John of Scythopolis as a Precursor of John Damascene in the Theological Development towards Trinitarian Perichoresis

Book Title: Papers Presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019 - Vol. 26: From the Fifth Century Onwards (Greek Writers); Following the Holy Fathers: Patristic Sources in the Palamite Controversy
Series Title: Studia Patristica
Volume: 129
City: Leuven-Paris-Bristol
Publisher: Peeters
Year: 2021
Columns: No
Pages: 121-131
ISBN Number: 9789042947863
Abstract

John of Scythopolis, the first scholiast of the Corpus Dionysiacum, played a role in the Christological debates that took place after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and contributes in an original way to the development of Christological dogma in preparation for the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. Yet, John was not only a Neo-Chalcedonian theologian, but in his Scholia to the Areopagite he also deals with Trinitarian theology. Among his original contributions in commenting on this aspect in Pseudo-Dionysius’s thought, the Scythopolitan interprets the ‘mutual interpenetration’ of Trinitarian hypostases – expressed by such formulations as ἐν ἀλλήλαις / ἐν ἀλλήλοις (DN II, 4; MT III) –, by introducing the verb χωρέω and the substantive χώρησις. Moreover, John connects this ‘mutual interpenetration’, which in the Areopagite is fundamentally ‘static’, with a certain idea of ‘movement’ (δοκεῖ κινεῖσθαι) of the divine nature. In this way, while he uses neither the compound noun περιχώρησις nor the corresponding verb περιχωρέω, and although he does not connect Trinitarian meaning of perichoresis with its Christological use, the Scythopolitan may be considered part of the history of the development of this theological doctrine, which has its roots in the Cappadocians’ Trinitarian thought and its classical demonstration in John Damascene’s writings.