What is Quintessence?

The Greek philosophers from Ionia believed that there were four elements or four substances in nature: "earth, water, fire and air". Aristotle added to this fourfold "the ether", which will constitute the fifth essence or quintessence.

This element, according to Aristotle, presents many peculiarities: it is unborn, ageless, indestructible, eternal, unchanging and unchanging. Furthermore, it is located in the high layers of the sky (in the "highest place") where the deity resides.

The Greek philosophers of late antiquity (Alexander of Aphrodisias, Simplicius and others), but also the Byzantines, such as John Philoponus, as well as many Westerners interpreted, modified and enriched Aristotle's theory.

The result is that the fifth essence, the quinta essentia of Westerners, came to mean the basic essence of every being, the core around which its existence is organized.

The triptych Culture – Sciences – Religion

The ability to solve various problems that arise in society as a whole, as well as the continuous process of progress of human knowledge, science and technology that develop according to the needs and demands of each era, art that serves beauty, social and political institutions that are organized to achieve greater cooperation, are the dynamic axis on which civilizations are created.

The existence of the universe, natural phenomena, all creation made man seek the Creator. The movement of the human spirit towards God created the phenomenon of religions from the moment man appeared on earth.Later, when man began to feel and understand deeper concepts related to his psyche, conscience, immortality, education, charity, nobility of character and wisdom or the deeper difference between the concepts of virtue and vice, wisdom and folly, cowardice and courage, justice and injustice It was normal for various moral and social values ​​to be created, which determined the general way of life in human society and even in art.

The ancient Greeks, now that they had escaped the necessity of hunger and insecurity through social organization and education, engaged in culture, art, and letters. They offered to civilization the concept of inner spiritual cultivation. The search for truth as an absolute existential fact was very intense among the ancient Greeks, which is why they had built an altar to "the unknown God."

The incarnation of God the Word found fertile ground in the Greek's appeal for the beautiful, the good, the truth, the eternal, so that later the greatness called Greek Orthodoxy could develop. The meeting of Hellenism and Christianity was magnificent over the course of the centuries.

Orthodoxy within the environment of Hellenism did not function as a religion or sect. It was not a movement of the human spirit towards God, but the revelation of the true God, Jesus Christ, to man. A characteristic feature of Greek culture has always been the reception of the foreign and the new, its assimilation and its synthetic and creative transformation.

A basic principle of Orthodoxy is the principle of person – hypostasis in God and man. God is a Trinity of persons – hypostasis with a common essence, but also separate and unique characteristics. The man who depicts God is separate and unique as a person. Thus the Orthodoxy has not marginalized man. It expects and can offer the human race true unity and universality. It has not absorbed ethnicities, it has not massified man, but it contributes to the preservation of the special cultural identity of each ethnicity.

Orthodoxy produced culture, contributed to the development of the arts, music, painting, literature, poetry, architecture, etc. through a theanthropic perspective.

Orthodoxy favored the development of sciences, never came into conflict with science, because within the Orthodox Tradition the distinction between created and uncreated knowledge is experienced. The scholastic theologians of the West developed a unified methodology for approaching the created and the uncreated, while the Fathers of the Orthodox East followed a dual methodology. Saint Gregory Palamas in particular rejected the dialectical method for the knowledge of the Godhead. However, they accepted it for the sciences and the formulation of dogmas with concepts invented by dialectics itself.

• The sciences have as their task the knowledge of the essence and functioning of beings, while Orthodox theology offers man the empirical knowledge of the uncreated God, the creator of beings, and communion with divine energies.
• The sciences deal with the how, while Orthodox theology deals with the who and why.
• The sciences offer man knowledge that is constantly developing and evolving, while Orthodox theology offers the authentic way of existence of the human being, his union with God, the experience of uncreated divine Grace.

The conflict between science and theology took place in the West after the Renaissance period (14th century) and mainly with the Enlightenment (18th century) and the development of the sciences, because Western Christianity gradually lost its eschatological orientation, took on a secular character, was cut off from the Orthodox tradition of the East and became secularized. Thus, armed with worldly power, it resorted to the Inquisition, witch hunts, indulgences, death by fire and various prohibitions, distorting the message of the gospel of love. At the same time, it came into violent conflict with many scientists, who in the meantime had rejected the Western ecclesiastical organization due to the above excesses.

The profound Greek philosophical thought, the incomparable Greek language, the political terminology and the democratic collective practice were not only preserved in Orthodoxy, the authentic form of Christianity, but were also enriched and given new meaning with new elements from the teachings of Christ., were valuable means of its expression and organization. Orthodoxy is not religious philosophy and intellect, but revelation and life, based on divine experience, on the transcendence of the created and the appropriation of the Uncreated. Orthodox theology is philokalic and Patristic, it is the theology of "The beautiful is beautiful before the sons of men", it is the theology of "Our Fathers".

The rapid development of science and technology, especially biotechnology and information technology at the beginning of the third millennium in which we live, creates an uncertain, ambiguous climate.

• The prospects of modern sciences can be said to be particularly encouraging in the fields of medicine, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, etc. for the prediction and treatment of many hitherto incurable diseases, but also for a more comfortable life for humans.
• But on the other hand, the reckless use of these technological achievements threatens our planet with an ecological or biological disaster.

It is imperative for scientists to come "to themselves", to acquire an enlightened mind, so that they can serve humanity and not selfish interests.

The traditional era is now a thing of the past. The right reason, the sciences and the policies of modernity have handed over the baton to postmodernity. The postmodern man no longer moves with a predestination of holiness, knowledge and wisdom, but uncritically accepts the image and information, eudaimonism and often absurdity.

Postmodernity may be characterized by irrationality, fragmentation, moral diversity, the pessimistic desire for the end of history and the world, globalization, and the homogenization of lifestyles, but we see that After "the death of God" brought about by modernity, we are now experiencing "the return of God." Social norms may have degenerated, institutions are being attacked, and there is an undeniable degradation in the quality of life, but modern man, living in a multicultural and pluralistic environment, is desperately trying to find his identity.

The modern postmodern man does not know what a man is. Pemptousia, with its characteristic philanthropic spirit, wants to contribute with its presence in the online space to a better understanding of human life., in the search for the ontological content of man, in the awareness of the inexhaustible mystery of man, the apocalyptic indeterminate and eschatologically realized in Christ, the man who depicts divine beauty. And the beauty of man springs from the beauty of the Triune God. Ultimately "beauty will save the world."