Transfiguration of Vision in Maximus the Confessor's Mystagogy

Authors:

Pages: 219-229
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/SNUW3869

Abstract:

According to Maximus the Confessor, the extremes of intelligible and sensible; heaven and earth in the dichotomized universal hypostasis find their unity in the human being. Thus, the greatest task facing human beings involves mediating between God and creation; re–creating the world after the paradigm of Christ; and transforming humankind’s fallen state of being into a supremely human mode of being–in– Christ. The economy of salvation suggests that the connection between heaven and earth, or between God and man, be an uninterrupted ladder – descend of God and ascent of human being. Icons naturally imitate this cosmological ladder. Thus the role of image/icon will be explored as a way of overcoming the divided hypostasis of existence. „The passing from flesh to spirit” is the passing from the material senses to the spiritual senses – i.e. a transfiguration of vision itself.

Keywords:

icon, image, sense perception, intelligible/sensible realm, creation, transfiguration, Maximus the Confessor

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