Η έννοια της φιλίας στις επιστολές του Ευθύμιου Μαλάκη
The Notion of Friendship in the Letters of Euthymios Malakes

Summary/Abstract: The present article examines the notion of friendship depicted in the epistolary corpus of Euthymios Malakes. His letters do not include solely information about historical, financial and social matters, but they also convey a wide range of feelings and sentiments through the letters addressed to his friends and peers. In general, his theory on friendship is based on a combination of ancient Greek texts and Christian theology. The direct impact of Aristotle’s philosophy incorporated into a purely Christian framework contributed to his perception of Byzantine friendship as a higher spiritual ascent exceeding the narrow limits of the conventional nature of human friendship. Some of the most basic structural components of ancient Greek friendship, such as equality and likeness, remain identical in the wider ideological framework of friendship demonstrated by Malakes himself, but this kind of friendship, which evolved through the life and work of the Early Church Fathers, stands out for its spiritual and religious identity, which leads to the so-called unio mystica of the souls.

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