Miłość jako zasada teologiczno-liturgiczna w "Kanonie paschalnym" Jana z Damaszku
Love as the Theological-Liturgical Principle in the Paschal Canon of St. John of Damascus

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a theological, philological, and liturgical reconstruction of love (ἀγάπη; in the economy of salvation also φιλανθρωπία) as both a compositional and theological principle in the Paschal Canon by St. John of Damascus. Unlike previous studies, which treated love merely as a hymnographic motif, this study demonstrates that ἀγάπη functions in the Canon as a structural and performative principle, uniting theological meaning with liturgical action. The analysis reveals three interwoven dimensions of this theology of love: soteriological, where Christ's Pascha is understood as the passage of divine love leading humanity "from death to life" (ἐκ θανάτου εἰς ζωήν); ecclesial, where the liturgical gesture of embrace and the formula "ἀλλήλους περιπτυξώμεθα... συγχωρήσωμεν πάντα" constitute a real rite of reconciliation and communion; cosmic, where Pascha manifests love as light filling "heaven, earth, and the underworld" (Νῦν πάντα πεπλήρωται φωτός), establishing the order of deified creation. The study concludes that love in St. John of Damascus' Paschal Canon is not merely a theological theme but a structural, ritual, and ontological principle—the dynamic by which the Church, in the celebration of Pascha, becomes what it celebrates.

• Details
• Contents