Since its first edition by Marsh in 1927, the Book of the Holy Hierotheos (BHH) attributed to Stephen bar Sudaili has been little studied, and the latest findings of new manuscripts containing the Book seem to call for a new critical edition that would stimulate research on this extremely obscure and fascinating chapter of the history of late ancient Syriac mysticism.
In this paper I argue that we should not edit the text again, and that we should substitute a strictly philological/ecdotic model of approach to this text with a narratological/intertextual one. Lachmaniann stemmatics, which works faultlessly for some kinds of works, is powerless for works with a weak authorship such as the BHH; This impasse, however, can be overcome through the use of different theoretical models. In the case of the BHH, the constellation of concepts such as continuum, diastratic-diatopic-diachronic composition, intertextuality, and multiple agents, appears much more useful to assess and understand the BHH as historical and literary phenomenon. Through this analysis I aim to contribute not just to the studies on the Book but, by providing a model to deal with literary golems (such as the BHH) which lack one unique and identifiable origin, to the broader field of textual criticism of Patristic and Medieval texts.
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