Rola „zmysłów wiary” w zrozumieniu sakrametów inicjacji chrześcijańskiej według Cyryla Jerozolimskiego

Abstract

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (circa 315-387) in his catecheses before baptism often refers to a feeling of the physical senses – what catechumens have heard and what their “corporeal eyes” have seen. The experience of the physical senses, after Christian initiation, took on a new meaning. Therefore, in his later delivered mystagogical catecheses, based on the thoughts of earlier Christian writers (espe­cially of Origen), he introduced a new set of senses – “spiritual senses”, “senses of faith”, which were according to him the essential key to the correct perception of the divine reality, which is located outside of the visible material world. According to Cyril the feelings of “spiritual senses” – “senses of faith” were closely related to the rituals of initiation. He assumed that each baptized person is able to use the “senses of faith”. Although Cyril does not devalue the feelings of the physical senses, he does not attach too great importance to them. He attaches much more importance to the feelings of the spiritual senses, which always subordinated the physical senses. The article discussed the role of the senses – physical and spiri­tual, which were important in the catechesis of Cyril, because they helped in un­derstanding the essence of the liturgy of the sacraments of initiation.