カッパドキア教父と夢 --初期アレクサンドリア教父との比較において--

Abstract

This paper examines how two ancient Cappadocian Fathers, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa, understood and applied the concept of dreams. Dreams are mentioned in many passages of the Old and New Testaments; while they are generally considered an important mediator of divine will, we also find statements regarding their deceptive nature. The early Alexandrian Fathers, including Clement and Origen, and the Bible regarded dreams as ambivalent. While Clement recommended apatheia (the soul's freedom from emotion) and not being deceived by dreams, Origen discussed the possibility of turning to the Christian faith in dreams and had a relatively positive attitude toward them. Clement and Origen associated dreams with hegemonikon (the leading part of the soul), although they did not discuss the mechanism in detail. The Cappadocian Fathers incorporated many of the Alexandrian Fathers' ideas, and this paper conducts a comparative study of their ideas on dreams to examine any similarities. Basil opposed heretical Sabellianism in Neo-Caesarea, where he had once lived, and repeatedly referred to dreams and dream diviners in his refutations of Sabellianism. In his critique, he considered those who were deceived by Sabellianism as people who were dreaming and referred to those who used Sabellianism to deceive people as dream diviners. Furthermore, he discussed the possibility of demons using dreams to attack people; generally, like Clement, he considered dreams to be something to be wary of. Meanwhile, Gregory of Nyssa discussed dreams in his discourse on the creation of man, where he explained how man dreamed, as an analysis of the soul. According to him, the part of the soul responsible for growth retained various aspects perceived in daily life, which were accidentally recreated during sleep as dreams. Moreover, according to him, dreams contained predictions of the future, as the soul glimpsed things yet to happen. However, he also used biblical examples to discuss the possibility of dreams being brought by God on man, independent of the workings of the soul. This was an exceptional position. Basil saw dreams in a similar way to Clement, but differed in linking the influence of heresy and dreams. Meanwhile, Gregory of Nyssa did not make an explicit value judgement on dreams like Clemens and Origen; instead, he created his own arguments to discuss the mechanisms of dreaming in detail.