Obrazy žien u Gregora Nysského
Images of Women in Gregory of Nyssa

An Analysis of Male/Female Symbolism in The Life of Moses and Commentary on the Song of Songs

Summary/Abstract: In Gregory’s discourse on spiritual development in The Life of Moses and Commentary on the Song of Songs we find several images of women, whose symbolic meaning is in some cases positive, in others negative. The “female” symbolizes the lower, irrational, part of the human soul, and vice, while the “male”, in contrast, represents rationality and virtue. Parallel with these images the “female” has a positive value when her capacity for protecting fragile life and supporting its growth comes to the fore. Her opposite here is the symbolically “male” destroyer, the Devil. The different evaluation of “female” (or “male”) in the two cases depends on whether the discussed quality is part of God’s image or not. In many places our analysis disagrees with the one submitted in the studies by Verna E. F. Harrison.

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