Grünert Anna

Corporeal vision and contemplation in the epistemological context: a comparison of the “Homilies on the Psalms” by Origen and saint Basil of Caesarea

Abstract

The article considers on the material of the “Homilies on the Psalms” of Origen and saint Basil of Caesarea the use of vocabulary of visual sense in an epistemological context, including the concept of “contemplation”, which goes back to the ancient philosophical tradition. Thus, the aim of the paper is to explain the philosophical meaning of this concept as the highest stage on the path of knowledge as well as its place in the epistemological systems of both authors. On the basis of the description of cognitive processes by early Christian writers we discovered a number of patterns in the composition of the semantic field of vision as the sense that participates in the act of knowledge. At the same time, our study demonstrates that the use of both the concept of “contemplation” and the vocabulary of visual sense partially fits into the philosophical division of the neoplatonic curriculum: while the study by bodily vision of the sensuous world created by God is associated with physics, the contemplation as a study of the supersensuous world by supersensory vision is associated with epoptics. However, in the explanations we have examined, these three steps are never mentioned in a row, in contrast to other texts where Origen and saint Basil follow the scheme of ethics-physics-epoptics. As texts that serves as the basis for comparing the Christian reception of the vocabulary of visual sense in patristic literature of the 3rd and 4th centuries AD we choosed not only the exegetic sermons of individual psalms by Origen and saint Basil of Caesarea, but also a selection of other texts of the same authors representing relevant parallels in their use of vocabulary of visual sense. From the point of view of its scientific relevance, this study is also important because it shows the dependence of the “Homilies on the Psalms” by saint Basil of Caesarea upon the “Homilies on the Psalms” by Origen discovered in 2012 in the Codex Monacensis Graecus 314.

Keywords

epistemology, late antique philosophy, neoplatonism, patristic philosophy, saint Basil of Caesarea, contemplation, explanations on the Psalms

References

1. Alieva O. (2019) “Moses in the Wilderness: Basil of Caesarea on Formation of the Prophet”. Scrinium, vol. 15, pp. 133–142.
2. Alieva O. (ed.) (2016) Svyatitel’ Vasiliy Velikiy. Beseda na slova “Vnemli sebe” [Saint Basil the Great. Homily on the Words “Give Heed to Thyself”]. Moscow (in Russian).
3. Borret S. (ed.) (1968) Origène. Contre Celse. Livres VII et VIII. Paris.
4. Brésard L., Fédou M. (eds) (2009) Origène. Commentaire sur l’épître aux Romains. Tome I, livres I–II. Paris.
5. Chantraine P. (1968) Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots. Paris.
6. Coakley S. (2011) “Gregory of Nyssa”, in P. L. Gavrilyuk, S. Coakley (eds) The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, Cambridge, pp. 36–55.
7. Colson F. H., Whitaker G. H. (eds) (1929) Philo. On the Creation. Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis 2 and 3. Cambridge (Mass.).
8. Colson F. H., Whitaker G. H. (eds) (1932) On the Confusion of Tongues. On the Migration of Abraham. Who Is the Heir of Divine Things? On Mating with the Preliminary Studies. Cambridge (Mass.).
9. Crouzel H. (1961) Origène et la “connaissance mystique”. Paris.
10. Crouzel H., Simonetti M. (eds) (1978) Origène. Traité des principes, tome I. Livres I et II. Paris.
11. Dawson D. (2002) Christian Figural Reading and the Fashioning of Identity. Berkeley.
12. DelCogliano M. (2012) “Tradition and Polemic in Basil of Caesarea’s Homily on the Theophany”. Vigilia Christiana, vol. 66 (1), pp. 30−55.
13. Giet S. (ed.) (1968) Basile de Césarée. Homélies sur l’Hexaéméron. Paris.
14. Girardi M. (2014) “Origene in Cappadocia. Basilio e l’esegesi ‘alessandrina’ dei Salmi”. Adamantius, vol. 20, pp. 160−172.
15. Grünbeck E. (1994) Christologische Schriftargumentation und Bildersprache. Leiden.
16. Grünert A. (2019) “Zritel’naya leksika v kontekste fi losofi i poznaniya Vasiliya Velikogo na primere zykla ‘Besedy na shestodnev’” [The Visual Vоcabulary in the Context of St. Basil Epistemology: the Case of the Hexaemeron]. Philosophy. The Journal of the Higher School of Economics, vol. 3 (1), pp. 121−144 (in Russian).
17. Grünert A. (trans.) (2022) “Origen. Besedy III and IV na Ps. 36. Chast’ 2” [Origen. Homilies I and II on Psalm 36. Part 2]. Bible and Christian Antiquity, vol. 13 (1), pp. 1−49 (Russian translation).
18. Hadot I. (1989) “Les introductions aux commentaires exégétiques chez les auteurs néoplatoniciens et les auteurs chrétiens”, in I. Hadot (ed.) Simplicius. Commentaire sur les Catégories, vol. 1, Leiden, pp. 19–47.
19. Hildebrand S. (2014) Basil of Caesarea. London.
20. James M. R. (2021) Learning the Language of Scripture: Origen, Wisdom, and the Logic of Interpretation. Leiden.
21. Junod É. (1994) “En quoi les homélies d’Origène se distinguent-elles de ses commentaires?”, in H. Mottou, P. A. Bettex (eds) Le défi homilétique. L’exégèse au service de la predication, Génève, pp. 137–170.
22. Junod É. (1972) “Remarques sur la composition de la ‘Philocalie’ d’Origène par Basile de Césarée et Grégoire de Nazianze”. Revue d’Histoire et de Philosophie religieuses, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 149–156.
23. Koller H. (1957) “Theoros und Theōria”. Glotta, vol. 36, pp. 273–286.
24. Louth A. (2022) “The Transmission of Origen From Athanasius to the Cappadocians”, in R. E. Heine, K. J. Torjesen (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Origen, Oxford, pp. 429–444.
25. Markschies C. (1995) “Die Platonische Metapher vom ‘Inneren Menschen’: Eine Brücke Zwischen Antiker Philosophie und Altchristlicher Theologie”. International Journal of the Classical Tradition, vol. 1 (3), pp. 3–18.
26. McInroy M. J. (2011) “Origen of Alexandria”, in P. L. Gavrilyuk, S. Coakley (eds) The Spiritual Senses: Perceiving God in Western Christianity, Cambridge, pp. 20–35.
27. Minio-Paluello L. (ed.) (1949) Aristotle. Categoriae et Liber de Interpretatione. Oxford.
28. Nightingale A. (2009) Spectacles of Truth in Classical Greek Philosophy. Cambridge.
29. Paddle A. G. (2004) “Contemplation”, in J. A. McGuckin (ed.) The Westminster Handbook to Origen, Louisville; London, pp. 81–83.
30. Perrone L., Molin Pradel M. (eds.) (2015) Origenes. Die neuen Psalmenhomilien. Eine kritische Edition des Codex Monacensis Graecus 314. Berlin.
31. Rahner K. (1932) “Le début d’une doctrine des cinq sens spirituels chez Origène”. Revue d’Ascétique et de Mystique, vol. 13, pp. 113–145.
32. Saint Basil the Great (2009) Tvoreniya v dvukh tomakh [Works in two Volumes]. Moscow (Russian translation).
33. Scherer J. (ed.) (1960) Origène. Entretien avec Héraclide. Paris.
34. Trigg J. (ed.) (2020) Origen. Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314. Washington (D.C.).
35. Vasiliu A. (2010) Eikôn. L’image dans le discours des trois Cappadociens. Paris.

Information about the author

Grünert Anna

Student status: Graduate student;
Student status: Graduate student;
Academic Rank: Professor;
Place of study: HSE University; Moscow, Russia;
ORCID: 0000-0001-5301-0518;
Email: gruna7@gmail.com.