Marie-Anne VANNIER, Sivia BARA BANCEL, Markus VINZENT: Maître Eckhart, lecteur d'Augustin

Maître Eckhart, même s’il n’est pas nommé comme Bonaventure par exemple le second Augustin, n’en est pas moins l’un des meilleurs lecteurs d’Augustin, celui qui a pénétré les intuitions de l’évêque d’Hippone et en a dégagé l’enjeu non seulement pour son époque, mais de manière plus universelle encore, à tel point que son actualité en ressort encore.Pour le mettre en évidence, nous étudierons systématiquement les œuvres d’Eckhart au cours de ce workshop, pour préciser la réception qu’il a faite d’Augustin, comment il le réinterprète pour son époque. De manière croisée également, nous reprendrons les grandes thématiques : anthropologiques, trinitaires… pour y rechercher les convergences et les prolongements qu’Eckhart propose de la pensée d’Augustin.Jusqu’ici, le rapport entre Eckhart et Augustin n’a été envisagé que de manière partielle, nous souhaitons mettre en évidence la source augustinienne (qui occupe plus de cent trente pages des occurrences de l’index patristique de l’œuvre d’Eckhart) et en dégager les enjeux, ce qui renouvellera la lecture d’Eckhart, qui n’est pas tant un disciple de Denys l’Aréopagite (qui occupe à peine quelques pages des occurrences de l’Index) que d’Augustin.Pour en rendre compte, nous prendrons l'exemple du Commentaire du Livre de la Sagesse d'Eckhart.

Junxiao Bai: The Beauty of God in the Numerical Order: St. Augustine's Musical Cosmology

This research explains how, based on a musical cosmology, Augustine theorizes his concept of beauty regarding the transcendent and immanent attributes of God by examining the numerical-harmonic order. It argues that for Augustine, the beauty of God is manifested by the numerical/harmonic Modus which determines the unchangeable laws in both the physical and metaphysical realms. It deals with the term “Beauty” as an attribute of God rather than an aesthetical object and addresses music as a scientific study relating to cosmology in a historical context. This research is an interdisciplinary study combining theology, philosophy, science, and musicology for a systematic theological argument. It addresses the topics of numerical order, unchangeable elements, time, movement, measurement, and theodicy in the scope of musical cosmology. Based on the Pythagorean quadrivium, Augustine claims that the world was created according to the harmonic/numerical order and music as the science of numbers serves as the essential means of understanding the unchangeable, invisible attributes of God. As the counterpart of celestial order and the movement of well-ordered numbers, music best illustrates the unchangeable, harmonic order in both temporality and the spiritual realm. The marriage of the physical, logical, and ethical principles in musical motion not only presents a universal harmonic paradigm, but also convinces humans to reason the relationship between measurement and movement in the cosmic order: the universe cannot be in a constant, harmonious motion unless God, the Ratio, has measured it according to the harmonic order.

Carson Bay: Pseudo-Hegesippus and the Beginnings of Christian Historiography in Late Antiquity

Scholarship routinely dates the formal establishment of Christian history-writing as a distinct literary genre to the formative fourth century. It was that century that witnessed the authorial output of Eusebius, often credited with inventing Christian historiography, and that century that experienced the scribal productivity of Jerome, might patron of that other genre often cast of representative of Christian historiography, the world chronicle. This study adds critical texture to this scholarly framework by situating within fourth-century Christianity another type of history: Christian historiography modeled on the classical type established by Thucydides, wherein a historian in practice narrates a single battle, following standard narrative conventions and employing expected literary tropes. This history is known by the title De Excidio Hierosolymitano (On the Destruction of Jerusalem); colloquially, it is referred to as 'Pseudo-Hegesippus.'De Excidio is a Latin Christian history written around 370 CE, based largely upon Josephus' Jewish War but drawing upon a number of other sources besides. It rewrites the seven-book Jewish War into five books, turning Josephus' narrative into a Christian-classical history that effectively writes the Jews out of history with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. This text has received markedly little scholarly attention, the only substantive interpretive accounts being an unpublished 1977 dissertation (by Albert Bell), an unpublished 1987 French dissertation (by Dominique Esteve), and a 2009 Italian book (by Chiara Somenzi). This paper frames De Excidio within nascent Christian historiography and prompts scholars of that period to reimagine the progression of that cultural-literary moment.

Vittorio Berti: Holy monks and Dead Bodies in East Syriac literature of Northern Iraq

In Late Antique Syriac Christianity two major teachings competed for explain the fundamental structure of the human nature. The more common doctrine, meanly spread among scholastic circles, consisted in a dichotomist model stating the entelechial relation of soul and body, according to a mixture between the Aristotelian leanings of the Antiochian tradition and the theoretical speculations on the syriac belief about the sleep of the soul after death. An alternative perspective, notably prevalent in the monastic milieu, sustained a tripartite model: the man as a composed of body, soul and intellect, as taught by the ascetic spirituality of Evagrius of Pontus, and its platonizing penchant. The two systems were often dialoguing in the tradition, shaping original synthesis on the representation of the death, speculation on the location of the souls, their relation with God, their memory of the past and their knowledge of the present. According to this perspective, it is revealing the way East Syrian writers treated some hagiographic episodes concerning the interaction between monastic holiness and the death’s sphere. This paper would present and analyse in particular a story concerning the necromantic power of Rabban Hormizd, preserved in his Life, and an episode of the disappearance of the corpse of a holy monk-bishop preserved in the Book of Governors by Thomas of Marga. Whereas in the first episode, theology and hagiography seem to find a shared discourse, the second shows the prevalence of a miraculous solution defending monastic autonomy face the official worship of mortal remains.

Silke-Petra Bergjan: Questions for Identies in the Exegesis of the Parable of the Good Samaritan

The challenge of the exegesis of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is that on the one hand readers and exegetes can't ignore the prevailing negative image of the Samaritans, yet on the other hand are urged in the parable to identity with the good Samaritan. The parable was read by those who wanted to apply the paraple's criticism of dignitaris to their own church hierarchy of bishops and presbyters. The starting point will be Ps. Chrysostomus, De non anathematizandis vivis vel defunctis,an interestingwriting that must be assigned to the Antiochene context. Beyond this further references of Samaritans in the New Testament and their exegesis will be consulted. Resulting from this, one can see that the Antiochene and the Alexandrian exegesis cannot be separated on a fundamental level.

Cedric Büchner: The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

Saint Andrew appears in the canonical gospels (both Synoptics and John) as one of Jesus’ first two disciples. While Andrew is not particularly prominent in the canonical Book of Acts, the Apocryphal Acts of Andrew provide a narrative of his journeys and ministry and especially of his testimony until death.Once unexpectedly appointed as disciple while fishing on the sea, Andrew’s way of witness ends on a cross, erected by the sea. The Apocryphal Acts of Andrew portray him as a righteous person filled by God, whom a godless ruler has unjustly sentenced to death on a cross. According to the Acta Andreae Apostoli, Andrew has already foreseen this death and accepts it without fear; in fact, he greets the cross and even preaches tirelessly while attached to it.As in the case of other Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, the narration of Andrew’s martyrdom soon developed its independent momentum: different versions of the text, further legends, and works of art made the story of Andrew’s death and even the Acts of Andrew popular. The question remains, however: H​​​​​ow do the Acts and their editing commemorate the apostle Andrew and his violent death? Do they use his blood-testimony to validate his proclamation? These questions on the martyrdom of Andrew shall be examined in this paper.

• In this workshop, speakers will only give brief summaries of their papers. The draft papers will be circulated in advance to all participants. Please contact the organiser to have the PDFs sent to you by late July/early August.

Emilio Bonfiglio: Pseudo-Chrysostomica in the Medieval Oriental Traditions: A Preliminary Assessment

The ensemble of writings which the medieval Greek manuscript tradition ascribes to John Chrysostom represents one of the largest ancient corpora of literary Greek texts. Since the first great editions of John Chrysostom’s Opera omnia prepared by Henry Savile, Fronton du Duc, and Bernard de Montfaucon, editors and scholars have undertaken a considerable amount of research to assess the paternity of the homilies, commentaries, treatises, and letters that are traditionally attributed to John Chrysostom. Of the three broad categories of texts that are customarily identified – authentic, dubious, and spurious –, the Pseudo-Chrysostomica are by far the least edited and studied, in spite of their high number and well-documented manuscript tradition. In addition to an already complex Greek tradition of the Corpus Chrysostomicum, medieval translators rendered extensive parts of it into many ancient oriental linguistic areas. This resulted in parallel, but not identical, Chrysostomian corpora also in Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, and Syriac.This paper deals with the medieval oriental traditions of the Corpus Chrysostomicum. After presenting a brief overview of the status quaestionis, I shall focus on the significance of the presence of the Pseudo-Chrysostomica in non-Greek, medieval traditions, paying particular attention to clusters of texts, parallels, chronological distribution, and hypothetical criteria of texts selection in the making of these corpora in the various oriental traditions. The findings presented in this paper will result in a preliminary assessment of the Pseudo-Chrysostomica in the medieval oriental traditions and pave the way for further future research on the oriental Chrysostom.

Richard Bishop: Severian of Gabala’s In sanctam Pentecosten (CPG 4211)

This presentation uncovers hitherto unremarked evidence that Severian of Gabala’s In sanctam Pentecosten (CPG 4211; PG 63:933-938) was delivered in the presence of the emperor Arcadius. After some attention to the sermon’s textual tradition and original transcription, the presentation interprets the sermon in light of the circumstances of its delivery, examines the evidence the sermon provides for Severian’s relationship to the imperial court, and explores the possibility that Severian delivered this sermon on the occasion underlying the partly authentic Chrysostomic text In Pentecosten, sermo 1 (CPG 4536; PG 52:803-808).

Rajiv Bhola: Spiritual Echoes: Some Parallels in Eusebius’ Portrayals of Constantine and Judeo-Christian Figures of the Past

It has long been acknowledged that, in his works on Constantine, Eusebius of Caesarea incorporates his own ideology into his portrayal of the reign of the ‘first Christian emperor’. This is observable in the De vita Constantini where, in offering an overview of the emperor’s character, activities, and policies, one of Eusebius’ aims is to present Constantine as the model of the ideal Christian monarch. As has been discussed in several dedicated studies and noted frequently in passing, this is accomplished in part by framing the emperor according to an established model, namely, that of Moses, through both scriptural references and Eusebius’ own commentary.This paper considers a further feature of Eusebius’ ideology at work in the text and a different aspect of his modelling strategy. Taking as a case study the similarities between Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s religious awakening and Christian conversion in the Vita and his portrayal of the ideal race of the Hebrews in the Praeparatio evangelica, this paper examines another way in which Eusebius attempted to align the emperor with the Christian past, but one of his own construction and import. Reading Eusebius’ attempt at fashioning a preferred memory of the emperor with a view to his corpus results in a nuanced understanding of Constantine’s Christian status in the Vita.

Alessandro De Blasi: Gregory Nazianzen's poem I 1, 12: On the Genuine Books of the Holy Scripture

Amongst Gregory Nazianzen's wide poetic production, there is a specific group of poems, the so-called Gedichtgruppe III, where the Holy Scripture does not represent a literary background, but the very subject of Gregory's verses. The group of fifteen poems opens with carmen I 1, 12 (περὶ τῶν γνησίων βιβλίων τῆς θεοπνεύστου γραφῆς), which deserves particular attention. Here Gregory lists his catalogue of scriptural canon. His pedagogic purposes, revealed by the use of various metres, make the poem an interesting and rare example of its kind. This paper aims at shedding more light on Gregory's choices and omissions of the holy books, thanks also to the comparison with a similar poetic list, contained in Amphilochius' Iambi ad Seleucum (vv. 251-319), a poem often attached to I 1, 12 and wrongly ascribed to Gregory himself in manuscript tradition.

Candace Buckner: A Healing Vision: Elements of the Greco-Roman Miraculous Healing Tradition in the Coptic Life of Onnophrius

In
the Coptic Life of Onnophrius,
the anchorite Timothy shares the story of his miraculous healing of a painful liver condition. Timothy explains how a man described as extraordinarily glorious (ⲉϥϩⲁⲉⲟⲟⲩ
ⲉⲙⲁⲧⲉ) appeared and performed liver surgery without any medical
tools in desert isolation. After the surgery, the glorious man admonishes Timothy, “Do not sin again so that no worse evil happen to you.” In essence, the text associates his sinful past behavior with his current medical predicament. I argue that such a story
plays into larger narratives of associating physical impairment and infirmity with moral and ethical transgressions so that the tale indicates that moral failings are written upon the body.

David Bradshaw: Patristic Views on Why There Is No Repentance after Death

Although the New Testament makes it clear that there is no possibility of repentance and forgiveness after death, it offers no explanation why. Most patristic authors who dealt with this question saw the answer as in some way linked to human embodiment. Nemesius of Emessa, for example, argues that God receives human repentance in this life as a concession in view of our being subject to “bodily affections, needs, and pleasures.” Nemesius seeks thereby to explain why God accepts human repentance but not that of the demons. Yet his answer can be faulted in that it requires positing a change in God’s attitude toward sinners at the moment of death.Later authors such as Maximus the Confessor and John of Damascus shift the focus of attention away from God’s reasons for forgiveness and toward the innate capacities of the soul. Maximus argues that after death the soul’s immediate awareness of God as the Good means that it can no longer be moved by subordinate goods, and so will no longer be capable of “moving” in the sense of making a morally decisive choice. John of Damascus offers a similar view, although he links it more explicitly to the soul’s lack of embodiment and incapacity for bodily action. I will argue that the view of Maximus and John is superior to that of Nemesius and, given its underlying Platonic metaphysics, provides an adequate response to the question.

Donald Boyce: Ordering Tears: Tears as Physician’s Anesthesia in Augustine’s Experience of Loss in Confessiones

‘The child of those tears shall never parish.’ While these words were once used to console Monica, the ambiguity of the genitive is appropriate since Augustine’s own tears are characteristic of his identity. We will begin by using De Musica, De doctrina christiana,and Book I of Confessionesto provide the interpretive framework for understanding the role of tears in Augustine – particularly as it relates to the deaths he recounts in Confessiones.We will first look at the death of an anonymous friend, then the death of three Christian brothers, before concluding with the death of Monica. Through these examples and the framework of the earlier works, we will show that ‘ordering tears’ can be interpreted in three ways: First, tears in the accusative as an attempt to restrain tears. Second, tears in the nominative as an attempt, in pride, to impose order on rational souls around us. In the last sense, tears take the ablative where the phrase takes the sense of ordering with tears and ordering bytears. Through this last movement and Augustine’s well-known Christological assertion of Christ as Physician we are able to synthesize certain passages where tears appear to be their ‘own end,’ but instead are the Physician’s anesthesia - a step in the process of our ordering. Tears on this account are the ‘food’ in the Neoplatonic example of the pain of an empty stomach. They are a gift in our bodies that the Surgeon uses to help fix our painful brokenness.

Catherine Broc-Schmezer: Towards a Critical Edition of the Homilies on Hannah, by John Chrysostom

The first three editions of the complete works of John Chrysostom contain five homilies on Hannah, mother of Samuel (CPG 4411, PG 54, 631-676). Although they were pronounced at the same period of the liturgical year (just before and after Pentecost), several elements cast serious doubt on the presumption that they constitute a single series of homilies pronounced by the same author during the same year. Rather, there may actually be two different series, the first comprised of three homilies on the narratives in the first chapter of the Book of Reigns, and the second, also consisting of three homilies (the first being missing), about the Song of Hannah in the second chapter of the Book of Reigns. Moreover, the Prologue of the first homily gives several chronological details which are inconsistent when taken together. This paper will present how a careful examination of the manuscripts may serve to clarify these two points.

Simon Birol: The compilation of Syriac monastic miscellaneous manuscripts: Jacob of Sarug's memre 'On the Solitaries'"

Differences in the formation and structure of monastic miscellaneous manuscripts in Syriac language have not been studied quite deeply, however, the retracement of these documents could reveal why specific monastic texts were included resp. left out by the copyists of different centuries and how did they understand or interpret a specific text.For this aim, the transmission of the writings "On the Solitaries" by Jacob of Sarug - an author that is in first instance not famous for his monastic writings or teachings - will be given as an example.

Demetrios Bathrellos: The Concepts of Sin and Sinlessness in St. Maximus the Confessor

Maximus’ theological system is a system of both dogmatics and asceticism. The concepts of sin and sinlessness occupy a key place in it and are applied to both anthropology and Christology. This paper will investigate what Maximus means by these and other similar terms. It will locate the discussion within Maximus’ anthropology and ascetical theology, with their emphasis on temptations and the passions, but also within Christology, where the concepts of sin, temptation, and passion acquire a new and distinct meaning. Finally, the paper will expand on the sinlessness of Christ and on how this sheds light upon the dialectic between sin and sinlessless in Christian life.

Pascale BERMON: How Gregory of Rimini Read Saint Augustine: New Evidence. With A Focus On Ecclesiology.

Gregory of Rimini (†1358) is famous for his outstanding knowledge of saint Augustine. D. Trapp, E. L. Saak and others have underlined his thorough reading of the bishop of Hippo.This contribution will present, with a focus on ecclesiology, new evidence for this well known fact, allowing to draw new conclusions regarding Gregory's methods and attitudes towards Augustine's legacy.

Miguel Brugarolas: From Gregory of Nazianzus to Gregory of Nyssa’s Pneumatological Christology

Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa are situated in a complex historical and theological context in terms of the development of their Christology. On the one hand, the Arian crisis demanded a clear explanation of Logos’ perfect transcendence and, therefore, a vindication of the possibility of the Incarnation of Logos inasmuch as he is true God. On the other hand, the emergence of Apollinarianism unveiled the urgency of considering all the consequences of the biblical teaching on the Incarnation of the Word and the authentic reality of Christ’s humanity. In this context and in a time in which technical Christological language was not yet definitely configured, both Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa describe the unity of the human and the divine in Christ using paradox and “material” categories, such as “mixture” language. This article analyzes some writings of the Cappadocian Fathers and performs a comparative study of those texts. It aims to show how their description of the relation between the human and the divine in Christ is grounded in an economic-salvific principle and points to an authentic pneumatological Christology. The Incarnation took place in such a manner that it is the only way through which human being can attain communion with God, an eschatological transformation described in apophatic terms, that is, the epektasis.

Francesca BARONE: The Book of Esther in John Chrysostom’s Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae

The reception of the book of Esther, both among Jews as among Christians, is the story of an attempt, ultimately successful, to redeem a difficult and strange text. The difficulties faced by Esther to become canonical in Jewish community found an echo among Christians : Esther is missing in a part of the biblical lists (Athanasius, Festal letter 39; Amphilochius of Iconium, Gregory of Nazianzus, Theodorus of Gaza, Junilius, Leontius and Nicephorus). The book is present in the lists of the Hierosolimytanus 54, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius of Salamis, in the canon 59 of the Council of Laodicea and 85 of the Apostolic Canons. In other texts, the book is considered non canonical, although useful for the catechumens (synopsis Ps. Athanasius). Origen (Letter to Africanus) indicates that the Greek additions must be received by the Church. Esther is canonical for him.The Greek text of Esther is transmitted in two main forms. In addition to these differences, the Greek text presents 6 long additions. This work aims to examine what is the canonical status of the book and what text was read by the author of the Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae. 

Marie-Odile Boulnois: The biblical text and its variants in the debate between Julian and Cyril : the case of Genesis 6,2 and 49,10

The biblical argument plays a considerable role in Julian’s controversy against Christianity and has certainly contributed to the "incomparable efficiency" of his work, as pointed out by his adversary Cyril of Alexandria. This communication will focus on two verses Gn 49, 10 and Gn 6, 2 invoked by Julian to refute the idea that Moses spoke, either of the coming of Jesus, or of an Only-Begotten Son of God. The specificity of this debate is that it concerns not only the interpretation of these verses, but the very form of the biblical text, its possible falsification or the existence of marginalia.