Gotych M. The Reception of Augustine's Christian Personalism in Modern Orthodox Theology

The dissertation is devoted to the systematic critical analysis of the reception of Augustine's Christian-personalistic theology in the Orthodox thought of the late XX - early XXI centuries. It has been proved that modern historical-philosophical and historical-theological thought is undergoing a paradigm shift in the understanding of Augustine's theology from essentialist to personalistic. Orthodox theologians of the early 21st century found in Augustine's writings a source for speculation about God not simply as a communion of the Three, but as a community of love. Orthodox fundamentalists have been found to criticize Augustine for essentialism, fatalism, for presenting God as a source of punishment. It is proved that the justification of Augustinianism against all accusations of Orthodox fundamentalists was made possible by the discovery of the radicalism of Augustine's personalism and the critical rethinking of the history of the Orthodox reception of Augustinianism. It is established that for the Augustinian triadology, the refusal to apply the categories of general and individual to God is fundamental. Accordingly, the essence of God cannot be understood as something "general" but hypostasis as "individual." Augustine is characterized by greater specificity in the conceptions of God's essence and of the communication of the Three as a reality that is identical with that essence. God is the communion of the Three. This communication is unity, and the three differ in their relationship in this communication. Modern Orthodox theologians emphasize that there is some freedom of expression in the interpretation of religious orthodoxy used by Augustine in his triadology. However, Augustine always made a strict distinction in the one God of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, opposed subordinationism, modalism, and other distorted ideas about the Trinity. Therefore, the triadologies of Augustine and the Cappadocians are variations in the expression of a single Christian faith. Similarly, the Augustinian and Cappadocian doctrines on the relation between human freedom and predestination are perfectly acceptable in modern theology, pointing to the mystery of relations, which is rather comprehended not through rationalized systems but through personal experience.