Tuesday 28 June 2011

Johan Leemans - John Chrysostom on Pentecost


In this paper I will discuss John Chrysostom’s sermon(s) on Pentecost, traditionally known as In pentecosten 1 and 2 (CPG 4343; ed. PG 50.453-470). After discussion of introductory issues (time and place of delivery) my analysis will address this text as a festal sermon: through a heortological analysis (compare J. Rexer on Gregory of Nyssa’s festal sermons) I will understand the proprium of the sermon as related to the mystagogical aspect of the feast of Pentecost. The use of Scriptural borrowings and of the rhetoric of the Second Sophistic will be helpful in this regard.  As contra-point Chrysostom’s exegesis of the pericope of Acts 2 in his Homilies 4-5 on the Book of Acts will be adduced. All in all, our paper should result in one of the first contributions focusing entirely on this rather neglected text. The paper is part of a larger project on Greek festal sermons between 350 and 450 AD.

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