearly…”2 This is what I have tried to do in this book. It is up to the reader to judge the extent to which I have succeeded or failed. Although I have tried to remain
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