PASSION, BODY AND SOUL AT JOHN THE SOLITARY AND ISAAC OF NINEVEH

Authors

  • Benedict VESA Bishop, Senior lecturer PhD, Faculty of Orthodox Theology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: benedict.vesa@gmail.com.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbto.2020.1.03

Keywords:

passion, body, soul, ascetic life, inner man, external man, anthropology, Syriac tradition

Abstract

The paper explores the relations between body, soul and passion from the perspective of two Syriac writers, John the Solitary and Isaac of Nineveh. According to them, the body and the soul are not in opposition since through them, man contemplates the beauty of the outer and inner world. For this reason, we have three elements as parts of the human nature: the body, the soul and the spirit (the innermost part of the soul) and a threefold spiritual life: according to the body, to the soul and to the spirit. As regarding the body-soul-passion connection, both authors believe that passion can be good, bad or neutral and belongs to both body and soul. Ultimately, bad passions, as temptations, can be necessary for man's spiritual progress because God has put everything in the structure of man for its benefits. So, Salvation refers to the totality of human, body and soul, and passions can be transformed into `wings` to facilitate our spiritual ascent.

References

Bedjan, Paul, ed. Mar Isaacus Ninivita: De Perfectione Religiosa. Parisiis; Lipsiae: Otto Harrassowitz, 1909.

Brock, Sebastian, and Isaac of Nineveh. Isaac of Nineveh (Isaac the Syrian): the second part, chapters IV-XLI. Vol. 554. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Scriptores Syri 224. Lovanii: Peeters, 1995.

Dedering, Sven. Johannes von Lycopolis. Ein Dialog Über Die Seele Und Die Affekte Des Menschen. Herausgegeben von Sven Dedering. Syr. Arbeten Utgivna Med Understöd Av Vilhelm Ekmans Universitetsfond, Uppsala 43. Uppsala; Leiden, 1936.

Ninive, Isacco di. Discorsi spirituali: capitoli sulla conoscenza, preghiere, contemplazione sull’argomento della gehenna, altri opuscoli. Translated by Paolo Bettiolo. Magnano: Qiqajon, 1990.

Strothmann, Werner. Johannes von Apamea. Vol. 11. Patristiche Texte und Studien. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1972.

Wensinck, Arent Jan, trans. Mystic Treatises by Isaac of Nineveh. Translated from Bedjan’s Syriac Text with an Introduction and Registers. Verhandelingen Der Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen Te Amsterdam. Afdeeling Letterkunde. Nieuwe Reeks D. 29 1. Wiesbaden: Martin Sändig, 1969.

Yoḥannan, Dialogue sur l’âme et les passions des hommes. Translated by Sven Dedering and Irénée Hausherr. Vol. 120. Orientalia Christiana Analecta. Roma: Pont. Inst. Orientalium Studiorum, 1939.

Secondary Bibliography

Bettiolo, Paolo. ‘Sulla Preghiera: Filosseno o Giovanni?’ Le Museon 94, no. 1–2 (1981): 75–89.

Chialà, Sabino. Dall’ascesi eremitica alla misericordia infinita: ricerche su Isacco di Ninive e la sua fortuna. Vol. 14. Biblioteca della Rivista di storia e letteratura religiosa. Studi. Firenze: L.S. Olschki, 2002.

Hagman, Patrick. The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

Hunt, Hannah. ‘Praying the Body: Isaac of Nineveh and John of Apamea on Anthropological Integrity’. The Harp 11–12 (199-1999): 153-158.

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Published

2020-06-30

How to Cite

VESA, B. . (2020). PASSION, BODY AND SOUL AT JOHN THE SOLITARY AND ISAAC OF NINEVEH. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa, 65(1), 39 –. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbto.2020.1.03

Issue

Volume 65, No. 1, June 2020

Section

Articles

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