The theophany of “the back” of God in the cave (Exodus 33) according to Isaac of Niniveh in reference with “The life of Moses” by St. Gregory of Nyssa
The theophany of “the back” of God in the cave (Exodus 33) according to Isaac of Niniveh in reference with “The life of Moses” by St. Gregory of Nyssa

Summary/Abstract: Among the East Syriac authors, Isaac of Nineveh occupies a prominent place – his works had almost an universal spreading in the entire Christian world. The originality of this author’s theological vision comes out of its synthetic character: between the Syriac and the Greek theological school, first one much more biblical, while the latter more philosophically oriented. This paper deals with what theology calls the “vision of God”, in particular the interpretation of the vision Moses had in the cleft of the rock (Ex. 33), according to Isaac of Niniveh and in reference with Gregory of Nyssa’s perspective and his mystical commentary on this biblical extract (“The Life of Moses”). Firstly, we will place the two authors in a historical, geographical and theological context, and then we will focus on the mystical interpretations they give to Moses’ third vision on the Sinai Mountain (Ex. 33,18-23). Last section will be dedicated to some conclusions vis-à-vis the methodological approaches proposed by the two authors, that will evidently come out from the research.

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