Coincidencias entre el comentario al “cantar de los cantares” yel cántico espiritual: hacia una revaloración de orígenes en San Juan de la Cruz

Abstract

The Commentary on the “Song of Songs” by Origen of Alexandria has recently been suggested as precedent of Saint John of the  Cross. Some critics of the 20th century had called attention to the lack of literary and theological precedents, reason why some  sought sources in the Greco- Roman and Medieval tradition, and even further in the Muslim mystical tradition. Origen developed an  exegetical tradition that was later enriched and expanded in Christian tradition. His exegetical method and St. John of the  Cross have common grounds. In Origen's work examined in this article, he develops three exegetical levels: the literal, which comments  on the dramatic aspect of the narrative in the poem; the spiritual-allegorical, that includes the revelation of something hidden in  Scripture always referring to Christ; and the spiritual-mystic that describes inner or psychological states. In his Spiritual Canticle, John of the Cross describes a dramatic action of the enamoured soul who goes after the Beloved, until she finds him; in his  commentary, he explains that the beloved is the soul, and the Beloved is Christ; he describes the spiritual way as a journey of love,  in harmony with the rhythm of his lyrical poem. His commentary turns into an allegory of the poem of his own creation (that also  has the biblical poem as thematic and literary fundament). It can be said that he extracts the doctrinal meaning of the poem with a  similar exegetical method that the Fathers of the Church used to interpret Sacred Scripture. There are also differences. Origen  divides the spiritual path into two stages or stages of spiritual maturity; Saint John of the Cross divides it into three. In this article,  coincidences and differences are considered, and it is suggested that Origen's methodology be included in the tradition of the Fathers of the Church that influenced, directly or indirectly, thought and literary art of Saint John of the Cross.