THE ISSUE OF HUMAN RESEMBLANCES IN GRIGOR TATEVATSI’S ANTHROPOLOGICAL TEACHING

Abstract

St. Grigor Tatevatsi (1346-1409) found resemblances bet-
ween a human being and God, the universe, the city, the farmstead and the garden, which
allowed him to present his understandings of a human being in a broader context. In essence,
each simulation is an act of self-knowledge, which reveals new aspects of human nature,
essence and activity. Godlikeness demonstrates the greatness of man, his unique status in
creation, his superiority over other creatures, cosmos-likeliness of the human being – the
natural and functional correspondence of Big and Small universes, the “consanguinity” of
cosmic beings and men. The simulation of the city demonstrates the vertical and horizontal
relations between the parts of the human soul and the inner forces of man. By likening the man
to the field and the garden, it is shown that the man, as a moral being, is obliged to think about
both his earthly and heavenly life, that is, to make the right choice (in line with the spirit of
religious commandments) between good and evil. Although all the resemblances are based on
the principles of religious anthropology, each of them has a certain direction. The resemblance
of the man to God is mostly religious and philosophical, the resemblance to the universe is
naturalistic, the resemblance to the city is epistemological and socio-psychological, and the
resemblance to the farmstead and the garden is predominantly socio-moral.