Monter à la rencontre du Seigneur
La montagne, lieu de rencontre entre l'homme et Dieu chez quelques Pères grecs
Abstract
Mountains are a geographical feature that features prominently in both the Old and New Testaments, including at key moments such as certain theophanies or some of Jesus’s discourses. In early Christianity, however, physical mountains do not occupy a central place. Rather, it is as an allegorical reality that they play an important role, signifying both man’s necessary ascent towards God and the place of encounter with him, amongst many other meanings. Following an overview of the uses of the term and its polysemy in exegesis, we examine several texts by Gregory of Nyssa and Evagrius Ponticus. The former, alongside the allegorical mountain, makes several references to the sensations experienced at the summit of a mountain. Finally, the place of the mountain in the ascetic traditions of Cappadocia, Egypt and Syria is compared, based on a few examples.
open access | peer reviewed
Presentato: 25 Maggio 2026 | Pubblicato Prossimamente | Lingua: fr
Keywords Greek Patristic • Asceticism • Evagrius of Pontus • Gregory of Nyssa • Mountain
Copyright © 2026 Matthieu Cassin. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/979-12-5742-071-0/001