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Gnomic will (Greek:Θἑλημα γνωμικόν, θέλησι γνωμική) is anEastern Christian theological notion meaning spontaneous individual aspiration and movement of the mind.[1][2][3]
This notion belongs toMaximus the Confessor.
The termgnomic derives from the Greekgnome, meaning “inclination” or “intention”. WithinOrthodox theology,gnomic willing is contrasted withnatural willing. Natural willing designates the movement of a creature in accordance with the principle (logos (Greek:λόγος)) of its nature towards the fulfilment (telos (Greek:τέλος),stasis (Greek:στάσις)) of its being. Gnomic willing, on the other hand, designates that form of willing in which a person engages in a process of deliberation, culminating in a decision.
Within the theology of St. Maximus, which was endorsed by theSixth Ecumenical Council in condemningmonothelitism,Jesus Christ possessed no gnomic will. St. Maximus developed this claim, particularly in hisDialogue with Pyrrhus. According to St. Maximus, the process of gnomic willing presupposes that a person does not know what they want, so they must deliberate and choose between a range of choices. However, Jesus Christ, as both man and thesecond Person of theTrinity, possessed complete congruence of his two wills: the divine and the human. Therefore, St. Maximus reasoned that Jesus was never in a state of ignorance regarding what he wanted, and so he never engaged in gnomic willing.
Aristotle, a major philosophical influence on Maximus, in comparing the works ofNature with those of a human worker, had also declared that any process of deliberation, far from indicating superior intellect, is a sign of our weakness.