Thursday 7 May 2015

Johannes Börjesson: Roman Florilegia on the Holy Spirit: Codex Parisinus Graecus 1115, Hadrianum, and the Lost Florilegium of Theodore I

This paper considers Roman florilegia on the Spirit that date from the very start of the conflict between East and West regarding the Spirit’s procession. Codex Parisinus graecus 1115 is a copy of a codex that was created in the papal chancery in 774/5. The patristic quotations of the extant florilegium on the Spirit within this codex are of a broad order; while many of them affirm a procession through the Son, some of them speak of a procession from the Son, while others do not mention the procession at all. Alexander Alexakis has shown that this is a pro-Latin collection, albeit from a very early date in the conflict. Alexakis has also shown that there are textual overlaps between this collection and Adrian I’s Hadrianum (793). In Hadrianum, Adrian argues explicitly for the procession through the Son, and does so from a very mixed range of quotations, even using citations that affirm the procession from the Son. This paper uses these multifaceted collections to throw light on Pope Theodore’s I now lost florilegium (c. 643), which is attested by Maximus the Confessor in Opusculum 10. The textual links between the three collections are considered, and their theological character investigated. It is demonstrated that these florilegia shared similar purposes, which reflect Rome’s position at a time before it accepted the interpolated creed. It is finally suggested that the strategy of considering these collections together offers a more secure route to reconstructing Theodore’s florilegium than approaches based purely on theological conjecture.

No comments:

Post a Comment