Mystical process in Isaac the Syrian: tears, penthos, and the physiology of dispassion
Tears is understood in the ascetic tradition of Eastern Christianity as a prolonged process of spiritual development motivated by compunction (penthos). One of its dominant behavioral expressions is weeping. The experience and theology of tears are reviewed in the first part of this essay. Evagrius’...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic/Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
[2016]
|
| In: |
Studies in spirituality
Year: 2016, Volume: 26, Pages: 59-104 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAD Church history 500-900; early Middle Ages KDF Orthodox Church |
| Further subjects: | B
Isaac, Bp of Nineveh, 7th cent
B Eschatology Christianity B Peer reviewed B Diadochus, Bp of Photike, 5th cent B Cassian, John, ca 360-ca 435 B Greek Language Terms Penthos B Crying B Evagrius, Ponticus, 345?-399 B Emotions B Mark, the Hermit, d ca 430 B Mysticism 0600-1500 B Tears |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Tears is understood in the ascetic tradition of Eastern Christianity as a prolonged process of spiritual development motivated by compunction (penthos). One of its dominant behavioral expressions is weeping. The experience and theology of tears are reviewed in the first part of this essay. Evagrius’s writings on tears are reviewed in the second part, and Cassian’s in the third. The fourth begins with a review of the anatomy and physiology of weeping, followed by an application of the scientific material in an analysis of several chapters on tears, prayer, and stillness (hesychia) written by Diadochos of Photike and Mark the Ascetic. In the fifth part, tears and ordinary weeping are compared in terms of their social and evolutionary dimensions. In the sixth, a process analysis of tears is contrasted with hierarchical classifications in which the experience of tears is divided into discontinuous stages. The seventh part is a process analysis of Isaac the Syrian’s description of the full course of tears. The eighth shows that tears culminates in dispassion and establishes a new homeostasis of the autonomic nervous system. For Isaac, tears leads to the personal realization of eschatological expectations, as discussed in the final part. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 0926-6453 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Studies in spirituality
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/SIS.26.0.3180805 |