What direction of philosophy does Philo of Alexandria belong to? Philo of Alexandria and his worldview
- theologian and religious thinker. Philo the Jew or Philo the Judean is what this man was also called. The reason is that Philo of Alexandria - as his name is officially mentioned in historical and religious reference books - was a representative of Jewish Hellenism. But, oddly enough, he was rejected by his fellow believers, but was accepted and appreciated by Christians.
Biography of Philo or not a prophet in his Fatherland
Not much information has reached our times about the details of the life of Philo of Alexandria. It is known that he was born approximately in the 20th year BC in Alexandria into a family of Jewish priests. He died around the year 50, after the Nativity of Christ. It is interesting that his nephew, the son of his brother, a wealthy Roman citizen, renounced the Jewish faith and “completely became Roman,” which greatly upset his uncle.
Perhaps he would be less upset if he could look into his own future and see in advance that the representatives of his original faith would also subsequently renounce his own philosophy.
Nevertheless, Philo was, as they would say now, a responsible Jew and even participated in a joint trip of representatives of the Jewish public to Emperor Caligula. The essence of the appeal to the ruler was the request of the Jews to protect them from oppression by the Greeks living in Alexandria and the surrounding area. This event is precisely a historically confirmed fact, in contrast to a lot of information about the moments of Philo’s life that have disappeared over the centuries.
Teaching
As you know, Alexandria was at that time the center of Hellenism. And Philo interpreted the teachings of the Bible based on how the Palestinian (Judaic) tradition interpreted it, as well as Greek mythology. Subsequently, this religious thinker earned recognition throughout the centuries, as he carried out titanic work creating a system of substantiation of the Christian faith and Christianity in general. This is despite the fact that he himself received, as we have already noted, a Hellenic upbringing.
Christians, unlike the Jews, heeded his teachings and accepted it as a philosophy and religious interpretation, preserving its foundations for posterity and rewriting the scattered manuscripts from time to time. Indeed, in essence, Philo translated the Pentateuch of Moses into the language of the philosophy of the ancient Greeks, that is, he thereby made the Jewish Holy Scripture understandable to his contemporaries. His fellow tribesmen did not agree with this, for whom the position of literal interpretation of the biblical text was more important than its broad understanding. This is at least how the scientific literature interprets this situation.
Philosophy of Philo of Alexandria
It must be said that the philosophical system created by this religious thinker is characterized by some, we would say, diversity. It is interesting and full of allegories. For example, here are some of his words from the treatise “On Drunkenness”:
“We are all like drunk people. A drunk, as a rule, does not understand that he is drunk - he thinks that he is sober, that he is in his right mind and can judge everything perfectly well. So we are the same: we think that we understand everything perfectly, we judge everything, but in fact we are like drunks, compared to God.”
Philo the philosopher is somewhat reminiscent of Plato: their judgments were based on similar principles of knowledge of the world. Thus, in his interpretation of the Bible, he noted that a person must endure all hardships, and this will help him in the future to get closer to the creator. Both attached inestimable importance to spiritual development and put it in first place, compared to carnal joys.
The Mosaic laws are interpreted by Philo of Alexandria as a great value in terms of understanding for oneself the essence of the spiritual and moral, as well as in the sense of their instructive influence on the upbringing of a person. Despite the fact that he, again, uses many allegories in his explanations and interpretations.
“We will not kill a neighbor, but a collection of sensations”:
This is how he separates the concepts of flesh and spirit in fragments of biblical stories. That is, all the scenes where the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament show us moments of unjustified cruelty or strange, in our opinion today, relationships between biblical characters, Philo explains simply: these are not real relationships between people: these are allegories. In fact, it is about the relationship between spirit and flesh - even if both bear the names of people.
Neoplatonism
Philo of Alexandria complements Plato by highlighting another stage in the stages of human existence. From the world of philosophical ideas he moves on to the world of God and the Divine principle. His mystical philosophy lies in the recognition of only two existing parallel realities:
- God is the creator of all life on Earth, a supreme being unknowable in its essence;
- The soul is an immortal part of a person that continues to exist after the death of its earthly shell.
Patristics - the totality of various kinds of teachings of Christian thinkers of that time also shared this interpretation of Philo of Alexandria of the Bible and the Christian religion in general. Almost all the outstanding religious minds of his era were influenced by his teachings.
The main ideas of Philo of Alexandria
Were also included in it Doctrine of Logos. According to the Logos, the Word is considered to be dominant over the rest of the Divine powers. It is:
- Mediator between Divine forces and the Earth;
- A soul that cannot exist without Divine powers;
- Energy of the Divine.
Philo calls wisdom the main principle of life. To comprehend wisdom is considered the highest achievement for anyone living and at the same time an impossible task. Therefore, the Logos for Philo is something like a mediator and intercessor before God for people. Man is a magnificent imprint of the divine principle, the philosopher believed, for He “ made man in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27)
From the point of view of Philo of Judea, in relation to the universe, the Logos is the highest power on which everything that happens depends. For the human soul, the Logos is a source of energy, and even the smallest part of it is equal in strength to all the energy in its entirety. This energy nourishes the human soul, illuminating its path and pointing out the truth.
About the creation of the world according to Moses
Moses chose only one law: the law of nature. Philo thought so. Moses accepted a law in tune with the World, rejecting distortion of facts and various kinds of subjective attachments and circumstances. People's consciousness was not yet ready for these rules...
According to Moses, the world was created in six days: it was necessary to maintain order: this is how the universe works. Of particular importance in it is the first day of the creation of the world. And he bears the name not one and not the first, but one, for he is above all other days. The main idea here is based on the meaning of imitation: after all, it is impossible to imitate something without a model.
So, the creation of the world took place over six days:
- A single day, also known as the first, which reflects the beginning of order, calculation and the origin of everything.
- The second day is the creation of the sky as a space having three dimensions. This is the first visible thing that was created.
- On the third day, the separation of the earth from the water occurred, the growth of plants with the rudiments of fruits, giving rise to all living things.
- On the fourth day, time and its awareness were created, the laws of movement of celestial bodies were born and the heavenly bodies were lit. Everything was ready for the arrival of humanity.
- The fifth day was marked by the creation of winged and crawling creatures. The sequence of creation of living beings is laid down, leading to the arrival of man, endowed with a mind different from all other creatures.
- On the sixth day man was created.
The image of God should not be interpreted as someone with external features, but as a mind - perhaps it is necessary.
God created man last for a reason: the primary reason was the need to prepare everything for his coming to Earth. And the second reason is to show the descendants of the human race what their life could be like if they did not lose their original appearance and without changing its purpose. - These are the fundamental concepts, among other beliefs and statements, embedded in the interpretations of Philo of Alexandria.
A person is considered mortal only for worldly reasons, i.e. over your earthly body. But the human mind is immortal, since it comes from the human soul, inspired by God. The human body is a kind of temple, a container for. And a body is born from the purest particle of the earth.
Exegetical method
According to Philo, even Greek thinkers borrowed the wisdom given by God and set forth in the Bible. The philosopher evaluates what is said in the Bible in two ways, believing that not everything in it should be taken literally, leaning more towards the allegorical. He placed this method of perception higher in terms of the complexity of awareness, believing that only truly chosen ones could comprehend its meaning.
It is these very chosen ones that Philo seeks in his works, for only they are able to grasp the course of his thoughts and the interpretations he sets out. The translation of the Bible cannot be literal: this contradicts the very nature of the Divine being, humiliating him and leading to a contradictory understanding of what is stated in this Holy book.
Decline of Philo's teachings
Despite the fact that Philo of Alexandria was a Jew, his teachings and works still cannot be called completely Jewish: their roots come from Greek philosophy. The Stoic method he used made it possible to remain grounded in Judaism, allowing him to interpret the contents of the Bible in allegorical form. As for the method itself, we can say the following: no one used it before Philo. And, by the way, quite soon after his death, this method itself as a practice disappeared. But it remained and has survived to this day: as a philosophy, a way of special vision and understanding of the essence of things.
Predecessor of the Church Fathers - Philo of Alexandria(c. 20 - c. 50), representative of Judeo-Greek philosophy, ancient philosopher who laid the foundations of Greek patristics. Philo's teaching is a synthesis of the Jewish worldview and a number of philosophical ideas of the Hellenistic era.
Conceptually, his teaching contains two main components that determine the framework of his entire creed: (1) the position of the absolute transcendence of God and (2) the Stoic-Platonic doctrine of ideas.
God, according to Philo, is truly existing, whose transcendence is manifested in its transcendence in relation to the sensory world and inaccessibility it for all forms and ways of its rational comprehension. Man only knows that God exists, but does not know what He is like. However, if God is inaccessible to theoretical reason, then he is accessible to faith based on the postulates of practical reason. Such transcendence of the Divine was unknown to pagan pantheism.
Philo of Alexandria
God for Philo is the Supreme Deity, it is undoubtedly higher than Plato’s “One Good”. God creates an intelligible cosmos (the world of Ideas), or Logos, which, being the thought of God, creates the world. Thus, Philo uses Plato’s doctrine of ideas. In his interpretation, Plato’s ideas of the world of true essences, the superphysical and otherworldly world, are the thoughts of God.
Logos for Philo is the hypostasis of God, the Thought of God, the Archangel and the Mediator between God himself and the Divine creation. The Logos is not only the thought of God, but also the word that brings in the Holy Scriptures the light of wisdom and the clarity of truth.
The Logos, possessing an incorporeal, supersensible and transcendental nature, given to it by God, represents a certain efficient cause on a cosmic scale, affecting the corporeal world. It is through the Logos that binding unity is realized, which not only determines the impact of the incorporeal on the world of things, but also orders and preserves the world in its harmony and integrity.
God creates matter out of nothing, and Logos gives this primary matter form. Logos is the highest and most perfect creation of God. The Logos, being the Thought and Word of God, creates angels close to its environment, and then the world of sensory things and man. So, idea of creation world, completely alien to paganism, first found systematic formulation in the teachings of Philo.
God, in Philo’s understanding, is not a finite origin; on the contrary, God is infinite. This divine infinity is manifested in activity, which presupposes two “Potentialities of God,” namely: “Creative Potency” and “Ruling Potency.” The first bears the name Elohim and represents the creative function, predetermining goodness and benefit; the second is the name of Jehovah, which also represents a function, but a function of a different goal setting and content, not a virtuous plan, but a forceful (punishing, legislative)
telny). Philo, as a monotheist, unlike the Platonists, connects the image of God with a specific person (Jehovah), the narrative of which he finds in the Sacred History set out in the Bible.
In his doctrine of man, Philo, in agreement with the ideas of the Platonists, proceeds from two principles: body And souls. In his subsequent views, he adds a third principle - Spirit. Ultimately, following the biblical tradition, Philo views human nature in three forms, namely: bodily Start, intellectual beginning (soul) and Spirit, coming from God. These three hypostases determine human life and its dimensions.
Philo considers three dimensions of human life: animal, determined by bodily hypostasis; rational, carried out in the bosom of the intellect and soul; And spiritual, related to the Spirit. The last hypostasis is feasible in the divine dimension, since the mortal soul of a person can become immortal only if God gives it his Spirit.
The doctrine of God's Spirit and the immortality of the human soul, narrated in the Bible, was the basis ethics Philo. Concepts such as “love of God”, “faith in God”, “life in the name of God” become fundamental guidelines for the righteous life of a Christian person. Morality and ethics in Philo's ethics merge into a single whole with faith and the Christian religion.
In general, Philo’s teaching, although in a number of ideas it differed from the Christian one, was nevertheless close to it. All the Christian fathers of the church of ante-Nicene patristics in their works proceeded from the teaching of Philo about the transcendental God, Logos and the “created” world. Rejected by orthodox Christianity at the First Ecumenical Council, held in Nika (now the Turkish city of Iznik), and condemned by it as a pagan and pantheistic doctrine, the teaching of Philo, despite all this, became the connecting link between paganism and Christianity.
Moreover, the teaching of Philo was the theoretical basis for the formation of patristics, which, in the course of the further formation of Christian doctrine, was represented by a wide variety of theological, philosophical and political-sociological concepts and doctrines of Christian thinkers of the 2nd-5th centuries, the so-called church fathers. Patristics was formed in continuous battles with Gnosticism, pagan worldview and other heresies. In this struggle, patristics used the ideas of Platonic and Neoplatonic idealism.
Philo of Alexandria (Judaea) - theologian and religious thinker who lived in Alexandria from about 25 BC. e. to 50 AD e. He was a representative of Jewish Hellenism, the center of which was then located in Alexandria. He had a great influence on the development of all theology. Widely known as the creator of the doctrine of Logos. We will talk about the philosophical teachings of this thinker in this article.
Philo of Alexandria: philosophy and biography
In those years when the noble Alexandrian Jew Philo came to Rome, the city was ruled by Caligula. The philosopher was then the ambassador of the Jews, who sent him to solve important problems that arose between them and Rome. Already in those years, Philo, who received a Greek education in Alexandria, was known as a thinker who sought to combine the ideas of Stoic and Platonic philosophies with Old Testament religion. In particular, he said that the Jews had long before drawn the thoughts expressed by ancient Greek philosophers from divine revelations.
In an effort to prove that they were right, Philo and other Jewish philosophers who adhered to his way of thinking were engaged in modifying the Holy Scriptures according to Stoic and Platonic concepts. This did not have much success with their pagan contemporaries, but later, in the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. e., had a great influence on the development of Christian thought and Greco-Roman philosophy associated with religion.
Thinking and Faith
Philo of Alexandria, if we talk about him as a representative of the Jewish faith, was an idealist, like Plato in paganism. The thinker was well versed in Greek philosophy, from which he borrowed concepts to explain divine miracles. However, despite the scientific approach to religion, he remained a devout believer who revered the holy books. Moreover, he perceived what was written in divine revelations as the highest wisdom.
The main goal of all Philo's philosophical treatises was one thing - to glorify the religion of his people and protect it from attacks. And the thinker saw his main task as proving one single statement: Plato’s teachings about God and the good, as well as the teachings of the Stoics about the virtues and the soul of the Universe, are identical with the basic tenets of the Jewish religion. And all these works were for one thing - to prove to the pagans that all the ideas of their ancient philosophers belonged and belong to the Jewish people.
Reflections on God
Philo of Alexandria, like every religious thinker, believed that the main intellectual aspiration for a philosopher is thinking about God. The world seemed to him inseparable from God, a kind of divine shadow that completely depends on its creator. However, the Old Testament Yahweh could not fully satisfy the philosopher’s demands due to his anthropomorphism. Far from his sanctuary, the Jerusalem Temple, the deity lost its specific national character.
Russian translations of Philo’s treatises indicate that the thinker tried to philosophically comprehend the act of creation of the world, presented in the Old Testament, actively using the term “logos”, borrowed from Stoicism. However, this concept in the interpretation of Philo has undergone significant changes. Thus, the thinker called the logos the son of God, who acts as a mediator between the world and God, man and God. In addition, the logos is endowed with the features of the intercessor of humanity. Thus, Philo lays the foundation for Christian teachings about the God-man, the savior deity.
Theology
The whole complexity of one of which Philo of Alexandria tried to comprehend is that it is necessary to philosophically explain its provisions. Hence the connection between philosophy and religion, first in the teachings of Philo, and then in Christianity. Thus, theology (theology) here becomes the real theoretical basis for monotheistic doctrine. And at the heart of this doctrine is logos, which seems to be the divine word with the help of which God created the world: “In the beginning was the Word...”.
Russian translations of Philo's notes indicate that this definition of logos merged the ideas of the Stoics themselves about this term and the concept of the Jewish doctrine of angels, messengers of Yahweh. Present in the interpretation of logos and the thoughts of Plato, who understood this concept as a set of ideas that formed all things in our world. Thus, theology turns into one of the aspects of philosophy.
Basic concepts of Philo's teachings
The teaching of Philo of Alexandria says that the pinnacle of the physical world is man. And in the rational part of the human soul the logos manifests itself. However, logos, according to Philo, is not a material object. Consequently, two forces are opposed in man - spiritual (immaterial) and earthly, associated with nature. The soul is understood as an imperfect likeness of God.
As for the ethical side of Philo’s doctrine, it is completely ascetic and is based on the opposition of body and soul. Moreover, it is the material shell that inclines a person to sin. Moreover, according to Philo, a person who lived on earth for at least one day lost his purity. And the philosopher’s assertion that all people are “children of God” who are equally sinful makes him a forerunner of Christian thought.
Philo of Alexandria: works
All the philosopher’s books are usually divided into 4 groups:
- Historical and biographical works that were written in a rhetorical style. Among them are “The Life of Abraham”, “Three Books of Moses”, “The Life of Joseph”. All of them were written based on legends and Holy Scripture and were intended for pagans.
- Treatises on morality, the most famous of which is “On the Ten Commandments.”
- Essays on political topics, descriptions of the philosopher's social activities. For example, the argument “About the Embassy.”
- Works in which the Holy Scriptures are interpreted allegorically. These books were intended for the Jews. Philo of Alexandria wrote them in his old age. “Rules of Allegory” is the main work of this group. Here the philosopher comments on various fragments of the Pentateuch - about cherubim, sacred laws, the sacrifices of Abel and Cain, Noah's Ark, dreams, etc.
This list shows only the main books of the thinker. In addition to them, Philo has many other treatises, which largely repeat the thoughts expressed by his contemporaries among the Jews and Greeks.
Conclusion
This was the philosophical teaching of Philo of Judea, if we describe it in general terms. However, from the above, one can notice how close Christian teaching is to the thoughts of the Jewish philosopher. Philo thus became one of the founders of the Christian faith. And it is not surprising that his treatises enjoyed such great popularity among early Christian theologians.
Philo, an Alexandrian Jew who came from a noble family, came to Rome. The Jews appointed him one of the ambassadors who were sent to take care of their affairs. Philo was the most remarkable of those Alexandrian Jews who, having received a Greek scientific education, tried to combine the Old Testament religion with the ideas of Greek, in particular Platonic and Stoic philosophy, proving that the religious, philosophical and moral truths expressed by the best pagan thinkers long before their times were given to the Jews by divine revelation. In their desire to prove this, Philo of Alexandria and other Jews of the same school of thought modified the sacred traditions with Platonic and Stoic concepts. Their teachings made little impression on their pagan contemporaries, but had a great influence on Christian scholars and on Greco-Roman religious philosophy of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Philo was a representative of idealism in the Jewish faith, similar to idealism Neoplatonists in paganism. He knew Greek philosophy well, borrowed from it his basic concepts, with which he tried to explain the divine mysteries, but at the same time he remained a faithful adherent of the sacred books of his people, placing the revelation given in them above any other wisdom. The main goal of Philo’s numerous scientific works, written in somewhat rhetorical language, but imbued with sincere animation, was to protect from censure and glorify the Russian religion. Philo set the task of his life to prove the identity of Plato’s teachings about God, about the good, about the ideas and teachings of the Stoics about the soul of the universe and about virtue with the revealed truths of the Jewish religion, to convince educated pagans that these teachings had long been the property of the Jewish people.
Philo of Alexandria. 16th century illustration
Philo of Alexandria's teachings on God and Logos
Here is a summary of the philosophy of Philo of Alexandria, composed of Greek and Hebrew elements. From eternity there have been two basic principles: God, a spiritual being, and chaos - the matter from which the world was created. God is a being incomprehensible to the human mind. From the divine being originally came the spiritual world, the world of ideas, prototypes, through whose activity the objects of the material world were created. According to Philo, the intelligent power of these prototypes penetrates matter and from this bad material creates, in their image, a material, visible world. This active force of the spiritual world is logos, “reason,” “meaning.” In the philosophy of Philo, she is the connection connecting the visible material world with the invisible god; it belongs to both basic principles, both God and matter. In God it is a resting force, in matter it is an active and contracting force.
So, logos is the deputy of God in the visible world, the “second God.” Just as the human mind manifests itself in a multitude of thoughts, which, despite all their differences from each other, form a single whole, originating from one force and being embraced by it in its entirety, so from the logos come countless prototypes and basic forces of objects in the visible world. These prototypes and powers correspond to the angels of the Jewish faith, and the ideas of Plato, and the deities of pagan mythology. The doctrine of logos is the main part of the philosophical system of Philo of Alexandria. In all those places in the Old Testament where it speaks of God’s appearances to people or the actions of providence, in his opinion, they speak of logos. Logos is the image of God, his vicegerent, “the firstborn son of God.” He is the giver of all spiritual gifts, a mediator between people and God, raising their requests to him, interceding for them before him. Philo divides the Logos into many beings, each of which is a manifestation of a separate quality or its action. Just as logos came from God, so man came from logos, therefore man has reason in himself (has logos in himself), and also has freedom. The first couple of people used freedom for evil, and thus sin was created.
Philo believed that the teachings expounded by his philosophy were contained in the Old Testament. To prove this, he gives strained interpretations to the words of the holy books. According to Philo, the words of Holy Scripture have, in addition to a simple, literal meaning, another, higher, allegorical one. He gave allegorical explanations and commandments of the law of Moses, leaving, however, behind them the power of God’s commandments. His teaching had a great influence on Christian Gnostics.
Books by Philo of Alexandria
The books of Philo of Alexandria can be divided into four groups: 1) Historical and biographical works are written in a somewhat rhetorical style. The most important of them are the books “On the Creation of the World”, “Life of Abraham”, “Life of Joseph”, “Three Books of Moses”, compiled from the Holy Scriptures and legends and intended mainly for pagans, and the defense of the Jewish religion; 2) Books about morality. The main one should be considered “On the Ten Commandments”; adjacent to it are discussions about various virtues, two books “On Rewards in Punishments”, imbued with fiery love for the Jewish people and homeland and enthusiastic hopes; “On the nobility” of the Jewish people. 3) Political essays, stories about Philo’s social activities; this includes the book “On the Embassy” to Rome. 4) Allegorical explanations of the Holy Scriptures, intended mainly for the Jews and written by Philo of Alexandria in his old age, in a calm tone, comments on various sections of the Pentateuch (on the sacred laws, on the cherubim, on the sacrifice of Cain and Abel, on the offspring of Cain, on Noah, on the division languages, dreams, sacrifices and priesthood, etc.).
We have listed only the most important of Philo's books. He has many thoughts that are identical with the New Testament and with Christian concepts in general. Most of these thoughts were common in his time among the Jews living in Greek cities.
PHILO OF ALEXANDRIAN (also Philo of Judea; born, presumably, in 25 BC - died, apparently, in 50), Jewish-Hellenistic philosopher.
He belonged to the most distinguished Jewish family in Alexandria, associated with the Herodian dynasty and Roman court circles. Josephus mentions the brother of Philo of Alexandria, Alexander, a wealthy financier and high-ranking official, whose son, Tiberius Julius Alexander, was also a famous person. However, the life of Philo of Alexandria is known from a single source, “The Embassy to Gaius,” where he described his trip to Rome as the head of a delegation of Alexandrian Jews to the Emperor Caligula in 40 to petition against the erection of statues of the emperor in the synagogues of Alexandria and in the Temple of Jerusalem. The works of Philo of Alexandria are written in Greek and reveal a perfect mastery of the language, a deep knowledge of Greek literature and philosophy, and excellent imagery of speech. It is obvious that Philo of Alexandria was educated in Greek schools. The source of his extensive knowledge of Judaism is unclear, as there is no evidence of the existence of Jewish schools in the Diaspora during this period; it is unknown to what extent Philo of Alexandria spoke Hebrew. At the same time, there is no doubt that Philo of Alexandria grew up in a family deeply devoted to the Jewish faith and traditions. Philo of Alexandria makes extensive use of Midrash in his writings. There is one known pilgrimage of Philo of Alexandria to Jerusalem. Thanks to the Christian Church, numerous works by Philo of Alexandria dedicated to biblical themes and philosophy have reached us in the original Greek, and some only in translation into Armenian.
In writings on biblical topics, Philo of Alexandria interprets biblical legislation and offers allegorical philosophical interpretations of the Pentateuch. In his treatise On the Creation of the World, which reveals the influence of the philosophy of Stoicism, Philo of Alexandria points out that although the Pentateuch is a set of laws, it opens with the history of the creation of the world to show that these laws are in perfect harmony with the laws of nature, and the fulfillment of them makes people citizens of space. This treatise is followed by biographies of the three patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and Joseph. Philo of Alexandria interprets their images in terms of the philosophy of Platonism as archetypes that served as models for the Mosaic Law. In his biography of Moses, aimed at a non-Jewish reader, Philo of Alexandria recounts the story of his life and presents his activities as a lawgiver, prophet and priest. Two treatises are devoted to the exposition and interpretation of the Ten Commandments and, in connection with them, all biblical legislation. 18 of the surviving treatises are devoted to the philosophical exegesis of the first 17 chapters of the book of Genesis. Here Philo of Alexandria completely abstracts from the narrative nature of the biblical text and, with the help of allegorical interpretation, seeks to present it as a set of philosophical and mystical concepts. Among other works of this kind is the treatise (only the Armenian translation has survived) “Questions and Answers to the Books of Genesis and Exodus.” The treatise is written in the form of a Hellenistic philosophical commentary, in which each paragraph begins with the formulation of an exegetical problem, followed by a brief literal and lengthy allegorical explanation.
In purely philosophical treatises, some of which are written in the form of dialogue, Jewish motifs appear only sporadically. At the center of Philo of Alexandria’s philosophical discussions are questions that correspond to his religious worldview - the eternity of the world and Divine Providence. Two works by Philo dedicated to contemporary events have also survived: “Against Flaccus” (about anti-Jewish riots in Alexandria in 38) and “Embassy to Gaius” (see above). Philo of Alexandria's treatise “On the Contemplative Life” is the only source of information about the sect of therapists.
The philosophical concept of Philo of Alexandria was formed under the strong influence of Stoicism and Platonism. Following Plato, Philo of Alexandria contrasts the sensory world and the intelligible sphere of existence, only within which truth can be comprehended; the material world is a realm of “opinion” (or “probability”), it occupies a middle position between truth and falsehood. Based on this, Philo of Alexandria always places abstractions higher than individual phenomena, judgments about which are necessarily only probabilistic and not entirely certain. In interpreting the Bible, Philo of Alexandria seeks to identify abstractions that are “hinted at” or “represented” by specific biblical characters or events. The true purpose and good of man is liberation from bodily needs and pleasures and the achievement of a spiritual contemplative life. However, a person acquires the right to such a life only after he has conscientiously fulfilled his earthly duty in society. Therefore, Philo of Alexandria believes, Moses freed the Levites (see Levi) from public duties only after they reached the age of fifty. In the fulfillment of biblical instructions, Philo of Alexandria sees only the external requirement of the law, while the true purpose of the law is to comprehend its symbolic meaning. Nevertheless, Philo of Alexandria argues at length for the supreme moral, educational and social value of the Mosaic Law in the sensory world. According to the inner meaning of Holy Scripture, revealed by allegorical interpretation, Moses is a philosopher. However, Philo does not always consider philosophy as the highest achievement of the spirit; sometimes he speaks of an even higher spiritual state - wisdom. Philo of Alexandria complements Plato’s concept of the ascent of the soul from the sensory world to the intelligible world of “ideas” with another stage of spiritual ascent - from the world of “ideas” to God himself. Thus, Philo of Alexandria recognizes only two ultimate realities - God and the soul, the timeless connection between which constitutes the content of his mystical philosophy.
Philo of Alexandria’s concept of God is characterized by extreme transcendence, surpassing even Plato’s: God is above virtue, above knowledge, above absolute good and beauty. According to Philo of Alexandria, at the lowest level of abstraction, goodness and other attributes are attributed to God, at the highest level of abstraction, God has no qualities, does not have a name and is unknowable. Nevertheless, although the true essence of God is unknowable, its investigation is a supremely blessed endeavor.
Philo of Alexandria combines the transcendental concept of God with the immanent - Stoic in origin - concept of God's relationship to the world and to the soul: divine power acts as the immanent principle of things and, first of all, the soul. This view leads Philo of Alexandria to ontological differentiation - to the distinction between God and His Logos, which Philo of Alexandria sometimes identifies with Divine thought, and sometimes interprets as something that carries out the connection between God and man - a principle symbolized by the high priest. Although Philo of Alexandria accepts the biblical thesis about the creation of the world by God, he seeks to avoid the conclusion that God was in direct contact with the profane properties of matter, and therefore postulates a mediating “peace-making force” - Logos.
Philonov's concept of man is characterized by dualism: the spiritual principle that connects man with God, and the carnal principle that belongs to the material world. Therefore, a person inevitably faces a choice between reason and carnal life. Philo of Alexandria formulates this choice in terms of Stoicism as the establishment of control of reason over emotions; Thus, the ethics of the Stoics becomes an integral part of the worldview of Philo of Alexandria. Philo represents the achievement of harmony between the human soul and God both as the ascent of the soul to God and as the descent of God into the human soul. The fundamental identity of the human and Divine spirit, postulated by the philosophy of Stoicism, takes on Philo of Alexandria the form of a mystical doctrine of the unity of the soul with God. To prepare oneself for unity with God, a person must free himself from earthly bonds, leave “his land, his relatives and his father’s house,” that is, forget the body, feelings and human speech. In contrast to the Stoic ideal - wisdom as the power of reason over the senses, bringing serenity - Philo of Alexandria describes union with God as an exalted mystical experience: in search of more than the rational knowledge of God, the soul is filled with the Divine spirit and remains in ecstatic bliss. The three patriarchs symbolize the three paths to achieving unity with God. Abraham goes from knowledge (Hagar) to virtue (Sarah), Isaac, being perfect by nature, does not need the mediation of an intermediate intellectual goal, and Jacob is rewarded for his asceticism by the fact that for him “the Lord” (Justice) becomes “God” (By mercy). Here again the concept of mediating forces comes to the fore. The soul cannot reach God himself, but it can reach one of His “powers,” the number of which varies among Philo of Alexandria in different treatises. Insisting that the only proper relationship of a wise man to God is love, Philo of Alexandria resorts to Plato's concept of philosophical "eroticism" and is close to the "erotic" teachings of Hellenistic mysticism. Sometimes Philo of Alexandria speaks of this love as a gift from God, through which the perfect sage is introduced to His nature.
For Jews, the conversion of Philo of Alexandria to Greek pagan philosophy was unacceptable: in ancient Jewish sources, with the exception of Josephus, the name of Philo of Alexandria is not mentioned, although in some of them (in particular, in several midrashim) the influence of his ideas is noticeable. Only in the 16th century. direct interest in the personality of Philo of Alexandria and his ideas is manifested in the work of Azariah ben Moshe dei Rossi “Meor Eynaim” (“Light of the Eyes”).
The philosophy of Philo of Alexandria largely influenced the formation of the philosophy of Neoplatonism and, in particular, Christianity. For Christian authors, the work of Philo of Alexandria served as a fundamental example of the synthesis of Jewish and Greco-Roman thought, and his concept of Logos formed the basis of the Christian teaching about Jesus as a mediator between God and man. The authority that Philo of Alexandria enjoyed among Christians is evidenced by the legend of his meeting with the apostles Peter and John. Although the question of the influence of the ideas of Philo of Alexandria on the Gospel of John has not been sufficiently studied, the letters of the Apostle Paul (see Paul of Tarsus), first of all, his Epistle to the Hebrews, show stylistic and ideological similarities with the works of Philo of Alexandria. Philo of Alexandria's influence was especially profound on the church fathers, most notably Clement of Alexandria, Origen and Ambrose of Milan, who borrowed many of his ideas and his allegorical method of biblical exegesis.
KEE, volume: 9.
Col.: 93–96.
Published: 1999.
