Abstract

Ephräm Givi Lomidze:
Exodus from the Captivity of the archons according to Irenaeus and Origen:
Overcoming Nationalistic Challenges in the Church
(FKTh 2023-4, p. 300–315)

This conference lecture, taking its starting point from the Georgian folk-song O Archon, my Homeland as an example, poses the question from a theological perspective, what exactly is to be understand by the term „ἄρχον“ from a patristic viewpoint and how this ethnonym is to be ordered in the relationship between church and nationality. To that point, the use of the terms archon/archontes by Irenaeus of Lyon and Origen of Alexandria will be presented. Both theologians, with different points of emphasis, offer approaches towards liberation from the archons. Finally, based on the points from Irenaeus and Origen, approaches to solving the problem regarding the overcoming of ‘nationalistic temptations’ in the Church will be treated.