Supervisors info:
Θεοφιλέστατος Επίσκοπος Αβύδου Κύριλλος (Κατερέλος), Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Θεολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Ελένη Γιαννακοπούλου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Θεολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Ειρήνη Χριστινάκη - Γλάρου , Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Κοινωνικής Θεολογίας, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Summary:
This dissertation deals with the eight holy canons of St. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa. They were not written as rules but in the form of a letter to Litoios, Bishop of Melitene, and they gained universal currency following their endorsement by the Quinisext Ecumenical Council in 692 a.d.
The canons of St. Gregory of Nyssa refer to many issues, such as apostasy, magic, adultery, fornication, murder, greed, grave robbing and sacrilege, which have preoccupied the Church over the years to the present day.
In accordance with the teaching of the Holy Father, the sins are due to wrong judgment, i.e. to the incorrect function of the soul. In order to tackle with them, he distinguishes the soul into three parts, namely rational, appetitive and spirited. In accordance with this distinction, he encourages the bishops and thus the spiritual practitioners, using the economy according to the canon law of the Church, to identify in which of the three parts of the soul the passion-sin rests in order for the believer to have the appropriate treatment and not to remain at the same level of moral degradation.
The whole structure of the letter does not want to demonstrate the exact duration of the penance, but the subjective factor that led the believer to the degradation. St. Gregory places particular emphasis on the option of the repentant as well as on his will to return to the body of the Church. The applicable lawful ecclesiastical economy lies in the sinner’s awareness that he has committed a sin. His will to repent will lead the spiritual father to reduce the duration of the penance and will allow the sinner to return to the body of the Church. That’s why the sinner’s awareness of his own sins is a guide for the spiritual doctor.
In the canons of St. Gregory of Nyssa and generally in the Canon law we can see the personalization of the penalties on the basis of the subjective factor that led humans to sin and by extension to their degradation. Consequently, the pastoral care is inextricably connected with the Canon law which, in conjunction with the Pastoral Psychology on the tripartite division of the soul, always focuses on the particular part of the soul that is sick, in order for this part to have the proper treatment and for the believer to return the body of the Church. Moreover it is commonly stated by the Fathers that any sin is a psychic disease stemming from the latent function of the psychic world.
In the present paper we tried to highlight the greatness of the holy canons of the Church through the examination and analysis of the canons of St. Gregory of Nyssa. From the canons of St. Gregory of Nyssa a law with a philanthropical, pedagogical and salvationist character derives. It is the only law based on love to the sufferer and the only law that works for the benefit of people through the ecclesiastical economy. In our view, this letter should be a guide for all spiritual fathers of our Church, because it actually offers solutions on how to deal with misguided souls, in order for them not to be led to the spiritual death.
