Persons and Places

Persons and places mentioned in this book, with short notes and back-links to every occurrence.

Persons

Alcuin

Anglo-Saxon scholar and clergyman (c. 735–804 AD), leading intellectual of the Carolingian Renaissance at the court of Charlemagne.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.3.2).

St Ambrose of Milan

Bishop of Milan (c. 339–397), one of the four traditional Latin Doctors of the Church. Wrote the De Obitu Theodosii. Mentor of St Augustine of Hippo. Feast day 7 December.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.8.1, 4.1.8); Section I — On Virtue (115.4.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (117.2.1).

St Antony the Great

Egyptian desert father (c. 251–356), founder of monastic eremitism. Feast day 17 January.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.2).

Aristotle

Greek philosopher (384–322 BC), student of Plato and founder of the Peripatetic school. His Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics defined the vocabulary of moral philosophy for later Christian writers.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (3, 4); Foreword (1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 4.3.3, 4.3.8); Introduction (15.1.1); Section I — On Virtue (86.3.1, 86.3.7, 86.4.2, 94.7.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (130.2.2); Chapter IV — Duties Toward Self (147.3.1).

St Athanasius the Great

Patriarch of Alexandria (c. 296–373), the leading defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism, exiled five times. Author of the Life of Antony and On the Incarnation. Feast day 18 January and 2 May.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.2); Section I — On Virtue (115.6.1).

St Augustine of Hippo

Bishop of Hippo (354–430 AD) and the most influential theologian of the Latin West. Nektarios cites him repeatedly on sin, grace, free will, and moral theology. Feast day 28 August.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.11, 4.3.3); Chapter I — The Moral Concept of God (32.1.5, 34.2.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (117.2.1).

St Basil the Great

Cappadocian Father (c. 330–379), Archbishop of Caesarea, monastic legislator and theologian; one of the Three Hierarchs. Author of the Longer and Shorter Rules and the Liturgy bearing his name. Feast day 1 January.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.2); Section I — On Virtue (87.3.1, 113.3.3); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.22.1, 121.24.12, 129.1.1, 130.2.3, 130.3.3); Chapter IV — Duties Toward Self (147.10.1).

Bede the Venerable

Northumbrian monk and scholar (672/3–735 AD), author of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People and numerous biblical commentaries. Feast day 25 May.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.3.2).

Boethius

Roman philosopher and statesman (c. 477–524 AD), author of the Consolation of Philosophy. Cited by Nektarios as a Latin philosophical authority.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4).

Hermann Busenbaum

German Jesuit moral theologian (1600–1668), author of the Medulla theologiae moralis (1645), a widely distributed casuist manual that became a flashpoint in debates over Jesuit probabilism.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.5.2).

Clement of Alexandria

Alexandrian theologian (c. 150–215 AD), head of the catechetical school of Alexandria. His Protrepticus, Paedagogus, and Stromata set out a vision of Christian moral formation toward perfection that influenced Nektarios directly.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.5.3); Introduction to Special Ethics (75.4.1); Section I — On Virtue (87.3.2, 94.9.1, 106.1.1, 114.2.1).

St Cyril of Alexandria

Archbishop of Alexandria (c. 376–444 AD), defender of Theotokos at the Council of Ephesus (431). Feast day 9 February / 27 June.

Mentioned in: Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.11.2).

David

King of Israel (c. 1010–970 BC), traditional author of the Psalms; a central figure of Old Testament typology in patristic exegesis.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (92.12.3).

Dionysius the Areopagite

Author of the Dionysian corpus (fl. c. 500 AD), a body of mystical theology that profoundly influenced both Eastern and Western Christian thought. Identity debated; traditionally identified with Dionysius of Acts 17:34.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.7).

Epictetus

Greek Stoic philosopher (c. 50–135 AD), freed slave whose Discourses and Enchiridion were highly influential on later moral thought.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Introduction (15.1.1).

St Eubulus of Caesarea

Martyr (died 311 AD) in the province of Tyre, mentioned by Nektarios in the context of early church witnesses; named Eubulus ‘because of his wisdom and virtue’. Feast day uncertain; commemorated with the martyrs of Caesarea Maritima.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.9.1).

Euripides

Athenian tragic playwright (c. 480–406 BC). Cited by Nektarios for moral apophthegms, particularly on anger and envy.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (112.1.3); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (129.2.1).

Eusebius of Caesarea

Bishop of Caesarea (c. 260–339), often called the father of Church history. Author of the Ecclesiastical History (HE) and the Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini), the principal sources for the conversion of Constantine.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (113.8.4).

Evagrius Ponticus

Monk and theologian (c. 345–399 AD), disciple of the Cappadocian Fathers and major theorist of ascetic spirituality, particularly his analysis of the eight passions (logismoi).

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4).

Evagrius Scholasticus

Sixth-century Antiochene ecclesiastical historian (c. 536–c. 600). His Ecclesiastical History covers 431–593 and is a principal source for the late patristic and early Byzantine East.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (94.9.1).

St Gregory the Theologian

One of the Three Hierarchs (c. 329–390), Archbishop of Constantinople, author of the Five Theological Orations and the Invectives Against Julian. Feast day 25 January.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.3); Section I — On Virtue (86.5.2, 106.1.4, 115.8.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (130.2.4).

St Gregory of Nyssa

Bishop of Nyssa (c. 335–395 AD), Cappadocian Father, author of the Life of Moses and On the Soul and Resurrection; closely allied with his brother Basil the Great. Feast day 10 January.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.2).

St Gregory Palamas

Archbishop of Thessalonica (c. 1296–1359), the chief defender of hesychasm; his theology of the divine energies was endorsed by the Constantinopolitan synods of 1341, 1347, and 1351. Feast day 14 November and the Second Sunday of Great Lent.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.9.2).

Jean-Pierre Gury

French Jesuit moral theologian (1801–1866), author of the Compendium theologiae moralis (1850), the standard Jesuit casuistry textbook adopted across European and American seminaries.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.5.2).

the Holy Spirit

The Third Person of the Holy Trinity, proceeding from the Father (John 15:26); confessed in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed as ‘the Lord, the Giver of Life’. The Holy Spirit anoints with chrism in baptism, indwells the Church, and is invoked at every Eucharist (the epiclesis).

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.3.8, 5.1.1); Introduction (8.2.1, 14.1.3, 19.4.3); Chapter I — The Moral Concept of God (25.6.1, 27.3.5, 27.4.2, 28.4.2, 30.1.1, 30.1.2, 32.1.7); Chapter II — The Highest Good (47.14.3, 55.2.4, 61.16.1, 62.1.1); Section I — On Virtue (82.9.3, 87.7.1, 90.12.1, 90.14.1, 101.1.1, 102.1.1, 113.3.1, 114.6.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (116.4.1, 118.4.1, 119.8.3, 119.8.5, 129.1.5, 135.3.2, 137.2.1, 138.2.4, 138.3.4, 138.4.6); Chapter I — The Fall and Moral Regeneration (140.7.2); Chapter III — Duties From the Moral Law (Toward God) (143.11.2); Chapter IV — Duties Toward Self (145.3.2, 146.4.3, 146.4.4, 146.4.5, 147.1.2, 149.4.1, 149.5.1, 150.3.1, 150.14.1); Chapter V — Duties Toward the Neighbour (159.10.1, 160.1.1); Chapter I — Civic and Family Duties (163.2.3); Chapter II — Duties Toward Social Life (164.1.1).

Iamblichus

Syrian Neoplatonist philosopher (c. 245–325 AD), influential on later Platonism and cited by Nektarios on the nature of temperance.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (113.5.1).

St Ignatius of Antioch

Bishop of Antioch and Apostolic Father (c. 35–c. 108), martyred in Rome; author of seven letters written en route to martyrdom, foundational texts on the Eucharist, episcopacy, and Christian unity. Also known as Theophoros (the God-bearer). Feast day 17 October (West) / 29 January (East).

Mentioned in: Chapter II — The Highest Good (54.7.1); Section I — On Virtue (115.3.1).

St Isidore of Pelusium

Egyptian monk and theologian (c. 360–435 AD), author of over two thousand letters. Feast day 4 February.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.5); Section I — On Virtue (113.8.1).

St Jerome

Latin biblical scholar and translator (c. 347–420 AD), produced the Latin Vulgate. Cited by Nektarios on virginity. Feast day 30 September.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Section I — On Virtue (115.2.1).

Jesus Christ

The incarnate Son of God, second Person of the Holy Trinity; his name forms the centre of the Jesus Prayer and of all Orthodox spiritual life.

Mentioned in: Introduction (9.3.2); Chapter II — The Highest Good (43.2.1, 47.12.1, 49.3.2, 53.4.1, 57.5.13); Section I — On Virtue (87.7.1, 90.14.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (136.3.2); Chapter I — The Fall and Moral Regeneration (140.3.1, 140.4.1); Chapter III — Duties From the Moral Law (Toward God) (143.8.2, 143.10.1); Chapter V — Duties Toward the Neighbour (160.1.4).

Jews

The Jewish people. In early Christian and patristic literature ‘οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι’ often denotes specifically the religious authorities who opposed Christ and the apostolic preaching (cf. the polemical use in the Gospel of John); the term is occasionally extended to the Jewish nation more broadly.

Mentioned in: Chapter II — The Highest Good (55.1.2); Section I — On Virtue (84.2.2, 88.1.2); Chapter III — Duties From the Moral Law (Toward God) (143.9.2).

St John Chrysostom

Archbishop of Constantinople (c. 347–407), one of the most prolific homilists of the early Church; one of the Three Hierarchs. Exiled twice for challenging imperial corruption; died in exile. Feast day 13 November.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.5); Chapter II — The Highest Good (68.2.4); Section I — On Virtue (87.3.2, 94.9.1, 113.3.1, 115.10.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.2.2, 121.7.1, 121.16.2, 121.24.2, 130.2.5, 133.2.2).

St John Climacus

Abbot of Sinai (c. 579–649), author of The Ladder of Divine Ascent, the standard manual of monastic ascesis in the Eastern Church. Feast day 30 March.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.6); Section I — On Virtue (114.2.4); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (134.2.1).

St John of Damascus

Eighth-century Syrian theologian (c. 675–749), monk of Mar Saba. Author of the Exposition of the Orthodox Faith and the chief Iconodule theologian of the iconoclast controversy. Feast day 4 December.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.3.2); Chapter I — The Moral Concept of God (37.1.2); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (129.1.5, 131.1.3).

St Justin Martyr

Christian apologist and martyr (c. 100–165 AD). Feast day 1 June.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.5.2).

Immanuel Kant

German philosopher (1724–1804), whose Critique of Pure Reason and Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals reshaped moral philosophy. Nektarios credits him with freeing ethics from eudaimonism through the categorical imperative, while criticising his separation of ethics from religion.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.6.1, 4.6.2); Chapter II — The Highest Good (49.2.1).

Lactantius

Latin Christian apologist and rhetorician (c. 250–325 AD), called the ‘Christian Cicero’. His Divine Institutes addressed moral philosophy and Christian ethics.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.8.1).

Martin Luther

German theologian and reformer (1483–1546), initiator of the Protestant Reformation. Cited by Nektarios in the history of Christian ethics.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.3.6).

St Macarius the Great

Egyptian desert father (c. 300–391), abbot of Scetis; attributed author of the Homilies on the heart and spiritual fire central to the hesychast tradition. Feast day 19 January.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.5).

Marcus Aurelius

Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher (121–180 AD), author of the Meditations. Cited by Nektarios as a classical philosophical witness to natural moral law.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Introduction (15.1.1).

Hans Lassen Martensen

Danish bishop and theologian (1808–1884), Bishop of Zealand, author of Die christliche Ethik (1871; English trans. Christian Ethics, 1873–1882). One of the Western sources named in Nektarios’s own preface.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (2).

St Maximus the Confessor

Byzantine theologian and ascetic writer (c. 580–662 AD), author of the Centuries on Love and the Ambigua. Feast day 13 August / 21 January.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.6).

Philip Melanchthon

German Lutheran theologian and humanist (1497–1560), ‘Praeceptor Germaniae’, collaborator of Luther and author of the Loci Communes.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.3.8).

Menander

Athenian comic playwright (c. 342–290 BC), author of New Comedy. Cited by Nektarios for moral maxims.

Mentioned in: Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (127.1.2).

St Methodius of Olympus

Bishop and martyr (died c. 311 AD), possibly bishop of Olympus in Lycia or of Patara; martyred in the province of Tyre. Author of the Symposium (Banquet of the Ten Virgins), an allegorical dialogue on virginity. Feast day 20 June.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.7.1).

St Nilus of Sinai

Ascetic writer (c. 360–430 AD), prolific author of ascetic treatises and letters on moral and spiritual themes. Feast day 12 November.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.1.5); Section I — On Virtue (94.9.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.24.4).

Origen

Alexandrian theologian and biblical scholar (c. 184–253 AD), prolific writer on prayer, exegesis, and the spiritual life. His works were widely influential despite later controversies over his speculative theology.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.6.1).

Blaise Pascal

French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher (1623–1662), author of the Pensées and the Provincial Letters (Lettres provinciales), the latter directed against Jesuit moral casuistry.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.5.3); Chapter II — The Highest Good (54.8.6).

Plato

Athenian philosopher (c. 428–348 BC), student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. His dialogues on virtue, justice, and the soul were extensively cited by Christian moral theologians.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Section I — On Virtue (83.2.4, 93.8.2, 94.2.1, 94.3.1, 94.5.2, 94.5.4, 108.1.1, 112.1.1, 113.4.1, 113.4.3, 113.8.3); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.25.1, 123.1.1, 130.2.1).

Plutarch

Greek biographer and moralist (c. 46–119 AD), author of the Parallel Lives and the Moralia. Frequently cited by Nektarios for apophthegms on virtue, nobility, and character.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (1.3.1, 1.3.2); Section I — On Virtue (112.3.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (121.14.1, 133.2.3).

Seneca

Roman Stoic philosopher and statesman (c. 4 BC – AD 65). His moral epistles and treatises were widely read by Christian ethicists.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4).

Socrates Scholasticus

Fifth-century Constantinopolitan ecclesiastical historian (c. 380–c. 439), author of an Ecclesiastical History continuing Eusebius down to 439.

Mentioned in: Introduction (12.2.6, 12.2.7, 12.2.9); Chapter I — The Moral Concept of God (34.8.2); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (126.1.5).

Solomon

King of Israel (c. 970–931 BC); traditional author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (104.1.1); Section II — On Moral Evil, or Sin (130.3.6, 133.3.1).

Son of God

The Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ, who became incarnate to unite humanity with divinity. A central christological title in Orthodox theology referring to Christ’s divine nature and eternal relationship with the Father.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (115.2.3); Chapter III — Duties From the Moral Law (Toward God) (143.10.2).

St Symeon the New Theologian

Byzantine monk and mystic (949–1022), abbot of St Mamas in Constantinople; one of only three teachers honoured with the title ‘Theologian’ in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. His Hymns of Divine Love and Catecheses are primary texts of the hesychast tradition. Feast day 12 March.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4).

Tertullian

Latin Christian writer of Carthage (c. 155–c. 240), author of the De corona militis cited here. The earliest substantial Latin Christian author and an important witness to early-third-century Christian practice.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.8.1); Chapter II — The Highest Good (54.8.5).

Theodoret of Cyrus

Bishop of Cyrus in Syria (c. 393–c. 458), Antiochene theologian and ecclesiastical historian. Wrote a continuation of Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.5); Section I — On Virtue (94.3.4, 105.1.1).

Theophylact of Ohrid

Byzantine archbishop of Ohrid (c. 1055–c. 1107), prolific commentator on the Bible and one of the most cited medieval Greek exegetes.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.10.1).

Theopompus

Greek historian and rhetorician (c. 380–315 BC), student of Isocrates. Cited by Nektarios for a maxim on nobility.

Mentioned in: Section I — On Virtue (112.1.2).

Thomas Aquinas

Dominican theologian (1225–1274 AD), the greatest scholastic ethicist, whose synthesis of Aristotle and Christian theology deeply influenced Western moral philosophy. Nektarios describes him as ‘the greatest ethicist of the Middle Ages’.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (4); Foreword (4.3.3).

the Twelve Apostles

The twelve disciples chosen by Christ to be the foundational witnesses of the Church. In the ascetical tradition the Apostles model submission to a divine teacher — Paul going first to Ananias (Acts 9:6) and then consulting the other Apostles (Gal. 2:2) — and so illustrate the principle that even the spiritually advanced sought external guidance.

Mentioned in: Foreword (3.4.1).

Adolf Wuttke

German Protestant theologian (1819–1870), professor at Halle, author of the Handbuch der christlichen Sittenlehre (1860–1863). One of the Western sources named in Nektarios’s own preface to the Christian Ethics.

Mentioned in: Translator’s Introduction (2).

Places

Jerusalem

The holy city of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim tradition; the place of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection; seat of one of the five ancient patriarchates.

Mentioned in: Chapter II — The Highest Good (44.3.2).

Moscow

Capital of the Russian state from the 15th century; seat of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; spiritual and administrative centre of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.10.1).

Mount Sinai

The mountain in the Sinai peninsula where Moses received the Law (Exod 19–20) and site of St Catherine’s Monastery, centre of a long Sinaitic spiritual tradition (Anastasius of Sinai, Philotheus of Sinai, John Climacus).

Mentioned in: Chapter II — The Highest Good (47.12.1).

Paradise

The Garden of Eden where God placed Adam and Eve before the Fall; in patristic theology also refers to the state of blessedness and communion with God, both original and eschatological.

Mentioned in: Foreword (4.1.6); Chapter II — The Highest Good (46.5.3); Section I — On Virtue (115.5.3); Chapter I — The Fall and Moral Regeneration (140.15.3); Chapter V — Duties Toward the Neighbour (151.2.13, 157.2.3, 157.2.4).