Sever J. Voicu: Severian of Gabala: the Way Ahead

     Currently 62 complete homilies by Severian of Gabala are known; 53 survive in Greek; 9 complete homilies are only known in translation: 8 in Armenian and one in Georgian. They were all delivered in Constantinople from Lent of 401 until Summer of 402.     Fragments from at least five otherwise lost homilies are also known in Greek, Armenian and, perhaps, Latin.     The planned critical edition is an important venture. Undoubtedly we will gain a more precise picture of Severian’s oeuvre, highlighting its unique importance as a source – at least – for the Constantinopolitan liturgy around the year 400.     However, it is still necessary to define objective criteria on the authenticity of each individual text (and its parts), since: 1. different reconstructions of Severian’s oeuvre have been proposed; 2. some attributions to Severian in the manuscripts are undoubtedly wrong; 3. in Greek Severian’s homiletic corpus was transferred by the mid-6th century under John Chrysostom’s name.     An agreement about how a text qualifies as authentic is vital for the whole project.      Additional tasks can be considered: 1. assessing the authenticity of the fragments transmitted by the Pauline catenae, overcoming the shortcomings of Staab’s edition; 2. a systematic search of Severianic testimonia in the florilegia; 3. looking for additional works that may be hidden among the unpublished homilies attributed to John Chrysostom, in Greek, Armenian and Slavonic, perhaps in Arabic. That also includes the many unidentifed fragments that have been used to compose derivative texts.