This essay uses three examples to demonstrate the importance of the physical senses for ancient C... more This essay uses three examples to demonstrate the importance of the physical senses for ancient Christianity. First, I consider the fifth century Christian historian Sozomen on the nature of ancient religion and its practices. Second, religious sound is explored as intrinsic to the practice of hymn singing and also as a source of religious knowledge. Finally, Romanos the Melodist, the sixth century Greek hymn writer, uses sensory imagery to present religious knowledge in its most basic cosmological formulation.
Early Syriac Christianity presents two notable paradigms for understanding liturgy as a means for... more Early Syriac Christianity presents two notable paradigms for understanding liturgy as a means for the ethical formation of the congregation. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) in his hymns for the Nativity vigil, and Jacob of Sarug (d. 521) in his verse homilies, each addressed their congregations in ways that utilized ritual participation in the liturgy for ethical and moral cultivation. Ephrem sought to instill his congregation with a biblical and theological understanding of the Nativity that would yield ethical enactment in the world. Jacob worked to use the experience of liturgical participation to mold the Christian’s moral disposition. For both, God’s salvation enabled the healing of the human condition in its various dimensions: physical, social, ecclesial. Liturgy as disciplined ritual activity provided the tools by which their congregations could learn, experience, and enact that healing.
The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and poss... more The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and possibly unique) for its public ministry of sacred music performed for liturgical purposes in civic churches. Syriac tradition ascribed the establishment of these choirs of consecrated virgins to Ephrem Syrus. Jacob of Serug's Homily on St. Ephrem presents these choirs as modeling soteriological as well as eschatological significance for the larger church community. This paper examines the context and content of what these choirs sang, in order to assess what authority this ministry carried for the ancient Syriac churches, and to suggest possible social implications.
Syriac tradition remembers the sixth century for the tragic separation of the Eastern and Orienta... more Syriac tradition remembers the sixth century for the tragic separation of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Byzantine emperor Justinian I is remembered as the harsh persecutor of the faithful, while his wife Theodora is revered as the " believing queen," champion and protectress of the dissenting non-Chalcedonian church. Greek and Syriac sources of the sixth century present more complex views of the imperial couple, with sharply differing portraits of Theodora used to interpret the reign. Later Syriac chronicles rework and reshape the sixth century material, fashioning a significantly changed historical experience for the Syriac Orthodox through a changed memory of Theodora's past.
This essay uses three examples to demonstrate the importance of the physical senses for ancient C... more This essay uses three examples to demonstrate the importance of the physical senses for ancient Christianity. First, I consider the fifth century Christian historian Sozomen on the nature of ancient religion and its practices. Second, religious sound is explored as intrinsic to the practice of hymn singing and also as a source of religious knowledge. Finally, Romanos the Melodist, the sixth century Greek hymn writer, uses sensory imagery to present religious knowledge in its most basic cosmological formulation.
Early Syriac Christianity presents two notable paradigms for understanding liturgy as a means for... more Early Syriac Christianity presents two notable paradigms for understanding liturgy as a means for the ethical formation of the congregation. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) in his hymns for the Nativity vigil, and Jacob of Sarug (d. 521) in his verse homilies, each addressed their congregations in ways that utilized ritual participation in the liturgy for ethical and moral cultivation. Ephrem sought to instill his congregation with a biblical and theological understanding of the Nativity that would yield ethical enactment in the world. Jacob worked to use the experience of liturgical participation to mold the Christian’s moral disposition. For both, God’s salvation enabled the healing of the human condition in its various dimensions: physical, social, ecclesial. Liturgy as disciplined ritual activity provided the tools by which their congregations could learn, experience, and enact that healing.
The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and poss... more The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and possibly unique) for its public ministry of sacred music performed for liturgical purposes in civic churches. Syriac tradition ascribed the establishment of these choirs of consecrated virgins to Ephrem Syrus. Jacob of Serug's Homily on St. Ephrem presents these choirs as modeling soteriological as well as eschatological significance for the larger church community. This paper examines the context and content of what these choirs sang, in order to assess what authority this ministry carried for the ancient Syriac churches, and to suggest possible social implications.
Syriac tradition remembers the sixth century for the tragic separation of the Eastern and Orienta... more Syriac tradition remembers the sixth century for the tragic separation of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Byzantine emperor Justinian I is remembered as the harsh persecutor of the faithful, while his wife Theodora is revered as the " believing queen," champion and protectress of the dissenting non-Chalcedonian church. Greek and Syriac sources of the sixth century present more complex views of the imperial couple, with sharply differing portraits of Theodora used to interpret the reign. Later Syriac chronicles rework and reshape the sixth century material, fashioning a significantly changed historical experience for the Syriac Orthodox through a changed memory of Theodora's past.
Wisdom on the Move explores the complexity and flexibility of wisdom traditions in Late Antiquity... more Wisdom on the Move explores the complexity and flexibility of wisdom traditions in Late Antiquity and beyond. This book studies how sayings, maxims and expressions of spiritual insight travelled across linguistic and cultural borders, between different religions and milieus, and how this multicultural process reshaped these sayings and anecdotes. Wisdom on the Move takes the reader on a journey through late antique religious traditions, from manuscript fragments and folios via the monastic cradle of Egypt, across linguistic and cultural barriers, through Jewish and Biblical wisdom, monastic sayings, and Muslim interpretations. Particular attention is paid to the monastic Apophthegmata Patrum, arguably the most important genre of wisdom literature in the early Christian world.
This book explores how the Virgin Mary's life is told in hymns, sermons, icons, art, and other me... more This book explores how the Virgin Mary's life is told in hymns, sermons, icons, art, and other media in the Byzantine Empire before AD 1204. A group of international specialists examines material and textual evidence from both Byzantine and Muslim-ruled territories that was intended for a variety of settings and audiences and seeks to explain why Byzantine artisans and writers chose to tell stories about Mary, the Mother of God, in such different ways. Sometimes the variation reflected the theological or narrative purposes of story-tellers; sometimes it expressed their personal spiritual preoccupations. Above all, the variety of aspects that this holy figure assumed in Byzantium reveals her paradoxical theological position as meeting-place and mediator between the divine and created realms. Narrative, whether 'historical', theological, or purely literary, thus played a fundamental role in the development of the Marian cult from Late Antiquity onward.
Gorgias Press is now accepting book proposals for its updated and inter-disciplinary book series:... more Gorgias Press is now accepting book proposals for its updated and inter-disciplinary book series: Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity (CLA). As part of its commitment to publish original academic works in the Humanities, Gorgias Press invites scholars to submit monographs, edited volumes and translations related to the Greco-Roman world and its transition into Late Antiquity, encompassing political and social structures, religion, knowledge and educational ideals, art, architecture and literature. The series will also be interested in studies that look at the interactions between the Greco-Roman worlds with other religious, geographical and cultural groups across the world – in particular those located in, or emerging from Arabia, Persia and Central Asia.
Gorgias Press' 2018 Islamic Studies' catalogue sets out a selection of Gorgias' published and for... more Gorgias Press' 2018 Islamic Studies' catalogue sets out a selection of Gorgias' published and forthcoming publications that are related to Islamic and Near Eastern studies, as well as studies carried out for other fields of research that intersect with Islamic studies.
Scenting SalvationAncient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination, 2006
Page 248. RESURRECTION, SENSATION, AND KNOWLEDGE We must eagerly hasten to Christ&amp... more Page 248. RESURRECTION, SENSATION, AND KNOWLEDGE We must eagerly hasten to Christ's fragrant perfume, so that the smell of death may flee far from us. Paulinus ofNola, Poem 31. J31-321 Since we no longer gaze ...
man who exalted himself above his calling" and was deposed by a synod because, among other m... more man who exalted himself above his calling" and was deposed by a synod because, among other matters, he used lots and augury to predict the future (15.7.7-8). Though Barnes notes that Ammianus is an unreliable witness for church matters (pp. 166-167), augury may be an old charge, reflecting a tale about a crow croaking Cras ["tomorrow"]. The seer Athanasius interpreted it for a crowd of pagans as "tomorrow the emperor will forbid entering temples for festivals" (Sozomen 4.10; a law in the Theodosian Code did close temples in November 353). Barnes is concerned with correcting Eduard Schwartz's picture of the fourth-century church as a Reichskirche, controlled by the emperor alone (especially p. 168). He upholds a more carefully nuanced view, with bishops finally determining the doctrine of the church. He therefore differentiates the dramatic opening ceremonies at Nicaea, beloved of church historians, from the basic deliberations of the council. And he notes that the emperors could not execute or even depose bishops, though of course they could put pressure on other bishops to act. Barnes repeatedly insists that Athanasius did not follow rhetorical rules or even Greek philosophical models when he composed his works. His main guides were native combative intelligence and scriptural texts as he understood them. This seems correct. One can hardly imagine the embattled Athanasius discussing the breathing of insects in the manner of Basil of Caesarea or a pre-mundane Fall with Gregory of Nyssa. He lived for the kind of rough-and-tumble that led up to the reigns of his successors Theophilus and Cyril, and like other theologians he grew out of touch with "current theological debate" (p. 154). Eleven important appendixes round out details in this remarkable contribution to fourth-century church and state history. It is hard to imagine that it will soon, if ever, be replaced.
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies (volume 8), 2009
The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and poss... more The Daughters of the Covenant held a distinctive office in Syriac Christianity, notable (and possibly unique) for its public ministry of sacred music performed for liturgical purposes in civic churches. Syriac tradition ascribed the establishment of these choirs of consecrated virgins to Ephrem Syrus. Jacob of Serug’s Homily on St. Ephrem presents these choirs as modeling soteriological as well as eschatological significance for the larger church community. This paper examines the context and content of what these choirs sang, in order to assess what authority this ministry carried for the ancient Syriac churches, and to suggest possible social implications. 1 Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Syriac Symposium IV, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey, July 2003; at the Center for Early Christian Studies, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, Feb. 2004; and to the Brown Seminar on Culture and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean, March 2004. I am grateful to participants in these occasions for constructive conversation and helpful suggestions, and above all to Joseph P. Amar and Sidney H. Griffith. 126 Susan Ashbrook Harvey [1] Among modern scholars, one of the best known characteristics of ancient Syriac Christianity is the institution of the Sons and Daughters of the Covenant, the Bnay and Bnat Qyama. Apparently originating in the third century CE, the office was characterized by vows of celibacy, voluntary poverty, and service to the local priest or bishop. Members were supposed to live separately with others of the same office, or with their families. The office appears to have been wide-spread in Syriac-speaking territories both east and west by the fourth century.2 The early fourth century Acts of the Edessan Martyrs Shmona and Guria note that Daughters of the Covenant were being specially targeted, along with priests and deacons, for public torture and execution during the Diocletianic persecution, attesting their public prominence.3 The Acts of the Persian Martyrs shortly thereafter recall similar treatment of Daughters of the Covenant during the persecutions of Shapur II.4 Among the first group of Demonstrations written by Aphrahat the Persian Sage in 337 is the renowned Demonstration 6, on the Members of the Covenant.5 The treatise is a lengthy exhortation addressed particularly to the men of that group on the importance of maintaining their vows of celibacy, and on the eschatological 2 G. Nedungatt, “The Covenanters of the Early Syriac-Speaking Church,” OCP 39 (1973), 191-215, 419-44. At their earliest, the Daughters of the Covenant may be similar to consecrated virgins (the subintroductae, or canonicae) elsewhere in the Roman Empire, prior to the emergence of monasticism as an institution. For these, see Susanna Elm, ‘Virgins of God’: the Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994). 3 Shmona and Guria, sec. 1, sec. 70; F. C. Burkitt (ed. and trans.), Euphemia and the Goth with the Acts of the Martyrdom of the Confessors of Edessa (London: Williams and Norgate, 1913). 4 E.g., Martha the daughter of Posi; Tarbo and her maidservant; Thekla, Danaq, Taton, Mama, Mezakhya and Anna, of Karka d-Beth Slokh; Abyat, Hathay, and Mezakhya, from Beth Garmay; Thekla, Mary, Martha, and Emmi, of Bekhashaz. All these are identified by name as Daughters of the Covenant, but more are indicated by the texts. See the episodes collected in Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey, Holy Women of the Syrian Orient (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), 63-82. 5 Aphrahat, Dem. 6, D. I. Parisot (ed.), Aphraatis sapientis persae demonstrationes, in PS 1, R. Graffin (ed.) (Paris, 1894), 241-311; J. Gwynn (trans.) in Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 13: 362-75. Revisiting the Daughters of the Covenant 127 significance of those vows. In the fifth century, evidence increases with references from canonical legislation, historical chronicles, homiletic and hagiographical literature all contributing to form a picture of a church office of men and women actively engaged in civic ecclesiastical activity, in terms that rendered it quite distinct from the contemporaneously developing monastic movement. Indeed, monasticism did not replace this office. References continue certainly until the tenth century and more rarely into the middle ages.6 [2] On closer examination, however, evidence for the office of Covenanter is frustratingly thin. References may abound, but they are often only that: passing mention that Members of the Covenant were included in an incident. Most frustrating of all, at least for the historian of women, is that the majority of references to this office specifically refer to the men—the Sons of the Covenant. These are the primary addressees and concern of Aphrahat’s Demonstration 6 in the fourth century; they are the primary target of Rabbula’s canonical legislation in the fifth century, and they are the most…
... and some of his other works from the same period, Brown has emphasized the huge impact ex-ert... more ... and some of his other works from the same period, Brown has emphasized the huge impact ex-erted on him by his acquaintance with Mary Douglas and her scholarship.∞π As Susanna Elm explains, for ... In the first issue, the founding editors, Elizabeth Clark and Everett ...
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