Anthony GELSTON: The Post-Sanctus in the East Syrian Anaphoras

The preservation of most of the Post-Sanctus in the fragmentary sixth-century anaphora, in relation to which some preliminary questions were addressed in my paper at the last Patristics Conference (published in SP 64, 2013, 105-9), makes possible a comparative study of this section in all four extant East Syrian anaphoras. This paper offers a comparison of the contents of each Post-Sanctus, and examines significant areas of agreement, as well as features which are unique to and distinctive of each anaphora. A few suggestive parallels in West Syrian anaphoras are also noted.

Aza Goudriaan: Nicaea: Origin of the Decline of Christianity? Early Modern anti-Trinitarian Historiography and the Protestant Response

Early modern anti-trinitarians, such as Michael Servet and Christian Francken, criticized the Council of Nicaea (325) for having introduced Trinitarian dogma and, therefore, initiated the decay of Christianity. In this perspective, pre-Nicene theology provided a cradle and confirmation for anti-trinitarian theology. This theological historiography and its rebuttal by Protestants such as Franciscus Junius and Amandus Polanus involved the construction of competing patristic arguments. Several of these arguments are analyzed in this paper.

Carl Griffin: Vessel of Wrath: Judas Iscariot in Cyrillona

The character of Judas features in three Syriac poems by Cyrillona (fl. 399) on the Last Supper and Last Discourse of Jesus. This paper explores the role that Cyrillona creates for Judas as a shocking example of Christ-betrayal, as an antitype of Jesus and the faithful disciples, and as an agent of Jewish intrigue. Judas's dramatic and symbolic potential is cultivated to propel the narrative, but Cyrillona also reveals distinctive exegetical and theological interests in his consideration of the washing of the feet, the giving of the sop, and Judas's departure from the Cenacle. While tracing the lines of reception that connect Cyrillona with earlier Syriac tradition, I also consider ways in which Cyrillona prefigures later dramatizations of Judas.

Camille Gerzaguet: Preaching in Northern Italy (360-450) : A Pedagogy of Faith

As far as Italy is concerned, several collections of sermons of the IV^th and V^th centuries have been kept. Among them, the sermons of Zeno of Verona, Gaudentius of Brescia, Chromatius of Aquileia, Maximus of Turin, Peter Chrysologus (for Ambrose of Milan, Explanationes in XII palmos and De sacramentis are concerned) provide a consistent and coherent set of a geographically and culturally bounded area. The paper shall consider the role of sermons over the period from the 360s to the 450s in Northern Italy in a twofold perspective. It is actually about understanding the extent to which preaching, as a major driver of faith, served as a means of unifying and spreading the ecclesia. It is also about analyzing how preaching was also used to categorize individuals according to their degree of spiritual advancement by creating some boundaries inside the community. Becoming Christian in Late Antiquity implied to follow a spiritual progression which could be enlighted by the study of preaching. As rallying as splitting point, the sermon established the place of the faithful in Church. From a liturgical point of view, I will focus then on the lectures that were marked out for some of these status, especially catechumeni, competentes, neophyti (for example, the lifes of the Patriarchs were read to the competentes in Milan), and on the exegetical discourse, spiritual or moral, that was related to these lectures. Such an analysis on sermons must also include a sociological approach. Therefore, it will highlight the variety and composition of audiences: was it really a selection that came to worship (MacMullen 1989) ? Did that make a difference preaching in a small town or in an imperial capital ? Finally, the interactions between preachers and audiences (adresses, questions etc.) will be analyzed from a pastoral point view. The whole approach should help to understand how the process of becoming Christian was anchored in a pedagogy of faith.

Susan Griffith: Apostolic authority and the ‘incident at Antioch’: Chrysostom on Galatians 2:11-14

Paul’s confrontation of Peter in Antioch, as related in Galatians 2:11-14, caused much consternation for the exegetes of the early church. Controversy over how these two foundational apostles could clash produced multiple divergent theories, and even provided fodder for pagan critics. Chrysostom’s interpretation of the passage is often incorrectly lumped with that of other fathers. This paper looks closely at Chrysostom’s elaborate explanation in his occasional homily on the pericope (In illud: In faciem ei restiti), and compares this to the exegesis found in his better-known sermon series on Galatians (In epistulam ad Galatas commentarius). Chrysostom’s interpretations are placed in the context of other patristic and pagan understandings and deployments of the Pauline text, as well as the history of the development of concepts of authority in the early church.

Zachary Guiliano: The sermons of Pseudo-Maximus of Turin: authenticity, transmission, and theology

In late antiquity and in the Middle Ages, hundreds of sermons were attributed to the fourth-century preaching bishop, Maximus of Turin. The authenticity of these sermons has been contested since the early modern period, culminating in the mid-twentieth century with the critical essays and, ultimately, CCSL edition of Almut Mutzenbecher, which has been the basis of research ever since. The manuscript basis of Mutzenbecher's work, however, is questionable and based on a faulty assessment of several early witnesses to the work of Maximus. Her criteria for excluding certain sermons also needs re-examining. This paper will return to the sermons that Mutzenbecher deemed pseudepigraphal, examining their transmission in various manuscripts (especially homiliary manuscripts) and their theological character, before offering some initial attributions and explanations for their origin.

Ian Gerdon: The Evagrian Roots of Maximus the Confessor's Liber Asceticus

As yet, only one alternative has been posed to Polycarp Sherwood's dating of Maximus the Confessor's Liber Asceticus (LA) to the earliest strata of his writings (i.e., by 626 CE): Irénée-Henri Dalmais's suggestion that the work's Christological and Scriptural maturity indicates a late composition. Dalmais's eloquent praise for LA is widely cited; his proposed date is not. Yet no attempt has been made to refute his argument, despite the insight and clarification to be gained from such an attempt.
I will use Dalmais's position as a point of departure for reconsidering the relationship between Maximus and his monastic predecessor Evagrius Ponticus. In order to stress the maturity of LA, Dalmais attempts to disentangle the work from the deep Evagrian influence found in the undisputedly early text Capita de Caritate, which appears to be a companion to LA. I will show on the contrary that LA is founded on ideas drawn from Evagrius's Thoughts and Praktikos. It is precisely Maximus's remarkable Christological grounding for asceticism that clearly shows his debt to Evagrius, for the two motifs that give Christological meaning to the double love commandment in LA are found in Thoughts 1 and Praktikos 5. Maximus does not simply give a new orientation to Evagrian material, as Dalmais states: he develops an implicit possibility of Evagrian asceticism and Christology. From this vantage, it will be possible to refine our understanding of the continuity and development of Evagrian thought in Maximus's early ascetic works.

Mihai Grigoras: Theophany at Maximus the Confessor and Johannes Scotus Eriugena

The aim of this paper is to compare the concept of theophany (i.e. the divine manifestation) at Maximus the Confessor and Johannes Scotus Eriugena. Maximus, in Ambigua ad Johannem, and Eriugena, in Periphyseon, show that God reveals Himself in both invisible and visible realities of the universe (which have their cause and purpose in Him) and allows them to participate in Him, during the ascendant process of reversion towards the divine unifying simplicity. In developing their doctrines, both authors point out two major stages: the descendant of Godhead towards human beings (I will refer here only to them, although it is known that angels are also receivers of the divine manifestation) and the ascension of human beings towards God. This bivalent process depends on a sum of moral and intellectual conditions that human beings need to accomplish in order to be able to contemplate God throughout the creation. Here comes out one of the main differences between Maximus and Eriugena: while the former emphasizes the practical life and the struggle against sins as a starting point towards gaining knowledge, hence the possibility of seeing God in creation, the latter seems to pass cursory over the purgatio, and to treat quite straightly the illuminatio and the deificatio. An explanation for the Eriugenian highlight on the intellectual struggle instead of the ascetic one (more specific to Maximus) must come from the different monastic traditions (Western comparing to Eastern) and from the historical context in which the two authors wrote their works.

Justus Ghormley: Gratitude: A Panacea for the Passions in John Chrysostom's Commentary on the Psalms

In recent decades, scholars have increasingly appreciated the cognitive dimension of emotions. Classicists point to Greek writers-from Aristotle to Plutarch-for whom the emotions were "responsive to cognitive modification" (Nussbaum 1996, 78). Early Greek Christian thinkers-including John Chrysostom-who were reared within a Greek philosophical milieu, took such an understanding of the emotions for granted in their exegesis of Christian scripture and in their articulation of the moral life. For Chrysostom, the emotion gratitude, in particular, played a central role in the moral development of the Christian. In his largely overlooked commentary on the Psalms, the Antiochene preacher repeatedly flags the importance of thanksgiving in the Christian's struggle against the passions, most especially avarice. While avarice impedes individuals from enjoying the blessings generously bestowed by the Christian God-the heavenly patron-gratitude changes one's perception about reality so that one may enjoy the benefits of life even in the midst of suffering. Through the cultivation of gratitude, the Christian may rise above suffering and escape from the pain inflicted by greed. Given the importance of gratefulness in overcoming the passions-especially greed-Chrysostom prescribes for his audience various therapeutic mental exercises designed to foster gratitude. By turning one's attention to the marvels and mercies of God manifested in creation and in salvation history, the Christian will succeed in cultivating gratitude and thereby will overcome the passions.

Nicole Guerriero: Examining the tension between Philosophy and Theology in the Soul’s Journey towards Salvation, in the works of Saint Augustine

This short communication is part of a larger project concerning Saint Augustine’s treatment of the soul, focusing on The Homilies on the Gospel of John and Exposition of the Psalms.  This study explores Augustine’s identification of the soul, not only as humanity’s link to the divine, but also as the key to humanity’s salvation, with the hope of contributing to our understanding of Augustine’s soteriology and Christology, given the centrality of the soul to these areas of thought in his works.  This communication will focus on the role of the philosopher in the ascent of the soul, as described through Augustine’s use of two seemingly separate images.  The first is the ascender, found in The Exposition of the Psalms, focussing on his exposition of Psalms 119-121, and the second is the navigator from The Homilies on the Gospel of John.  This critical approach suggests that when examined together, these images expose a tension between the role of philosophy and theology in the soul’s journey towards salvation.  With the ascender and the navigator, knowing which mountain serves as the example and which leads to their destruction, is essential to a truly salvific ascent.  Augustine’s hermeneutics holds the key to understanding the link between these texts, thereby providing the foundation for a unique approach to understanding the role of the soul in the works of Saint Augustine as a whole.

Maya Goldberg: New Syriac Edition and Translation of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Exegesis on Paul’s Minor Epistles

The ms. (olim) Diyarbakir 22, a rich Syriac hybrid of commentaries on the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, has remained, for the most part, an untapped primary source for the study of Theodore of Mopsuestia’s exegesis and theology.
My current project, also involving significant coopration from Dr Emiliano Fiori, is the preparation of the first edition, translation and analysis of the commentary on four of Paul’s Epistles extant in the ms.—Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians—which to a large extent relies on Theodore’s exegesis, translated into the Syriac directly from the Greek.
The central element of the project is a detailed and critical comparison of the Theodorian segments in the ms. with the Latin translation of Theodore’s complete commentary on the Minor Epistles, as well as with the very few surviving original Greek fragments (both edited by Henry B. Swete). An additional advantage to the comparison with the Latin is the identification of Theodore-inspired segments representing the reworking and reception of his commentary by later East-Syrian exegetes, such as Isho‛ bar Nun and Theodore bar Koni, who were heavily influenced by the great Interpreter. The remainder of the commentary is extracted from Isho‛dad of Merv’s work on the Minor Epistles, and in the published volume will be juxtaposed with a first Syriac edition of his commentary as it appears in sections from the Gannat Busame.

Maria Giulia Genghini: “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything” (AP Moses 6): how the physical environment shaped the spirituality of early Egyptian monasticism

The following study proposes a re-evaluation of literary sources about Early Egyptian Monasticism, in particular The Life of Anthony by Athanasius and Palladius’ Lausiac History, in light of the archaeological and documentary evidences discovered about Egypt during the 1980s but only recently taken into account in the scholarly debate. The paper focuses specifically on the geography of the cell in which the first Egyptian monks trained themselves into ascetic practice. The leading question is whether or not the spatiality of the cell should be considered to have a transformative effect on the spirituality of the different ascetic movements. First, I am going to explore the notion of “desert” in the making of early Egyptian ascetic saints as revealed by The Life of Anthony. Secondly, I will argue that a more attentive use of literary sources can shed new light upon the use of space in Early Egyptian monasticism as long as we commit ourselves to read these sources with the help of documentary and archaeological evidences. This section will focus primarily on the Lausiac History as an example of such re-reading. Lastly, I will examine the new portrait of early monasticism and try to point out some of the peculiar aspects of ancient asceticism as they appear from the spatial analysis of the monk in his cell. In particular, I will argue that the supposedly intimate space of the cell has, in fact, been fundamental in shaping the relations between the first monks and the surrounding ecclesiastical and imperial environment.

Christa Gray: Whose story? Approaching sources and narrators in Jerome's Lives of desert saints

There is currently an emerging interest among scholars in applying sophisticated literary methods to hagiographical writings in order to gain a deeper understanding of the texts and their cultural role. Among these approaches is the use of narratology. I propose to investigate the narrator of Jerome's three Lives, the Vitae Pauli, Malchi, and Hilarionis, through an analysis of the narrator's attitudes and emotions, both those expressed in the narrator's own voice and those implicit in the narrative structures of the texts. I shall also consider the sources from which the narrator claims to have the information recounted in the text, and outlines the ways in which those sources may have been adapted.
In the course of such an analysis it becomes clear that the narrating voices are far from stable and reliable, and that they vary dramatically across the three Lives. Whereas large parts of the Vitae Pauli and Malchi are focalised through the linear experience of a prominent protagonist, Antony and Malchus respectively, the Vita Hilarionis comes closest to a biography in the Plutarchan tradition. The narrator wants to give a full and objective picture of the subject's life. The structure varies between chronological progression and episodic anecdotes which are probably sourced in the main from Hilarion's disciples. This complexity makes it harder to draw a-priori conclusions about the narrator; but here a comparison with the other two Lives allows readers to contextualise individual phrases and statements with regard to their ideological and affective connotations.

Paschalis Gkortsilas: The Lives of Others: Pagan and Christian role models in John Chrysostom's thought

This paper's intention is to present the prominent role of pagan and Christian figures as archetypes of vices and virtues in the writings of John Chrysostom. In the broader context of Chrysostom’s reception of Hellenism, the martyrs and the saints play a prominent role, serving both as role models and as living proofs of an emergent and victorious Christianity. In his rhetoric, martyrdom becomes a very significant point of divergence from Hellenism, precisely because, according to John, the Hellenes cannot claim any martyrs for their religion. During his time there were many points of contention between pagans and Christians. What we will try to attempt is a preliminary effort to collect and analyse this material, while at the same time trying to contextualise it within the larger context of John's reception of Hellenism. While the lives of the apostles and martyrs are sometimes the object of comparison with the lives of philosophers, these bioi are primarily used as exemplifications of contrasts that John sees as characteristics of Christianity and paganism. These include the antithesis between syllogisms and pistis, the effectiveness of each religion's persuasion, and the attitude of believers under persecution. Finally, the theme of usefulness also appears often in John's comparisons, and one of his major arguments against the most eminent philosophers of Hellenism is that their lives (in some cases) and theories (in other cases) were ultimately worthless, because they either served no purpose at all or plainly failed.

Patricia Grosse: Augustine’s Two Flights and Our Two Cupidities: Loving Extension as Human Interaction

In his Confessions, Augustine describes two out-of-body experiences that lead him to two different kinds of knowledges. His first experience, cut short by the crushing weight of sexual habit, leads him to a non-material understanding of divinity; his second experience ends gently and prepares the way for his mother’s death. Both of these readings seem to align with readings of Augustine as one who sees soul and mind as separate from flesh and yearning for the divine. Augustine’s account of love as double, as bifurcated into quiet caritas and wild concupiscentia seems to support this claim as well. Does proper transformation of “Fallen” flesh to “Resurrected” flesh lend itself into a world without concupiscence?

In this paper, I will explore the interrelation between ecstatic vision and earthly love in Augustine. In Part One, I will offer an analysis of Augustine’s Neoplatonic vision in Confessions VII with reference to his account of uncontrollable cupidity as a result of the Fall. In Part Two, I will read Augustine’s account in Book IX of his vision with his mother alongside the possibility of the transformation of cupidity. Augustine’s two cupidities offer not only a transformative possibility in time or out of time, but an understanding of human being that is bodied and socially extended through love. Augustine is no immaterialist denouncer of the flesh: the perfection of human love at the time of resurrection (or through the grace of God in this world) does not involve the destruction of concupiscence, but its transformation.

Caroline Goodson: Materiality and Monastic Observance: Vegetable Gardening in Late Antique Italy

Among the many changes to life in late antique Italy was the rise in town houses which included productive food gardens. Letters of Pope Gregory I describe several properties which were endowed with food gardens in order to the support the religious households located in the middle of Rome, where they were unable -- or chose not -- to buy onions and lettuces at market. These houses that Gregory’s letters describe find echoes in other cities of Italy in the sixth century. Urban gardening in late antiquity was not simply a by-product of a breakdown in urban density and the disappearance of markets for everyday foods, the widely recognised phenomenon of 'ruralisation' of the city. Two intellectual elements also played roles in the phenomenon, lending it a conceptual justification: the legacy of estate management and the value of self-sufficiency for religious communities especially monastic ones and — to a lesser degree — the value of the garden for medicinal purposes and the developing role of religious households as places of curing and sustenance. This paper will discuss the evidence for clerical and monastic fruit and vegetable production in the cities of Italy, evaluating the change in functions of the cities against other cases of episcopal or monastic sponsorship of urban production.

Daniel Galadza: Studying Byzantine Prayer Books: Taxonomies of Prayers and Manuscripts

This paper presents an historical overview of the study of the Byzantine prayer book—the Euchologion. The modern study of the Euchologion began with Jacques Goar's (1601–1653) edition Euchologion, sive Rituale Graecorum... in 1647 and continued with Alexei Dmitrievskii's (1856–1929) Opisanie liturgicheskikh rukopisei..., vol. 2: Euchologia, published in 1901. Since then, various taxonomies of the Euchologion have been proposed by liturgiologists based on the liturgical environment where the book was used [Miguel Arranz (1930–2008)], the textual recensions of its liturgies and prayers [André Jacob (b. 1933)], and the regional provenance of Euchologion manuscripts [Stefano Parenti (b. 1959)], to name a few. These taxonomies are presented and analyzed in order to understand the current state of research, propose classifications of Euchologia prayers and manuscripts, and indicate questions and desiderata for further research.

David Greenwood: Early Christian Liturgy through Others' Eyes from Pliny to AmmianusEarly Christian Liturgy through Others' Eyes from Pliny to Ammianus

This paper will examine evidence regarding Christian liturgy from non-Christian sources ranging from Pliny to Ammianus Marcellinus. I will analyse their attestations regarding both their comprehension of Christian liturgy and the historical significance of their interaction with it.

Christopher Graham: The Form-giving Meaning of Way-language in Irenaeus's Epideixis

This paper will demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between the purpose and structure of Irenaeus's Epideixis and the meaning of way-language in that text. The tentative consensus has been that way-language is used in the preface with some relationship to the so-called Two Ways tradition. Scholars have neglected, however, to correlate its usage in the preface with its usage through the rest of the work (Epid. 16; 41; 89; 98). An examination of its appearance throughout the text shows that Irenaeus employed way-language primarily as a means to connect the way of the reader with the way as it is referred to in the narrative of Scripture from the expulsion (Gen 3:24) to the creation of the Church (Acts 9:2). This challenges not only the contemporary interpretive consensus with regard to way-language in the preface but also the regnant model of the text's rhetorical form, that is, a bipartite structure employed to strengthen the reader's faith through a demonstration of the legitimacy of the apostles' teaching which is the object of the reader's faith. Instead, when Irenaeus's stated purpose, "to demonstrate, by means of a summary, the preaching of the truth, so as to strengthen your faith," is read with this deliberate use of way-language in mind, the work emerges not as a bi-fold argument for the objective content of the reader's faith but as an affirmation of the subjective side of the reader's faith through an elucidation of the origin of that faith.

Brian Gronewoller: Reading Homer, Reading God: Augustine's Hermeneutic of God's oeconomica dispositio in mor. 1.6.10-17.30

Over the past two decades scholars such as Robert Dodaro, Kathy Eden, and Michael Cameron have called attention to the influence that Augustine’s rhetorical education had on his exegetical method and theological discourse. Recently, M. Cameron (2012) briefly engaged Augustine’s incorporation of the concept of oeconomica dispositio with his hermeneutical approach to both the Christian scriptures and the created order. This paper builds upon Cameron’s work, arguing that Augustine employed such a hermeneutic from the earliest years of his Christian writing career, seen in his argumentation that supports his redefinition of the cardinal virtues in mor. 1.15.25. I will make this argument in two movements. First, Augustine’s use of the terms disponere and dispensatio in 1.7.11, 1.16.27, and 1.17.30 combine to reveal that he viewed the scriptures as written by a single, perfect author – the Trinitarian God. I will show that this view of authorship freed Augustine to interpret a constellation of disparate scriptural texts in 1.8.13 through 1.14.24 according to Quintilian’s mos Homericus, charitably reading all pericopes as intentionally arranged by their author to best communicate his or her message to the audience. Second, when brought into conversation with Augustine’s theory of language, I will show that 1.16.27 and 1.6.10-7.11 reveal that Augustine also applied such a hermeneutic to God’s authorship of the created order. This paper will contribute to scholarship by demonstrating that Augustine incorporated the rhetorical concept of oeconomica dispositio into his hermeneutical approach to scripture and creation from the beginning of his Christian writing career.