THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSES AND THE IMPACT OF THE MATERIAL TURN OF THE 4TH CENTURY: FROM ORIGEN TO EPHREM THE SYRIAN AND CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL SENSES AND THE IMPACT OF THE MATERIAL TURN OF THE 4TH CENTURY: FROM ORIGEN TO EPHREM THE SYRIAN AND CYRIL OF JERUSALEM

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between the development of the spiritual senses and the physical sensorium, which – along with the material world and the human body – underwent a certain epistemological and theological rehabilitation in the context of the material turn in the 4th century. In contrast to Origen’s position – that the opening of the spiritual senses required a kind of closure of the bodily senses – we examine the views of Ephrem the Syrian and Cyril of Jerusalem, who include the bodily sensory apparatus within the framework of the quest for God. In their view, the bodily senses, which are able to perceive traces of the divine presence in the material world, can serve as an impetus for the opening of the spiritual senses. Once the bodily senses have been transformed through sacramental purification, they can become a completely legitimate means on the path to knowledge of God in dialogue with the spiritual – which, at least in the case of Ephrem and Cyril, opens up the space for a reinterpretation of the concept of the spiritual senses themselves, as far as research on this scale allows.

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