VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE LIX
Vigiliae
Christianae A
of
Review Christian
Early and
Language
LIX
VOLUME
- (pp. 3-101), se compose de six articles, dont le premier, du aJ.M. Robinson, , pp. 3-33, retrace les evenements qui ont suivi la decouverte des papyrus, evenements dans lesquels il a joue un role de premier plan, contribuanta mettre ces documents a la dispositiondu monde scientifique. Deux periodes sont distinguees : de 1945 a 1970 (rupture du monopole concernant les textes), de 1970 a 1995 (publicationdes codices facsimile et realisationdes grands projets d'edition, americain, franco-canadienet allemand, des textesde la bibliotheque).La contributionde S. Emmel, . Cinq etudes cement de pres l'histoire complexe de ce texte, et les questions redactionnellesqu'il souleve, compte tenu des quatre versions existantes. K.L. King ouvre la section par <Approachingthe Variantsof the Apocryphon of John >, pp. 105-137. Le trajet de composition et de transmissionde ce texte est considere a la lumiere de categories propres aux productions litteraires de l'Antiquite, categories qui ne coincident plus avec les notres. Mettant en garde contre un amalgame inapproprie,King souligne le role preponderantde la dimension < orale > dans l'histoiredu texte et la necessite d'en tenir compte dans l'enquete sur les documents de Nag Hammadi. F. Wisse, < After the Synopsis : Prospects and Problems in Establishinga CriticalText of the Apocryphon ofjohn and Defining its HistoricalLocation >, sur le pp. 138-153, s'explique projet, deja avance, d'une traductioncritique en langue moderne, basee sur la synopse des versions coptes de l'Apocryphon de Jean, parue en 1995 (F. Wisse - M. Waldstein, NHMS 33). Une telle traductionaurait l'avantaged'aller au-dela des documents coptes pour s'approcher du texte grec commun qu'ils ont utilise. M. Waldstein examine
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107
dans < The Primal Triad in the Apocryphon of John >, pp. 154-187, l'entrelacs des thematiques, a la fois platoniciennes et juives, qui ont conflue dans la constitutionde la triade Pere-Mere-Fils.Quant a S. La Porta dans , pp. 188-207, il s'attelle a une nouvelle interpretationd'une des clefs de voute de la speculation gnostique et considere le role joue par le patrimoine traditionneljuif autour de la figure de la Sagesse pour la formation de la notion de Sophia chez les gnostiques. M.A. Williams fournit une ,pp. 327-346, souhaite que la recherche se focalise sur le texte lui-meme plutot que d'etudier le texte au miroir de la litterature qui lui etait contemporaine. J.-M. Sevrin, ff L'interpretationde l'Evangile selon Thomas, entre tradition et redaction >, pp. 347-360, soutient qu'il est possible de considerer cet
108
REVIEWS
evangile comme une relectureinterpretativeet esoteriqued'evangilesrecus, tels que sont les synoptiques. I. Dunderberg, , pp. 361-380, a l'encontre de Johnson, emet des reserves sur l'oppositionet le contraste entre une communautejohannique et une communauteis'inspirantde Thomas. La position n'est d'ailleurspas la meme d'un logiona l'autre.A.D. De Conick, , pp. 381-398, reprend l'analyse fournie dans son livre Seekto SeeHim : Ascentand VisionMysticismin the Gospelof Thomas,publie a Leiden (Brill)en 1996, et note la polemique entre Jean et des milieux juifs portes sur l'experience mystique. Avec la cinquieme et derniere partie du volume, Issuesof SocialLocation, andRewriting une reflexion de caractere general est soumise au Composition, lecteur. C. Markschies,dans < Valentinian Gnosticism : Towards the Anatomy of a School >, pp. 401-438, trace un portrait convaincant du valentinisme comme ecole philosophique,tout en observantune evolution depuis le temps de Valentin et ses proches disciplesa celui de ses derniersrepresentants, davantage eloignes d'un ideal de professionnalismephilosophique. L. Painchaudand T. Yanz, , pp. 439-460, etudient la presence de ce motif dans quelques traites de Nag Hammadi, notant qu'il s'agit d'un motif interpole, lie aux revisionset aux reecrituresde ces traites dans le contexte d'une controverseentre differentscercles doctrinaux.A.L. Molinari, < The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles >, pp. 461-483, passe en revue l'histoire de la recherche (et tout particulierementles opinions de Krause, Schenke, Parrot et Patterson)de ce texte, quelque peu delaisse par les specialistes. II en propose une interpretationbasee sur la confluence de deux sources de provenance diverse-l'histoire du marchand a la perle et l'apparition au moment de la Resurrection-retravaillees et augmenteespar l'interventiond'un auteur/redacteur,dans une perspective didactique et exhortatoire. Enfin, A. Pasquier, < Interpretation of the Prologue to John's Gospel in some Gnostic and Patristic Writings : A Common Tradition >, pp. 484-495, met en regard la lecture d'Origene du Prologuede Jean et celle elaboree en milieu valentinien, transmise par Irenee (AdvHaer I, 8, 5). II en ressort qu'Origene a pu subir l'influence de valentiniennes et qu'il est un temoin precieux pour clarifier speculations certains aspects de la christologiegnostique. La sixieme partie du volume est constituee par un abondant repertoire bibliographique(Bibliography, pp. 499-531). La lecture de ce volume mon-
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109
tre a quel point la recherche sur les textes de Nag Hammadi, et plus largement celle sur les documentsdu gnosticisme,peut encore evoluer. L'ancrage des textes de Nag Hammadi dans le paysage philosophiqueet religieux de la fin de 1'Antiquiteainsi que leurs rapports avec la culture litteraire de langue copte de la meme epoque, ouvrent aux chercheurs de tres amples perspectives de travail. 127 Bd. Respail 75006 Paris
SCOPELLO MADELEINE
BOOKS RECEIVED and Tradition: onNoahandtheFlood Amirav, Hagit, Rhetoric John Ch?ysostom (TraditioExegetica Graeca 12), Leuven:Peeters 2003, XII + 269 pp., ISBN 90-429-1283-9, e 65 (clothboundwith jacket). in Psalmos51-100, Pars 1: Augustinus:SanctiAugustiniOpera,Enarrationes Enarrationes in Psalmos51-60, edidit Hildegund Muller (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum XCIV/1), Wien: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften2004, 423 S., ISBN 3-7001-3229-8, e 79 (broschiert).-Jiingster und eminenter Frucht im Rahmen des eindrucksvollenUnternehmens der Neuausgabe von Augustins En. in Ps. Behr,John, TheNiceneFaith.PartOne:TrueGodfromTrueGod/ TheNicene Faith.PartTwo:Oneof theHoly Trinity(The Formationof ChristianTheology, Vol. 2), Crestwood, New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press 2004, xvii + 259 pp. / xi + pp. 261-507, ISBN 0-88141-266-X (pb). Lines.ThePartition Boyarin,Daniel, Border Philadelphia: ofJudaeo-Christianity, of University PennsylvaniaPress 2004, xvii + 374 pp., ISBN 0-8122-3764-1, $ 38.50 / C 25.50 (clothbound with jacket).-'Boyarin demonstratesthat it was early Christian writers who first imagined religion as a realm of practice and belief that could be separatedfrom the broader cultural network of language, genealogy, or geography, and that they did so precisely to give Christiansan identity. In the end, he suggests, the Rabbis refused the option offered by the Christianempire of convertingJudaism into such a religion. Christianity,a religion, and Judaism, something that was not a religion, stood on opposite sides of a border line drawn more or less successfully across their respective populations'. Athen'.Die Auseinandersetzung Breitenbach,Alfred,Das 'wahrhaft goldene griechischerKirchenviter mitderMetropole heidnisch-antiker Kultur(Theophaneia.Beitrage zur Religions- und Kirchengeschichtedes Altertums, Band 37), BerlinWien: Philo Verlagsgesellschaft2003, xii + 352 S., ISBN 3-8257-0355-X, e 59,80 / SFr 96 (Geb.). Breytenbach, Cilliers & Jens Schroter, unter Mitwirkungvon David S. du Toit (Hgg.), Die Apostelgeschichte und die hellenistische Geschichtsschreibung. Eckhard Plumacher zu seinem 65. Geburtstag fir (AncientJudaism and Festschrit Early Christianity/ Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antikenJudentums und ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online- www.brill.nl
VigiliaeChristianae59, 110-113
BOOKS RECEIVED
1l1
des UrchristentumsLVII), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2004, XII + 385 S., ISBN 90-04-13892-7, C 139 /US$ 188 (hardback). Text--Kommentar-Geschichte Budde, Achim, Die agyptische Basilios-Anaphora. Band Miinster: AschendorffVerlag Forum, (JerusalemerTheologisches 7), ISBN ? 679 59 3-402-07506-7, 2004, S., (kart.). di OrigenefraStoriae Agiografia. Castagno, Adele Monaci (ed.), La Biografia e la Tradizione Attidel VI Convegno di Studidel Gruppo Italianodi Ricercasu Origene Villa Pazzini di Adimantius Verucchio: Editore Alessandrina (Biblioteca 1), ISBN C 30 334 88-89198-17-6, 2004, (pb). pp., Christian Coudert,Allison P. andJeffrey S. Shoulson (eds.),HebraicaVeritas? andtheStudyofJudaismin EarlyModern Hebraists Europe, University Philadelphia: of PennsylvaniaPress 2004, x + 316 pp., ISBN 0-8122-3761-7, $ 49.95 / ? 32.50 (clothboundwith jacket). of Deming, Will, Paul on Marriageand Celibacy.The HellenisticBackground 1 Corinthians 7, second revisededition,Grand Rapids,Michigan/ Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans 2004, xxii + 271 pp., ISBN 0-8028-3989-4, US$ 28.00 / ? 19.99 (pb). Ernest,James D., TheBiblein AthanasisofAlexandria (The Bible in Ancient Brill Academic Publishers vol. Boston-Leiden: 2004, xiv + Christianity, 2), 482 pp., USS 125 / C 125, ISBN 0-391-04176-2 (hardback). Facundus d'Hermiane, Defensedes Trois Chapitres(a Justinien).TomeIII (LivresVIII-X). Texte critique (CCL) par J.-M. Clement et R. Vander Plaetse. Introduction, traduction et notes par Anne Fraisse-Betoulieres (Sources Chretiennes484), Paris:Les lditions du Cerf 2004, 332 p., ISBN 2-204-07368-7, C 28 (broche). Themes,and Rhetorical Isacson, Mikael: To Each TheirOwnLetter.Structure, New Testament Antioch in the Letters Biblica, of Ignatiusof (Coniectanea Strategies Series 42), Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International 2004, 238 pp., ISBN 91-22-02070-5, SEK 271 (pb). Communicative Kotzei,Annemare, Augustine's Confessions. PurposeandAudience Leiden-Boston: Brill 2004, Christianae to LXXI), (Supplements Vigiliae X + 279 pp., ISBN 90-04-13926-5, C 91 / US$ 114 (hardback). Mechlinsky, Lutz, Der modus proferendi in Augustinssermones ad populum (Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums, Neue Folge, 1. Reihe: Monographien, 23. Band), Paderborn-Munchen-Wien-Zurich: Ferdinand Schoningh 2004, 291 S., ISBN 3-506-71784-7, C 38 (pb).Bonn (PromotorOtto Zwierlein; DissertationFriedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Korreferat Wilhelm Geerlings). Detaillierte Analyse der sermones12, 266, 240 & 181.
112
BOOKS RECEIVED
The Relationship betweenGraceand Free Will Ogliari, D., Gratiaet certamen. in the Discussionof Augustinewith the so-called Semipelagians(Bibliotheca EphemeridumTheologicarum LovaniensiumCLXIX), Leuven: University Press / Uitgeverij Peeters 2003, LVII + 468 pp., ISBN 90-429-1351-7, e 75 (pb). Pedersen, Nils Arne, Demonstrative Proofin Defenceof God.A Studyof Titus Bostra's Contra Manichaeos-The Work'sSources,Aims and Relationto its of Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 56), LeidenTheology Contemporary (Nag Boston: Brill 2004, XV + 575 pp., ISBN 90-04-13883-8, ? 159 / US$ 198 Manichaeos, (hardback).-A really impressivestudy of Titus of Bostra'sContra the first text from the early Greek Church setting out a comprehensive theodicy. A volume of importance to Patristic and Manichaean scholars alike, with many pertinent remarks on (Coptic, Greek, Syriac etc.) linguistics as well, and several thought-provokingdiscussions of still crucial theological themes. PeterDamian,Letters121-150. Translated by Owen J. Blum & Irven M. Resnick(The Fathersof the Church,MediaevalContinuation6), Washington DC: The Catholic University of America Press 2004, xxvi + 195 pp., ISBN 0-8132-1372-X (clothboundwith jacket). et symboliques, Prieur,Jean-Marc (ed.), La Croix.Representations theologiques Geneve: EditionsLaboret Fides 2004, 141 p., ISBN 2-8309-1110-5, e 22 / FS 35 (pb).-Actes d'un journe d'etude, organisee a Strasbourgpar le Centre d'Analyse et de Documentation Patristiques, et contenant e.a.: J.-M. Prieur, Le scandale de la croix dans la litteraturechretienne des IIe et IIIe siecles (37-48);J.-D. Dubois, La croix de lumiere chez les manicheens (49-65); M. Wallraff,La croix dans la propagande imperiale du IVe siecle (67-80); M. Canevet, La croix cosmique chez Gregoire de Nysse (81-88). Tradition: Rhodes, James N., The Epistleof Barnabasand the Deuteronomic and theLegacyof the Golden-Calf Incident(Wissenschaftliche Polemics,Paraenesis, Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe 188), Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck 2004, XII + 261 pp., ISBN 3-16-148377-4, e 54 (pb).-'Rhodes reassessesthe theology of the Epistleof Barnabas,seeking to reopen the question of the author's view of Israel. He claims that recent scholarshiphas focussed too narrowlyon Barnabas'streatment of the golden-calf incident, overlooking the author's equally strong interest in the death of Jesus and the destructionof Jerusalem'. Setzer, Claudia, Resurrection of theBodyin EarlyJudaismandEarlyChristianity: andSef-Definition, Boston-Leiden:BrillAcademicPublishers Community, Doctrine, 2004, xii + 191 pp., ISBN 0-391-04175-4 (hardback).
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Diodorsvon Tarsus Thome, Felix: HistoriacontraMythos.Die Schrftauslegung vonMopsuestiaim Widerstreit und Theodors zu KaiserJulians und Sallustius'allegorischem (Hereditas, Studien zur Alten Kirchengeschichte Mythnverstdndnis Bonn: Borengasser 2004, XXXV + 252 S., ISBN 3-923946-67-8, 24), E 32 / sFr 56,50 (Geb.).-'Die antiallegorischausgerichtete Exegese der Antiochenerkann geradezu als Reaktion auf die heidnischeMythendeutung begriffen werden'. vonJoh Uhrig, Christian, 'Und das Wortist Fleischgeworden:ZurRezeption in dergriechischen derFleischwerdung Patristik vomizani-schen 1,14a undzur Theologie (Miinsterische Beitrage zur Theologie 63), Miinster: Aschendorff Verlag 2004, 598 S., ISBN 3-402-03968-0, E 72 (kart.). 'Unter Beachtung einer prazisen Begrifflichkeitvon Fleischwerdung,bei der z.B. nicht Inkaration mit Menschwerdung gleichgesetzt wird, ergibt sich, dass Joh 1,14a erstmalig von Irenaus aufgegliffen wird. Neben ihm erlangt die Rede von der Fleischwerdungdes Logos in Alexandrien, und von hier v.a. bei Klemens und Origenes, einen bedeutenden Stellenwert. Die Art der Nutzung ist dabei jeweils sehr unterschiedlichund insgesamt eher von der eigenen theologischen Konzeption des Autors motiviert als von der ursprunglichen Aussageabsicht des Johannesevangeliums'. Grundliche Besprechung der Justin, Melito, Irenaus, Aussagenvon u.a. Ignatius,2 Clemns,Ep. Apostolorum, Klemens, Hippolyt, TractatusTripartitus, Origenes, Dionysius & Petrus von Alexandrien, Methodius von Olympos, Eusebius. Welburn, Andrew, Mani, theAngeland the Columnof Glory.An Anthology of ManichaeanTexts,Edinburgh:Floris Books 1998, 296 pp., ISBN 0-86315274-0, C 25 (clothboundwith jacket).-An anthology intended for a wider audience, and perhaps for that reason easily overlooked, but collected and presented by an eminent specialist. J. VANOORT
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Esotericism
EDITEDBY WOUTER J. HANEGRAAFF, IN COLLABORATION WITHANTOINEFAIVRE, ROELOFVANDEN BROEK AND JEAN-PIERREBRACH
This is the first comprehensive reference work to cover the entire domain of "Gnosis and Western Esotericism" from the period of Late Antiquity to the present. Containing around 400 articles by over 180 internationalspecialists, it provides critical overviews discussing the natureand historical development of all its importantcurrentsand manifestations, from Gnosticism and Hermetism to Astrology, Alchemy and Magic, from the Hermetic Traditionof the Renaissance to Rosicrucianism and Christian Theosophy, and from Freemasonry and Illuminism to 19th-centuryOccultism and the contemporaryNew Age movement. Furthermoreit contains articles about the life and work of all the major personalities in the history of Gnosis and Western Esotericism, discussing their ideas, significance, and historical influence. Readership: All those interested in the history of religion, intellectual history, art and culture in Western society from Antiquity to the present, as well as classicists, medievalists, histori::: : ... ... . . ..... ....::: ans, and.theo:
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and issues relating to early Christianity.
La decretale Ad Gallos Episcopos: son texte et son auteur Textecritique, traductionfranqaise et commentaire
YVES-MARIEDUVAL
New edition(andfrenchtranslation)of the oldestcurrentlyknownDecretale.The commentmakesvisible the originalityof the argumentswhichleadto the decisionsrelativeto the blessedvirginsandthe mainclerk. Therefore,the realisationof this answerto thebishopsof Gaulcouldbe fromJerome, who was thepersonalassistantof the popeDamasebetween382 and384. Yves-MarieDuval was successivelyProfessorof the Universitiesof Tours,Poitiers andParisX wherehe taughtlate LatinliteratureandPatristics. * In print2005 * Hardback(x, 182 pp. in French) * ISBN90 04 141707 * ListpriceEUR75.- / US$ 99.* VigiliaeChristianae,Supplements,73
Cyril of Jerusalem: Bishop and City
JAN WILLEMDRIJVERS
Thisstudydealswithaspectsandeventsof theepiscopacyof Cyrilof Jerusalem (350betweenthecityandits bishopand,in particular, 387).Itsoverallthemeis therelationship as theChristian Cyril'seffortsto promoteJerusalem cityparexcellence. Jan Willem Drijvers,Ph.D.(1989), is Lecturerin AncientHistory,Universityof Groningen. * In print2004 * Hardback(xvi, 216 pp.) * ListpriceEUR92.- / US$ 132.? ISBN 90 04 139869 *VigiliaeChristianae,Supplements,72
INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS (1) Contributionsshouldbe submittedin duplicateand be accompaniedby a disk.Both WordPerfect and Microsoft Word are accepted word-processingprograms. ASCII-formatted disks are also accepted. Contributions submitted should not have been published elsewhere. (2) Manuscriptsshould be printed with a wide margin and double space between the lines. Please use one side of the paper only. The first page should have ample space at the top around the title. (3) Titles should be as short as possible. (4) Italics should be used sparingly (but see below nrs. 6 and 7). (5) Latin quotations should be underlined to be printed in italics. Syriac, Hebrew and Coptic quotations should be transcribed. (6) References should be given in footnotes with continuous numbering. Tites of books and of journals (not of papers in journals) should be in italics to be printed in italics. For example: H.A. Wolfson, ThePhilosophy of the ChurchFathers1 (Cambridge, Mass. 41964) 106-111. L.W. Barnard, "The Antecedents of Arius," VigiliaeChristianae 24 (1970) 172-188. Gregory of Nyssa, De hom.opif.24 (PG 44,212D) - Greg.Nyss. Hom. opif. 24 (PG 44,212D). Tertullian, Adv.Marc.4,28,1 - Tert. Adv.Marc.4,28,1. (7) Correction. Authors are requested to check their manuscripts,and especially their quotations, most carefully, and to type out all Greek, as later corrections in the proof stage are expensive and time-consuming. Corrections by which the original text is altered will be charged. (8) Offprints.Contributorswill receive 15 offprintsfree of charge for articles and 3 free offprints for reviews.
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CONTENTS G.D. DUNN,Rhetoric and Tertullian'sDe virginibus velandis ............ R.E. WINN,The Natural World in the Sermons of Eusebius of Emesa .......... .............................................. ............
1 31
D. WOODS,Malalas, "Constantius", and a Church-Inscription
from Antioch
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M. VIELBERG, Nitor omnibusunus? Beobachtungen zur Farbgestaltung
im 'Martinellus' .............................................................................. Reviews .............................................................................................. Books received
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Vigiliae
Christia A
of
Review
Christian Life
Early and VOL.
Language LIX
NO.
2
2005
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VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE a review of Early Christian Life and Language EDITORS-IN-CHIEF:
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BASILIDES'S GOSPEL AND EXEGETICA (TREATISES)' BY
JAMES A. KELHOFFER survivingwitnesses to Basilidesof Alexandria (fl. 120-140 C.E.) reflect considerable variety and confusion concerning his writing(s).Attempts by scholars to present Basilides as an exegete of Christianscripture,and even as the author of a gospel, are based on precious little evidence, which scholars have at times misinterpreted.This article argues that only a limited interest in gospel materialson the part of Basilidescan be demonstratedfrom the survivMoreover, if Basilidesdid indeed write a (Treatises). ing portions of his Exegetica a narrative or it was not sayings gospel concerned primarilywith the gospel, life or the teachings ofJesus. Finally, prior to Origen in the mid-thirdcentury did not connote an 'exegetical'commenC.E. the designation (or title) Exegetica for Basilides's work ('EnTyrtica, Strom. of Alexandria's title Clement tary. 4.81.1) instead supports the inference that this writing comprised "explanations" of Basilides'stheological system.
ABSTRACT: The
Relatively little is known for sure concerning the life of Basilides of Alexandria (fl. 120-140 C.E.). He was probably active in Alexandria during the 130s C.E.2 The paucity of evidence and contradictory nature of the I This article is a revisionand expansionof a paper presentedat the 2002 North AmericanPatristicsSocietyAnnualMeeting.The author'sthanksare due to WilliamL. Petersenand MatyasHavrda. 2 B. A. Gnosticismin Alexandria,"in: TheFutureof Early Pearson,"Pre-Valentinian Christianity: Essaysin Honorof HelmutKoester(ed. B. A. Pearson et al.; Minneapolis: Fortress,
1991),455-66;here, 461, notes evidencefor Basilides'sactivityin Alexandriain 132 c.E.: 7.106) he was active in Alexandriadur"Accordingto Clementof Alexandria(Stromateis Hadrian the of the (117-138) and AntoninusPius (138-161).... reigns emperors ing Eusebius,in his Chronicle (accordingto Jerome'sLatin version),lists as one of the items for the sixteenthyear of Hadrian'sreign (132)the followingnotation:'Basilidesthe heresiarch was living in Alexandria. From him derive the Gnostics."' Apparently following Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome, De viris illustribus21, writes: "Basilides died at Alexandria
in the reign of Hadrian,and from him the Gnosticsects arose.In this tempestuoustime also, Cochebas leader of the Jewish faction put Christians to death with various tortures" (ET: A. Roberts andJ. Donaldson, eds., JVceneand Post-NiceneFathersof the ChristianChurch [New York: Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1890-1900], 2/3.368). Jerome's
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59, 115-134 Vigliae Christianae
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patristic witnesses to Basilides have not, however, stopped scholars from describing with some confidence the early Christian gospel, and especially the gospel commentary, that Basilides allegedly wrote. In the Synopsis QuattuorEvangeliorum,for example, Kurt Aland cites the Gospel accordingto Basilides as the source of a distinctive witness to Matt 7:6ab.3 Von Campenhausen exemplifies this position concerning Basilides's alleged gospel: "In all probability it was at first, as Agrippa Castor says . . ., referred to by them simply as 'the Gospel'. The designation icar& Baot,eirliv e{aTyyetov... may not originally have been attached to it."4 Walter Bauer, Werner Foerster, Gerhard May, Everett Procter and Andrew F. Gregory concur that Basilides did in fact write a gospel.5 In addition to the claim that Basilides wrote a gospel, a number of other scholars characterize Basilides as a Christian teacher who wrote a gospel commentary. For instance, in an important study Winrich A. Lohr argues concerning Basilides and Basilides's son and disciple Isidore: Basilides... Biichern;...
kommentierte eine selbst erstellte Evangelienrezension in 24 So kann man in diirren Worten das Wesentliche an biographi-
allusion to the "tempestuous time" of the SecondJewish Revolt led by Bar Kokhba suggests that Basilides was active 132-135 C.E. Cf. the observation of W. A. Lohr, Basilides des zweitenJahrhunderts undseineSchule:Eine Studiezur Theologie-undKirchengeschichte (WUNT Mohr that "aus den 83; Tubingen: Siebeck, 1996), 20, ubrigen Quellen erhebt sich kein Widerspruch gegen die Datierung des Clemens" (cf. 326). 3 Aland, ed., SynopsisQuattuorEvangeliorum (15th rev. ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1996), 93, referring to the ultimate source of Epiphanius, Panarion24.5.2 as "Evang. sec. Basilidem" ("the Gospel according to Basilides"). Aland's Synopsis(481-2) does not, however, note the parallel (discussed below) to Mark 15:21 11Matt 27:32 attributed to Basilides in Irenaeus, Adv. haer.1.24.4 and Epiphanius, Panarion24.3.1-5. 4 Von Campenhausen, The Formationof the ChristianBible (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1972 [1968]), 139 n. 161; cf. 139 n. 158. 5 Bauer, Orthodoxy andHeresyin EarliestChristianity (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971 [21964]), 66, 170, 190; cf. 203; May, Creatioex nihilo:TheDoctrineof 'Creationout of Nothing'in Early ChristianThought(Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1994 [1978]), 65: "And certainly he [Basilides], who had written a gospel himself, was greatly interested in the gospels that in were available" (German original: 66). Additionally, Procter, ChristianControversy Alexandria:Clement'sPolemic against the Basilideansand Valentinians(American University Studies VII/172; Frankfurt am Main/New York: Lang, 1995), 1, follows Foerster, "Basilides," in: idem, Gnosis:A Selectionof GnosticTexts (ed. R. McL. Wilson; Oxford: Clarendon, 1972-74 [1969-71]), 1.59-83; here, 74: "From notes in the Church Fathers we learn above all that Basilides was a copious writer.... [A] gospel originated with him" (German original: 1.99). So also Gregory, The Receptionof Lukeand Acts in the Periodbefore Irenaeus:Lookingfor Luke in the SecondCentury(WUNT 2.169; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003), 77-80 (albeit with some caution); cf. Lohr, Basilides,271.
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schen Informationeniiber Basilidesund Isidor zusammenfassen.Basilidesund Isidor werden damit christlicheLehrer in die erste Hgilftedes 2. Jahrhunderts eingeordnet....6 Others, including Theodor Zahn, Hans Windisch, Robert M. Grant, Bentley Layton, Everett Procter, M. J. Edwards, and Christoph Markschies, likewise characterize Basilides as an exegete of gospel materials, and sometimes of other Christian scripture as well.7 This article offers a critical assessment of these two claims about Basilides's gospel and gospel commentary. It will be argued that if a writing of Basilides did receive the designation "gospel" (eiayy?Xtov), it was not a narrative or sayings gospel concerned primarily with the life and teachings of Jesus. This inquiry is of obvious (potential) interest to the use of the term etayyeXtov as a literary designation in the first half of the second century.8 The article also considers the relationship of Basilides's Exegetica
6 Basilidesund seine Schule,325-6. Lohr also writes, "Wir vermuteten, daB die des Basilidesseinem Kommentarals der Text beigegebenwar, auf Evangelienrezension den sich der Kommentarbezog. Dieser Kommentar... behandelteeher anhand einer Perikopeein theologischesThema"(329; cf. 12, 34, 215). Kanons(Erlangen:Deichert, 1889), 1.763-74; 7 Zahn, Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Windisch,"Das Evangeliumdes Basilides,"yNW7 (1906):236-46; Grant,Second-Century A Collection of ChristianLiterature6; London:SPCK, Christianity: ofFragments (Translations 18: "He the first [Basilides]composed 1946), commentaryon the gospels,with the exception of that of his contemporaryPapias."Similarly,Layton,"The Significanceof Basilides in AncientChristianThought,"Representations (Berkeley,CA) 28 (1989):135-51;here, 136: "Basilidesmust have set a stunningprecedentin educatedChristiancirclesas the first Christianphilosopherand one of the earliestNew Testamentexpositors..." (cf. 144-5). in Alexandria, in: So also Procter,Christian Controversy 1; Edwards,reviewof Lohr,Basilides JTS 48 (1997): 238-41; here, 241: "Aftera perusal of this study we see clearlywhat [Basilides]was: a Christianexegete who was ready to employ eclectic methodsfor the better understandingof the Scriptures."Likewise,Markschies,Gnosis:An Introduction (London/NewYork:T & T Clark,2003 [2001]),79: "Itemergesfromthe fragmentsthat in all probabilityBasilidespublishedunder the title 'Expositions'his own versionof the Gospelof Lukewith a relativelyfree commentaryin 24 volumes."Cf.J. C. Ayer,A Source Bookfor AncientChurch Period(New History, fromtheApostolic Ageto theCloseof theConciliar York:Scribner's,1913),82: "Of his [Basilides']Gospel,Commentaryon that Gospelin and his odes only fragmentsremainof the second,preserved twenty-fourbooks(Exegetica), by Clementof Alexandriaand in the Acta Archelai." 8 In the 'NT' writingsand in many of the otherearliestChristianwritings,e'acyyeXtov designatesoral proclamation(good news),ratherthan a writingor a (new)genre or lit(London: erary designation.On this point see, e.g., H. Koester,AncientChristian Gospels How Soon a Book?"JBL SCM/Philadelphia:TPI), 1-34;R. H. Gundry,"EYAFFEAION: 115 (1996):321-5;W. L. Petersen,"The Genesisof the Gospels,"in:NewTestament Textual
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(Treatises)to other early Christian literature. This study argues that the characterization of Basilides as an exegete of Christian scripture is based on precious little evidence and, at times, a misinterpretation of certain witnesses to Basilides and his writing(s). A (mostly) diachronic survey of the main witnesses to Basilides's life and writings will precede an analysis of claims that scholars have made about Basilides's gospel and gospel commentary. Witnessesto Basilides'sGospeland Exegetica (Treatises) 1. Irenaeus,Adversus haereses 1.24.4 Irenaeus attributes the following Basilides:
description of the crucifixion to
He [Christ] appeared on earth as a man and performed miracles (apparuisse eum... virtutesperfecisse). Thus, he himself did not suffer. Rather, a certain to carry Simon of Cyrene was compelled (Simonemquendam angariatum) Cyrenaeum his cross for him. It was he [Simon] who was ignorantly and erroneously crucified (et hunc... crucjfixum), being transfigured by him [Jesus], so that (ut) he to be Jesus. Moreover, Jesus assumed the form of be thought [Simon] might Simon and stood by, laughing at them.9
With regard to accounting forJesus' laughter, R. M. Grant notes the likely OT foundation of Basilides's (re-)interpretation of Jesus' passion in light of Psalm 2.10
andExegesis Criticism (FSJoel Delobel;BETL 161;ed. A. Denaux;Leuven:Peeters,2002), 33-65; A. Y. Reed, "EakyyFetov:Orality, Textuality, and the Christian Truth in Irenaeus' AdversusHaereses,"VC 56 (2002): 11-46; J. A. Kelhoffer, "'How Soon a Book' Revisited: EYAFTEAIONas a Reference to 'Gospel' Materials in the First Half of the Second Century," ZNW 95/1-2 (2004): 1-34. 9 Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 1.24.4. ET (modified): B. Layton, The GnosticScriptures: A New andIntroductions Translation withAnnotations (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1987), 423; Lat.:
A. Rousseauand L. Doutreleau,Contreles hiresies(SC 264; Paris:Cerf, 1979), 326-8. eum... perfecisse(1.24.4, 1. 11) as a refLayton's translation incorrectly construes apparuisse erence to "intellect" (nous),rather than to "Christ" (Christus,mentioned in 1.24.4, 1. 8). '0 "Gnostic Origins and the Basilidians of Irenaeus," VC 13 (1959): 121-5; here, 1234: "Why was he [Jesus] laughing? The answer seems to be provided by the words of a Psalm which we know was interpreted messianically by early Christians. Psalm 2 begins with a picture of the 'archons' (LXX) conspiring 'against the Lord and his Anointed,' and it goes on to say that 'he who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision' (verse 4). Here is, or may well be, the source of the notion that the Savior derided his enemies." Cf. Lohr, Basilides,265 n. 38.
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Irenaeus'sdepiction of Basilides'sDocetic christologyappears, moreover, to be based upon an interpretationof material preserved in Mark 15:2111 and the Matthean parallel passage (Matt 27:32).12Mark has the (historic) which Matthew changed to the present active indicative (ayyape6ovooiv), aorist (iyyadpeoaav). At the very least, the perfect passive participlereflected stems from Irenaeus's by Irenaeus (angariatus) (undisputed)use of either or both of these gospels, or perhaps a harmonizedversion of this gospel material.'3 With regard to assessing the historical Basilides'sinterest in gospel materials,however, the testimony of Irenaeus is of questionablevalue.14 2. The TitleandLengthof Basilides'sTreatises or Exegetica Concerning Basilides'sown work(s),there is good evidence for the existence and contents of certain parts of his Treatises or Exegetica. Two extended portions and one short passage from this work survive. One of the two
1 Mark 15:21-24:"[21] They compelled(&ayappE'ouotv) a passer-by,who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene (tva Itilova Kvupnvatov),the father of Alexander and Rufus. [22] Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). [23] And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. [24] And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take." 12 Matt 27:32-35: "[32] As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon (avOpowovKupvlvaiov 6v6,OaxtLiouva); they compelled (lry&peuoav) this man to carry his cross. [33] And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), [34] they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. [35] And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots." Different from Mark 15:21 1|Matt 27:32, Luke 23:26 has krt;iqlt rather than dyyapevco (Kaciix; adti'yayovavTo6v,hetXa36ge?vot iluova tva ' aypov 7crraKav acni TOVoxaupobv(qapetv itol0ev TOD'IroovI). ov apXti p6xevv Kuptiov 13 G. N. Stanton, "The Fourfold Gospel," NTS 43 (1997): 317-46, esp. 319-22, notes scholars' widespread acknowledgement of this point concerning Irenaeus. On the existence of harmonized gospel citations as early as SecondClement,see, e.g., Koester, Ancient ChristianGospels(London: SCM/Philadelphia: TPI, 1990), 17-18, 349-60; cf. Kelhoffer, Miracleand Mission: TheAuthentication of Missionariesand TheirMessagein the LongerEndingof Mark (WUNT 2.112; Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000), 169-70. 14 With Lohr, Basilides, 255-73, who argues that Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 1.24.3-7, which includes the testimony aboutJesus and Simon of Cyrene at the crucifixion (1.24.4), derives from source material that can plausibly be dated to the mid-second century. Despite its early date, L6hr (272-3) doubts that Adv. haer.1.24.3-7 offers a reliable witness to the historical Basilides; so also F. Legge, Philosophumena, Or the Refutationof All Heresies(2 Vols.; New York: Macmillan, 1921), 2.79 n. 2; D. Wanke, Das KreuzChristibei Irendusvon Lyon (BZNW 99; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 2000), 75-6.
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The other two paslonger sections is in Clement of Alexandria'sStromateis.'5 sages appear in Hegemonius's Acta Archelai(c. 330/348 C.E.), an antiManichaean writing that survivesin Latin.16 This writing of Basilides, whatever its original contents and foci, must have been a sizeable work, since Clement claims to quote from its twentythird book (BaotXeiSTi18e
v Tx Ei1KcoGT)xtpit
T&V 'E4inyrltxucv,Strom. V
4.81.1). Eusebius of Caesarea creditsAgrippa Castor with having written a response to Basilides in the second century (Hist. eccl. 4.7.6-8). Eusebius quotes Agrippa Castor to the effect that Basilides'swork comprised a total of twenty-fourbooks, and, as is argued below, at least the claim concerning the length of this work is credible.'7Arguably the surest indication that Basilides'swork was extensive is the ActaArchelai'scitation of Basilides'sown referenceto its thirteenthbook. The author of the ActaArchelai (Hegemonius) claims to be familiarwith Basilides'swriting and cites Basilides'sreference to the thirteenth book of Basilides's "Treatises" eius, 67.5a; (Lat.: tractatuum nobistractatuum, 67.5b).'8 Moreover, the ActaArchelaiattributesto Basilideshimselfboth the title for and its organization into individual books. It may this work ("Treatises")'9 15 Greek text: C. Mond6sert and A. van den Hoek, Clementd'Alexandrie, IV Les Stromates (SC 463; Paris: Cerf, 2001), 188-92. An ET of the relevant passages is conveniently available in: Layton, GnosticScriptures, 442-3. 16 Lat.: C. H. Beeson, ed., Hegemonius, ActaArchelai(GCS 16; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906); ET: M. Vermes and S. N. C. Lieu, Acta Archelai(Manichaean Studies 4; Turnhout: Brepols, 2001). This writing purports to relate a disputation between Bishop Archelaus and Mani. Beeson, Hegemonius, ActaArchelai,ix-xix, argues that the surviving Latin edition of the ActaArchelai(c. 392/400 C.E.)is a translation of a Greek work by Hegemonius of Chalcedon, about whom nothing more is known, except that he wrote after the Council of Nicea (325 C.E.).Cf. E. Spat, "The 'Teachers' of Mani in the ActaArchelaiand Simon Magus," VC 58/1 (2004): 1-23; here, 1; Lohr, Basilides,219-21; Foerster, "Basilides," 74; Quasten, Patrology,3.357-8, 4.209; Ayer, SourceBook, 82-4. 17 Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.7.7: "In expounding his [Basilides's] mysteries he [Agrippa he that Castor] says [Basilides] compiled twenty-four books on the gospel." See the analysis of this testimony below. 18 ActaArchelai67.5b: "As we are writing the thirteenth book of our treatises (nobistracthe word of salvation (salutaris sermo)will provide for us the necessary and fruitful tatuum) content." 19 The original Greek term used by Basilides for his work is open to question. Zahn, Geschichtedes Neutestamentlichen Kanons, 1/2.764, suggests b6ltuia ("homily"); cf. L6hr, "pursuits, studBasilides,226. Two other possibilities are I.etra?etpioelt (or teTaXetpTcjeS(? ies, treatments") and raC9ain;e ("inquiries, searchings"). Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 4.81.1) offers the title 'Eyrlyqtlcic,which is also possible in light of this article's argument need not denote an 'exegetical' biblical commentary. that 'E4rlyrtiKad
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thus be helpful for future scholarshipto refer to Basilides'swork by this title or at least to include it along with Exegetica(Gk.: 'E ywmntrKa, (Treatises), attested by Clement, Strom.4.81.1). It will be argued that the extant fragdo not support the claim that this work was ments of the Exegetica (Treatises) a gospel commentary. What can be ascertained about this work's content and genre will be evaluatedin the following analysesof these fragmentsand, furtherbelow, of the most likely denotation of Clement's title for this work ('Et,rltiKda). 3. Clement's Witnessto Basilides'sExegetica the passage best known Of the survivingportions of Basilides'sExegetica, to scholars,from Clement's Stromateis, addresseshuman suffering.20According to Clement, Basilides maintained that no person's tribulations are ordained by God. They are rather God's punishment for a person's sinfulness, either in this life or a previous one (Strom.4.81.2-3). In this portion of his work, Basilidesseeks above all to defend the goodness of Providence (z6 npovooi)v).21As test-casesfor this position, Basilidesdiscussesthe sufferingof Christianmartyrs,of a newborn baby, and ofJesus during the course of his life as a whole (but not specificallythe crucifixion). With the possible exception of Stromateis 4.81.2,22there is no indication
20
Clem., Strom.4.81.2-83.1. Layton, GnosticScriptures,418, notes that, different from Irenaeus and Hippolytus, "St. Clement is not entirely hostile to Basilides, and in general his conciliatory attitude toward thinkers he disagrees with adds to his trustworthiness as a reporter." Layton thus infers that, as compared with the other patristic evidence, Clement's witness is "[m]ost trustworthy of all the reports about Basilides." Note, e.g., that in Strom. 3.1-2 Clement is careful to attribute a citation of Matt 19:11-12 to Basilides's followers (oi ... &anbBaathi8oo)) rather than to Basilides himself. Similarly, according to Clem., Strom.1.146.1, followers of Basilides (oi... a&n BaotLteioz) hold a festival on the (supposed) day ofJesus' baptism and spend the night reading (cpo?tavuicepe{uove?r[ev] avayvaoeot). 21 Basilides, Exegetica,apudClem., Strom.4.82.2c: "For I will say anything (wivx') rather in than call Providence evil." Cf. Lohr, Basilides, 131-2; Procter, ChristianControversy Alexandria,88-93. 22 Basilides, Exegetica,apud Clem., Strom.4.82.2a ("Indeed, someone who intends to commit adultery is an adulterer even without succeeding in the act, and someone who intends to commit murder is a murderer even without being able to commit the act.") has obvious similarities to Matt 5:27-28 and 5:21-22 (cf. Lohr, Basilides,128 n. 16: "vermutlich biblisch inspirierten (vgl. z. B. Mt 5,21.27) Beispiele...."). Nonetheless, the majority of Basilides's excerpted discussion on human suffering is not 'exegetical' of 'gospel' or other 'biblical' materials (cf. Lohr, Basilides,131).
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that Basilidesis attemptingto 'exegete' a written gospel.23The same is true for three other parts of the Stromateis that allude briefly to Basilides'sview of suffering.24Thus, concerning the portions of Basilides's work that Clement cites and paraphrases,Clement's title ('EtyrxtiKa, Strom.4.81.1) does not supportthe inference that Basilideswrote a commentaryon gospel or other biblical materials. This point will be taken up in greater detail below. 4. TheActa Archelai on Basilides'sTreatises The other portions of Basilides's surviving work appear in the earlyfourth century anti-ManichaeanActaArchelaiet Manetis67.5-11. The Acta Archelaireveals two things about Basilides'swork: an interest in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man (cf. Luke 16:19-31), and a discussion rooted in dualism of light and darkness,good and evil. Concerning the interpretationof the parable, Basilideswrites:"By means of the parable of the rich man and the poor man,25it [the word of salvation]26demonstratesthe source of the nature that comes upon things with-
23 Although Lohr recognizes this point in the case of Clement, Strom.4.81.2-3, he and other scholars persist in identifying Basilides as an exegete of Christian scripture. See Christianity,18; Ayer, L6hr, Basilides, 12-13, 34, 215, 325-6, 329; Grant, Second-Century SourceBook,82; Windisch, "Evangelium des Basilides." 24 Clem., Strom.4.86.1; 4.88.3; 4.88.5. Cf. Y. Tissot, "A propos des fragmentsde Basilide sur le martyre," RHPR 76 (1996): 35-50. 25 Lat.: perparabolamdivitisetpauperis.In Luke 16:19a, tq ... isno-oato;= quidam... dives and (VL Vg). In Luke 16:20a, mtoXb0 6e rt; = quidammendicus(Vg). According to
W. Matzkowund K. Aland, eds., Itala:Das Neue Testament in altlateinischer Uberlieferung Berlin:W. de Gruyter,21976),3.188, the Vetus Latinaand the (Vol. 3: Lucas-Evangelium; Vulgate consistently translate kotcxntoq(Luke 16:19a) as dives (so also Basilides apud (Luke 16:20a), a majority of the secHegemonius's Acta Archelai).In the case of rcMw6o ond-century Old Latin mss (aurb cf f2 q) and the Vulgate differ with Hegemonius's translation of Basilides and attest mendicus.Certain Old Latin mss, however, have pauper(a d i l; also Basilides apudHegemonius), and one VL version has pauperculus (r'). Thus, the key terms used by Basilides for identifying this parable (divesand pauper)are attested, respectively, by all (xXosoloS, Luke 16:19a) and some (mxrwC;,Luke 16:20a) of the Old Latin mss. Such similarities in wording suggest the likelihood that Basilides did in fact refer to the Lukan Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man (Luke 16:19-31). 26 If correct, Basilides would offer an early witness to this Lukan material (= Luke?) in the first half of the second century. Moreover, Basilides alludes to "the word of salvation" (salutarissermo),mentioned in Acta Archelai67.5b. Cf. Gregory, The Receptionof Luke andActs, 78.
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out a root or a place" (ActaArchelai67.5c). In Luke 16:19-31, the Parableof the Rich Man and the Poor Man (Lazarus)representsspecial Lukan material (L), which, moreover, reflects this evangelist'sparticularinterest in the poor.27It thus seems at least plausible that Basilidescame into contact with this special Lukan material from Luke's source(s),some writing dependent upon Luke, or, more probably, the gospel of Luke itself.28In his own work, Basilidesapparentlyoffered an allegoricalinterpretationof this parable that the author of the ActaArchelaichose to cut off abruptly (67.6). ActaArchelai 67.5c thus offers evidence for connecting at least part of Basilides'sExegetica with written gospel material.29 (or Treatises) The extended section from Basilides'swork quoted in ActaArchelai67.711 concerns a different topic from that in 67.6, namely a dualistic discussion of light and darkness,good and evil.30ActaArchelai67.7-11 reflects the view that "perfectgood" is not to be found "in this world" (67.10), where only a portion of the Light is visible to humans.31Yet this passage reveals no effort to exegete a 'biblical' text (not even Genesis 1!), much less any gospel material. As noted above, ActaArchelai67.7-11 offers a more extended citation from Basilides'swork of a markedlydifferent sort of material. According to Acta 27 See, e.g., Luke 6:20b, 21, 24-26, 12:13-21, 14:12-24, 16:1-9, 18:22, 19:8, 21:2; on the Gospelof Luke 1:1-9:50 (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: F. Bovon, Luke 1: A Commentary 223-5. 2002 Fortress, [1989]), 28 Basilides's knowledge of Lukan gospel material might contribute to an explanation for why (the non-Gnostic) Marcion, who canonized an edited version of Luke, came to be criticized along with others such as Basilides, who were deemed to be 'Gnostics.' See Justin, Dial. 35.6; Clement, Strom.7.106.4-107.1, 7.108.1; Muratorian Canon; Hegesippus apudEusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.22.4-6. 29 The present author agrees with Lohr's arguments in favor of the authenticity of this citation of Basilides's work (Basilides,248-9), but disagrees with Lhr's inference that this material is representative of a sort of gospel commentary by Basilides: "Das alles paBt gut zu Basilides und seinem Evangelienkommentar" (Basilides,248; cf. 227-9). 30 In Acta Archelai67.7, Basilides mentions the view of some "barbarians," who "have said that all things have two beginnings (initiaomniumduo),to which they have associated good and evil (bonaet mala), stating that these beginnings themselves are without beginning and unbegotten (sineinitioesseet ingenita).In other words, there was in the beginning ac tenebras), which existed of themselves, which Light and Darkness (in principiislucemfuilsse were not said to be begotten." 31 ActaArchelai67.11. The author of the ActaArchelaisummarizes the importance of this dualistic cosmogony to Basilides's system as follows: "So if anyone is able to demolish the which he propounds, then I say he unbegotten dualism (subvertere...ingenitamdualitatem), would at the same time cut down the entire forest of his words" (68.2).
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Archelai67.6, this material appears in Basilides's work after an interval of some "five hundred lines." It is not clear whether the five hundred lines omitted in Acta Archelai 67 were devoted to the Lukan parable (cf. Luke 16:19-31) or to some other matter.
5. Origenon theGospelaccording to Basilides A question of significance equal to the extent to which Basilides's work may have been 'exegetical' is the question whether Basilides or his followers would have acknowledged the term eaTyylXtov as a description for a gospel that he allegedly wrote. Origen offers the earliest testimony to a gospel written by Basilides: The church has four gospels. Heretics have very many. One of them is entitled Accordingto theEgyptians,another Accordingto the TwelveApostles.Basilides, too, dared to write a gospel and give it his own name (T160XglOe KcaiBaXtGnIiTS;
ypavat Kara BaoateirTlve'ayy:lXtov)."Many have tried" to write, but only four gospels have been approved.32 Neither Origen nor any of the subsequent patristic witnesses to the existence of Basilides's gospel reveal anything about the content of this alleged writing, however.33 6. Hippolytus,Refutatio VII.20-27, X.14 Hippolytus of Rome claims to represent Basilides's uses of the term euayyXktoveight times in six passages:
32 Origen, Homilieson Luke 1.2, alluding to Luke 1:1: 1okxo'i 7cexeipTloav.Greek and Latin texts: M. Rauer, ed., OrigenesWerke(GCS 9: Die Homilienzu Lukasin der Ubersetzung des Hieronymusund die Griechischen Reste der Homilien und des Lukas-Kommentars, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 21959), 9.4-5; ET: J. T. Lienhard, Origen,Homilieson Luke;Fragmentson Luke (FC 94; Washington: Catholic University of America, 1996), 5-6; cf. Windisch, "Evangelium des Basilides," 236. 33 H.-C. Puech (revised by B. Blatz), "The Gospel of Basilides," in: New Testament Apocrypha(ed. W. Schneemelcher; trans. ed. R. McL. Wilson; Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 21991 [61990]), 1.397-9; here, 397, notes later references to Basilides's gospel in Jerome's Latin translation of Origen's homily, as well as Jerome, Comm.in Mt. Prologue (on the EvangeliumBasilidis);Ambrose, ExpositioeuangeliiLucaei.2; the Venerable Bede, In Lucaeeuangelium ExpositioI, Prologue; and Philip of Side's partially Church Cf. 31: "Gegen den historischen Wert der Notiz History. Basilides, Lohr, preserved
sprichtvor allem ihre Singularitat.WederJustin, noch Irenaeus,noch AgrippaCastor, noch Clemens oder Hippolyt nennen wie Origenes ausdrucklich ein Evangelium des Basilides."
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* Ref. VII.25.5: When then, he says, it was necessary for the children (r6icva) of God to be revealed to us... the gospel came into the world (X0Fe TO ei)ayynEov ei? TOVKoOlov).... * Ref VII.26.1: Therefore the gospel came [first] from the Sonhood (X09ev o'v TO eUiayy:Xtov <xcpcrov> ant6oTf; ui6'OzTo;),he says to the Ruler, through his Son who sits beside him.... * Ref. VII.26.4: It was still necessary for the gospel to come (Fet XotAOV... eX0eiv TO?Et'ay:X1tov) also to the Hebdomad, in order that the Ruler of the Hebdomad might be taught in like manner and evangelized ('va ... ?t8aXoFi ai t e?ayye?Xtoaei?Tat). * Ref VII.26.5: And the Son of the Ruler of the Hebdomad was enlightened, and he proclaimed the gospel (Cpqotoq ... Kait e6UiyryeXioaTo bT eiaTylXtov) to the ruler of the Hebdomad.... * Ref VII.27.7 (three occurrences): In order that we may omit nothing from their [doctrines], I will set forth what they say also about [the?] 'gospel'(nrept eilayyeXiou). Gospel is according to them the knowledge of hyper-cosmic things (eaTyyEXt6v EoTt... iqlT6v {rneplcoaoitov yvooat;), as has been made plain, which the Great Ruler did not understand. When then there was manifested to him what are the Holy Spirit (that is, the Boundary), and the Sonhood (i1 i6tnq) and the God-who-is-Not (6 ecoq... 6 oKic dSv)(who is the cause of all these), he rejoiced at the things that had been said and exulted, and this according to them is the gospel (robT' eont ica' a&xoiS; ro ebayyEXtov).34 * Ref. X.14.9: And [Basilides] says that on Jesus who was born of Mary the power of [the] Gospelcame (KE?opnK:cvatxTv etatyyeXioi 68ivagtL), which descended and illumined the Son of the Ogdoad and the Son of the Hebdomad for the illumination and separation and purification of the Sonhood left behind that he might benefit and receive benefits from the souls. citations in Hippolytus, Refutatio VII.25-27, X. 14 reflect understandof E?ayyFXtov as a revelation (Ref. VII.25.5, 26.1, 26.4), as oral proclaings These
34 Hippolytus's description continues in Ref VII.27.8, where he notes similarities between Basilides's (supposed) conception of Jesus and the reports of the 'NT' gospels: "ButJesus according to them was born, as we have before said. And after he came into being by the birth before explained, all those things likewise came to pass with regard to the Savior, as it is written in the gospels (ox;Fv Toi; eaxzyyeaiot; y'ypaTalt)." At this point, however, Hippolytus offers a comparison of Basilides with the 'NT' gospels and not Basilides's own interest in written gospels. Cf. the Greek text edited by M. Marcovich, Hippolytus,ReiutatioOmniumHaeresium(PTS 25; Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1986), 301, which begins a new paragraph at Ref: VII.27.8, to illustrate this shift in the discussion from VII.27.7 to VII.27.8. Greek: Marcovich, Hippolytus;English translations of the Refutatioare from Legge, Philosophumena, and as necessary are modified to conform more accurately to the Greek.
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mation (Ref.VII.26.5), as the knowledge (yv&otg)of things revealed (Ref. VII.27.7), and as the manifestationof divine power (Ref X.14.9). Thus, differentfrom the attributionof Origen (Homilieson Luke1.2) and others, Hippolytus reflects no knowledge of a work by Basilides identified by the literary designation e/awyyiXtov.Nor does Hippolytus suggest that the various gospel citations attributed to Basilides were considered e)a'yyeXtov.35 This is somewhat surprising, since Hippolytus's (secondary) testimony36 presents a "Basilides"-or perhaps in fact later 'Basilidians'-who made extensive use of numerous 'NT' writings, including the gospels.
7. Epiphanius: Irenaeus andEncountering the (Later)Followers Reworking of Basilides In his Panarion(c. 374-377 C.E.),Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/320-402/3 C.E.)
seems to know some form of the traditionpreservedby Irenaeus:37 He [Basilides] claims that notJesus, but Simon of Cyrene, has suffered. When
the Lord was taken (lcpa&Xo)fromJerusalem, as the sequence of the Gospel has it (og;ieXeti a&Kcokou0ia ToU ezayyoeXtio), they compelled a certain Simon of Cyrene38 to bear the cross....
While he [Simon] was being crucified,
35 Interestingly, according to Hippolytus, Basilides's use of the 'NT' gospels is, for the most part, limited to their opening chapters. See Ref. VII.21.3 (possibly alluding to Mark 4:30-32 par.); VII.22.3-4 (citing John 1:9 after Gen 1:3); VII.26.9 (citing Luke 1:35); VII.27.5 (citingJohn 2:4b, and then mentioning the Magi of Matt 2:1-6 [oi [atyot .. toov aoxrepateEeaervoi]). At no point is the term eUayyelov used in connection with any of these gospel citations or allusions, however. Cf. Hippol., Ref. VII.22.13 (possibly alluding to Eph 1:21); VII.23.5 (apparently alluding to 1 Cor 3:10); VII.25.2 (citing a combination of Rom 5:13, 14a); VII.25.3 (citing Exod 6:2-3; Eph 3:5a); VII.25.5 (citing parts of Rom 8:22, 19; Eph 1:21); VII.26.2 (citing Prov 1:7/9:10/Ps 110:10); VII.26.3 (citing 1 Cor 2:7, 13); VII.26.4 (citing a combination of Pss 31:5-6, 51:11); VII.26.7 (citing Eph 3:5a, 3a; 2 Cor 12:4). 36 Following Lohr, Basilides,313-23, that Hippolytus does not offer a reliable witness to the historical Basilides. 37 With Lohr, Basilides,273: "Der Basilidesbericht bei Irenaus, haer. 1,24,3-7 ist direkt oder indirekt die Quelle weiterer haresiologischer Referate bei Pseudotertullian, Epiphanius v. Salamis sowie Filastrius von Brescia." 38 Gk.: nyyapeuoav xtva Etlxova Kupivaiov. Notable in Epiphanius's paraphrase of this gospel material is the mixture of distinctively Matthean (Aryyapeooav,apparently from Matt 27:32; cf. Mark 15:21: ayyapei6ouotv)and Markan (tva Sigova KupqlvaZov,apparKuprtvaiov ov6oxcttil'o)va) materiently from Mark 15:21; pace Matt 27:32: &vOpeomov als. Greek text: K. Holl, Epiphanius(Vol. 1; GCS 25; Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1915). English translations include: F. Williams, The Panarionof Epiphaniusof Salamis (NHS 35; Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 36; Leiden: Brill, 1987-94); and P. R. Amidon, The
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' (cKEivov 5 omapoou!Vvo) ) Jesus stood opposite him unseen, laughing at those who were crucifyingSimon. But he himself flew off on high once he had delivered Simon to crucifixion,and returned to heaven without suffering.39 Concerning the reliability of this testimony, however, it is doubtful that Epiphanius's version of Irenaeus's (questionable) testimony offers a reliable source for the historical Basilides.40 Epiphanius had visited Egypt around 335 c.E. and had come into contact there with Basilidians, who apparently tried both to convert and to seduce him (Panarion26.17.4-9). At one point Epiphanius quotes Basilides as follows: But the vagabond [Basilides]says (aU& qnplav6 a&y'pp;),"We are the ones who are the human beings (oi &v0pcoiot),and all the others are pigs and dogs (te; Kai cDve;). Therefore he/it [Basilides?Jesus? a 'gospel'?] said (6ta roixo eltev), 'Do not cast pearls before the swine or give what is holy to the dogs (lil coreTOaytov TOi;giuoiv gr8enk PaiXTretoibggpapryapt; gcpoa0ev Tiv Xooipov, [= Matt 7:6ba])."' (Panarion 24.5.2) The citation presents, in reverse order (!), the two imperatives of Matt 7:6ab, without the possessive pronoun t)bLv.41 Epiphanius's citation includes none of the remainder of the saying as preserved in Matt 7:6cd.42 Although this xO aOyiov saying is not attested in the other 'NT' gospels, Didache9.5 (il iS&cre Toig Kcuai)contains part of it, possibly from some form of Matt 7:6a. Moreover, a version of the saying in Gospelof Thomas93 reflects redactional expansion that interrupts the flow of the version of the saying as preserved in Matthew.43 Thus, if a written source lies behind this testimony of Epiphanius, it is most probably either Matthew or some writing based upon Matthew. Of course, this conclusion concerning Panarion 24.5.2 implies nothing concerning Basilides's own use of 'gospel' materials.
Panarionof St. Epiphanius,Bishopof Salamis:SelectedPassages(New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). 39 Epiphanius, Panarion24.3.2, 4; cf. 24.4.1, 24.8.6-8, 24.9.3-24.10.4. 40 With L6hr, Basilides,37, 275-80; see above on Irenaeus, Adv. haer.1.24.4. 41 Matt 7:6ab: er To oit a o r6 Ia Tgr uoiv ttiL Mrre ro &ytov lpyaprapirs vpiv pa Christianit,21. e}xgpooev XOv Xoipov. Cf. Grant, Second-Century 42 Matt 7:6cd: !inoxe icaOttasnaaouootv copaxpevTe; atXoi; ev roit0i ooav avztiv iai
Vir|oxtv6geag. 43 Gos. Thom.93: "[Jesus said,] 'Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung heap. Do not throw the pearls [to] swine, lest they... it [...]."' ET by T. O. Lambdin in: J. M. Robinson, gen. ed., NHL, 136.
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Analysis:Did BasilidesWritea Gospel? As mentioned in the introduction to this article, von Campenhausen, although cautious concerning what can be known about the content of Basilides'sgospel, is persuaded that such a writing circulatedwith the title e?ayyeXtov.44Von Campenhausen bases this inference upon the following testimony of Agrippa Castor, as preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea: "In expounding his [Basilides's]mysteries he [Castor] says that he [Basilides] exooaxpa... compiled twenty-four books on the gospel (ei5... T. eX0tayyetov eccl. e'ilcoat acovraatl PtiXia)" (Hist. 4.7.7; cf. 4.7.4-6). Accordingly, von
Campenhausen'sinference rests upon the reliabilityof this testimony. The question whether Hist. eccl. 4.7.7 claims that Basilides compiled gospel materials (presumably,from sundry gospels), or materials aboutthe gospel (that is, commentaries),hangs on the interpretationof the verb ovvxdaooo.Elsewhere in his ChurchHistory,Eusebius uses this verb in a citation of the (notoriously problematic) testimony of Papias of Hierapolis, that "Matthew compiled the sayings (x&akoyia Gvvr64axo) in the Hebrew/Aramaic language, and each one interpretedthem as he was able" (Hist. eccl.3.39.16). The meaning of ovvxTaoooin Hist. eccl.3.39.16 is quite straightforward:Matthew is said to have 'compiled' or 'organized'a collection of Hebrew/Aramaic sayings ofJesus. If this definitionof ruvTdaaoc45 is applied to Hist. eccl. 4.7.7, it would follow that Eusebius (perhaps also Agrippa Castor) regards Basilides's work as comprising primarily gospel materialsand not commentaries"on the Gospel." The fragmentsof Basilides'ssurvivingwork, however, cannot be used to support the accuracy of the testimony of Agrippa Castor (or at least Eusebius'spresentationof it). Moreover, it would be mistakento infer that, in the absence of polemic against Basilides, Eusebius's testimony can be taken at face value.46It thus follows that von Campenhausen'sbasing an inference upon this uncorroborated testimony (Hist. eccl. 4.7.7), that Basilides'sgospel was known as To Eocayy,Xtov, is tenuous.47 44 Von
139 n. 161: "In all probabilityit was at first, as Campenhausen,Formation, AgrippaCastor says..., referredto by them simply as 'the Gospel'. The designation Kara Baotkeiriv evayyeltov
... may not originally have been attached to it."
Cf. W. Bauer, F. W. Danker, W. F. Ardt and F. W. Gingrich,A Greek-English Lexiconof theNew Testament and OtherEarlyChristian Literature (Chicago:Universityof Chicago,32000),974. 46 Pace Lohr,Basilides,11-12. 47 With L6hr,Basilides, 33; cf. 33-4 on the workof Psalmsthat Origenelsewhere(Com. on Job 21:12) attributesto Basilides.Lohr furthernotes concerningOrigen, Comm.in 45
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and Character of Basilides'sTreatises (Exegetica) Analysis:The Content 1. Did BasilidesWritea Gospel(orBiblical)Commentary? As noted above, Zahn, Windisch, Grant, Layton, Lohr, Procter and Edwards maintain that Basilides of Alexandria wrote a gospel (or biblical) commentary.48It remains to consider whether the evidence could support this characterizationof Basilides'swriting. Indeed, it does not. Two of the three survivingportions of Basilides'swork are not involved primarilywith biblical interpretationor 'exegesis'of any kind. One is a treatise on Providence (Clem., Strom.4.81-83), and the other reflects a dualistic understandingof good and evil (ActaArchelai67.7-11). However much interest Basilides may have had in the Parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man (cf. Luke 16:19-31) is not clear from the short allusion in ActaArchelai 67.5c. It thus follows that the survivingportions of Basilides's Treatises(or do not commend a primary characterizationof Basilides'swork as Exegetica) an 'exegesis' of gospels or other Christianliteratureor, for that matter, any kind of a biblical commentary.Nor does the evidence support L6hr's characterizationof Basilides'soeuvre as a work that took scriptureas the starting point for the exploration of various theological topics.49 Although
someone like Irenaeus in the second century could be described as an exegete without having produced an entire work that constitutesa patristic biblical commentary,the survivingevidence does not support an analogous attributionin the case of Basilides. as a Literary or Title 2. ESHFHTIKA Designation In light of the conclusion that Basilides did not write a gospel (or biblical) commentary, the question may thus be raised:Why is it that Basilides came to be credited with having written such a work? The origins of this influential position in scholarship are perhaps indebted to Clement of Alexandria'suse of Exegetica as the title for Basilides'swork (Gk.: 'EtyriyltTcd,
Matth. Ser. 38 (on Matt 24:7): "Unser Fragment gibt uns also keinen AufschluB iiber eine
positive Lehre des Basilidesund seiner Anhanger..." (211). H.-C. Puech ("Gospelof Basilides," 399; cf. 398) is likewise cautious concerning what can be known about this work: "In short, it must be said that all conjectures concerning the Gospel of Basilides remain uncertain." 48 See above, nn. 6-7. 49 Lohr, Basilides, 12-13; cf. 34, 215, 325-6, 329.
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Strom.4.81.1). Unlike the title that the ActaArchelaiattributes to Basilides himself ("Treatises," attested in ActaArchelai67.5a: tractatuum eius;67.b: nobis the title attested by Clement may have suggestedto some scholtractatuum), ars that Basilideswas an 'exegete' of scripture. Yet even if one was to suppose that Exegeticaserved as a title for Basilides's (fl. 120-140 C.E.) work, in Greek the term 'EtyrlmzrKau almost never connotes a commentary on an esteemed body of literatureprior to Origen in the mid-third century C.E. On the contrary, the adjective CermyTxiuKo pertains to a "narrative"or, more aptly for the survivingfragments of Basilides'swriting, an "explanation."50The physician Galen (d. 199/200 C.E.), for example, uses the adjectivein this way when referringto his own and others' medical works as iy4rltKrua iVbotvicatxa("explanatory treatises").51
The only possible example I have found to the contraryis the following description of a work by the Hellenistic Jewish author Aristobulus of Alexandria (2nd c. B.C.E.) by Eusebius of Caesarea (Hist. eccl. 7.32.16): xroiMWouoxovo6jou("booksthat explain [or: 'exegete'] ptipXos; '4yrlntcKC the Law of Moses").52Notably, Eusebius (d. c. 340 C.E.) is later than to describeAristobulus's Basilides(and Origen), but may well use enyxntKdc work as explanatory of the Jewish Law in relation to Aristotelianphilosophy (cf. Euseb., Praep.evang.8.9) rather than as a commentaryon the Law. Moreover, prior to the time of Basilides 'ETrnyrXctK (less frequently, the the for is attested as for title works, example, by the singular, 'ElytmziKuv)
50
LSJ, s.v.
irmtllc6oq. See also, e.g., Acusilaus (Hist.; 5th c.
B.C.E.)
Test. 5.2;
Antigonus(Paradox.;3rd c. B.C.E.),Hist. mir.60b.l.11; ChrysippusSoleus (Phil.; 3rd c. B.C.E.)Frag. logicaet physica174.9, 1018.2; Frag. moralia613.5, 614.4; Diogenes Babylonius (Phil.; 2nd c. B.C.E.),Frag. 64.3; Arius Didymus (Doxogr.; 1st c. B.C.E.),Liber
dephilosoph. sectis77.1.16, 80.1.3; AristonicusAlex. (Gramm.;1st c. B.C.E.-lstc. C.E.),De sig. Od. 16.18.3. 51 Gal., De sanitatetuenda6.107.8 (Sta -Cov tmnyutiKroV in the context of inogvrloaTv,Xrov, defending the views of'Hippocrates' from the criticisms of Theon of Smyrna [fl. 130 C.E.]) ; cf. 6.106.4; Gal., De dficultate respirationis7.764.11-12 (yrTucmiKa re ypa, mais qu'elle consiste en l'tude des ; sont mentionnes ensuite, apres la resurrection du Christ , le rassemblementdes disciples,l'explicationdes Ecrituresdans la perspective de leur mission, la fixation de la doctrine, du dogme, de la discipline du Nouveau Testament; puis les d'evangelisationassuree par les disciples ; enfin, le regne de l'empereur Neron, le <premier de tous ceux qui persecuterent les serviteursde Dieu, fit crucifierPierre et decapiter Paul >. Nous allons porter une attention particuliere a cette forme d'introduction a l'histoiredes persecuteurset de leur mort, comme a certains des termes du prologue propres a mieux souligner l'ecart qui separe Lactance et Eusebe. Pour le moment, notons qu'en reliant d'emblee l'histoire de l'ecrasementdes ennemis du Dieu chretien, qu'il va detailleret developper, a celle qui conduit au retablissementtriomphant de l'Eglise, qu'il celebre, dans son recit. Celle-ci apporte l'auteur introduit une forme de previsibiliti l'elan qui doit emporter le lecteur, elle lance ce <mouvement vectorise?29 qui est une des caracteristiquesdu romanesque. Et c'est ici un mouvement
25 Le DMP presente de ce fait une disproportion entre la place reservee aux premiers persecuteurs et celle qui est assignee aux Tetrarques. 26 De TiberiiCaesaris,ut scriptumlegimus,... Mort., II, 1: Extremistemporibus 27 De Mort., I, 8-9 cite note 23. La traduction de J. Moreau a ete remaniee ici, notamment pour faire ressortir le tres programmatique exponam,place juste a la fin du prologue. 28 De Mort., chapitre II. 29 Voir note 4.
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triomphant,heureux,jubilatoire puisque le metadiscourshistoriographique que l'on vient de lire figure aprescette exclamation de triomphe: Voici tous nos adversairesecras6s,la paix rendue A l'univers,l'Eglise, naguere abattue, debout a nouveau: la mis6ricordedu Seigneur releve, plus glorieux que jamais, le temple30de Dieu qu'avaient ruin6 les impies. C'est que Dieu a suscit6 des princes31qui ont aboli l'empire criminel et sanglant des tyrans, qui ont pourvu au salut du genre humain, en dissipantpour ainsi dire le nuage de cette sinistre 6poque et en accordant a tous les coeurs la joie et la douceur d'une paix sereine. (...) Ceux qui avaient outrage Dieu sont a terre; ceux qui avaient jet6e bas le saint temple ont ete precipitis d'une chute plus terrible; ceux qui s'etaientfait les bourreauxdes justes32ont rendu leur ame malfaisante, frapp6spar le ciel des fleaux et des tourmentsqu'ils avaient m6rit6s.33 Qu'il y ait une dimension polemique dans ces lignes, que le theme de vengeance divine reprenne le topos greco-latin et judeo-hellenistique de la n'est plus a redire.34 En revanche, que la punition divine des 0eoa%&Xot introduite dans le recit suppose un terme qui previsibilite (d'un bonheur) le de l'auteur et de son lecteur, comme cela ressort rejoint (bonheur) present notamment des epidictiques ecce et nunc, est important pour notre propos. Car, d'une part, le recit qui s'annonce beneficie d'un effet d'anticipation qui rendra la conclusion de ce recit plus heureuse encore du fait qu'elle est prevue, mais differee, et donc attendue comme une promesse. Le DMP retrouve ainsi une constante du roman antique qui, apres les peripeties et les catastrophes, est de toujours de cette communautiesubsumee dans la premiere nos autres freres>>)et que personne du pluriel exprimee dans le possessif(>, 1990, p. 21-35. Cet article m'a eti indiqui par M. Pascal Boulhol que je remercie pour ses inestimables remarques bibliographiques. 57 Cf. Prud. cath. 3, 156-165, commentaire de J.-L. Charlet, La creationpoetiquedans le Cathemerinon ..., 1982, p. 166-167 et pour cath. 11, p. 104-110.
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l'element profane explicite.58De puisqu'ildissimulel'allusionbiblique derriere de plus l'art chretien, contraint reprendre le vocabulaire pictural paien, certes purifie, choisitjustement Orphee pour representerle Christ.59Or ces vers de Dracontiusse situentd'autantmieux dans cette lignee que l'OrpheeChrist orne des peintures de catacombes ou des reliefs de sarcophagespour rappeler aux fideles soit le Salut - il n'est alors accompagne que de moutons -, soit la Paix dont il est porteur: des animaux f6roces figurent alors precisement a c6te des brebis, comme en Romul. 1.60
Orphie-David Toutefois certains details - le statut de berger porteur d'une alliance de paix (v. 4),61l'instrumentde musique (v. 11), l'ours (v. 7) et le lion (v. 8)62 font songer a David, qui justement a aussi souvent ete rapproche d'Orphee,63tant dans la poesie64que dans l'iconographie chretiennes.65 58
Dracontius ne met pas en ceuvre une typologie chretienne: il ne reconnait pas ut priorumlitteraev. 1) et n'en fait pas Orph6e comme un personnage historique (renarrant la pr6figuration du Christ mais un modele pour Felicianus (sur la lecture allgorique de la Bible, cf. H. de Lubac, Exegesemedievale..., 1959-1964; G. Dorival et M. Dulaey, , 1974, p. 5-12. Pour l'Orphee-David de la mosaique de la synagogue de Doura-Europos, cf. H. Ster, , 1984, p. 212-213. 66 Cf. Prud. cath. 9, 5a propos de David: infulatusconcinebat uoce,cordaet _ympano. 67 On le lit deux fois en cath. 9, pour David (v. 5 a propos de David: infulatusconcinebat saeculisv. 25) et deux uoce,corda et tympano.) et pour le Christ quemuatesuetustisconcinebant fois en Romul.1 pour les chants d'Orphee (v. 5) et ceux de Dracontius lui-meme (v. 19). On peut remarquer que concinebat au v. 5 est suivi par trois ablatifs de moyen precisant la maniere de chanter, le premier etant uoce.Or en Romul.1, 2, on lit aussi dans un mouvement debutant par uoceapres la dierese comment Orphee chante dulcecarmenuoce,neruo, pectine. 68 Cf. Prud. cath. 9, 2: le poete demande sa lyre afin de chanter (ut canamv. 1) sur le a canamet melodumfont echo, de maniire recherchee, cantiChrist dulcecarmenet melodum; tasse(Romul.1, 2) et melos(v. 5). 69 On retrouve le tetrametre trochaique catalectique chez Sienque (Med. 740-751, Phaedr.1201-1212, Oed. 223-232), dans le Perigilium Veneris(cf.Jean Soubiran, Essai sur la des Romains... 1988, p. 4-5), chez d'autres poetes mineurs des 2me, versification dramatique 3emeet 4emesiecles, (cf. L. Havet, Coursilbnentairede mitrique..., 1894, p. 159 ?309) puis dans deux hymnes de Prudence qui est lui-meme inspire parl'hymne trois d'Hilaire de Poitiers (cf. J.-L. Charlet, L'influenced'Ausone..., 1980, p. 98-99), chez Dracontius en Romul. 1 puis chez Venance Fortunat (camn.2, 2). Voir notes 70-71. 70 Cf. d'Ausone..., 1980, p. 98-99. Prudence a rendu une cerJ.-L. Charlet, L'influence taine popularitea ce metre, ce dont Romul.1 peutetre unecho, avantl'hymne a la Sainte Croix de Venance Fortunat (carm.2, 2). 71 Hilaire de Poitiers chante ,cf. M. Reydellet, VenanceFortunat,CUF 1, 1994, note 7 p. 50.
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presence de vingt et untetrametrestrochaiquescatalectiquessuggererait?72 Dracontiusjoue ainsi avec cette double traditiond'Orphee pour inflechir le mythe dans un sens original:la dedicace a Felicianuscompare a Orphee rappelle que l'essentiel demeure la lecture politico-religieusede l'allegorie: les barbares Vandales sont des heretiques ennemis de la foi defendue par Felicianus porteur d'une paix divine. Chez Dracontius, cette foi, representee par la Rome chretienne, inclut aussila culture profane: Romulidas,un mot poetique rarissime,73 resonne dans ce ,(cf. >, MelangesStern,Paris, Editions Recherche sur les civilisations, A.D.P.F., 1983, p. 33-37, pl. 21-24. Beatrice P. F., ?Pech>>, DECA2, ss. dir. de A. di Berardino, Paris, Cerf, 1990 (Genova 1983), p. 1963-1964. Poemesprofanes Bouquet Jean, Wolff Etienne, Dracontius,(Euvres3, Tragidied'Oreste; 1-5, introduction de Jean Bouquet et Etienne Wolff, texte de Romulea1 etabli, traduitet comment6 parJean Bouquet, CUF, Paris, Les Belles-Lettres,1995, 278 p. en partie doubles. bei Hieronymus und seinen Vorgangernm,JbAC 33, Buchheit Vinzenz, ,RHPhR, 1984 (3), p. 205219 et 1 planche. Poemeslivres1-4, CUF 1, texte etabli et traduit par Fortunat, Reydellet Marc, Venance Marc Reydellet, Paris, les Belles Lettres, 1994, 207 p. en partie doubles. d'Orphee dans l'Antiquit>>,RA.MA.G.E. 4, 1986, Rinuy Paul-Louis, evov-i TO6v6in To6v6 TO K. T. E. avetoiugevovW
GNO 47,19: Tx iwp6evTpVT--tInIopo6evxt GNO 48,13: 8t6pXovat--a &eepXovxat GNO 48,19: e?iapg?vqv e?iLapgVn-TE?iFgapilp?Vq; ?eiLapgevT)v 49,29: yyo6vov-;- cy6voi;
GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO GNO
--v gtia p6vo) POInc 51,17: gta XpovouPbont 53,12: [Tepoi--xepoi o0 53,13: Txv avTkov-o{i Txv iavXov 53,17: c(bveiTai-()v?eiTt ztI 54,6: TiS---iva 54,9: i Kcai6--i 6 54,11: iuneptogXovT';--Vc?piox6GavTe;? 55,18: 0Xaaooa---OaaTTa 59,11: ovToS;-- vCo ? 59,23: XEyo &E-yco i31Tq i xoooSTov 60,15:-x-GNO 60,15: To 6o(pak,Xgvcp--okov T4 oa(paXv(aev GNO 61,10: napeKCivqoev--tva napelKivT)o
GNO 62,7: o6eiS;-- Xkn6vTovo65ei; t cnaa GNO 62,19: daiorlq-Sa& In his excellent introduction and notes to the text, Bandini makes a significant contribution in his discussion of the sources on which Gregory was drawing in his ContraFatum. In this context he mentions passages from Basil of Caesarea's Sixth Homily on the Hexaemeronand ContraEunomium,Bardesanes' Book of the Laws of the Countries(probably via Eusebius' Praeparatioevangelica on Genesisand the writings of Philo VI), passages from Origen's Commentary of Alexandria (esp. his On Providence).He disagrees with D. Amand who
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argued for Gregory's use of a source that would ultimately go back to Cameades. On the other hand he argues in defense of Gregory's use of the treatise ContraFatumwritten by Diodore of Tarsus very few years before Gregory wrote his. Especially the latter is an important point not noted by earlier commentators nor by McDonough in his explanatory notes to his edition. For all of these reasons Bandini'swork is a highly commendable piece of scholarship. Faculty of Theology,
JOHANLEEMANS
St. Michielsstraat6, B-3000 Leuven
againstPaganism(Jewish and Christian Aryeh Kofsky, Eusebiusof Caesarea Leiden-Boston-Koln: Brill 2000, xiii + 337 Vol. Series, III), Perspectives e 118/US$ 148 ISBN 90-04-11642-7, (clothboundwith book jacket). pp., The Praeparatio Evangelica,completed during Evangelicaand Demonstratio the first quarter of the fourth century by Eusebius of Caesarea, stand togetheras one of the greatestachievementsof the early Christianapologetic enterprise.Yet, these monumental works, as well as Eusebius'other apoloand ContraHieroclem) have getic undertakings(for instance, the Theophania received strikingly little modern attention. Until A. Kofsky's Eusebiusof Caesarea againstPaganism(a revision of his Hebrew University dissertation), no full-scale treatment of Eusebius' apologetic method existed. The impord'Eusebe de Cisaree[Dakar, tant contributionsofJ. Sirinelli (Lesvueshistoriques Ulrich von Caesarea und die (Euseb Juden[Berlin, 1999]), though 1961]) andJ. and Demonstratio, dedicatinga considerablenumber of pages to the Praeparatio were concerned with the specific issues that their respectivetitles indicated. At the outset, then, Kofsky is to be thanked for filling an unfortunate lacuna in the scholarshipon Eusebius and the early apologetic tradition. Eusebius' apologetic efforts are best examined, for Kofsky, as part of the polemical exchange between Christiansand pagans, on the one hand, and Christians and Jews, on the other. His emphasis falls on the former. Hence, following a brief overview of apologetics and the historical background to Eusebius' works, Kofsky offers a helpful survey of the fragmentary remains (as collected by Harnack) of Porphyry'sscathing critique In spite of the frequent criticisms of the faith in his Againstthe Christians. against the legitimacy of many of Harnack's fragments, Kofsky accepts ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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them all as faithful, if not exact, representations of Porphyry's work. Porphyry's anti-Christianpolemic, for Kofsky, stands as the background for properlyappreciatingthe thrust of Eusebius'apologetic arguments.The salient question thus becomes: to what extent, and in what manner, did Eusebiusmeet the attacksof his hostileopponent(s)?Kofskyturnsto Eusebius' non-apologeticworks for an initial sketch of the polemical issues that could be addressed in works such as the Chronicle, Ecclesiastical History,Life of In and Praise Constantine. examines the early Constantine, Next, Kofsky of texts of the lost and the Prophetic Eclogues, AgainstHierocles, Against apologetic Aside from brief mention in a note (50 n. 74), Kofsky infelicitously Porphyry. ignores the issue of the AgainstHierocles'authenticity. Following his survey of these other works, treatment of the Praeparatio and Demonstratio receive the bulk of Kofsky's attention. He sees the two as comprising a single apologetic undertaking addressed to recent converts and interestedpagans. His discussioncontainsthree parts. The firstidentifies the major polemical issues of Eusebius' double-work.The most significant of these lies in Eusebius' portrayal of Christian prehistory, what others have named an Altersbeweis. Eusebius identifies the ancient Hebrew patriarchs with the Christians,while at the same time creating a fissurebetween those Hebrews and their laterJewish descendantswho had fallen from the high standardsof their forebears (100-114).' If pagan polemicists had criticized the Christiansfor abandoning their ancestral (Greek)ways for a new and innovative religious option, Eusebius' rendering of Hebrew history would have squarelyfaced this challenge, while even turning the tables on his opponents by arguing for the chronologicallateness and culturaldependency of the Greeks. The second and third major polemical issues that Kofsky identifiesare those of prophecy and miracles.The former contained both a critique of pagan oracles and "proofs"of the fulfillmentof biblical prophecies; the latter centered upon pagan assertions that Christ's miracles were mere magic or trickery. The second section of Kofsky'streatmentof the Praeparatio and Demonstratio addressesminor apologetic-polemicalargumentsin the two works such as the late date of Christ'sappearance,the low literarystyle of Scripture,and
1 DespiteperiodicallycitingUlrich,Kofskyunfortunatelyrefusesto addresshis extensive critiqueof those discussions(suchas Kofsky'searlierarticle,"Eusebiusof Caesarea and the Christian-Jewish Iudaeos Polemic,"in 0. Limorand G. Stroumsa,Contra [Tiibingen, 1996], 59-83)that focuson the distinction,ratherthan the connection,betweenHebrews and Jews in Eusebius'writings.Ulrich'schallengeremainsunmet.
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Daniel's prophecy. A third section of Kofsky's treatment of the doublework evaluates Eusebius' rhetorical tactics (e.g., favoring a pagan position to refuteanother,while later rejectingit), and returnsto the role of Porphyry in Eusebius' apologetic enterprise. Rather than a straightforwardrebuttal to Porphyry's arguments, Kofsky admits (rightly) that Eusebius did not and he does not directly "specificallytarget Porphyry'sAgainstthe Christians, confrontPorphyry'sarguments"(273);instead,the quotationsfrom Porphyry's other works are used to highlightPorphyry'sown contradictionsor to refute the statements of other pagans. Kofsky closes the book with the first extended discussion in English of Here Kofsky isolates the themes of Eusebius' attitude Eusebius' Theophany. to Plato, his conception of the Roman Empire, apologetic use of the resurrection, and his argument from prophecy. In each area, Kofsky detects change in Eusebius'later formulationscomparedwith those of the Praeparatio his evaluation of Plato becomes harsher; the relation of and Demonstratio: Church and Empire solidifies;his conception of the resurrectionis transformed from a theological to an apologetic use; and the salience ofJesus' fulfilled prophecies is increased. While this reviewer might disagree over attitude towardsPlato ought details (for instance, analysis of the Theophany's to be tempered by recognition of Eusebius' attack against Plato in earlier works, e.g., PE 2.6.21-2.7.8), Kofsky's general aims and approach in this section are admirable. Kofsky's treatment of Eusebius' apologetic method covers much important ground. The identification of particular themes that may have been of importance in Christian-paganpolemics is a useful enterprise in more fully understanding the complexities and richness of the cultural, philosophical and religious world of late antiquity.Yet, at the end of the book, one is left wondering to what extent Eusebius had a single coherent idea and Demonstratio after all. Kofsky's of what he was doing in the Praeparatio from diverse pasissues the selective of involves culling polemical approach in This the of results overlooking some important sages in the double-work. passages (indeed, entire books), on the one hand, and the neglect of the context in which those polemical issues were situated, on the other. For instance,Eusebius'historical,euhemerizingnarrativeof Phoenician,Egyptian and Greek history (in PE 1-2, echoed in Theoph.2.1-18) receives scarce mention. Likewise, Eusebius' mocking criticismsof Greek allegoricalpractices in PE 3-4 hardly receive the attention they deserve (see only the brief comments on 153-154). In fact, the apologist's attack of Greek allegory is closely connected to his euhemerizing history. Allegory by Greeks such as
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Porphyry or Plutarch (a figure woefully underrepresentedin Kofsky's discussion)attempted to salvage myths that were otherwise deservingof rejection for their violent, impious and irrational characters.Eusebius' defense of his euhemerist, historicizinginterpretationof the myths simultaneously stood as a defense of the Christian rejection of those myths. If allegorical approaches were left untouched, the Greeks would always be left with a way around Eusebius' moral objections to their myths. This example highlightsnot only a missed opportunityin Kofsky'swork, but also a hint at how one might go about looking for a unified argument What might at firstbe deemed a smattering in the Praeparatio and Demonstratio. of sourceson Phoenician,Egyptianand Greekmyths, or on Greekallegorical interpretations,begins to emerge as a more unified and coherent argument upon closer reading.Repeated assertionsthat Eusebius'treatmentof various polemicalissuesis given at randomand "piecemeal"(225)give the impression that his magisterial apologetic project was nothing more than the marshallingof indiscriminateretortsagainst a diverse array of pagan arguments patched together in a hackneyed fashion. Yet, Eusebius repeatedlyevinced a concern for the order and arrangement of the parts of his work so as to offer a coherent, even monolithic, apology (see most notably: PE 1.6.5; 4.1.2-5; 15 praef.). The unity of Eusebius'overall argument is sacrificedby the attempt to isolate particular polemical motifs. Even within the limits of Kofsky's investigation his attempt to be comprehensive is inadequate: aside from the issues of euhemerism and allegory, the themes of Fate, demonology, ancient cosmogonies, the discord of Greek philosophers, national chronologies, and Greek cultural dependency deserve more substantial treatment. Kofsky is to be commended for tackling Eusebius' apologetic method a topic long since overdue in Eusebian scholarship.The range and general aims are commendable;yet Eusebius, the master apologist who possessed a remarkableabilityto marshala single unified argumentthrough an amazingly complex and disparate collection of sources, deserves more. Department of Classics, Baylor University,
One Bear Place, Box 97352, Waco,TX 76798-0002
AARON
P. JOHNSON
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Eric Rebillard, Religionet sepulture.L'Eglise,les vivantset les mortsdans tardive(Civilisationset Societes 115), Paris:Editions de l'Ecole des l'Antiquiti hautes etudes en sciences sociales, 2003, 243 p., ISBN 2-7132-1792-X, e 22 (pb). Starting in the mid-1990s, Eric Rebillard began to publish a series of revisionaryarticles in which he investigatedkey aspects of early Christian funerary practice. In the book under review, Rebillard recapitulates his earlier work, systematizesit, and further develops it. His aim is to provide us with a more or less comprehensivehistory of early Christianburial cusdevantla mort.Using toms, and thus to supplementP. Aries' famous L'homme the written sources as his main source of information,Rebillard concludes that the early Church did not play a very conspicious role in the structuring of early Christian funerary rites in general, and in the organization and administrationof early Christiancemeteriesin particular.In Rebillard's view, Christianburial in Late Antiquity was essentiallya family affair;systematic Church involvement does not predate the Middle Ages. Seeing continuitywhere other scholarssee change, Rebillard'sconclusionsare thus at odds with what is generally believed to have been the Church's role in funerary matters during the late antique period. In a short introductorychapter, Rebillard recapitulateshis earlier work and area,or, more precisely, on on the meaning of the terms coemeterium whether these terms can be understood to refer to Christian communal cemeteries. This is an excellent little chapter in which Rebillard shows what he is best at: a detailed analysis of the literary sources, with special emphasis on what we can infer from them. He concludes, convincingly, that there is no evidence to argue that mentioned terms in themselveshelp to document the existence of separate (let alone of Church-run) early Christian cemeteries. In Chapter 2 Rebillard turns to the question of whether groups with separate identities always and inevitably constructed separate, communal cemeteries. This chapter is particularlycommendable because of its inclusion of evidence bearing on the adherents of mystery cults and on Jews. This is a crucially-importantcontext that is almost always overlooked in studies dealing with the genesis of early Christian burial customs. Using archaeologicalevidence, Rebillardseeks to show that nuclear families rather than religious communities were normally responsiblefor the proper burial of their kin. He also argues that normally there was no religious separatism in the cemeteries of the ancient world. ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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A closer investigation of this chapter reveals, however, that the desire to document mentioned thesis has led Rebillard to interpret the archaeological evidence in ways that are not convincing. With regard to the Jews, the archaeological evidence clearly demonstrates that once a community was large enough numericallyspeaking,Jews did construct separate cemeteries-cemeteries that are so large as to make the identification of the nuclear-familyelement impossible. The rabbinic sources cited by Rebillard do not prove, as he believes, that Jews did not generally care about "confessional separatism of corpses." They rather document the opposite: for example, the sources do not forbid explicitly the burying together of Jews and non-Jews simply because it was self-evident from the beginning that this was not normal procedure. Last but not least, even early Christian sources show that Jews disposed of separateJewish cemeteries that were identifiableas such by outsiders (e.g. Ambrose, Exh. Virg.1.7). Equally skewed is Rebillard'sinterpretationof early Christian archaeological remains:whereas in his discussionof Jewish materials,his emphasis was on a surveyof Diasporamaterials,and smallercemeteries,now Rebillard's focus is on catacombs and on Rome, or, more precisely, on Pergola'scase study of the Domitilla catacombs. That Domitilla provides evidence in support of Rebillard's nuclear-family theory and non-separate character of early Christian and pagan burial is well known. Yet, precisely because Rebillard argues against the wide-held belief of Church involvement, he should have investigatedin detail the evidence that is most relevant here, namely the Area I of the Callixtus-catacomb.After all, not the Domitilla catacomb but the Area I of Callixtushas alwaysbeen referredto by archaeologists in material support of the hypothesis of Church involvement. In addition, this is also the area that has been linked to Hippolytus'spassage discussed by Rebillard in Chapter I. Along similar lines, it seems hard to believe, as Rebillard tries to argue, that the larger catacombs of Rome were all the result of private initiative: they are simply too extended for that. Rather than saying that we should perhaps investigate this (p. 48), reflection on this issue is exactly what one would expect from a book that deals with the history of early Christian burial customs in a comprehensive manner. In Chapter 3, Rebillardfocuseson collegia,puttingto an end Mommsen's fneraticia, stressingthat even within collegia famtheory of separate collegia ilies continued to play a central role, and arguing convincingly that the early Church should not be viewed as a collegium. In addition, Rebillard points out that Christianscould acquire membership in collegia, and that
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the Christianizationof the Empire did not automaticallyresultin the demise of the traditionalcollegia. This leads Rebillard to suggest that collegia may have been responsible for the construction of the catacombs. All of this also serves to support Rebillard's hypothesis that when it came to burial, religious boundaries were much less defined than is commonly supposed, just as membership in one religious group did not inevitably result in the constructionof cemeteriesdesigned for one's co-religionistsexclusively.Even though these are all good points-Rebillard's presentation of the evidence being straightforward,well-structured,and carefullyargued it is not clear to the present reviewer why the above would exclude or prevent involvement of the Church in burial matters. Rebillard maintains that had this been the case, it would have been necessaryfor the Church to justify itself (p. 70). Chapter 4 is a carefully-researchedchapter that seeks to argue that the discovery of "the body" in Late Antiquity, and the concomitant efforts to control it, are reflected indirectly in sources that deal with burial, in particular in those focusing on tomb violation, and in discussions of how to dispose of a corpse. Here, Rebillard stresses continuity:for example, fines imposed on those who break into tombs were not necessarily to be paid to the Church but rather, as had always been customary, to the State. This, in turn, could be used as an argument in support of the hypothesis that the Church did not possess its own cemeteries (p. 89). Perhaps most interestingin this chapter is Rebillard'sanalysis of Christianity'sjustification for inhumation (as opposed to cremation). Rebillard argues consistentlythat this happened out of general respect for the body rather than with an eye to a specific belief in the resurrectionof the dead. Even though Rebillard'sinterpretationof the relevantearly Christiansources is sound, he never answers the question of why pagan interlocutors that appear in these sources thought there existed a connection between inhumation and resurrectionin the firstplace. Were these pagan contemporaries mere inventions by Christian authors wishing to make a point? If so, why would such authors think it necessary to make it? Or did their pagan contemporariesperhaps really believe that such a connection made sense, as Rebillard himself seems to suggest in another context (see p. 120)? Clearly, Rebillard's conclusion (p. 101) that religious considerationsplayed no role in the shift from cremation to inhumation requiresfurtheranalysis to make it really convincing. On the basis of a thorough analysis of patristicsources Rebillard argues, in Chapter 5, that the duty to bury one's co-religionistsis not of central
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concern in early Christianity,and that, therefore, it cannot, and should not, be consideredas an importantearly Christianidentitymarker.Rebillard also points out that even though there is some evidence in support of the idea that the Church was responsiblefor the burial of poor, this evidence can hardly be called plentiful. He explains that the practice of burying the poor was first administeredby the Rome state, before it became, in due course, the prerogativeof the bishop. Particularworthwhile in the context of these considerationsis Rebillard's analysis of the transmissionand textual history of Hippolyte'sApostolicTradition (pp. 130-34). In Chapter 6, Rebillardinvestigatesearly Christianfuneraryrituals,only to conclude that throughout the fourth and fifth centuries there were no standard rituals or liturgy that the Church sought to impose on its believers. In Chapter 7 Rebillard stresses once again the Church's limited role, this time vis-a-vis the individual commemoration of the early Christian dead. He argues that commemoration was essentially a family affair-a private sphere that the Church did not invade unless strictly necessary. Thus, this is yet another area in which cultural continuity outweighs religious change, and in which Church involvement was limited. In his two-page conclusion Rebillard observes, among other things, that he does not claim to have resolved all problems. The aim of his book is rather to draw attention to the fact that there exists preciously little literary evidence in support of the idea of third-centurycemeteries controlled exclusively by the Church and specifically destined for the burial of the Christian dead. All things considered, it is clear that Rebillard has surveyed an impressive array of material, both as regards the primary and the secondary sources. This is obviously a book that no one interestedin early Christian funerary rites can dispense with. Whether Rebillard's central thesis convinces, is another matter. Leaving aside the fact that few modern scholars actually defend the thesis Rebillard criticizes, his insistence on the essential non-involvementof ecclesiasticalauthoritiesis too exclusivistto be persuasive. First of all, the fact that our fragmentaryliterary sources do not document Church involvement,does not automaticallypreclude the Church from having played or tried to play a role in these matters. Secondly, one scenario (burial as family affair) does not automatically and/or wholly exclude other scenarios (Church involvement). And lastly, Rebillard fails to offer an alternativethat could serve to explain the existence of the early Christian cemetery par excellence, namely the catacombs. How was it possible for the larger of such cemeteries, including the ones in Rome, Naples,
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and on Sicily, to take such an enormous size? Were they all dug by groups of collegia-typeassociationsas Rebillard suggestsin passing?Do such clubs really suffice to explain the enormous size of some of these catacombs? Were they capable of planning and financing these gigantic sites? In more general terms, one may also wonder, whether it is possible to write a comprehensivehistory of early Christian burial customs a la Aries without a systematic investigation of archaeological, art historical and, in particular,of epigraphic remains. Why should the literary sources, incomplete as they are, always be our point of departureand serve as the guiding principle that structuresour reconstructionsof the past? Similarly,why not include an investigationof early Christianiconography,since this might have resulted in a different view regarding the relationship between burial and early Christian identity formation?In light of Rebillard'stheses, it would also have been worthwhileif his book had included a thorough discussion of inscriptions,including the one erected by the archdeaconSeverus in the Gaius and Eusebius region in Callixtus (ICVRIV, 10183)-to cite but one telling example. To conclude. None of the above remarks are meant to downplay the importance of this book. It is certainly true that Rebillard has looked at the literary sources in a way that no archaeologist working with these sources ever has. It is also clear that Rebillard's insistence on analyzing the literary sources in a comprehensivemanner, will certainlyhelp archaeologists who refer to these sources from jumping to conclusions all too hastily. It is fair to say, therefore, that even though Rebillard'smain thesis might not convince everyone, he has certainly succeeded in writing a book that will occupy a central place in discussionsof early Christianburial rites for years to come. Faculty of Theology, Utrecht University
LEONARD
V. RUTGERS
Adolf Martin Ritter, VomGlauben derChristen in Denken undseinerBewdhrung und Handeln.Gesammelte zur Ki?rchengeschichte Aufsdtze (ISBN 3-934285-51-1), Mandelbachtal/Cambridge2003 Im Vorwort zu diesem inhaltsreichenSammelbanderklartder Verfasser, er habe wahrend seiner gesamten akademischen activitas zu beherzigen versucht,was sein MeisterH. von Campenhausenseinen Schiiler einscharfte: "Wir sind keine Patristiker,sondern Kirchenhistorikermit patristischem ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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Schwerpunkt."Das zeigt sich tatsachlichan dem Inhalt auch dieses Buches. Seine vier Teile reprasentieren'Zeitiibergreifendes', 'Mittelalter'Patristisches', liches' und 'Neuzeitliches'. Innerhalbder patristischenStudien wird dem Problem der Hellenisierung des Christentumsund der Gedankenweltdes Dionysius Pseudo-Areopagites grosse Aufmerksamkeitgewidmet. Letzerer erscheint auch in dem Abschnit 'Mittelalterliches'innerhalb der Rezeptionsgeschichte.Gerade dieser Autor ist ein Beispiel der vielbesprochenenFrage nach der Rechtmassigkeitder Aneignung des griechischen Geistes durch die Christen. Der neuzeitliche Abschnitt beschaftigt sich mit den herausragenden Gelehrten Adolf von Harnack und Hans von Campenhausen, mit der Geschichte der Theologischen Fakultatder UniversitatHeidelberg wahrend der Nazizeit, mit der Kirchengeschichte der Umgebung Heidelbergs, sowie mit der deutschen Kirchengeschichtein der Nachkriegszeitim Schatten der Verbrechen des Naziregimes, die in deutschem Namen begangen wurden und denen zu wenige Deutsche sich widersetzthatten. In den letzteren Aufsatzen kommt das existentielleEngagement Ritters voll zum Ausdruck.Wie sich auch aus seinen anderen dogmengeschichtichen Studien ergibt, liegt ihm insbesondere das VerhaltniszumJudentum am Herzen. Das Engagementbeeinflusst allerdings in keiner Weise die historischen Analysen. Ritter schliesst nirgendwo 'messerscharf,dass nicht sein kann was nicht sein darf.' Das zeigt sich bei den patristischenAufsatzen nicht nur in seiner Beurteilung der Hellenisierungder christlichenTheologie, sondem auch in seiner Darstellung des Konstantin und in seiner Behandlung der Stellung der Christen zur Sklaverei. Das Handeln der Christen ist ihm genauso wichtig wie ihr Denken, aber moralische Urteile werden historischerUmsicht untergeordnet und erst nach sorgfaltigerAnalyse vorsichtig ausgesprochen. Uber viele Jahre war der bekannte Heidelberger Kirchenhistorikerein Gesprachspartner,auf den jeder gerne mit grosser Aufmerksamkeithorte und der selbst seine Ansichten erst zu erkennen gab, nachdem er zugehort hatte. Was auch in diesen Aufsitzen auffallt ist, wie sorgfaltigneben den Quellen die Sekundarliteraturverarbeitetworden ist. Ritters Literaturberichte legten immer ein Zeugnis davon ab. Wer an der Heidelberger Universitat Professorwar, der hatte einen Job, der weit weniger Zeit zum eigenen Studium liess als man sich es wahrscheinlichwiinschen wirde. Der Verfasser hat diese ihm noch vergonnte kostbare Zeit zu nutzen gewusst. Die dem Band hinzugefuigteBibliographieseit demJahre 1994 zeigt dieses in beeindruckenderWeise. Die gesammelten Aufsatze laden zur Lektire der tibrigen Veroffentlichungendes Verfassrs ein. Man kann dem inzwi-
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schen gut Siebzigjahrigen neben einem otium cum dignitatenur weitere Schaffenskraftwinschen, von der viele lernen konnen und wollen. Ridderspoorlaan 8
E.P. MEIJERING
NL 2343 TZ Oegstgeest
Nubiens(Sprachen und Siegfried G. Richter, Studienzur Christianiserung Kulturen der Christlichen Orients, Bd. 11), Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag 2002, 216 p., ISBN 3-89500-311-5, E 42. Nubia, the Middle Nile region south of Egypt, entered the orbit of the Christianworld at a relativelylate date. Situated for the most part outside of the frontiersof the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianityis usually dated to the sixth century, specificallyto the era of Justinian and his immediate successors, with Narses' closure of the great temple of Isis in Philae in 535-537 seen as a pivotal moment. Then Christian kings held sway in the present-daynorthernSudan for almostthousandyears afterwards. After a period of waning interest, Christian Nubia is back again at the center of scholarly attention. The year 2002 saw the publication of D.A. Welsby's The MedievalKingdoms of Nubia, a comprehensive history of the in medieval based times, region mainly upon archaeological evidence. Almost simultaneously, Richter's Studien,the book under review here, appeared. Originally a Miinster "Habilitationsschrift",it focuses on the beginnings of Christianityin Nubia, assigninga central place to the written evidence. Thus it could be said to replace a far older Miinster dissertation, Die Anfangedes Christentums in Nubien,by J. Kraus (1930). The major part of Richter'sbook (pp. 29-98) consistsof a German translation and a painstaking,almost word-by-word,discussion of an "outside" source, the relevant chapters of the Syriac Church History of John of Ephesus, written in Constantinoplefrom a Monophysiteperspective.These chapters (6-9 and 49-53) contain, among a lot of other information, the famous story about the two competing imperial missions sent by Justinian and Theodora. Richter's cautious analysisis of great value because he convincinglydemonstratesthe significanceofJohn's near-contemporaryaccount, while at the same time pointing out its limits as set by genre conventions and author's bias, for example. Both internal criticism and comparison with external evidence clearly show that John's account, when judiciously used, is a firstrate sourcefor the historyof sixth-centuryByzantinemissionary ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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activity in Nubia and its backgroundin contemporaryByzantine (church) politics, including the conflict over the Council of Chalcedon. Whether it is also the best source for the Christianizationof Nubia remains to be seen. In the second half of the Studien,the emphasis shifts to other sources, most of them local. These are used, first of all, as a point of comparison, supplementingand sometimes indeed confirmingthe informationprovided by John of Ephesus. To this end, the author discusses a wide variety of sources, ranging from inscriptionsand papyri to archaeologicaland architecturalinformationabout early Nubian church building and the Christian re-use of pagan temples. Thus, chapter 4 considers the so-called Documenta as well as other witnesses attesting to the missionaryactivities monophysitica of Bishops Theodore and Longinus described by John. In chapter 5, literary and epigraphicsources for the conversion of Philae, a site that holds a key-positionin the events under study, are discussed. The short chapter 6 deals with earlier, mainly fifth-centurywitnessesto Christianityin Nubia, and in chapters 7 and 8 evidence for temple conversion and the establishment of the early Nubian church, both institutionally (dioceses) and physically (church buildings)is presented. In these later chapters, too, the discussionof the various sources is usually careful and erudite. The author's treatment here, however, may be more easily open to criticism,perhaps on account of the diversityand dispersion of the material and its inherent difficultiesof interpretation.Thus, I find his extensiveargument(pp. 128-135)for what he calls a "Kultadaption", an intentional replacement of the cult of Isis of Philae with the cult of the Virgin Mary, far from convincing. The main support for his thesis comes from a single passage in an eighth-century Coptic dedicatory inscription from a Philae church (SBKopt I, 302). The Virgin's epithet in 1. 7 of the inscriptionwould, according to Richter, echo similar titles of Isis of Philae. In fact, the epithet in question is one of the most popular in the entire Christian world ("Notre Dame") and hardly distinctive enough to connect it with specificallylocal and far earlier cult forms of Isis. The thesis of a schemed cultic reshuffle on Philae is not only insufficientlysupported by the inscription (the analogy with Menouthis, p. 135, is misleading since the evidence is far more conclusive there), but it also reflects a nineteenthcentury mechanical view of Christianizationthat I find not very attractive. Technically, too, Richter's treatment of the inscriptioncannot claim to be final. The foggy reproductionon p. 130, where most ends of lines are lacking, is hardly helpful; the one given by W. Brunsch in 1993, cited on p. 128, is an outright fake (the editor has been tamperingwith the photo).
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Another point of criticismconcerns the many church plans that are strewn over the later chapters of the book. These are potentially valuable material for a synthetic picture of Christian beginnings in Nubia. Since hardly any interpretationalframeworkis provided, however, their usefulnessfor a reader who is not an expert in Byzantine church architectureis virtually nil. Nonetheless, here again, the author brought together a wealth of material and references that will certainly serve future discussion. This being said, I think Richter's book calls for a few remarks of a general nature. Its Mtinster predecessor, Kraus' Anfdnge,was published in a series entitled "Missionswissenschaftliche Studien". Surprisingly, Richter's book might have been given the same title. Directly from the outset (p. 11: "Einleitung: 1.1 Die Problemstellung"),"Christianisierung" and "Missionierung" are identifiedwithoutfurtherado and that identification remains unquestionedthroughout the book. Self-evidentseventy years ago, this one-track traditionalview of Christianizationis hardly a viable option anymore.At first glance, it might seem to be justifiedby the heavy emphasis on John of Ephesus, a source clearly dominated by ecclesiasticalconcerns. Still, even the traditional heroic missionary exposing the Creed to hostile barbarianscan perhaps be better understood when viewed as an actor in complex processes of cultural and political transformation.In my opinion, Richter's book would have profited from a more conceptual approach to Christianizationand, on the individual level, conversion. Recent models for such an approach are not lacking and I cite only one here, NJ. Higham's well-informed book about practically contemporaneous conversion processes in another peripheral region, England (The ConvertKings: Powerand ReligiousAffiliation in Anglo-Saxon England,1997). Post-Meroitic Nubia, in the period between about 300 and 700, went through a long process of profound political and cultural restructuring which was not merely ethnic and militaryin nature, but affected all aspects of its economic, social and religious life. New and more complex polities were created; a new cultural orientation northward implied, among other things, the adoption of new cultic forms and administrativestructures,a greaterspreadof literacyand a revisedrelationshipwith the ChristianEmpire. In this context, conversion to Christianityis only one aspect of a much more comprehensiveprocess of "acculturation",affecting the entire life of a region on the fringe of the Empire. Considered from a less exclusively missionary point of view, precisely the local, "inside" sources have much more to offer than mere names of bishops and dates of temple conversions. This may be illustratedby two examples. First, the three Coptic letters
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addressedto Tantani, a Nouba chieftain apparentlyresidentin Qasr Ibrim, that are usuallydated to the second half of the fifth century,severaldecades before the reign ofJustinian. Tantani may have been a Christian,but that is in my opinion not the most interestingaspect of these letters (summarily discussedby Richter,pp. 146-147).All are in Coptic, a languageforemost associated with Egyptian monasticism. One is apparently even translated from the original Greek into Coptic (FHN III, 320), while another one is written by a monk based at Philae (FHN III, 322). The latter is not concerned with religious matters, however, but mainly with commercial transactions involving luxury commodities (purple dye and pepper). In a nutshell, this letter reveals some of the things that may have really mattered in the Christianizationof Nubia: the prestige of a modern and successful Christian lifestyle, the technological advantages of a literary culture that allows communication by letters and, above all, commercial interests. Adopting Christianityfor the members of the Nubian elite meant gaining access to a culturethat was intellectuallyand technologicallymore advanced and enhanced their economic and, eventually,political chances within their own group. The dedicatory inscription of Dendur (FHN III, 330; extensively discussed by Richter, pp. 164-172) conveys a very similar impression.It postdates, although probably not by very long, as Richter convincinglyargues, the official acceptation of Christianity by the leading political circles of northern Nubia. The text is again in Coptic and its style and contents reflect Christian Egyptian epigraphic habits. The individualsmentioned in the inscription are Church dignitaries and representativesof the Nubian administration,including a "king".Among the individualsfrom the latter group, who all must have been Nubians, two bear traditional Egyptian names (Shai and Papnoute), two "catholic" or biblical names (Joseph, Epiphanius, as do the clerics, Theodore and Abraham), while two bear Nubian names (Eirpanome, the king, and Sirma). The non-clerical titles that appear show a similar mixture. Only one is Nubian (samata),while the others are counterfeitedafter Byzantine ones. That of "exarch"might even seem to link Talmis (Kalabsha)with Justinian's Ravenna! Whereas the underlying social structuresmust have remained Nubian, the functions within the royal administrationwere apparentlyrestyledto conform at least nominally to Byzantine models. Thus, even samatais replaced in later documents with the Greek domestikos only to become Nubian samet-again in late medieval times (Studien,p. 170). Finally, the use of Coptic again suggests the input of Egyptian monasticism,as do the Tantani letters and the
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so-called "Histories of the monks of Upper Egypt" (or VitaAaronis),an important source for the Christianizationof the region, grossly neglected by Richter (pp. 121-123). As these few examples show, the "inside"sources are invaluablein identifying the authoritativemodels (which means much more than "influences") that informed Nubian Christianity in its early years. They reveal the Christiani7ationof Nubia and the conversionof its elites as part of a process of acculturationand thereby automaticallycall into question the traditional missionary model as articulated by "outside" sources such as John of Ephesus' Church History. Richter's adherence to this traditionalmodel can be respected. Nevertheless, adopting a more sophisticatedapproach to the very processes that he is studying would have enabled him to do fuller justice to his sources and create a more convincing picture of what Christianizationmay have actually meant for the Nubians themselves. In spite of these criticalremarks,however, there can be no doubt that Richter's Studienprovide a learned and thorough discussion of a number of important sources for the establishmentof Christianityin Nubia, from which the scholarly debate will certainly benefit. Universiteit Leiden,
Faculty of Arts, Department of Middle Eastern Studies Witte Singel 25, 2300 RA Ieien
JACQUESVANDERVLIET
[email protected] Paul le Perse,logiciendu VIesiecle,Paris: Javier Teixidor, Aristoteen syriaque. CNRS Editions 2003, 152 pp., ISBN 2-271-06161-X, e 24 (pb). In this book the author presents a collection of several older publications which underline the importance of the Syriac tradition for the reception of Aristotle'sphilosophy in the Arabic world. Syriac Christiansstudied the and Porphyry'sIsagogein order to clarifythe relation treatisesof the Organon of Christian belief to science. The flourishing of Syriac philosophy was stimulated by the general desire of people in the Roman province of Osrhoene to speak carefullyand correctly about the divinity of Christ and about the Persons of the Trinity, abiding by the guidelines of the Council of Ephesus in 431 which condemned Nestorius. The special attention paid to Aristotle's logical writings during a long period seems to have been furthered by the idea that logic were a kind ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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of 'neutral' science, where there was no need to deal with controversial topics such as the immortalityof the soul or the beginning in time of the cosmos. Foremost among these Christianscholarswas Paul the Persian from the region of Nisibis, who went to the court of King Chosroes in SeleuciaCtesiphon in 529 AD. He dedicated a treatise on logic to this king. The book of Teixidor contains many interesting details about scholars writing in Syriac. However, because it is composed of rather heterogeneous (p. 5) promises,among parts, it lacks unity and coherence. The 'Avetissement' other things, a translationof Paul the Persian'sversion of Porphyry'sIsagoge and Aristotle's Categories and On interpretation. But the book itself (pp. 79select from Paul's text, with a commentary by 121) gives only passages Teixidor. On the Syriac translationsof the Categories, see now the splendid new edition by R. Bod&is,Aristote[Categories], texte etabli et traduit (Paris:Les Belles Lettres, 2001) pp. clxvii-clxx.
[email protected] A.P. Bos
BOOKS RECEIVED LeotheGreat'sTheology Armitage,J. Mark,A TwofoldSolidarity. of Redemption Christian Studies (Early 9), Strathfield,NSW, Australia:St. Paul'sPublications 2005, xiii + 228 pp., ISBN 0-9752138-2-2, AUS$ 38.50 (pb).-A wideranging survey of Leo the Great's theology of redemption in ten chapters: Promise, Fulfilment,Restoration, Passion, Resurrection,Ascension, Image, Fasting,Almsgiving,Romanitas.In the discussionof Leo and the Manichaeans Fontium Manichaeorum, (155.160-162.170),one reallymissesreferencesto Corpus SeriesLatina,Vol. I: SanctiLeonisMagniRomaniPontficis,Sermones et Epistulae (Turhout, Brepols 2000). Cassianus,Collationes XXIIII, edidit Michael Petschenig. Editio altera supplementis aucta curante Gottfried Kreuz (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum LatinorumXIII), Wien: Verlag der OsterreichischenAkademie der Wissenschaften 2004, [VIII +] 744 S., ISBN 3-7001-3286-7, E 109,50 (broschiert). / De incarnatione contraNestorium, edidit Cassianus,De institutiscoenobiorum Michael Petschenig. Editio altera supplementis aucta curante Gottfried Kreuz (CorpusScriptorumEcclesiasticorumLatinorumXIII), Wien: Verlag der OsterreichischenAkademie der Wissenschaften2004, [VIII +] CXVI + 464 S., ISBN 3-7001-3287-5, E 99 (broschiert). Chilton, Bruce & Craig Evans (eds.), The Missionsof James, Peter,and Paul. Tensionsin Early Christianity (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 115), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2005, XV + 534 pp., ISBN 90-04-14161-8, C 133 / $ 190 (hardback).-Collection of essays on James in relation to Peter and Paul. tra chiesae impero Corti, Giuseppe, Luciferodi Cagliari.Una vocenel conflitto alla metadel IV secolo(Studia PatristicaMediolanensia 24), Milano: Vita e Pensiero 2004, XVI + 302 pp., ISBN 88-343-1989-3, E 25 (pb). Didymus der Blinde, De spiritusancto/ UberdenHeiligenGeist.Ubersetzt und eingeleitetvon HermannJosef Sieben (FontesChristiani78), Turhout: Brepols Publishers 2004, 301 S., ISBN 2-503-52140-4, E 32,62 (pb).Neuer Band in der bewahrten Reihe, mit ausfiihrlicher Einleitung und vorzuglicherUbersetzung(die erste in deutscherSprache);LateinischerText nach L. Doutreleau (SC 386). Wisdom. fromAncientChristian Ferguson,Everett,Inheriting Readings for Today ? Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
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Writers,Peabody, Massachusetts:Hendrickson Publishers 2004, 319 pp., ISBN 1-56563-354-7, $ 16,95 (pb).-A rich and finely ordered collection of excerpts from writings on early Christian life and thought. Books5-7. Translationand Commentary FlaviusJosephus, JudeanAntiquities by Christopher[T.] Begg (FlaviusJosephus, Translationand Commentary, edited by Steve Mason, Vol. 4), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2005, XIX + 373 p., ISBN 9-04-11785-7, e 115 / $ 155 (bound).-Impressive tomusas part of a remarkableenterprise. 'This volume provides a new English translation of and commentary on Josephus' JudeanAntiquities5-7 in which he retells the history of Israel from the entry into the land down to the death of King David. The commentary devotes special attention to the ways in which Josephus deals with the data of his biblical sources (...). It likewise looks to the question of the biblical text-formsused by Josephus and calls attention to Jewish and Greco-Roman parallels to his presentation'.With Bibliographyand detailed Indices. Hieronymus: S. HieronymiPresbyteriOpera,Pars I, Opera exegetica 8, cvra et stvdio in EpistvlasPavli apostoliad Titvmet ad Philemonem Commentarii Frederica Bucchi (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina LXXVII C), Turnhout:BrepolsPublishers2003, CXVIII + 126 pp., ISBN 2-503-00777-9, e 110 (cloth). Liber Qvestionvmin Evangeliis qvem edidit J. Rittmueller (Corpus Christianorum,Series Latina CVIII F), Turnhout:Brepols Publishers2003, 832 pp., ISBN 2-503-51265-8, e 340 (cloth).-New and impressivevolume in the distinguishedseries, being part V of the subseriesScriptores Celtigenae, BiblicaHiberniaeelecti. curaconsiliiab AcademiaRegiaHiberniaeet Associatione in Euangeliis(LQE) 'Composed in about the year 725, the LiberQuestionum is a comprehensivereference commentary on Matthew intended for ecclesiastics in the writing, teaching, and preaching professions.Its anonymous Irish redactor gathered together all the relevant patristic and native material available, adding to and adapting much of a still largely unpublished commentaryon Matthew by the Hibero-Latin writer Frigulus(fl. ca. 700)'. du Sinai (Sinaiticus Livred'heures graecus864). Introduction, texte critique, traduction, notes et index par Soeur Maxime (Leila) Ajjoub, avec la collaboration de Joseph Paramelle s.j. (Sources Chretiennes 486), Paris: Les Editions du Cerf 2004, 491 p., ISBN 2-204-07547-7, ? 45 (broche).-Le codexSinaiticus graecus864 (IXesiecle) de la bibliotheiquedu monastereSainteCatherine, au Sinai, est un des plus anciens horologia connu a ce jour. Grace a ce manuscit et a son contenu, il est possible d'arriver a une meilleure connaissance des horologia actuels. Son etude permet de savoir
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comment priaient les moines retires dans la solitude du desert. Leur priere etait-elle influencee par d'autres traditions liturgiquesorientales?Ce Livre d'Heures a-t-il, a son tour, laisse des traces dans celui qui est actuellement en usage dans le monde grec? A ces questions et a plusieurs d'autres touchant notamment l'hymnographie liturgique grecque, la presente edition apporte une reponse. Christianity. SpiritandMatterin theEarlyChurch Lopez, David A., Separatist & The London: Baltimore Fathers, John Hopkins University Press 2004, 190 pp., ISBN 0-8018-7939-6, $ 39.95 (hardcoverwith jacket).-A bird's eye overview of the development of early Christianityin 153 (small)pages, and leading to the 'new conclusion' and 'fresh interpretation'that there was 'a coherent and consistent anti-Roman sentiment in early Christianity'. Band T 9, Texte 1395-1683 (1534-1535), bearMelanchthons Brieiwechsel, beitet von ChristineMundhenk unter Mitwirkungvon Roxane Wartenberg & Richard Wetzel, Stuttgart-BadCanstatt:frommann-holzboog2005, 588 S., ISBN 3-7728-2264-9, E 274 (Geb.).-Neuer und eindrucksvollerBand der kritischen und kommentierten Gesamtausgabe von Melanchthons Briefwechsel,mit sehr sorgfaltigenQuellennachweisenpatristischerAutoren wie Ambrosius, Athanasius, Augustin, Ausonius, Basilius, Cassiodor, Chrysostomus, Cyprian, Eusebius, Gregor von Nazianz, Hieronymus, JohannesDamascenus,Origenes,SokratesScholasticus.Nicht zuletztbezuglich der Priesterehe werden patristische Texte diskutiert;S. 470 gibt er eine Anspielungauf das 2. OkumenischeKonzil von Nicaa, nicht wie im Register behauptet Nicaa 325. e la Tradizione / Origene Tradition Octava:OrigenandtheAlexandrian Origeniana the 8th International of Alessandrina. Pisa, 27-31 Congress, Origen Papers P. & in with Berardino L. Perrone collaboration edited by August 2001, Lovaniensium D. Marchini (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum CLXIV), Vol. I-II, XXV + 1406 pp., Leuven: Peeters 2003, ISBN 90-4291201-4, E 180 (pb).-The impressiveresultof the eighth Congresson Origen, edited by its convenor Luigi Perrone and his collaboratorsin an exemplary way, and made available by Peeters for an affordableprice: Volume I: Prefazione(VII-XII);Abbreviazioni/ Abbreviations(XXIII-XXV);Forum: / Alexandrian cultureagainst di Origene di Alessandria sullosfondodell'opera Le culture La riflessione reliMaria Carmela the works thebackground Betro, of of Origen: giosa nell'Egitto tardo e il ruolo dei templi nella sua formazionee diffusione (3-12);ChristianJacob, Bibliotheque,livre,texte:Formesde l'eruditionalexandrine (13-22);Guy G. Stroumsa,Alexandriaand the MythofMulticulturalism (23-29);Alberto Camplani, Momenti di interazione religiosa ad Alessandria
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e la nascita dell'elite egiziana cristiana (31-42); David T. Runia, Origen and Hellenism (43-47); Gilles Dorival, La Bible d'Origene (49-53); Robert Louis Wilken, Creating a Context: and Scholarship on di Origene: Contestistorici,culturalied ecclesiali Origen (55-59); I. L'Alessandria / Origen'sAlexandria: Ronald E. cultural and ecclesiastical historical, questions: Alexandrian on Genesis Annewies van Commentary Heine, Origen's (63-73); den Hoek, Papyrus Berolinensis 20915 in the Context of Other Early Christian from Writings Egypte (75-92); AttilaJakab, Alexandrie et sa communaute chretienne l'epoque d'Origene (93-104); Annick Martin, Aux origines de l'Alexandrie chretienne: Topographie, liturgie, institutions (105-120);John A. McGuckin, Origen as LiteraryCritic in the AlexandrianTradition (121135); Simon C. Mimouni, A la recherche de la communaute chretienne d'Alexandrieaux Ier-IIesiecles (137-163);Adele Monaci Castagno, Origene e Ambrogio: L'indipendenza dell'intellettualee le pretese del patronato (165-193);Alan G. Paddle, The Logosas the Food of Life in the Alexandrian Tradition (195-200);BernardPouderon, Athenagore et la tradition alexane Origene drine (201-219); II. FiloneAlessandrino and Origen: /Philo of Alexandria Francesca Calabi, La luce che abbaglia: Una metafora sulla inconoscibilita di Dio in Filone di Alessandria(223-232); Angela Maria Mazzanti, II divdialogofra l'uomo e Dio in Filone di Alessandria:A propositodi Qyisrerum in inarum heressit 3-33 (233-244);Joseph S. O'Leary,Logosand Koinonia Philo's De Confusione Linguarum(245-273); Hans Georg Thimmel, Philon und Origenes (275-286); Karen Jo Torjesen, The AlexandrianTradition of the e (Scuola Alessandrincw primadi Inspired Interpreter(287-299); III. Gnosticismo / Gnosticism andthe Origene beforeOrigen: Jean-Daniel Dubois, Le TraiteTripartite (Nag Hammadi I, 5) est-il anterieur a Orig&ne?(303316); Judith L. Kovacs, Echoes of Valentinian Exegesis in Clement of Alexandria and Origen: The Interpretation of ICor 3, 1-3 (317-329); ChristophMarkschies,ValentinianischeGnosis in Alexandrienund Agypten (331-346);John Woodrow McCree, Valentinuson Exodus33, 20: Valentinian Traditions in the Gospelof Truthand in Origen's Commentary onJohn (347Anne La Dieu dans le valendenominations doctrine des de 353); Pasquier, tinisme:Comparaisonavec Origine (355-365);Riemer Roukema, Les anges attendantles ames des defunts:Une comparaisonentre Origine et quelques e Origene / Clement Alessandrino gnostiques (367-374);IV. Clemente of Alexandria andOrigen: Michel Fedou, La reifrence a Homere chez Clement d'Alexandrie et Origene (377-383); Hildegard Konig, Fur sich und andere sorgen: Beobachtungen zum Seelsorgebegriffbei Clemens von Alexandrien (385395); Alain Le Boulluec, Les reflexionsde Clement sur la priire et le traitie
BOOKS RECEIVED
229
d'Origene (397-407);Claudia Lucca, Tratti profeticidei martiriin Clemente Alessandrinoed in Origene (409-417);Eric Osbor, Clement and Platonism filosofico/ Origenand philosophical thought: (419-427); V. Origenee il pensiero StamenkaEmilovaAntonova,The Many Faces of Truth:OrigenianPlatonism or Platonic Origenism? (431-436); Robert M. Berchman, Self-Knowledge and Subjectivity in Origen (437-450); Thomas Bohm, Unbegreiflichkeit Gottes bei Origenes und Unsagbarkeit des Einen bei Plotin-Ein (451-463);Gerald Bostock,Origen and the Pythagoreanism Strukturvergleich of Alexandria (465-478); Volker Henning Drecoll, Der Begriff Hypostasis bei Origenes: Bemerkungen zum Johannes-Kommentar II, 10 (479-487); Michihiko Kuyama, Evil and Diversity in Origen's De Principiis(489-501); di Origene contro la metensomatosi Mario Maritano,Argomenti divina e libero arbitrionel Commento Prescienza (503-535);Claudio Micaelli, ai Romani: Osservazionisu alcune implicazionifilosofiche origenianoallaLettera An R6bert Aristotelian Somos, Science-MethodologicalPrinciple (537-545); in Origen's Commentaryon John (547-552);Marco Zambon, IIAPANOMQ2 ZHN:La critica di Porfirio ad Origene (Eus., HE. VI, 19, 1-9) (553-563); ed esegetici/Origen:Aspectsof doctrine, VI. Origene: Aspettidottrinali,ermeneutici Harald Buchinger, Zur Entfaltungdes origeneischen hermeneutics andexegesis: Paschaverstandnisses: Caesareensischer Kontext und alexandrinischer Hintergrund (567-578); Antonio Cacciari, Origene e il libro del Siracide (579-592); FrancescaCocchini, Dalla regula fidei riflessioniorigeniane sullo Spirito Santo (593-603); Enrico dal Covolo, Sacerdozio dei fedeli, gerarchia della santita e gerarchiaministerialein alcune omelie di Origene (605611); Elizabeth A. Dively Lauro, The AnthropologicalContext of Origen's Two Higher Senses of ScripturalMeaning (613-624); Yves-Marie Duval, surSophonie Vers le Commentaire d'Origene:L'annonce de la disparitionfinale du mal et le retour dans la Jerusalem celeste (625-639); Samuel Fernandez Eyzaguirre,El caracter cristologico de la bienaventuranzafinal: Un nuevo acercamientoa la escatologiade Origenes (641-648);Anders-ChristianLund Jacobsen, Origen on the Human Body (649-656); Leonardo Lugaresi, Metafore dello spettacolo in Origene (657-678); Carla Noce, Ii tema della nudita dell'anima (679-686); Maria Cristina Pennacchio, La parabola del banchetto nuziale (Mt 22, 1-14) nell'esegesiorigeniana (687-698);Francesco Pieri, Verso una nuova edizione del Commento origeniano ad Efesini:Saggi testuali ed osservazionimetodologiche (699-706); Henryk Pietras, I Principi II, 11 di Origene e il millenarismo(707-714); Teresa Piscitelli Carpino, La croce nell'esegesiorigeniana(715-726);William G. Rusch, Some Comments to Luke(727-731); Giulia Sfameni on Origen's Homilieson theGospelaccording
230
BOOKS RECEIVED
Gasparro,Origene e la magia: Teoria e prassi (733-756); Basil Studer, Der Begriff der Geschichte im Schrifttumdes Origenes von Alexandrien (757777); Martin Wallraff, Il rapporto tra Antico e Nuovo Testamento nella teoria esegeticadi Origene (779-787);Claudio Zamagni,Le texte des Epitres de Jean d'apres Origene (789-811);Volume II: VII. La (ScuolaAlessandrina>w /The *eAlexandrian Schoob> afterOrigen:Cristian Badilita, Origene, dopoOrigene Constantin et Antoine, les modeles chretiens des trois
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WELCHE SEELE HAT DER EMBRYO? JOHANNES PHILOPONOS UND DIE ANTIKE EMBRYOLOGIE VON
CLEMENS SCHOLTEN ABSTRACT: In Late Antiquity, most non-Christian philosophers doubted whether the human embryo could be regarded as a true livingbeing (4(ov). Their Christian rivalsheld a differentconviction.John Philoponos went even furtherthan his Christian predecessorswith his view that the human embryo ' has not only an aXoyo; 4ifxui,but also a rational soul (Xoyi xnyj). Unfortunately,he has expounded his arguments in a lostwork, which proba mundiof 529 A.D., so that only reasonable bly antedated his De aeternitate assumptionsconcerning theseargumentsare possible.
Gliederung: I. In welcher Schrift hat sich Johannes Philoponos mit der Beseelung des
Embryosbeschaftigt? 1. De aeternitate mundi 2. Hinweise II. Was
in anderen Schriften
denktJohannes Philoponos
1. Die
fiber die Beseelung des Embryos?
Schriften auBer opm. und AnCom.
2. De opficio mundi III. Die Beseelung des Embryos in philosophischer Tradition IV. Die Beseelung des Embryos in christlicher Tradition V. Die Folgerungen furJohannes Philoponos Im 5. Buch
seines Hexaemeronkommentars
(De opficiomundi; entstanden
zwischen 547 und 560) bemerktJohannes Philoponos: Der Tatsache, daB der Embryo die Vernunftseele (xil- XoyIK) imMutter schoB empfangt,haben wir an anderem Ort eine eigene Untersuchung und Beweisfuhrung (?V&r?pol; i&s; ?V%uX ?4ev et6o& 'reKai &ro5ti4eo);) zuteil werden lassen.I
1 Johannes
Philoponos,
opm. 5,1
(460,27-462,2
C KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online- www.brill.nl
Sch?lten).
VigiliaeChristianae 59, 377-411
378
CLEMENS
SCHOLTEN
Ahnlich heiBt es im 6. Buch: Auch haben wir an anderer Stelle gezeigt, daB, wenn die Embryonen der Menschen das Leben der Sinneswahmehmung und der Bewegung empfangen, in sie gewiB gleichzeitigauch die Vernunftseele eintritt.2 Die Angaben
werfen die Fragen auf, welche
die Geistbeseelung wenn
Stelle Johannes Philoponos
er es fur notwendig halt, eigens herauszustellen, daB er
meint und weshalb
des Embryos bewiesen hat. Antworten sind erstmoglich,
dem Problem
einer Vernunftseele
des Embryos unter Berucksich
tigung der Verstandnisweisen von vorgeburtlicher Beseelung
in der Zeit vor
Johannes Philoponos nachgegangen worden sowie dessen eigene Seelenlehre und sein Verstandnis der vorgeburtlichen menschlichen Entwicklung abge klart worden
ist.
I. Inweicher hatsickJohannes Schraf Philoponos mitderBeseelung desEmbgyos beschaftigt? 1. De aeternitate mundi Eine direkte Beweisfuhrung zur Beseelung seele hat sich weder
des Embryos mit der Vernunft
in opm. selbst noch in den anderen uberlieferten Tex
ten des Johannes Philoponos daB seine Bemerkungen
erhalten. Es hat allerdings den Anschein,
in opm. an einWerk
erinnern, das schon vor sei
ner Schrift De aeternitate mundi (entstanden kurz nach dem Jahre 529) verfaBt wurde. Das
scheinen zumindest seine Angaben
im 9. Buch dieser Schrift
nahezulegen. Es heiBt dort namlich zum SchluB von Kapitel
14:
Denn es istbei der Entstehung der Dinge zu sehen, daB die Form allmahlich aufleuchtetund in der Zeit zur Vollendung schreitet, wie man es sowohl bei allem beobachten kann,was durch die Kunst entsteht,als auch bei dem, was durch die Natur entsteht, wie wir es bei den mit Leben versehenenEmbryonen gezeigt haben, die stetszur vollendeten Form des Lebens voranschreiten.3 Die Formulierung ". . .wie wir es bei den mit Leben versehenen Embryo nen gezeigt haben
(?6 itxjsev).. ." erweckt den Eindruck, daB wie
auf eine Stellungnahme verwiesen wird. Zogern
2 Ebd. 3
6,23
Johannes
(584,6-22 Philoponos,
zur Embryonalbeseelung
in einer fruheren Schrift
laBt freilich, daB Johannes Philoponos
Sch?lten). aetm. 9,14
(371,11-6
Rabe).
in opm.
zuvor im
UND DIE
PHILOPONOS
JOHANNES
ANTIKE
379
EMBRYOLOGIE
selben Kapitel von aetm.9 bereits auf die Beseelung des Embryos, und zwar folgendermaBen, zu sprechen gekommen ist: Vielleicht aber haben wir nicht zu Recht zugestanden,daB bei der Entstehung der Individuen die Formen zeitlos ohne Entstehungda seien,passend aber nur dieMaterie entsteheund geeigneterAufnahmeort furdie Formen sei. der Form zeitlos da ist,gestehen auch wir zu; DaB namlich die Vollendung wir sagen allerdings,daB es vor allem ihre (sc.der Form) Entstehunggibt,denn die Belebung und Gestaltung des Embryos imMutterschoB3istEntstehungdoch wohl nicht von Materie, sondern von Form. Denn daB der sich noch im MutterschoB befindlicheEmbryo lebt und immer zur vollendeten Form des Lebens voranschreitet,ist jedem klar; daB aber das Leben nicht die Materie des Lebewesens, sonderndessen Form ist,der zugrundeliegendeund mit Leben verseheneK6rper aberMaterie istund gemaB dem eigenen regulativenPrinzip des K6rpers unbeseelt und leblos ist, istebenfallsklar.Wenn nun der Embryo schon vor seinerVollendung, wenn auch noch unvollkommen, am Leben Anteil hat, das Leben aber Form des Lebewesens istund nichtMaterie, diese aber in der Zeit und in allmahlicherEntstehung zur Vollendung gelangt und imMutterschoB die Vollendung empfangt, ist folglichdie Form nicht zeitlos und ohne Entstehung vorhanden.4 Es kann nicht ausgeschlossen werden, daB die SchluBbemerkung von aetm. 9,14 sich auf diesen Passus bezieht. Im Kontext
tragtJohannes Philoponos
seine Zweifel an der von ihm im bisherigen Argumentationsverlauf mit Proklos geteilten Pramisse vor, daB Formen
seinem Gegner Materie
hinzutreten. Stattdessen sei auch eine andere Moglichkeit nach
Seiner Meinung
komme
einer sukzessiven und
damit
zeitlos zur denkbar. zeitlichen
Entstehung von Form sogar groBere Plausibilitat zu, als wenn man
eine
solche Entstehung als zeitlosen Vorgang auffasse. Daher konne man hoch stens sagen, daB die Vollendungder Form zeitlos vonstatten gehe. Trafe die Hypothese
zu, ware dem Argument des Proklos endgultig der Boden unter
den FuBen entgezogen. Als Beispiel
fur die Richtigkeit einer zeitlichen Entstehung von Form
liefertJohannes Philoponos
die Entfaltung der seelischen Konstitution des
Embryos. Es basiert auf der bekannten Vorstellung von der Seele als Form des Korpers. Die kontinuierliche Veranderung des vorgeburtlichen men schlichen Wesens
zeigt fur Johannes
formgebenden Lebensprinzips
Seele
Philoponos
die Wirksamkeit
des
in zeitlicher Erstreckung. Gleichzeitig
demonstriert fur ihn die Entwicklung des Embryos aber auch, daB, wenn schon nicht die Ubertragung der Form, dann aber doch die Vollendungder Form zeitlos eintritt. 4
Ebd.
9,14
(369,1-21
Rabe).
CLEMENS
380
SCHOLTEN
in aetm. 9,12 hatte Johannes Philoponos
Schon
noch unter Teilung
der
Pramisse des Proklos vom zeitlosen Hinzutritt der Form zur Materie
das
Thema
der Form im Blick gehabt und geschrieben:
der Vollendung
Dasselbe (sc.die Vollendung der Form vollzieht sich zeitlos)geschiehtauch bei den naturlichenFormen. Denn wenn der Embryo einen einzigenTag vor der von der Natur bestimmtenZeit oder auch nur eine einzige Stunde vor der endgultigenVerfestigung des Lebewesens vom MutterschoB getrenntwurde, Natur nicht vollendetwurde, notwendi wird er, da er durch die schopferische gerweise zugrundegehen,weil eine vollkommeneGestalt des Lebewesens fur das Zugrundeliegende nicht entstand.Daher kommen die Formen zeitlos zum Zugrundeliegenden hinzu.5 ist nicht ganz klar, in welchem Moment
Zwar
die Form als vollendet gedacht wird. Zwar die Formvollendung und der Gewinn
der Embryonalentwicklung
scheint sich die Geburt,
in der
einer eigenstandigen Existenz zusam
menfallen, anzubieten, doch kann es sich auch um einen Zeitpunkt kurz vor der Geburt handeln, zu dem der Embryo bildetes Lebewesen
imMutterschoB
ein vollausge
und zur Geburt bereit wird.
Freilich istdie Entscheidung daruber, ob furJohannes Philoponos Vernunftseele
in aetm.
der Form des menschlichen Embryos mit der Verleihung
die Vollendung
an den Embryo
der
identisch ist, damit noch nicht gefallen.
Johannes Philoponos spricht an der zuletzt zitierten Stelle nur allgemein von der Embryonalentwicklung und nicht speziell vom menschlichen Embryo. Ebenso wird nicht explizit von einem Eintritt der Vernunftseele Korper des Embryos gesprochen. Wenn
in den
es nicht die Begabung mit der Ver
nunftseele sein sollte,welche die zeitlose Vollendung lichen Embryos furJohannes Philoponos
der Form des mensch
ausmacht, ware eine Alternative,
daB Johannes Philoponos von der vollstandigen Ausbildung der &iXoyo;WuiXn an den Embryo kurz vor oder mit der Geburt spricht. Die Folge aber ware, daB dann die Stellen in aetm.grundsatzlich uberhaupt nicht mit den in opm. in Beziehung gesetzt werden konnten.
gemachten Bemerkungen
Aber die Vermutung, Johannes Philoponos denke in aetm. lediglich an die der
kXoyo;Wiu , aIBt sich ebenfalls nicht wirklich beweisen. kann ebenso argumentieren, daB er auch in aetm. 9,12 primar den
Vollendung Man
Menschen
im Blick
hat, weil
er bei
der Behandlung
nalentwicklung normalerweise nie auf andere Lebewesen Fur den Menschen 5 6
Ebd. Vgl.
848,8;
nimmt.6
gilt aber, daB nur die Vernunftseele als hochste Form
9,12 (366,3-11 Rabe). zB. Johannes Philoponos,
opm. 3,10
der Embryo Bezug
(324,11-3
Sch?lten).
GenCorCom.
271,19-22;
297,lf;
310,8; PhysCom. 812,7;
JOHANNES
UND DIE
PHILOPONOS
ANTIKE
381
EMBRYOLOGIE
der Seele die Entwicklung der Seelenstruktur und damit auch die Formge bung fur den Korper Ubereinstimmungen
bringt. AuBerdem
zur Vollendung
in diesem Punkte auseinandergehen
zweifeln, daB beide Schriften gerade sollten.7Weil
lassen die anderen
zwischen aetm.und opm. allgemein daran
und Bezuge
an der menschlichen
Embryonalentwicklung
nicht nur die
sukzessive Entstehung von Form, sondern auch die zeitlose Vollendung von Form, und zwar vor der Geburt, abzulesen ist,konnte man also genauso gut davon ausgehen, daB Johannes Philoponos bereits in aetm. eine Besee lung des Embryos mit der Vernunftseele lehrt. dann aber, wenn man diesen SchluB nicht fur sicher halten sollte,
Gerade
istunausweichlich, daB aetm.nicht der Behauptung von opm. 5,1 genugt, die Beseelung des Embryos mit der Vuri koyudj in einer eigenen Untersuchung und Beweisfiuhrung abgehandelt zu haben. Denn von einer ausfuhrlichen Argumentation
kann an den Stellen
Vernunftbeseelung
in aetm. nicht die Rede
sein. Die
der Form des Embryos wird
als Vollendung
nicht zum Beweisgegenstand. Daher
in aetm.
verfestigt sich anhand von aetm. eher
der Eindruck, daB sich opm. auf eine andere Schrift als aetm.bezieht, in der dieser Beweis Angabe
gefuhrt worden
sein muB. Mag
am SchluB desselben Kapitels,
vielleicht aetm. 9,14 der
es sei "gezeigt worden"
(i6c4aewv),
genugen und deshalb die in opm. anvisierte Beweisfuhrung zeitlich auch noch nach aetm. angestellt worden
sein konnen, so ist doch wahrschein
licher, daB sich auch der SchluB von aetm. 14 auf dieselben Ausfuihrungen opm. beziehen mochte
wie
und fur deren Abfassung
somit ein Zeitraum
vor der Entstehung von aetm. in Frage kommt. Allerdings wird man dann, wenn man
die Bemerkungen
Ausfuhrungen zum Thema vorsichtig sein mussen,
von
aetm. als Verweis
der Geistbeseelung
auch
auf friuhere
des Embryos versteht, so
im erhaltenen Schrifttum des Johannes Philoponos
insgesamt nach Anhaltspunkten
zu suchen, die den Hinweisen
von opm.
genuge tun. 2. Hinweise in anderenSchrften Allerdings
ist die Umschau
nach Aussagen
zur Geistbeseelung
bryos bzw. allgemein zur menschlichen Embryonalentwicklung
7
des Em in anderen
zu den der Ewigkeit der Welt; besteht in der Ablehnung Grund?bereinstimmung von opm. auf aetm. vgl. C. Sch?lten, AntikeNaturphilosophie und christliche Kosmologie in der Schrifl ?de opificiomundi? des Johannes Philoponos = PTS 45 (Berlin 1996) 72-6. Die
Verweisen
CLEMENS
382
SCHOLTEN
rasch erschopft. Beachtung
Schriften des Johannes Philoponos
verdient
zunachst vor allem ein Abschnitt aus dem frilher als aetm. entstandenen
Entstehungszeitpunktes scheint AnCom.8 Wegen seineswahrscheinlichen zu bestatigen, Johannes Philoponos
zunachst
sich die Vermutung
sich schon vor aetm.mit der Geistbeseelung
des menschlichen
habe
Embryos
beschaftigt. Der Abschnitt auBert sich wiederholt
zur Embryonalentwicklung. Da
jedoch die Perspektiven innerhalb des Abschnittes wechseln bzw. die Kon texte der Aussagen hen des Textes
jeweils verschieden sind, ist zunachst eine das Vorge notwendig, um die Inhalte im
aufarbeitende Gliederung
einzelnen einordnen zu konnen. Ausgangs- und Bezugspunkt
ist die Aristotelesaussage
nen wir die Ernahrung durch sich selbst,Wachstum Kommentierung
entwickelt sich so, daB
vorgenommen werden.
Als
zwei Abgrenzungen
zunachst
erstes werden
"Leben aber nen
und Abnahme."9 Die
die Begriffe Wachstum
und
Ernahrung voneinander geschieden. Der Begriff "Wachstum"
ist nicht, wie
es zunachst
des Begriffs
scheinen konnte, eine
tautologische Variante
"Ernahrung durch sich selbst", sondern er impliziert daruber hinaus, daB etwas anderes hinzugefugt wird.'0 AnschlieBend wird der ErnahrungsprozeB des Lebendigen
von ahnlichen Phanomenen
unterschieden. Dem
Recht Ernahrung und Wachstum durch Organe
seine Nahrung
jedem seiner Teile
in der unbelebten Materie
Feuer, das lebendig zu sein scheint, sagtman nicht zu nach, weil es nicht wie die Lebewesen
aufnimmt und das Wachstum
vollzieht."1 AuBerdem
etwas dauerhaft Vorhandenem, und Vergehen wahrzunehmen
wahrend
sich nicht in
fuhrt der WachstumsprozeB
zu
beim Feuer eher ein Entstehen
ist.12
An dieser Stelle kommt zum erstenMal
die Rede
auf den Embryo. Und
zwar folgern aus der gerade getroffenen Feststellung, ein Lebewesen sei durch die Nahrungsaufnahme mittels von Organen
(4cpov)
charakterisiert, nicht
naher benannte Gegner,'3 daB dieser Bestimmung zufolge der Embryo kein
8
Es
handelt
sich um
den Abschnitt
AnCom.
212,28-214,33.
Gew?hnlich
AnCom. vor 517, dem Entstehungsdatum des PhysCom., eingeordnet. 9 Aristoteles, de An. 2,1 (412al4). 10 AnCom. 212,28-32. 11 verstanden; ?ipov ist im aristotelischen Sinne als "tierische Lebensform"
wird
der
der unsch?r
fere platonische alles, was "lebt", auch Pflanzen; Begriff ?coov umfa?t hingegen vgl. R. Sorabji, Animal minds and human morals (London 1993) 97f; u. Anm. 93. 12AnCom. 212,32-213,7. 13 \Yer sie sind, bleibt unbestimmt. Es d?rfte sich um heidnische Philosophen handeln.
JOHANNES
Lebewesen
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
sei, da er sich nicht durch eigene Organe,
ernahre."4 Der Verfasser entkraftet den Einwand sich sehr wohl
speziell den Mund,
damit, daB der Embryo
selbst ernahre. GewiB werde zwar die Nahrung
Mutter zubereitet und auch nicht durch den Mund durch die Nabelschnur Lebewesen
383
aufgenommen,'5 aber ganz wie im Magen
komme der VerdauungsprozeB
Gang, und anschlieflend werde die aufbereitete Nahrung von dort an alle Teile
durch die
des Embryos, sondern bei vollendeten des Embryos
in
an die Leber und
des Korpers weitergeleitet.'6 Der Verfasser schlieBt
dann noch ein weiteres Argument
fur den Embryo
als Lebewesen
an:'7
"Wenn die vollendetsten Lebewesen Ortsbewegung besitzen, sich aber auch die Embryonen DaB
ortlich bewegen, dann sind sie auch Lebewesen
echte Lebewesen
(4xa)."''8
sich ortlich bewegen, sieht der Verfasser anscheinend
in der Bewegung des Embryos imMutterleib
realisiert.
Offensichtlich lassen sich aber damit die Bedenken nicht ausraumen. Die Anhanger
der Gegenmeinung wenden grundsatzlich ein, daB der Embryo (~4ov) sein konne, da die Natur
kein wirkliches Lebewesen Grund
im MutterschoB
zuruckhalte und
lebt, zum Beispiel den Mund, Dies
ihm die Organe,
ihn nicht ohne durch die er
noch nicht zum vollen Gebrauch
veranlaBt den Verfasser wiederum mit
gewahre.'9
folgenden Worten
Bekraftigung der Ansicht, daB der Embryo ein Lebewesen
zu der
sei:
Aber auch dagegen istzu sagen:Wie er (sc.der Embryo) auch, wenn er schon geboren wurde, zwar ein Lebewesen ist, jedoch noch nicht, da er der
zu scheint zu den Gepflogenheiten des Schulbetriebs unbe geh?ren, von Gegnern stimmt in der dritten Person zu sprechen; vgl. C. Sch?lten (ed.), Johannes Philoponos, de aeternitatemundi (erscheint demn?chst in der Reihe "Fontes Christiani"). 14 AnCom. 213,7-12. Die Ern?hrungsart des Embryos, die R?ckschl?sse auf seinen Status zul??t, wird in den Commentarii inHippocratis librumde natura pueri 2 (219,23-34 Dietz)
Es
des Johannes 7. Jh.?) ausf?hrlich er?rtert, der nicht mit Johannes Philoponos (Medicus; u.a (Hg.), Tusculum-Lexikon griechischer und lateinischer identisch sein soll; vgl. W. Buchwald Autoren des Altertums und desMittelalters (M?nchen/Z?rich 31982) 384. 15 Anscheinend hat sich diese Ansicht ?ber die Ern?hrung des Embryos, die zB. von vertreten Aristoteles und Galen in der Sp?tantike wurde, Empedokles, Anaxagoras, durchgesetzt;
vgl. zu den beiden Modellen
4 (1959) 1228-44,hier 1235f.
C.
E. Lesky/J.H. Waszink,
"Embryologie":
RAC
16AnCom. 123,12-23. 17Der neue zu dieser Technik wird mit Kai oc??co? angeschlossen; Gedankengang vgl. Sch?lten, "Ein unerkannter Quaestioneskommentar (Exe. Theod. 4f) und die Auslegung
derVerkl?rungChristi in fr?hchristlichen Texten", VigChr57 (2003) 389-410, 394f. 18 AnCom. 19AnCom.
213,23-5. 231,26-31.
CLEMENS
384
SCHOLTEN
Verfestigungder Organe bedarf, die vollkommenenAktualitaten des Lebewe sens ausfiihren kann, so, sage ich, bedarf er auch, wenn er im Mutter schoB ist,mehrfach der Hilfe, da jederK6rper in der Zeit (Xpo'vp)seine eigene und deswegen wird imMutterschoB die Form des Lebe Vollendung erhalt,20 wesens, die er erhalten hat, bewahrt,2' wobei das Organ, wie ich sagte, Wenn jemand auf die groBerenteilsder Bewachung und Fiirsorge bedarf.22 vollendetenAktualitaten schaut,wird er auch nicht den Knaben 'Lebewesen' nennen, wenn er nicht in vollerManneskraft steht und die Zeugungskrafte ausuibt;es istaber unsinnig,nur den, der sich soverhalt, 'Lebewesen' zu nennen.23 Da
der Mensch
auch nach der Geburt noch nicht ausgereift ist und ihm
trotzdem der Status "Lebewesen" man
also nach Meinung
nicht abgesprochen werden
kann, darf
des Autors aus dem noch unfertigen Zustand des
Embryos nicht schlieBen, daB er kein Lebewesen
ist.
Bis hierhin macht der Verfasser sich ohne Zweifel dafur stark, daB der Embryo ein Lebewesen
(4Cpov)ist.Die
allerdings zunachst uberraschend
anschlieB3enden Ausfulhrungen treten
fur das genaue Gegenteil
ein. Denn
es
werden weitere Argumente vorgestellt, die geeignet sind, um dem Embryo den Status des L4ov abzusprechen. Anfangs ist zwar nicht deutlich, worauf sich der einleitende Satz "Aber vielleicht ist das Gesagte nicht zwingend" bezieht.24 Er konnte sich auf die Ausgangsaussage
des Aristoteles beziehen,
sich selbst,Wachstum
und Abnahme
daB Leben
sei. Dafur
Ernahrung
durch
scheint zu sprechen, daB
bezweifelt wird, daB Ernahrung durch sich selbst zur Definition des ausreicht. BloBes Leben unterscheide sich vom Lebewesen:
Lebewesens
20Der Verfasser differenziert nicht, wie es in aetm. geschieht, zwischen dem allm?h lichen Voranschreiten und der zeidosen Vollendung der Form. 21 von wird A H.G. Liddell/R. E|i(pi)taxTCC? Scott, Greek-English lexicon.A new edition, revised and augmented throughout by H. St. Jones/R. McKenzie (Oxford 91940); revised ed. by P.G.W. Glare/A.A. supplement, (Oxford 1996) 51b und G.W.H. Thompson = Greek lexicon Lampe, A Patristic Greek lexicon (Oxford 1961 1982) und E.A. Sophocles, the Roman and York nicht verzeichnet. Allein E. Trapp of Byzantine periods (New 1900) (Hg.), Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gr?zit?t 1 (Wien 2001) 497b belegt dieser Stelle des AnCom. Er schl?gt die "bewahren" ?bersetzung in den Mutterscho? d?rfte sein. Der Hineinlegens mitgedacht
es, und zwar an eben vor. Der Aspekt des "Thesaurus Linguae
kennt nur noch zwei weitere Belege: Galen, De semine libri 2 (4,533,2 Graecae CD-ROM" inHippocratis librum defiacturis commentarii3 (18b.422,1 K?hn). K?hn); 22Die von ttXe?ovo? ist nicht da? gemeint Beziehung eindeutig; es istwahrscheinlicher, ist: "der gr??ere Teil der Organe bedarf der F?rsorge", auch wenn dann der Text in icov ?py?vcov ge?ndert werden mu?. 23AnCom. 213,31-214,2. 24AnCom. 214,2f.
JOHANNES
Pflanzen
ernahrten
UND
PHILOPONOS
sich,
seien
DIE
aber
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
keine
Lebewesen.25
385
Doch
die
Fortsetzung spricht eher dafur, daB nicht beabsichtigt ist,Aristoteles zu kri tisieren.Das
Folgende beschaftigt sich namlich durchgehend mit der Frage,
ob der Embryo ein Lebewesen icht ist das Gesagte
(4Cov) ist oder nicht. Der Satz "Aber vielle
nicht zwingend"
leitet offenbar Argumente des Ver
fassers gegen die bis dahin vertretene Position ein, der Embryo Lebewesen. Nachdem ein Lebewesen
er die Ernahrung durch sich selbst als Kriterium fur
als unzureichend abgelehnt hat, fahrt er fort,daB der Besitz
von Sinneswahrnehmung Lebewesens
sei ein
ebenfalls kein hinreichendes Merkmal
sei, da auch pflanzlich-tierische Lebensformen
des echten
(4p6(pu6x) hap
tische Fahigkeiten besaBen.26
25AnCom. 26AnCom. die mit
214,3-5. der Antike Lebensformen, Ccpocpuxa sind in der Wahrnehmung in einem Untergrund, also die fehlende die Verwurzelung den Tastsinn teilen. Es handelt sich um Meeres und mit den Tieren
214,5-7.
den
Pflanzen
Ortsbewegung, lebewesen wie Muscheln
(it?vva), Schw?mme (a7coyyo?) oder Seeanemonen (dcKa?i|(pT|). zum einen, die wegen nat. 1 [41f] (3,23-4,11 Morani): Dieser behauptet Vgl. Nemesios, zum anderen, sei seit alters her in Gebrauch, der Eigenschaften gew?hlte Bezeichnung untersucht habe. Letzteres ist zutreffend, vgl. Aristo da? Aristoteles die Schw?mme
teles,HA 5,16 (548a22-549al3), 1,1 (487b9-ll), 8,1 (588M0-21).Den BegriffCcp?cpwov
benutzt Hipp,
Aristoteles et Plato.
gesprochen
der laut Galen, Poseidonios, nicht, ebensowenig plac. hingegen von die wie Pflanzen an Felsen wachsen, Tieren, unbeweglichen Ob Nemesios auf Poseidonios?der Nemesiostext wird als auch
5,6,38, hat.
309a
Poseidonios,
figm.
Ammonios,
PorphlsCom.
ist im ?brigen mehr gef?hrt?zur?ckgeht, gibt es drei Arten beseelter K?rper:
70,13-7,
als unsicher. Pflanzen,
Tiere
Nach und
Lebensformen; 14,3-12; pflanzlich-tierische vgl. ebenso Johannes Philoponos, AnalPrCom. AnalPostCom. 411,20-8; PorphlsCom. 77,16-78,1, Simplikios, PhysCom. 3,5f; nach Ammonios, hat die Pflanze drei F?higkeiten, n?mlich die zur Ern?hrung (0pe7ixiicf|), zum Wachstum zur Vermehrung dar?ber die hinaus (yevvr|xiicr|), das Lebewesen zur und die ?uvauiv (xr\vaiaOnrncriv F?higkeit Ortsver?nderung Sinneswahrnehmung (a\)?r|TiKr|)
und
Platoniker nennen nach Nemesios, Kai TT|V U?Ta?aTiicf|V TT|V arc? x?tiou e?? x?rcov)?die nur die aiaGnaic?, nat. 2 [114] (34,5-17 Morani) w?hrend das Cco?qnycov zus?tzlich nur zu auf Ber?hrung den Tastsinn?oder ist gemeint: die F?higkeit, reagieren? (??micri zur Ortsver?nderung auf die nicht besitzt; vgl. den Hinweis jedoch F?higkeit ?t>vaui?)?, GenCorCom. 213,29-214,13; die Schw?mme auch bei Johannes opm. 1,9 Philoponos, nennt als Beispiele Austernmuscheln und Schw?mme; Ammonios Sch?lten). betreffenden Meereslebewesen bei die der Hierophilos Soph, et vielf?ltiger Aufz?hlung (112,2f
1939]), einem Autor wohl (458,8f A. Delatte, An?cdota Atheniensia 2 [L?ttich/Paris Kenntnisse nach H. Hunger, Die hochsprachlicheprofane 11. Jhs., dessen medizinische Literatur der Byzantiner 2 = HAW 5,2 (M?nchen rcepi ?iaiin? 1978) 309, auf Hippokrates' Nach Psjohannes CaelCom. ferner 384,18-22; 386,31-387,4. Simplikios, zur?ckgehen. Vgl. Phil. des
AnCom. Philoponos, Form des Tastsinnes
577,4-30,
in die ? oipuxa, weil sie mit Sinneswahrnehmung v|n)xn (woraus f?r den Autor folgt, da? sind, die a^oyo?
besitzen
ausgestattet
CLEMENS
386
SCHOLTEN
Es folgen drei Argumente, die geeignet sind, dem Embryo den Status des
Lebewesensabzusprechen:27 1. Der Embryo genugt nicht dem Charakteristikum eines Lebewesens, sich zur Ganze
und vollstandig von Ort zu Ort zu bewegen.28 Der Gedanke
greiftden schon im vorherigen Teil referiertenEinspruch auf, legt jetzt aber dessen entscheidendes Moment
dahingehend
fest, daB der Embryo
sich nicht vollstandig ortlich bewege; die bloBe Bewegung
selbst
imMutterschoB
gilt offenbar nicht als Ortsveranderung. 2. Der Verfasser geht zwar von einer kontinuierlichen Hoherentwicklung des menschlichen
Embryos bis zur Geburt
Erreichen bestimmter Merkmale imVollsinn hinweist. Vielmehr sowie die Ortsbewegung,
aus, bestreitet aber, daB das
auf das Stadium eines Lebewesens seien der Gebrauch
die zusammen
(4cpov)
der Sinne und Organe
ein Lebewesen
ausmachen,
erst
nach der Geburt zu konstatieren. Gleiches gelte auch fur die Begabung mit der Vernunft, welche die Entwicklung des Menschen
erst lange nach der
Geburt krone: Wenn die Erschaffung auf einemWeg vom Unvollkommeneren zum Voll kommeneren voranschreitetund nicht auf andereWeise die hoheren Eigen schaften des Lebens hinzukommen, wobei die mangelhafteren Fahigkeiten nicht zuvor existierthaben, die Ordnung aber folgendermaBenlautet: zuerst das Unbeseelte, dann das pflanzlicheLeben, dann das (Leben) der pflanzlich tierischenLebensformen (1 ziiv CpoqpiTv), dann das (Leben) der Unvernuinf tigen (i tov 6oV ycov),als letztes das der Vernunftigen (1 TCovXoylKwv),ist es notwendig zu beobachten, daB sich die Natur eben dieser Ordnung der Erschaffungbedient.Denn nach dem Festwerden des Samens istjenes Gebilde etwas Unbeseeltes, dann, nachdem es mit Organen versehen wurde, gleicht es anfangs einer Pflanze und hat bis dahin keinenAnteil an der Sinneswahr nehmung, im Voranschreiten aber, wenn es den Beruhrungssinn und die Bewegung hinzubekommt, gleicht es zu dieser Zeit den pflanzlich-tierischen Lebensformen und ist durch seinen eigenen Anfang mit dem MutterschoB verbunden, wie jene (sc. die Zoophyta) an Felsen oder umherliegenden
die Ortsbewegung nicht auf die a^oyo? \\fx>%y\ zur?ckgeht), und nach ebd. 589,26-590,37 eine Form der (pavxaaia, n?mlich die, die mit dem Tastsinn verbunden ist; vgl., auch zum Autor, W. Charlton On On Aristotle the Soul with Stephanus 3.9-13 (transi.), Philoponus' On Aristotle On Interpretation (London 2000) 1-15. 27-32. 41-3. Die Vorstellung, da? ataycc ?coa mit
sind, ist nicht ungew?hnlich; vgl. Johannes Philoponos, AnCom. von Damaskus, De animato 95,229,30-8, rechnet ?ber 13,20-4: 18,34-19,2. Johannes von Pflanzen und zum raschenderweise die K?rper Unbeseelten. ?qxScpDia 27Die ersten beiden werden wieder ?bersichtlich te (AnCom. 214,7.11) durch oXhaq o. Anm. 17. eingeleitet; vgl. 28AnCom. 214,7-11. cpavxaa?a
begabt
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
EMBRYOLOGIE
ANTIKE
387
Scherben [oder: Schalen,Muscheln] haften,und das bis zurGeburt. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt entstehen vollkommene Lebewesen, die Bewegungen ausfiihren, die sie anderswohin bringen, und die sich durch eigene Organe ernahren, ich meine durch den Mund und derartiges, und die alle Sinneswahrneh mungen aktuell ausfuhren.Als Vollendung aber bei den Menschen empfangt es (sc. jenes Gebilde) auch das vernunftgemaBeLeben, wahrend er (sc. der Mensch) anfanglichdas alogische Leben ftihrte.29 Es schlieBt sich noch die Abweisung
des Gedankens
nicht von einem wirklichen Lebewesen
an, es konne solange
sein, bis die Zeugungs
die Rede
fahigkeit betatigt werde. Der Verfasser schlieBt aus, daB Zeugungsfahigkeit ein Kriterium fur ein Lebewesen
ist; schlieBlich gabe es Lebewesen,
die sich
ohne Zeugung vermehrten.30 Starker konnte der Kontrast
zu den Uberlegungen
zuvor nicht sein.
Hatte der Verfasser dort noch argumentiert, daB man aus dem noch unfer tigen Zustand des menschlichen Embryos nicht schlieflen durfe, daB dieser kein Lebewesen
sei, schlieBt jetzt der in der epigenetischen Entwicklung zu
konstatierende unfertige vorgeburtliche Zustand daB dieser ein vollkommenes Lebewesen Stadium
ist. Bis zur Geburt werde nur das
der pflanzlich-tierischen Lebensform
mit der Geburt werde Lebewesen,
der Embryo
des Embryos gerade aus, (o(p6trrov) erreicht.3' Erst
zu einem vollkommenen
da ihm erst ab diesem Zeitpunkt Ortsbewegung,
nehmung und Nahrungsaufnahme
alogischen
Sinneswahr
zu eigen sei. Die Vernunftbegabung, die
die Entwicklung abschlieBt, folgt zu einem noch spateren Zeitpunkt. DaB die Entwicklung auf der Formung durch eine entsprechende Seele beruht,
29AnCom. 214,11-25. 30AnCom. 214,25-30. 31 Same und der Embryo, der noch Der kein Leben. Der Autor 209,10-22 ?berhaupt aber
keine Organe hat, besitzen nach AnCom. erw?gt eine potentielle Lebendigkeit, legt "Denn weder hat eines der Unbeseelten poten
an den Tag: Skepsis noch der Samen noch der tote K?rper
eine deutliche
noch der Embryo, der noch keine hat (oder: nicht strukturiert ist; ?iopyavcou?vov; [o. Anm. 21] vgl. Liddell/Scott Organe . to be provided with organs). Weder hat das Tote potentiell das Leben 434a: (. .) noch hat der Samen potentiell das Leben, da er noch nicht strukturiert und geeignet ist, das tiell das Leben
aus der Seele zu empfangen.?Aber vielleicht k?nnte man sagen, da? der Samen es kann hat. Denn der noch keine Organe der Embryo, hat, potentiell Leben es (sc. Samen und Embryo) potentiell Leben hat. Aber das Vollkommene da? geschehen, das nennt er (sc.Aristoteles) potentiell Leben und schon das Leben empfangen Habende, habend. Wieso es, soweit es die eigene Natur betrifft, potentiell und nicht aktuell? Weil
Leben bzw.
leblos ist und nur geeignet ist, das Leben zu empfangen". an, da? es sich um die zweite Potenz handelt.
Es
schlie?t
sich die ?berlegung
CLEMENS
388
SCHOLTEN
wird zwar nicht gesagt, durfte aber vorausgesetzt sein. In jedem Falle gilt wfx nach dieser Auffassung: Sowohl die a5koyop; sind vor der Geburt nicht vorhanden.
ein Lebewesen
3. Es folgt ein letzterGedanke: Wenn
Danach
definiert ist als eine
beseelte Substanz, kann der Embryo kein Lebe
mit Sinneswahrnehmung wesen
als auch die Nvux Xoyti
ihre Sinneswahrnehmung
sein, da Fruhgeburten
geht der Text unvermittelt zur Kommentierung
nicht betatigen.32 des nachsten Ari
stotelessatzes uber. Eine
ausgleichende Bewertung
der gegensatzlichen
Standpunkte wird
nicht gegeben. Ein abschlieBendes Urteil uber den Standpunkt des Verfas sers ist somit nicht moglich. Welches
Gewicht
der zweite Teil durch die
Einleitung mit 'Y(co;erhalten hat, ist nicht eindeutig abzuschatzen. Legt man Gepflogenheiten der Kommentierung
zugrunde, sind es gerade die als Hypo
thesen eingeleiteten Stucke am Ende eines Abschnittes, in denen ein Autor seine eigene Einschatzung
zum Ausdruck bringt.33
Freilich ist die Verfassersituation beim AnCom. alles andere als klar. Falls die Uberschrift des AnCom. die authentischen Abfassungsverhaltnisse wider spiegeln und keine sehr viel spatere Zutat sein sollte, istmit zwei Beteiligten, namlich Ammonios und seinem SchulerJohannes Allerdings scheitert der Versuch, auf Ammonios
und Johannes Philoponos
Sinn, die zweite Position, der Embryo dem Johannes Philoponos
Philoponos, zu rechnen.34
die kontraren Positionen des Abschnittes
zuzuweisen
zu verteilen. Es macht
sei kein Lebewesen, und
keinen
ausgerechnet
im Sinne des Titels
als eine
seiner "eigenen Bemerkungen"
aufzufassen, die er zu den ihm vorliegenden
Ausfulhrungen des Ammonios,
die im ersten Teil des Abschnittes vorlagen,
beigesteuert hat. Der
Schuler wurde hinter die Vorstellung
zuruckfallen. Wurde
schon die erste Position, die zwar den Embryo
Lebewesen
seines Lehrers als
gelten lIBt, aber keineswegs an eine Begabung mit der Geistseele
denkt, sich nicht mit
der
spateren Einschatzung
des Embryos
durch
32 AnCom. 214,30-4. 33Die am Schlu? des dritten "ouko-uv ?coov rjv" istwiederum Folgerung Arguments irreal formuliert. 34 AnCom. 1,1-3: '"Ico?vvoD e?? xf|v itEpi \|n>%fi? 'Apiaxox?Axyu? o^oAaKal 'A?E^av?p?co? a7coar||Li?ic?aEi? ek xcov ot>vo\)Gic?v 'A|X|ia)vioi) xo?> fEp|iE?oo) u?xa xivcov i?icov ?maxaoEcov". Denkbar
ist ein Verhalten
von Plutarch
und Proklos
zwischen
Lehrer
berichtet:
Proklos
v. Prodi 12, Sch?ler, wie es Marinos, soll von seinem Lehrer Plutarch ermuntert
und
zu Piatons Phaidon von seinem Lehrer Geh?rte sein, das in der Veranstaltung zu ver?ffentlichen. Das dritte Buch des AnCom. als Schrift unter eigenem Namen gilt in zugeh?rig. jedem Fall als nicht urspr?nglich
worden
JOHANNES
Johannes
PHILOPONOS
Philoponos
UND
decken, ware
DIE
ANTIKE
389
EMBRYOLOGIE
des Charakters
die Negierung
Embryos als ~Cpovmit ihr ganzlich inkompatibel. Der Weg
des
zu der Position
in opm. (und aetm.)konnte nur die erste Position, den Embryo wenigstens als Cpov zu qualifizieren, zur Voraussetzung Konnte
haben.
deshalb nicht im ersten TeilJohannes
Philoponos zuWort kom
men? Setzt er sich nicht zB. in aetm. als Christ in gleicher Weise mit den heidnischen Philosophen als einem anonymen Gegner ("Sie") auseinander?35 Doch
ein solches Stilmerkmal ist unspezifisch. Es handelt sich um eine
schulische Umgangsform,
sich in der dritten Person
Gegenuber mit anderer Meinung von christlicherWarte
aus uber den Embryo
standlich bliebe, weshalb
gerade
fuhrlich die Gegenargumente
("Sie") von einem
abzusetzen.36 Nirgends deutet sich an, daB gesprochen wird. Unver
im zweiten Teil
des Abschnittes
gelassen werden. Der Verfasser gibt sich keine Muhe,
sie zu entkraften, son
dern scheint ihnen eher Sympathie entgegenzubringen. Die
von Forschern
gelegentlich bemiihte Pietat gegenuber dem Lehrer als Motiv Verhalten
aus
geboten und vor allem unkommentiert stehen
fur dieses
zu nennen, ware eine Verlegenheitslosung.
Es gibt somit keine Anzeichen, zwei Autoren am Werk
in diesem Abschnitt des AnCom. insgesamt
zu sehen. Man
begreift die Gegenuberstellung
der
kontraren Positionen zum Leben des Embryos vermutlich am besten, wenn man
sie als ein Stuck problemorientierten Kommentierens
etNon einordnet.37Dann und vom Aufbau
im Stile des Sic
aber ist es aus den genannten inhaltlichen Grunden
des Abschnittes her eher wahrscheinlich,
daB der Text
Ammonios und nichtJohannes Philoponos zum Verfasser hat,38 zumal, wie sich zeigen wird, die Inhalte weitgehend
dem entsprechen, was
in der
philosophischen Tradition zum Embryo als Lebewesen gelehrt wurde.39 Der Verfasser kannte gegensatzliche Argumente, wollte oder konnte aber keine eigene Losung
anbieten, auch wenn er vermutlich der Meinung
zuneigte,
35 Vgl.
zur von aetm.: C. Sch?lten dazu die Einleitung (ed.), Johannes ?bersetzung 13). Philoponos, de aeternitatemundi (o. Anm. 36 CaelCom. 2,5-12; 2,29; IntCom. 154,21-31; ebd.; zB. Ammonios, Simplikios, Vgl. u. ?. CatCom. 256,14 134,5; 138,27; PhysCom. 84,12; 37 kommentiert. ?hnlich wird in AnCom. 209,10-22 38Die von K. of Philoponus' "The development thought and its chronol Verrycken, their commentators and The ancient Aristotle influence, ed. by. R. Sorabji transformed. ogy", auf Philoponos 1990) 233-74, versuchte Aufteilung der Schriften des Johannes (London f?r die zwei Phasen {AnCom. Phase 1; aetm. Phase 2) ist sicher nicht die beste L?sung inhaltlichen Unterschiede. 39 u. S. 397-404. Vgl.
CLEMENS
390
SCHOLTEN
daB der Embryo, gemessen an den ublichen Definitionen, uberhaupt kein Lebewesen
(4Cpov)sei.
So interessant die vom AnCom. verschafften Einblicke
in die Uberlegun
gen zur Embryonalentwicklung auch sind, in jedem Fall kann mit Sicherheit ausgeschlossen werden, daB sichJohannes Philoponos mit seinen Hinweisen in opm. (und aetm.) auf den AnCom. bezieht. Von 214,33
(und 209,10-22) nicht die Rede
und
sein. Die Texte deuten darauf hin,
daB sich die heidnischen Philosophen Lebewesen
einer Untersuchung
des Embryos kann in AnCom. 212,28
Beweisfuhrung zur Geistbeseelung
als
uber den Status des Embryos
bzw. die Potenzen des Embryos
in seinem Fruhstadium nicht
einig waren und sich uber diese Frage kontroverse Debatten
geliefert haben.
Die Skepsis ist nicht zu uberhoren, dem Embryo vor der Geburt uberhaupt den Status eines 4Cpovbeizumessen. Die Bemerkungen zur Entwicklung des Embryos inAnCom. machen
aber bereits fur die Bedeutung der Aussage
aus
opm.hellhorig, daB der Zeitpunkt der Ausstattung des Embryos mit Sinnes wahrnehmung und Bewegung derselbe ist, in den in ihn auch die Vernunft
seeleeintritt. II. Was denkt desEmbgyos? uiber dieBeseelung Philoponos Johannes 1. Die SchrftenauJ3er opm. undAnCom. Den
anderen Schriften des Johannes Philoponos auBer opm.und AnCom. laBt
sich kaum etwas an Hinweisen
zur embryonalen Physiologie und Beseelung
entnehmen. Das Wenige, was bekannt ist, istnicht unabhangig vom zugrun deliegenden Verstandnis
der Seele.40 Freilich kann von einem Gesamtent
wurf zur Seelenlehre bei Johannes Philoponos Seine Vorstellungen
nur bedingt die Rede
sein.
sind vorgegeben und ruhren aus den unterschiedlichen
philosophischen Traditionen her. Die platonischen, aristotelischen, stoischen und medizinisch-physiologischen Ansatze Ubereinstimmung
gebracht und
sind nicht strengmiteinander
vereinheitlicht. Sie
erscheinen
schliissig prasentiert, werden
jeweiligen Einzelkontexten
Stelle zu einer Gesamtkonzeption
zusammengefiigt, wobei
in
in den
aber an keiner zu berucksichti
gen ist,daB die Texte weitgehend keine systematischen Anliegen verfolgen.
40Die h?chstens
Seelenvorstellungen zu Vergleichszwecken
des AnCom.
sollen wegen
der
ungesicherten
Autorschaft
werden; dazu vgl. HJ. Blumenthal, hinzugezogen "Body zu den anderen The Monist 69 (1986) 370-82. Divergenzen
and soul in Philoponus", Schriften des Johannes Philoponos
best?tigen
sich.
JOHANNES
Im Denken
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
des Johannes Philoponos mogen
EMBRYOLOGIE
diese Ansatze
391
gleichwohl als
Artikulationsformen eines ihmselbstverstandlich erscheinenden Gesamtver standnisses uberbruckt und verknupft sein und er deshalb Harmonisierung
oder grundsatzliche Thematisierung
eine explizite
als unnotig empfun
den haben. Um
den Ausgleich verschiedener Denkmodelle
hatten schon die Philo
sophen in den Jahrhunderten zuvor gerungen, aber ebenfalls kein Kon zept vorlegen Das
konnen,
das
seitdem allseits akzeptiert worden
ware.41
riihrte auch daher, daB seit dem 2. Jh. das medizinisch-physiologische
Wissen
gewachsen war und den philosophischen Beseelungsmodellen
lichen Erklarungsbedarf aufnotigte. Das Wachstum des Embryos
etwa
lieB sich aus medizinischer
zusatz
der vitalen Fahigkeiten Sicht wie bei Galen
als
naturgeleiteter ProzeB verstehen und nicht nur als Folge einer Formierung durch ein seelisches Prinzip begreifen. Aus philosophischer Sicht verlangte das wiederum
einen Naturbegriff, der nicht ausschlieBlich physiologisch
konzipiert seinkonnte.42 BeiJohannes
Philoponos
stoBtman einerseits auf typischeElemente einer (xVui
(pqrtnt, akoyo; wuxi , Xoyci wxvu/ ihre Existenz nur als Entelechie des vobq).43 Seele hat in diesem Modell kann ein vom Korper gel6stes Dasein Korpers, und nur die Xoyudij 'ij aristotelischen Drei-Seelenlehre
haben. Gleichzeitig denktJohannes Philoponos aber auch von einem einzi gen Seelenprinzip
her, wobei wie
schon in der Tradition
nicht klar zu
entscheiden ist,ob es sich bei einer inneren Strukturierung der Seele wie der in Opmrt"i, aia0xlOu
und voltIu" Vn44f um Teile oder Potenzen handelt.
41
halten aber ein der Plotin, Porphyrios und andere sprechen zwar von Seelenteilen, f?r nicht flexibel genug und den tats?chlichen Gegebenheiten f?r nicht artiges Konzept sondern vertreten die Ansicht, da? es sich um bestimmte Potenzen der einen angemessen, Unterricht bei Or?genes", Hairesis. FS Seele handelt; vgl. C. Sch?lten, "Psychagogischer K. Hoheisel 34 (M?nster 2002) 261-80, hier 27 If (Lit.); weitere antike =JbAC Ergbd. Autoren bei H. D?rrie/M. Baltes, Die philosophische Lehre des Piatonismus. Von der "Seele" ab in der Antike der Ursache aller sinnvollen Abl?ufe = Der Piatonismus 6,1 (Baustein 164) 104-22. 343-74; K. Schindler, Die stoische Lehre von den 2002) (Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt Seelenteilen und Seelenverm?gen insbesondere bei Panaitios und Poseidonios und ihre Verwendung bei Cicero. Diss. Regensburg 1934). (M?nchen 42 on Aristotle's definition of Vgl. E.M. Macierowski/R.F. Hassing, "John Philoponus Ancient 8 nature", 7) 349f. Philosophy (1988) 73-100; Sch?lten, Naturphilosophie (o. Anm. 43 zu den U. der Seelenlehre Tier bei Aristoteles Dierauer, Bez?gen Vgl. biologischen undMensch imDenken der Antike (Amsterdam 1977) 102-5. 44 Zur Herkunft von Aristoteles vgl. E. Lesky, Die ^eugungs- und VererbungslehrenderAntike und ihreNachwirkung = AAWLM.G 1950,19 (Wiesbaden 1951) 1225-1425, hier 1366-8.
CLEMENS
392
SCHOLTEN
Nicht klar wird, ob in seinem Verstandnis
fuXziXoyuctjdasselbe wie VO7iTIK
inrxi ist45bzw. &Xoyo; 4fux und WuXi aicaOqt c deckungsgleich sind.46Die Flexibilitat bei der Gliederung der Seelenfahigkeit harmoniert mit der eben
an der physiologischen Entwicklungorientierten falls vorzufindenden, Auffassung, welche tende Potenzen
die niederen Seelenkrafte nicht als von auBen eintre
versteht, sondern
die Natur
lung auch der Seelenkrafte des Lebewesens
selbst fur die Entwick
verantwortlich macht. Aristo
zur naturgeleiteten kontinuierlichen Hoherentwicklung
telische Gedanken
der Lebewesen47 und die stoische Auffassung von der Natur
als kreativem
Prinzip der Embryonalentwicklung48 sind hier miteinander verbunden und durch einen neuplatonisch konzipierten Naturbegriff uberformt. Schaut man die Aussagen zur Beseelung des Embryos auBerhalb von opm. zusammen, ist offenkundig, daBJohannes Beseelung
Philoponos von dessen sukzessiver
ausgeht. Am Beginn, noch vor der Beseelung,
gemeinsam Samen und MonatsfluB,
stehen zunachst
die fur den nachfolgenden ProzeB erst
umgewandelt werden miissen.49 Nichts
deutet bei Johannes
Philoponos
45 verwendet den Begriff f| vonTnai yx>xr\ nicht. Johannes Philoponos 46 aetm. 9,11 (348, 4-6 Rabe), nennt als alogische Kr?fte Johannes Philoponos, sinnliche Seele Ern?hrung, Wachstum, Zeugung, Wahrnehmung, Strebeverm?gen
der und
der ?^oyo? in eingeschr?nktem Als Spezifikum Sinn nur die v|A)%r|k?nnte und Zeugung sinnliche Wahrnehmung auch den gelten, da Wachstum, Ern?hrung wird aber davon Pflanzen zu eigen sind (doch vgl. die Zophyta; o. Anm. 26). Anscheinend die vorangehenden da? epigenetisch die h?heren Lebensformen ausgegangen, aufgenom anderes.
zur Wahrnehmung F?higkeit (a?aOnxiK?v) jedem zu Lebewesen, eigen: Vgl. Johannes Philoponos, AnalPrCom. 355,8f; in der Sarx; genauer wird sogar gesagt, das a?aOr|TiK?v befinde sich bei den Lebewesen cpavxaaia und vgl. ebd. 15,34f. Nach AnalPrCom. 32,16-9 sind alogische Erkenntniskr?fte
men
haben.
Wie
?blich
ist die
aber nicht der Pflanze
a?aOnai?. 47 Vgl.
con criticism of Aristotle's Aristoteles, HA 8,1 (588b2-21); A. Preus, "Galen's "Galen and ception theory", Journal of the history ofBiology 10 (1977) 65-85, P. Moraux, de partibus animalium", Aristotle On nature and living things.FS D.M. Aristode's ed. Balme, hier A. Gotthelf 332f. 1985) 327-44, (Pittsburgh/Bristol 48 = SVF II 745; T. Tieleman, Philo Alex, opif. 67 (l,22,13ff Wendland) Vgl. of and stoic embryology. Ps.Plutarch, 15,4 reconsidered", "Diogenes Babylon plac. V 44 (1991) 106-25, hier 120f. Mnemosyne 12264. 49 aetm. 13,9 (501,2-12 Rabe): "Ich habe aber Johannes Philoponos, zur des Embryos der selben Hinsicht' hinzugef?gt, weil die Entstehung Mutter
genommene aber nicht
geh?rt, ist, sondern Same
Materie
Teil
Same
und Monatsflu?
in derselben
zugleich sie sich ver?ndert
(erst), wenn bzw. Monatsflu?
verg?nglicher
wie und
ist, weder
des Embryos
Hinsicht
wohl auch
und umgewandelt
(schon) zu den Erzeugern eigenst?ndiges Endprodukt sie hat. Sie ist also, wenn noch ist sie, wenn sie ein
eigenst?ndiges Endprodukt, ist und sich in seine Natur
geworden
'zugleich und in von Vater bzw.
gewandelt
hat, ein
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
393
darauf hin, daB phytische und alogische Seele potentiell im Samen vorhan ihn ubertragen wurden.50 Mit
den waren
oder durch
Lebensform
setzt die Beseelung
ein.5 Bevor der Mensch
der pflanzlichen voll ausgebildet
des Beseelten ist,rechnetJohannesPhiloponosmit der Differenzierung und Pflanzlich-Tierisches Tierisches in Pflanzliches((pqutv), (4Toup6ov) Die Entwicklung des Embryos laBt kontinuierliche Abstufungen im (~4Cov).52
Hinblick
auf das angezielte Ideal erkennen.53Wie liegt die Abgrenzung
schen Texten
in anderen zeitgenossi
der Stufen voneinander
schiedlichen Fahigkeiten begrundet. Alle Ablaufe
in den unter
vom Samen
uber das
Fleisch und den die verschiedenen Etappen des Lebendigen durchlaufenden
des Erschaffenden"; vgl. aetm. 9,8 (339,4-9 R.); aetm. 14,1 (542,22-5 R.) spricht von steht damit in der Tradition Galens und "durchmengter Gestalt". Johannes Philoponos an das Galen Aristoteles Zusam hatte, ankn?pfend gegen Hippokrates, Porphyrios'.
Teil
eines Embryos gelehrt weiblicher und m?nnlicher Materie bei der Entstehung Galen and Aristotle's de partibus animalium [o. Anm. 47] 332f; Ders., Der (vgl. Moraux, Aristotelismus bei den Griechen 2 = Peripatoi 6 [Berlin/New York 1984] 745-9), auch wenn er in der oder Part um Menstrualblut schwankte, ob es sich beim weiblichen Beurteilung
menwirken
weiblichen aber
sind zwar auch Frau und Mann handelt. F?r Aristoteles beteiligt, liefert nur das pneumatische criticism vgl. Preus, Galen's Formprinzip; von der Beteiligung 78-82. Zur Vielfalt der sonstigen Verst?ndnisweisen
"Samen"
der Mann
[o. Anm. 47] Mann und Frau
15) 1228-44. Undurchsichtig (o. Anm. Embryologie vgl. Lesky/Waszink, ob die Zeit zwischen der und dem Beginn bleibt bei Johannes Empf?ngnis Philoponos, Stadium verstanden wird. Man wird jedoch der pflanzlichen Phase als rein materielles
von im aristotelischen Sinn die Potenzen davon ausgehen k?nnen, da? dieses Stadium in sich tr?gt. Pflanzen- und Tierseele 50 AnCom. 13,24-14,1 geht von unk?rperlichen (pvaiKOi taSyoi aus, die in jedem Teil des sind dieselben nat?rlichen Prinzipien Samens existieren: "Denn in jedem Teil des Samens insgesamt sind, n?mlich die des Ern?hrens, des Wachstums ungeteilt, die auch im Samen und der Ausformung. Wie n?mlich der Same insgesamt, wenn er durch den Mutterscho? so bewirkt er es um (? ov) hervorbringt, aufgenommen wird, ein vollendetes Lebewesen nichts weniger, auch des AnCom. Anliegen
wenn
er nicht
als ganzer,
sondern
nur
als Teil
ist es zu zeigen, da? Zusammenhang sind; vgl. Blumenthal, Body and soul (o. Anm. 40) 376f. unk?rperlich 51 die auf die entsprechenden Aristotelesschriften bezogene Vgl. in diesem
GenCorCom.
2,10-20: Metalle
Johannes Philoponos, haben aber keine Sinneswahrnehmung; die Frage, ?ber Sinneswahrnehmung.
Lebewesen ob Pflanzen
sind unbeseelt;
(da ist)". Das alle Seelenarten
bei Einteilung Pflanzen sind beseelt,
sind beseelt und besitzen (? a) sind die antiken eine Seele haben,
zu den Bef?rwortern z?hlt als erster Aristoteles, dann zB. Plotin und geteilt; zu den Bestreitern werden zB. die Stoiker, Porphyrios und Eusebios gerechnet; Or?genes, bei Sorabji, Animal minds (o. Anm. 11) 97-100. vgl. den ?berblick 52 AnalPrCom. 16,1-7; AnalPostCom. 14,3-14; 411,22-32; Philoponos, Vgl. Johannes
Meinungen
GenCorCom. 213,26-214,13. 53 Johannes Philoponos,
GenCorCom.
271,21.
CLEMENS
394
SCHOLTEN
Embryo bis hin zum ausgebildeten Menschen
sind somit epigenetisch und
vollziehen sich in einer festgelegtenReihenfolge. Die Natur Kraft, die auf das zu erreichende Ziel hinwirkt.54Mit Prinzip
gefunden, das
burtlichen Entwicklung
istdie steuernde
der Natur
zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt aus dem durch Samen
ist ein
in der vorge
und MonatsfluB
bereit
gestellten Substrat selbst kreativ die phytische und alogische Lebensform hervorzubringen in der Lage
ist.Die Natur
Form, sondern auch die das Leben
schafftnicht nur die physische
charakterisierende Fahigkeit
(4wrtuc
Uva,utq), namlich Wachstum, Ernahrung und Sinneswahrnehmung, also die alogischen seelischen Potenzen von Pflanzen und Tieren.55 Philosophisch
betrachtet macht
aber nicht die Materie,
Form, also das seelische Lebensprinzip, logischen Stadium Wachstums
eine einzige Seele
durchlauft, oder
das Lebewesen
sondern die
aus. Ob
es im vor
ist, die unterschiedliche Stadien des
ob mehrere
voneinander
unterschiedene
Seelen aufeinander folgen, laBt sich, wie gesagt, nicht genau erkennen. Laut PhysCom. geht Johannes Philoponos
davon
aus, daB der soeben geformte
Embryo die Stufe des XoywKOv noch nicht erreicht.56Die Form des Embryos entwickelt sich nach aetm. allmahlich und empfangt noch imMutterschoB zeitlos die Vollendung.57 Johannes Philoponos
54 Vgl. Johannes Philoponos, auch, wenn aus wenig Samen
vertritt somit die aristoteli
aetm. 11,8 (432,11-6
"Auf gleiche Weise ern?hrt Rabe): f?r entsteht, die Natur, die den Monatsflu? die Hinzuf?gung des Samens bereitstellt, die Frucht imMutterleib und f?hrt sie zu ihrer erste Materie nat?rlichen indem die dem Monatsflu? der Gr??e, zugrundeliegende des Samens Materie ausges?t war"; hinzugef?gt wird, der seit Beginn vgl. PhysCom. ein Mensch
319,23-8; 848,6-8. 55 Johannes Philoponos,
aetm. 9,9 (340,10-24 Rabe); vgl. den nicht physiologisch in aetm. 7,16 (280,5-7 R.): ". . .denn auch wir r?umen ein, da? konzipierten Naturbegriff zwischen die Verstandesseele und den K?rper die Natur und die alogischen Kr?fte treten, die selbst geworden und verg?nglich sind". 56 "?xav yap y?vexai A-oyuc?v xi, ?n^ovoxi Johannes PhysCom. 129,27-30: Philoponos, x? yiv?jxevov ta>yiK?v ax?pnaiv ei/e rcp? xo?xou xo? e??od? xo? XoyiKo?? (o?ov xo apxi eu?p-Dov), e?xa xo? e?8ou? xouxou ?7ciyivo|i?vo\) ?v x imoKEijaivco f| ax?pnai? an erci Tcavxo?v ?jioico?". Mit "?pxi ?ia?i^aaO?v" m! ist die erste Formgebung ?Tiexc?pnGe, von Samen und Monatsflu? das aus der Umwandlung entstandene Fleisch gemeint. Es 8ia7t?,aa0?v
im Zitat mit dem "Zugrun nicht endg?ltig beweisbar, da? legt sich nahe, obwohl wieder der Embryo (und nicht ein rein abstraktes Prinzip oder der Mensch deliegenden" nach der Geburt) gemeint ist und da? somit bereits im PhysCom. aus dem Jahre 517 die des Embryos mit der \|/i)%f|A,oyncr| gelehrt wird. Dann aber steht nichts ent Beseelung gegen, auch in aetm. diese Vorstellung 57 aetm. 9,14 Johannes Philoponos,
vorauszusetzen; (369,1-371,16
vgl. o. S. 3f. Rabe).
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
DIE
UND
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
395
sche Bestimmung jeder Seelenart als Entelechie.58 Alles Seelische bis ein schlieB3lichzum Alogischen besteht freilichnicht dauerhaft, sondern lost sich mit dem Tod wieder auf: So heiBt es in aetm.,daB die alogischen Krafte der ins Nichts ubergehen.59 Es legt sich nahe, daB damit implizit
Seele wieder
von der Untrennbarkeit
der alogischen Seele vom K6rper
ausgegangen
wird.60
2. De opficio mundi DaB
Seele
Entelechie
ist, gilt auch
fur die koyi
Verhaltnis zum Embryo nur in opm.-abgesehen PhysCom. explizite AuBerungen
iu,
uiber deren
vielleicht von der Stelle aus
zu finden sind. Wie
schon gesagt, lehrt
in opm., daB sie gleichzeitig zur akoyo; xvnu' in den xiiruxXoyci unterscheide sich aber von dieser durch ihre
Johannes Philoponos Embryo tritt.Die
Trennbarkeit vom Korper.6' Darin
drucke sich eine divergierende Ente
lechie aus: Er (sc.Aristoteles) sagt aber, daB die eine Art Entelechie untrennbar (sc.mit dem Korper verbunden) sei, wie die musikalische Aktualitat der Flote und der Leier-so verhalt sich auch die Seele der Lebewesen ohne Vernunft, die zugleichmit der Verbindung zum Korper aufgel6stwird; die andere Art der Entelechie aber sei trennbarwie der Steuermann vom Schiffund der Lenker vom Wagen, denn der eine stattedas Schiffmit Form aus, der andere den Lebewesen.62 Wagen, wie auch die Seele derMenschen das vernuinftige darf man den SchluB ziehen, daB die xivoxlqutud und die &aoyo; i der Natur sind und als solche bei der Auflosung Hervorbringungen Vyu des Lebewesens, wie es schon in aetm. gesagt wurde, auch wieder zugrun
Daraus
58 Aristoteles, de An. 2,1 (412al5.23; 412b5). 59 aetm. 9,11 (348,4-7 Rabe). Johannes Philoponos, 60Die der verschiedenen Frage der Trennbarkeit vieldiskutiertes 10,4-9
Thema;
in dieser
Frage
vom K?rper ist ein Seelenarten AnCom. Der AnCom. sich in selbst 9,35-12,12. vgl. positioniert zur \\fx>%r\ im Unterschied so, da? die aXoyo? \\fx>x?\ (pamicri vom
ist, sich jedoch nicht von ihrem gcuuxx hve'duxxtikOv l?sen kann; vgl. des damit gemeinten Blumenthal, Body and soul (o. Anm. 40) 373. Die Nichtexistenz in aetm. 7,14 Seelengef?hrtes (avyoei??? ocojia oder ?%n|xa) wird von Johannes Philoponos
K?rper
trennbar
21 bewiesen. 61Darin
besteht
zB.
ein Unterschied
zu AnCom.;
(o. Anm. 40) 379. 62 opm. 6,23 (584,17-22 Johannes Philoponos, (413a3-9); Simplikios, CaelCom. 380,16-9; PsGalen 16; 47,28-48,8
Kalbfleisch).
vgl. Blumenthal,
Body
and
soul
de An. 2,1 vgl. Aristoteles, (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 10,4. 6 (47,5
Sch?lten);
CLEMENS
396
degehen.63 Die Xoyti
SCHOLTEN
ivu' hingegen ist unsterblich und trittdeshalb auch
von auBen in den Embryo ein. Deshalb zip "Natur"
ursachlich
kann dafur auch nicht das Prin
sein, sondern nur der Schopfer.64 Daher
kein Seelenteil, sondern eine eigene Substanz.65 Diese Konzeption
ist sie wirft die
Frage nach der Existenzweise der unsterblichen Xoytcii ijnj vor ihrem Ein tritt in den K6rper Praexistenzlehre, wie
auf. Johannes Philoponos sie Origenes
ihn mit anderen Worten
als Kreatianisten
Einfuhrung der Xoytd x yj
schlieB3t als Antwort eine
vertreten hat, aus.66 Daher
darf man
einordnen. Der Zeitpunkt der
in den Embryo
ist nach opm. dann gegeben,
im Embryo die aXoyo; yxnViausbildet.67 Bestatigt wird die Beseelung des Embryos mit der Xoyt i xVu t furJohannes Philoponos durch
wenn die Natur die Schrift:Das
Strafgesetz Ex. 21,22f (LXX) zeigt, daB Moses
das zu einer
Fehlgeburt fuhrende StoBen einer schwangeren Frau nur unter der Be dingung nach dem Vergeltungsprinzip
"Gleiches durch Gleiches"
wissen will, wenn der Embryo beseelt iSt.68Gleichwohl
bestraft
besitzt der Embryo
63 59. Die opm. 6,23 (582,5-18 Sch?lten); vgl. o. Anm. Philoponos, Johannes im thematisiert Alkinoos, did. 25 (50 Whittaker), wobei Sterblichkeit der aXoyo? \\fv%r\ et Plat. 598,26 vielleicht Piaton, Ti. 69C steht; vgl. Galen, De plac. Hipp, Hintergrund um die im kaiserzeitlichen H. "Kontroversen D?rrie, 600,18); Seelenwanderung auch in: Ders, Plat?nica minora (M?nchen (1957) 414-35, 1976) referiert die unterschiedlichen TimCom. 3,234,8-238,26 Proklos, Diehl, zu dieser Frage. Interessanterweise opm. 6,23 sagt Johannes Philoponos, sondern auch die nicht nur die Sinneswahrnehmung, S.), da? der Embryo Hermes
Piatonismus", 420-40,
85
424.
Meinungen
(584,11-4 um die Orts scheint die Diskussion als Hintergrund Bewegungsfahigkeit empfangt; o. S. 383-7) durch. (vgl. bewegung des Embryos 64 . .Die Seele der Menschen aber opm. 6,23 (582,7-18 S.): ". Johannes Philoponos, trennbare entstand aus einem anderen Anfang, denn sie besitzt eine von den K?rpern Substanz
und geht in sie nach der Ausformung den Lebenshauch, und der Mensch
sein Antlitz 2,7LXX). 65 Ebd. 66 Ebd. 67 Ebd.
. .". 6,23
ein. wurde
'blies in 'Gott', sagt er {sc.Moses), zu einer (Gen. lebendigen Seele'
(582,13-8).
7,2f. 6,23
(584,6-22
S.). es sich um die A,oyucii \j/u%r|handelt, (588,10-590,18 S.). Da? zeigt im Kontext die Beziehung auf Gen. und der Eintritt der Seele in den K?rper 2,7 (LXX) "von au?en" nach der Formung f| xfj? \|n)%fj?e?aKpiai?). Damit wird (|iex? xf|v bi?nXaciv 68 Ebd.
6,24f
der Eintritt der ?oyncri \|/i)%r|in den Embryo anscheinend zeitlich nahe an die erste Stufe des Seelenlebens, die Begabung mit den vegetativen Kr?ften, heranger?ckt. Ex. 21,22f ist der biblische locus classicus aller und rechdichen (LXX) sp?teren moralischen des Status des Embryos; Ders. "Introduction", (ed.), The Bewertung vgl. G.R. Dunstan, human embryo.Aristotle and theArabic and European traditions (Exeter 1990) 1-10; 4f. Dunstan istwie FJ. D?lger, "Das Lebensrecht des ungeborenen Kindes und die Fruchtabtreibung
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UND DIE
ANTIKE
nicht die vollen Fahigkeiten des Xoytcov.Denn Kind
EMBRYOLOGIE
397
auch dem gerade geborenen
steht noch nicht zur Verfuigung, was naturlicherweise bei der XoytKlm ist.69
Mru vorhanden
desEmbgyos inphilosophischer III. Die Beseelung Tradition Die Besonderheit dieser Anschauungen
macht der Vergleich mit fruiheren
philosophischen Positionen zur Beseelung des Embryos erkennbar. In deren
Hintergrundstehen explizitoder implizitstetsbiologischeZeugungs-, Vererbungs-
und Entwicklungslehren.70 Auch wenn
die antiken Vorstel
lungen zur Embryonalentwicklung notwendig begrenzt sind und es schwer fallt,einen allgemeingultigen biologischen Kenntnisstand fur eine bestimmte Zeit
festzustellen,7' lassen sich die Etappen
schen Embryologie und der Wissens-
der medizinisch-philosophi
und Diskussionstand,
der Johannes
Philoponosvorliegt,in Umrissenbeschreiben. Mit der Aristotelesschrift De generationeanimalium liegt ein seinerseits bereits altere Stellungnahmen
in der Bewertung der heidnischen (1934) 1-61, hier 9, der Meinung,
und christlichen Antike", ders., Antike und Christentum 4 von Ex. 21,22f da? sich bereits in der Formulierung of Alexandrian culture by accepted Greek embryology and the
"the domination (LXX) Aristotelian hat. Die hebr?ische language" niedergeschlagen der Sache nach bereits auf altorientalische Bestimmungen,
Fassung von Ex. 21,22f geht zB. den Codex Hammurabi,
in der Bewertung des Embryos ist folgenreich f?r die Differenzen Divergenz u. Anm. in j?discher und christlicher Tradition: 123. vgl. 69 . . x? opm. 2,5 (198,1-5 S.): ". apxixoKov ?pecpoc ?iyoi xi? eivai Johannes Philoponos, unie cruujtri?ec?? xfj? ?eouan? ur|Te f^iK?a? xt>xov ur|xe xcov Kax? (p\>aiv ccKaraaKe?aaTov,
zur?ck. Die
. . .". Damit sind die rationalen F?higkeiten gemeint. rcpoa?vxcov xr\Xoyncp iiruxfi, 70 K. Emmel, Das Fortleben der antiken Lehren von der Beseelung bei den Kirchenv?tern. Diss.
1918) (allerdings zum Teil nicht pr?zise genug); Lesky, Zeugungs (Borna/Leipzig und Vererbungslehren der Biologie 1. Biologie von (o. Anm. 44); ?. B?umer, Geschichte a der Antike bis zur Renaissance bes. H. 72-89; (Frankfurt/Bern 1991), King, "Making man. Becoming in early Greek medicine", human Dunstan (ed.), The human embryo Gie?en
et criticism (o. Anm. 47); J. Berthier, "M?decine 68) 10-9; Preus, Galen's sur l'Ad la mani?re dont Tratados dans Gaurum, l'embryon s'anime", hipocr?ti philosophie cos (estudios acerca de su contenido, forma e influencia).Actas del Ule colloque intern,hippocratique (o. Anm.
Ferez 24-29 de septiembre de 1990), ed. J.A. L?pez (Madrid 1992) 635-45. zur zur Entstehung des Samens, zur ?hnlichkeit sind etwa Theorien Vererbung, aus. sehr unterschiedlich der Kinder mit den Eltern. Im einzelnen fallen die ?berlegungen 71 vor ZB. kann ?pecpoc ein Wesen Hinzu kommen terminologische Mehrdeutigkeiten: oder "geboren werden" meinen; oder nach der Geburt meinen; yevv?v kann "zeugen"
(Madrid, Themen
? ov speziell u. a. m.
ein animal,
aber
auch
allgemein
das, was
lebt bezeichnen
(auch Pflanzen),
398
CLEMENS
SCHOLTEN
bewertender Ausgangstext vor,72 dessen Inhalte im Laufe der Zeit in den
verschiedenen medizinischenund philosophischen Schulen rezipiertund korrigiertwurden. Fur die Spatantike wird man Galen
und seine am ari
stotelischen Modell der Embryonalentwicklung vorgenommenen Modi zifierungen als medizinischen Aristoteles
im Grundsatz
Standard
ansehen
k6nnen.73 Galen
folgt
in der epigenetischen Auffassung, nimmt aber
meist auf hippokratischer Tradition basierende Korrekturen vor.74So stellt er zB. fest, daB die aristotelische Aufteilung von Form und Stoff an Vater und Mutter ungenugend und auch der Vater
inmaterieller Hinsicht an der
Entstehung des Embryos beteiligt sei75oder daB das animalische Leben des Embryos mit dem ersten Herzschlag als Aristoteles meint,
beginne;76 der Embryo bilde, anders
schon zuvor Leber
und Venen
aus, lebe aber
in
dieser Phase wie eine Pflanze und benotige daher noch kein Herz.77 Die
72Dazu pocratic
z?hlt bes. die hippokratische Schrift De natura pueri (ed. I.M. Lonie, The hip "On generation", "On the nature of the child", "Diseases IV" (1981); a man der Biologie (o. Anm. 70); B?umer; Geschichte Making (o. Anm. 70)
treatises
vgl. King, 73-5. 73 Texte
usu partium sowie in semine, De foetuum formatione, De ?u?erungen TimCom. F?r B. "Die der Schriften, Bloch, geschichtlichen Grundlagen bis auf Harvey", Embryologie Abhandlungen derKaiserlich Leopoldinisch-Carolinischen Deutschen anderen
sind De
zB.
Akademie derNaturforscher 82 (1904) 213-43, und B?umer, Geschichte der Biologie (o. Anm. Galen den bedeutet der antiken bzw. eine Phase der 70) 89, jedoch Niedergang Biologie istmehr als einseitig; zB. wird der Fortschritt nicht gesehen, den Stagnation. Das Urteil
von Seele und Galen in der Problematik der Beziehung Faktoren bietet. biologischen 74 Galen's criticism Anm. Galen and Aristotle's de par Vgl. Preus, (o. 47); Moraux, tibus animalium (o. Anm. 47). 75 Aristotelismus Moraux, Balme, (o. Anm. ""Av?pcimo? avOpcoTcov 49) 745-9; D.M. is generated by human", Dunstan yevva. Human (ed.), The human embryo (o. Anm. 68) selbst das Nousprinzip durch 20-31, zeigt, da? nach Aristoteles, GA 2,3 (736b8-737al8) im Samen vorhandene Pneuma vermittelt ist, auch wenn es frei von K?rperlichkeit in den Embryo im Embryo eintritt, und da? somit alle seelischen Prinzipien potentiell
das
bereits
seit der Empf?ngnis vorhanden sind; anders Lesky/Waszink, Embryologie (o. Anm. 15) 1238, f?r die das Sperma nur die Empfindungsseele ?bertr?gt. 76 3 (4,663-5 K?hn); P. Moraux, "Galien comme philosophe. Vgl. Galen, Defoet.form. La philosophie de la nature", Galen. Problems and prospects, ed. V. Nutton (Cambridge/ London der Biologie 1981) 87-116, hier 93-5; B?umer, Geschichte (o. Anm. 70) 86-9; = zu Piatons Timaios C J. Larrain, Galens Kommentar zur Altertumskunde 29 Beitr?ge (Stuttgart 1992) 67-75. 77 Aristotelismus der 768; B?umer, Geschichte Vgl. Moraux, (o. Anm. 49) 749-51. Anm. 87. (o. Biologie 70)
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
DIE
UND
EMBRYOLOGIE
sich auf drei
beschranken
folgenden Ausfuhrungen
ANTIKE
399
typische spatantike
Stellungnahmen.78 1. Galens
eigene Schrift De foetuumformatione versucht den Sachstand
formulieren, laBt aber gleichzeitig die Unsicherheit der antikenMedizin
zu und
zu einemschlissigen VerstandnisderUrsachen der Philosophieerkennen, zu kommen.79 Galen gehtvon einerkontinuierlichen Embryonalentwicklung Entwicklung des Embryos aus, hat aber keine Klarheit, ob das ursachliche Prinzip die Natur oder die Seele ist und, wenn es die Seele sein sollte,wie zu fassen ist als Alternativen kamen
ihr Status genauer
oder "die Natur" in Frage TcrtOupxt" W-rxi'j,&Xoyo; rxnyo den Embryo tritt zB. mit dem Samen. Sicher ist sichGalen
qptixi Arxi, und wie sie in aber, daB trotz
keine iVuxi koytd in Frage kommt.80Als eine Begrundung wird angegeben, daB die Seele die inneren
der Weisheit
der Ausstattung des Korpers
Teile des eigenen Korpers im Embryo
nicht kenne. Am Ende der Schwangerschaft ist
allenfalls ein ausgebildetes allerdings wegen
dessen Fahigkeiten
alogisches Lebewesen
der
es umgebenden
realisiert,
Feuchtigkeit
gehemmtsind.8' 78
bzw. wichtige Teilaspekte Embryologie geben Piatonismus 11) 100-3; D?rrie/Baltes, (o. Anm. 41) 94 104; 321-43; Lesky/Waszink, 15); J.H. Waszink, (o. Anm. "Beseelung", RAC Embryologie und Vererbungslehren 2 (1954) 176-83; Lesky, Zeugungs(o. Anm. 44); B?umer, der Biologie Introduction: ders. (ed.), The human Geschichte 70); Dunstan, (o. Anm. Einen
Sorabji,
?ber
?berblick
Animal
die
antike
(o. Anm.
minds
A history of embryology.Second edition revised with embryo (o. Anm. 68) If; J. Needham, York bes. G.R. "The human the assistance of A. Hughes 27-84; Dunstan, (New 21964), western status of the Seller The G.R. in the moral tradition," Dunstan/MJ. (ed.), embryo human embryo.Perspectivesfrom moral tradition (London 1988) 39-57; H. Schmoll, "Wann wird S. 15. der Mensch ein Mensch?", FrankfurterAllgemeine Leitung 125 vom 31.5.2001, 79 = Hildesheim Ed.: Claudii Galeni opera omnia 4, ed. C.G. K?hn 1822 194) (Leipzig Aristotelismus 652-702; (o. Anm. 49) 767-73. vgl. Moraux, 80Die da? der vern?nftige Teil der Seele dem Samen mitgegeben ist,wird, Meinung, wie Larrain Anm. (o. 76) 69f meint, in der Schrift PsGalens An animal in utero (19,158-81 scheint das nicht sicher. Der Verfasser will, wenn er dem Embryo anscheinend und Logismos lediglich sagen, zuspricht, ebd. 19,168 K?hn, einer sinnvollen Ausdruck erkennbar vorhandenen da? die beim Embryo Sinnesorgane sind?der gelegt?nicht Sch?pfer des Alls hat ja die Seele in den Mutterscho? Ordnung eine \|A)xflta>yiKT| besitzt; der Begriff wird in der Schrift nicht jedoch, da? der Embryo
K?hn) Anteil
vertreten. Doch
an Seele
benutzt. Moraux, Anm.
Galien
774, weist
comme
daraufhin,
76) 93-5 und Aristotelismus (o. (o. Anm. philosophe im platonischen Sinn von einer Seele ausgeht; da? Galen ihre Dreiteilung; "Galen's anatomy vgl. RJ. Hankinson, 197-233, bes. 197-208.
49) allerdings bedeutet das zugleich of the soul", Phronesis 36 (1991) 81 usu partium 15,5 K?hn; Vgl. Galen, De
Platonismus
(o. Anm.
41)
332-7.
Larrain
(o. Anm.
76) 67-75;
D?rrie/Baltes,
400
CLEMENS
SCHOLTEN
2. Die bekannteste istdie spatantike philosophische Positionsbestimmung psgalenische Schrift np'; Fakpov, als deren Verfasser Porphyrios gilt.82Sie und halt die Beseelung des Embryos ebenfalls fur ein medizinisch naturkundlich
will aber zeigen, daB dem Embryo
schwieriges Thema,
der Status eines Lebewesens
besten mit den biologischen Gegebenheiten zu bringen Seele
ist und daB3 am
sogar ganzlich abzusprechen
ist, der dem Embryo
die Ansicht Platons in Einklang
erst mit bzw. nach der Geburt
die
Richtigkeit der Lehre Platons zu demonstrieren bzw.
zuweist. Die
Platontexte vor Fehlinterpretationen zu schutzen ist ein wesentliches Ziel der Schrift.83Der Verfasser geht dementsprechend von einer platonischen Seelenvorstellung
Seele
aus: Die
ist ein einziges Prinzip aus
r0ygoVItKOV,
0-oig6 und kt7lupnj?tKOV.Der Verfasser kennt und benutzt zwar auch auf anderen Vorstellungen basierende Termini wie zB. die iwuXii(Pq)utKi als Prinzip von Ernahrung und Wachstum, gange den Begriff Seele nen nur einige
mochte
aber auf vegetative Vor
eigentlich nicht anwenden.84 Im folgenden kon
in sachlicher Verbindung
mit Gedanken
bei Johannes
Philoponosstehende Aussagen referiert werden.85 Schrift bemuht sich zu zeigen, daB der Embryo weder aktuell noch
Die
potentiell ein Lebewesen
(4Cpov)ist, und selbst wenn
letzteres der Fall sein
sollte, daB dann die animalische Seele nicht durch Vater oder Mutter,
son
82Das
Ende des Textes ist nicht erhalten. Vgl. K. Kalbfleisch (Hg.), Die neuplatonische, nepi rov n?? e?y/vxovTca ta efi?pva f?lschlich dem Galen zugeschriebene Schrift Kpo? Tavpov = AAWB (Berlin 1895). U. Jurisch, Grundfragen der Embryonalentwicklung aus der Sicht eines nicht 1991) bietet eine fehlerhafte und die Textstruktur Neuplatonikers (Diss. Erlangen eine franz?sische ?bersetzung findet sich bei genau erfassende deutsche ?bersetzung; A.-J. Festugi?re, La r?v?lationd'Herm?s trism?giste3. Les doctrines de l'?me (Paris 1953) 265-302; Fortleben (o. Anm. 70) 21-5; Berthier, M?decine vgl. Emmel, (o. Anm. 70); D?rrie/ W. Anm. zur Baltes, Platonismus Deuse, (o. 41); Untersuchungen mittelplatonischen und neupla tonischenSeelenlehre (Wiesbaden 1983) 175-9. 186-8. 197f. 83 stimmen Piaton und Vgl. PsGalen (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 2,4. F?r den Verfasser von in der Einf?hrung der Seele au?en nach der Geburt Aristoteles (mitsamt Intellekt) ?berein der Hebr?er", also Moses (ebd. 12,3), und einmal wird auch der "Theologe (Gen.
2,7),
sp?tantiken
in diesem
Sinne
Schuldebatte von
zustimmend
nicht
aus,
da?
Positionen
angef?hrt (ebd. 11,1). Das sich der Text auch um zB.
schlie?t die
ebd.
im Stile der
"Sache 10:
an
"Auch
sich" ohne
bem?ht; unabh?ngig platonischen vgl. Piatons mu? man die Frage an sich (sc. hier: den Zeugungsvorgang) Ber?cksichtigung . . .". ?berpr?fen 84 PsGalen 6,3f (42,28-43, (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 4 (37,27-41,4 Kalbfleisch); Vgl. 11 K.); Sorabji, Animal minds (o. Anm. (o. Anm. 70) 641. 11) lOOf; Berthier, M?decine 85 Inhalts?bersicht bei Kalbfleisch bei Berthier, (o. Anm. 82) 5-11; gute Analyse M?decine 70). (o. Anm.
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
401
dern nur von auBen zum Zeitpunkt der Geburt ubertragen werde. Dazu geht der Text von der Frage aus, ob der Embryo ein animalisches oder pflanzliches Leben nehmung und Drang
fuhrt.86 Animalisches Leben
(4cov)
ist durch Sinneswahr
zu ortlicher Bewegung
(opglw)definiert, pflanzliches unter AusschluB von Sinneswahrnehmung
durch Ernahrung und Wachstum
und Bewegungsdrang. Der Embryo besitzt nach Meinung keine von der Sinneswahrnehmung
des Autors jedoch
abhangige Vorstellung
und keinen
Bewegungsdrang und sei daher eine Pflanze oder pflanzenahnlich. Ferner gibt der Text die Auskunft, daB diejenigen, welche den Embryo fur ein ~4ov halten, uneins sind, ob dieser aktuell oder nur potentiell ein Lebewesen
ist; dabei werde potentiell einmal im Sinne der-in
so genannten-zweiten
Potentialitat verstanden: Wie
spaterer Zeit
ein junger Mensch
die
Grammatik bereits kennt, aber aktuell nicht anwendet, besitze der Embryo zwar die Seele, diese befinde sich aber zunachst nur im Ruhezustand.Y Nehme man
jedoch an, die das Lebewesen
schaffende (Xpo7ool6v)Seele sei
potentiell so im Embryo, wie ein junger Mensch
die Grammatik erst noch
lernen muB, dann erhalte er die Seele des 4Cov erst zu dem Zeitpunkt, zu dem er eben ein ~Cpov wird.88Wenn
aber gezeigt wurde, daB der Embryo
weder aktuell noch potentiell ein Lebewesen Autor zeigen, Platon
sei, bekame, und das will der
recht, der den Eintritt der animalischen Seele von
auBen mit dem Zeitpunkt der Geburt ansetzt.89 Alle
anderen Annahmen
zum
Schwierigkeiten verbunden und Nach
dem Referat
PsGalens
Zeitpunkt
der Beseelung
(Porphyrios') wurde
Augenblick der Ubertragung des Samens der ersten Ausformung nach 30 Tagen absurd Zeugung
sei die Annahme,
von Numenios
der
in die Gebarmutter genannt, von
unbekannten Platonikern, die sich auf Hippokrates oder auch der Moment
sind mit
lassen sich nicht glaubwurdig beweisen.
beriefen, der Zeitpunkt
bei Jungen bzw. 42 bei Madchen
der ersten Bewegung daB die Beseelung
angegeben.
In jedem Fall
unmittelbar beim Akt der
dadurch erfolge, daB die Seele durch den Atem an den Samen
86 PsGalen Zum dih?retischen (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 1,1 (33,4-12 Kalbfleisch). Anm. Aufbau vgl. D?rrie/Baltes, Piatonismus 323-5. (o. 41) 87 PsGalen Zum des 1,2-4 (33,12-34,7 K.). Zeitpunkt (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum Vorhandenseins der animalischen Seele in dieser Sicht sagt der Text nichts; die ?ber seien setzung von 1,2 durch Jurisch, Grundfragen 82) 14f, "die Embryonen (o. Anm. bereits von Anfang an im Besitz der Seele", ist falsch. 88 Zu den unterschiedlichen PsGalen 1,4 (34,7-10 K.). (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum von Potentialit?t vgl. Deuse, Bedeutungen (o. Anm. 82) 197f. Untersuchungen 89 Ebd. 2,1 (34,11-20 K.).
402
CLEMENS
gebunden werde.90 Allen Theorien
SCHOLTEN
stehen furPsGalen
(Porphyrios) unuber
windliche Schwierigkeiten entgegen, wenn ihreVertreter an einer Beseelung von auBlen festhalten und nicht eine Ubertragung der Seele mit dem Samen des Vaters annehmen.91 PsGalen
(Porphyrios) beschaftigen wie den Verfasser des AnCom. Fragen
wie Nahrungsaufnahme,
Sinneswahrnehmung und Bewegung des Embryos.
Fur das rein pflanzliche Leben
Embryos
fuhrt er die
und die fehlende Atmung
einwende, Platon nenne doch auch die Pflanzen Lebewesen,
an.92Wer
die homonyme Verwendung Bewegungen Der
des menschlichen
durch den Mund
fehlende Nahrungsaufnahme
hat
des Begriffs durch Platon nicht beachtet.93 Die
des Embryos seien rein vegetativ erklarbar.94
Embryo
ist potentiell wahrnehmungsfahig,
Sinn, daB er in der Lage
aber lediglich in dem
ist, die Fahigkeit zurWahrnehmung
In den unvollendeten Organen
vor der Geburt
zu erwerben.
ist das Wahrnehmungsver
mogen noch nicht vorhanden.95 Scharf kritisiertder Verfasser die Stoiker.96 Sie dachten praformistisch und meinten, bereits imKeim
sei die Anlage der
sich bei der Geburt unter Hinzutreten der Luft entfaltenden Fahigkeiten des Lebewesens
enthalten.97 Sie begehen in der Sicht des Verfassers den Fehler,
die Materie
zum bestimmenden Prinzip zu machen
der Seele zu leugnen: Die Natur sein, die animalische
Materie)
und die Immaterialitat
lassen sie ein Produkt des Zustands Seele
ein Produkt der Natur,
(sc.der
die Ver
nunftseele wiederum ein Produkt von Natur und animalischer Seele und den Nous
ein Produkt der Vernunftseele.98
Das Fazit der nur sehr gerafftund inAuszugen
referiertenUberlegungen
90 Ebd. 2,2f (34,20-35,21 K.). 91 Piatonismus Vgl. das ?bersichtliche Referat von D?rrie/Baltes, (o. Anm. 41) 329f. 92 PsGalen (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 3,2-5 (36,18-37,26 K.); vgl. 12,4 (50,27-51,10 K.); Berthier, M?decine (o. Anm. 70) 642f. 93 PsGalen (Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum 4 (37,27-41,4 K.). 94 Ebd. 7 (43,12-44,3). Es ist anfechtbar, wie D?rrie/Baltes, Piatonismus (o. Anm. 41) 332 mit Anm. 95 PsGalen 96 Wichtige
(puoi? zu identifizieren. Ad Gaurum 13,5 (53,2-7 K.). (Porphyrios), zu stoischen, aber auch anderen Informationen 44f, yu^n
(pimicri und
Positionen
?berliefert
plac. 5,7; 5,15-23; dazu Tieleman, (o. Anm. 48); vgl. H. Daiber, Aetius Diogenes arabus. Die Vorsokratiker in arabischer ?berlieferung (Wiesbaden 1980) 229-39. 488-91. 495-505. 97 In Ad Gaurum PsGalen wird den Stoikern vorgeworfen, 14,2 (54,3 K.) (Porphyrios), sie machten, da? die Seele Keime rcoio?vxe? xf|v \|/i>xr|v".Oder enth?lt?"a7i?p(|ia)xiKf|V
A?tios,
soll gemeint 98 Ebd. Emmel,
sein, da? 14,1-4
Fortleben
die Seele
im Samen
(53,28-54,25 K.). (o. Anm. 70) 20.
Diese
enthalten Kritik
ist? hat
bereits
Plutarch
ge?u?ert;
vgl.
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
kann kurz ausfallen: Die
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
Seele trittnach PsGalen
Geburt von auBen in den Menschen.
403
(Porphyrios) erstmit der vor der Geburt
Die Vorgange
sind
rein vegetativer Art. im einzelnen auch Differenzen bestehen, so teilen doch andere
Mogen
platonische Autoren wie Alkinoos, Jamblich und Proklos die Grundposition des Porphyrios:99 Erst mit bzw. nach der Geburt
erhalt der Embryo die
'Vvi Xoyuci, vorher ist er bestenfalls als ein animalisches Lebewesen einzuordnen, und selbst dies ist hochst umstritten und mehr als zweifelhaft. 3. Eine inmancher Hinsicht andere Position vertreten die bei Galen und
Porphyrios wiederholtkritisierten Stoiker.Bei allenDifferenzenim einzel nen teilen alle Stoiker jedoch
im Grundsatz
daB das
die Uberzeugung,
ursachliche Prinzip der Embryonalentwicklung mit der Qbertragung in den MutterschoB
Samens Darin
des
gelangt und sich seitdem sukzessiv entfaltet.
stimmen sie zwar mit Aristoteles uberein. Anders als bei Aristoteles
wird dieses Prinzip jedoch materiell verstanden. Es kann mit dem Samen selbst oder teilweise unter Steuerung von auBen ubertragen gedacht sein, als im Samen enthaltenes Pneuma, "Natur" oder auch "Seele" bezeichnet wer den. Aber auch die Stoiker sehen den Embryo deswegen keineswegs mit der xV-ovXoyuf ausgestattet. Auch als potentielles Prinzip ist sie im Embryo fur sie nicht vorhanden. Zwar ist er ein Gebilde, das die Potenzen zur weiteren Entwicklung in sich tragt, aber die Beseelung Diogenes
u.a.
zufolge ein Vorgang,
ist Stoikern wie Chrysipp,
der sich erst mit dem Beginn der
Atemtatigkeit unmittelbar nach der Geburt vollzieht und als Umwandlung des Samenpneumas Fahigkeit
zur Seele beschrieben werden
entfaltet sich bzw.
tritt zu
kann;'00 die noetische
einem noch
spateren Zeitpunkt
hinzu. 101 Zusammenfassend
ist festzuhalten: Bei
besteht in der Spatantike Philosophen abzusprechen
allen Divergenzen
groBe Einmutigkeit: Platonische
in Details und
stoische
daB dem Embryo eine nVo1 Xoytd ist.Aus medizinischer Perspektive kann hochstens davon die
teilen die Einschatzung,
Rede
sein, daB der Embryo mit dem Beginn des Herzschlages
Aber
selbst das ist von philosophischer Warte
ein 4Cov ist.
aus hochst zweifelhaft und
wird nicht von vielen geteilt. Es verwundert daher nicht, daB der Verfasser des AnCom., wie oben gesehen, die Frage nach dem Status des Embryos als
99 im einzelnen bei D?rrie/Baltes, Piatonismus Nachweise (o. Anm. 41) 383-43. 100 Tieleman, (o. Anm. 70) 19-21. (o. Anm. 48) 112-5. Emmel, Fortleben Diogenes 101Eine im r?mischen ist die der Recht; dazu vgl. Bewertung Abtreibung Konsequenz Anm. Lebensrecht 37-42. (o. 68) D?lger,
CLEMENS
404
14ov weiter auf der Tagesordnung
SCHOLTEN
hat und nicht ohne weiteres beantworten
will oder kann.
IV. Die Beseelungdes Embgyos in christlicher Tradition im selben philosophischen Rahmen
Grundsatzlich
bewegen
sich auch die
Beseelungsvorstellungen christlicher Autoren,unter denen im folgenden nur eine Auswahl
wiederum
getroffenwerden
erneut in der Wahrnehmung, einem
differenzierten, geschichteten auch
Gleichwie
kann. Der
Schlussel
liegt
ob und wie sie den Beseelungsvorgang mit Seelenmodell
zusammenbringen.
immer die mit den Stichworten Traduzianismus,
tianismus und Praexistenzvorstellung abgesteckten Grundmodelle zelnen bei christlichen Autoren vor Johannes Philoponos sobald der Tatsache Rechnung
Krea im ein
entwickelt sind,
getragen wird, daB Beseelung
ein Vorgang
ist,der verschiedene, sich in kontinuierlicher Entwicklung aufeinander bezo gene seelische Teile
oder Fahigkeiten an den Korper
besteht Ubereinstimmung,
vermitteln muB,'02
daB das oberste Seelenvermogen,
die Ratio,
als
oder spater als Nvi1 Xoyu# bezeichnet, im Embryo nicht ii7?egOViKOV vorhanden ist.Mit fortschreitender Zeit schalt sich diese Gesamttendenz deutlich heraus, auch wenn die Ermittlung der genauen Vorstellungen nicht immer einfach ist. So hebt ein unbekannter christlicher Autor des 2. Jhs. zwar hervor, daB die Seele von auBen durch einen Engel vermittelt wird, geht also von einer praexistenten, beim Zeugungs- oder Empfangnisvorgang anwesenden
Seele
aus. DaB
aber auch die hochste Seelenpotenz
gehort, ist deswegen unwahrscheinlich, weil dem Autor nur daran festzuhalten, daB das Gebilde
imMutterschoB
dazu liegt
ein 1Cpov ist.Auch nur aus
diesem Grund wird mit Lk. 1,41 auf dessen Bewegungsfahigkeit verwiesen.
102Zu
von Pr?existenzlehre, der Entwicklung den Grundz?gen Traduzianismus und = BFChTh Probleme altchristlicher H. 44,3 (G?tersloh vgl. Karpp, Anthropologie
Kreatianismus
1950) 240-53, (vegetative,
der
sich allerdings
animalische,
geistige
nicht n?her mit Seele)
der Frage nach den drei Seelenarten zum entelechischen Seelenmodell
im Verh?ltnis
das Problem nicht (o. Anm. 78), ber?cksichtigt besch?ftigt. Auch Waszink, Beseelung ausreichend. den Zeitpunkt der Beseelung in ?lterer katholischer Sicht berichtet ?ber "Die Beseelung H. Vorwahl, des Menschen", Archiv f?r Geschichte derMedizin 13 (1921) 126f. Er glaubt, da? die Angabe auf der aristotelisch-galenischen Dauer der Wochenbettsunreinheit
f?r Jungen und des 80. f?rM?dchen nicht sondern auf der Entlehnung der j?dischen 12,4) basiert.
des 40. Tages Physiologie, (Lev.
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
405
Das Problem des Verhaltnissesdieser Seele zur Embryonalentwicklung bleibtallerdings unthematisiert.'03 Klemens
von Alexandrien
halt es fur selbstverstandlich, daB anders als
das TlyFqiVoKOV nicht durch den Samen ver mittelt wird. Uber den Zeitpunkt sagt er zwar nichts explizit, ausgeschlossen die ubrigen Seelenvermogen
ist aber, daB das hochste Seelenvermogen bereits bei der Zeugung vorhan den ist,da Klemens von einer Ausbildung der Leibesfrucht erst im sechsten und zugleich von einer Beseelung
Monat'04
erst des
Xkoyov g?pOq
ZU
Wachstum und Bewegung dessenLebensfahigkeit gehorenErnahrung, ijyeIOVuKovausgeht.105 DaB
mit dem
Beginn der Sinneswahrnehmung
Klemens
erst nach der Geburt den
ansetzt, spricht sogar klar dafur, daB auch
das I'q?0VoK&V zu keinem fruheren Zeitpunkt existiert.'06 Gregor
von Nyssa
nimmt
in seiner Schrift De
hominis opficio eine
Beseelung zum Zeitpunkt der Empfdingnis an.'07Aber fur ihn heiBt dies nur, daB sich die Seele zu diesem Zeitpunkt analog zum Korper
in einem unfer
tigenZustand, also einer Art "seelischem Embryonalstadium", erst noch einen WachstumsprozeB das Animalische
hin zur menschlichen
Vollgestalt
durchlaufen muB.'08
Letztere ist endgultig erstmit dem Erreichen des Mannesalters 103 Bei
befindet und
der Seelenpotenz vom Vegetativen uber gegeben,'09
Alex. ecl. 50,1-3 St?hlin/ 3,150,21-151,10 Alex., (GCS Klem. Anm. Lebensrecht 28f. Fr?chtel); vgl. D?lger, (o. 68) 104 Klemens Alex., str?m. 6,139,1 St?hlin/Fr?chtel). (GCS Klem. Alex. 24,502,19-22 105 "x? tayiaxiK?v Kai Ebd. 6,135,2 St?hlin/Fr?chtel): (GCS Klem. Alex. 24,500,14-6 xcp ?coc?, ?Xkk Kai xot> xo a?,oyov uipo? xfl? auGxaaecoc fiyeuoviK?v a'ixiov eivai ?au?v Klemens
seit ?\|/\)x a0ai xe Ka! u?piov auxfi? eivai". Die physiologische Entwicklung des Embryos der Zeugung im wesentlichen wie Aristoteles; vgl. paid. 1,48,1-49,1. denkt sich Klemens 106 Klemens Alex., str?m. 6,135,1 (GCS Klem. Alex. 24, 500,13f S./F.): "xf\ x?^ei y?p xcov ? arc? TtaOnxiKcov xf|v ?pxnv x?? &v av9pco7co? Xau?avev". e?Oecoc yev?|i,evoc 107 von Nyssa, horn. opif. 28-30 (PG 44,229B-256C). Gregor 108 so kann sie nach Gregor mindere F?higkeiten; hat die Tierseele Dementsprechend
nur eine Reflexion des Sonnenlichts erkennen, da? das Mondlicht ist; vgl. P. M?nch "Das Tier in der Sp?tantike und imMittelalter", (Hg.), Tiere und Menschen. Geschichte und Aktualit?t eines prek?ren Verh?ltnisses (Paderborn/M?nchen 21999) 227-46, hier 233. 109 "Allein wie wir es (sc. das Geb?de, das Gregor Nyss., hom. opif 29 (PG 44,237A/B): zum Anfang des entstehenden Lebewesens wird) nach seinem k?rperlichen Teil nicht zB.
nicht
A. Nitschke,
nennen und was man sonst am Menschen und Haare sieht, son es noch nicht als solches, sei sichtbar aber erscheine davon (sagen), jedes potentiell, so sagen wir auch in bezug auf den seelischen Teil, es habe zwar noch nicht das A,oyiK?v sonst an der Seele wahrnimmt, schon in und e7u0\)ur|XiK?v und 0i)uoei8?? und was man
Fleisch
und Knochen
dern
zur und Vollendung des K?rpers Gestaltung jenem Platz, analog aber auch die Aktualit?ten der Seele zugleich mit dem Zugrundeliegenden.
entwickeln
sich
wie
der
Denn
CLEMENS
406
wie
SCHOLTEN
auch die spater in diesem Zusammenhang
13,1 1 (Kind und Mann soll."10Uber
1 Kor.
stellen verschiedene Reifestadien dar) demonstrieren
den Zeitpunkt der ersten Aktivitat des Logikon
nicht prazise; wenn
Gregor
angefuhrte Stelle
er aber die Analogie
auBert sich
zum Wachstum
der
Pflanze zieht und das Logikon bildlich als deren Frucht einordnet, legt sich ein Termin erstmit bzw. nach der Geburt nahe."'1 Gregor benutzt die pla
tonischeSeelenkonzeption, differenziert aber durch die Verhaltensmerk male,
die auf den Entwicklungsstufen des Embryos
erreicht werden,
im
aristotelischen Sinn nach Arten von Seelen; dazu paBt, daB er imWechsel auch von der Natur als kreativer Potenz sprechen kann."12 Bei Gregor also
bereits die Theorieelemente
vorhanden,
die
auch
Philoponos begegnen. Wenn Gregor das Seelenwachstum einer einzigen Seelenpotenz von PsGalen
sind
bei Johannes
fur die Entfaltung
halt, lehrt er im Grundsatz nicht anders als die
(Porphyrios), Ad Gaurum, kritisiertenplatonischen Philosophen,
die im Embryo die Seele nur potentiell vorhanden sowohl eine Seelenpraexistenz
sehen." 3 Gregor, der
als auch die Erschaffung der Seele zeitlich
nach der des Korpers ablehnt, erklart die Anwesenheit der Seelenpotenz
im
gerade gezeugten Embryo also traduzianisch. Ganz
wie Gregor
Anschauungen
urteilt auch der fur die spateren anthropologischen
hochst einfluBreiche Nemesios
in seiner Schrift De
natura
hominis,daB beim Embryo von einer Nfuy,i koytu' nicht die Rede sein kann. In einem das Thema Seelenwanderung behandelnden Kontext verweist er
schon der Gr??e
nach
vollendete Mensch
eine offen hervortretende
Aktualit?t
der Seele
so gibt er am Anfang der Entstehung die korrespondierende und dem gegenw?r Bed?rfnisse der Seele in ihm darin kund, da? diese sich angemessene Mitt?tigkeit tigen aus dem eingelegten Stoffe die ihr angeborene Wohnung bereitet". 110 Ebd. 30 (PG 44,253D-256A). 111Ebd. "Wird es aber bereits stark und schie?t zur entsprechenden 29 (PG 44,237C):
besitzt,
zu leuchten, auf, so beginnt wie eine Frucht die rationale Potenz (A-oyncn?uvaui?) nicht auf einmal ganz hervortretend, sondern mit der Ausbildung des Werkzeugs (sc. des immer so viel Frucht bringend, als die Potenz durch Ausbildung mitwachsend, Gehirns?) erlaubt". Das Bild von der Frucht ist stoisch und weist deswegen des Zugrundeliegenden
H?he
auf den Zeitpunkt der Geburt hin; vgl. A?tios, plac. 5,15,2. 112Ebd. 29 (PG 44,240A): cpuaiK?v xfj? i|n)xrj? und cpuai?. 113 Zur Herkunft der Seelenpotenz traduzianischen vgl. Karpp, Anthropologie Anm. "La coexistence initiale du corps et de l'?me d'apr?s 102) 243. E. St?phanou, de Nysse et saint Maxime Echos d'Orient 31 (1932) 304-15, Gr?goire l'Homolog?te", der Seelenpotenz 307, meint falschlich, der Zeitpunkt der ?bertragung statt korrekterweise die Enstehung des Embryos (y?veai?), also den Moment anzugeben.
(o. saint hier
sei die Geburt, der Zeugung,
JOHANNES
PHILOPONOS
UNI)
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
407
zunachst auf die Uneinigkeit der Platoniker uber Art und Anzahl der Seelen und versichert dann, daB alogische Wesen der Xoyti Nru
zu keinem Zeitpunkt Anteil an
haben, da sie sie in diesem Fall ohne Grund besaBen und
Gott nichts Uberfluissiges schaffe. Anders
bei ganz jungen Kindern:
Sie
besitzen die unfii koyuc#,aber dies auch nur potentiell."14 In ausfuhrlicher Darstellung wortlicher Ubernahme,
begegnet Gregors Modell,
noch beim Arzt Meletios
teilweise in
(vielleicht 8. oder 9. Jh.),
der sich ebenso bildhaft und damit diskret wie Gregor
zum genauen
Zeitpunkt der Aktualitat des Logikon auBert.1"5 Mogen
Klemens,
Gregor
und Nemesios
immateriell halten, so geht Tertullian von der Stofflichkeit der Seele seinem zentralen Anliegen Ubertragung
fur
aus, macht
es aber gerade deswegen
zu
zu zeigen, daB es allein richtig ist, von ihrer
in einem Seelensamen
durch den Erzeuger
als Platoniker die Seele
in seiner Schrift De anima hingegen
schon im Augenblick
der Zeugung
selbst auszugehen und jede Art der Seelenwanderung
als falsch abzulehnen."16 Dementsprechend
halt er die sukzessive Formung
des Embryos vom Samen uber das bloBe Fleisch zum animal und schlieBlich der auBeren Gestalt nach zum homonoch in der Gebarmutter fur evident."7 In vieler Hinsicht entspricht das, wie er selbst gelegentlich einflieBen laBt,
114 Nemesios,
nat. 2,115-20 daraus 119: "Denn wenn auch bei (34,18-36,13 Morani); nur die vernunftlose Bewegung vorhanden ist, so sagen wir ganz jungen Kindern da sie beim Heranwachsen sie eine Vernunftseele die logische haben, doch, da? Aktualit?t an den Tag seine eigene Position nicht explizit dar, legen". Zwar legt Nemesios nur aber es bestehen wenig Zweifel, da? f?r ihn Embryonen sind; vgl. alogische Wesen den
nat. 2,104-8) und Fortleben EunomiosEmmel, (o. Anm. 70) 56-9. Die (Nemesios, bed?rften der ?berpr?fung und der Aufar (ebd. 2,108-10) Apolinarisdoxographien Danach bei Nemesios: vertritt Apolinaris die Meinung, beitung des Argumentationsganges da? die Seele mit dem Samen lehrt, da? die Seele ?bertragen wird, und Eunomios
eine unk?rperliche Wesenheit erschaffen wird. ist, die im K?rper 115 den Abschnitt Meletios Medicus (Monachus), De natura hominis (PG 64,1084A Vgl. "eixa rcpo?ovxo? ei? cpco? xo? (puxo?, Kai r\Xi(? xrjv 1089B), daraus nat. (PG 64,1089A): ?? ?i?n Kai %api? ?7cf|v0T|O?v ?v?pcoO?vxo? f| aiaOnxiKfi ei? ?taxainv ?ei^avxo?, uf|Ko? ?va?pauovxo? KaOarcep xi? Kaprco?, fjta>yncr| ?uvaui? apxexai, o? rcaaa . ." ?Gpo ? ?K(paivop,?vr|, ?XX? xr[ xo? ?py?vo\) xeA-eicoaei ?i' ?nxyieXzia? auvau^o^aa. mit Gregor Nyss., hom. opif. 29 (PG 44,237C). Es gibt weitere, teilweise explizit im Text aus Gregor. genannte ?bernahmen 116 an. 25 Tertullian, (CCL 2,818-21 Waszink). 117Ebd. 37,2 (CCL 2,839,8-13 W.); 36,4 (CCL 2,839,19-29 Waszink); vgl. D?lger, a?|i|xexpov
(o. Anm. 68) 28-36, Waszink, (o. Anm. 78) 180-2. Zu den teil Beseelung zur Embryologie in den Schriften an., bei Tertullian uneinheitlichen Vorstellungen carne Christi adv.Marc, und De (o. Anm. 15) 1241 f. Embryologie apol. vgl. Lesky/Waszink,
Lebensrecht weise
CLEMENS
408
stoischer Lehre."8 Von schen Anschauung
SCHOLTEN
den Stoikern setzt er sich in den naturphilosophi
explizit jedoch dadurch ab, daB er ein Einsaugen
der
Seele aus der kalten Luft bei der Geburt ablehnt. Trotz der Heftigkeit, mit der Tertullian
fur das Leben
des Embryos eintritt und Philosophen
Arzte angreift, die das Ungeborene
und
fur unbeseelt halten und abtreiben, ist
das von ihm nachdrucklich verfochtene und begrundete Hauptargument lediglich, daB der Embryo ein Lebewesen rationale Seele
ausgebildet
ist,nicht aber, daB er schon eine
hat.' 19Tertullian
ist klar, daB das Seelen
vermogen in seinen Fahigkeiten wachst und sein rationaler Teil im Embryo nur potentiell vorhanden
durfte Tertullian
ist.110Dementsprechend
in an.
so zu verstehen sein, daB Unsterblichkeit, Erkenntnisfahigkeit,
38,6-39,1
Sinnesfahigkeit, Denkkraft und Willensfreiheit erst mit der Geburt ubertra gen sind.2I
Zeitgenossen Aus der Perspektiveihrer heidnisch-philosophischen nehmen
die christlichen Autoren
Embryo
seit der Ausbildung
wesen
ist. Einige Philosophen
somit den Standpunkt
ein, daB der
ein menschliches Lebe
der auBeren Gestalt teilen diese Meinung,
die Mehrheit
lehnt sie
ab, weil sie naturphilosophisch nicht davon uberzeugt ist, daB der Embryo ein Lebewesen
ist. Sicherlich am weitesten wagt sich Tertullian vor, wenn
er in der ihm eigenen popularisierenden Art energisch das Lebendigsein des Embryos demonstriert und sogar so weit zu gehen scheint, daB er auch die rationalen Fahigkeiten im Embryo potentiell angelegt sieht. Was
die moralische
Bewertung
bei den fruhchristlichenAutoren
von Handlungen anbelangt,
gegen den Embryo
ist, ohne hier naher darauf
118 an. 25,9. Vgl. Tertullian, 119Dem an. 26,4, an der gesagt wird, da? auch nicht die Stelle Tertullian, widerspricht von Elisabeth im Scho? und Maria nicht nur Seelen, sondern sogar Geist die Kinder waren. Denn es ist von Spiritus und nicht von ratio die Rede. Das bezieht sich f?r Tertullian der
darauf, da?
jeweiligen
die ungeborenen Kinder die eigentiichen, g?ttlichen Antriebskr?fte ihrer M?tter hier ist der Skopos, sind. Auch da? beide
Handlungen leben, und zwar
das die Naturordnung, in Unfrucht ein Leben, bestehend Embryonen barkeit und Jungfr?ulichkeit, hat. aufgehoben 120 an. 38. Die Anlagen entwickeln sich allm?hlich durch die Zeitr?ume des Tertullian, der Seele zB. falltmit der des K?rpers Lebens hindurch. Die Geschlechtsreife zusammen; das 14. Lebensjahr. genannt wird als ungef?hres Datum 121 Tertullian ?ber die Seele (Z?rich/M?nchen J.H. Waszink, tusmit "Augenblick der Entstehung" und ianua nativitatismit
und pre?t damit den lexikalischen und nicht auf die Empf?ngnis beziehen; = (Oxford 1949 1996) 262; A. Blaise/H. 1954) 549. fran?ais des auteurs chr?tiens (Turnhout Geburt
der Seelen
an"
1980) 141, ?bersetzt nativi "von Anfang und von der Befund, nach dem sich beide
Begriffe auf die Geburt of later latin to 600 A.D.
Souter, A glossary Chirat, Dictionnaire latin
vgl. A.
JOHANNES
zu konnen,
eingehen
UND
PHILOPONOS
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
angesichts des Befundes
409
konstatierbar, daB
die
Zuruckweisung der Abtreibung in erster Linie aus der Absicht erwachst, das Gut des LebewesensMensch
zu schutzen, wenn
es einmal imMutterschoB
seine Form erhalten hat. Sie stellt ein aus dem Respekt vor dem Menschen als 4Cov erwachsendes Gebot
dar, das als solches Gegenstand
gottlicher
Fursorge ist,'22 ist jedoch nicht darin begriindet, daB das Lebewesen vorgeburtlich durch eine von Gott geschaffene koyu 'i
bereits
j zum vollstandi
geadelt ist. Schon Philo hatte im AnschluB an Ex.
gen Menschen
21,22f
(LXX) die Ablehnung der Totung des ausgeformten menschlichen Embryos als VerstoB gegen das Menschengeschlecht der Ausformung ein lebendiger Mensch
bezeichnet, weil der Embryo mit
sei, aber nicht als Vergehen gegen ein
durch Gott mit der rationalen Potenz beseeltes Wesen
eingeordnet.'23 Der
Xoytoagi6wird bei Philo als von auBen kommend von der innerembryonalen
Entwicklung ausgeschlossen.'24
V. Die Folgerungen fur Johannes Philoponos Vor
dem
antiken Hintergrund
springt unmittelbar
ins Auge,
daB die
Feststellung des Johannes Philoponos, der Embryo sei nicht nur ein 4Cov, sondern besitze seit der Ausstattung mit der &akoyo; V-uoxqsogar eine Xoyuc#, in der Spatantike philosophisch-medizinischen Forum
der
122 Ygi Embryo
bemerkenswert Begrundung
ist und
Athenagoras,
rX einer
bedurft hat, um sich vor dem
anders positionierten Mehrheitsmeinung
herzustellen,
in der Tat
rechtfertigen und
zwischen demiurgischem Bezug presb. 35. Diesen Prinzip und ist nicht das Spezifikum chrisdicher Autoren, wie das Beispiel Galen
zeigt. 123Philo Alex., ist in der Fr?hzeit 2,2,
?hnliche
c. Apionem 2,254. Es spec. leg. 3,108f. 117-9; ?hnlich Flavius Josephus, davon auszugehen, da? fr?hchristlichen Abtreibungsverboten, zB. Did. in deutlich diesem Sinne Begr?ndungszusammenh?nge zugrundeliegen;
in Const. Apost. 7,3,2, das ebenfalls auf Ex. 21,22f (LXX) pr?s. 35. Auch des Abtreibungsverbotes mit der Existenz einer Seele rekurriert, basiert die Begr?ndung von im Embryo da? dem das Gott verliehene darauf, \|A)xf| ausgeformten Embryo
Athenagoras,
ist. Zur Bewertung des Embryos im antiken rabbinischen Judentum vgl. Lebensprinzip F. Weber, J?dische Theologie aufgrund des Talmud und verwandterSchriftengemeinfa?lich dargestellt, = Hildesheim/New Schnedermann York 1975) 225 hg. v. F. Delitzsch/G. (Leipzig 21897 status Anm. I. "The of the 31; Needham, 77-82; (o. 78) Jacobovits, History embryo in the Jewish tradition", Dunstan/Seller (ed.), Status (o. Anm. 68) 62-73; er stellt eingangs zur Position des Judentums fest: "... on one fundamental principle there ist complete . .". Den status not full human until f?r die vom is birth,. agreement: acquired Ursprung Christentum Differenz 124So
abweichende
der hebr?ischen Lesky/Waszink,
durch das Judentum sieht Jacobovits Bewertung und griechischen Fassung von Ex. 21,22f. (o. Anm. 15) 1241. Embryologie
in der
410
CLEMENS
durchsetzen zu k6nnen.'25 Leider
SCHOLTEN
lassen sich nur Vermutungen fur seine Behauptung
Beweisfiguren des Johannes Philoponos
uber die anstellen.
Wenn man von aetm.ausgeht, hat er vielleicht in aristotelischem Sinne auch damit argumentiert, daB3 im Embryo
ein Formgebungsprinzip sein muB
potentiell, sondern auch aktuell wirksam
nicht nur
und dafur die NVJi1
Nri%Xoyt# ware dann allerdings nicht mehr Xoy7t in Frage kommt. Die nur als Denkvermogen, sondern als allgemeines Geistprinzip gedacht. Die Vermutung, Johannes Philoponos
habe mit der Geistseele
als Formprinzip
argumentiert, reicht allerdings deswegen nicht aus, weil die 'vv'x Xoyud nicht wie bei Gregor ein internes Prinzip ist, sondern von auB3enmitgeteilt wird, und zwar erst dann, wenn die Natur die aXoyo; xgux entwickelt hat. Form aber hat sich auch bis dahin schon entwickelt. An welchen Signalen Johannes Philoponos abgelesen
und
somit die Begabung
des Embryos mit der xVuXiXoyt" und Sin
festgemacht hat, bleibt offen, da Bewegung
neswahrnehmung der aiXoyo;Vxi zuzuordnen sind und es dafur einer MVvX1 Xo7yucinicht bedarf. Eine rein biblische Argumentation durfte beiJohannes Philoponos
ebenfalls ausscheiden. Denn Ex. 21,22f (LXX) wird in opm.nur
als zusatzlicher Hinweis auf die Richtigkeit eines auf andere Weise, ins Spiel gebracht. Auch
philosophisch gefuhrten Beweisganges
namlich die nicht
eindeutigen Aussagen Gregors konnen nicht die unmittelbare Vorlage
sein,
da dieser die externe Herkunft der Seele ablehnt. DaB
die Uberlegungen
des Johannes Philoponos
kelt, sondern in einen Diskussionshorizont AnCom., welcher
nicht abstrakt entwic
eingebettet sind, zeigt bereits der
gleichsam die Front der Skeptiker markiert. AuBerdem
scheint Johannes Philoponos
nicht der einzige und wahrscheinlich
nicht der erste zu sein, der damals dergleichen Uberlegungen bei einem seiner Zeitgenossen Indikopleustes, wird
und Diskussionspartner,
ebenfalls, diesmal
allerdings aus
auch
anstellt. Denn
dem sog. Kosmas rein theologischen
Grunden, mit der vwuxi Xoyti" argumentiert, wenn zur Beantwortung der Frage, wie
tote Embryonen
zur Gotteserkenntnis gelangen konnen, die
Behauptung gemacht wird, der Embryo "koste" (oder: "nehme zu sich") von der xVo Xoytif seiner Mutter.'26 Die
beiden Christen scheinen sich einig
zu sein, daB fur den Embryo die Moglichkeit
zur Erkenntnis vorhanden
sind aber offenbar uber ihre Herkunft verschiedener Meinung. lehnt sich anscheinend an ein stoischesModell 125Andere
ist,
Kosmas
an, wenn er den Embryo als
Autoren lassen sich nicht namhaft machen. Emmel, Fortleben (o. Anm. 70) an Denken dem Embryo von seiner Entstehung zwar, da? f?r Parmenides 8, behauptet und Empfindung zukomme. Das geben aber die von Emmel genannten Belege nicht her. 126 ". . . x? eu?puov x? Xoync?v yeuc? Kosmas, top. 7,78f (SC 197,141 Wolska-Conus): . . . (xevov, (b? erco? ?i7t?w, xfj? unxp a? yaoxp?c yvcoaiv ?v xf\ [ieXXo\)?r\ taxu?avov
JOHANNES
Teil
der Mutter
menhangen
PHILOPONOS
begreift
UND
DIE
ANTIKE
EMBRYOLOGIE
Stoisches findet sich auch
bei Kosmas-,127
wahrendJohannes
aristotelisch argumentiert zu haben
411
in anderen Zusam
Philoponos neuplatonisch
scheint und darauf besteht, daB der
Embryo nicht bloB an der Erkenntnisfahigkeit seiner Mutter
partizipiert,
sondern als Individuum bereits eine eigeneGeistseele besitzt. Einer historischen Einordnung bedurfte in diesem Zusammenhang nochmals die Schrift De astrologiades Christen Hermippos.'28 dafur ein, daB die Embryonen
&4xxsind,'29 aber das logische Vermogen
nach der Geburt betatigen nach der Reihenfolge, die im Samen ist.'30Sorabji halt sie fur eine direkte Reaktion auf PsGalen damit offenbar wie Hunger
schon Kroll
auch
Sie setzt sich erst
angelegt
(Porphyrios) und
fur einen spatantiken Text, wahrend
sie in die Zeit zwischen 1000 und 1322 undjJurss sie sogar ins 14.
Jh. einordnet.13'
An welcher Stelle Johannes Philoponos
seine Argumente vorgestellt hat,
laBt sich ebenfalls nicht mehr klaren. Wenn Abfassung von aetm. zu dem Thema
er sich in der Zeit vor der
geauBert haben sollte, konnten seine
verlorenen SymmiktaZetemata in Frage kommen. Schon bei Porphyrios war eine Schrift dieses Titels ein bevorzugter Ort, Probleme der Seele und ihres
physiologischen Unterbauszu diskutieren.'32 Universitat zu Koln
79e KlosterstraBe D-50931 Koin
[email protected] Kaxaax?cEi jt?7i??paxai 127Zwar
imouiuvfiaKexai U?piKco? Kai a?xo
Kai
eiq aiaOnaiv
ep%?xai
xf|? unxpcoac
yaaxp?c,
?v
r\
xfl? xoiauxn? KaxaaxaaEC??." im platonischen Modell des
besteht auch PsGalen eine (Porphryios) der Mutter und dem des Ungeborenem, zwischen dem Seelenverm?gen aber Verbindung beider Seelen sind nicht identisch; vgl. Deuse, Untersuchungen (o. Anm. 82) 186f. 128 W. PW 8 9: Kroll, 854-7; (1913) Anonymi Christiani Hermippus De Vgl. Hermippos astrologia dialogus, ed. W. Kroll/P. Viereck 1895). (Leipzig 129 astrol. 17 [144-7] (61,17/4 Kroll/Viereck). Hermippos, 130Ebd. 17 [157] (64,1-7 K./V.). 131 Die hochsprachliche profane 11) 101; H. Hunger, (o. Anm. Sorabji, Animal minds Literatur derByzantiner 2 = HAW 5,2 (M?nchen 1978) 251, mit Berufung auf F. Boll, Eine = SHAW.PH des Dialogs 1912,18; F. J?rss, arabisch-byzantinische Quelle Hermippos oder die BZ 59 (1966) und Katrarios der ?ber Johannes Dialog Hermippos Astrologie: 275-84. Welche schiedenen
schwerer wiegen, wird Argumente hier nicht n?her er?rterbaren
anderen,
eine durchaus attraktive Annahme. 132 H. D?rrie, Porphyrios' "Symmikta^etemata" Vgl. sim, etwa 159/61.
sich noch
erweisen m?ssen.
inhaltlichen = Zetemata
Gr?nden 20
Aus
ist das
(M?nchen
ver 6. Jh.
1959) pas
MIRACLES, MARTYRS, AND ARIANS: GREGORY
OF
TOURS'
SOURCES
FOR
HIS
ACCOUNT
OF
THE VANDAL KINGDOM* BY ANDREW CAIN ABSTRACT:This article investigatesGregory of Tours' sources forhis account of theVandal kingdom (DLH 2.2-3). The account revolves around a healing miracle by Eugenius, theNicene bishop of Carthage during theVandal Arian Huneric's persecution of Catholics in 484. Victor ofVita's Histornapersecutionis is the only extant contemporaneous African source that spotlightsHuneric's reignand gives a versionof Eugenius' miracle story,albeit vastlydifferentfrom Gregory's. After demonstratingthatGregory could not have relied on Victor forhis information,the author argues thatGregory had access instead to a lost written inAfrica around the same timeas Victor's, and that Historiapersecutionis he retrieved from it circumstantialdetails not reported by Victor, such as names of severalNicene bishops and confessors,and a letterby Eugenius not attestedelsewhere. On
25 February 484, theVandal Arian king Huneric
issued an edict of
persecution against all Nicene Christians inNorth Africa who refused to be rebaptized and convert toArianism. They saw their churches closed, their bishops exiled, their holy books burned, and their land confiscated. One scholar has dubbed cisme africain'.' The
this 'la repression la plus dure qu'ait subie le catholi sources for this period of the Vandal
hegemony are
both few and biased.2 Victor of Vita's Historia persecutionis Africanaeprovinciae * I am very grateful for the comments and criticisms of several friends and colleagues: Danuta Kulikowski, Andreas Shanzer, Ralph Mathisen, Michael Schwarcz, Noel Lenski, Florin Curta, and Ian Wood. 1 Histoire de l'Afrique du nord: Tunisie, Alg?rie, Maroc C.A.Julien, (Paris, 1966), 249. 2 The three principal sources are: Victor of Vita, Historia persecutions Africanae provincial ed., CSEL 7 (1881), from which edition Petschenig in this paper; the Vita sanctiFulgentii episcopiRuspensis: PL Vandalicum: O. Veh ed., Prokop: Werke (Munich, 1961), sources are the Passio septem monachorum (Petschenig,
M.
all citations 65,
117-50;
vol. 4. Two
from theHP
are taken
and Procopius, Bellum minor contemporary
108-14) and the Notitia provinciarum toHP in the manu 117-34), both of which are appended (Petschenig, above-cited edition. For script tradition; quotations from each are taken from Petschenig's
et civitatumAfricae
C Koninklijke Brill NV,Leiden,2005
Also available online- www.brill.nl
Christianae Vigiliae 59,412-437
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND ARIANS
413
[HP], written ca. 485, is the only surviving eyewitness account, which Pierre de Labriolle poignantly called
'le tour d'une
longue et douloureuse
Passio
Gregory of Tours, writing some one hundred years afterVictor, mar_yrum'.3 gave a brief overview of theVandal kingdom at the beginning of the sec ond book of his Decem librihistoriarum[DLH].4 Gregory's account revolves around a healing miracle performed by Eugenius, Carthage during Huneric's
the Catholic
bishop of
reign.Victor gave the only other known account
of thismiracle, but his version could not be more different in nearly every detail. Gregory also reproduced an original letter of Eugenius not attested in HP
or anywhere else. In this study I shall compare
the two accounts
closely to see what light can be shed firston Gregory's sources and second on connections and communication between theVandal in and after theVandal
kingdom and Gaul
period.
Structure of Gregogy'sVandal account The
second book of Gregory's DLH
St. Martin
and Brictius, Martin's
opens with an anecdotal story about
successor as bishop of Tours. The
and third chapters cover theVandal
kingdom. The
second
fourth contains a short
story about theVisigothic king Athanaric, while the three subsequent chap ters touch upon theHunnic cussion about
kingdom. The eighth chapter leads into a dis
the origins of the Frankish kingdom, and
the remaining
thirty-fivechapters are a continuation of this theme, spotlighting the first kings of the Franks. Gregory's discussion of other barbarian kingdoms Vandal,
Visigothic, and Hunnic
is intended merely as a brief preface to
explain and contextualize the rise of the Franks.5 see L. Schmidt, Geschichte derWandalen of the Vandals, (Munich, 1942); Les Vandales et l'Afrique (Paris, 1955); H.-J. Diesner, Das Vandalenreich (Stuttgart, 1966); B. Pischel, Kulturgeschichte und Volkskunst derWandalen (Frankfurt, 1980-7), 2 vols. 3 L'Histoire de la litt?raturelatine chr?tienne (Paris, 1924), 594. For a discussion of Victor
modern
histories
C. Courtois,
'Vittore di Vita e la Historia persecutionisAfricanae aims, see S. Costanza, Vetera Christianorum 17 provinciae1, (1980), 229-268, and more recentiy S. Lancel, Histoire de recent still is D. la pers?cution Vandale en Afrique (Paris, 2002), 3-63. More Shanzer, 'Intentions and Audiences: and Confession in Victor History, Hagiography, Martyrdom, and his authorial
of Vita's Historia Persecutionis' in A. Merrills
ed., Vandals, Romans, and Berbers: New Perspectives on Late Antique Africa 271-90. 2004), (Cambridge, 4 are taken from the edition of B. Krusch Citations and W. Levison, from the DIM
SRM 1.1 (Hannover, from Gregory's various hagiographical 1937-51). Citations SRM works come from B. Krusch 1.2 (Hannover, ed., MGH, 1885). 5 M. Heinzelmann, Gregor von Tours: ?ehn B?cher Geschichte. Historiographie und Gesell im 6. 1994), 118-20. schaftskonzept Jahrhundert (Darmstadt,
MGH,
ANDREW
414
Gregory's account of the Vandals and
then of Spain under Gunderic.
CAIN
opens with their occupation
graphical type-scene in which an anonymous Catholic woman under
the Arian
Huneric's
'Thrasamund'
of Gaul
follows a conventional hagio
Then
in Spain. The
ismartyred
next segment, devoted
to
persecution of Nicene Christians inNorth Africa, forms the core
of the narrative. Gregory reproduces an original letterof Eugenius and pro ceeds with a story about one of the bishop's miracles. The Vandal is then brought Huneric's
to an abrupt close with
account
some cursory remarks about
demise and the subsequent fate of theVandal
kingdom.
of theVandal kings Gregogy'schronology Moorhead
notes that 'the quickest reading of Gregory is enough to estab
lish that he is not reliable for the history of theVandal
kingdom inAfrica'.6
is indeed riddled with inaccuracies. His chronology for
Gregory's account
the succession of the Vandal migration of theVandals
kings is badly garbled. After mentioning
under Gunderic
intoGaul
the
and Spain, he recounts
their tense confrontation with the Alamanni, who had followed them into Gaul.7 He
has Thrasamund
succeed Gunderic,8
became king afterGunderic, and Thrasamund (d. 523), decades
496
after the Vandals
though in reality Geiseric
ascended
the throne later in
had arrived in Africa. Gregory's
story about themartyrdom of Anonyma during the reign of 'Thrasamund', still occupied
the Vandals
while
Spain,
is framed anachronistically,
for
Gunderic was ruling at that time.9 In addition, the historical Thrasamund apparently did not take a hard line against Nicene Christians, as did other Vandal
6
kings.'0
J. Moorhead,
'Gregory of Tours
(1995),903-15 (904).
on the Arian Kingdoms',
StudiMedievali
ser. 3, 36
7
Post haec Wandali a loco suo digressi, cum Gunderico rege in Gallias ruunt. Quibus valde vasta tis,Spanias adpetunt.Nee multo post scandalum interutrumque oriturpopulum, quoniam propinqui sibi erant. Cumque ad bellum armati proc?d?rent et iamiamque in conflictoparati essent, ait Alamannorum rex: 'Quousque bellum super cunctumpopulum commovetur? Me pereant, quaeso, populi utriusquefalan gae, sed proc?dant duo de nostris in campum cum armis bellicis, et ipse inter se confligant.Tune Ule, ' cuius puer vicerit, regione sine certamine obtenebit. Ad haec cunctus consensitpopulus, ne universa mul titudo in oregladii rueret (DLH 2.2). 8His enim diebus Gundericus rex obierat, in cuius loco Transimundus obtenuerat regnum (DLH this error but does not elaborate. Vandales, 56n5, mentions 2.2). Courtois, 9 tenure ended to Victor, HP in Spain, prior to the 1.1-2, Gunderic's According Vandals' arrival in Africa. 10 relative clemency, Courtois, Vandales, Procopius, BV 1.8. Arguing for Thrasamund's 267, notes that 'on ne conna?t pas de martyrs sous son r?gne'.
MIRACLES,
There
MARTYRS,
AND
415
ARIANS
After the Vandals
are other chronological miscalculations.
is omitted altogether, as if he had never reigned.
of the kingdom. Geiseric Gregory has Hilderic
succeed Huneric,
though the former did not come Gunthamund, who
to power until 523, when he succeeded Thrasamund. ruled before Thrasamund, more
had
assumed the reins
crossed over intoAfrica, according to Gregory, Huneric
is also passed over in silence. Gregory further
thinks thatGelamir became king upon Hilderic's
death, but Gelamir
chart below
contrasts Gregory's
in fact deposed Hilderic
in 530. The
faulty chronology, which omits Geiseric
and Gunthamund, with the true
chronology: order Gregory's
Correct orderof Vandal succession Gunderic Geiseric Huneric Gunthamund Thrasamund Hilderic Gelamir Despite
Gunderic Thrasamund Huneric Hilderic Gelamir
407-428 428-477 477-484 484-496 496-523 523-530 530-534
numerous inconsistencies about the other kings, Gregory is cor
rect about Huneric's position as thirdof those named in his narrative. There is a practical reason for this tunnel vision: his Vandal
account
around Eugenius, who became bishop of Carthage during Huneric's Huneric's Arian
revolves reign.
sympathies and his persecution of Catholics would natu
rally have piqued Gregory's interest and even aroused his ire, inasmuch as theDLH
are laced with anti-Arian propaganda."
The account has another peculiarity that should be mentioned, geographical
rather than chronological. Gregory
point of departure from Spain intoAfrica inMay
this one
identifies the Vandals'
429 as the small port city
11 . .. Hence Gregory writes in the preface to the first book of the DLH: scripturus bella ecclesiarum cum hereticis,priusfidem meam prof erre cupio, ut qui ligeritme non dubitet esse catholicum. sect burns in the pages of Gregory of Dill put it spiritedly: 'The hatred to the Arian Tours. Arian
Nothing doctrine':
could well be fiercer than the tone of that usually amiable bishop towards S. Dill, Roman Society in Gaul in the 1926), 466. Merovingian Age (London,
ismore sober, suggesting that 'a narrative refutation of Arianism may have been one of the original aims of Gregory's Histories': I. Wood, Gregory ofTours (Oxford, 1994), and 34. See also A.H.B. Breukelaar, Historiography Episcopal Authority in Sixth-Century Gaul
Wood
of 'Heresy in Books I and II of Gregory 1994), 276-81; M. Heinzelmann, (G?ttingen, Tours' Historian in A.C. Murray ed., After Rome's Fall: Narrators and Sources ofEarly Medieval History (Toronto, 1998), 67-82.
ANDREW
416
of Julia Traducta
CAIN
(modern-day Tarifa), located at the southernmost tip of
Spain.'2 Since this detail is not attested in any other source, it is impossible to verifywhether Gregory's
source was correct. Courtois and others how
ever have been willing to take Gregory at his word and accept Tarifa as the Vandals'
'port d'embarquement'.'3
Gregory's confusion over the Vandal firstglance
to be a mishandling
kings' succession would
which he is implicated on other occasions.'4 But what were The
appear at
of sources, the same kind of misstep
in
these sources?
imprecise dating probably rules out a chronicle, such as the Chronicon
of theAfrican bishop Victor of Tunnuna Gallic bishop Marius
of Avenches
(d. ca. 567).'5 The Chroniconof the
is likewise excluded. Even though it con
tains a brief notice about Gelamir's
defeat byJustinian, an event to which
was composed no earlier than 581, whereas Gregory alludes,'6 the Chronicon Gregory's Vandal
account was written in the early 570s.17 Gregory did not
know Greek, so Procopius' BVwas believe
that he was
not working
not an option either. There from Victor
instance, the entire firstbook of HP
of Vita's HP
covers Geiseric's
is reason to either. For
reign, but Gregory
never once mentions him.'8 Surprisingly, he knew of the town (Tarifa) from which theVandals
allegedly had set sail intoAfrica, and yet he was appar
ently unfamiliar with the king who had led this large-scale incursion. The
12Post haec prosequentibus Alamannis usque Traductam, transitomare, Wandali per totamAfricam acMauritaniam sunt dispersi (DLH 2.2). 13 Victor de Vite et son oeuvre (Algeria, 1954), 29. Cf. id., Vandales, 158-64 (with diagrams). See also R. Thouvenot, Essai sur la province romaine de B?tique (Paris, 1940), 273; and E.-F. Gautier, Gens?ric, roi des Vandales (Paris, 1935), 167. 14Cf. DLH of a passage borrowed from Orosius, 2.9, where he fumbles the meaning Hist. 7.40. 15For as Huneric's successor, whereas instance, Victor correctly has Gunthamund see T. Mommsen is conspicuously AA silent about Gunthamund: ed., MGH, Gregory de Hartmann and R. Collins 11.2, 184-206 (190). On Victor and his work, see C. Cardelle ex cum et Victor chronicon consularibus Iohannis Tunnunensis Biclarensis edd., reliquiis caesaraugustanis chronicon (Turnhout, 2001), 95*-115*. 16 Marius: Gelimer rexWandalorum captivos Constantinopoli exhibetur.J. Favrod, La Chronique deMarius d'Avenches (455-581): Texte, traduction et commentaire (Lausanne, 1993), 72. Gregory:
Gelesimeris regnum suscipit. Ipse quoque a republica superatas, vitamprincipatumquefinivit (DLH 2.3). 17 not the other way Monod concluded that Marius relied on Gregory, around: G. Monod, Etudes critiques sur les sources de l'histoirem?rovingienne (Paris, 1872), I, 161-2. For a recent 18 On
1987).
and his sources, see Favrod, Chronique, 27-41. study of Marius see H.W. Geiseric's Geiserich. Vandale ohne Vandalismus reign, Quast,
(Munich,
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
417
ARIANS
sum of all the historical inaccuracies and omissions inGregory's account of kingdom again raises the inevitable questions: what sources was they?'9 In order to place these and
theVandal
he accessing, and how reliable were
other issues in the proper light, itwill be instructive to examine in detail the contents of Gregory's and Victor's narratives.
Gregogy'sstogyaboutEugenius Gregory's account of theVandal
kingdom centers around the character
of Eugenius, who was historically the bishop of Carthage ca. 505.20 His because
episcopate
carried with
it a unique
from ca. 480 to
symbolic importance
the see at Carthage had been kept vacant, ever since the death of
Bishop Deogratias
in 456,21 by order of theVandal
the first time in over two decades,
the Nicene
Arian authorities. For
Christian community was
granted permission to install its own bishop. Victor reports the happy cele bration that followed on the heels of Eugenius' ordination: crowds cheered, and young men and women
rejoiced that for the firsttime in their lives they
saw a bishop presiding from his see.22Their joy would prove to be short lived. For as Victor portrays it, the Arian Cyrola,23
faction, led by its chief bishop
lurked surreptiously in the shadows,
conspiring against
the
Catholics. Gregory's story about Eugenius bears his trademark hagiographical exu berance, boasting all the crucial elements of drama: action, intrigue, irony, and vividly drawn characters who personify the universal battle between good and evil. As the plot unfolds, the reader is presented with a pleasant study in contrasts. On the one hand there isEugenius, the archetypal ortho dox bishop representing all that is good and holy (sanctum... episcopum,verum magnae prudentiaeesse),and on the other inenarrabilisanctitate,qui tuncferebatur
19On as they relate to his credibility as an handling of sources, especially Gregory's historian, see G. Kurth, ?tudes franques (Paris, 1919), II, 117-206. 20 For a brief summary of his career, see A. Mandouze, Prosopographie chr?tiennedu bas (Paris, 1982), I, (hereafter PCBE) empire: Prosopographie de l'Afrique chr?tienne (303-533) 362-5, 'Eugenius 2'. 21On see PCBE I, 271-3, 'Deogratias F. Deogratias, 22 Ordinato nata est laetitia etgaudium itaque episcopoEugenio, viro soneto deoque accepto, sublimis cumulatum est ecclesiae dei. Exultons multitudo catholica sub barbara dominatione de ordinatione nam m?ximas iuuenum numerus atque adulescentularum sibimet in commune congau pontifleis reparati: dens attestabatur, quod numquam vidisset episcopum in thronosedentem [HP 2.6). 23On see PCBE I, 260-2, 'Cyrila'. Cyrola,
ANDREW
418
hand
there is Cyrola,
CAIN
the quintessential
heretical pseudo-bishop
who
tunc embodies all that is evil and dishonest (falso vocatus episcopus,hereticorum maximus habebaturassertor). The
theme of episcopal conduct is one thatGregory explores repeatedly
in the DLH,24 and notably in the second book, which opens with an anec dote about Martin and Brictius.25One day Brictius chances upon a sickman in the streetwho
to pass by and heal him. Brictius,
ridicules the bishop behind his back and calls him a mad
still a deacon, man. Martin,
iswaiting forMartin
standing some distance away, overhears the comment and
rebukes him, prophesying that his future bishopric will be plagued with scandal, but the rebuke is mocked. Brictius succeeds Martin
The
prophecy
is fulfilled, for after
he is harassed by allegations of sexual misconduct
that eventually lead to his banishment from the city. Gregory story as an occasion they should
inserts this
to sermonize on themoral character of bishops, how
and should not behave. Martin
and Brictius, like Eugenius
and Cyrola, are polarizing figureswhose actions situate them on mutually opposing ends of themoral spectrum.Martin
is a summuset incomparabilis vir,
whereas Brictius is superbuset vanus and a conniver since childhood tendebatinsidias).Likewise, Eugenius Cyrola
(multas
is sanctusand has magna prudentia,while
is tagged with the pejorative epithet elatus vanitateatque superbia.Thus
in some ways, mutatis mutandis, theMartin-Brictius Eugenius-Cyrola Cyrola,
story foreshadows the
one and puts it in relief.
like Brictius, is the antagonist who
morally upright counterpart. Eugenius
initiates a rivalry with his
is summoned before Huneric
to
debate with Cyrola about the doctrine of the trinity,resulting in a humili ating defeat for theArian bishop.26 Afterward, Cyrola burns with blazing at seeing Eugenius hot envy (invidia infiammante) many miracles.27 Gregory's wording
(instead of himself) perform
is subtle but significant: Christ is the
one performing themiracles, with Eugenius
serving as only the incidental
human agent (multasper eum virtutesChristus ostenderit). Cyrola
24 Shanzer
has no such
concentrates on the sexual misconduct of bishops: see D. Shanzer, 'History, and Love, and Sex in Gregory of Tours' Decem Libri Historiarwrri in K. Mitchell Romance, I.Wood edd., The World ofGregory ofTours (Leiden, 2002), 395-418, esp. 400-5. 25DIM 2.1. 26 Ductus itaque sanctus Eugenius ad regem, cum illoArrianorum episcopumprofide catholica decer tavit. Cumque eum de sanctae Trinitatis mistirium potentissime devicissit. . . (DIM 2.3). 27 to say: non patior, quod hi episcopi multa inpopulos signa depromuntMosque ismade Cyrola me secuntur cuncti, (DIM 2.3). neglecto,
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
ARIANS
419
claim to divine power, and in order to upstage his rival he resorts to a coun terfeitmiracle. He
concocts a scheme to bribe an Arian co-conspirator with
fiftypieces of gold to sit in the street and feign blindness until he arrives and
'miraculously' restores his sight. The plan takes a turn for the worse,
however, as the man
really does lose his sightwhen Cyrola
touches him.
The blindness is also figurative, for he is said to have been hoodwinked by avarice into making a mockery of the Almighty (caecaverateum cupiditas, et virtutem Dei omnipotentisinridere per pecuniam aestimabat).He judgment,
immediately disavows
recognizes God's
the bribe, and begs
for mercy
from
Eugenius, who has just arrived on the scene as a deus exmachina. Eugenius presides over themiracle, though he delegates the actual laying on of hands to two of his associates, Longinus and Vindimialis. The Arian's physical eye sight is restored only after he renounces his heresy and professes theNicene faith. But with this comes a restoration of his spiritual eyesight, which he had
lost through adherence
to Arian
teachings.28Whereas
Cyrola brings
about physical and spiritual blindness through his heresy,29Eugenius cures both physical (visibiliumoculorum)and spiritual (mentium)blindness through legitimate divine power that is his by virtue of being an orthodox bishop. Gregory metaphor
thus constructs the healing of the blind man
as an elaborate
for conversion,30 one that seems on one level to parallel St. Paul's
famous conversion scene in theNew Testament.3'
28Words
caecitas are regularly employed by early Christian and the image of spiritual blindness of the enemies of God (Jews, heathens, heretics, etc.). See I. Opelt, Die Polemik in der christlichen lateinischenLiteratur von Tertullian bisAugustin (Heidelberg, 1980), 74, 91, 106, 111, 131, 133, 143-4, 190, 177, 252. 29 Manefestissime autem patuit per huius caecitatem, qualiter hereticorum episcopus oculos cordium such as
patristic writers
caecus and
to evoke
misero adsertionis suae velabat amictu, ne veram lucem licuerit fidei oculis contemplare (DLH 2.3). 30A. 'Arians and Jews in the Histories of Gregory of Tours', Journal of Medieval Keely, smile: spiritual reality, History 23:2 (1997), 103-15 (107-8); G. de Nie, 'Gregory of Tours' and earthly events in the Histories', in A. Scharer and G. Scheibelreiter edd., 'Das Historiographie imfr?hen Mittelalter (Munich, 1994), 68-95 (71). Cf. G. Scheibelreiter, Wunder der Konfliktbereinigung,' als Mittel Archiv f?r Kulturgeschichte 74 (1992), 257-76. 31 Acts 9.1-18. Throughout invokes the antithesis between the Confessiones Augustine darkness and light, blindness and sight, to conceptualize the process of conversion; e.g., imagination
nonne multi ex profundiore t?rtaro caecitatis quam Victorinus redeuntad te et accedunt et inlumi nantur recipientes lumen:M. Skutella, ed., S. Aurelii Augustini Confessionum Libri XIII (Stuttgart, later Christian darkness 1934), 159-60. Also Conf. 2.3; 3.3, 7; 5.2, 3, 8; 6.16; 9.4. This of conversion (see, e.g., / light antithesis may derive in part from the Johannine model
8.4:
Jn.
1.5-7).
ANDREW
420
CAIN
Cyrola bears a striking resemblance to a character who appears in a later work of Gregory's, the Liber ingloria confessorum [GC]. 2The dramatic setting isVisigothic Spain, during the reign of theArian king Leuvigild Here
as in DLhI
(569-586).
2.2-3 Gregory's anti-Arian sentiments color his depiction
of a foreign power.33 The king impatiently asks one of his Arian bishops why theNicene Catholics are able to perform miracles while theArians cannot.34 Chagrinned,
the bishop falsely claims that he has often healed the blind and
the deaf. To validate his claim he secretly (clanculo)pays a man
fortygold
pieces to sit in the town square and pretend as ifhe were blind. The bishop would
then 'heal' him as he passes by with Leuvigild (praetereunte me cum rege).
Instead of being healed of feigned blindness, theman blindness as soon as the bishop touches him. One the unmistakeable Eugenius
this story and
similarities between
and Cyrola. The
is strickenwith real
cannot help but notice the one
about
only noteworthy difference between the two is
the absence from GC 13 of a protagonist, an alterEugenius, to play the foil to theArian bishop. is clearly cross-referencing GC
Gregory
13 and DLH
2.3 when he calls
theVisigothic Arian bishop a novusCirola. This is a case of intertextual guilt by-association, in that the 'new Cyrola'
is indicted for being as nefarious as
the original one. Itmay be noted that this is the only instance in Gregory's writings in which
the adjective novus assumes negative connotations when
modifying a person. Gregory frequently employs it as a typological device when
favorably comparing
a contemporary or near-contemporary
figure from theOld Testament.35 When King Chlothar
to a
faces off against his
usurping son Chramn, he is said to be tamquamnovusDavid contraAbsolonem
32 GC For
13. The
GC was
written
see
I. Wood,
the chronology,
28-9. 33 W.
some
ten years after the first two books of the DIM. The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751 (London, 1994),
'Foreigners in theHistories of Gregory of Tours', Florilegium 4 (1982), 80 that Gregory's in an unfavorable (89-91), casting of the Visigoths light has far less to do with their ethnicity than with their heretical leanings. Cf. B. Saitta, 'I Visigoti di Tours', Quaderni Catanesi 7 (1985), 391-432; id., Gregorio negli Historiarum libridi Gregorio 99
Goffart,
shows
di Tours e i Visigoti (Catania, 1996). 34 Cf. DIM 9.15, where the Arian verts to Nicene were
not able
son and successor, con king Reccared, Leuvigild's (in 587) after allegedly losing faith in his own bishops, who Christianity to perform miracles like their Catholic the imposition counterparts. On soon
of Toledo in 589, see thereafter at the Council in 400-1000 53-8. Collins, Spain: Unity 1983), Diversity, (London, 35 On Gregory's of biblical Saints' Lives and the application typology, see J. Kitchen, Rhetoric ofGender:Male and Female inMerovingian Hagiography (New York, 1998), 75-86. of Catholicism
R.
in Visigothic
Early Medieval
Spain
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
filium pugnaturus.36 By comparing Chlothar
ARIANS
421
to David,
evokes the
Gregory
conflicting emotions of domestic betrayal from the story of David son Absalom.
There
are four other such examples
and his
in Gregory's writings,
and in each case, with the exception of one, either tamquamor quasi precedes novus.Y'The
exception is found in the scene of Clovis' baptism, where
king approaches
the baptismal
tamquamor quasi were inserted here, itwould weaken symbolic connection Constantine The
that Gregory was
and Clovis. The
the
font as the 'new Constantine'.38 If either the forcefulness of the
attempting to establish between
same is true of Cyrola and the novus Cirola.
latterwas not like another Cyrola; he was another Cyrola, an episco
pal anti-typewho embodied all thatwas deceitful.
Gregogyand Victor:Their storiescompared Gregory's and Victor's
respective renditions of the Eugenius
story share
salient points of comparison and contrast. Like Gregory's Eugenius, Victor's cures a man of blindness.39 But Victor, who may well have been an eye witness to themiracle,40 identifies the blind man as Felix, a well-known res ident of Carthage
(civibuscivitatiquenotissimus). Gregory's blind man
isArian,
but Felix almost certainly was not. It is difficult to imagine Victor not cap italizing on the scandal thatwould assuredly have stung the local Arian fac tion when one of their own deserted the ranks and sought healing from a Catholic
bishop. After being admonished
three times by God
vision, Felix goes to the basilica on Epiphany
Sunday
where he firstmeets the subdeacon Peregrinus. He
in a dream
(6 January 484),
is brought to Eugenius,
who anoints him with water from the baptismal font and heals him of blind ness. As the rumor of themiracle spreads throughout Carthage, accuse Eugenius
of sorcery.41The
next segment of Victor's
theArians narrative is
devoted to a theological debate, scheduled for 1 February 484 by decree of
36DIM 4.20. 37 Abbot Abraham the priest Anastasius 2.31). 38 On Grossen
is quasi novusHelias (VP 3); Illidius is tamquam novusMoyses (VJ 7); is tamquam novus lonas (DIM 4.12); Clovis is novus Constantinus (DIM
see E. Ewig, typology and Clovis, ersten Jahrhunderten des abendl?ndischen
the Constantine in den
Jahrbuch75 (1956), 1-46 (26-9). 39
40
The
whole
Courtois,
41 HP
2.51.
story is told at HP Victor. 24.
2.47-51.
'Der Bild Constantins Mittelalters',
des
Historisches
ANDREW
422
CAIN
Huneric, between theArian bishops, led by Cyrola, and the Catholic bish ops, led by Eugenius.42 On Victor's
timeline, themiracle occurs less than a
month before this debate. Gregory however reversesVictor's order, placing the debate beforethemiracle. is an Arian co-conspirator hired by Cyrola, but he
Gregory's blind man
is not actually blind until Cyrola hand, was
touches him. Victor's Felix, on the other
really blind and was probably also a Nicene
Christian. Addi
tionally,Victor's Cyrola
is never cited as performing a miracle, counterfeit
or otherwise. Gregory's
story contains a few other apparently circumstan
tial details not found in Victor. For instance, he names Vindimialis43 and Longinus,
two of Eugenius'
episcopal colleagues known for theirwonder
working powers,44whereas Victor mentions neither one. Gregory drops the names of two other people not mentioned by Victor. One catholic archdeacon martyred under Huneric. bishop who apostasized
The
isOctavianus,
a
other is Revocatus,
a
from the Nicene
faith (infilixille episcopus nomineRevocatus est revocatus afide catholica).Both Courtois and Moorhead have
Catholic
called the latter's historicity into question, arguing thatGregory's irresistible punning is too convenient.45 Their caution is unwarranted for two reasons. First of all, Revocatus
is a perfectly plausible African name that follows the
same pattern as many other ones formed from the perfect passive participle of firstconjugation verbs, such as Optatus, Rogatus, Donata,
and Speratus.
thinks also of the young catechumen Revocatus
figures in the
One
who
story of Perpetua and Felicitas.46 Furthermore, ecclesiastical writers could enjoy a clever pun on the names of real people, such as Avitus of Vienne on Vincomalus'
name:
quemDeus
tribuatut in bono vincatismalum.47Jerome
42HP 2.53-55. 43 in Byzantium in the second half of the fifth century, the bishop of Capsa Probably inMotitia provinciarum et civitatumAfricae B 60 and in Passio septemmonachorum 7.3. mentioned this identification, see J.-L. Maier, L'Episcopat de VAfrique Romaine, Vandale etByzantine 1973), 122, 144. (Rome, 44 Erant enim tune temporis cum sancto Eugenio viriprudentissimi atque sanctissimi Vindimialis et ferebatur mor Longinus episcopi,pares gradu et virtutenon inpares.Mam sanctus Vindimialis eo tempore For
tuos suscetasse; Longinus autem multis inflrmissalutem tribuit (DLH 2.3). 45 Courtois, Vandales, 299nl2; Moorhead, 'Gregory', 906. 46 Passio SS. Perpetuae etFelicitatis 2.2, 18, 19. 47 in patristic writers, see R.T. 16.1: PL 59, 234. For one study of punning Epist. in and Puns Palladius' Historia Studia Patr?stica 8 (1966), 420 'Proverbs Lausiaca?, Meyer, ou nom propre?' 23; also V. Saxer, 'Victor, titre d'honneur Miscellanea in onore di Enrico Josi (Paris, 1968), 209-18.
XUV,
in Rivista di archeologia cristiana
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
ARIANS
423
name in refer
plays on theGreek meaning of the letter-carrierApodemius' ring to his extensive of Tours
perhaps more
(&Ro'66,uo;= sojourner).48 Gregory
travels abroad
than other writers is prone
to pun on people's
Two exampleswill suffice. When Floridus,a crippledboy from names.49 Angers,
of his
is healed, Gregory jokes that he has fulfilled the meaning
name: restitutis nominis quasinovus membris, iuxta suiproprietatem Floridus.50 effloruit The Arian Oppilla receivesthiscomical reactionto his thick-headedness when he refuses to affirmChrist's divinity: certesi oppilatas habeas aures,ut ista
nonaudias,crede well-documented apostolis.5' Gregory's penchantforpunning on the names of real people demonstrates moreover
that Revocatus
not be a fictionalized character, but rather an African bishop who did apostasize from theNicene
need in fact
faith under pressure fromArian authorities.
Gregory's and Victor's versions of the story differ in yet another impor tant respect. Gregory reproduces a letterwritten by Eugenius on the eve of his exile in early July 484 to encourage his flock to remain stalwart despite his absence.52 This is the only sizeable original document quoted in the first eight books of the DLH,
and it is not preserved elsewhere. While Victor
does not preserve this letter, he does reproduce another by Eugenius not found in any other source.53Both letters are generally assumed to be gen uine, and at the very least their stylistic similarities confirm that they are almost certainly by the same author.54 The
chart below summarizes what
is the same
and what
is different
inVictor'sandGregory'saccounts:
48
121, prol.: Filius meus Apodemius, qui interpretationemnominis sui longa ad nos veniens navigatione signavit et de oceani litore atque ultimis Galliarum finibus Roma praeterita quaesivit see A. Cain, Bethl?em . . .: I. Hilberg, ed., CSEL 56, 3. On Apodemius, 'Defending Hedibia Epist.
and Detecting 121)', Medieval 49 See M. 50
FM
51DIM 52DIM 53 HP
Eusebius:
Jerome's
Correspondence
Prosopography 24 (forthcoming). Bonnet, Le Latin de Gr?goire de Tours
with Two
(Paris,
Gallic Women
1890), 734-6
(Epp.
120
(with examples).
3.27. 6.40. 2.3.
to Courtois, this letter from Victor, 28, Victor salvaged According Eugenius' personal archive. 54 to Eugenius' Cf. Gennadius, De script, eccl. 98, who refers non-specifically epistulas, velut commonitoriasfidei:PL 58.1117. Courtois, Victor, 58-9n285, accepts the letter's authen as does Lancel, Histoire, 26. Moorhead, on the other hand has reser ticity, 'Gregory', 906, the letter but his position holds little ground because he fails to clarify whether took for granted as genuine, or itwas Gregory's been a forgery that Gregory literary fabrication.
vations, may own
2.41-2.
have
ANDREW
424
CAIN
Victor
GregoDy
Healing of Catholic blindman (Felix) Eugenius Cyrola Peregrinus -----------------
Healing ofArian blindman (unnamed)
Vindimialis Longinus Revocatus Octavianus Eugenius' letterB
Eugenius' letterA The one common denominator
in both stories is that Eugenius
heals a
blind man, but even this appears negligible when weighed against the con
The insertion B immediately siderabledifferences. of Eugenius' letter dis tances Gregory fromVictor.55 And since Victor does not preserve this letter, Gregory must have obtained
it from some other source. The
absence of
Vindimialisand Longinus fromVictor's account is equallyproblematic. This and other evidence examined
thus farwould
seem to permit only one
geneticrelation preliminary conclusion: Gregory'sstoryhas no discernible ship with Victor's.56 For using what is known about Gregory's adaptation of we would expect to see more shared other source material as a comparandum, featureswith Victor if he consulted him.57
Grego7y'ssources:The possibilities As he intimates in the prologue to the second book of theDLH, Gregory draws in this book from an eclectic range of sources including histories,58
55 Cf. R.
trans., Gr?goire de Tours, Histoire des Francs (Paris, 1996), 79n6, who Latouche, more than 'bref r?sum?' of Eugenius' Gregory's wrongly surmises that letter B is nothing inserted in his HP at 2.56-101. long Libellus fidei catholicae, which Victor 56 Monod, Etudes, I, 80-1, arrived at the same conclusion, but Courtois, Victor, 58n285, disagrees. 57 Cf.
van
Acta Andreae and Gregory's De miraculis Andreae\ Vigiliae Kampen, 'The Transformation of theMiracle (1991), 18-26; K.A. Whitehead, Story in the Libri Miraculorum of Gregory of Tours', Medium Aevum 59 (1990), 1-15. 58Orosius' Historia adversus paganos (DLH 2.9). Gregory also quotes long selections from two fourth-century historians whose works are now lost, Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus L.
Christianae 45
and Sulpicius
Alexander
(DLH
2.8-9).
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND ARIANS
425
chronicles,59 letters,60homilies,6' and saints' lives,62as well as some oral tra dition.63With
regard specifically to theVandal
about two types of sources, namely Eugenius'
account, he is forthcoming letterB and martyr acts dat
sourcesare generally ingfrom Huneric'spersecution.64 Gregory'stext-based the easiest to detect because
they often leave visible traces of themselves,
however faint, in the narrative. The DLIH
straddle two genres simultane
ously, historiography and hagiography.65 The
Eugenius
story has a pro
nounced hagiographicalflavor,and so it seems reasonable to suspect initially that at least one of the following classes of hagiographical
textsmay
lie behind it: 1)martyr acts and passion stories (actamarrum and passiones);
Are of saints' miracles(libelli miraculorum).66 2) saints'lives(vitae); 3) collections traditions about Eugenius preserved in any of these kinds of texts, and if so,
letus did Gregorywork fromthem?Before exploringthesepossibilities, consider another alternative in the form of oral tradition.Oral
sources tend
to be elusive and phantom-like and therefore the most difficult to track, especially when Gregory does not explicitly cite them.What
if any oral tra
ditions about Eugenius may have influenced Gregory, and how did they reach his ears?
59
to the methods of Eusebius, Cf. DIM 2, prol., where he states his indebtedness Severus, and Jerome in their respective chronicles. 60 One letter by Eugenius (DIM 2.3), two by Sidonius Apollinaris (DIM 2.24-5), and some by Avitus (DLH 2.34). 61 Several by Avitus (DIM 2.34). 62 Vitae of Anianus of Rheims (DIM 2.31), and Maxentius (DIM 2.6), Remigius (DIM 2.37). 63
to the the eighth bishop of Tours, and his pilgrimage E.g. the report about Licinius, Land hangs on a thread of oral tradition, as Gregory discloses with the customary text-based and oral sources, see fertur (DIM 2.39). For a thorough discussion of Gregory's Kurth, ?tudes, II, 117-206. 64 ex quibus quaedam republicanda sunt, ut Legimus tarnenquorundam ex ipsis martyrumpassiones, ad ea quae spondemus veniamus (DLH 2.3). 65 sense of Thus J.M. Wallace-Hadrill urges that 'ifwe wish to make [Gregory's] his tory we must relate it to the main body of his hagiographical writings': The Long-Haired Holy
seeW. Goffart, Kings (New York, 1962), 51. On Gregory as historiographer-hagiographer, Barbarian The Narrators 127-53; History (A.D. 550-800) (Princeton, NJ, 1988), of von Tours', M. Heinzelmann, und historischer Diskurs bei Gregor 'Hagiographischer Aevum inter utrumque:M?langes 1991), 237-58. offerts? Gabriel Sanders (Steenbrugge, 66 For an overview of these genres, see R. Aigrain, L'Hagiographie: ses sources, ses m?thodes, son histoire (reprint: Brussels,
2000),
132-85.
ANDREW
426
CAIN
Oral tradition and thecultofEugenius Eugenius
occupied
the influential episcopate
twenty-five years, during which bishop inNorth Africa.67He against Huneric's
time he was
at Carthage
for nearly
the pre-eminent Catholic
spearheaded a grass-roots resistance movement
oppression
of Catholic
religious liberties and
in the
process he earned a household name among Nicene Christians throughout North Africa. Within
a decade of Huneric's
reputation had reached Gennadius time, in 494, Pope Gelasius
I made
persecution in 484, Eugenius'
in distant Marseille.68 Around
this same
a flattering reference to him in an open
letter to the bishops of Dardania.69 InJuly 484 Huneric banished Eugenius
to a desert on the outskirts of the
African town of Turris Tamalleni, where he was ordered to live under the supervision of the notorious Arian bishop Antonius.70 He was among 302 bishops sent to concentration camps in the African desert, while another forty-sixwere Huneric's
exiled
more
to Corsica.
In 487 he was
liberal successor Gunthamund
recalled from exile by (484-496),
and he was
allowed to reopen the churches closed by Huneric. At some point between 496 and 498 he was
exiled again, this time by Gunthamund's
successor
Thrasamund, who did so in the interestof crippling theNicenes'
anti-Arian
power base at Carthage. Eugenius was sent toAlbi (Albiga), and itwas here that he would
live out the remainder of his years until his death in 505.71
nevertheless continued to act as episcopus in absentiaof Carthage, as Albi already had itsown bishop, Sabinus, who represented his see in the Council
He
of Agde
in 506.72
Eugenius'
repute as a charismatic bishop and miracle-worker evidently
followed him to Albi, where a local cult materialized death. According
around him after his
to Gregory, the faithfulwould gather in droves to cele
brate his feast day, an indication of his personal celebrity and of the success
67 On
the primacy of Carthage among African churches, see F. Ferr?re, La Situation religieusede VAfriqueRomaine (Paris, 1897), 11-15. 68De script, eccl. 98: PL 58, 1116-7. 69 Ecce nuper Honorico r?gi Vandalicae nationis vir magnus et egregius sacerdos Eugenius Cartaginensis episcopus multique cum eodem catholici sacerdotes constanter resistere saevienti cunctaque extrema toleranteshodieque persecutoribus resisterenon omittuntO. G?nther, ed., CSEL 35/1, 391. 70 see HP Little is known about Antonius: 3.42-3. Maier, Episcopat, 256. Victor, 71 DLH urbem exilio Galliarum 2.3: Gregory, apud Albiginsem deportatus est; ubi etfinem vitae 3.34. On Albi, see A. Jacobs, G?ographie de Gr?goire de Tours, praesentisfecit. Cf. Victor, HP de Fr?d?gaire et de leurs continuateurs (Paris, 1861), 92. 72 Fastes ?piscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule L. Duchesne,
(Paris,
1907),
II, 42.
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
of his cult.73Cults in theMerovingian two kinds of 'saints'
AND
ARIANS
427
period generally sprang up around
either martyrs or holy men who had performed mir
acles. But even the term 'martyr' at this timewas farmore elastic inmean ing than it had been in the first two centuries of the church, when
it had
been reserved exclusively for those put to death for their faith.74By the sixth century, itwas virtually synonymous with 'confessor' in certain contexts and it therefore could refer to one who suffered but did not die for his faith.75 Gregory applies this open-ended
definition when he lists Eugenius
as an
honorary Gallic martyr.76 The formation of his cult was probably also linked to the rise in popularity of bishops' cults in the fifth century.77 The Albigensians probably claimed him as their own local saint,much as Tours had done with St. Martin.
Inhabitants of a city sometimes regarded mar
tyrs or saints as their own for reasons thatmight seem to border on the ridiculous. For instance, even though St. Vincent Valentia,
the residents of Caesaraugusta
tyr.He had grown up in Caesaraugusta
had been martyred at
were proud to call him their mar and even served there as a deacon
for a time, but the real reason for their claim was
that his martyr's blood
had once been spilt there from a nosebleed!78 By the time Gregory was penning his story about Eugenius
in the early
570s, frequentmiracles were occurring 'even now' at his tomb.79Tombside miracles Christian
are
a
fixture in his hagiographical
writings.80 For
spectators they certified that the deceased
gained entrance into heaven and was able to intercede with God
C.
admiring
'saint' had already on their
73 . . . ad cuiusfestivitatem cum temporequodam innumeripopuli convenirent. . . (GM 57). 74 H. Delehaye, Sanctus. Essai sur le culte des saints dans l'antiquit? (Brussels, 1927), 74-121. 75 R. van Dam, trans., Gregory of Tours: Glory of theMartyrs (Liverpool, 1988), 11-13; and Christian the Great, Augustine, and Straw, 'Martyrdom Identity: Gregory
inW.E. Klingshirn and M. Vessey edd., The Limits ofAncient Christianity:Essays on Late Antique Thought and Culture inHonor ofRA. Markus (Ann Arbor, 2002), 250-66. 76 GM 57. six chapters in the GM (beginning with Almost half of the one hundred
Tradition'
chapter forty eight on the martyrs of Lyons) is devoted to Gallic martyrs and saints, i.e. or whose those who were Gallic by birth, who were martyred in Gaul relics eventually made their way into Gaul. The chapter on Eugenius cluster. (57) belongs to this Gallic 77 See E. Griffe, La Gaule chr?tienne? l'?poque Romaine (Paris, 1965), III, 235-40; and R. van Dam, Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul (Berkeley, 1985), 166-72. 78 Prudentius, Per. 4.89-104. 79 . . . ad cuius nunc sepulchrummultae virtutis et creberrimae ostenduntur (DIM 2.3). 80 at Dijon at Saintes (GM 55); Amarandus at Albi E.g. Benignus (GM 51); Eutropius (GM 56); Patroclus
(GC 79).
at Troyes
(GM 63); Maximus
at Chinon
(GC 22); Ursinus
at Bourges
ANDREW
428
CAIN
behalf for healings and other special requests.81 The
eerie, other-worldly
mystique of the tomb itself further reinforced a sense of holy awe in curi ous visitors. It is no wonder
then that saints' tombs were a focal point of
cultic worship.82 Shortly before he died, Eugenius allegedly prostrated him self before the tomb of St. Amarandus his companion
and declared that he would
soon be
in death.83 As indeed he was, for the pair shared a crypt in
a church at Vieux, not far fromAlbi. By 924 this church was known as the ecclesiaSS. Eugenii etAmarandi, though later its name was changed to ecclesia S. Eugenii de Viancio (= Vieux).84 Saints' cults throve on rich oral traditions.When larly to occur at Eugenius'
dictably have inflated the historical Eugenius
pre
into a quasi-mythical hero. As
stories about him may have assumed a folkloric
a result, even mundane bent. A window
miracles began regu
tomb, the devotion of the locals would
of nearly seven decades
Gregory's writing, a more tiply and metamorphosize
separated Eugenius'
death and
than adequate amount of time for stories tomul into legends that perhaps contained few if any
traces of the original tellings. But the question is, did any of these legends influence Gregory's
story?Though
he never went to Albi,85 he could con
ceivably have heard tales by word ofmouth either from locals inTours who had passed
through there on pilgrimage, or alternatively fromAlbigensian
natives who made
the pilgrimage toTours
to visit the shrine of St. Martin.86
81 Les Origines du culte des martyrs (Brussels, 1933), 100-40; P. Brown, The H. Delehaye, Cult of theSaints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981), 71-4; id., 'Relics in Society and theHoly in Late Antiquity and Social Status in the Age of Gregory of Tours' tombside miracles and visions, see I. Moreira, 1982), 222-50 (223-5). On (Berkeley, 108-35. Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority inMerovingian Gaul (Ithaca, 2000), 82 See H. 'Loca sanctorum', Analecta Bollandiana 48 (1930), 5-64; J. Hubert, Delehaye, du IVe au Xe si?cle' in 'Evolution de la topographie et de l'aspect des villes de la Gaule Settimane di Studio del Centro Italiano di Studi su?l'AltoMedio M.
Vieillard-Tro?ekouroff,
(Paris,
1976); B. Beaujard,
Evo
16 (Spoleto, 1959), 529-58; oeuvres de Gr?goire de Tours les d'apr?s Le Culte des saints en Gaule: les premiers temps, d'Hilaire de Poitiers
Les Monuments
de la Gaule
? lafin du PF si?cle (Paris,2000), 333-64. 83 Moscens,
se martyriAmarando socium essefuturum, ad eius sepulchrum diregitur,prostratusque solo, diutissime orationem fudit ad Dominum (GM 57). 84 A. Longnon, G?ographie de la Gaule au VIe si?cle (Paris, 1878), 521. 85 He never ventured far outside of Clermont and Tours, with the exception of brief
Riez, Cavaillon, Vienne, stays in these locales: Saintes, Bordeaux, Lyons, Chalon Soissons, Metz, sur-Sa?ne, Ch?lons-sur-Marne, Rheims, Coblentz, Braine, Paris, and Orleans. 86 C. de Tours au VIe si?cle', Bulletin trimestriel 'De l'importance du p?lerinage Lelong, de la soci?t? arch?ologique de Touraine 32 (1960), 232-7; R. van Dam, Saints and Their Miracles
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
ARIANS
429
Another possible source is his friend Salvius, the bishop ofAlbi from ca. 571 to 584.87 Salvius might have been more
familiar with local legend than
anyone else in Gregory's circle of contacts, for he would have possessed a written record of all reported miracles
performed at Eugenius'
tomb.
Furthermore, he would have had a distinct motive for actively promoting the Eugenius
cult, namely to increase the prestige of his church and to
attract pilgrims who might then fill its coffers. Gregory often had recourse to folk legends, especially when writing about
events.88 contemporary For instance, theItalianmartyrs AgricolaandVitalis had been buried above ground, but Gregory knew this only from oral tra dition (revelatio fidelium),since their passio had not survived.89Here
he cites
oral tradition as his source, a claim however he does not make
for his
Eugenius
story.This
is not to suggest that he did not incorporate elements
of word-of-mouth stories into his narrative, though ifhe did, theywould be for all practical purposes wholly undetectable now. It is safer to proceed with what can be verified intra-textually, such as possible written sources thatmay have inspired the account.
Gregogy'sstoryand a Vita
s. Eugenii?
Saints'vitae captivatedliterate audiencesinsixth-century Frankish Gaul.90 Gregory was well acquainted with this vast subset of hagiographical
litera
ture and he is known to have worked from several contemporary and ear lier vitae in crafting certain episodes of his DLH.91 For the narrative at DLIH in Late Antique Gaul
Saint Martin de Tours Dauzet, (Princeton, NJ, 1993), 116-49; D.-M. au L. de du La Ville Tours IVe VIe si?cle: naissance d'une cit? 267-96; Pietri, (Paris, 1996), chr?tienne (Rome, 1983), 140-69. On the diffusion of folk legend, see L. Pietri, 'Gr?goire et la g?ographie de Tours du sacr?' in N. Gauthier and H. Galini? edd., Gr?goire de Tours et l'espace Gaulois: Actes du Congr?s International, Tours, 3-5 Novembre 1994 (Tours, 1997), 111-14. 87On their friendship, see DIM 5.50; 7.1. 88 van R. trans., Gregory of Tours: Glory of theConfessors Monod, Dam, Etudes, I, 89-108; 1988), 7-8. (Liverpool, 89 GM 43: Agr?cola et Vitalis apud Bononiam Italiae urbempro Christi nomine crucifixisunt, quo rum sepulchra, ut per revelationem fidelium cognovimus, quia nondum ad nos historia passionis advenu, super terramsunt collocata. Cf. GM 39: multi quidem suntmartyres apud urbemRomam, quorum his toriaepassionum nobis integraenon sunt delatae. De Iohanne tarnenepiscopo, quoniam agon eius ad nos usque non acc?sit scriptus, quae afidelibus comperi, tacerenequivi. Also GM 46: et quae super his quo dam referenteaudivi, absurdum non putavi inserere lectioni, quia non conteneturin historia passionis. 90 The Prankish Church (Oxford, 1983), 75-93. J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, 91 For a see Kurth, Etudes, II, 137-9. conspectus of vitae used by Gregory,
CAIN
ANDREW
430
2.31 he consulted
the vita of Bishop Remigius
authority for a story about Remigius Taking
into consideration Eugenius'
of Rheims
raising someone
(d. 530), his
from the dead.92
status as the leading Catholic
episco
pal figure inNorth African theological politics of the late fifthcentury, one can well imagine that he would have been a likely candidate for a starring role in his own vita,perhaps one penned on African soil. The healing of a blind man was his most famous miracle,
ifwe are to judge by the fact that
it is the only one ascribed to him independently in two different sources (HP and DLH),
and therefore itwould have been an obvious addition to the nar
rative. All of this however is pure speculation, for no such Vita s. Eugenii is known to have existed.
Gregory'sstoy and a Libellus de miraculis
s. Eugenii?
The writing of libellimiraculorum was a bustling industry in the sixth cen tury.93Gregory alone wrote seven: four on themiracles of St. Martin, on themiracles ofJulian of Brioude,
one
the GC, and the GM.94 Libelli were cat
alogues ofmiracles performed by a particular saint thatwere written to rein force cultic devotion to him. There composed
is however no evidence
that one was
forEugenius. Few miracles are ascribed to him,95 not enough to
filleven theshortestlibellus. Gregory'sstoy and thepassio Eugenii? Martyr acts and passion stories circulated widely among Christian audi ences in the firstfour centuries of the Church, and theywere particularly
92Est
enim nunc liber vitae dus, qui eum narr?t mortuum suscitasse (DLH 2.31). Cf. GC 78: et oratione sua defunctae cadaver puellae obtenuit suscitan. The story is found in Vita S. Remegii 6-8. AA 4.2, 64-7. and printed inMGH, This short vitawas edited by B. Krusch 93 on this work Delehaye's subgenre, though dated, remains seminal: hagiographical see H. Delehaye, libelli miraculorum\ Analecta Bollandiana 29 (1910), 427-34; 'Les premiers id., 'Les recueils
des saints', Analecta Bollandiana 43 (1925), 5-85 and antiques de miracles of Tours). On the composition and use of libelli miraculorum in the (on Gregory see T. the Cult medieval and Head, of Saints: The Diocese of Orl?ans, 800 period, Hagiography 1200 (Cambridge, 1990), 135-8 and 183-7. 94 In his autobibliographical notice at DLH 10.31, Gregory writes: septem [libros] miracu 305-25
lorum . . . scripsi. 95 I.e. the healing of the blind man, tombside miracle (GM 57).
reported by Victor
of Vita
and Gregory,
and one
MIRACLES,
popular
in Merovingian
MARTYRS,
AND
ARIANS
Gaul.96 A passio was
431
a condensed
saint's sufferingand final triumph through faith in God with a poignant anecdote designed to teach a moral
account of a
that usually closed
lesson. The passio of a
particular saint was read aloud either in its entirety or in excerpts, in place of the Epistles reading, once annually during the liturgical ceremony com memorating
his or her feast day.97 Given
that Gregory not infrequently
relied on passiones as literary sources,98 could a passio Eugenii be themissing link for his story about Eugenius' exist, and he was aware of it.He on Eugenius
healing miracle? This work did in fact refers to it at the beginning of his notice
in GM 57: huic criptaesociaturet illeHonorficianaepersecutionis mar
sacerdotalis infulae maximum decus, queminhacurbedetrusum exilio, vel yrEugenius, ipsius vel sociorumeius passio narrat.The Eugenius'
story informed him about
passion
place of exile (Albi), and possibly about the the false oath and
miracle at his tomb,which follows in GM 57. Unfortunately the passio Eugenii no longer survives, and so it is impossible tomeasure Gregory may
have depended
upon
the extent to which
it for his account
in DLH
2.3. A
medievalPassioS. Eugeniiepiscopi etmarnrisispreservedin severaltwelfth century codices However,
containing various
passion
stories and
saints'
lives.99
as Courtois has rightlypointed out, this ismerely 'un demarquage
romance du recit de Gregoire de Tours'.'00
96
see Griffe, Gaule, I, 146-57. Culte, 203-42. On earlier passions, Beaujard, 97 See B. De dans la pri?re liturgique en Gaiffier, 'La lecture des Actes des Martyres Analecta Bollandiana 72 (1954), 134-66; V. Saxer, Morts, Martyrs, Reliques en Occident', Afrique chr?tienneaux premiers si?cles (Paris, 1980), 200-8; M. van Uytfanghe, 'L'hagiographie et son public ? l'?poque m?rovingienne', Studia Patr?stica 16 (1985), 54-62; Y. Hen, Culture and Religion in (Leiden, 1995), 84-6. In the liturgical calendar Merovingian Gaul A.D. 481-751 5 is set aside as Eugenius' feast day: see G.B. de Rossi and L. Duchesne codicum adiectis prolegomenis (Brussels, 1894), lxxi. edd., Martyrologium hieronymianum adfidem 98 For some see GM 31, 34-5, 37, 46, 50, 56-7, 63, 70, 73, examples, representative
of Carthage
January
of the Holy in the Work 104. Cf. J. Corbett, and the Experience of 'Hagiography Gregory of Tours', Florilegium 1 (1985), 40-54. 99 Catalogus Codicum Hagiographicorum Bibliothecae Regiae Bruxellensis (Brussels, 1886), I, 30; for text, see 63-6. See also Catalogus Codicum Hagiographicorum Latinorum Bibliothecae Vaticanae 1910), 204 and 462; (Brussels, 1898-9), I, 402-3. 100 Victor, 59n285. (Brussels,
and Bibliotheca Hagiographica
Latina Antiquae etMediae
Aetatis
ANDREW
432
CAIN
revisited Gregoy's sources In the preceding pages
the broad
range of Gregory's possible oral and
account has been explored. Oral
literary sources for his Vandal
tradition
could have supplied him with the substance of themiracle story,but it could not have conveyed Eugenius'
letterB. As for possible written sources, there
is no evidence that either a Vita sanctiEugenii or a Libellus de miraculis sancti Eugenii existed. Nevertheless, based
his account upon
the principal objection
Lengthy original documents such as personal Merovingian
to Gregory's having
them is that he reproduces Eugenius'
(or African) saints' lives and
hand, the lost passio Eugenii is a more
letter B.
letterswere not a feature of
libellimiraculorum.On
the other
suitable candidate because Gregory
was working from it in GM 57, and thus itmay well have been one of the passiones cited as sources for his Vandal account.'0' But while it (and martyrum these other maryrumpassiones) could possibly have furnished him with some of the names not found inVictor's HP
Vindimialis, Longinus, Revocatus,
well as incidental details of themiracle story, it still remains
Octavianus-as
virtually impossible that letterB was derived from it, for the same reasons it could not have come from a saint's life or libellusmiraculorum. The
appearance
of Eugenius'
letterB inDLH
thatGregory did not base his Vandal a hagiographical
source. How
source-critical quagmire? Let
2.3 reasonably assures us
account and miracle story strictlyon
then can we navigate from here through this us adopt
the working hypothesis that he
retrieved this letter and sundry other items of information (e.g. people's names) from a source, now lost,which might be generically termed Historia persecutionissub Hunerico rege.This Historia may have resembled Victor's HP in its basic structural format, enshrining for posterity the tragedies and tri umphs of Catholic Christians under Huneric. have given Bishop Eugenius
Like Victor,
a privileged place
itswriter may
in the narrative, repro
ducing original documents such as letterB and preserving a version of the miracle
story upon which Gregory based his own. This writer would pre
sumably have been, also likeVictor, an eyewitness to the events. One might even hazard the HP,
the daring guess that thisHistoria could have been a sequel to
the writing of which Victor
seems to have anticipated in the pro
logue to his work.'02 101 Legimus tarnen quorundam ex ipsis martyrumpassiones, ex quibus quaedam republicanda sunt, ut ad ea quae spondemus veniamus (DIM 2.3). 102See D. 'Osservazioni sul prologo alla Historia di Vittore Vitense', Atti d?lia Romano, Accademia
di scienze letteree arti di Palermo,
ser. 4, 20
(1962),
19-36. See
also W.E.
Fahey,
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND ARIANS
433
This hypothetical Historia would have been written, at the earliest, dur ing the summer of 484. The
terminus post quem isJuly 484, the approximate
date of composition of letterB. Since Gregory does not mention Huneric's successor Gunthamund,
it seems plausible to assume that his source did not
either. Gregory also does not name Huneric's
predecessor Geiseric;
this too
could reflect the silence of his source. The potential scope of the Historia may now perhaps be narrowed down to cover the events of Huneric's
per
secution (and death) in 484, but nothing after his death. Gregory knew that Eugenius had been banished under Huneric
and later resurfaced in Albi,
but he did not specify that this took place under Thrasamund's (ca. 496). Quite
regime
to the contrary, he mistakenly thought that Thrasamund These
had ruled before Huneric.
that the source for his Vandal about Eugenius, was composed between early July 484 and
and other discrepancies strongly suggest account, and particularly for his account
inside an approximately six-monthwindow, 484. Gregory's
late December
fumbling of
chronology now comes into sharper focus. It is not that his source
Vandal
for this chronology was faulty. It was selective, offering a microscopic of Huneric's Gregory
two immediate
omits Huneric's
Thrasamund,
successors, Gunthamund
but he does mention the last twoVandal
530) and Gelamir
kings,Hilderic
and (523
(530-534). About Hilderic he says only that he succeeded
After Hilderic (huic Childericussuccessit).
Huneric
view
reignwhile evidently excluding the kings before and after him.
the Byzantine army conquered Since Gregory mentions
there was Gelamir, whom
to bring an end to theVandal
kingdom.'03
the collapse of the kingdom in 534, his source for
these last two kings was evidently more recent (perhaps oral and Gallic), though its coverage of earlier ones was selective inasmuch as it excluded Gunthamund
and Thrasamund.
The hypothesis constructed thus far assumes that the Historia was com posed
in North Africa during the penultimate months of Huneric's
reign.
Like Victor, its author was not interested inwriting a history of theVandals per se and their regnal successions. His priority was
to paint a graphic if
in D. Kries and C.B. Tkacz and Suffering in Victor of Vita' edd., 'History, Community, Nova Doctrina Vetusque: Essays on Early Christianity inHonor ofFrederic W. Schlatter, SJ. (New York, 1999), 225-41 (225-7). 103 Gelesimeris regnum suscipit. Ipse quoque a republica superatus, vitamprincipatumquefinivit. Et sic regnumdeciditWandalorum (DIM 2.3). The phrase a republica superatus refers to Emperor Justinian's Carthage
successful on
defeat
15 September
of
the Vandals.
533, and by March
His
forces,
534 Gelamir
led by Belisarius, had surrendered.
reached
ANDREW
434
CAIN
sensationalistic portrait of localized clashes between Arians and Catholics. This authorial selectiveness handily explains why Victor Geiseric and Huneric,
rowed his focus further toHuneric have migrated toGaul
focussed only on
and why the author of the Historia presumably nar alone. The work, likeVictor's HP, may
in the late fifthor early sixth century, perhaps smug
gled via an underground network by North African Catholic Christians who flooded into Gaul
before and during this time to find a safe haven against
Arian persecution.'04 Eugenius, who was part of thismass exodus, may even have brought a copy as part of his personal archive, not least because he and his campaign against Cyrola and theArians were evidently memorial ized in itspages. When ities,Albi became
Eugenius was exiled toGaul by theVandal
author
the new geographical center of his social network. From
here the Historia could easily have been found multiple venues for dissemi nation throughout Gaul, where asm by Catholic
itwould no doubt have met with enthusi
refugees fromNorth Africa.
The putative Historia persecutionis was not the only work of its kind on the shelf of late antique
literature. One
thinksmost
immediately of Victor's
HP.'05 A well known example from the early fourth century is Lactantius' De mortibuspersecutorum[Mll. 106In giving a biased commentary on contem porary political turmoil from 303 to 313, Lactantius both consoles Christians enduring the 'Great Persecution' and demonstrates how severely God will judge pagan rulers who persecute them.'07 Lactantius gives this concise thesis statement in the opening pages of his work: de quorumexitunobis fueruntvel qui postea futuri sunt, scirent testificari placuit, ut omnesqui procul remoti
104 On
see A. Schwarcz, the circulation of Victor's HP, und Text?ber 'Bedeutung von der Historia des Victor Vita' in A. Scharer persecutionis Africanae provinciae lieferung and G. Scheibelreiger, edd., Historiographie imfr?henMittelalter (Vienna, 1994), 115-140. 105 roots in mainline the HP\ On ecclesiastical historiography, especially as it relates to Rufinus'
translation of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, see P. Wynn, 'Rufinus of Ecclesiastical and Victor of Vita's the Vandal History Aquileia's Persecution', Classica History of etMediaevalia 41 (1990), 187-98. 106 of its sources, common For a discussion themes, and historical context, see J.L. ed. and De Persecutorum Mortibus trans., Lactantius, Creed, (Oxford, 1984), xv-xlv; citations are taken from this edition. On see T.D. its date of composition, Barnes, 'Lactantius and C onstantine ',Journal ofRoman Studies 63 (1973), 29-46. 107 'The Aim of Lactantius See R.G. Tanner, in the Liber de mortibus persecutorum', Studia
from theMP
17 (1982), 836-40. For this theme of God see in Victor, judging persecutors S. Costanza, 'Considerazioni storiografiche neWhistoria persecutionis Africanae provinciae di Vittore di Vita', Bollettino di Studi Latini 6 (1976), 30-6. Patr?stica
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
AND
ARIANS
435
quatenus acmajestaten suaminextinguendis nominis suihostibus virtutem delendisque In this twofold aim theMP deus summusostenderit.'08
is similar toVictor's HP
and presumably to the hypothetical Historia as well. All three works have
historiographical pretensionsin thattheyreproduceoriginaldocumentsin the stream of their narratives.109Victor and thewriter of the Historia quote
completeletters ofEugenius,whileLactantiusreproducestwolongerdocu ments:MaximianGalerius'edicthaltingpersecution andConstantine'sand Licinius' Edict ofMilan."10 Furthermore, the postulated Historia would not be the only lost historiographical work used by Gregory. The
histories of
thefifth-century writers RenatusProfuturus and SulpiciusAlexanderare in fact known only through Gregory's citation of them."' A possible trace of the lostHistoria may be detectable in Gregory's obit uary forHuneric. He Vandal
records that after being possessed by a demon, the
king went mad and tore himself to pieces with his own teeth."2 An
interpolator attached another version of his obituary to the end of Victor's HP,
according to which Huneric's
body was devoured so badly by worms
that itwas scarcely recognizable afterward."3 Enemies and especially perse cutors of God's people dying violent deaths by worm infestation or by some other grotesque means
is a Christian
literary topos."4Herod Agrippa,
said, was struck down by the angels of God
it is
for the sin of pride, whereupon
108A?P 1.7. 109 its aims and tone are markedly different from these three, Bede's Historia Though ecclesiastica should also be mentioned in conjunction with them, for Bede inserts original letters in his narrative: e.g. see at 1.23, 24, 27-32; 2.8, 10-11, 17-19. 110 MP 34 and 48, respectively. 111DIM 2.8-9. See Monod, Etudes, I, 83-4. In these instances Gregory does name his as in the case of the postulated Annales Andecavenses, a lost annalistic source for late fifth-century Angers (DIM 2.18). 112Honoricus vero post tantumJacinus arreptus a daemone, qui diu de sanctorum sanguine pastus se morsibus at, laniabat, in quo cruciatu vitam indignam iusta mortefinivit (DIM 2.3). fuer propriis 113Tenait sceleratissimusHuniricus dominationem regni annis septem,mensibus decem, meritorum suorum mortem consummans.Nam putrefactas et ebulliens vermibus non corpus, sed parks corporis sources,
eius videntur esse sepultae (HP 3.71). E. Ebert, Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur desMittelalters the first to propose the inauthenticity of this passage. 1874), I, 434n3, was (Leipzig, Other since followed suit, while scholars, e.g. Courtois, Victor, 16, have others, e.g. A. Roncoroni, 'Sulla morte di re Unerico', Romanobarbarica 2 (1977), 247-57, argue for its authenticity. 114 IV For example, Antiochus This topos carries over from pre-Christian Judaism. is said to have been afflicted with a crippling case of bowel disease and worm Epiphanes infestation after his persecution
of the Jews
(IIMace.
9.1-11).
ANDREW
436
CAIN
he was eaten by worms and died."5 The gruesome fate.According
to Lactantius,
emperor Galerius met a more
in the eighteenth year of his reign
Galerius was afflictedwith an ulcer on his groin which became
infected and
spread to his bowels and bladder, with worms all thewhile feasting on his putrid flesh."6 After plundering the votive giftsof the church at Antioch and blasphemously mocking
them, the emperor Julian's uncle, also named
Julian, met a grisly end when worms ate away his intestines and genitals, a death thatChristian writers were quick to tout as a visible display of God's vengeance."7
Gregory's
description of Huneric's
violent death
thus falls
within the general pale of this literary topos.IfGregory did not fabricate the details
and there is no reason to think that he did
but instead gleaned
them from an earlier writing, theHistoria persecutionis may well have been the source. Huneric's
obituary, with its vitriolic and bloodthirsty tone, would
have fitcomfortably in the Historia, as Galerius'
does in Lactantius' MP.
There are at least three discernible source layers inGregory's account of theVandals
inDLH
2.2-3. The
first is a series of maryrumpassiones (e.g. the
passio Eugenii) dating fromHuneric's
persecution of 484. Instead of being
several separate and unconnected works, theymay have been a collection of stories filed in a singlework, possibly extracted, one might speculate, from the postulated Historia itself.At least one unnamed written (or oral) source informed Gregory about Gunderic, Hilderic, and Gelamir,
as well as mis
cellaneous details about theVandals' movements intoGaul, Spain, and then North Africa. The third identifiable source is the hypothetical Historia perse which contained Eugenius' cutionissubHunerico rege, the miracle
letterB and a version of
story.Vindimialis, Longinus, Octavianus,
have appeared
and Revocatus may
in it, if not also in the maryrumpassiones. This Historia is a
ghost source whose shadowy contours are discernible only by indirect traces leftbehind in Gregory's narrative. Its footprints are faded, but they are not completely washed The
away.
stemmatic relationship between
analogous
to the one between Q
the Historia and Gregory's DLH
and the synoptic Gospels. Redaction
icism has shown that even thoughQis
lost, its existence can be inferred
and a skeleton outline of its contents reconstructed
115 Acts 12.22-3. 116 MP33. 117 Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. Matt.
4.2.
5.8. Cf. Theodoret,
is crit
Hist. Eccl.
from residual traces left
3.9; John Chrysostom,
Homil.
in
MIRACLES,
MARTYRS,
in the Gospels ofMatthew, Mark,
AND
ARLANS
and Luke."I8 As the elusive Q
437
is the key
to solving the synoptic problem, so also is the Historia, I suggest, the crucial
missingclue needed forsolvingthemysterysurrounding Gregory'ssources for theVandals. Literary historians revel in the prospect of a newly discovered text.That the putative Historia has not, as far as we know, successfullyweathered
the
vicissitudes ofmanuscripttransmission shouldnotbe of concern.Habentsua fata libelli.The possibility thatGregory knew and worked from a lostHistoria has far-reaching implications for future source critical studies of persecutionis theDLH.
This work would be an invaluable addition to an otherwise little
attested genre, and its discovery would
alter the landscape of late antique
as it is presentlycircumscribed, that Christianhistoriography confirming Victor of Vita was not the only Catholic writing apologetic history during
Huneric'spersecution. ofColorado University
118 For a discussion
of the synoptic problem and the priority ofQ, seej. Kloppenborg, The Formation of Q: Trajectories inAncient Wisdom Collections (Philadelphia, 1987).
THE
APOCRYPHON
OFJOHN
(NHC
II, 1) AND
THE
GRAECO-EGYPTIAN ALCHEMICAL LITERATURE BY REGINE CHARRON ABSTRACT:The hermetic science known to us under themodern term of 'alchemy'was practised by Egyptian and Jewish 'loversofwisdom' in the first centuriesof theChristian era, as a sacred and mystical art of transformation, regenerationand ultimatelyof salvation, applied to thehuman soul as well as to thematerial elements, especiallymetals. The remainingGreek writings of thesephilosopherswere collected and edited in 1888 byM. Berthelot, as the des anciensalchimistes grecs.To the few scholarswho, in the firsthalf of Collection the last century,devoted theirattention to the studyof thesechallenging texts, itappeared that therewere linksbetween the salvificdoctrine of the alchemists and thatof the so-calledGnostics described by theChurch Fathers. The pur pose of thepresent article is, first,to introduce the reader to the alchemical lit erature and, second, to demonstrate thatnot only the doctrinal, but also the with the ritualsof both 'practical' side of alchemy shows significantsimilarities 'Valentinians' and 'Sethians' communities,better known to us since the dis coveryof theNag Hammadi Library.
Introduction The
is to draw attention to a corpus of ancient Greek
aim of this paper'
than a century after its firstedition, still remains
source textswhich, more
This today a kind of terra incognita.2
corpus
is the collection of Graeco
Egyptian alchemical writings, firstedited in 1888 by M.
Berthelot, under
1 This
of the is an expanded version of my paper read at the 1998 Annual Meeting in Orlando in the section "Nag Hammadi (Florida, U.S.A.) Society of Biblical Literature and Gnosticism," under the title "The Nag Hammadi Library and the Graeco-Egyptian to John D.
Turner (Univ. of Lincoln, Nebraska) me to publish the first results who (E.P.H.E., Paris) encouraged of my work in the field. I am also grateful to the editors of Vigiliae Christianae for their most helpful comments on my earlier version of this article. 2 The in: Cosimos ofPanopolis. On theLetter Omega expression used by H. M. Jackson, Alchemical and
Literature."
to Jean-Pierre
(Missoula, Montana
My
thanks go
Mah?
1978),
1.
BrillNV,Leiden,2005 ( Koninklijke
Also available online- www.brill.nl
59,438-456 Christianae Vigiliae
THE
APOCRYPHON OFJOHN
(NHC
II,
1)
439
the titleCollection This is a verysignificant desanciens alchimistes grecs.3 piece of scholarship, consisting of approximately 450 pages of Greek since itwas poorly edited and thematerial
text, but
itself is quite difficult to survey,
ignored by most scholars of the humanities. In the firsthalf of the
itwas
twentieth century, a few scholars did, however, make
fruitfulattempts at
exploring parts of the corpus; nonetheless, theirworks have been neglected in the decades
that followed. No doubt, they deserve to be re-examined for
theirpossible value to current research being carried out in the fieldsof Nag and Gnosticism. Two volumes of a projected twelve volume crit
Hammadi
ical edition of this corpus have already appeared
in the French "Collection
Bude."4 We must hope that this series,with its commentaries, will make texts more Hammadi
accessible and attractive to scholars in general, and research in particular. The
a Hermetic
"discipline"
links between "alchemy"5
the
to Nag which
is
and Gnosticism have long been recognized, and
it is not my intention here to address this topic in a general way.6 It may, however, prove useful to mention
some of the most evident reasons for
relating the collection of alchemical writings to theNag Hammadi
Library.
First, the original redaction was done at approximately the same time and 3M.
Ruelle, Collection des anciens alchimistesgrecs, Paris, 1888 (reimpr. translation I: Introduction; vol. II: Greek text; vol. Ill: French 1967). Vol. (hereafter cited CAAG). 4 R. Halleux, Les Alchimistes grecs. Tome I. Papyrus de Leyde. Papyrus de Stockholm. Recettes (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1981); see pp. xiv-xv for the complete publication plan; M. Mertens, Les Alchimistes grecs. Tome IV, Ire partie. ?osime de Panopolis. M?moires authentiques Berthelot & Ch.-E.
Osnabr?ck
(ibidem, 1995). See also the excellent critical editions by H. M.Jackson (supra, n. 2) and une et les C. Viano, l'alchimiste de l'unit? (De pr?socratiques: "Olympiodore doxographie Arte Sacra, ? 18-27)," in Alchimie: art, histoire etmythes (ed. D. Kahn & S. Matton, S.?.H.A., Paris/Arche, Milan 1995) 95-150. 5 The term is to be found of the modern origin
in the Greek words %i)U??a, 'the art of alloying metals' 1968, (cf. H. G. Liddell & R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford, me Greek for 'f?nt,' 'black earth,' the native name of 2013a), and XTlM-ia, Egypt (in Coptic: see W. & Scott this question, XHAi, Gundel, KHAC), (cf. Liddell 1990a). On in Reallexikon ftir Antike und Christentum (Stuttgart 1950) 240-241. 'Alchemie,' 6 See e.g. M. Berthelot, Les originesde l'alchimie (Paris 1885), 57-66; I. Hammer Jensen, Die ?ltesteAlchymie (Det Kgl. Danske Vidensk. Selskab, Hist.-filologiske Meddelelser IV,2, Kobenhavn 1921), who went so far as to assert that the first alchemists were Jewish Christian
Gnostics
(15-20,
77-78,
90);
F.
Sherwood
Taylor,
"A
Survey
of Greek
Alchemy,"JournalofHellenicStudies50 (1930) 109-139 (here 115, 138);H. J. Sheppard,
"Gnosticism and Alchemy," Ambix (The Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry) 6 (1957) 86-101 Theme and idem, "The Redemption (here 93-97); Hellenistic Ambix 1 (1959) 42-46; and the Unity of idem, "The Ouroboros Alchemy," Matter
in Alchemy:
A
Study
in Origins,"
Ambix
10 (1962)
83-96.
REGINE
440
in the same geographical
area, i.e., Hellenistic
specifically in Alexandria
more
Zosimos,
CHARRON
in the area of Panopolis
(Achmim) in Upper
authors of these texts display a common ground, and Christian
the common
and Christian Egypt, and
and, in the case of the Gnostic
alchemist
Egypt. Second,
the
intellectual and religious back
use of philosophical,
Jewish, Hermetic
sources.7 Finally, the ultimate goal of their activities was
and the
achievement of a salvific state of unity and of spiritual perfection. In this paper, I will focus on one particular aspect of the activities of the alchemists, namely, the practice of a kind of "baptism."
I will firstgive a
description of this operation, based on textual sources, and second, I will compare an alchemical writing to the so-called "Pronoia Hymn" which we find in one of themost important treatises from theNag Hammadi the ApocgyphonofJohn (NHC
Library:
II, 1).
1. The alchemicaldyeing of the alchemical writings concern the art of gold-making, which they
Most
a science and present as being a divine and sacred art (OeIa Kai iepa t?xrvn), a wisdom
opPia), a mystery (guatiptov) that demands initia tion.8This art, or philosophy, of gold-making, in addition to being a tech (?z1atiRG1Kai
nical operation, clearly has a mystical aspect, as Father A. J. Festugiere expressed it in his first study of this discipline ("L'alchimie religion mys tique"), where he concludes: "L'alchimie est une voie de vie, qui suppose un travail interieur de perfection."9 Indeed, the chemical activities in that context can be understood as a redemptive process, an attempt to bring
7
La r?v?lationd'Herm?s Trism?giste (hereafter RHT), Paris 19502, vol. et la gnose," Movum Testamentum I (1956) 54-69 [here 63 "Herm?s J. Doresse, Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes. A Historical Approach to theLate Pagan Mind (Princeton 171-73; M. Mertens, op. cit., 110-119.
See A.-J. Festugi?re,
I, 217-282; 65]; G. 19932) 8 See
1; 143, 20; 192, 2; 214, e.g. CAAG II 27, 7; 61, 5; 91, 20-92, 315, 2-3; 409, 3-4 (references are to pages and lines). 9 in H.J. Sheppard, Same conclusion "The Ouroboros. 260-282. RHT,
14-15;
258,
. .," 96:
20; "On
side, the importance for the alchemist process? lay in the complementary a result of as in a process carried out the obtaining of personal redemption participation . on the mineral in F. Sherwood Taylor, "A Survey. ref .," 138: "Numerous plane"and erences to Jewish, Egyptian and Gnostics beliefs all go to show that alchemy had a spir the esoteric
itual G. W.
significance
Bowersock, (Cambridge, Mass.
as a practical in "Alchemy," utility." See also N. Janowitz, to A the World P. Brown, O. Grabar Late Guide Postclassical (ed.): Antiquity. & London 1999), 284-285.
as well
THE
APOCRYPHON OFJOHN
at the same time the material
and
(NHC
the human
II,
1)
441
lower condition towards
perfection.'0 Already
in one of the oldest and most important writings of the collec
tion, called ArgijKptTou 4)-Iam Kai guaCtKa4," ("Democritus' writing on Physical and Mystical matters"), we find themention of the healing of the soul and the deliverance from hardship intended with thematerial experi ments.'2 It is thus evident that the philosophers we call "alchemists" exper imentwith physical substances, such as plants, minerals and metals, in order to "generate" gold, but this has nothing to do with the production of coun
terfeit gold. Now, what do theymean,
then, by "gold-making"? This expression refers
to a long process of transformation of a black metallic substance into a state of brightness and incorruptibility.The whole operation is called a "dyeing," because
the proof of its success is the change of colour of themetal into the technical term Kiacapa(p1 often used for this "deep dyeing," in the sense of pennanentdyeing,
brilliant colour of gold. The operation properly means for the colour obtained
at the end
is now unchangeable,
forever irre
versible.'3 And by thisvery change of colour, themetal is also meant to take on the divine nature of gold.
1.1 The technical andallegorical language One
of the most interesting features of the alchemical writings is their use
of allegorical language in the descriptions of technical material and opera tions. As I mentioned before, this art of dyeing metals
ismuch more
than
a chemical or a metallurgical process. In their descriptions, the alchemists speak of themetallic substances as composed of a body,a soul and a spirit.'4 The colour-or
quality
of gold is called its "spirit," themain purpose of
10
See e.g. CAAG II 47, 12-13; 213, 16-17; 245, 4. CAAG II 41, 1-53, 15. SeeJ. P. Hershbell, "Democritus Ambix 34, 1 (1987) 5-20 and C. A. Wilson, Alchemy," 11
Practice: the Cultic and Practical Background Dionysian in Hellenistic Egypt," Ambix 45, 1 (1998) 14-33. 12CAAG II 47, 12-13. 13 See e.g. CAAG II 214, 1; 214, 15. For a description
and
the Beginning of Greek and Theory "Pythagorean to Chemical Experimentation
of the whole process, which II takes place in the kerotakis apparatus 25-158, 157, 1; 250, 3-4; 268, 16-17), see (CAAG in particular A. J. Hopkins, "A Study of the Kerotakis Process as given by Zosimus and loc. cit.), 131-137 Later Alchemical Writers," Isis 29 (1938) 326-354; F. Sherwood Taylor, and M. Mertens, op. cit., CXXXVI-CXXXIX. 14 See e.g. CAAG II, 252, 4-6; 297, 5-6.
RE_GINE CHARRON
442
the process being to transfer this spiritof gold to another metallic body. This transmutation can be seen as regeneration, as the base metal, before being able to assume the new quality, must first"die" in the process, by losing its own specific nature. What
happens
then to thematerial
substances in the
successive operations of the gold-making process, is usually described not only in terms of human experience, such as generation, pain and pleasure, sexual union, death, burial, but also sometimes in religious terms such as resurrection, salvation, immortality and divinity. 1.2 The
The chemicaldyeingor "baptism" technical term for this dyeing process is the verb I3itsEIv, whose basic
meaning
is to "dip" or to "immerse," from the same root as the derivative
Pancrti4elvadopted by Greek-speaking Jews and eventually by Christians.'5 This is the firstanalogy between the act of dyeing and the religious ritual of immersion or baptism inwater. Another
analogy used proves even more
significant: the sulphur water
(b8cop OHiov) used in the dyeing process is also a divine water-the
word
Ogiovmeaning both "sulphur" and "divine".'6 This carefully prepared water, in combination with the powerful "spirit" hidden within it (IT nVVi4ta T0 and the action of fire,brings about the death of themetallic body fa3TtiwKov) and ultimately leads to its regeneration.'7 The
results of the process are the
brightness and the incorruptibility of the new metallic
form called "gold,"
due to the strong unity of its new elements. The dyeing is thus a real chemical "baptism," the regeneration inwater, spirit and fire,of a dead, dark metallic body into a luminous incorruptible one: the philosophers' gold, more precious than natural gold.
15 Cf. J. Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology. Its Origin and Early Development (Graecitas Primaeva Christianorum 1) (Nijmegen 1962) 27-47. 16 Cf. CAAG II, 215, 18-20. 17 Cf. F. Sherwood Taylor, "A Survey of Greek Alchemy," 131: "The recipes which seem to 'divine the water' indicate that it had the power of dissolving or disinte employ grating the substances used in the art, and that it had also the property of colouring met als. It was evidently also a volatile substance ..." See Zosimos, Flepi xou Oeiou u?axo?, inMertens, op. cit., 21, 30-32 (= CAAG II, 141-142 and 143, 19-144, 7) and 162-167; Synesius, CAAG II 60, 16-61, 3. For II 73, 10-11; 149, 12 (cf. 151, 1, 5);
the "spirit" 152, 8-9;
(to 7tve?uxx x? ?ajcxiK?v), 165,1.
see e.g. CAAG
THE
APOCRFPHON OF JOHN (NHC
II,
1)
443
2. An alchemicalsource text In order to illustrate this process and its allegorical description, I suggest to look at one particular alchemical of the Collection,
the third century C.E. Known Cleopatra"
text,which
as the "Dialogue
KaI KXcona'tpa;), (Aaikoyo; (pkXoaO6(pow
three oldest alchemical manuscripts: (=M),
is certainly one of the oldest
as most scholars date it somewhere between the firstand of the philosophers and this text appears
in the
the Venetian Marcianus Graecus 299
from the tenth or eleventh century,18the Parisinus Graecus 2325 (= B),
from the thirteenth c., the Parisinus Graecus 2327 (= A), from the fifteenthc., and inmany others.19 It is interesting to note that this "Dialogue,"
although
originally part of a largerwriting entitled "The Teaching of Comarius," circulated as an independent writing, mainly because
also
of accidents in the
copying and transmission of themanuscripts.20 In the passage
given here, a group of philosophers ask Cleopatra,
of gold-making. Their main
18
a
alchemist, to share her wisdom with them2' concerning the process
woman
request is to learn "how the highest descends
et description du manuscrit de Venise alchimique & S. Matton, art, histoire et mythes (?d. D. Kahn Paris/Arche, Milan, S.?.H.A., 1995) 1-10. 19 in CAAG II, 292, 13-299, It has been edited by Berthelot & Ruelle, 14; by I. L. Ideler, in Physici et medid Graeci minores, II (Berlin, 1842; reimpr. Amsterdam 1963) 248; See H.
Marcianus
D.
Graecus
Saffrey, "Historique in Alchimie: 299,"
in "Zur Geschichte der Alchemie und des Mystizismus," Machr. der by R. Reitzenstein, Gesellsch. der Wissensch. 2 Phil.-Hist. Klasse 1-37. zu kgl. G?ttingen, (This work of (1919) to me). See also J. Bidez & F. Cumont, Les mages hell?nis?s, II Reitzenstein is not available (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1938) 325-327. A French translation is in CAAG III, 281-287 and (partially) in A. J. Festugi?re, "La cr?ation des ?mes dans la Kor? Kosmou," in Herm?tisme etmystiquepa?enne (Paris 1967) 230-248 there [here 241-246]. To my knowledge, exists no complete English translation of this alchemical text, but we find parts of it trans in "Rhetorical lated by C. A. Browne and Religious Aspects of Greek Alchemy. Part II," Ambix 3 (1948) 22-24 and by F. Sherwood in The Alchemists. Founders ofModern Taylor Chemistry (New York 1949) 58-59. The following translations are based on both of these sources. 20 For more transmission of this text, see details about the problematic manuscript loc. cit.; O. Lagercrantz, das Verh?ltnis CAAG I, 176-183; R. Reitzenstein, des "?ber in: Catalogue desManuscrits 2327 (= A) zum Codex Marcianus 299 (=M)", II and IV (1932), 399-432; A. J. Festugi?re, alchimiques grecs, (Bruxelles 1927) 341-358 in Herm?tisme et mystique pa?enne, 205-229 [here esp. 214-222]; M. Mertens, "Alchymica," coi filosofi"', Cassiodorus op. cit., 176-177; R. Romano, "Appunti sul 'Dialogo di Cleopatra
Codex
Parisinus
I (1995) 235-242. 21
CAAG
II 292,
15: La?pfrviaov
tui?v.
REGINE
444
CHARRON
to the lowest, and how the lowest ascends to the highest,"22which means: "how the spirit takes on a body" and "how the body becomes spiritual". follows a long discourse by Cleopatra
Then
about thewhole process, here
To begin with, she speaks in riddles, but called a "mystery" (to vwarfjpiov).23 her explanations become clearer and easier to understand as she reveals the successive acts of the process whose
truth to her brothers.24The
is the alchemical "regeneration" appear
ment
achieve
then as follows:
a) The descent of the life-givingblessed waters into Hades "How the blessed waters descend to visit the dead who lie in chains and are afflictedin darkness and gloom within Hades and how themedicine of life enters and awakens them, so that theyare aroused from sleep"25 /.../ "the waters thatpenetrate awaken the bodies and the spiritswhich are emprisoned and powerless."26 b) The
spirit of darkness chased away by the spirit of light
"The spiritof darkness fullof vanity and weakness of heart" / .../"But when the spiritof darkness and of foulodour is rejected /... ./ then thebody is filled with light,and the soul and spirit rejoice, because darkness has fled from the body."27 c) The
call to awakening and the resurrection
"And the soul calls the body thathas been filledwith light: "Wake up from Hades, arise from the tomb and come out of darkness.You have been clothed with spiritualityand divinitysince the voice of resurrectionhas sounded and themedicine of lifehas entered intoyou."28
22 CAAG ?v?pxexai
II 292, 15-17: tcco? Kax?pxexai x? Kaxcoxaxov icpo? x? ?vcbxaxov.
x? ?vcoxaxov
rcpo? x? Kaxcoxaxov
Kai
tcco?
23CAAG II 292, 14; 294, 5; 295, 7; 296, 3; 297, 7.
24 CAAG
II 294,
7: ?v a?v?yjLiaat
?e ap^ouai
xo? ?iyeiv;
CAAG
II 295,
8: f| ?Xr\Qem
Tcecpav?pcoxai. 25 CAAG II 292,
x? u?axa 18-293-2: tcco?Kax?pxovxai euXoynfieva xou ?TciaK?\|/aa9ai 7cepiKei(x?vou? Kai TC?Tce?r||jivoi)? Kai xe6Xi(X|x?vou? ?v aK?xei Kai yv??pcp veKpo?? x? (p?puxxKOv xr\q ?cofj? Kai ?cpUTCvi?ei auxo?? cb? e? ?vxo? xou "A?ou Kai ttco? eia?pxexai ?tcvod ?yepOnvai. 26 G4JG II 293, 7-9: x? u?axa e?aep%?)Lieva ?cpDTcvi?ouoi x? oc?uo:xa Kai x? Tcve?uxxxa ?yKeK^eiafx?va Kai ?aOevfi ?vxa. 27 CAAG II Kai ?Ouuxa? /. . ./ 296, 8-9: x? jcve?ua x? CKOxeiv?v x? Tc?fjpe? uaxaioxnxoc . ./ x?xe 'Etc' Kai 13-16: ?v ?? aux? x? x? aKoxeiv?v Tcve?jia 296, ?pcououv aTto?X.r|6eir| /. xo??
(pcoxi?exai x? acoua acouxxxo?. 28 CAAG
II 296,
Kai
xaipzxax
Kai r\ \\f\>%r\
16-19: Kai Kata?
x? Tcve?ua ?xe ?rc??pa
x? ctkoxo? ?nb
f| \|n)%f|x? aco|Lia x? Tcecpcoxicjjivov: "Eyeipai
xo?
?c; "A?ou
THE
APOCRYPHON OF JOHN (NHC
II,
445
1)
d) The enlightenment and the clothing with glory ". . .when, however, they clothe themselveswith the glory and the shining color which comes from fire" /... / "for (the body) has put on the lightof "and (fire)clothed themwith divinity,and darkness has fled from it" /.. divine spiritualglory."29 e) The
"sacred marriage"
of the art in the joining togetherof the bride and "Behold the fulfillment groom, and in theirbecoming one!" /... ./ "and theywere all united in love, thebody, the soul and the spirit,and had become one" /... ./ and the image (var.thedwelling-place)was made perfectfor thebody, the soul and the spirit, and theybecame one."30 f) The
sealing
"Behold themysterywhich is sealed up within" ... ./ "themysteryhas been accomplished; itsdwelling-place sealed up and a statueerected fullof lightand divinity."31
discourse32 thisallegorical behind 3. T7he basicchemical operations 3.1
The deathof the "body"= thedissolutionof themetal
The metallic body (here a lead-copper alloy) is reduced to death when
it
loses its qualities. This death, or dissolution, occurs by burning or boiling will then themetal. Its volatile substance, regarded as being its soul (xVnvoj),
Kai avaaxnOi Kai
Oe?cogiv
ek xo? x?q>o\) Kai ?^ey?p9r|Ti ek xo?> gkoxod?Kai f| (pcovf| xf|? ?vaoxaaEco?
?7t?i?f| nq)9aK?v
?v???i)aai Kai
to
y?p
Tcve-?ji?xcoaiv
cp?puaKOV xfj? ? fi?
eiotjABev rcpo? o?* 29 CAAG II 293,
ek xo? 7rupo? Kai xf|v %poi?v 16-17: ?xav ?e ?vo?acovxai xfjv ?o^av x? gkoxo?; XTiv 7iEpi(pavf|; 297, 4-5: ?vE?uoaxo y?p OeOxtjxo? (p ? Kai ?rc??pa ?n'ainov 7tvE\)|iaxiKnv. 297, 14: Kai (xo nvp) eve?uoev auxouc OE?av ?o^av 30 CAAG II 294, 18-19: 'I?o? y?p xo 7t?,r|p(oua xfj? xexvti? xcov cd?e'dxOevxcdv vuuxp?ai) XE Kai vujjxpri? Kai yEvouiv v ev. /. . ./ 297, 5-6: Kai f|v?)6riGav rcavxE? ?v ?y?n-fi, x? acojia Kai
Kai fi \\fv%?\
x? Kvex)\ia Kai
{par. b o?koc) a(?)(iaxi 31 CAAG II 294,
Kai 5:
yEy?vaaw
Kai \\fv%r\ i?o?
ev. /. . ./ 297,
21-22:
Kai
?y?vovxo ev. /. . ./ 297, ?acppayiajj-?vov
exeXeig)6t| f| e?ko)v
juvE?jiaxi Kai
|H)axr|piov
7-8:
exe^eicoOti
xo
uD?xripiov Kai EOippayiaOn ? o?koc Kai ?cxaGn ?v?pi?? TiATipnc (pcoxo? Kai 0eoxt|xo?. 32The chemical lines of the signs added by the copyists in the margins and above the of the operations, but the descriptions given text, are a kind of help in the understanding and their interpretation here rely on the reading of many other texts of the Collection n. 13). some scholars of the above-mentioned (supra, by
RE_GINE CHARRON
446
be separated from itsbody (?Ycoga).But the remaining black mass, the ashes, is seen as the precious new prima materia corresponding to the primeval "chaos,"
towhich a new form,with new qualities, will be given. This dead
metallic body lies in "Hades,"
i.e., the bottom of the vase placed upon direct
fire. = thetreatment water 3.2 The resurrection withsulphur of thebody The dead, inertmetallic body is reanimated by absorbing the "divine" (sul phur) water, coming down from "heaven," which means apparatus.
In thiswater
from the topof the is hidden a colouring power: the "spirit of light."
This treatment chases away the "spirit of darkness," i.e., the dark colour of the "dead" metallic body, and its foul odour,33 and themetal new
life together with a brilliant white colour. The
then attains a
appearance
of the
"whiteness" is said to be the return of the "soul" into the body.
= the 3.3 The "bridal "oneness" of thenewmetal perfect mystegy" When
the new metallic body gets thewhite colour of silver, the phenome
non is described as the reunification and even the embrace of the bride and the bride (xvuX). The groom (cYCo&a)
effectof this union is then a new
change of colour, fromwhite to yellow, as themanifestation of the "spirit of gold," firsthidden in the divine (sulphur) water, but now filling the soul. The reanimation and regeneration of the body is thus described as a "bridal mystery," a mystical union, inwhich body, soul and spirit become "one for ever," for this union is not just a blending, but a uniting (iveoux5)of the ele ments. At the end of the whole process, the "male" copper-body and the "female"
silver-soul have been
totally united by the mediation
of the
"androgynous" mercury, the powerful "spirit of gold" hidden in the "divine water. 34
33The foul odour coming out is a necessary step in the process. Cf. e.g. Zosimos, CAAG II, 141, 24-25 (inMertens, op. cit., 31, 20-30 and n. 4). 34 or "quicksilver" not being really a nor a solid, Mercury, (gr. r\??p?pyupo?), liquid, to have two "natures" and thus is called "androgynous" is considered (x? ?poxvo?rj?A)); cf. e.g. Zosimus, Ilepi xou Oeiou u?axo? (CAAG II, 143, 19-144, 7) inM. Mertens, op. cit., 21, with notes
at
169-171. As
a most
between
volatile the male
element,
it plays and
"body" papyri, edited by R. Halleux both the feminine and the masculine article (cf. Pap. Leid., and 1. 71: i)?p. Pap. Holm., x?v). "pneumatic intermediary" ations. In the oldest chemical
the important role of the the female "soul" in the oper (n. 4), the word is used with lines 28-29, 59, 107, 185: xf|V
THE
APOCRFPHON OF JOHN (NHC
II,
1)
447
= theincorruptibility of thenewmetal 3.4 Theclothing withthedivine glogy The
action of the "divine"
(sulphur) water penetrating the metallic
sub
stance called the "body" has given to it not only a new life, of which
the
firstsignwas the appearance of whiteness, but most of all a "divine" nature, whereby eventually thewhite colour changes to the colour of gold. This
is
the true "garment of light," the sign of incorruptibility and "immortality." Thus
the dead black mass of the lead-copper alloy has been transformed
into a new, golden, incorruptible metal. No doubt, this allegorical description of an ordinary chemical process can appear
to be a strange phenomenon
to a reader unfamiliar with this kind
of literature,but one should be aware that the personification of metals and other substances is very common
in such texts. As another example, we
might mention the famous "visions" of Zosimos, likened to men Cleopatra
inwhich various metals are
undergoing painful experiences.35 But
is remarkable indeed, not only because
the discourse of
it is allegorical, but also
because of its truly "religious" connotations. The vision, through the glass vessel, of themysterious regenerative process by means of a continuous cir cular motion of the condensed waters falling down from the upper part of the vase and of the vapours going up again as well as their transforming action upon the "dead"
substance appear
to be a fascinating imitation of
what happens at the cosmic level.36As a regenerative process, it also calls for a mystical interpretation: "blessed" waters coming down from "heaven," bringing light and calling the dead body to a new, eternal life, redeeming it from darkness and corruption. To literature from Nag
Hammadi,
every reader familiarwith the Gnostic
Cleopatra's
discourse clearly evokes the
"pattern" of redemption by means of the repeated descent and ascent move ments of the redeemer figure, togetherwith a call to awakening addressed to the dead lying in Hades, which we find in one of themost famous trea tises: the Apocgyphonofjohn.
35
See See the critical edition by M. Mertens, op. cit., 35-47, with notes at 207-231. zu den Visionen des Zosimos," Eranos-Jahrbuch 5 also C. G. Jung, "Einige Bemerkungen (1937) 15-54 and F. Sherwood Taylor, The Alchemists, Founders ofModern Chemistry (New York 1949), 60-65. 36 rising from the earth, formation of clouds, rain falling down from heaven. Vapours
448
REGINE
CHARRON
4. A Related GnosticWritingfirom Nag Hammadi At the end of the longer recension of theApocyphon of John (NHC finds a
hymnic discourse
"Pronoia," whose world
is meant
by
a
transcendent
II),37 one
feminine figure, called
third and final descent from the heavenly to thematerial to bring light and redemption to the dead,
prison of darkness inHades. Here
lying in the
follows an excerpt of Pronoia's discourse:
"Still fora thirdtime I went I am the lightwhich exists in the light;I am the remembranceof Pronoia-that I mightenterintothemidstofdarkness and theinside of the completion of theiraeon. ofHades. And I filledmy facewith thelight And I entered into themidst of their prisonwhich is theprison thebody (oCoga).And I said, 'rou,who hear, getupfromthedeepsleep.' And he wept and shed tears.Bitter tearshe wiped fromhimselfand he said, 'Who is it thatcallsmy name, and fromwhere has thishope come tome, while I am in thechainsof theprison?' I am the thinkingof the vir And I said, 'I am thePronoia of thepure light, ginal Spirit(nvri?6a),who raisesyouup to the honored place. Arise and remem ber that it isyou who hearkened, and followyour root,which is I, themerciful one, and guard yourselfagainst the angels of povertyand thedemons of chaos and all thosewho ensnare you, and beware of thedeepsleepand theenclosure of theinsideofHades.' And I raisedhimup and sealed(mppocyiei;v) him in thelight of thewaterwith five seals (a(ppayi;), in order that deathmightnothavepoweroverhim from this time on."38
5. A textualcomparisonof the two texts It is obvious
that these two texts, the teaching of Cleopatra
and the dis
course of Pronoia, show similarities not only in the themes developed, but also in their terminology, as appears in the following chart: 37 See
the critical edition by M. Waldstein & F. Wisse: The Apocryphon ofJohn. Synopsis and Codices 11,1; 111,1; and IV, 1 with BG Hammadi 8502,2, Nag of Nag Hammadi Manichaean Studies 33 (London, New York, K?ln, 1995), and the interpretation of the "The Providence Monologue in the Apocryphon ofJohn and the passage by M. Waldstein: m Journal of Early Johannine Prologue," theme of the "descent of the redeemer"
Christian Studies 3, 4
the (1995), 369-402. On literature, see the most important Path to Enlightenment. The Ascent of
in Gnostic
"The Gnostic Threefold study by J. D. Turner: Mind and the Descent ofWisdom," 4 (1980) 324-351. Novum Testamentum XXII, 38NHC II 30:32-31:25. The translation is fromWaldstein & Wisse, op. cit., 80-81, but . . ." But in slightly modified at 31:5 where they translate "He who hears, let him get up. I consider the Coptic the given context, which is a dialogue, vocative: "You, who hear. ..." I also prefer the original name tors translate it by "Providence." ismine. Underlining
flCTCCDTA "Pronoia,"
as a normal where
the edi
THE
APOCRYPHON OF JOHN (NHC II,
Cleopatra's teaching (CAAG II, here 292, 18-297, 22)
1)
449
Pronoia Hymn (NHC II 30:13-31:25) WINOK HC HlOYOCIi
1cat?pxovtxl t&t6ata (292,18-19)
(30:33-34)39
2EICI CBON iNNHOYOCHi (30:23-24) IOYOEHIN AH.AOOY
e1it
pXeta6
qxipjiwov
ti5
29i3,
(293, 1-3) eia?px%Voaltra vFa CIxtcY iS&xtxdiaGpxoiva (293, 7) Ma ?VKOKco1
(var.
aicor)
ica' yv6(p
2EBCOH
?VT6
,oi "A&x (292, 20-293, 1)
(oV5; v?cKpoV5) nen?Vou; neptlKX1taotVat (293, 9-10)
?V tp
?2OYIN
(31:23-24)
(30:25; 30:36; 31:3)
2iK AHjK2JKE
YCO
9JIAApPC
(AHrCQTCKO)40 (31:10)
HCJiNOym
CEANTC (30:25-26; 30:36-31:1)
(292, 20) 'A6n
T&NCEC AJ C&dNiOYN (31:21-22) ui&ARTC ? CBON
?4 iSivou EYepOfivat(293, 2)
TCOYI
"EyFupaitF "A8ou
cf.HMK2JE &YW) HCUMi9Oyr tNCAtNTC (30:25-26; 30:36-31:1)
?KrouioV 6?4?7yFpOfl,r AKou;
(296, 17-18)
(296, 16) icake-t(i NxVuX)
(NiA) JICTAOYTC
avaOTNt lic?oK ti pou (296, 17) iq povi tfj; axaeGE (296, 19)
TOOYMIK
to lEveia4xb cYicKOtEtVOV (296, 9; 13)
RIR2
Ei7XipdOti agppayi*OQO OiK0o iKaxi pot6; (297, 7-8 cf. app.)4'
&tICCQp&vIaE 2iiiOyOcll
FII&KC
FitiErAOy (31:24-25)
39Cf. ?vMOK TG TJKHTpJKJK&OAJ?OYOeiN
40
Throughout
the hymn, JTCttfTGKO,
(cf. 30:19, 25, 36; 31:3-4). equivalents 41 Cf. i?oi) jiDGxrjpiov ?ocppayiaii?vov
'the prison,' (294, 5).
(31:5-6)
(31:8)
(31:14) IElTOYNOYC AAO3
liCCtp&UIC ?KOavatou ?i; 1wi'4v(297, 13-14)
ACtItIHB
(31:22)
(29:28) JAO(J AKHAOOY (31:23-24)
2NItC
QiQ3RdhA EfpO3
(30:15) and ITK&.KC,
'the darkness,'
are
RE GINE
450
The
numerous
CHARRON
liturgical terms and motifs shared by both
remarkable: the dead
lying in Hades
texts are
(in prison, in darkness), the spirit of
darkness, the sleep and call to awakening,42 the illuminating and vivifying water coming from above, the "raising up" or resurrection, the sealing and the gift of immortality. In both texts, it is a female figurewho
"calls" to
awakening: the soul (Psyche) in the alchemical writing, and Pronoia
in the
Apoc?yphonof John. It is also noteworthy that the goal of the successive descents of Pronoia The
into the lower world
is to accomplish her oiKovopixx.43
translation of the passage by the editors: "I was seeking (to accomplish)
my task" is quite correct, but the interpretation of this as "the task of rul ing her own household"44 certainly does not fit the context. It seems tome that in this context, itwould be more appropriate to translate theword by "plan of salvation," thereby giving it a clear theological significance.45The same word, oiKovogiua, is the precise technical term used by the alchemists46 for the whole
regeneration process. And
repeated movement apparatus
this occurs by means
of the
of descent and ascent of the "divine water"
in their
(i.e. the "sublimation" of a material element and the "condensa
tion" of the vapour or spiritual element), the final result of which was
the
enlightenment of the purified metallic "body."47 Finally, the achievement of this salvific oLKovog,Lain both texts is called a "sealing," with the "life-giv ingwater" associated with light from the divine realm.48 In addition to this series of common motifs, it is interesting to note those featureswhich give each text a distinctive character. We find, for example, three important topoi in Cleopatra's Hymn,
namely:
"clothing with glory."49Cleopatra,
42On U.
Bianchi
this theme,
(ed.), Le 1967) 496-507. _
discourse which are absent from the
the "medicine of life," the "bridal chamber,"
and
the
then, knows and uses not only the verbs
see G. MacRae, and Awakening in Gnostic in Texts," "Sleep 13-18 Aprile 1966 (Leiden origini dello gnosticismo. Colloquio diMessina.
43NHC II 30:26-27eefKCOTG NCavT?vO?KOHO.A\?ov
44M. . . "The Providence Monologue Waldstein, .," 45 See G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, 46 See CAAG 11, 291, 13 (Cleopatra's discourse) and 98, 4; 102, 15; 215, 12. 47On this, see A. J. Hopkins, op. cit., 107-114 and F. 48 and CAAG II 297, 7. See NHC II, 31:23-24 49 To "medicine of life" (x? (p?puaKov Cleopatra's "medicine of immortality" (x? cp?puecKov xfj? ?Oavaaia?) Clement
of Alexandria.,
Protr. X,
106, 2. On
377. Oxford, 19785, 941b. also e.g. 64, 6; 73, 9-10; Sherwood
Taylor,
74, 6-7;
op. cit., 56-57.
the xfj? ?co^?), we can compare in Ignatius, Ad Ephes. 20, 2 and see Th. this matter, "Zur Schermann,
THE
APOCRYPHON OF JOHN (NHC
II,
1)
451
(p0ti4nlv and appap4y?v, twomost important terms referring to baptism in early Christian literature,50but also the image of baptism as a mystical union5l and the doctrine of the "glorified body," the spiritual, incorruptible body of resurrection.52According
to her teaching, the spiritual body would
already be "activated" with the reception of the "pneumatic" divine water. Moreover,
seed in the
the absence of "Gnostic" elements in Cleopatra's
discourse should be noted, even when she uses the Gnostic lence:the "call to awakening."53When
theme par excel
the soul "awakens" the body and calls
"him" back to life, there is no mention of "remembering" his divine orig ine or "root," as is the case in the Pronoia Hymn. Cleopatra's
concern has
little to do with the deliverance of the soul from the "prison of the body." To
be sure, her teaching deals with the returnof the soul and the spirit to
the dead body, once it has been purified, for these three cannot endure separation and rejoice at their being united again, filledwith light and glory.54And
place"
state, as in the Pronoia Hymn,
der
Erkl?rung
Stelle
epist. Ad
Ephes.
ofAntioch, (Fortress Press, Philadelphia juxkov in CAAG, see e.g. II 32, 22; 47,
218, 22; 313, 17.
1985)
texts, but the glory of
von Antiocheia: (papuxxKov Ignatius 6-19 W. R. Schoedel, and Ignatius (1910)
2 des
k.x.?,.," Theologische Quartalschrift 92
?Oavaaia?
this glory is not a restored original
and most Gnostic
20,
in a new "dwelling
97-98.
For
7; 51, 7; 52, 22;
other occurrences 103, 4;
114, 7; 196,
of the cp?p 11; 214,
13;
50 CAAG II, 296, 14-15: cpcoxi?exai x? Gcojia; 296, 16: x? acouxx x? Tcecpcoxiouivov; 297, 7-8: eocppayiaOn 6 o?ko? Kai ?TcA,rjpco6r|(pcoxo?.On these technical terms, see J. Ysebaert, and 170-175 cit., op. passim. 51The in baptismal context is to be found in Eph 5:25-32 and origin of thismetaphor see the many and references in the theme, 2 Cor 11:2. On examples given M.
Hom?lies pascales (cinq hom?lies in?dites), (Sources Chr?tiennes 187, Paris 1972) "Le bapt?me, and J. Lemari?, La manifestation du Seigneur (Paris 1957) 361-378: the "mystery of the bridal chamber" was the nuptial." For the "Valentinians,"
Aubineau:
264-265,
myst?re name given
to the rite itself, a kind of initiation following baptism. On this, see the lemma in Lexikon f?r Theologie und Kirche, (dritte Auflage, 1993), Band 2, p. 662 Le Mus?on selon Philippe," 87 63; J.-M. Sevrin, "Les noces spirituelles dans l'Evangile in D. in Gnosticism and Later Platonism. 143-193 "Ritual Gnosticism," Turner, (1974), andj. "Brautgemach"
SBL Symposium Series 12 Themes, Figures and Texts (ed. J. D. Turner & R. Majercik), (Atlanta 2000), 83-139 (here 111-118) and the literature cited. 52 1 Cor See esp. Rom 15:42-49; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21. 6:3-9; 8:18-21; 53 to G. MacRae (loc. cit., 506) the oldest attestation of the use of this theme According itmust borrow from "some kind of Gnostic liturgical homily or hymn." ?v xco ocouxxxi.. ./Kai x? y?p tce?uxx nakxv etxppa?vexai 296, 20-22: . . .; 297, 1: Kai xco 5-6: Kai ?v o?kco a?xo 297, Evc?Orjaav tccxvxe? ?v %a?pexai ?aTca?Exai Kai x? tcve?u?:, Kai yEy?vaow ?v. ?yaTcn, x? acoua Kai r\ \\fv%r\ is Eph 54
5:
CAAG
14 and II,
REGINE
452
the resurrected body, a glory
CHARRON
as the text specifies
that the body never
possessedbefore.55 6. The Sitz im Leben of the two texts Cleopatra's
exposition of the "mystery" of regeneration is received with rev
erence, as shown by the enthusiastic exclamation gaKapta yap I)R(cp%?i EG a
you"), which R. Reitzenstein was the Gospel
of Luke
of the philosophers:
("Blessed is thewomb 6caXaxVKOLXt1a
that bore
the first to understand as an allusion to
(11, 27).56 In fact, since he was also the firstcommen
tator of this alchemical writing, it is appropriate to refer to him in this con text: "I know of no text thatwould have a closer lexical affinitywith the mystical passages in Paul than these parabolic discourses of a text of which I have given a few examples here, a textwhich unfortunately is in substance incomprehensible tome, but which certainly is purely pagan."57 One not but admit with him that Cleopatra's or at least undeniably
can
vocabulary
is thoroughly Pauline,
reminiscent of the Pauline
baptismal motifs and
terminology.58 For my part, I accept neither that this text is "incomprehensible," that it is "purely pagan" of
in character. Cleopatra
this "mystery" comes
Comarius,59 and
doesn't appear elsewhere in the alchemical matic figure.6'How
claims that her knowledge
from studying with her master
from God.60 This master
nor
and
father
in "the mystical philosophy" literature and remains an enig
are we to explain then the numerous Pauline motifs in
55
CAAG II, 297, 14-15: 0??av ?o^av x? 7ipiv. See TcvEDjiaxncriv, f^v o?k eve?ugkovxo also 298, 16-17: ev?ugodow ?o?av ?yvcoaxov. 56 . . CAAG II, 298, 12. See R. Reitzenstein, "Zur Geschichte .," 20. 57 R. Reitzenstein, Hellenistic Mystery-Religions. Their Basic Ideas and Significance, Pittsburgh, transi, by J. E. Steely, from Die Hellenistischen Mysterienreligionen. Mach Ihren 1978, 399-400, 1966 (reprint from 1927), 315. Grundgedanken und Wirkungen, Darmstadt, 58 the call to awakening; the reception Some of which are: darkness before baptism; a of the seal of the spirit and the light; dying and regeneration; mortal body becoming or glorious, resurrected body; mystery of the 'union' with Christ; the wearing donning of Christ;
the ressurected
a body as dwelling-place
(cf.Rom
6:2-14;
8:9-15,
23;
13:11;
1Cor
4:1; 15:35-53;2 Cor 1:22; 3:18; 5:1-10; Eph 1:13;4:30; 5:8-14, 23-32 Phil 3:21Heb 6:4; 10:32). 59 We find Komerios in the oldest and 60 Her God being the Creator God: ?nuio'upyo?); 298, 23 ek xo?> ?r|uio\)pyo\) 61 Cf. CAAG II, 290, 11-15: sitting on the four elements.
best manuscript (M). cf. CAAG II 298, 8 ek 0eou; Kai ?eotcoxoi) xcov ?rc?vxcov. a throne, he is teaching
about
II, 296,
11 ek xou
the "monad"
and
THE
APOCRFPHON OF JOHN (NHC
the discourse of Cleopatra? Gentile-Christian, Paul
Could
II,
1)
the author be a Jewish-Christian, or a
a learned Egyptian woman
adhering to the teaching of
(cf.Eph 3:1-9) and maybe newly baptised?62While
bility, a simpler explanation
453
is at hand. Cleopatra
this is one possi
appears in this text not
only to be an accomplished alchemist, but also an eloquent teacher. In her exposition of the "mystery" of regeneration, she therefore expresses herself in a language acceptable
to her audience, and the strong cluster of Pauline
elements thatwe find here must indicate the presence of Christians among her listeners.Her
successful demonstration of how a mere metallic "body"
can be regenerated and appear as "glorified" with themeans of water, fire and spirit, is certainly playing up to Christian sensibilities. And no doubt, those listenerswho believe in the doctrine of the resurrection of the human body announced by the "Gospel" would be pleased by her discourse and would confidently come back to hear her again. It is of crucial importance to note thatCleopatra's bles the theories and practices attested in what Maria
the Jewess,63 the most famous Alexandrian
entire doctrine resem
remains of the works of alchemist, who presum
ably lived in the firstcentury. Consequently, we must infer that Cleopatra had close contacts with members of theAlexandrian Jewish milieu, sharing philosophical and esoteric speculations with outsiders, including disciples of Hermes
like her.64As regards the Pronoia Hymn, scholars also point to the
late Hellenistic Jewish Wisdom Moreover,
speculations as the original Sitz im Leben.65
in both texts, themotifs of the call toawakening,the raisingup and
water appears to be more than literary cliches, sug the sealingwith enlightening gesting an actual rite, a baptism or a kind of initiation.66The
alchemical
62 There in the text to her being the 'queen' Cleopatra; is no mention pace . . 398, and Reitzeinstein, Hellenistic Mystery-Religions. I, 240. Festugi?re, RHT 63On see: F. Sherwood "The Origins of Greek the school of Maria, Taylor, "Maria Ambix 1 (1937) 39-42; R. Patai, the Jewess: Founding Mother of Alchemy," Alchemy," Ambix 29, 3 (1982) 177-187. 64A paper will consider subsequent
the question of the link between the "wise" a (cf. CAAG II, 290, 7 and 10) and Maria, Cleopatra question which cannot be addressed in the limits of the present paper. 65 Cf. Path . . .," 342, n. 11: "Jewish wisdom "The Gnostic Threefold J. D. Turner, . . ." and literature forms the pre-gnostic prototype for the descent motif of Apocryjn
text rooted in is a non-Christian (n. 37) 371: "The Providence Monologue recasts in wisdom which it Gnostic fashion." Hellenistic-Jewish speculations recognizably 66 For see G. MacRae, loc. cit., 502: "The most satisfactory expla the Pronoia Hymn, nation seems to me to be that it is a liturgical fragment probably recited at a ceremony or hymn;" in the manner of initiation much of a Christian baptismal homily
M. Waldstein
REiGINE
454
background,
CHARRON
then,may also explain "the five seals," an enigmatic expres
sion used by the so-called Sethians in a liturgical context.67The gold-mak ing process, described previously, is presented by Cleopatra,
and still later
by Zosimos, as a "five-step" process.68 Even if the alchemical writings do not offer a word forword match
for the expression "mystery of the five seals"
found in the Sethian literature, a link between the two groups is nonethe less conceivable. We
have to consider the followings: 1) the alchemists per
form a five-step "mystery;" 2) the last and fifh operation achievement
is the signifier of
enlightenment and immortality ultimately being conferred,
their gold being "sealed," a kind of "baptised gold;"69 3) thefifthoperation is achieved by means of the thrice distilled "divine water," produced by three successive
operations
in which
waters
"descend"
and
vapours
in the apparatus.70 It isworth noting that a similar "pattern" of
"ascend"
salvation in the rituals of the two groups exists, i.e., the "redeemer" figure descends and ascends
threetimes and there are five sealings or operations.
The Hymn of Pronoia
then, in its current state, seems to have circulated in
a community related to theHermetic milieu. This would not be surprising, considering the presence of original Hermetic material
in the Nag Ham
madi Codex VI and the presence, at the end of the third century C.E., of an active community of alchemists in this area.7' loe. cit., 386: "Behind this mythical ritual, in which Providence herself par raises and seals the paradigmatic stands an actual listener, there probably adigmatically rite" and 389: "a liturgical fragment consisting of a call of awakening and its sacramen . . ." See also sur la sacra Le tal consummation. Sevrin: dossier s?thien. ?tudes J.-M. baptismal
M. Waldstein,
mentaire gnostique, Biblioth?que
copte de Nag Hammadi,
Section
??tudes?
2 (Qu?bec
1986)
35-37. 67On
this practice, see in particular J.-M. Sevrin, "Le dossier baptismal s?thien . . .," loc. cit., (n. 51), 87-97, and A. H. B. Logan, "The 70-75, 114-15; John D. Turner, Initiation Reconsidered," Vigiliae Christianae 51 (1997) Mystery of the Five Seals: Gnostic loc. cit., 502. 188-206. See also G. MacRae, 68 see Mertens, See e.g. CAAG II, 291, 19-20 (Cleopatra); II, 113, 5-6 (Zosimos), 31-37,
loc. cit., 41-42; II, 220, 4-5. 69 Cf. Zosimos (CAAG II, 216, 2: ?v xco ?aTcxo|jivcp %puacp.). Cleopatra's sealing (supra, to the fifth operation. The number "five" in this context may also refer p. 10) corresponds to the state of perfect "oneness" achieved by the transformation of each of the four ele ments and
into a higher
air
(= spirit).
to fire (= gold and light), through water (= blackness) occurs tradition too a five-step process (see Theo rerummathematicarum 14, 18-16, 2 Hiller).
state: from earth In
the Platonic
Smyrnaeus, Expositio 70 CAAG 11, 142, 12-14 (Mertens, op. cit., 31-32; Supra, pp. 12-13 and 16; cf. Zosimos: 204-205, n. 7-9); CAAG II, 113, 6-7 (Mertens, 41-42). 71 see G. Fowden, On this community near Nag Hammadi, op. cit. (supra, n. 7), 170-174;
THE
APOCRFPHON OF JOHN (NHC
II,
1)
455
Conclusion In conclusion, it seems evident that the question of the relationship between alchemical writings and Gnosticism
the Graeco-Egyptian revisited. The
considerable
Alchemists and the Gnostics were
number have
of
deserves to be
items that both
in common makes
groups-the
it clear that they
in close contact with each other, and that borrowing was mutual the two groups. F. M.
between
Valentinianism,
noted
M.
Sagnard,
in his seminal study on
the use by the Valentinians
of many
technical,
alchemical terms.72But we know also from thewritings of Irenaeus and Ps. Hippolytus
that the Gnostics
towhom
they referred as "Valentinians" and
"Sethians" were interested in chemical experiments, and in the art of sepa clear reference to the practice of alchemy.73
rating bronze from gold-a No doubt, the alchemical
literature and the alchemical context may prove
the Apocryphon of John offers a good of the example and of the Gnostics of Nag Hammadi: Zosimos to the mythological account archons of his works of jealous
202-203.
Another
passage
contacts
between
the alchemists
Panopolis
refers in one
of
and enslaving Ph?s, the primordial "emprisonning" spiritual Human, by clothing him from the four elements. His exposition of the with the material body of Adam, made of myth, which he knows from the books of the Jews and from the "Sacred Books" Hermes,
to what we find in the Apocryphon ofJohn (cf.NHC II, 19: 32-20:9; "On the Letter Omega," op. cit. (n. 2), ? 8-11, in H. M.Jackson, to Jackson op. cit., 5-6. According (40, n. 4; 49, n. 50), the source a Gnostic Jewish-Christian be the lost Apocalypse of Nikotheos, (?),
is very close
21:4-13). See Zosimos, 28-30 and M. Mertens, of Zosimos mentioned
could
by Porphyry
in his Life ofPlotinus, 16. On
this, see also M.
Mertens,
op. cit.,
55-57. 72La
Gnose valentinienne et le t?moignagede Saint Ir?n?e (Paris 1947) 243-44 and 614. See also H. J. Sheppard, and Alchemy" "Gnosticism could go further and (n. 6), 93-94. One for ex. the following two passages of Cleopatra's discourse, CAAG II, 294, 18 compare 19: 18o\) y?p x? 7tA,r|pco[a,axfj? xExvn? x v gd?euxOevxcov vuuxp?oi) xe Kai v?uxpric Kai Kai tcveujiocti, Kai yEvouivcov ev. and 297, 21-22: Kai EXE^Ei?Ori r\ e?kwv goouxxxi Kai \\fx>%\\ Theodotos ?yEVOVxo ev, with the most important axiom attributed to the Valentinian by of Alex. (Exc. Theod. 32, 1 and Strom. IV, 13, 90, 2): "As the Unity (?voxnxo?) in the Pleroma, each of the aeons has its own pleroma (nXr\p(?\ia), being a cou is a pleroma, (xf|V Gi)?i)yiav). Everything coming from a couple everything coming
Clement resides
ple from only one,
is an image" (?Ga ek GuCuyiac 7tpo?p%?xai, 7c^npco(xax? egxiv, ?oa ?? arco to Sagnard himself could be ev?c, e?kove?.) According (op. cit. 138 and 358), Valentinus the author of this doctrine. 73On loc. cit., 21-23 with a list of examples this, see C. A. Wilson, (e.g. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 1, 21, 3-5; Ps.-Hippolytus, Ref. Omn. Haer. 5, 21, 1-5).
REGINE
456
CHARRON
useful in elucidating certain obscure passages
in theNag Hammadi
Library,
thereby contributing to a better understanding of its esoteric aspects.74 Faculte de Theologie
et de sciences religieuses,
Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada,
74 See
GIK
now R.
Significance
7P4
Charron
&
of a Puzzling Motif
Mus?on 114 (2001) 41-50.
L.
Painchaud, in the Coptic
'"God Gospel
is a dyer'. The Background and to Philip (CG II, 5)," Le According
REVIEWS
James N. Rhodes,
The Epistle of Barnabas and theDeuteronomicTradition.
Polemics,Paraenesis, and theLegacy of theGolden-Calf Incident(WUNT Tubingen: Mohr
James N. Rhodes'
II. 188),
261+ xii S., ? 54.
Siebeck 2004, ISBN 3-16-1483377-4,
im Jahr 2003 an der Catholic University of America
angenommene Dissertationnimmtdie heilsgeschichtliche Auslegungvon Ex 32, der Erzahlung
vom "Goldenen Kalb"
im Barnabasbrief
als Aus
gangspunkt. Stellen wie Barn. 4,6-8 oder 14,1-4 lieB3endaran denken, dass der Autor des Barnabasbriefes
(im Folgenden: Barnabas)
davon ausgehe,
dass Israel seinen Status als Bundesvolk bereits am Sinai fur immer verloren habe. Von daher sei immerwieder gefolgertworden, dass der Barnabasbrief
kein heilsgeschichtliches Konzept kenne.Fur Rhodes sprechenmehrere Punkte gegen diese Annahme: de spateren Geschichte
die Tatsache, dass Barnabas
Lesung verschiedener Passagen Barnabas
auch Autoritaten
Israels zitiert, seine allegorische bzw. typologische des Alten Testaments, die Tatsache,
dass
offensichtlich eine Israel-Mission kennt, sowie seine Aussage, dass
erst die Zuriickweisung Jesu die Sunden
Israels vollstandig gemacht habe.
All diese Punkte sprachen dafur, dass das Verhaltnis
zwischen Gott und
Israel auch nach dem Ereignis um das "Goldene Kalb" lichen Versagens
auf Seiten Israels in gewisser Weise
trotz kontinuier
intakt geblieben sei.
In der Forschungsgeschichte seien ciese Probleme haufigmit der Inkonsistenz des Autors
oder auch
nebeneinander
seiner editorischen Aktivitat, die Unvereinbares
stehen gelassen habe, erkldartworden. Rhodes
lehnt diese
Antwort genauso ab wie die Losung, dass der Autor einfach eine zeitlose christliche Bedeutung des Alten Testaments voraussetze. Als nicht erklarbar empfindet er den Punkt, dass an eine verworfene Nation prophetische Ermahnungen Moglichkeit
ergingen. Von
daher schlagt Rhodes
in Betracht zu ziehen, dass die Aussagen
Verlust des Bundesstatus Ubertreibungen
noch weitere vor, die
des Autors zu Israels
am Sinai als bewusste und provokativ gemeinte
aufzufassen seien. Barnabas
sei nicht daran interessiert ge
wesen, die Geschichte des Bundesvolkes Israel vollig abzuleugnen. Vielmehr sei es ihm darum gegangen, sie als ein gescheitertes Kapitel
von Heilsge
schichte darzustellen. Der Abfall des Volks am Sinai und die Zuruckweisung ? KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
59, 457-459 IigiliaeChristianae
REVIEWS
458
was sich im ersten
Jesu bildeten die Pole dieses gescheiterten Verhaltnisses sich fur Barnabas
Ereignis angekundigt habe, habe
im zweiten endgultig
entschieden. Im Hinblick auf das Geschichtsbild des Barnabasbriefs
ergebe
sich damit Folgendes: "Barnabas seems to presuppose a radicalized Christian version of theDeuteronomistic
view of history.Writing after the destruction
of the second temple, Barnabas failure to live up
to God's
sees Israel's legacy indelibly marked by a
covenant. This
explicit reference to the rejection of God's brought Israel's sins to fullmeasure.
view Son
This
is Christianized
by its
as the final straw that
'Christian Deuteronomism'
is
further radicalized by the conclusion that the nation's failure has ultimately brought about itsabandonment" zwar seine Versprechen
(S. 31). Gott habe in der Sicht des Barnabas
an die Patriarchen gehalten, erst ein neues Volk
aber habe von ihnen profitiert; furBarnabas ursprungliche Versagen
habe Israel dagegen nie das
am Sinai uberwunden.
konne aufgrund der Kontinuitat der Versprechen
Trotz
dieser Negativitat
an die Patriarchen, wegen
des andauernden Zeugnisses der Propheten wie auch der weiter gehenden Offenbarungen
an Israel von einer "heilsgeschichtlichen Vorstellung"
Barnabasbriefes gesprochen werden. Damit Kapitel Bandes Das
die entscheidenden Thesen
des
hat der Autor bereits im ersten
seiner Arbeit vorgelegt -
im Rest des
bearbeitet er einzelne Aspekte dieser Gedanken. auf3erst ausfuhrliche Kapitel
Zerstorung des Tempels
2 beschaftigt sich mit der Rolle
in der Argumentation
Rhodes naturlich zugeben, dass dieses Thema
des Barnabas.
Dabei
der muss
keineswegs das gesamte Werk
von Anfang bis zum Schluss dominiert. In einem Durchgang
durch die
Kapitel
1-17 aber arbeitet er das doch deutliche Interesse des Barnabas
Tempel
und Opferkult heraus. In seiner Interpretation von Barn.
kommt Rhodes
zu dem plausiblen
den) Schluss, dass hier auf Hadrians
(m.E. aber nicht unbedingt zwingen Beschluss,
tempel zu errichten, angespielt sei: Die
in Jerusalem einen Jupiter
Entstehung des Barnabasbriefes
sei damit kurz nach der gescheiterten Bar-Kochba-Revolte Kapitel
an
16,3-4
3 stellt die Frage, ob sich der Barnabasbrief
anzusetzen.
anhand von Struktur,
Stil und Sprache wie auch in seiner Kritik an Israel als "christlich deutero nomistisches Schreiben" qualifizieren lasse - Rhodes bestatigt und wiederholt hier erneut seine bereits eingangs vorgetragenen Thesen. Das
Argumen
tationsgebaude scheint nun zu stehen, in zwei weiteren Kapiteln
aber sucht
Rhodes
in literarischen Parallelen der Zeit seine Gedanken
noch weiter zu
stutzen. Er trennt dabei zwischen juidischen (Ps-Philo, LAB; 4Esra; 2Bar) und christlichen Texten das Matthausevangelium;
2,14-16; die Stephanusrede Apg 7,2-53; 5Esra) - sicherlich zu Recht, da "deuterono
(IThess
REVIEWS
459
mistische" Argumentationsstrukturen aus einer Innenperspektive sich doch sehr von denen unterscheiden, die aus einer AuBenperspektive vorgenommen werden. Allerdings steilt sich die Frage, ob man hier nicht sehr viel knapper argumentieren und vielleicht auf die Beantwortung mancher Einleitungsfrage hatte verzichten konnen, als dies hier geschieht. Am Ende zeigen sich natur lichmanche Parallelen, die das Profil des Barnabasbriefes noch starker her vortreten lassen; letztlich ist aber nur die Lebendigkeit und Differenziertheit
moglicher"deuteronomistischer Tradition(en)"in fruhjudischer und -christ licher Literatur gezeigt. Kapitel
6 bietet eine erneute Zusammenfassung der
bereits bekannten Ergebnisse. Etwas ungewohnlich
ist sicherlich, dass hier
noch einmal eine Auseinandersetzung mit wichtigen alteren Arbeiten zum Thema Mehr
(J.Weiss; J.A. Robinson, R. Kraft, P. Prigent, A. Oepke)
erfolgt.
als 50 Seiten Bibliographie und Index schlieB3enden Band ab.
Was
bleibt als Fazit? Die
lenWiederholungen
etwas kreisende Argumentation mit ihren vie
stellt den Leser vor die Frage, ob man nicht manches
noch deutlich strafferhatte darstellen konnen. Manches
Mal
konnte ich
mich (vielleichtauch wegen des Aufbaus der Arbeit) nicht ganz des Eindrucks erwehren, dass die These Fragen
der Arbeit von Anfang an feststand und alles
sich nur noch auf ihre Bestatigung
entwickelt eine in vielen Punkten plausible Gedanken
des Barnabasbriefs,
richtete. Trotzdem:
Rhodes
Interpretation entscheidender
seine Exegesen
sind immer hart am Text
orientiert und berucksichtigen regelmaBig mit kluger Argumentation
die
vielfaltigen Fragen der Uberlieferung, die den Interpreten ja vor somanches Problem
ich weiterhin zogern, von einem heils
stellen. Allerdings wurde
zu sprechen, der Begriff "Heilsgeschichte" muss dann doch in einem sehr weiten Sinne gebraucht
geschichtlichen
Konzept
des Barnabasbriefs
werden. Auch der Begriff eines "christlichen Deuteronomismus"
erscheint
mir als durchaus problematisch. In den angesprochenen Texten mag lich in unterschiedlicher Weise sein, die als "deuteronomistisch" net werden konnen. Macht
sicher
an Argumentationsstrukturen angeknupft (wiederum im weitesten Sinne) bezeich
aber nicht schon der Wechsel
von der judi
schen Innenperspektive zur (triumphierenden) christlichenAuBenperspektive auf die nun als endgultig erachtete Zerstorung des Tempels liche Anderung
der Argumentation
eine so deut
aus, dass nun eigentlich etwas ganz
Neues vorliegt? Radboud
Universiteit, Afijmegen
TOBIAS NIcKLAs
[email protected] REVIEWS
460
Michael
J. Hollerich, Eusebius of Caesarea's Commentary on Isaiah. Christian
The Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford Exegesis in theAge of Constantine, University Press, Oxford
1999, 230 pp., ISBN 0-19-826368-6,
Hollerich devotes his study to Eusebius of Caesarea's
Michael
(
40.00.
Commentay
on Isaiah, the oldest extant exegetical work on Isaiah, written around time of the Council
of Nicaea
the
(325-328). Eusebius' work deals mainly with
the notion of "godly polity" which
is central to Eusebius'
commentary, as
well as with Christianity's roots in Judaism. H.'s
book is undeniably an important monograph,
not only because
the
Commentagyon Isaiah had not previously been given close scrutiny, but also because Eusebius' work as a commentator has been neglected or even scorned by modern
scholarship. There
are several possible reasons for this
neglect. First, no translation of the Commentagyon Isaiah exists, which has probably discouraged many scholars from studying the text.Second, Eusebius' work as an historian, or rather, as a collector of excerpts, and as a pan egyrist, as H.
explains, has monopolized
the attention of scholars. Third,
theology and exegesis have often been considered
Eusebius'
dependent on Origen, a thesis thatH.
as slavishly
disproves. Therefore, this is in sev
eral respects a pioneering work, one that familiarizes us with Eusebius an exegete. H.'s
as
study has other merits as well. Before considering them,
let us first turn to the content of his study. The Eusebius
introduction (1-18) is a useful account of modern and offers a clear presentation of H.'s
lyzes the interpretive techniques used by Eusebius also places
scholarship on
purposes. He mainly ana in his commentary. He
the commentary in the context of Eusebius'
thought and work
as a whole and situates it in the political and religious context of the period. The
chapter ends with an assessment of the edition of the Commentagyon in the GCS-series.
Isaiah by J. Ziegler
In the second chapter (19-66) H.
examines the questions of the date and
He reviews the interpretationof Isaiah by Eusebius' purpose of the Commentagy. predecessors and Eusebius' interpretation of Isaiah in his works other than the Commentagy. H. also discusses the theological ideas of thiswork. In Ch. III (67-102) H. deals with Eusebius' interpretivemethods, notably by focusing on Eusebius' H.
use of the expressions kata lexinand kata dianoian.
aims to show the importance of the quest for an historical and literal
meaning of the text "in the framework ... of the history of the godly polity (that is theChurch) in the light of prophecy" method
(94). He
also situates Eusebius'
in early Christian exegesis.
C KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
VigiliaeChrastianae 59, 460-462
REVIEWS In Ch.
IV, H.
to Eusebius
461
thoroughly examines the so-called godly polity according
and its political context by analyzing closely the words politeia
and politeuma.Both terms are used by Eusebius H.
to refer to the godly polity.
effectivelyanalyzes their use in theGraeco-Roman
world, in theNT,
world, in the Jewish
in the Greek Christian world, in Eusebius' writings, and
most specifically in the Proof of theGospel and the Commentagyon Isaiah. Ch. V (131-164) is concerned with Eusebius' view of Judaism and how Judaism relates, in his eyes, to Christianity. Finally, Ch. VI
(165-204)
tackles the place of the church in Eusebius'
Commentay, that is, its status as the new godly polity. After general con siderations on this topic, H.
studies themanner
in which
the church and
the heavenly Jerusalem are articulated in the Commentagy. He also delves into the question of the status of the clergy, which is given a prominent place. He
reviews the presentation of the Roman
and investigates Eusebius'
Empire within the polity
eschatology.
H.'s work on Eusebius' Commentayon Isaiah is important inmany respects, not only because he points out elements in the commentary that oppose the usual portrayal of Eusebius, but also because
he finds other features
that confirm previous interpretations. For instance, whereas Caesarea's
the bishop of
exegesis is usually considered fully dependent on Origen's, H.
convincingly proves
that Eusebius
displayed some originality, notably in
commenting on parts of Isaiah which had not been dealt with by Origen (See Ch. Ruhbach's
III). However,
in Ch. VI, H. points out that his study confirms
thesis according towhich the ecclesiastical orientation is a dom
inant theme in Eusebius.' Likewise, H.
offers an important discussion of Eusebius'
interpretive
methods and demonstrates that, despite his admiration for and the influence of Origen, Eusebius
cannot be truly considered part of the Alexandrian
school from an interpretivepoint of view (nor is he part of theAntiochene school to come). H.'s
book deserves our full attention because
Eusebius'
it provides a fresh look at
view of Judaism and its relation to Christianity.2 H. makes
important point when he stresses that in the CommentayEusebius
1G. Rubach,
'Die politische
Theologie
des Eusebs
von Caesarea',
an
finds a
in: Rubach
(ed.),
Die K-irche derKonstantinischen angesichts Wende,Darmstadt 1976, 236-258. 2The book was published at the same timeas J. Ulrich, Euseb unddieJuden,Studien desEusebiusvonCaesarea(Patristische zurRolle derJudeninderTheologie Texte und Studien 49), Berlin 1999.
REVIEWS
462
particularly suitable strategyby including pre-Christian Judaism in the godly polity (Ch. V).
In thisway, he was able to avoid fighting the Jews for a
claim to the richness of the book of Isaiah. According
to the same rea
soning, the Christians had not stolen the Jewish scriptures, since biblical Judaism once belonged
to the godly polity now embodied
Although one may argue thatH.'s
in the Church.
bibliography is not always up-to-date
(for instance, he does not mention M.
Simonetti, 'Esegesi e ideologia nel
commento a Isaia di Eusebio', Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 19, 1983, 3-44) or that a general conclusion would have been desirable, it is definitely a much needed
study.
H.'s monograph
provides the reader with important insights into a too
often overlooked part of thewritings of the 'father of the Church History'. This
study illuminates both Eusebius'
work as an exegete, and his per
ception and articulation of Judaism and Christianity. Moreover, new light on the bishop's political ideas, which have been
it sheds
so farmainly
studied from the perspective of the Constantinian writings. Any scholar in Patristics and Late Antiquity will find something of interest in this engag ing book.
Belgian-American EducationalFoundationFellow,
SABRINA INOWLOCKI
Harvard Divinity School,
[email protected] Andrew James Carriker, The Libragy of Eusebius of Caesarea, Supplements Brill, Leiden 2003, 358 pp., ISSN 0920
to Vigiliae Christianae LXVII,
623X, ISBN 90-04-13132-9. With
his monograph
on the Library of Eusebius
of Caesarea,
Andrew
J. Carriker
fills an important gap in scholarly literature. Indeed, scholars
have been
intrigued for decades with the contents of the library, which
seems to have been rich not only in biblical and Christian
literature but
also in secular philosophical
library stood
and historical works. Eusebius'
apparently at the crossroads of history, philology, philosophy and theology. In his firstchapter C.
includes a history of the library from its origins
as Origen's private library, through its institutionaldevelopment at Caesarea, to its gradual dispersion following theArab
conquest (1-29). He
also deals
with the location and the size of the library (30-36).
C KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
VigiliaeChristianae 59, 462-465
REVIEWS
The
463
second chapter (37-74) is a discussion of Eusebius'
use of sources,
beginning with an account of his life and works, followed by an analysis of his first-handuse of sources, and the sources outside Caesarea, towhich he might have had recourse. The
largest part of the book, Chapters
III-VIII
(75-298), consists of a
careful and detailed analysis of the contents of the library. C. bases him self primarily on theworks that Eusebius
cites or discusses in his Praeparatio
evangelica,Historia ecclesiasticaand Chronicon.C.'s a catalogue,
analysis takes the form of
in which authors are classified in each chapter in alphabeti
cal order. Ch.
III (75-130) deals with the philosophical works, including
sections on the Presocratics, "other authors", and philosophical works used by Origen Ch.
thatmay have been available
in the library in Eusebius'
IV (131-138) deals with poetry and oratory; Ch. V
torical works; Ch. VI with Christian
time.
(139-154) with his
(155-178) with Jewish literature; Ch. VII
(179-278)
literature and documents; and, finally,Ch. VIII
(279-298)
examines contemporary documents. It is divided into two groups: first,the official documents
from the Historia ecclesiastica,and second, the materials
used in the Vita Constantini. At the end of his book (Ch. IX, 299-316), C. provides the reader with a most useful list, inwhich he summarizes the contents of Eusebius' This
library.
summary follows the arrangement of the chapters: philosophers, his
torians etc. are also displayed in an alphabetical order. He a final synthesis of what Eusebius'
then supplies
the contents of the library teaches us regarding
literary knowledge, distinguishing the materials
that the bishop
studied in his early education (e.g. poetry, rhetoric) from those he pos sessed and read in his Caesarean library. The main quality of this book is its usefulness for checking authors and works in the library of Caesarea.
As a tool, it is user-friendly and com
plete. Interestingly, the book is, as itwere, a library in itself,where order and clarity reign. Another
important quality of C.'s work
once and for all, Eusebius
lies in the fact that he frees,
from his image of being a mere compiler depen
dent on second-hand sources. This is not only made C.'s
insightful critique of Grant's
and Gustafsson's
clear in Ch. II through assumptions but also
throughout the book (see especially the passage on Plato). Particularly useful is his discussion of the expression logos (kat)echei.This expression is used on many been
occasions
in the Historia ecclesiasticaand has
interpreted since the beginning of the 20th century as referring to
REVIEWS
464
written documents. C., however, is able to show that this long-held assump tion is incorrect. His new view of the expression is important for any his torian working with material
from the Historia. book is helpful in explaining Eusebius'
form, C.'s
its catalogue
Despite
works and intellectual environment. It not only sheds light on Eusebius' writings but also helps the reader to understand the fate of a great num ber of other works; how books fared from their redaction in the Classical world
to their reception in the Christian world, and
in the thought of
in particular. This makes C.'s work an invaluable tool not only
Eusebius
for scholars focusing on Christianity and Patristics but also for scholars in Classics
and Ancient History.
The methodology
used by the author seems, on the whole,
consistent
and appropriate: C. has not only carefully analyzed all the citations in and references to works in Eusebius' needed,
in Eusebius'
of Origen andJerome. The manuscripts
Praeparatio,Historia, Chronicon,and, when
other writings, but he has also investigated the works subscriptions found in late antique and medieval
that can be traced back to Caesarea
are also studied in order
to give a reconstruction of the library as complete as possible. Obviously, as C. points out (p. 45), the difficulty is to decide whether a book has been used first-handor not. Moreover, C.'s because
the fact that Eusebius
task ismade
even more difficult
cites a text does not mean
that he possessed
it; likewise, the fact that he does not cite a text does not mean that he did not possess it. From this point of view, I wonder ifC. does not include some works mentioned
in Eusebius'
library too easily: that is, whenever
in his writings. Perhaps
polemic agenda
the weight of Eusebius'
is not sufficiently taken into consideration when
to deciding what was
in the library. For instance, David
a work
is
apologetic and Runia
it comes has sug
gested that Eusebius might have conflated his list of Philonic works with titles of books he did not possess
in order to increase the prestige and
authority of thisJewish author. But this suggestion is not taken into account by C. Likewise, one should bear in mind
that Eusebius' writings are not
library catalogues but historical and apologetic works, aiming to show (at least as far as the Praeparatio is concerned)
that Christianity is not a blind
but a sophisticated religion or philosophy of ancient faith adopted by illiterati descent. In other words,
the more
references, the better.
It also seems regrettable that C. does not discuss more
extensively the
expressions eis hemas eleuthenor eis gnosin eleuthen,which are used on many occasions
in theHE with regards to books. The
question should be posed
REVIEWS whether
the same meaning
they have
465
and really indicate that Eusebius
the book.
actually possessed
As for the bibliography: although it is extensive and complete, the author would
have benefited from reading E. Carotenuto,
Tradizione e innovazione
nellaHistoria Ecclesiastica di Eusebius di Cesarea, Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici (ilMulino),
Naples,
discusses the issue of the
2001. Likewise, C.
of the Olson's recenttreatment withoutmentioning Flavianum Testimonium question, which
is the author of the TEF
supports the view that Eusebius
'Eusebius and the Testimonium
(K.A. Olson,
Flavianum',
CBQ61,
1999,
305-322). Finally, one also regrets the absence of A. van den Hoek, and Origen: a Descriptive Catalogue
'Philo
of Their Relationship', SPhA 12, 2000,
44-121, which may have been useful with regard to Philo as well as that ofJ.-Cl. Fredouille, Ph. Hoffmann, P. Petitmengin, M.-O. S. Deleani,
et
Goulet-Caze,
antiques,Actes du col Titres et articulationsdu textedans les ieuvres
de Chantilly 13-15 dcembre 1994, Paris 1997, which could loque international have been used in order to deal with the issues of titles, table of contents, and citations in Antiquity that are ignored by C. Despite
these minor
flaws, C.'s
graph that will become
book
is definitely an important mono
a reference for any scholar working on ancient
literature. INOWLOCKI SABRINA
EducationalFoundationFellow Belgian-American Harvard Divinity School,
[email protected] J.G. Cook,
of theOld Testament in Greco-RomanPaganism The Interpretation
(Studien und Texte Siebeck 2004, XIV
23), Tubingen, Mohr
zu Antike und Christentum + 399 pp., ISBN 3-16-148474-6,
E 64,-.
of the published his book The Interpretation New Testament in Greco-RomanPaganism (as vol. 3 in the same series STAC), In 2000 John Granger Cook
a very valuable
introduction to and survey of the criticisms leveled against
the Christian part of the Bible by the early anti-Christian polemicists. In thatwork, he already occasionally pointed to both similaritiesand differences between what
the opponents of the early Christians said about
the New
Testament on the one hand and their criticisms of the Old Testament the other. In this second book, however, the OT
? KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
on
as dealt with by these
VigiliaeChristianae 59, 465-467
REVIEWS
466
polemicists is the sole focus of his investigation. The books
structure of the two
is very similar, but there are dissimilarities as well. The
backbone
and pzece de resastance of both books is formed by three large chapters on Celsus, Porphyry, and Julian the Apostate. Differences are, interalia, that in the firstbook there is a separate chapter (and rightly so) on the unnamed opponent inMacarius Magnes'
Apokritikos,of which we now have an excel
lent new edition by R. Goulet
(see my review in VC 58 (2004) 332-341),
but such a chapter is lacking in the second book, without a reason being stated, but undoubtedly because Macarius' than upon
the NT
the OT.
Even
focuses more
opponent
upon
so, he had deserved somewhat more
attention. Further, unlike in the firstbook, in the new one C. could include a long introductory chapter on possible traces of the Septuagint's reception in pre-Christianpagan writings, fromHecataeus and the Hermetica.
ofAbdera down toNumenius
It is a pity that in the section on Tacitus, C. did not
vomJudentum (Stuttgart (couldnot yet?)use R.S. Bloch,AntikeVorstellungen 2002) on this author's 'Judenexkurs', and that in the discussion of themag ical papyri he overlooked Morton Elements
in theMagical
Papyri'
Smith's
seminal paper
'The Jewish
in his Studies in theCult of rahweh, vol. 2
(Leiden 1996) 242-255. The
three chapters on Celsus, Porphyry, andJulian,
100 pages, offer an excellent and detailed
each of them some
treatment of their critique of
the OT. Dozens of topics pass review: the philosophical absurdity of the creation account, the stupidity of the Paradise story, the problematic nature of the Flood, objectionable
the irrationality of many of the biblical view of a god who
emotions such as wrath, etcetera. Extensive coverage given to Porphyry's critical and Daniel
laws, the morally
favours a specific nation (Israel) or has (some 60 pages)
intelligent commentary
is
to the book of
that has partly survived due toJerome's attempt to refutePorphyry's
views. C.
places most of the topics discussed clearly into the context of
ancient philosophical debates. He
also shows the differences in the extent
of the three opponents' knowledge of the biblical text,with an ascending line from the relatively distant acquaintance
in Celsus'
knowledge of Julian. Another difference between Celsus
has a more
case to the intimate
the three critics is that
negative stance over against Judaism
than Porphyry
and Julian, but that for the latter two the attack on Christianity is so in extricably intertwinedwith that on the LXX the Jewish Bible. These
that they, too, heavily criticize
polemicists' attack on the LXX
was an attack on
the foundations of Christianity (it is revealing that in some of his early writings, when Porphyry was not yet interested in attacking Christianity,
REVIEWS
he is much more
467
positive in several references to the LXX).
somewhat staccato style of writing which does not always make follow his argument. Sometimes
C.
has a
it easy to
there are signs of haste, e.g., when
at
p. 15 a typo (nomois instead of nomos) induces him to say that Alexander Polyhistor called the Pentateuch
'Laws' (instead of 'the Law'),
and when
he says that Celsus does not make a point of the expression 'sons of God' in Gen.
6:2 but categorizes the beings concerned as 'angels' (91), where
he overlooks that,whereas editions of the LXX,
'sons of God'
iswhat one finds in all modern
the majority of the mss. have the reading 'angels'.
But in spite of such quibbles
this is a very welcome work that I recom
mend unreservedly to all scholars who are interested in theworld of Antike
undChristentum. UtrechtUniversity
P.W. VANDERHORST
[email protected] BOOKS RECEIVED Augustinus: SanctusAugustinus, Manichaeum. Introduction, Acta contraFortunatum texte &
traduction, notes complementaires et bibliographies
Francois Decret;
Biblical References,
Series Latina, Vol.
Manichaeorum,
+ 124 pp., ISBN
selectives par
Indices &
by Johannes van Oort
Terms and Concepts
Manichaean VIII
Bibliography,
Index of
(Corpus Fontium
II), Turnhout: Brepols Publishers 2004,
2-503-51324-7,
E 65 (cloth). New
volume
in the
rapidly expanding CFM-series, with special emphasis on the determination Terms and Concepts
ofManichaean
the formerManichaean
handed over by both Fortunatus and
Augustine.
Tome Avit de Vienne, Histoire spirituelle, texte critique, Chretiennes 07925-1,
II (Chants IV-V). Introduction,
traduction et notes par Nicole
Hecquet-Noti
(Sources
492), Paris: Les Editions du Cerf 2005, 254 p., ISBN
E 27 (broche).
2-204
Edition etc. de l'epopete biblique De spiritalishis
toriaegestis, en cinq chants, inspires de la Genese (chants 1-4) et de l'Exode (chant 5), de Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus, eveque de Vienne
entre 490 et 518.
'Cette geste christique originale, qui associe la poesie epique classique, l'in spiration de la Bible, la connaissance des ecrits patristiques et des poetes chretiens, est l'une des illustrations les plus reussies de l'osmose de la cul ture antique et de la spiritualite chretienne'. Barnett, Paul, The Birth of Christianity.The First Twenty rears (AfterJesus, / Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Volume 1), Grand Rapids, Michigan Eerdmans US$
Publishing Company
15 /
7 9.95
(pb).
2005, x + 230 pp., ISBN 0-8028-2781-0,
'Contrary to several popular works of Christian
scholarship, historian Paul Barnett (formerAnglican bishop ofNorth Sydney, Australia) maintains
that the first two decades
of Christian
history are
hardly "lost years".' Becker, Eve-Marie
(Hrsg.), Die
antikeHistoriographie und die Anfdnge der
zurZeitschrift furdie neutestamentliche christlichen (Beihefte Geschichtsschreibung der alteren Kirche, Band
Wissenschaft
und die Kunde
York: Walter
de Gruyter 2005, XIII
129), Berlin-New
+ 308 S., ISBN 3-11-018208-4,
E 88
(Leinen). Vierzehn Beitrage hervorgegangen aus einem Forschungskolloquium der Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, mit Hauptgewicht
auf das Verhaltnis
Historiographieforschung und Evangelienforschung. Speziell die beiden let zten Beitrage gehoren zum patristischen Bereich: Wolfgang Wischmeyer, (? KoninklijkeBrillNV, Leiden, 2005 Also available online - www.brill.nl
VigiliaeChristianae 59, 468-482
BOOKS
von Geschichte
Wahrnehmungen
Lukas und Eusebius:
als Kirchengeschichtsschreiber
(277-287).
Histoire eccPsiastiquedu peuple anglais (Historia ecclesias
le Venerable,
ticagentisAnglorum),Tome Crepin,
in der christlichen Literatur zwischen
die chronographische Form der Bischofslisten (263
276); Jorg Ulrich, Eusebius Bede
469
RECEIVED
I (Livres I-II). Introduction et notes par Andre
texte critique par Michael
traduction par Pierre Monat
Lapidge,
(Sources Chretiennes 489), Paris: Les Editions du Cerf
et Philippe Robin
2005, 433 p., ISBN
2-204-07849-2,
e 33 (broche).
'La presente edition
(en trois volumes) offre pour la premiere fois aux francophones le texte du manuscrit de Saint-Petersbourg, tres pr6che de l'original de Bede. La tra duction francaise se veut aussi proche du texte latin que possible. Les notes, tout en signalant sources et travaux, sont assez explicites pour satisfaire les eventuelles interrogations; elles font souvent reference a la traduction en vieil-anglais, du IXe siecle'. Colish, Marcia of Notre Dame
Man, University L., Ambrose'sPatriarchs.Ethicsfor theCommon Press: Notre Dame,
0-268-02365-4, US$ Ambrose's
Indiana 2005, viii + 193 pp., ISBN
15 (pb). Masterly
and cristal-clear written study of
treatisesDe Abraham,De Isaac, De Jacob,and De Ioseph.According
to Colish, famous for her two volume study The Stoic TraditionfromAntiquity to theEarly Middle Ages and hence keenly attentive to the Stoic groundwork of Ambrose's
ethical thought, the treatises ofMilan's
bishop are not advo
cating asceticism and promoting a Platonic view of human nature. Instead they are aimed
(as itwas observed by the CSEL-editor
Karl
Schenkl in
1897, but seems to have been forgotten since) at lay people who did not have special callings in the church, but who
led active lives in the world
as spouses, parents, heads of households, professionals, and citizens. Thus these tractates, produced first as sermons delivered to catechumens and only later redrafted as treatises, reveal a different side of Ambrose and show that he developed an ethics of moderation based on a Aristotelian and Stoic anthropology, which he modified and St. Paul's
in the light of biblical ethics
view of human nature. This groundbreaking and, as one
may expect, epoch-making study on the first(cf. e.g. pp. 3 and 157) patris tic development of ethics for the comman man seems to contain no
is very carefully edited: it
'typo's', has an excellent bibliography of primary
sources and relevant studies in an appropriate array of modern and is concluded by an excellent Index. Notable price of the paperback
edition (cloth US$
languages,
as well is the very affordable
35.00).
Cologne Mani Codex: De KeulseMani-Codex. Vertaald, ingeleid en toegelicht Amsterdam: In de Pelikaan
door Johannes van Oort & Gilles Quispel,
470
BOOKS
RECEIVED
2005, 247 pp., incl. several full colour illustrations, ISBN 90-71608-16-6, e 35 (cloth). Dutch
translation of the CMC, with extensive Introduction
and Commentary. Dunn, James: Graham C. Barton
N. Stanton, Bruce W.
Longenecker & Stephen
(eds.), The Holy Spirit and Christian Origins. Essays in Honor of / Cambridge, U.K.:
James D.G. Dunn, Grand Rapids, Michigan B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company
2822-1, US$
50 /
J 29.95
William
2004, xxii + 381 pp., ISBN
(hardcover with jacket).
An
lection of twenty-seven original essays ranging widely
0-8028
impressive col
through Scripture
and Early Church history and including, among others, several discussions of the enduring and already in the Early Church pretumRom. Man'
7 (e.g. David
of Romans
Is She
7, and Why
The Contrite Wrongdoer
-Condemned
so important crux inter
and Where
Catchpole, Who
Is the "Wretched
'Wretched', 168-180; Peder Borgen, or Set Free by the Spirit? Romans
the exemplary edited (though without an Index
7:7-8:4, 181-192). Besides,
of texts) and finely published book contains some more contributions: Anthony C. Thiselton, The Holy Exegesis and Reception History
specific Patristic
Spirit in 1 Corinthians:
in the Patristic Era, 207-228;
I. Howard
Marshall, The Holy Spirit in the Pastoral Episdes and theApostolic Fathers, 257-269; Loren T. Stuckenbruck, The Holy Spirit in the Ascension of Isaiah, 308-320; Graham N. Stanton, The Spirit in theWritings of JustinMartyr, 321-334; J. Lionel North, The Transformation Texts in Fourth- and Fifth-Century Disputes
of Some New Testament about Pneuma: Disputando
Inclarescet 335-348. Veritas, Garcia Martinez,
Florentino & Gerard
P. Luttikhuizen
(eds.), Jerusalem,
Alexandria, Rome: Studies inAncient Cultural InteractioninHonour ofA. Hilhorst (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism 82), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2003, XIV
+ 389 pp., ISBN 90-04-13584-7,
bound with jacket). scholar who
Royal
interalia acted as Secretary
Judaism and as Chairman
e 115 / US$
143 (cloth
and classical Festschrift for the Groningen
of theDutch
to Brill's Journalfor theStudy of
Society forEarly Christian Studies:
Preface (IX-XII); Abbreviations
(XIII-XIV);
in Early Christian and Medieval
Texts: Church and Illiteracy (1-12); Antoon
A.R. Bastiaensen, of Hippo
GerardJ.M.
Bartelink, Illiteratus
"He must Grow, I must Diminish' John 3:30): Augustine
Preaching
on John the Baptist
rerumconditor: Ambrose's Poem about "Time" repay Evil with Evil": Ethical
(13-26); Jan den Boeft, Aeterne (27-40); J'anos Bolyki, "Never
Interaction between
Novel Josephand Aseneth, theNew Testament
the Joseph Story, the
and theApocryphal Acts (41
53); Jan N. Bremmer, The Vision of Saturus in the Passio Perpetuae (55-73);
BOOKS
John J. Collins,
Life after Death
RECEIVED
471
in Pseudo-Phocylides
(75-86);
Istvan
Czachesz, The Eagle on the Tree: A Homeric Motif inJewish and Christian Literature (87-99); Boudewijn Dehandschutter, The Text of theMartyrdom of PolycarpAgain (With a Note on the Greek Text of Polycarp, ad Phil.) (101-106); Natalio Fernandez Marcos, Theodoret's the Language
of the Septuagint
Greek Loanwords Between Old
Philological Remarks on
(107-118); Florentino Garcia Martinez,
in the CopperScroll (119-145); Anders Klostergaard Petersen,
and New: The Problem of Acculturation
Early Christian Usage
of the Phoenix Motif
Illustrated by the A. Knibb,
(147-164); Michael
The Use of Scripture in 1 Enoch 17-19 (165-178); Arie van der Kooij, The Interpretation ofMetaphorical (179-185); Gerard
Language:
A Characteristic of LXX-Isaiah in
P. Luttikhuizen, The Critical Rewriting of Genesis
the Gnostic Apocryphonof John (187-200); Martin McNamara,
The
Irish
Legend of Antichrist (201-219); Ed Noort, Bethabara: Remarks about Storied Places at the Jordan, John the Baptist and theMadaba 241); Monika
Imperfectum inMatthaeum (243-253); Miekske Erasmus' Note
on Gal
Eden
(221
to the Opus
L. van Poll-van de Lisdonk,
4:25: The Connection
Jerusalem (255-262); Jacques T.A.G.M. Gen
Mosaic Map
Pesthy, The Three Nets of Belial fromQumran between Mount
van Ruiten, The
Sinai and
Four Rivers of
in the Apocalypse of Paul (Visio Pauli): The Intertextual Relationship of 2:10-14 and the Apocalypse of Paul 23 (263-283); Gunther Stemberger,
"Moses received Torah
. . ." (m.Avot 1:1): Rabbinic Conceptions of Revelation
(285-299); Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar, The White Dress of the Essenes and the Pythagoreans (301-321); Johannes Tromp, Origen on theAssumptionofMoses (323-340); Marc Van Uytfanghe, La saveur biblique du latinmerovingien: l'exemple de la Vie de Sainte Rusticule,Abbesse ahArles (Vile siecle) (341 357); A Bibliography of A. Hilhorst (359-370), References
toAncient Texts
(371-389). Geest, P. van & J. van Oort
(eds.), Augustiniana JNeerlandica. Aspecten van
Augustinus' spiritualiteiten haar doorwerking, Leuven-Paris Uitgeverij Peeters 2005, VII
Dudley, MA:
+ 539 pp. (incl. illustr.), ISBN 90-429-1627
3, e 45 (clothbound with jacket).
Volume
to commemorate Augustine's
1650th birthday and comprising thirty-one studies on Augustine's ality written by 'Netherlandic'
(Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans)
spiritu
specialists in
their native language: Part I: Apologv, Introspection, Mystagogy,and Hermeneutics: The Period 386-400 Mani
and its Background:Hans
to the Catholica
van Oort, From Vergil
and
(11-29, focussing on conf.and c. Fort.);Rein Ferwerda,
Augustine
and Scepticism
(31-44; on c. Acad.); Peter Flaton,
'Apud sese
habitare':
(Knowledge of) the Self in De ordine (45-54); Marcel
Poorthuis,
BOOKS
472
Mani,
RECEIVED
Augustine and the Kabbala
71); Sjaak van den Berg, Who
on Food
(55
sermo 12 (73-85);
(87-102; on Ps. c. Don.); Ineke Sluiter,
Vincent Hunink, Augustinus poeta Reading
and Sex: a Comparison
can see God? Augustine's
as a Life Journey (103-111;
on doctr. chr. I-II); Thijs Rutten,
Augustine and the Spirituality of the Psalms: the Confessionsas a Role Play deducted
from the Psalms
(113-129); Hans
(131-147;
focussing on conf); Annemare Kotze,
Confessiones13: Augustine,
and the Creation Narrative
theManichaeans,
a Mystic?
Geybels, Augustine
(149-161); Part II: Sermons,
Tractates,Biblical Commentaries,and Theology:The Period c. 400-420: Tarsicius and Spirituality in Augustine's De Trinitate (165-185);
van Bavel, Theology
of Augustine's
Paul van Geest, De adulterinisconiugiisand laterDevelopments (187-207); Joost van Neer, Augustine
Spirituality ofMarriage
(209-224: analysis of s. 223F); Helene
as a Teacher
A Suggestion for a Spiritual Reading on the Psalms
Leijendekkers, Idithun.
of some of Augustine's Commentaries
on en. in Ps. 38, 61 &
(225-238;
and Augustine on Peter's Denial
Ambrose
the Preacher
76); Hans
van Reisen,
(239-253; focussing on Io. eu. tr.
113); Gert Partoens, Augustine on Ephesians
3,13-18: A Reading
of sermo
165 (255-273); Toon Bastiaensen, The Suffering of theMartyrs as 'Perfect Spirituality of Martyrdom
Justice' (iustitiaperfecta):Augustine's Martijn
Schrama,
'As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it
to me': Augustine on Matthew on Pride and Greed
25 (289-307); Bernard Bruning, Augustine
versusGrace
Predestination and Free Will:
(309-322);
Part III: Histogy and Grace, Jan den Boeft, 'Moral
The Period 410-430:
Corruption with the Speed of a Mountain Witness
(275-288);
Torrent': Sallust as Augustine's
a charge(325-340; on ciu. I-III); Amie van Wyk, Christian Identity:
Augustine on Faith, Hope,
and Love
(341-354; on ench.);Anthony Dupont, A Reading
'Pelagius: Just an Ethicist or also a Theologian? Commentary
on Romans
and the Representation
adu. Iud.); Part IV:
ten Boom,
the Jews, and Neoplatonism
'Blind
(395-409; e.g. on
'TremendousShadows on Europe'? Aspects of theReception of
Augustine: Christoph
Burger, The
Grace: Gregory of Rimini, Hugolin 1518) (413-425); Wim
Reception
of Augustine's
Doctrine
of
of Orvieto, Erasmus, and Luther (until
FranSois, Johannes Driedo's
et dogmatibus(1533) on Scripture, Augustine, Augustine
focussing on c. Iul. imp.);
(381-394; focussing on c. Iul. imp.);Wessel
Singers of God': Augustine,
(427-466);
Smalbrugge, Predestination
(365-379;
'Nobody believes against hisWill': Augustine on Grace
Mathijs Lamberigts, and Free Will
(355-363); Matthias of the Person
of Pelagius'
Pieta van Beek, Anna Maria (467-461); Fred Verstappen,
and
De
ecclesiasticisscripturis Tradition
the Catholic
van Schurman The Vision
(1607-1678)
on
of Ostia Represented
BOOKS
RECEIVED
473
by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858) (463-471); Gilles Quispel, Augustine in Paris (1954) (475-479); Bert Blans, Martin Heidegger, Martha Nussbaum & Hannah
Arendt as Readers
of Augustine
(481-496). Bibliography;
Indices;
Personalia(499-539). Imagesof theDivine. The Theologyof Icons at theSeventh
Giakalis, Ambrosios,
Ecumenical Council(Studiesin theHistoryof ChristianTraditi-ons CXXII), Leiden-Boston: Brill 2005, frontispice+ XV+ e 99 / US$
142 (hardback).
Revised
161 pp., ISBN 90-04-14328-9,
and updated
edition of SHCT
54
(1994), with the original Foreword by Henry Chadwick. Gulacsi, Zsuzsanna, Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art. A CodicologicalStudy of
BookFragments IranianandTurkicIlluminated from8th-ilthCentugy East Central
Asia
and Manichaean
(Nag Hammadi
2005, XVI
+ 240 pp.
Studies 57), Leiden-Boston:
(oblong format; including a map,
Brill
numerous b/w
plates, computer drawings, figures, tables etc., and eight series of full-colour the pp. 58-59), ISBN
plates between (hardback).
Pivotal publication
90-04-13994-X,
e
139 / US$
by an eminent specialist
199
(cf. e.g. her
Manichaean Art inBerlinCollections, Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum,Series Archaeologica
et Iconographica, Volume
impressive book
I, Turnhout: Brepols 2001). An
like this one will inspire other scholars to further deter
mine how and why theGnostic-Manichaean Jewish Christian Mani,
world religion initiated by the
hailed as 'the Painter', produced
its singular and
stillmoving art.
Haar, Stephen,Simon Magus: 7he FirstGnostic? (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde Band
119), Berlin-New York: Walter
der alteren Kirche,
de Gruyter 2003, xxiii + 385 pp.,
ISBN 3-11-017689-0, e 98 (Leinen).
Originally PhD-dissertation University
of Queensland
Lattke), designed
Walter
(supervisor Michael
de Gruyter in an exemplary way. Main
and published
by
and final conclusion of the
author: 'From the viewpoint of "Simon", or at least from the evidence of his reconstructed teachings, there are reasons to conclude he was a charis matic
figure adept in the traditions of theMagoi,
who
exercised consid
erable ability, authority, and inTluence. A self-proclaimed expert in divine things, Simon would
not have rejected the notion of being a "Gnostic";
at least not in the original classical sense of theword. He
taught a source
of truth and salvation that differed frommainstream Jewish thought and practice; he claimed the preeminent role of "Standing One" him the "firstGod',
he enjoyed public favour and widespread
(306-307).
some called
Christians viewed him as a "Christ pretender" respect from Samaria
and
to Rome'
BOOKS
474
RECEIVED
Peter, Perpetua und derAgypteroderBilder des Bosen imfrdhen Christentum. Ein Versuchzur Passio sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis Afti*anischen (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur Habermehl,
140), Berlin-New York: Walter 3-11-018184-3,
+ 341 S., ISBN
de Gruyter 2004, VII
Zweite, uberarbeitete Auflage einer inzwi
e 98 (Leinen).
schen klassischen Studie. Henze, Matthias
at Qumran (Studies in theDead (ed.), Biblical Interpretation
Sea Scrolls and Related Literature), Grand Rapids, Michigan U.K.:
William
B. Eerdmans
ISBN 0-8028-3937-1-1, US$
Publishing Company 25 / f
15.90 (pb).
/ Cambridge,
2005, xiii + 214 pp., Collection of nine essays
demonstrating that the Scriptures were pluriform and dynamically inter pretated at the origins of Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. Hevelone-Harper, Jenifer, Disciples of theDesert.Monks, Laity, and Spiritual Gaza, Baltimore & London: The Johns Hopkins Authoriy in Sixth-Centugy University Press 2005, xii + 211 pp. (incl. 1map), ISBN 0-8018-8110-2, US$
39.95 (hardcover with jacket).
supervisor Peter Brown) John of Gaza,
Lucidly written dissertation (Princeton:
focussing on the discourses of Barsanuphius
and
hence mainly based on the recentlypublished Correspondance
of these two desert fathers in the Sources Chretiennes
series (1997-2002),
and now further disclosing the distinctive spiritual world of these leaders from the monastery of Tawatha
and
the wide-ranging
community they
served: Ch. I: Gaza: Crossroads in theDesert, II: Tawatha: Lookingfor God in theDesert, III: Dorotheos [the best known disciple of B. & J.]: FromNovice toSpiritualDirector, IV: Lay Disciples: Social Obligations and Spiritual Concerns; V: Bishops and Civil Authorities: Rulers of Church and Empire;VI: Aelianos: Leader for theNext Generation.Conclusion, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Hilhorst, Anthony & George H. van Kooten
(eds.), The Wisdom of Egypt.
Jewish, Early Christian and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity / Arbeiten
zur Geschichte
Antiken Judentums und des Christentums 59), Leiden-Boston 557 pp. (incl. some plates), ISBN 90-04-14425-0, back).-Impressive
collection of essays, edited with meticulous
like the FS forHilhorst
158 (hard care and
(see above)- testifyingto both the remarkably high
standard and level of Groningen Part One:
e 117 / US$
des
2005, xii +
research and alignment: Preface (ix-xii);
& Egypt:Ed Noort, The Disgrace Jfudaism
of Egypt: Joshua 5.9a
and Its Context (3-19); Florentino Garcia Martinez, La Genese d'Alexandrie, les Rabbins of Moses
et Qumran
(21-41); Jacques T.A.G.M.
in Egypt According
Rob Kugler, Hearing
van Ruiten, The Birth
to the Book of Jfubilees(Jub 47.1-9)
the Story of Moses
(43-65);
in Ptolemaic Egypt: Artapanus
BOOKS
the Tradition
Accommodates
the King
of Egypt': A Short Note
from Hosea Was
Called My
Son':
11.1 inMatthew
JJ.Menken,
'And Moses
(Acts 7.22) (153-176);
in the Plains of Macedonia':
Thessalonians, and Ancient Historical Writings (177-215); Herman Looking at the Condemning Heart of 1John 3.18-20 Egyptian
'Out
on the Quotation
in the Egyptian SibyllineOracles (Book 5), 2
Expectations of Nero's Return
an Ancient
to the
'The God Who
(143-152); Ton Hilhorst, of the Egyptians'
'Wrath Will Drip
van Kooten,
(97-114); Jan Rival
on an Exorcistic Formula
EgyptMaarten
Some Observations
2.15
Instructed in All theWisdom
George H.
Sophia
van der Horst,
(115-134); Pieter W.
(135-139); Part Two: Early Christianity & of Egypt I Have
(81-96); Bert Jan Lietaert
the Gnostic
in Josephus: From Herod's
Cleopatra
Wise Ruler's Opposite Drowned
or Deliberate?
Wisdom of Solomon and
van Henten,
Willem
475
(67-80); Janos Bolyki, Egypt as the Setting
for jtosephand Aseneth:Accidental Peerbolte, The
RECEIVED
(217-225);
Huub
teVelde,
through the Eyes of
van de Sandt, The
Egyptian
Background of the 'Ointment' Prayer in the Eucharistic Rite of theDidache (10.8)
(227-245); Janni Loman,
The
Letter of Barnabas in Early Second
Century Egypt (247-265); Riemer Roukema,
Paul's Rapture
in
to Paradise
Early Christian Literature (267-283); John Herrmann & Annewies van den Hoek,
The
Clement Apion
Sphinx: Sculpture as a Theological
and Anoubion
Potamiaena: Alexandria Women
Symbol
in Plutarch and
(285-310); Jan N. Bremmer, Foolish Egyptians:
of Alexandria
in the Pseudo-Clementines(311-329); Henk
Some Observations About Martyrdom (331-350); Monika
and Gender
Bakker, inAncient
Pesthy, 'Mulier est Instrumentum Diaboli':
and the Desert Fathers (351-362); Part Three: Gnosticism&
Egvpt
AttilaJakab, Le Gnosticisme Alexandrin aux Premiers Temps du Christianisme (365-379); Albert L.A. Hogeterp, The Jesus: The Case
of Eschatology
Alexandria: Matthias
in Hippolytus'
Dijk, Early Christian Apocrypha (419-428); Eibert Tigchelaar,
Refutatio (397-418); Jacobus van
and the Secret Books of Ancient Egypt
Baraies
on Mani's
Rapture,
and Recollection, Deficiency and Perfection: Human (443-459); Jurgen Tubach, Reisewege (461-483);
Paul, and
the
(429-441); F. Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta, Devolution
Recovery of the Primal Condition According Hammadi
P. Bos, Basilides of
(Matthew) and Aristotle as the Sources of Inspiration
for His Gnostic Theology
Antediluvian Apostles
Gospel of Thomas and the Historical
(381-396); Abraham
Istvan Czachesz,
der Apostel The
Degradation
and the
to Some Early Christian Texts in den Acta Petri aus Nag
Identity of Lithargoel
Acts of Peter and the Twelve (485-502); Marvin Meyer,
in the
Gnosis, Mageia, and
The Holy Book of theGreat InvisibleSpirit (503-517); Jacques van der Vliet,
BOOKS
476
Fate, Magic
RECEIVED
and Astrology in Pistis Sophia, chaps 15-21 (519-536). Bibliography
of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (537-543); List of Contributors (545-547); Index of Subjects and Names (552-556);
(549-551);
Index of Ancient Authors and Writings
(selective) Index of Hebrew, Greek, and Coptic Words
with special contributions by various Christianity, II: XIV
669 pp., Volume
scholars (The Bible
Brill 2004, Volume
Ancient Christianity I), Leiden-Boston: 339 (hardback).
(557).
Charles, Handbook of PatristicExegesis. The Bible inAncient
Kannengiesser,
I: XXXIV
+ 826 pp., ISBN 90-04-09815-1,
+
e 295 / US$
impressive tomi,beautifully designed by Brill and for
Two
the greatest part written by an eminent specialist, but with many shortcomings. On
in
thisHandbook, a VC-review
serious
article will be published soon.
Loader, William, Sexuali_yand theJesus Tradition,Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 2005, viii + 288 pp., ISBN 0-8028-2862-0, Gospels
30 / /
US$
and Paul on issues of sexuality
ual passion, marriage, occasional
18.99 (pb).
A study of the
particularly concerned with sex from some
adultery, divorce, and celibacy. Apart
remarks on Christian writings after the NT,
pp. 199-207 dis
cuss Gos. Thom. 22:1-4, Gos. Eg. (Clement, Strom. 3.92), and 2 Clem. 12:2-6. McLeod,
Frederick G.,
The Roles of Christ'sHumaniy
from TheodoreofMopsuestia, Washington,
D.C.:
in Salvation. Insights
The Catholic University of
America Press 2005, xvi + 278 pp., ISBN 0-8132-1396-7, US$ back with jacket).
After the Introduction given in Ch.
69.95 (hard
I,McLeod
(author
of the books 7TheSoteriolog)ofNarsai, 1973, and The Image of God inAntiochene Tradition, 1999, among others) firstestablishes the principal influences that shaped Theodore's
exegetical
Interpreting Scripture). He Human Ch.
outlook
(Ch.
2: Theodore's
then (Ch. 3: The Role
Method
of Christ's
of
'Body' in
Salvation; Ch. 4: Christ's Salvific Role as theBond of theUniverse;
5: Christ's Salfivic Role
ogy that Theodore
exploring three major all human
as God's
Perfect Image) draws out the typol
sees present between Adam's
and Christ's humanity,
roles that Christ's humanity plays as the head of
immortal existence, the bond of the universe, and the perfect
image of God. Next (Ch. 6: The Salvific Role of Christ's 'Common Prosdpon'; Ch. 7: The Word's
'Indwelling of Good
Theodore's
customary word
understood
in a functional way. The
Pleasure')
for Christ's
and further poposes
to be
book concludes by applying these
insights to the 71 excerpts that were used Second Council of Constantinople
the author shows how
'person' (pros6pon) ought to condemn Theodore
at the
(Ch. 8: The Charges Against Theodore)
that these passages can be interpreted in a different,
non-heretical way (Ch. 9: A Reassessment of theCharges Against Theodore).
RECEIVED
BOOKS
In Ch.
10 ('Conclusion') McLeod
with modern
477
interalia compares Theodore's
Christology
interpretations (like the one proposed by J.A.T. Robinson)
and near the end he notes: 'It is a tragedy, therefore, that history has cast as one of the most prominent Christian heretics. His
Theodore
tireless
effort to defend the traditional role played by the full humanity of Christ in its union with theWord's
divine nature and in salvation deserves a bet
ter fate, perhaps at least along the lines of the esteem inwhich most schol (266). An
ars today hold Origin...'
impressive book, beautifully designed
and with an useful (though partial, in theword's duplicate sense)
by CUAP,
Index. Band 11, Personen A-E, bearbeitet von Heinz Melanchthons Brieftvechsel, Scheible unter Mitwirkung von Corinna Schneider, Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt: frommann-holzboog 2003, 426 S., ISBN Melanchthons Briefivechsel,Band
3-7728-2257-6,
12, Personen
e 274 (Leinen);
F-K, bearbeitet von Heinz
Scheible unterMitwirkung von Corinna Schneider, Stuttgart-Bad Canstatt: frommann-holzboog 2005, 479 S., ISBN 3-7728-2258-4, e 274 (Leinen). Extensive and really superb Indices, which
interalia indicate the Praeceptor
singular knowledge of Patristic sources.
Germaniae's
Patricio de, Pablo de Samosatay sus adversarios.Estudio hist6rico
Navascues,
del cristanismo antioquenoen el s. III (Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum teologico Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum
87), Roma: 88-7961-006-6
(pb).-Tesis
de doctorado
2004, 498 pp., ISBN
(2002), direcci6n M.
Simonetti,
Instituto Patristico'Augustinianum'. Petrus Chrysologus: Translated
by William
Translation, Volume
St. Peter Chrysologus, Selected Sermons,Volume B. Palardy
3.
(The Fathers of the Church. A New
110), Washington
DC:
The
Catholic University of
America Press 2005, xviii + 372 pp., ISBN 0-8132-0110-1,
$ 39.95 (cloth
bound with jacket). Studies in Greek and Byzantine Texts PresentedtoJacquesNoret Philomathestatos. Birthday / Etudes de patristiquegrecque et textesbyzantinsofferts for his Sixty-Fifth a Jacques Noret a l'occasion de ses soixante-cinqans, edited by B. Janssens, B. Roosen & P. Van Deun
(Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta
137), Leuven
Paris-Dudley, MA: Uitgeverij Peeters & Departement Oosterse Studies 2004, XXXVI
+ 753 pp. (+ photo page + several ill. in the text), ISBN 90-429
1459-9, e 85 (clothbound with jacket).-Impressive of the Louvain
scholar Noret: Peter Van Deun
(XI-XV); Guy Philippart, A de Jacques Noret XXXIII);
Festschrift in honour
& Bram Roosen,
Preface
l'ouvrage ?selon la verite>>. Pseudo-Encomion
(XVII-XXVIII);
Publications of Jacques Noret
Abbreviations (XXXV-XXXVI);
(XXIX Michael Bibikov, Die vergleichende
BOOKS
478
Textologie
von Anastasius
einiger Werke
Handschriften
RECEIVEFD
Sinaites
nach
den altesten
(Mosquensis,Museum Historicum, olim Bibliotheca Synodalis 265
(1-9); [Vladimir 197] und Guelferbytanus,Gudianus gr. 53) und Ausgaben le Confesseur &tait-il Constantinopolitain? Christian Boudignon, Maxime (11-43; en conclusion
'Maxime n'etait donc
(43):
tres probablement
pas
constantinopolitain, mais bien palestinien'); Paul Canart, Les palimpsestes des fonds grecs de la Bibliotheque Vaticane. Une precisions
(45-55); Willy
Clarysse, On
liste sommaire et quelques
the Early History
of the Verb
AIIOMENQ (57-61); Carmelo Giuseppe Conticello, Theophylacte de Bulgarie, (Catena aurea in Ioannem) (63-75); Vassa Conticello,
source de Thomas d'Aquin Un
florilege sur leGrand Careme
attribu%eAJean Damasce'ne.
Authenticite,
sources, nouveaux fragments de Seve're d'Antioche (77-104; conclusion (104): 'Le florilege sur le Grand Car&me une
ceuvre de Jean Damascene.
inclus dans le De sacrisjejuniis n'est pas
I1 a e't realise de fa,on coherente par un
seul compilateur, dans le cadre d'une querelle interne A l'Eglise dejJerusalem sur le maintien ou non de la semaine des laitages, dans les annees 735 745 environ. I1 a ete communique reponse A son sujet dans
a Jean Damascene,
qui a donne une
l'Epistula ad Cometam'); Jose Declerck,
opuscules Sur lafabricationdes imagesattribue's a Nicephore
Les
sept
de Constantinople
(105-164, y compris la premiere edition du texte grec des Op., munie d'une traduction fran?aise); Kristoffel Demoen, Saint Panteleemon. Text, Genre De
John Geometres'
and Metaphrastic
Smet, Les Epitres du propagandiste
druze Baha'
aux empereurs de Byzance. Un eipisodemeconnu
Iambic Life of
Style (165-184); Daniel ad-Din
al-Muqtana
des relations arabo-byzan
sur les Eklogai propIetiquesd'Eusebe (203-224); Rifaat Y. Ebied & Lionel R. Wickham, A Collection
tines (185-202); Gilles Dorival, Remarques de Cesaree
of Syriac Short Stories about Early Church Fathers (225-237, with edition of a Syriac text from theJohn Rylands Library, Manchester, translation); Michael Leipzig Manuscript
Featherstone, Court Orthography:
and an English Spelling
flamand lit la Bibliothique de Photius. Contribution
a l'etude des notes de
Carolus Langius dans lems. Brux. 744-755 (249-267); Hans Hauben, versus Apollo
in Early Byzantine Kourion? With
'Panayia Aphroditissa' Vincent
in the
of De Cerimoniis(239-247); Steven Gysens, Un humaniste
de Saragosse
in Paphos dans
Christ
a note on the so-called
(269-284); Andre Jacob, Le culte de Saint
la Terre
d'Otrante
byzantine et le Sermon
inedit du Vaticanus,Barberinianusgr. 456 (BHG 1867e) (285-296); Bart Janssens & Peter Van Deun, George Amiroutzes and his Poetical Oeuvre
(297-324,
incl. edition of seven Greeks poems); Patricia Karlin-Hayter, Notes on the Acta Davidis, Symeoniset Georgii (BHG 494)
(325-350); Michael
Kohlbacher,
RECEIVED
BOOKS
479
Ein Ubersehenes Bekenntnis des Gregorios von Nazianz?
(351-357; Auskunft
(357): 'Eindeutig is nun, dass das "Bekenntnis des Gregorios von Nazianz" [cf.Ausgabe
in: A. Alexakis, Codex Parisinus Graecus 1115, Washington D.C.
1996, 304] als Phantomtext keine weitere Bedeutung hat. Allerdings sollte in einer Fortschreibung der Clavis unter CPG 6885 ein Hinweis fir die Rezeptionsgeschichte
bemerkenswerten Zeugen
Spuria Gregorii sollte ein Querverweis Carl Laga, La ponctuation ponctuation
auf CPG 6885
auf diesen
erfolgen; unter den eingefuhrt werden');
(dont on ne doit pas se soucier) (359-375:
[sc. par un editeur des manuscits]
est d'une
sive, quand
il s'agit de montrer au
texte'; Laga
illustre cette opinion par des exemples de l'ceuvre de Dionysius
Thrax, de Gregorius Nazianzenus La
et de Maximus
l'editeura compris le
Confessor); Caroline Mace,
tradition indirecte grecque ancienne de Gregoire
citations chez
les historiens Socrate
The Dynastic Role Life, and Death
dans
A. Munitiz,
de Nazianze:
Martinakia,
(867-1056)
Dynasty. Birth,
(389-414: on Eudokia
Zoe Karbonopsina,
Helene
and Theodora);
le Vaticanus graecus 504
Deux
(377-388); Nele Maes,
of the Empresses of theMacedonian
the 'porphyrogenite' sisters Zoe
Evagriana
et Sozomene
of an Imperial Lineage
Ingerina, Theophano and
lecteurcomment
'la
importance deci
Lekapene,
Basile Markesinis,
et ailleurs
(415-434);
In the Steps of Anastasius of Sinai: Later Traces
Joseph
of his Erota
pokriseis(435-454); Bronwen Neil, The Introduction of Old Church Slavonic to the First Bulgarian Empire: the r6le of SS Cyril and Methodius (455 473); John W. Nesbitt, Some Observations theMonk's
Alexander
on Jakob Gretser's Edition of
De inventione sanctae crucis (BHG 410; CPG 7398) (475
La question de la survivance avare: les sources grec ques et latines de l'histoire des Avars au IXe siecle (487-501); Marcel Pirard, 486); Therese Olajos,
La souscription du Vaticanus,Reginensisgr. 23 (503-507); Gerhard Podskalsky, Der
Tod
des Judas
Iskariot in der byzantinischen
Exegese
(509-514);
Christoph Riedweg, Towards a better understanding of Cyril of Alexandria's Against _ulian.Case studies in textual criticism I (515-521); Bram Roosen, The Three Flyleaves of Vaticanus,Palatinus graecus 15. A contribution to the manuscript
tradition primarily of the RelatioMotionis [CPG 7736], but also
of two vitae [BHG 955 and 482] biens"
(Luc. 12, 33): Remarques
(523-534); Jacques Schamp,
"Vendez vos
sur le Julien de Photios et la date de
confiposition de la Bibliotheque (535-554); Jan Scharpe, Le Pantocrator de Vologda
(1654) et plusieurs Bogorodicy: Deux
lors d'epidemies
de la peste en Russie
types d'ic6nes miraculeuses
(555-565); Douwe
FrancisJ. Thomson, A Critical Greek Edition of Question Anastasian
EPQTAHOKPIXEIX
together with
Tj. Sieswerda & 23 of the Pseudo
the Editio Princeps of its Old
BOOKS
480
Bulgarian
Translation
RECEIVED
associated with Tsar
Symeon
(567-589); Marek
Quo vadis? (590-601); Carlos Steel, Au-dela
Starowieyski, L'episode
de tout
nom. Parmnenide142A3-4 dans l'interpretation de Proclus et de Denys 624); Anne Tihon, Le calcul de la date de Paques (625-646); Jan M.F.
Van
Reeth, Vie
(603
de Stephanos-Heraclius
et geste de Saint-Georges.
Legende
et histoire (647-670); Joseph Verheyden, The Greek Legend of theAscension of Isaiah
(671-700);
Sever J. Voicu,
