to understand the role of time within the scope of 20th century ontology, after the fundamental works of e. husserl, m. heidegger, p. ricoeur, and e. levinas, means to develop simultaneously the ontology of time. my aim is to demonstrate that in a definite sense the postmodern onto-logy is chrono-logy. the argument proceeds (and this constitutes its essential novelty) within the `multidimensional space involving not only the synchronic stratum of current conceptuality in its internal logical relationships, but also the diachronic axis of conceptual genesis. i apply different strategies of analysis in order to emphasize that the concept of the human self, the concept of being, and the concept of time are inseparably linked with one another. to this triad i add one more link of a theological nature, viz. the relationship between god and the human mind as it has been developed in orthodox apophatic theology and during the scholastic controversies concerning the problem of visio dei.