by Richard McCambly

The Greek word aisthesis translates as "sense perception," "sensation," a term which Gregory of Nyssa primarily applies to the act of comprehending by our five senses. He also applies it to a perception of God's invisible reality. The following list is by no means exhaustive but is intended to give the reader an idea of how Gregory of Nyssa employs aisthesis in these two ways throughout his various readings. A good introductory article to aisthesis: La Perception de la Presence de Dieu a propos d'une Expression de la XIe Homelie sur le Cantique des Cantiques by Mariette Canevet in Epektasis (Paris, 1972), pp.443-53.

NB: the letter "J" followed by a page number refers to the critical texts begun under the direction of Werner Jaeger and continued after his death (E.J. Brill, Leiden). The letters PN followed by a page number refer to The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan); the page numbers have either the letter "a" or "b," thereby indicating either the left or right column. The letters ACW refer to Ancient Christian Writers, volume 18 (The Newman Press, London, 1954).

Commentary on Ecclesiastes

Beings are either material and endowed with sensation or they are intelligent and incorporeal. Immaterial beings transcend sense perception, and we have knowledge of them when we strip ourselves of the senses; however, our senses apprehend matter which cannot transcend the heavenly [spiritual] body and go any further than appearances. For this reason Ecclesiastes addresses us with regard to both earthly and heavenly realities that we may live free from error. Material life means bodily existence but contemplation of the good is hidden from persons who live according to their senses. J.373-4

Beauty which appears to men whether by the eyes or pleasure to the eyes through color is in either inanimate or animate objects. Our ears enjoy melodious sounds, taste is for juices and scent for aromas; weight and that which is not rational belong to touch, the realm of feeling where undisciplined pleasure dominates. Because senses immediately come to birth within us and provide nourishment right from the beginning of existence, our irrational life has much in common with the senses and assumes characteristics we observe in beasts. J.418-9

"I have looked," Ecclesiastes says, "on all my works which my hands have made and on my labor which I have labored to perform, and behold, all was vanity and waywardness of spirit, and there is no advantage under the sun" [2.11]. Each sense perception has its limits and operation under the sun, but further on he says that the senses cannot comprehend transcendent reality. J.352

A feeble mind may interpret in its own way what we have just said. Since vanity exists apart from the senses and the mind contemplating unseen realities attempts to explain what it comprehends, we need to strenuously exert ourselves in the task of interpretation even though we cannot clearly express that which is inexpressible. We see the heavens, perceive their light, transverse the earth, inhale air, drink water and use fire in common. J.293

Ecclesiastes shrinks away from sense delights because passion does not attract him to these vanities; he believes that knowledge of the true good confers perception to anyone faithful to it. J.310

Anything related to our senses does not last forever nor maintains the same condition. One benefit belongs to an infant while another to a youth. The same is valid with respect to a person in the prime of his life as well as for an older person and one near death. J.313

"I enlarged my work, I built my houses" [2.4]. The text begins with a condemnation, for God does not perform this work but my own work which "I enlarged," that is, the one delighting my senses. This work is of one general kind yet is subtly divided into many to serve pleasure. J.319

However, when infantile behavior hinders the mind from acting properly, a more irrational aspect of sense perception afflicts it. For this reason the false, aberrant use of our faculty of love becomes the principle and foundation of an evil life. Since our human nature is two-fold, spiritual and sensual, our life is consequently two-fold: the corporal aspect belongs to sense perception while the spiritual belongs to our incorporeal life. Similarly, beauty and its opposite cannot hold sway together in our lives; the spiritual belongs to the spirit, and sense perception belongs to our sensory and corporal nature. J.418

Thus pleasure becomes the principle [arche] of evil because our minds assent to an irrational judgment of the good when influenced by the senses. If the eye claims that beauty consists in the lovely color of appearances, it draws the mind in that way. It is the same for the other sense perceptions; anything delighting the senses is considered good. If it were possible to discern for the mind what is good right from the beginning, we would not be subject to our irrational senses and be transformed into beasts reduced to slavery. Thus confusion results with regard to anything worthy of love in our nature along with that which we perceive as wrong. J.420

All the other type of beauty perceived by the senses come from our erroneous opinions; lovely appearances lack substance because they are in a state of flux and transition by a deceptive attitude and a foolish understanding held by uneducated persons who regard such beautiful things as real. Therefore anyone who embraces instability does not seek that which endures forever. J.422

If I had known that pleasure were a beast coming to snatch away my senses, I would immediately resist and say to this servile, irrational pleasure, "Why are you weakening the virility of my nature? Why are you debilitating my soul's strength? Why are you corrupting my thoughts? Why cast a gloom over the clarity of my reason?" J.311

Our lives would not admit passion if right from the beginning we knew the beautiful. But since we have allowed our irrational senses to first act as criteria for the beautiful, in similar fashion we are nourished from the beginning with regard to judgment of beings. For this reason we have difficulty discerning the good through our senses because they strengthen the way of life with which we are accustomed. J.418

The teaching of Ecclesiastes pertains only to suitable behavior in the Church [J.280], that is, how to direct a person in virtue. This book aims to elevate our minds above the senses, to abandon great, brilliant, and noble appearances, to transcend the senses and to attain what transcends them. J.279-80

The sight of visible reality cannot behold what pertains to the soul; rather, we who are always looking see nothing while we ignorantly receive sense perceptions. Vision cannot pass through color, yet it is the measure of one's efforts with regard to appearances. J.294

Who does not squander his life in lamentation and sullenness? He returns to his senses and realizes what he had and then lost, that is, his original condition and that which is present. Both you and I were subject neither to death nor sickness because these pernicious elements had been banished from our lives. J.386

Just as we cannot see the beauty in heaven when the sky is darkened, so the soul's eye cannot see virtue obscured by pleasure's mist. Because our senses are attracted to pleasure, our minds are impeded from attending to virtue. J.420

Paul had his eyes set there, rejoiced at the unutterable mysteries of paradise and gazed upon unseen, hidden realities which transcend both the senses and mind. J.360

Once he says that we have sought satisfaction, that our eyes hit upon pleasant sights and that nothing hinders our souls' desire, he interprets the first words of his prologue, namely, that all things are vanity. While pondering these matters, Ecclesiastes says that mens' senses and pursuits are vain. J.351-2

Therefore it is difficult for us to comprehend the true good because we are preoccupied with sense criteria which constrict the beautiful by enjoyment and pleasure. J.419-20

Commentary on the Song of Songs

Because the apple tree bears fruit which sweetens the soul's sense, it differs more from other trees than the lily does from the thorns. A lily is delightful in both sight and scent. On the other hand, the apple delights three of the senses: i t is a pleasant sight to the eyes by its beautiful appearance, a sweet and lovely fragrance, and food sweet to the sense of taste. J.117

They [warriors] symbolize each of the five senses, for each warrior exposes his sword to terrorize the enemy. The sword of the eye always looks upon the Lord to see correctly and is never defiled by the sight of anything unclean. Likewise, the sword of hearing listens to the divine precepts and never receives a vain word. Similarly, we can arm taste, touch, and smell by the sword of temperance, sheathing each of the senses in armor. J.196

The soul keeps far away from our more animal sensations as if they were a foul stench; I mean the sense of smell which enjoys perfumes, the sense of taste which is subservient to the stomach, and the vulgar sense of touch which lacks sight; it seems that touch is for the blind. Once all these senses have been put to sleep and are gripped by inaction, the heart's action is pure; reason looks above while it remains undisturbed and free from the senses' movement. J.313

Because it is blessed to obey the One knocking, the soul which always looks to that blessedness, perceives its bridegroom standing at the door. She diligently watches at her own treasure house and says, "The voice of my beloved knocks at the door" [5.2]. J.319

The wise do not judge beauty by sight, nor the good by taste; neither is assessment of beauty entrusted to smell, touch, or any other sense organ. When each sense is dead, the soul alone lays hold of and stretches forward to the good with respect to the mind. J.451-2

Despite this, she never ceases to long for further vision. Now the bride perceives the Word knocking and she rises at the sound saying, "The voice of my beloved is knocking at my door" [5.2]. J.321-22

Wisdom moves all one's thoughts and capacity for investigation to grasp out of curiosity the object of one's search. Wisdom limits our comprehension of God and is the sole divine operation which descends to our mortal existence for the purpose of giving us life. J.334

So too I have received his good odor through the fragrance of my nard by means of sense perception. To me these words seem to have the following meaning: There are many

diverse perfumes and their fragrances differ from one another, but a careful mixture creates a special perfume. One fragrant herb called nard gives its name to the whole mixture. Many aromatic properties contribute to one, good odor of the bridegroom which the purified sense receives. J.89

If I may put it in a few words, the teaching presented to us says that creation is divided into two distinct classes, one sensible and material, the other, intelligible and spiritual. The sensible is grasped by sense, while the intelligible transcends sensible comprehension. The intelligible is infinite and unbounded, while the material is limited, for everything material is determined by quantity and quality. Anything with mass, form, appearance, and shape limits our understanding so that the person who examines material creation can perceive nothing beyond these hounds through his imagination. J.173

Pleasure has two aspects: one is effected in the soul by freedom from passion, and

another by passion in the body. Of these two, the one which free will chooses has power

over the other. If a person pays attention to the senses and is drawn by pleasure in the body, he will live his life without tasting the divine joy, since the good can be overshadowed by what is inferior. J.313

Solomon elevates above everything grasped by sense the loving movement of our soul towards invisible beauty. Having thus cleansed the heart with respect to external matters,

Solomon then initiates the soul into the divine sanctuary by means of the Song of Songs. What is described there is a marriage; but what is understood is the union of the

human a marriage; but what is the union of the human soul with God. J.22

We are indirectly taught another lesson through the philosophy of this book, namely that perception within us is two-fold--bodily and divine. As the Word says in Proverbs, "You will find perception of God" [Pr 2.5]. A certain analogy exists between the activities of the soul and the sense organs of the body. This we learn from the present text. Wine and milk are distinguished by taste, while the intellectual and apprehending capacity of the soul grasps spiritual realities. A kiss is effected through the sense of touch; the lips of two persons make contact in a kiss. On the other hand, there is a certain sense of touch in the soul which takes hold of the Word and works in an incorporeal, spiritual way. As John says: "Our hands have handled the word of life" [1Jn 1.1]. Similarly, the scent of the divine perfumes is not perceive( by the nose, but by a certain spiritual and immaterial power drawing all the good odor of Christ by an inhalation of the Spirit. J.34

It is important to realize the order of love for which the Law is a guide-how

one should love God, neighbor, wife, and enemy, lest the practice of love be disordered

and perverted. It is necessary to love God with one' s whole heart, soul, strength, and

feeling, and our neighbor as ourself [Dt 6.5]. J.122

The Song says "Your hair is as flocks of goats which have appeared from Galaad." The text presents an excellent way of living here, but adds that hair is completely devoid of a living sensation. In no small way does this text enhance the bride's praise, for hair lacks the sensation of pain and pleasure. Hair growing from the body feels pain if plucked out but lacks feeling if cut, scorched, or groomed by fastidious care. To lack sense perception is a sign of being dead. Therefore, the person without feeling for this world's values is neither swollen up from glory and honor, nor sad on account of injury or disgrace, but he guards himself when confronted with any of these adversaries. J.221

For those who desire God, a good not shadowed over by anything awaits them; they realize that what enters the senses must be avoided. Therefore, when the soul enjoys only the contemplation of Being, it will not arise for those things which effect sensual pleasure. It puts to rest all bodily movement, and by naked, pure insight, the soul will see God in a divine watchfulness. J.314

The body's hair differs from other parts of the body. Sensory powers govern the entire body without which it cannot live (thus the body's life consists in sense perception). We see that hair, a part of the body, lacks sensation. Hair displays its uniqueness by feeling no pain from burning nor from cutting when compared with other bodily parts. Paul, therefore, says that a woman' s glory is her hair [1Cor 11.15] which is adorned with braids. The bride's hair teaches us that those persons seen around the bride's head must be of greater value than the senses, for they conceal sensation with wisdom. Such persons give glory to the Church. As the book of Proverbs says, "The wise conceal sensation" [10.14]. J.451

For those who look to the senses, these things appear beautiful, but they are not what hey seem to be. How can anything be beautiful which lacks substance? Things held honorable in this world have existence only in the minds of those who think they exist. J.106-7

If we have died to our lower nature, life according to the flesh becomes hidden after we have transferred our hope for life from earth to heaven. As Proverbs says, "The wise will hide perception" [Prov 10.14]. We then await the true life, Christ, to be manifested in us so that we may appear in glory and be transformed into a divine state. J.262

The soul keeps far away from our more animal sensations as if they were a foul stench; I mean the sense of smell which enjoys perfumes, the sense of taste which is subservient to the stomach, and the vulgar sense of touch which lacks sight; it seems that touch is for the blind. Once all these senses have been put to sleep and are gripped by inaction, the heart's action is pure; reason looks above while it remains undisturbed and free from the senses' movement. J.313

If a person pays attention to the senses and is drawn by pleasure in the body, he will live his life without tasting the divine joy, since the good can be overshadowed by what is inferior. May we be made worthy through this sleep of which the Song has spoken to keep our soul vigilant in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. J.313-14

For how can what is invisible be seen at night? The bridegroom bestows upon the

soul a perception of his presence, although a clear apprehension escapes it since his invisible nature lies hidden. What then is the mystic initiation which the soul experiences during this night? It is the Word touching the door. We understand by this door the human mind searching for what is hidden; through it the object sought after enters. J.324

The wise do not judge beauty by sight, nor the good by taste; neither is assessment of beauty entrusted to smell, touch, or any other sense organ. When each sense is dead, the soul alone lays hold of and stretches forward to the good with respect to the mind. J.451-2

All the elements in creation Solomon attributes to the power of wisdom and adorns her with many names, for he means the same thing by wisdom, prudence, sense perception, knowledge, apprehension, and the like. J.21

So too I have received his good odor through the fragrance of my nard by means of sense perception. To me these words seem to have the following meaning: There are many

diverse perfumes and their fragrances differ from one another, but a careful mixture creates a special perfume. One fragrant herb called nard gives its name to the whole mixture. Many aromatic properties contribute to one, good odor of the bridegroom which the purified sense receives. J.89

When Solomon speaks of the "divine sense" in comparison with the material spices of the Law, he adds that immaterial, pure, good scent compounded by the virtues: "And the scent of your ointments is better than all spices." J.268

On the Making of Man

He [God] gives him as foundations the instincts of a two-fold organization, blending the Divine with the earthy, that by means of both he may be naturally and properly disposed to each enjoyment, enjoying God by means of his more divine nature, and the good things of earth by the sense that is akin to them. PN.390a-b

But perfect bodily life is seen in the rational (I mean the human) nature, which both is nourished and endowed with sense, and partakes of reason and is ordered by mind. PN.393b

Of a living body, again, part has sense conjoined with life, and part is without sense: lastly, that which has sense is again divided into rational and irrational. PN393-4

For there is one faculty, the implanted mind itself, which passes through each of the organs of sense and grasps the things beyond: this it is that, by means of the eyes, beholds what is seen. PN.391b

And as some skilled musician, who may have been deprived by some affection of his own voice, and yet wish to make his skill known...to reveal to those who hear by bodily sense the motions of its understanding, touches, like some skilful composer, these animated instruments, and makes known its hidden thoughts by means of the sound produced upon them. PN.395a

Some such city of our mind I seem to discern established in us, which the different entrances through the senses keep filling, while the mind, distinguishing and examining each of the things that enters, ranks them in their proper departments of knowledge. PN396.a

For often the knowledge which we gather from the different organs of sense is one, and the same object is divided into several parts in relation to the senses; and again, on the contrary, we may learn from some one sense many and varied things which have no affinity one with another. PN.396a

On the other hand we get varied and multiform information by some one sense, for as hearing receives all sorts of sounds, and our visual perception exercises its operation by beholding things of different kinds. PN.396a

What then is, in its own nature, this mind that distributes itself into faculties of sensation, and duly receives, by means of each, the knowledge of things? That it is something else besides the senses, I suppose no reasonable man doubts; for it were identical with sense, it would reduce the proper character of the operations carried on by sense to one, on the ground that it is itself simple, and that in what is simple no diversity is to be found. PN.396b

It seems to me, however, that when the soul is at rest so far as concerns its more excellent faculties (so far, I mean, as concerns the operations of mind and sense), the nutritive part of it alone is operative during sleep, and that some shadows and echoes of those things which happen in our waking moments...some echo of memory still lingering in this division of the soul. PN.401a

But if Daniel and Joseph and others like them were instructed by Divine power, without any confusion of perception, in the knowledge of things to come, this is nothing to the present statement. PN.401-2

Such a condition [bondage to natural impulses], indeed, does not occur in all, save in those of a somewhat slavish disposition, who bring the reason into bondage to the impulses of their nature and pay servile homage to the pleasures of sense by allowing them the alliance of their mind; but in the case of more perfect men this does not happen. PN.403a

Thus, neither is there perception without material substance, no does the act of perception take place without the intellectual faculty. PN.403a

What then is that which includes the knowledge of good and evil blended together, and is decked with the pleasures of sense? PN.409b

Now since the majority of men judge the good to lie in that which gratifies the senses, and there is a certain identity of name between that which is, and that which appears to be "good,"--for this reason that desire which arises towards what is evil, as though towards good, is called by Scripture "the knowledge of good and evil." PN.410a

It may be that some one, giving his thought wings to soar towards the sweetness of our hope, deems it a burden and a loss that we are not more speedily placed in that good state which is above man's sense and knowledge, and is dissatisfied with the extension of the time that intervenes between him and the object of his desire. PN.411b

Again, all that are a sort of additional blessings, nature's liberality, whereby she bestows on man the gift of living well, are the organs of sense; for such things do not constitute our life, since even where some of them are wanting man is often none the less in a condition of life; but without these forms of activity it is impossible to enjoy participation in the pleasures of life. PN.422b

A Funeral Oration for Meletius, Bishop of Antioch

He [Satan] despoiled neither cattle nor flocks of sheep unless we transfer the meaning of these words to the Church in a mystical fashion. Indeed he causes no harm by jealousy nor damages asses or camels; neither has he pierced the sense with a wound to the flesh but has despoiled us of our head. The head is honored along with the senses. J.446

I must wipe away my tears, for I have feelings about our loss despite the fact that I may behave like a grieving woman. The bridegroom who stood in our midst was not taken from us even though we do not see him. J.454

Let the widow mourn profusely and let her feel the impact of the curse which afflicts her, for the athlete is not unaccustomed with this isolation since he must endure his struggles. J.449

On Virginity

Human life is a tossing and tumultuous stream sweeping down to find its natural level; none of the objects sought for in it last till the seekers are satisfied; all that is carried to them by this stream comes near, just touches them, and passes on; so that the present moment in this impetuous flow eludes enjoyment, for the after-current snatches it from their view. PN.350b

...that the man whose thoughts are fixed upon the invisible is necessarily separated from all the ordinary events of life; his judgments as to the True Good cannot be confused and led astray by the deceits arising from the senses. PN.351b

This good escapes his perception, and it cannot be represented to him; it is unspeakable, and cannot be delineated. We have not learnt the peculiar language expressive of this beauty. PN.354b

There is indeed no small amount of danger lest, as we can base the apprehension of it on no knowable qualities, we should slip away from it altogether because of its very height and mystery. We deem it necessary therefore, owing to this weakness of the thinking faculty, to lead it towards the Unseen by stages through the cognizance of the senses. PN.355a

All other objects that attract men's love...must be left below us, as too low, too fleeting, to employ the powers of loving which we possess; not indeed that those powers are to be locked up within us unused and motionless; but only that they must first be cleansed from all lower longings; then we must lift them to that height to which sense can never reach. PN.355-6

Now pleasure is one in kind, as we learn from the experts; as water parted into various channels from one single fountain, it spreads itself over the pleasure-over through the various avenues of the senses; so that it has been on his heart that the man, who through any one particular sensation succumbs to the resulting pleasure, has received a wound from that sensation. PN.366b

Life of Saint Macrina

History tells us about Job whose entire body was consumed by repugnant scourges which covered him entirely. He did not allow his perception to succumb to grief because of his deliberations; rather, in his bodily suffering, he did not his activity, nor interrupted his discourse which touched upon the most elevated subjects. J.390

In Praise of Blessed Theodore, the Great Martyr

Should that person have both the good fortune and permission to touch the relics, this experience is a highly valued prize and seems like a dream both to those who were cured and whose wish was fulfilled. The body appears as if it were alive and healthy: the eyes, mouth, ears as well as the other senses are a cause for pouring out tears of reverence and emotion. J.63

Concerning Those Who Have Died

The body is necessarily fashioned from many parts whose unity imparts its identity. But when these elements which enjoy a kinship and unity are fragmented, sensation also ceases; the rational part of the soul which is united with our capacity for perception is inclined by habit towards constant grief. J.43

The mind which dwells in the body speaks as follows: Oh men, you are ignorant of these things and have no knowledge of the place to which you will migrate. Man in his present existence cannot fathom this since he is only capable of knowledge as it pertains to life here and now such as the body's nature, the power of the senses, etc. J.44

On the other hand, that life which cannot be detected by the senses remains invisible to persons yoked to sense perception. How, then, can we see anything which transcends the senses? Thus the characteristics of both lives remain unknown; we contemplate only the visible while conversely, the senses cannot perceive that which is invisible. J.44-5

Many other things known by the senses and of which we are ignorant frighten us such as the heavenly luminaries...as many other wonders which we do not know and fear due to ignorance. J.45

Since the soul's vigor is not divided in a child whose senses function perfectly at birth, then whatever appears good for the senses is equally good for the mind. The senses perceive beauty in their own way whereas the soul perceives that [divine] beauty transcending understanding; sense can only judge by color, mass and similar qualities. Once the soul is no longer identified with appearances after exiting the body, it is united to that good which is in accord with its nature....every bodily perception has now been shaken off. J.48

In a certain sense, sleep and waking are nothing more than the intertwining of death with life: our senses are dulled in sleep and our waking brings about the resurrection we long for. J.53

Commentary on the Inscriptions of the Psalms

In our consideration of virtue, it is first necessary to distinguish between the noble and ignoble kinds of life. Once each life has manifested its respective properties, nothing unclean cannot then defile or sully reason. The signs of each characteristic and others like them are, in my opinion, more general than others such as the distinction between sense and mind. J.27

We are able to recognize the particular manifestations of each kind of life, that is, of good and evil, because evil seduces our sense perceptions while virtue gladdens our souls by directing them aright. Sense perception still seems to be a criterion for persons recently initiated into a more sublime life. Their souls are not yet worthy to see the good, for they are untrained and unaccustomed for such a comprehension. J.28

Beginning our exegesis of the psalms from what we just said, let us therefore first examine the means by which a difficult, arduous way of life according to virtue makes the obscure, hidden teachings of divine mysteries comprehensible and pleasant, as well as the ineffable teaching about God hidden under difficult precepts. In this way, not only can men with their sense perceptions already perfected and cleansed pursue this teaching [on virtue], but even women. J.29

The psalm speaks of that light shining from God's face which sense perceptions cannot grasp. "The light of your face, O Lord, is signed upon us." God's face is seen with certain characteristics which to me the prophet understands as something other than the virtues, for the divine form is indicated by such characteristics. J.35

When everything contrary to the beautiful will be destroyed, we will enter that state which no words can ever express since, as God testifies (Phil 4.7), it transcends sense and knowledge. J.64

A Treatise on First Corinthians 15.28

Since evil frauds lay hands on the divine silver to make it base by mixing it with heretical and adulterated conceptions which obscure the Word's brightness and the apostle's mystical perceptions, they either do not understand these perceptions or else they resolve wickedly to choose selectively among them for their own wicked purposes. PG44.1304

On the Beatitudes

For whatever belongs to the realm of bodily perception is wholly akin only to itself. Even if it appears to be high in terms of spatial relations, it is yet below the intellectual nature, which thought cannot reach unless reason has first caused it to pass beyond those things that are touched by the senses. ACW.98

For it was impossible that those good things that are above the sense experience and knowledge of men should be revealed to them by their proper names. ACW.98

For surely, if a soul bewails its wicked life because it feels its bad effects, such suffering cannot be excluded from the sorrow that is called blessed. It is with this as with physical ailments. If through some accident a part of the body has become paralyzed, insensibility is a sign that the affected limb has gone dead. But if medical skill has restored to the body the sensibility of life, both patient and doctors are glad when the sick part feels pain; for the fact that the limb can already feel what causes pain is a sign that the illness has turned the corner. ACW.107

All these things [fear of Judgment] would be rubbed in like pungent medicines, and so the man who had been numbed by the passions and pleasures of the senses would be warmed again and made to realize what kind of life he had been leading. ACW.108

Then the removal of something pleasant would bring about the opposite disposition, and this we call mourning. Therefore the definition we have given is correct, and mourning is a painful sensation caused by the privation of what is pleasant. ACW.110

The possession of virtue, on the other hand, where it is once firmly established, is neither circumscribed by time nor limited by satiety. On the contrary, it always offers its disciples the ever-fresh experience of the fullness of its own delights. ACW.127

The fact that we do not take pity on ourselves is due to our insensibility in the face of these evils. In may be compared to the experience of the insane, whom the violence of the disease prevents also from being sensible to what they suffer. ACW.139

Doctors tell us something similar in the case of physical ailments. If two diseases coincide in the same body, only the stronger one makes itself felt, whereas the pain caused by the lesser illness remains latent, since it is overlaid by the attack of the more virulent one. ACW.159-60

Now the soul is in some way attached to the pleasant things of life through the senses of the body. Through the eye it delights in material beauty...Hence, as it is attached to the pleasant things of life through the sensible faculty as if by a nail, it is hard to turn away from them. ACW.171

And so pleasure has left no trace impressed on the heart, for the piercing sensation of pain effaced all the imprints it had stamped on the soul. ACW.172

But the Lord, who looks down upon the infirmity of our nature, tells the weak beforehand what is to be the goal of the struggle, so that they may more easily overcome the transitory feelings of pain. ACW.169-70

Gregory the Wonderworker (Thaumaturgus)

Similarly, the patriarch Abraham studied Chaldean philosophy and became skilled in it. He also pondered the stars' position, harmony and motion which acted as a ladder for him to contemplate the good above. If [Abraham] grasped them by his senses, even though they transcended the senses, and happened to attain what he sought from pagan wisdom, he surpassed it and moved on to what was loftier. J.9

In the same way the office of this great man contains no perceptible mountain but consists in the loftiness of desire for true teachings which is a dark vision unable to be approached. The soul is the tablet; in place of letters upon a tablet voices appear which reveal the mysteries for anyone who has undergone initiation. J.19

He has both in equal measure; not only what is physical, breathes and is animate but if anyone lacks these qualities, he has them by a servant's command and is not deprived of sensation. What report exists of this stone? What perception of power is there for the stone which has been ordered? What is its transcendent power? What kind of limbs and joints does it possess? J.23-4

Everyone now marvelled at Alexander's appearance and were well disposed towards him. The teacher said to them, "Nothing new has happened. If you judge the good only by deceptive eyes and by senses, perception concerning truth is unreliable which does not allow one to see into the mind's depths. J.39

On the Soul and the Resurrection

To him [Epicurus] the visible was the limit of existence; he made our senses the only means of our apprehension of things; he completely closed the eyes of his soul, and was incapable of seeing anything in the intelligible and immaterial world. PN.432a

For this bodily organization exists the same even in those who have just been reduced by death to the state of corpses, but it remains without motion or action because the force of the soul is no longer in it. It moves only when there is sensation in the organs, and not only that, but the mental force by means of that sensation penetrates with its own impulses and moves whither it will with all those organs of sensation...The soul is an essence created, and living, and intellectual, transmitting from itself to an organized and sentient body the power of living and of grasping objects of sense, as long as a natural constitution capable of this holds together. PN.433b

It declares the soul to be an intellectual essence which imparts to the organic body a force of life by which the senses operate. Now the soul is not thus operative only in our scientific and speculative intellect; it does not produce results in that world only, or employ the organs of sense only for this their natural work. PN.438b

Accordingly, while all existing things must be either corporeal or spiritual, the former are divided into the animate and inanimate. By animate, I mean possessed of life: and of the things possessed of life, some have it with sensation, the rest have no sensation...Seeing, then, that this life of sensation could not possibly exist apart from the matter which is the subject of it, and the intellectual life could not be embodied, either, without growing in the sentient, on this account the creation of man is related as coming last. PN.441b

But since, according to the view which we have just enunciated, it is not possible for this reasoning faculty to exist in the life of the body without existing by means of sensations, and since sensation is already found subsisting in the brute creation, necessarily as it were, by reason of this one condition, our soul has touch with the other things which are knit up with it; and these are all those phenomena within us that we call "passions." PN.442a

Even in the case of things which are quite within the grasp of our understanding and of which we have sensible perception, it would be impossible for the speculative reason to grasp the "how" of the production of the phenomenon. PN.457b

Seeing, then, that these several qualifications which complete the particular body are grasped by thought alone, and not by sense, and that the Deity is a thinking being, what trouble can it be to such a thinking agent to produces the thinkables whose mutual combination generates for us the substance of that body? PN.458b

Homily of Consolation Concerning Pulcheria

Our new grief is intensified by the recollection of distress. Who here cannot help but be unmoved? Whose soul cannot remain indifferent? Who is like iron which lacks feeling? You must realize that this tender dove [Pulcheria] adorned with royal beauty which has just flown away on a bright wing and has left behind here youthful prime, having disappeared from our sight. J.462

On Perfection

Since all creation is known by sense perception and both its origin and constitution transcends sense understanding, wisdom is by necessity united to power for defining the meaning of Christ who made the universe. J.182

Against Fate

The origin of a river's flow and human birth is not constant with regards to the transient nature of time; instead they are marked by intervals. On the other hand, neither can an interval of time nor our senses know the origin of their fate which the flow of time effects by the stars' continuous motion. What, then, is destiny? It is either a single general entity or many small segments of time which we [cannot apprehend J.46

We can recognize the divine nature and its attributes by all those things which are opposite to it, for example, death instead of life, deceit instead of truth and every type of evil inimical to man. Anyone who embraces these becomes a abomination. Persons who often commit evil deeds offer a deadly cure since it is disguised with honey which cannot be tasted. Similarly, that corruptible nature within the soul seduces a person by assuming a good form and veils deception under the guise of a cure. J.59

Concerning Infants Who Have Died Prematurely

Both an educated and uneducated person can observe the beauty of heavenly wonders by looking up at the sky, yet whoever considers them by using philosophy sees them differently instead of relying upon sense impressions. (For example, one can delight in either the sun's rays, have a suitable opinion about the stars' radiance or be attentive to the moon's monthly path. On the other hand, a person with a discerning soul whose mind has been cleansed through discipline for contemplating the heavens and whose senses have forsaken whatever provides more irrational delight, sees its harmony and appreciates that unity in the heaven's rotation which encompasses contradictory elements. J.71

"In his wisdom, God has made all things" [Ps 103.24]. What is the significance of this wisdom? It brought man into existence through birth where he draws breath and sighs with lamentation over life's afflictions before he can enjoy its pleasures. At birth man's senses were sluggish, and his limbs were not fully formed; he was tender, vulnerable and lacked coordination. We may sum up these observations by saying that before coming to birth (if reason is man's natural gift, he is not yet capable of it), man had nothing more in his mother's womb except the capacity for drawing in air or was in the same state when he disintegrated, has been exposed, suffocated, or spontaneously ceased living due to some infirmity. J.72-3

Life of Moses

The perfection of everything which can be measured by the senses is marked off by certain definite boundaries. Quantity, for example, admits of both continuity and limitation, for every quantitative measure is circumscribed by certain limits proper to itself. p.3

The light's grace was distributed to both senses, illuminating the sight with flashing rays and lighting the way for the hearing with undefiled teachings. p.35

What prevented his [Balaam] making use of his skill for evil also brought him an awareness [aisthesis] of divine power. Leaving divinization aside, he acted as an interpreter of the divine will. p.50

It seems to me that at the time the great Moses was instructed in the theophany he can to know that none of those things which are apprehended by sense perception and contemplated by the understanding really subsists, but that the transcendent essence and cause of the universe, on which everything depends, alone subsists. p.60

He [Pharaoh] considered valuable only the material and fleshly things which characterize lives governed by the most irrational sense. p.62

The infant lifts his eyes only to his mother's nipple, and tears are the sole perceptible sign of his sadness. p.75

But if the wood be thrown into the water, that is, if one receives the mystery of the resurrection which had its beginning with the wood..., then the virtuous life, being sweetened by the hope of things to come, becomes sweeter and more pleasant than all the sweetness that tickles the senses with pleasure. p.86

...who has tasted the waters of Marah (that is, the life removed far from pleasures) which although appearing bitter and unpleasant at first to those tasting it offers a sweet sensation to those accepting the wood. p.92

That none of the irrational animals was allowed to appear on the mountain signifies, in my opinion, that in the contemplation of the intelligibles we surpass the knowledge which originates with the senses. p.93

He must wash from his understanding every opinion derived from some preconception and withdraw himself from his customary intercourse with his own companion, that is, with his sense perceptions, which are, as it were, wedded to our nature as its companion. p.93

For many, still in need of being purified from the way they have lived, unwashed and full of spots in their life's garment and protecting themselves only with their irrational senses, make an assault on the divine mountain. p.94

For leaving behind everything that is observed, not only what sense comprehends but also what the intelligence thinks it sees, it keeps on penetrating deeper until by the intelligence's yearning for understanding it gains access to the invisible and the incomprehensible, and there it sees God. p.95

Because it [pomegranate] is covered with a hard and sour rind, its outside is inedible, but the inside is a pleasant sight with its many neatly ordered seeds and it becomes even sweeter when it is tasted. The philosophical life, although outwardly austere and unpleasant, is yet full of good hopes when it ripens. p.104

The Lord's Prayer

In the same way the loveliness of sight or smell or taste presents the senses with very transitory delight; except for the palate, there is no difference in the foods consumed, for nature changes all things equally into an evil smell. ACW.64

For as our life is lived in this world on many levels, partly in the sphere of soul and intellect, partly in that of the bodily senses, it is difficult, so it seems to me, or even altogether impossible, that one should not at least acquiesce in one sinful passion. ACW.77-7

Against Eunomius

He [Paul] speaks of "the things that are seen" [ Col 1.16] and "the things that are not seen:" by the first he gives a general name to all things cognizable by the senses, as we have seen: by the latter he shadows forth the intelligible world. PN.63b

Now the ultimate division of all being is into the Intelligible and the Sensible. The Sensible world is called by the Apostle broadly "that which is seen"...by withdrawing all idea of comprehension by the senses he heads the mind on to the immaterial and intellectual...In the Sensible world, then, is found everything that we comprehend by our organs of bodily sense, and in which the differences of qualities involve the idea of more and less, such differences consisting in quantity, quality, and the other properties. PN.60a-b

For going out from himself [Abraham] and from his country, by which I understand his earthly and carnal mind, and raising his thoughts as far as possible above the common boundaries of nature, and forsaking the soul's kinship with the senses,--so that untroubled by any of the objects of sense his eyes might be open to the things which are invisible. PN.259a.

But if his essence is prior to His works, and we understand His works by our senses, and express them in words as we are best able, why should we be afraid of calling things by words of later origin than themselves? PN.265a

Wherefore also, of the elements of the world, we know only so much by our senses as to enable us to receive what they severally supply for our living. But we possess no knowledge of their substance, nor do we count it loss to be ignorant of it. PN.262a.

Nor do we need another to make us acquainted with the things which we perceive by hearing, or taste, or touch, possessing as we do in ourselves the means of discerning all of which our perception informs us. PN.290b