SAPYUTA. AN ESSENTIAL TERM TO THE SYRIAC SPIRITUALITY. SIGNIFICATIONS AND USAGE (original) (raw)

SAPYUTA. AN ESSENTIAL TERM TO THE SYRIAC SPIRITUALITY. SIGNIFICATIONS AND USAGE

The Syriac term šapyuta (ܫܦܝܘܬܐ) is very often encountered in diverse ascetical texts and contexts, being related to many aspects of Syriac spirituality. The present paper aims to research and to present the meanings that arise with various uses of it and to deepen the reader’s understanding of its semantic and theological content. Examining the texts of authors such as Ephrem, John the Solitary, Sahdona, Isaac of Nineveh, Dadišo Qatraya, Simon of Taybuteh, John of Dalyatha, Joseph Hazzaya and others, it becomes obvious that šapyuta is a key term for the Syriac monastic environment, a kind of knot where several plans of Syriac spiritual theology come together and connect with one another. As we analyze the connotations, and especially the contextual significations of the term šapyuta, this investigation is simultaneously an entry in the Syriac spirituality’s great themes: the primordial state of man and the fall, the stages of the spiritual life, the ascetical anthropology, the ascetical works etc.