Fílon de Alexandria e os sábios terapeutas do deserto: sobre a vida contemplativa

Abstract

Philo, the noted Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, made the allegorical exegesis of Torah; even using the Greek translation of the Septuagint, it is likely that he knew the language of his ancestors. For Philo, Moses represented the ethical and philosophical ideal of reference and knew how to take advantage of Greek philosophy, especially Platonic philosophy, to expose his seminal ideas about negative theology and also logos as the reality of the intelligible world. The phonic work “De vita contemplativa” reports on a group of people, men and women dedicated to contemplation, allegorical reading and supplication. They lived on the shore of Lake Mareotis, located northwest of the city of Alexandria. These therapists were true philosophers, as they took care of the soul and lived in a simple and virtuous way. Eusebius of Caesarea qualified therapists as the first Christians in Alexandria. The wise desert therapists were true philosophers who took care of the body and the psyche, with their infirmities difficult to cure because they were caused by the unbridled pursuit of pleasures, the disturbance of desires, sadness and fears, ambitions, madness, injustice and a multitude of passions and addictions. While Therapists adopted a strictly theoretical or contemplative life, on the other hand the Essenes were seen as a model of practical and pious life. According to Philo, there are three well-known ways of life: the theoretical, the practical and the pleasant. Of these three, the contemplative is the best and most excellent. Philo saw the need for the desert as a pedagogical place, because it was about the need to purify souls, who were sick by the customs of the cities. Cities were places of vice and idolatry, and the law needed a place that was a source of silence and rest.