Sergey Minov: The "Cave of Treasures" - West-Syrian or East-Syrian? An examination of the work's exegetical background

In my presentation I shall address the problem of ideological milieu of the “Cave of Treasures”. This pseudepigraphic work that offers a unique reworking of the biblical narrative was written in Syriac, most likely, during the sixth century. By that time the Syriac-speaking Christian world had been already split into the two major factions – West-Syrian and East-Syrian. When it comes to the “Cave”, however, it is notoriously difficult to ascertain to which of these two camps its author belonged.

I believe that an answer to this question might be provided by examining the exegetical background of this work. With that goal in mind, I have chosen to focus on the following exegetical traditions used by the “Cave”’s author - (1) interpretation of the “spirit of God” (Gen 1:2); (2) interpretation of Noah’s drunkenness (Gen 9:20-27); (3) question of the diet of John the Baptist (Mt 3:4); (4) use of the Adam-Christ typology.

As I intend to demonstrate, the way the author of the “Cave” handles these topics betrays his closeness to the West-Syrian and Alexandrian exegetical tradition. Taken together with the absence of any recognizable influence of Theodore of Mopsuestia in the “Cave”, it brings us to the conclusion that this work was authored by a West-Syrian Christian.