Nikephoros Gregoras

Abstract

Theologian, philosopher, astronomer, and historian of the Palaiologan Renaissance called “polyhistor” for his great erudition. He was a conservative, anti-Latin Orthodox theologian who indulged in polemics against Gregory Palamas. Following his mentor Theodore Metochites, he was a Platonist with highly Skeptical tendencies, which he combined with Platonism after the pattern of Philo of Alexandria. He describes God in a Neoplatonic way as the “One” that transcends everything and contains in Itself the immaterial archetypes (the “secret and ineffable reasons”) of all created beings. He regarded most philosophical and scientific theories of the heavens, the earth, and human affairs uncertain, because he deemed them as results of man’s postlapsarian reason. In these terms he repudiated Aristotle as an arrogant man, who pretended to possess truth, whereas he knew that he lied. In contrast, Plato instantiated for him the true ideal of sage, because he was conscious of his ignorance and turned to the transcendental reality to attain truth.