Conceptualization of relations between sex and human nature in patristic tradition of 2-7 centuries

The article describes a define period of the Christian anthropology formation - 2-7 centuries. Attention has been paid to reveal and conceptualize the ontological status of sex differentiation. The context of formation of Christian anthropology position in the indicated period is revealed as ''Christian Platonism'' in this work, i.e., a combination and opposition of two totally different presentations about the world and human construction. The Christian doctrine originally appears under presentation about the human body as an essential part of the human called to transformation and spirituality as human nature in general. On the other hand, the Platonic world view insists on the idea of the flesh overcoming due to askesis. These two different and discordant sets were interconnected in the early period of formation of the Christian theory. Thus, Ori-gen said human bodies would transform and take a new spiritual way of existence after the future total resurrection. They would not be burdened by ''rough'' flesh, digestion system and sex distinction by Origen. So, on the one hand , the human body transforms, on the other one, it is not the body in the original meaning. This detail was detected and immediately attacked by some St. Fathers - Jerome of Stridonium, Epiphanius of Salamis, Methodius of Patara. Sex difference was recognized as an inalienable attribute of the human body and, in general, human nature. However, Gregory of Nyssa in his anthropology does not acknowledge sex as an inalienable part of the human. St. Gregory speaking about God's image characterizes sex difference as something alien to God's image, a protection mechanism in case of the Fall. By Maximus the Confessor the principle of difference, including the sex one, is positive. The world was made by God as a number of differences and oppositions the human is called to combine and conciliate. The results of transformations are not elimination of differences, but their total and final conciliation. Thus, sexual differentiation is essential for human nature and its components cannot and should not be overcome. So, the analysis of formation of patristic anthropology in 2-7 centuries shows a clear tendency of realization of originality of the Christian doctrine about the human, the first to theoretically postulate the essential place of sexual duality. The realization is formed during a complex process of separation of the Christian understanding of the human from the non-Christian, first of all, Platonic attitude to the body.

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