>> Dr. Wahby:
Well, good morning and thank you very much for coming to this session. 

And we are in for a treat today with Dr. Ryan McDaniel and my name is Wafeek Wahby. 

I am a professor of construction and buildings and technology in the School of Technology, and we have fun things if you'd like to visit in Klehm Hall, just come and see what we do in Technology.  

But here we are for the futuristic look through ancient lenses.  

We want to see where are feet are looking into the future so we can walk well by using ancient lenses. 

Last year we went as far back as Egypt, and no bias here, [unclear dialogue] and this year the natural progression was to go to Greece and see what they had to do, or what the did actually, what affects us today.  

We had, I hope you got a copy of this, if not we have several copies, if you browse even the titles of the sessions that you attended and you will be enlightened by reading this book. 

So I encourage you to get a copy, it's free, so you can take a copy, and you can take a copy for a friend if you like.  

We are almost in the middle of the symposium, now that ends next week with a grand finale with Olympics and dance and music next Wednesday. 

So I encourage you to pick up as much as possible from this symposium and I hope to see you again.  

Today, we have a theologian, a professor, a scholar, a historian, and what else? 

He has lots of facets and academic, and in life in general and he was kind enough to share with us, part of this today.  

So please join me in welcoming Ryan McDaniel.

[applause]

>> Prof. McDaniel:
I am calling my presentation today ‘Hagia Sophia, Sacred Wisdom from the Christian Tradition of the Greeks’.  

Hagia Sophia is itself Greek.  

It's Greek for sacred wisdom, or holy wisdom, either way.  

Now, I took some of my inspiration in naming this presentation Hagia Sophia from this church.  

This church is located in what is now Istanbul, Turkey.  

More anciently, or perhaps ancient might, more anciently the city was known as Byzantine, later names the city of New Rome.  

Also named after Constantine the Great, and so the city was named Constantinople. 

New Rome. 

This church was built in the sixth century and for about a thousand years it remained the largest church in the entire world.  

Justinian when he was the emperor at the time when he completed the building, he was reported to have said, "Solomon, Solomon, I have outdone thee." 

Wasn't proud of his work at all.  

Just to give you a sense of the size of this church, I also went ahead and added a picture of the interior, taken as it looks today.  

It's now a museum. 

Some of the large medallions with Arabic, those were placed on the interior when this building was converted for a time into a mosque.  

But for about a thousand years, this was the largest church in the world. 

Not outdone until St. Peter's in Old Rome was built in the 16th century. 

And so I decided, you know, in talking about the Christian tradition of the Greeks, it would be a fun play on the words to talk about Hagia Sophia, sacred wisdom, taking my inspiration from this church at the center of the Christian's world in the East.  

So, I thought it might be fun to start my presentation by asking this famous question, asked by Tertullian of Carthage, writing in the 3rd century AD, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"  

For Wafeek and others who remember my presentation last year at the symposium on Egypt, I sort of anchored my presentation with the refrain from the bible, "out of Egypt, I have called my son." 

I am anchoring my presentation today, with the question from Tertullian, what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" 

And so I offered pictures of in Athens, of course, the Acropolis, with the famous temple the Parthenon, there in the upper right hand corner, and then a reconstruction of what it's imagined the temple in Jerusalem looked like. 

So what do these two worlds have to do with one another? 

The Greek world and the Hebrew world.  

The world perhaps centered intellectually and spiritually in Athens, the world centered intellectually and spiritually on Jerusalem.  

Well, in starting out here, I thought I might ask the question, "It's Greek to you? No problem. 

Got this. 

It's under control." 

Sophia, Greek word that means Wisdom, whether you realize it or not, you've encountered the Greek word Sophia in the word philosophy. 

Philosophy coming from two Greek words, Philo meaning love, and Sophia meaning wisdom.  

So philosophy simply meaning the love of wisdom.  

Hagia, this is our Greek word, it is for holy. 

If you have ever wondered holy, sacred, these seem to mean the same things? 

Well, we get the word sacred from the Latin. 

Latin in Sacra is where we get the word sacred.  

So whether we are talking about holy wisdom or sacred wisdom, these are really used interchangeably.  

Usually the church of Hagia Sophia is called Holy Wisdom, the church of the Holy wisdom.  

I thought it might be fun to sort of make it sound a little different, make it sound more intriguing by saying instead of Holy Wisdom, sacred wisdom.  

But, it's not without significance that like I said the largest church in the entire Christian world was called the church of the holy wisdom.  

So this is where it comes from.  

But what do these have to do with one another, Greek philosophy sacred wisdom? 

Is this Christianity?  

Well, hopefully by the end of the presentation today, you'll have a sense of what these have to do with one another. 

First I want to start off by giving you the entire context of that quote from Tertullian of Carthage in the third century.  

This is the larger context for where that question comes from. 

Tertullian writes, "For philosophy is the material of the world's wisdom, the rash interpreter of the nature and dispensation of God. 

Indeed heresies are themselves instigated by Philosophy. 

What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem? 

What has the academy to do with the church? 

`What have heretics to do with Christians?  

Our instruction comes from the porch of Solomon, who had himself, taught that the lord should be sought in simplicity of heart. 

Away with all attempts to produce a stoic platonic, and dialectic Christianity. 

We want no curious dispensation after possession Christ Jesus. 

No inquiry after receiving the gospel." 

So this question is actually drawn from a statement he makes where he seems to be very hostile to this idea that philosophy has anything to do with Christianity.  

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

This question sort of means, what does philosophy have to do with this sacred tradition of Jerusalem?  

Well, what doesn't come through in this quote is that Tertullian himself was very well studied in philosophy.  

He studied the Platonic tradition, he himself studied stoic philosophy, by the way when it's talking about our instruction from the porch of Solomon, that word porch is the Greek word stoia, that's where we get the word stoic, because the stoics would receive their instruction from the stoia, from the porch. 

So he is saying, we are not stoics, we are not receiving our wisdom from the porch or the stoia of the stoics [00:10:46;24] but rather from the stoia or the porch of Solomon.  

So even in saying this in seeming so hostile, to this Greek wisdom tradition, he is none the less, himself, trained and uses, trained in and uses Greek philosophy.  

So, in my presentation, I am breaking it down roughly into two major sections. In the first section I am going to talk about Greeks, and the bible. 

The Greeks it turns out, show up quite a bit in the bible and I am going to take a look at one particular story that I am going to tell.  

How the Greeks show up in the Bible.  

And then in the second portion of my presentation, I am going to talk about this idea of sacred wisdom within the longer Greek tradition among the Christians. 

So first, the Greeks in the bible, I am going to start off in the book of Daniel and read two passages from chapter nine. 

"He shall put an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate". 

From chapter eleven, "For ships of Kattim, the Kattim in this context means the Greeks, you might not know that if you are reading an English translation of the bible, but he's talking of the Greeks. 

For ships of Kattim shall come against him, and he shall be afraid and withdraw and shall turn back and shall be enraged and take action against the holy covenant.  

He shall turn back and pay attention to those who forsake the Holy Covenant. 

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering.  

And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate." 

So we've got this abomination of desolation, as it came to be known. 

Gosh, it sound formidable, some sort of abomination, it's going to make for desolation.  

This is an ominous word here, coming from Daniel. 

So the question is, what happened? 

What is this abomination that causes desolation? [00:13:14;20]

Well, meet Alexander the Great. 

It's hard to find a more classic sort of icon of that ancient Greek civilization than Alexander the Great.  

Fourth Century BC, Alexander goes out on his campaign to conquer what to him was the known world. 

And he sets up a massive empire encompassing what was known then as the land of Israel.

And so this comes up under the control of Alexander the Great.  

And his successors then, are in control of the land of Israel.  

One of his successors was named Antiochus Epiphanes the Fourth. 

It is Antiochus Epiphanes the Fourth who performs this abomination that causes desolation.  

Where's this written about? 

Well, the ancient Christians read the bible in Greek, and in the Greek bible there are books that don't presently appear in most protestant editions of the bible. 

So when the Greek Christians are reading their bible, they open up and they read books like the first book of the Maccabees, and the second book of the Maccabees, and they read the story of how one of the successors of Alexander the Great, Antiochus Epiphanes the Fourth and this elusive dynasty perpetrates this heinous act. 

Here's one account from Second Maccabees. 

Zeus is worshipped in the Jerusalem temple. 

An excerpt from the account: "The king sent an Athenian senator to compel the Jews to forsake the laws of their ancestors and no longer lived by the laws of God, also to pollute the temple in Jerusalem, and call it the temple of Olympian Zeus. 

Harsh and utterly grievous was the onslaught of evil, for the temple was filled with debauchery, and reveling by the gentiles, who dallied with prostitutes, and had intercourse with women within the sacred precincts and besides brought in things for sacrifice that were unfit. 

The altar was covered with abominable offerings that were forbidden by the laws; people could neither keep the Sabbath, nor observe the festivals of their ancestors nor so much as confess themselves to be Jews. 

On the monthly celebration of the King's birthday, the Jews were taken, under bitter constraint to partake of the sacrifices. 

A decree was issued to the neighboring Greek cities that they should adopt the same policy toward the Jews and make them partake of sacrifices, and should kill those who did not choose to change over to Greek customs." 

This is a brief excerpt from the account of what was referred to in Daniel as the abomination that causes desolation.  

One of the successors of Alexander the Great comes in, takes over the temple in Jerusalem, says this is now a temple to the Olympian Zeus. 

And there is sexual acts that are performed in the precinct of the temple that are considered wickedness and evil to the Jews, there's various sacrifices that are offered, and many other just atrocities that are going on in the Jerusalem temple. 

The worship of the God of Israel ends, and this becomes the status quo for about three and a half years.  

And so, the temple in Jerusalem is no longer a place of worship for the God of Israel, but for Zeus, and the Jews are compelled on pain of death to adopt Greek customs, and abandon their own.  

So it can rightly be asked, if that sort of story indeed, what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

It seems as though Athens has been set up as the enemy of Jerusalem.  

Well, Athens has her day, but Jerusalem makes a comeback. 

The following is a brief account as to how the Jews for their part rallied, they came back, recaptured, reclaimed and rededicated their temple in Jerusalem, the worship of their own God.  

The Jerusalem temple restored. 

The account reads from First Maccabees: "Judas and his brothers said, 'See our enemies are crushed. 

Let us go up to cleanse the sanctuary and dedicate it.' 

Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Kislev they arose and offered sacrifice as the law directs.  

On the new altar of burnt offering, they had built at the very season, and on the very day that the gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals. 

All the people fell on their faces and worshipped and blessed Heaven, who had prospered them.  

So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days." 

All right. 

So this is after they rallied together, they come together, unite in their military might, they overthrow the Greeks, reestablish worship in the Jerusalem temple, and they rededicate it. 

This is an important word. 

They dedicate the temple once again into the worship of their own God.  

And the celebration goes on for eight days.  

Does anyone know we are now past Halloween yesterday, with today being the day of "All Hallows" or "All Saints Day". 

Does anyone know that for those in the Jewish tradition, what holiday is coming up fairly soon?  

Sometimes people think that the Jews, Jewish people have a kind of, what, Jewish version of Christmas? 

Hanukah. 

Hanukah. 

It turns out what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

It turns out Hanukah finds its origin in the encounter between Athens and Jerusalem. 

Hanukah is the celebration of this dedication. 

In fact, it’s only in later times that the celebration comes to be called "Hanukah". 

Before that it was simply called the Feast of Dedication.  

Because it celebrated the rededicating of the temple in Jerusalem, reclaiming it away from the worship of Zeus, and back to the worship of the God of Israel.  

So the Feast of Dedication is established, and it became to be known as Hanukah.  

From 2 Maccabees chapter 10, "They decree by public edict, ratified by vote, that the whole nation of the Jews should observe these days every year. " 

So every year on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev Pislif they celebrate these eight days.  

What some people may not know, is that in the Christian bible, Jesus has said to celebrate Hanukah.  

This might come as a huge surprise.  

Right there, hiding out in the Christian Bible, the whole time. 

But Jesus celebrates Hanukah.  

From John 10, "At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem, it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the colonnade of Solomon." 

That's in John's Gospel, chapter 10; Jesus is there in this temple in Jerusalem, celebrating Hanukah, then known as the Feast of Dedication.  

So, what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

Well, there's a hostile encounter.  

The Kattim. 

All right, Alexander the Great and his successors come in, compel the Jews to adopt Greek customs, defame their temple, worship Zeus, the Jews rally, they retake their temple, they rededicate it to the worship of their own God, and Jesus is even seen in the temple celebrating Hanukah. 

So at first the encounter does seem hostile, as Tertullian would portray it. 

So this is the story of Hanukah. 

There's one more passage in the Bible, where the Bible and the Greeks are coming together that I wanted to share with you and that's Paul in Athens. 

Paul at Athens, from Acts 17.  

"Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him and he saw that the city was full of idols.  

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons. 

And in the marketplace every day, with those who happened to be there. 

Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him." 

So these are two famous schools of Greek Philosophers, the Epicureans and the Stoics, and so we have this account of Paul, he's in Athens, he's in the Agora, he's in the marketplace, you know, he's having this conversations, these philosophical discussions, he's talking to Epicureans, he's talking to Stoics, and he's having this intellectual exchange with philosophers of the Greek Traditions. 

The account goes on. "So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said, 'Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 

For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship I found also an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. 

What therefore you worship is unknown, this I proclaim to you. 

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by men, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind, life and breath and everything. 

And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. 

Having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, so that they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him, yet 

He is actually not far from each one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, for we are indeed, His offspring." 

So, Paul is recognizing that even among the Greeks, among the Greek tradition, he's talking to Epicureans and Stoics and other philosophers in Athens. 

He's recognizing the Greeks are trying to feel their way along, trying to find and discover who God is. 

He discovers the Greeks to be a very religious people, but he sees that there's a multiplicity of gods but he sort of points to this one altar that he finds there in Athens that says to the unknown God. 

He's saying I am here to proclaim this is the God that is yet unknown, and I am here to proclaim and make known this God.  

His two quotes are drawn from non-Christian, non-Jewish Greek poets.  

The first source was probably associated with a figure known as Epimenides of Crete, dating almost an almost ancient mythic legend, to the 7th or 6th century BC, and Paul was quoting from this poetry.  

The second quote, "for we are indeed his offspring" he's quoting from Eratosthenes poem, Phenomena, dating from the 3rd century BC. 

So Paul is quoting from these two ancient Greek poets, and so we start to see already in the book of Acts, Paul as he is going and making his proclamation to the Greeks in Athens, he's beginning to show that he's reading the Greeks, he's quoting them, in support of his own ideas.  

Saying these two are not hostile to each other, there's a kind of agreement here. 

There's a common ground, what is Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

Say well, Athens is religious. 

They have this altar to the unknown God.  

They have ancient poets that for centuries have said things about God, but he says I can affirm as well. 

So we begin to get the first hint that maybe not all encounter between Greeks and Jews, not all encounters between Athens and Jerusalem are hostile.  

So what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

Perhaps, a little something. 

So now moving on from Greeks in the Bible, to my second, the second main area of my presentation.  

Hagia Sophia in the Christian Tradition of the Greeks, Greek philosophy, sacred wisdom, Christianity, do these things have anything to do with each other?  

Well, in this next portion of my presentation, I am going to anchor in to a personal account of an ancient Christian. 

He's writing in the second century AD. So the 100's AD.  

The close of the writing of the New Testament takes place in well, for the most part, in the first century.  

So, this Christian writer is writing at the time when Christianity is still just getting started.  

And he's going to give us his personal account of his own experience.  

And I am going to draw from this personal account of his, some main points that I want to bring out for us in answering the question, "what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" 

I want us to be able to see that there was actually quite a bit of coming around, beyond what Paul was pointing out briefly there in that conversation there in Athens.  

There was actually quite a bit and as we'll see, the Greek Christian tradition, is going to adapt and incorporate much of the Greek philosophical tradition and come up with a distinctive Greek tradition that is indeed rightly called "Hagia Sophia" or sacred wisdom. 

I'll be sharing with you an account from a man known as St. Justin Martyr; he's also called the Philosopher.  

A martyr because he was killed for his faith, much as those Jews were put to death by the Greeks for their faithfulness to their belief in God. 

Justin the Philosopher who would become a Christian was also put to death for his belief in God. 

So writing in the second century AD, again the 100's, very early, from his own account. 

"I will tell you what seems to me, for philosophy is in fact the greatest possession and most honorable before God, to whom it leads us and alone commends us." 

So, he's basically saying that for him, by the way, this account is before he's a Christian. 

He's giving an account of his life as a philosopher before a Christian. 

So he's a Greek philosopher at this point.  

And he's saying, "What is the point of philosophy?" 

Philosophy is to lead us to God.  

Philosophy commends us to God. 

So remember back when Paul was talking to the Athenians, saying we were trying to feel our way, you know the Greeks are feeling their way along, trying to know God. 

Justin says indeed, he's affirming this is what Greek philosophy is about.  

Coming to a knowledge of God.  

In another portion of his own account, again this is before he is a Christian. 

The perception of immaterial things quite overpowered me in the contemplation of ideas furnished my mind with wings, so that in a little while I supposed that I had become wise, and such was my stupidity. 

I expected forthwith to look upon God, for this is the ultimate goal of Plato's philosophy. 

The deity cannot be seen merely by the eyes, as other living beings can, but is discernable to the mind alone, as Plato says and I believe him.  

So as a follower of the philosophy of Plato, he is saying that he contemplated immaterial ideas. 

He recognizes that he can't see god with his physical eyes, but that quote His mind was given wings. 

That is to say that his mind could ascend through contemplation to a knowledge of God. 

He calls himself stupid because he thought he could come to a knowledge of God quickly.  

Saying this isn't achieved quickly or easily, and later he is going to say, not on human effort alone at all. 

He goes on, another portion of his own account. 

And while I was thus disposed, when I wished at one period to be filled with great quietness, I am going to pause there.  

He wishes to be filled with great quietness.  

Again this is before he is a Christian.  

Keep that tucked away.  

And so to shun the path of men, I used to go into a certain field, not far from the sea. 

And so he is off not too far from the sea in a quiet lonely place.  

Away from the affairs of the world, and he says I delight in such walks. 

He's taking a quiet walk in a solitary place, where my attention is not distracted, for converse with myself is uninterrupted.  

Compellingly contemporary. 

For those who enjoy quiet walks alone in the setting of beauty and nature, where you can hear you own mind, you can hear your own thoughts. 

This is something that Justin said that he delighted in. 

He wanted to get away from the noise and the business of the world.  

And withdraw to quietness; he says he wants to be filled with great quietness.  

Were he can think and contemplate. 

Allow his mind to have wings, and ascend to a knowledge of God. 

All of this is not as a Christian, but as a Platonic Philosopher. 

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?  

We are starting to see some similarities.  

He goes on. 

This is where Justin is not speaking but he is actually hearing about what he might lack, and what he might gain.  

There existed long before this time, certain men [00:35:35;21] more ancient than all those who were esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, and who spoke by the divine spirit. 

They are called prophets. 

These alone, both saw and announced the truth to men, speaking those things alone which they saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Their writings are still extent and he who as read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and end of things.  

And of those matters, of which the philosophers ought to know, provided he has believed them. 

So he is saying there is a more ancient wisdom that even what was known by the philosophers. 

Seen, known, and proclaimed by men called prophets who recorded them in writings, and that he's not saying that being a philosopher isn't in any way contradiction to the writings of the prophets, but he is saying that philosophers benefit by knowing the writings of the prophets because they received and they saw what the philosophers did not. 

And so this is the beginning of Justin's conversion. 

His movement from being not just a philosopher and follower of Plato, but his movement toward this religion Christianity.  

In his conversation with this man who is sharing with him this word about the prophets, this man says to him, but pray that above all things this the poetic beauty of this passage is remarkable.  

Pray that above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you, for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all but only by the man by whom God and his Christ have imparted wisdom.  

So the gates of light are opened, but the gates of light being opened is a gift from God, not something that the philosopher can attain to on his own. 

Justin goes on in giving this account of his own experience. 

He says if flame was kindled in my soul, and a love of the prophets and those men who are friends of Christ, possessed me, and whilst revolving his words in my mind, I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable. 

Thus, and for this reason, I am a philosopher.  

So I want to point something out here. 

Justin is saying I am a philosopher. 

He is saying this as a Christian.  

He's not placing Greek philosophy and this word from the prophets, Christianity, he's not placing them at odds with one another. 

He's not placing them in hostility, one with the other.  

But rather he is saying, something was out of tune with his previous life and understanding as a philosopher.  

He is saying that he had a kind of flame kindled in his soul, when the gates of light were opened, but this wasn't something that he'd achieved on his own, rather it came to him as a gift.   

So at this point that concludes what I am going to share with you about Justin Martyr the Philosopher. 

But in this brief account that he gives in his own life, in fact those were excerpts from his own account from his own conversion from being a Greek philosopher to not ceasing to be a philosopher, but adding to that his identity as a Christian.  

It can be asked, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" 

Well, I am going to draw from this account from Justin a few observations of how we can answer this question.  

What Athens does indeed have to do with Jerusalem? 

In this account of St. Justin's own conversion becomes typical of the Greek Christian tradition, it becomes a part of the tradition of Hagia Sophia. 

Sacred wisdom, holy wisdom, in the Greek Christian tradition.  

First of all, there's the commonality of the goal being to see God. 

According to Justin's account, the goal of Greek Philosophy, the goal of wisdom is nothing less than to see God. 

We saw Paul in Athens appealing to the Athenians saying you are feeling your way along, trying to find God, I am here to proclaim a knowledge of god, to bring that knowledge of the prophets that Justin was referring to. 

In Greek, to see God is described with the Greek term Theosis, from the Greek word Theos. God. 

Theosis means a transformation of the human person. 

If you were here and you heard my presentation on the Christian Tradition in Egypt, you heard me speak about this in length, that the human person is not able on human strength and human power alone to see God, unless though this is the desire of the philosopher, it will be frustrated, unless God intervenes.  

God is the only One that has the power to transform the human person to open the gates of light, to kindle that heart and soul, and allow the human person to see God. 

The human person does not in human strength see God, God in God's strength allows the human person to see God. 

So this transformation of the human person, they made to be fully transformed into the image and likeness of God is called Theosis, which allows the human person to see and to know God. 

In the Greek Christian tradition, this is called Theosis.  

Worldly distractions are cast aside. 

This was true for Justin as a philosopher before he was a Christian. 

Remember he said he delighted in going out to lonely places and open field by the sea, where he would walk, he could hear and know himself. 

He could hear his own mind, he could have clarity, he said that he would seek great quietness so that he could cast aside the worldly cares, and focus on God, on a true knowledge, allow his mind to grow wings and ascend to heaven.  

In Greek this is described with two terms, askesis, and apatheia.  

Askesis, as I described in my presentation on the Egyptian Christian tradition, this is available online, by the way, this talk, my talk on the Egyptian Christian tradition, it is still available online on the website. 

Askesis means laying aside the distractions of the world and training for spiritual excellence to experience Theosis, and allow one's mind to ascend to a knowledge of God.  

Apatheia, this is related to the English word apathy, but apathy in the English language usually refers to not caring about anything at all. 

This isn't what the Greek Christian terms means.  

Apatheia refers to the lack of Pathos, that is to say a lack of passions.  

The passions are all of those worldly cares, all of those worldly thoughts, every manner of distraction and what might simply be called noise in our own mind.  

They are things that drag us down; they are things that draw us to what is not beneficial to us.  

They are a kind of wounding or illness within our soul.  

Apatheia simply means to be set free from passions, to be without them. 

And so worldly distractions are cast aside through askesis and apatheia. 

This was true in both the Greek philosophical tradition and the Greek Christian tradition.  

Remember Justin sought for great quietness.  

This is a very important term in the Greek tradition.  

Hesukiea, or hesakia, simply it's translated as stillness, or quietness. 

It's only in the context of stillness and quietness. 

Metaphorically speaking, out in the open lonely field by the sea, where we can be free from worldly distractions, our mind can be calm, and quiet, and in that context to experience Apatheia, to be free from the passions and the noises and the distractions the wounding’s that weight us down and pull us down.  

Setting our mind free, to be given wings, to ascend. 

Hesukea is a very important term in the Greek Christian tradition, sometimes being used to describe the entirety of the Greek Christian spiritual tradition.  

And a very holistic way. 

Quietness or stillness itself is said to be an epitome or description of the Greek Christian spiritual enterprise.  

Again, stillness and quietness and there to allow ones mind to ascend, to a knowledge of God, to be able to see God, and know God, just as the Greek philosophers desired, the same goal was held by Christians.  

Remember in that account, St. Justin has an inter-attentiveness, and watchfulness, and this is cultivated, he wanted to be able to hear his own mind, hear his own thoughts, and to know himself. 

In Greek there's a term Nepsis, Nepsis. 

It is usually translated watchfulness. 

This is the cultivation of inner awareness, to be aware of oneself, to know one's own mind, to know one's own thoughts. 

To be aware when the passions enter in and distract and drag us down.  

To know ourselves well enough to know when we need to seek further help and further healing for our soul, to know when the shackles are holding us down, so that the wings provided our minds to ascend are ineffectual because we have any number of passions or cares of the world that are holding us down.  

It's being self-reflective and knowing one's own mind, being watchful over one's self as the Greek tradition of Nepsis.  

St. Justin also talked about contemplation, and how contemplation gives the mind wings. 

In Greek, we have two Greek terms, [unclear dialogue] means the direct knowledge of God revealed to the human mind, revealed within the human heart. 

For the Greek Christian tradition, it only when the mind is in the heart that it there received a direct knowledge of God, a vision of God. 

The Greek term Noesis, this is not simply coming to a knowledge by discursive thought, but in the Greek Christian tradition, the term Noesis is a term that refers to the intellects doing intellection.  

All right, sort of a direct knowledge of direct perception, of ideas, of truths. 

There was to some degree a sense in which this is what Justin was trying for, this is what he was seeking, even before he was a Christian, as a Platonic Philosopher.  

This is true also in the Greek Christian tradition.  

Justin also points out that the prophets have seen what the philosophers have not.  

So the Greek philosophical tradition on it's own is not enough.  

There needs to be more, and the prophets reveal what the philosophers could not know.  

Justin refers to the gates of light that open. 

Refers to how the gates of light open and god through Christ imparts true wisdom, and a fire kindled in the soul.  

In Greek, there's a term called metanoia. 

Metanoia describes when God intervenes to act in a human's heart, and open up the gates of light, imparting true wisdom and kindling a fire in the human soul. 

He says he couldn't do this on his own.  

Even as sincere as he was, he couldn't do it on his own.  

God had to intervene in order to do what only God can do in the human heart.  

It was a conversion experience for him. 

He changed. 

He had a change of heart.  

The experience of inner change of heart is described with the Greek term, metanoia. 

It's a transformation; it's a change of heart.  

And so with these points, I am drawing connections in answer to the question, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" 

I am drawing these from this very brief account of Justin, in describing himself as a Greek Philosopher, and then describing his conversion experience to being a Christian.  

And these points sustain this notion of Hagia Sophia, a Greek Christian tradition.  

Seeking stillness, giving one's mind wings, ascending to a knowledge of God, healing the soul, having the gates of light opened, having God through Christ impart wisdom and kindling of fire in the soul, opening up a vision to see God.  

Justin's experience was that in Christianity he experienced what he longed for as a philosopher. 

The goals weren't the same, he just felt as though the prophets saw what the philosophers couldn't, and that he experienced what he couldn't quite reach, as a Greek Philosopher.  

In my concluding remarks, I'd like to share one quote from St. John of Damascus. 

Writing in the eight century AD, he's very emblematic of the Greek Christian tradition. 

He says, "Philosophy again is the love of wisdom, but true wisdom is God. 

Therefore, the love of God, this is true philosophy." 

Remember philosophy means the love of wisdom.  

Well, if wisdom is God, then the love of wisdom is the love of God.  

So the true philosopher, if one loves wisdom, they what they love is God.  

Remember this was true of the Greek philosophical tradition. 

And this is incorporated, adapted and brought into the Greek Christian tradition as well.  

It becomes characteristic of the entire Christian tradition. 

The goal is to see and to know God. 

And a recognition that the only way that that happens is when God does what only God can do.  

In light of the inadequacies and weaknesses of the human experience. 

I hope I've helped shed some light on this question, "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" 

In my presentation, I've offered you two major areas of exploration. 

I've addressed the Greeks in the bible, I gave you some insights on the origin of Hanukah, as it is coming about, so this season, as you see with the Jewish celebrations of Hanukah, now you'll know Hanukah has something to do with how the Greeks and the Hebrews interacted. 

There was a degree of hostility that was unfortunate. 

Hanukah celebrates not being defeated by the Greeks, but triumphing over the Greeks in a restoration of their true worship. 

In the second part of my presentation, I discussed sacred wisdom, or Hagia Sophia, how later the Greek Christian tradition was not marked by hostility with Greek philosophy, in spite of Tertullian remarks, but rather we can see that what has Athens to do with Jerusalem? 

Well, it turns out quite a bit.  

Quite a bit.  

I gave some common themes that I drew from the account of Justin Martyr and his own personal experience. 

So, this Hanukah season you can think about how Jesus himself walked in the precincts of the temple court in Jerusalem, apparently there celebrating Hanukah, the Feast of Dedication. 

And you can think about Hagia Sophia, the tradition of holy wisdom, or sacred tradition, sacred wisdom, carried on in the tradition of the Greek Christians. 

So you can consider both of these aspects of Hagia Sophia, as you think about what Athens has to do with Jerusalem, and it is with that, that I would like to conclude my presentation. Hagia Sophia, Sacred Wisdom from the Christian Tradition of the Greeks. 

Thank you. 

[applause]