Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Angelologia medievale »

In rabbinic tradition, the acknowledgment of the one true God in the Shema‘ Israel emphasizes the inner cohesion of Israel as one people. In this context, the commitment to God as the one who chose the people of Israel is extremely important. The credo that only the true God of Israel can claim godhood is directed against Jewish angelology as well as against binitarianism and Christianity. Martyrdom and the commitment to the one true God receive drastic emphasis, especially in the medieval Ashkenazi tradition. The obligations to the Torah, provided for the benefit of the living, are adhered to even if they should result in death.

The study is an attempt at a comparative analysis of two pseudo-canonical texts: the Slavic Homily of John Chrysostom on How Michael Vanquished Satanael (in two versions) and the Greek Λόγος τοῠ ἀρχηστρατήγου Μιχαήλ, ὃταν ἐπῆρεν τήν στολήν (BHG 1288n). Both texts, very close to each other in terms of the plot, relate an ancient angelomachia between a heavenly emissary and a demiurge expelled from the angelic hierarchy. When examined against the background of dualistic heterodox doctrines on the one hand, and compared to other medieval cultural texts (be they liturgical, iconographical or folkloric) on the other, these works enable insight into how heterodox and pseudo-canonical texts functioned and were disseminated in the medieval Byzantine-Slavic cultural sphere. The Slavic Homily… is not genetically related to its Greek counterpart, which is only preserved in a lat, 16th century copy. Rather, it was composed before the 13th century on the basis of another, non-extant model with a content similar to the pseudo-canonical Greek Homily… It is probable to a certain degree that the emergence of the Slavic work is connected with the growing interest in the cult of Archangel Michael in the First Bulgarian Empire, especially in the Diocese of Ohrid. Certain Gnostic ideas related to dualistic cosmology, as well as cosmogony, angelology and anthropology spread from the Judeo-Christian world to Byzantine literature and culture. Having undergone a number of transformations in the neo-Manichean communities of the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria, they formed the basis for medieval dualistic cosmogony, as well as angelology and anthropology. Circulated both orally and in written form, beliefs concerning the invisible God, Archangel Michael as a ‘second God’ and the soul’s journey to Paradise became so widespread that they are not only found in heretic texts, but also cited almost verbatim in anti-heretic treatises. The content and later textual modifications of the Slavic Homily… cast a doubt on the hypothesis concerning its Bogomil origin. Furthermore, it cannot be determined to what extent works such as the Homily… were made use of by (moderate?) Bogomil communities. Even before the 14th century, the text underwent the processes of liturgization and folklorization, as proven by the presence of liturgical quotations (absent from the Greek text), the visualization of the story in sacred space as well as the aetiological legends about Archangel Michael’s fight against the Devil. The existence of ancient Gnostic ideas in the beliefs propagated by neo-Manichean Balkan heretic teachings, as well as their widespread presence in “high” and “low” texts originating in medieval communities call for a more cautious evaluation of the mutual antagonisms between them. This raises the problem of a wider look at medieval culture, in fact a syncretic phenomenon, where the distinction between the canonical, the pseudo-canonical, the heretic and the folkloric is not always clear-cut.

Angelology – the science of angels – exercised a compelling hold on the medieval and early modern mind. The role that angels had in the belief and ritual associated with death was perhaps its most theologically resonant aspect – angels were intimately involved in the system of eschatology and the rites associated with dying, mourning and burial. Their responsibilities at the end of life included participation in the cosmic struggle enacted around the deathbed, where good and evil angels were thought to contend for the custody of the soul of the dying; and stewardship of the soul after death, when angels were believed to carry it to its final resting place, as Lazarus was carried to Abraham’s bosom in Luke 16: 19–31. However, angels also assumed important responsibilities after death; they featured prominently in the narrative of the Last Judgement and the strategies adopted by Christians to conceptualize and prepare for the afterlife and the events of the Apocalypse.

The article discusses the main directions of application of the term actus in Thomas Aquinas' "Summary of Theology". Firstly, it is presented the prospect of his understanding of theological problem of nature and status of angels in the hierarchy of the Universe. In this context the initial setting of Aquinas' angelology, which has developed in the course of his many years of reflections and in the frames of a fundamental theological discussion, is demonstrated that an angels do not include in themselves a composition of matter and form, but they have a composition of potency and an act. It is stressed that the form has an independent existence in angels, and they are characterized by a "self-existing form", hence, they are "separated substances". As a result, it is concluded that angels, according to the conception of Thomas, are acquired a special disposition in the hierarchy of ens creatum. Secondly, the analyze is developing in the prospect of refuting by Aquinas the heresy of the Manicheans and asserting a kind of "apology" for the existing world. In this sense, Thomas Aquinas' interpretation of being is considered, which is understood as actuality and perfection, that allows the medieval thinker to demonstrate the unique role of the Creator for the existence of created world. Thirdly, it is presented the horizon of explication of human mind meaning within the framework of the procedure of a moral act. In this regard, the article opens the general scheme of a human act formulated by Thomas and reveals the significance and role of reason and will at each stage of the implementation of moral action, which was a fundamental problem for the ethical studies of his time. Thus, the article is demonstrated the refraction of metaphysical discourse and philosophical terminology, in particular, the concept of actus, dating back to the Aristotelian energia, in the theology of Thomas Aquinas, which allowed him to solve the fundamental intellectual problems of his epoch.

2011 - 2012
É lecito indagare sulle capacità linguistiche e sulle propensioni comunicative della creatura angelica? Analoga alla natura umana, ma pur sempre superiore ad essa, la sostanza celeste incarna infatti l’ideale gnoseologico a cui l’homo viator tende e aspira: l’intelletto celeste possiede e custodisce ab origine la totalità delle idee e delle species che l’uomo può formulare esclusivamente ab intellectu. Perchè mai dunque gli angeli, che conoscono ogni cosa, dovrebbero avvertire l’esigenza di comunicare? Di cosa dovrebbero mai parlare?Il testo biblico, che riporta di numerosi dialoghi tra interlocutore angelico e terreno, costituisce l’argomentazione più efficace atta ad avvalorare l’ipotesi della lingua angelorum. Il mio lavoro intende analizzare tre tra le più significative riflessioni sviluppate tra i secoli XIII e XIV in merito alla locutio angelica. Uno studio preliminare di carattere puramente introduttivo è dedicato alla lettura del corpus areopagiticum, termine di confronto necessario per chiunque intendesse, nel Medioevo, misurarsi con le tematiche di carattere angelologico. Ampia parte della tesi è inoltre dedicata all’analisi del De cognitione angelorum di Egidio Romano, il quale offrì all’angelologia medievale la più compiuta delle riflessioni che avesse come oggetto di indagine le caratteristiche, le proprietà e le operazioni della natura angelica. Il lavoro procede con l’illustrazione delle considerazioni svolte da Durando di San Porciano e Tommaso di Strasburgo in merito alla filosofia del linguaggio angelico. Sebbene ciascuno dei maestri medievali intenda la nozione di virtus communicativa angelica a proprio modo e la interpreti col supporto dei propri strumenti, sembra emergere, dalla lettura dei testi, un’unica e costante tendenza: più che al confronto col dato biblico l’ipotesi della locutio angelica risponde all’ esigenza di nutrire la speranza che gli angeli si rivolgano a noi per supportarci e accompagnarci in hac vita, e per sottrarci alla mondana solitudine a cui sembreremmo invece altrimenti destinati. [a cura dell'autore]
XI n.s.