Joachim of Fiore c. 1135 – 1202
Joachim of Fiore was an Italian Cistercian abbot, biblical exegete, and one of the most influential apocalyptic thinkers of the Middle Ages. After a pilgrimage to the Holy Land he founded a monastic community at Fiore in Calabria and developed an elaborate theology of history articulated in his Concord of the Old and New Testaments and Exposition of the Apocalypse. His tripartite scheme of three successive ages, of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, exercised vast influence on medieval and modern thought, from the Spiritual Franciscans to Hegel and beyond.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Italian
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Medieval, Christian
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Joachim of Fiore:
“There are three states of the world: the age of the Father, the age of the Son, and the age of the Spirit.”
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Attributed to Joachim of Fiore:
“The age of the Spirit is yet to come.”
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Attributed to Joachim of Fiore:
“History is a movement of the Trinity.”
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Attributed to Joachim of Fiore:
“Each age fulfills the one before it and prepares the one to follow.”
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Attributed to Joachim of Fiore:
“The letter must be read in the light of the spirit.”