Walter Beers: Knowing and Ordering Communal History in the Corpus of John of Ephesus (c. 507–88)

Despite a few signal contributions, John of Ephesus, Syriac author of the Lives of the Eastern Saintsand a partially-preserved Ecclesiastical History, remains seriously understudied. In his corpus we encounter an old man’s reflections on half a century spent in the growing anti-chalcedonian movement, from the watershed of the 520s to the renewed persecutions and schisms of the 570s and 80s. John’s works, like those of other miaphysite authors of the period, are concerned with justifying the existence of his religious community in the face of the rejection of Constantinople, Rome and many of his fellow Christians.This paper will explore how both his works strive to invent a mode of knowing ecclesial community that prioritizes the charismatic and martyrological over the doctrinal and theological. He seeks out the roots of this community in the charism of its ascetics and bishops in the Lives of the Eastern Saints, and in the (mostly) figurative martyrdoms of its clergy and monks in the Ecclesiastical History—always with a strong emphasis on oral sources. Like his younger contemporaries John Rufus and Zachariah of Mytilene, John finds in historiography and hagiography tools with which to marshal his proofs for the legitimacy of the miaphysite church and to organize his and his contemporaries’ oral histories into a cohesive narrative of communal formation. It will be seen that implicit in this narrative is a contrast between a past generation of ascetic prowess and courageous witness, and a present one marked by greed, pride, and faction.

Todd French: Just Deserts: Origen’s lingering influence on divine justice in the hagiographies of John of Ephesus

The Lives of the Eastern Saints by John of Ephesus has been received as a twilight reminiscence of the Miaphysite community in Syria. This paper challenges that notion through the examination of John’s role as Justinian’s “Converter of Pagans,” and the influence of Origen’s theologies on hagiographical renderings of retributive justice. The paper works at the intersection of contemporary theological influence, imperially-inspired identity making, and Christian sectarian response to developing legal sanctions.

Re-reading John’s narrative mosaic, with attention to the fact that his saints are carefully selected and highly stylized, raises interesting questions: Citing John’s close ties to Justinian, why did John depict his Miaphysite saints as literary heroes? Given the charged nature of Origen’s theology—and prior condemnation—do John’s vignettes play a role in crafting a tradition that defeats restorative theology (apokatastasis)? How do these themes relate to Justinian’s concept of divine justice and why is this exemplified in the lives of John’s Syrian saints?

This paper argues for a nuanced tradition of hagiography that is increasingly political and theological. John infuses his saints with providential power and divine justice, crafting an idealized world of holiness that conflates divine and imperial justice, condemns unfashionable theologies, emphasizes an estranged community’s saints, and is deferential to imperial interests. Whether John’s intentions are realized is up for debate. We can, however, read his work with amplified meaning, supplementing our perspectives on the Syrian holy man and his role in the shaping of later Christian traditions.

Christine Shepardson: [WS] Representing the Saints: John of Ephesus's Lives and the Polarization of the Chalcedonian Conflict

In the fifth century a theological controversy over the relation of the divine and human aspects of the second Person of the Christian Trinity became sharply politicized. The emperor called the Council of Chalcedon in 451, but many Christians in the eastern Mediterranean rejected its outcome, and political favor vacillated as subsequent emperors sought a compromise. By the late sixth century, the church was permanently divided in schism, fueled by decades of persecution, political rivalries, and hostile propaganda. Anti-Chalcedonian Christians have traditionally been marginalized in western scholarship, initially because westerners considered them "heretics" and later because few could read the languages in which their histories were preserved. Nevertheless, their texts offer valuable insights into the escalation of this conflict and the rhetorical means by which those who rejected the Council's outcome constructed an alternate narrative of recent events, including strong memories of persecution. My paper will examine the Syriac Lives of the Eastern Saints by the sixth-century anti-Chalcedonian leader John of Ephesus through the lens of memory studies. I will argue that John carefully shaped his stories of persecuted saints in ways that encouraged a coherent history and identity for the disparate anti-Chalcedonian community and facilitated religious radicalization and the move toward irreconcilable schism.