Historical review of the use of the concept of “apatheia” in ancient philosophy and patristic writings of the I–VIII centuries

Abstract

This article examines the history of the use of the term “ἀπάθεια” in patristic writings and the infl uence of the ancient concept of dispassion on patristic thought. It is based on the main patristic works, which deal largely with this concept and which infl uenced the formation of the doctrine of dispassion in Church writings. The statistics of the use of this term only confi rm the importance of this concept for theology, but the relatively large number of its use by individual authors does not always indicate that he gave it an important place in his reasoning.