The Name and the Church: old testament and early christian veneration of God’s name and a. F. Losev’s philosophical onomatology

Abstract

The article examines the question of the theological origins of the philosophy named after A. F. Losev. The analysis shows that the notions of name as energy and name as cosmos are related to Losev's turning to the Old Testament and early Christian terminological traditions of using the concept of "Name" to convey the idea of the divine presence. As a result of accepting the Greek philosophical terminology on the part of the Christian Church, the idea of the divine presence in the created world began to be conveyed through the term of divine energy. A.F. Losev believes that the identification of the name and the signified thing is a sign of pre-philosophical mythological thinking in general. It gives a clue to the mentioned Old Testament tradition of the name divinity. Philosophical secular thinking fundamentally departs from such a religious worldview element. For this reason, philosophical and archaic worldviews can be seen in the two mentioned customs, which have been reflected in the theological terminology. The theological perception of the philosophical categorical system has not resulted in the complete displacement of "name" from the Christian theological discourse. The ancient Bible tradition of conveying the idea of the divine presence in the categories of "name" and "glory" is evident in a number of the holy fathers' works (St. Justin the Philosopher, St. John Chrysostom, St. Isaac of Nineveh). "Name" as a term close to the that of "energy" is more peculiar to Liturgical texts as A.F. Losev sees it. Losev's idea of God's name as the ontological energetic foundation of the cosmos, usually seen as a borrowing from Neoplatonism, goes back, among other things, to the doctrine of the church as the Body of Christ.