Methodological Problems in the Study Of Διάκρισις Concept in Patristic Works

Abstract

The report outlines the methodology used to study the concept of διάκρισις (the gift of discernment or discretion) in patristic works. The report provides an overview of the methodologies used in key research on this topic in the Catholic and Protestant traditions. The aspects of the philosophical level of the methodology concerning the hermeneutics of patristic texts are touched upon, including the process of gradual understanding of the concept behind the term διaκρισις, and the influence of the researcher’s confession on the setting of the problem, methodology and results. It combines activity and historical methods supplemented by several general scientific approaches. The methodology includes some stages. In conclusion the author shows how this methodology works for the analysis of the διάκρισις doctrine in Saint John Climacus teaching.