Articles

“My Logoi Shall Not Pass Away”: Christ’s Gathering of History into Eternity

Alexis Torrance

Abstract

Alexis Torrance examines the tension between deterministic and agent-centered notions of history, tracing their roots in philosophical historicism and Orthodox theology. Drawing on Georges Florovsky, Maximus the Confessor, and Gregory Palamas, Torrance emphasizes the Christocentric nature of history: Christ as Alpha, Omega, and the leaven of creation. Human freedom interacts with divine providence, and the redemptive arc of history unfolds through salvation in Christ. Repentance emerges as the decisive, creative act that aligns human history with God’s eternal will.

Citations

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Peter Turchin, End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration (Penguin, 2023).

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Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 6.2 (ed. Giet, SC 26:332)

Ambiguum 7, 16 (ed. and trans. Constas, 1:94–97).

Maximus the Confessor, Ambiguum 7, 22 (ed. and trans. Constas, 1:104–7)

Georges Florovsky, “The Predicament of the Christian Historian,” in The Patristic Witness of Georges Florovsky: Essential Theological Writings, ed. Brandon Gallaher and Paul Ladouceur (T&T Clark, 2019), 193–220, at 209.

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Maximus, Ambiguum 42 (ed. and trans. Constas, 2:122–87) and 65 (ed. and trans. Constas, 2:274–81).

Gregory Palamas, Triads 2.3.4.

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Paul Gavrilyuk, “When Theology Fuels the War: False Prophecy and State Policy in ‘The Present and Future of the Russian World’ Document,” Public Orthodoxy, April 8, 2024, https://publicorthodoxy.org/2024/04/08/when-theology-fuels-the-war/