Tag: Patristics

Thinking about Severian on Genesis

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Severian of Gabala ca. 400 preached at least six sermons on the six days of Creation.  Six have reached us in Greek; there are rumours of a Seventh in Arabic, although this is unpublished.  The sermons are notorious as advocating a flat-earth cosmology, although I suspect this projects back quite a few ideas not present in the texts themselves.

Yesterday I finished translating the first sermon into English from the old French translation of Bareille.  Translating a translation is always unsatisfactory, and if I had endless money I wouldn’t dream of it.  But it still has some value, if not for the scholar; the ordinary mortal can at least gain a sense of what the text contains and its structure and argument.

However I grew more dissatisfied as I proceeded.  I really do feel that a proper translation of these six sermons is necessary and desirable.  Nor am I satisfied that Bareille is that accurate.  At one point he suggests more or less the opposite of what the Greek says, and what the context makes clear he must mean — I presume a “not” has dropped out of his translation in the printing process. 

These sermons are really very interesting.  Surprisingly, Severian is not an obscurantist, but a man of a probing and scientific mind.  He rejects the appeal to the authority of past writers, and appeals regularly to what can actually be seen, and for original thinking.  Admittedly he comes to seriously mistaken conclusions; but they are not self-evidently daft conclusions, given the state of knowledge at the time.  He is also preaching to an audience which is hoping to trip him up — it would be very interesting to learn the circumstances under which he felt obliged to preach on this subject.

I will consider commissioning a translation of these from Greek.  It’s 70 columns of Migne, which won’t be cheap; but if done well, done once, will always be worth doing.  If I can get hold of a copy of the Arabic, I might have a translation made of that as well, and perhaps do the set in book form.  If I do that, of course, I would need to get the Greek transcribed.

I’ve never digitised a lot of Greek.  So I’ve just emailed Dr. Maria Pantelia at the TLG, on a whim, suggesting that perhaps we might work together on digitising the Greek.  If I pay for some of it, perhaps it would benefit both sides.  If not, of course, I’ll find another way.

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Gregory of Antioch – a sixth century figure of whom I knew nothing

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Gregory of Antioch began as a monk in the monastery of the Byzantines in Jerusalem, or so we learn from Evagrius Scholasticus.  He was transferred by the emperor Justin II (565-578 ) to Sinai.  He was abbot there when the monastery was attacked by Arabs.  John Moschus mentions he was also abbot of Pharan in Palestine.  In 569-70 he became Patriarch of Antioch after Justin II deposed the Patriarch Anastasius.  Gregory was an influential figure, who quarrelled with the Count of the East and was subjected to official harassment and “enquiries” in consequence, including a appearance in court in Constantinople some time before 588.  The charges were trumped up, it seems, and he was acquitted.  When Roman troops fighting the Persians mutinied in the time of the emperor Maurice, Gregory was asked to mediate.  When Chosroes II of Persia was obliged to flee to the Romans for safety early in his reign, Gregory of Antioch and Domitian, metropolitan of Melitene, were sent to meet him.  His services were evidently acceptable; when Chosroes regained his kingdom, he sent Gregory the cross which had been earlier carried off from Sergiopolis by Chosroes I.  After this, Gregory made a tour of the border lands to convert Monophysites to the Chalcedonian definitions.  He died in 593-4 from taking a drug, intended to relieve gout.  His predecessor Anastasius then become Patriarch once more.

A small number of homilies have reached us, mostly under other names, which are also extant in various oriental languages.  He seems to have been a gifted speaker.  Three of these homilies (CPG 7385-7) were preached on successive Sundays.  The address to the army or oratio ad exercitum (CPG 7388) preserved in Evagrius Scholasticus seems to be by Evagrius himself.  Finally there is a homily on the first martyr, Stephen (CPG 7389) extant only in Georgian, which is perhaps a letter rather than a sermon.

The homilies can be found in PG 10, 1177-89; PG 61, 761-4; PG 88, 1848-66; and PG 88 1872-84.  The homily of Stephen is in PO 19 (1926) 689-99, with an encomium following in 699-715.

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Mai’s Scriptorum veterum nova collectio e Vaticanibus codicibus – online!

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I have just discovered the volumes of Angelo Mai’s massive collection of materials here, all derived from google I think.

I can find some of them directly.  Not sure where the rest are.  Here’s the list (updated – thanks Dioscorus / Walter):

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Polychronius, Porphyry and Daniel

Posted on by Roger Pearse

One of the 5th century commentators on scripture was Polychronius, brother of Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 430 AD).  He belonged to the Antioch school of biblical interpretation, who took a fairly literal approach to scripture.  His works are lost.   But the interpreters of that school were used extensively by the compilers of catena-commentaries from the 6th century onwards, and Polychronius was among them.  The result is that the Patrologia Graeca contains hundreds of pages of fragments culled from these catenas.

It’s fairly obvious why someone compiling a commentary on scripture from the Fathers would tend to prefer Antioch to Alexandria, literal to allegorical.  An allegorical interpretation might be interesting, but as a comment on a passage is much less useful than someone who is dealing directly with what the passage says.

Polychronius is interesting because he was one of the few Fathers to agree with Porphyry — “the impious Porphyry” as he is universally referred to — on the subject of the date of portions of Daniel.  These he considered were additions made in the Hellenistic period, in the times of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.  The latter monarch led the attack on Judaism and is the subject of the books of Maccabees.  The portions are Bel and the Dragon, Susannah, and the Song of the Three Children.  In Daubney’s Three additions to Daniel I read:

Polychronius, Theodore of Mopsuestia’s brother, refused to comment on this piece because it was not part of the original Daniel, nor in the Syriac, ο  κεταιν  τος  βραϊκος    ντος  Συριακος βιβλίοις.

I’ve had a proposal to translate the fragments on Daniel, amounting to some 50 columns of Migne.  This is quite a bit, and would cost quite a bit too!  I’ve queried whether perhaps we might cherry-pick some of the best bits, solely from a cost-saving point of view.  But it’s not an impossible sum.

The fragments of Daniel were published by Mai in Volume 1 of Scriptorum Veterum Collectio Nova, in part 2, p.105.  They start on p.556 of the Google Books PDF.

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Sixth century writers of whom I know nothing

Posted on by Roger Pearse

A correspondant wrote to me about some writers of the sixth century whom it might be interesting to have online and in English.  Unfortunately he is clearly more erudite than I, because I don’t recognise most of the names!

I was thinking of Anastasius of Antioch who influenced both his time and later debates and also Maximus the Confessor. His sermon “on his return” delivered when he was returned to his patriarchal see (published by Mai) deserves a translation. His other homilies too, actually all what he wrote deserve better concern and translations.

Next to him is Gregory of Antioch, his follower and successor. He left few homilies, those published are in Migne. One very respected scholar told me that these homilies so neglected are a witness for liturgy between the early Armenian and later Georgian texts about the liturgy of Jerusalem and linked of course Antioch to Jerusalem. He was a friend of Pope Gregory the great and was an important figure.

I thought also about Antipater of Bostra (5th century) whom, it seems, only two homilies are genuine. These are so important and have never been translated before (I guess in Italian translation of the syriac text is published by Vona).

There are others too, like a certain Timothy…Chrysippus…

It’s always interesting to look into a fresh area of patristics.  None of these people are known to me.  What can I find out online?

Antipater of Bostra appears in Patrologia Graeca vol. 85, cols. 1763-96; Gregory of Antioch appears in PG. 88; Anastasius of Antioch in PG 89.

Antipater of Bostra was one of the anti-Origenists of the 5th century, at the time of the council of Chalcedon, and is important enough to have a Catholic Encyclopedia article and a Wikipedia entry.  The former tells us that fragments remain of his highly-regarded refutation of the Apology for Origen of the Holy Martyr Pamphilus and Eusebius of Caesarea (CPG 6687), in the Acts of the Seventh Council (787).  This is on cols. 1791-3 of the PG.  The Saint Pachomius webpage for him lists his works; a sermon on John the Baptist and another on the Annunciation, plus four columns of fragments including a fragment against Apollinaris.  The fragments look interesting, the sermons not very.  There is also a BBKL article in German.  Apparently Antipater wrote: “Hail, you who acceptably intercede as a Mediatrix for mankind.” (In S. Joannem Bapt., PG, 1772C), which will not endear him to most of us.  There are entries in the CPG for his works from 6680 to 6698, including an unpublished Greek Homily on Epiphany (CPG 6685).  His sermon on the annunciation exists in both Greek and Syriac.  An Italian edition and translation of the two sermons above exists, I learn from here: C. Vona, L’orazione di Antipatro sulla nascita del Battista e l’orazione sull’Annunciazione, Rome, 1974.  The details of Vona’s publication may not be quite reliable, tho; there seem to be two books, not just one.

An extract from the anti-Origen work is  here:

Antipater, Bishop of Bostra, in his First Book against Eusebius of Cæsarea’s Apology for Origen.

“Since now this man was very learned, having searched out and traced back all the books and writings of the more ancient writers, and having set forth the opinions of almost all of them, and having left behind very many writings, some of which are worthy of all acceptation, making use of such an estimation as this of the man, they attempt to lead away some, saying, that Eusebius would not have chosen to take this view, unless he had accurately ascertained that all the opinions of the ancients required it. I, indeed, agree and admit that the man was very learned, and that not anything of the more ancient writings escaped his knowledge; for, taking advantage of the imperial co-operation, he was enabled easily to collect for his use material from whatever quarter.”

Gregory of Antioch is hardly referred to online.  What about Anastasius of Antioch?  When I search I find this:

” It is clear,” he says, ” that those things which the divine Scripture has passed over are not to be inquired into; for all things which tend to our profit the Holy Spirit has dispensed and administered to us.” 2

2. Quod quae silentio praeteriit Scripture divina non sint scrutanda, est perspicuum. Omnia enim quae faciunt ad nostram utilitatem dispensavit et administravit Spiritus Sanctus. Anastas. Antioch. Anag. Contempt. in Hexam. lib. viii. init. (Bibl. Patr. ed. Col. 1618, et seq. Tom. vi. P. 1. p. 666.)

From which I learn he wrote something about the Six Days of Creation or Hexameron.  He is Anastasius III of Antioch, but he doesn’t have a Wikipedia article.  A portion of one of his works is here, Oratio 4:1-2, taken from PG 89, 1347-49.  Beyond that, he seems no better off than Gregory.

I shall see what the “extra” volume of Quasten has to say about these people!

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Did Eusebius forge the Testimonium Flavianum?

Posted on by Roger Pearse

Notoriously some years ago Ken Olson revived this allegation.  I have today found an article by Alice Whealy, who specialises in the historiography of the Testimonium Flavianum, reviewing Olson’s arguments and disagreeing fairly firmly.  It appears in a collection of articles, and there is a preview on Google books.  Does anyone have an electronic copy of the whole article?

Alice Whealey, Josephus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and the Testimonium Flavianum, in Josephus und das Neue Testament, Tübingen (2007), p.73 – 116, here.

 

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The religious debate at the court of the Sassanids

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I was looking at the fragments of Philip of Side, and found myself examining a text of some 40 pages of Greek in E. Bratke, Das sogennante Religionsgesprach am Hof der Sassaniden (TU 19, 3) Leipzig 1899, 153-164 (PDF page 448 f.)  An earlier edition of the same text appears in A. Wirth, Aus orientalischen Chroniken, Frankfurt am Main, 1894.   Both are online, fortunately for us.

What is this text?  Hunting around the web, I find that it is a fictional narrative of a dispute between pagans, Christians and Jews before a fictitious Persian king.  The Jews are worsted and convert to Christianity.  The pagan leader and “arch-magus”, one Aphroditian or Aphroditianus, points out how the Christ was foretold in pagan books.  The latter relates to the presence of collections of sayings by the pagan philosophers (nearly all spurious) in manuscripts of gnomologia in Greek, Syriac and Arabic.

The work is referenced by Shlomo Pines, because it contains a reference to Josephus and the Testimonium Flavianum. I found an article which mentioned it by Alice Whealey, Josephus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and the Testimonium Flavianum, in Josephus und das Neue Testament, Tübingen (2007), p.73 – 116, here.

It doesn’t sound that interesting a work; but I can find no indication that it has ever been translated into English.

 UPDATE: A correspondant writes that a modern edition with French translation exists in a recent dissertation: De gestis in Perside : Histoire du texte, édition critique et traduction / par Pauline Bringel ; sous la direction de Jean Gascou (2008).  There is information here with a PDF of information about the thesis and the text here.  I wonder if it is possible to get hold of a copy!

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Materials on Philip of Side

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I need to look in Quasten for some references.  In the mean time I found this online at CCEL:

A number of his fragments have been edited by Carl de Boor (ZKG, vi. 478-494; TU, v. 165-184), and his history seems also to have influenced the “Religious Conference at the Sassanid Court ” (ed. Eduard Bratke, in TU, xix., part 3, 1899). A few other fragments of Philip’s writings are known to exist, and it is possible that he was also the author of the still unedited De tinctura aeris Persici et de tinctura aeris Indici.

At least some of the the ZKG and TU ought to be online.  I wonder what the last text is?

There is also material which was published by Dodwell, on the catechical school at Alexandria, as Lardner mentions here:

…there is a particular account given of him [Athenagoras] by Philip Sidetes (who flourished in the beginning of the fifth century,) in a fragment of his Christian History published by (e) Dodwell. Philip says, Athenagoras was at first a Heathen, and that he intended to write against the Christians : but when he was reading the scriptures, with a view of making his work the more complete, he was converted. He says, that Athenagoras flourished under Adrian and Antoninus the Pious, to whom his Apology was presented; and that he was the first president of the catechetical school of Alexandria, and master of Clement, who wrote the Stromata.

e. Append. ad Diss. Iren. p. 488

I am pretty sure I obtained a copy of this long ago, and it is longer than this excerpt.  Another version of the same is here:

The statements of Philip Sidetes are as follows : “Athenagoras was the first leader of the school at Alexandria, flourishing in the time of Adrian and Antoninus, to whom he also addressed his Apology for the Christians. He was a man who christianized in the cloak and was president of the academic school. He, before Celsus, having been eager to write against the Christians, studied the Divine Scriptures in order to contend more carefully, and was thus caught by the all-holy Spirit; so that, like the great Paul, he became a teacher instead of a persecutor of the faith which he persecuted. Philip says that Clemens the writer of the Stromata was his disciple, and Pantsenus was the disciple of Clemens.” This fragment was first published by Dodwell in an appendix to his Dissertations on Irenseus.

There is an interesting discussion of the manuscript which contains these fragments, the Barocci 142 in the Bodleian in Oxford here.  Apparently C. de Boor borrowed the ms. from the Bodleian in the 19th century and took it to Germany.  Those were the days!  De Boor published notes on the ms. in ZKG 6 (1884) 478-94.

UPDATE: It turns out that I have the ZKG 6 article in PDF.  I also have the H. Dodwell, Dissertationes in Irenaeum.  Accedit fragmentum Philippi Sideti hactenus inediti de catechistarum Alexandrinorum successione.  Oxford, 1689. 

Quasten lists as well: C. De Boor, Neue Fragmente des Papias, Hegesippus und Pierus in bisher unbekannten Exzerpten aus der Kirchengeschichte des Philippus Sidetes (TU 5, 2), Leipzig, 1888, 165-184.  A. Wirth, Aus orientalischen Chroniken, Frankfurt am Main, 1894, 208-210 (on Adam and Eve).  E. Bratke, Das sogennante Religionsgesprach am Hof der Sassaniden (TU 19, 3) Leipzig 1899, 153-164.

I wonder if there has been any additions since the 1950’s.

TU 5 is here, and de Boor is on p.322-341 of the PDF.  Apparently “TU 19” is “TU 4 (New series)”, and is here.  Bratke starts on p.448 of the PDF.  Something about Philip appears in the text he prints, on p.476 of the PDF.  Wirth is here, on p.208 of the PDF.

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Mansi and the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve been looking at the volumes of Mansi on the Documenta Catholica Omnia site.  Volume 7 is really of quite poor quality, possibly too poor to use.  I went to look at p.187 to see what it had to say about Theodoret at the Council of Chalcedon, where he was met with suspicion as being a Nestorian and was forced, with great reluctance, to anathematize Nestorius.

The passage is on p.100 of the PDF.  It’s part of the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon; a record of the proceedings.  This is an ancient text about which I knew nothing before now — not even that it existed.  There seem to be Greek and Latin recensions. 

The Mansi volume 9 is even worse, in which I looked for the fragment of the history of Hesychius.  Both seem to derive from the French National Library site which has microfilms online.  We really need some quality copies of Mansi.

Returning to the Acts of Chalcedon, an English translation by Richard Price exists from Liverpool University Press, Translated Texts for Historians, so I suppose that there is no need for me to translate it.  A preview is here.

The dismal nature of the politics of the empire is revealed by this snippet from p.136 of the TTH text:

43. The most devout Egyptian bishops and those with them exclaimed: ‘Theodoret accused Cyril.  We exclude Cyril if we admit Theodoret.  The canons have expelled him.  He is rejected by God.’

44.  The most glorious officials and the exalted senate said: ‘These vulgar outbursts are not becoming to bishops nor useful to either party.  Allow everything to be read.’

45.  The Egyptian bishops and those with them exclaimed: ‘Expel that one man and we shall listen.  Our interjections are for the sake of piety.  We speak on behalf of the orthodox faith.’

46.  The most glorious officials and the exalted senate said: ‘Allow, rather, the hearing to be conducted according to God, and permit everything to be read in order.’

The whole process is followed with accusations of violence, and accusation and counter-accusation, and is of the highest interest as a witness to agora-style democracy under the colour of a church council.

The translators deserve a debt of gratitude for rendering this interesting document into English, dismal though the picture presented is.  The manner in which the florid eloquence of the period is presented to us is likewise very nice to see.

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Possible short works to translate from the Greek Fathers

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve now finished reading all the way through the 3rd volume of Quasten’s Patrology, looking for shortish works that would be interesting to turn into English and post online.  Here’s a digest.  I haven’t yet looked at any of the refs given.

  • Acacius of Beroea.  The literary remains of this contemporary of Cyril of Alexandria comprise 6 letters in all; PG 77, 99-102; PG 84, 647-8 + 658-660; and PG 41, 156 f.  No translations of any sort were listed, but apparently one of the letters is addressed to Cyril, recommending peace.  There are also 5 Syriac hymns which praise Acacius.  A German translation of these was published in the BKV 2nd ed. vol. 6 (1912), p. 71-89.
  • Hesychius mostly wrote long commentaries, but a fragment of his church history exists, in a Latin version, which was printed by Mansi, vol. 9, p. 248f.  This I would definitely like to do.  Mansi seems to be online at the Documenta Catholica Omnia site.
  • A bunch of letters by Nestorius exist, listed on Quasten p.518, including one written towards the end of his life to the people of Constantinople which is described as “interesting”.
  • The fragments of the Church History of Philip of Side, a contemporary of Chrysostom, are very short and definitely deserve attention.
  • Another bit of Mansi, vol. 7, p.187, describes the trials of Theodoret at the time of Chalcedon.  This needs to be looked at.

When I get a chance, I’ll look into all these further.

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