Nogovitsin O.N. Anti-Latin controversy in Byzantium of the 70s–80s of 13th century and scholarly philosophical tradition: By the example of the treatise of George Moschambar Capita antirrhetica contra Beccum. Issues of Theology, 2025, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 341–374.

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Abstract

The treatise of George Moschabar Capita antirrhetica contra Beccum is remarkable in many aspects. Being published anonymously in the period of implanting the Latin creed by Emperor Michael VIII and Patriarch John Bekkos upon signing of the Church Union at the Council of Lyons in 1274, this treatise appears to be, perhaps, the most fascinating product of the anti-Latin controversy of the time. In our opinion, one of the pivotal features of Moschambar’s treatise is his application in the arguing against Filioque the conceptual toolkit of the scholarly philosophical tradition of commentaries on Aristotle, which was rather unusual for the previous stages of the anti-Latin polemics. Moreover, in spite of the lack of data on the Thomist conception of understanding the processions within the Trinity as a structure of opposed relations (relationes oppositae) in Byzantium of that period, Moschambar interprets them right that way, as distinguished κατὰ τὴν σχέσιν ἀντιθετικῶς ὡς τὰ πρός τι. In the article, we address one of the most interesting examples of the given polemical strategy — the argumentation of Moschambar against the doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit from Father and Son tanquam ab uno principio in the third chapter of the treatise. As an argumentative basis, Moschambar accepts Aristotle’s teaching on Relatives (τὰ πρός τι) and four species of Opposites (τὰ ἀντικείμενα).

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