The Plenitude (ΠΛΗΡΩΜΑ) of Human Nature According to Gregory of Nyssa

Abstract

The concept of human nature constitutes a basis for Gregory of Nyssa’s entire anthropology. He considered human nature to be an indivisible monad created by God in the first act of creation before He created the first human being – Adam. It is human nature as a unity that constitutes the image of God and that image has been perfect from the very beginning. Gregory claims that nothing that was created can be indefinite (ἀόριστον). Hence human nature also has its own plenitude (πλήρωμα) recognised by God at the very moment of its creation. That plenitude will be realised when all human individuals are born. The accomplishment of the plenitude of human nature will determine the end of time, resurrection and apokatastasis, upon which human nature will return to its primordial state. I am convinced that Gregory thought of human nature as of a reality transcendent of individuals and that concept explains how he could speak simultaneously about the apokatastasis and the damnation of the sinners.