Mār Aphrem’ Memra ‘On Solitaries’ and the Founders of the Messalian Movement in 4th Century Edessa. Part I: Context and Text (1–100)
https://doi.org/10.31802/2658-4476-2020-1-5-97-114
Abstract
The article (being the 1st part of the cycle) is dedicated to the ascetic themes in Mār Aphrem the of Nisibis (St. Ephrem the Syrian) treated in different parts of his corpus. Asceti cism is reflecxted in mār Aphrem under three main forms: city asceticism, wandering asceticism (xeniteia) and the sub-form of the latter, boskoi-asceticism. The wandering tradition got strog criticism in the Latin and Greek tradition as gyrovagi and ‘messalians’. In the Syriac tradition, the competition between wanderinf and coenobion lasted much longer. Aphrem’s mêmrā (metrical homily) On the hermits and solitaries belongs to the ascetical cycle and is interesting, first of all, by its description of the local forms of asceticism (īḥı ̄ḏayūṯā) in Upper Mesopotamia and Syria. It describes the practices of desert hermitage and social self-isolation, which are associated with the initial stage of the ‘messalian’ movement which turns to be a form of the national Syrian asceticism. The translation of verses 1–100 of the memra accompanies the text.
About the Author
A. V. Muraviev
National Research University «Higher School of Economics»; Institute for World History at the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alexey V. Muraviev - PhD in History, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher
21/4, building 5 Staraya Basmannaya Ulitsa, Moscow 105066
References
1. Abouzayd S. (1993) Iḥidayutha. A Study of the Life in Singleness in the Syrian Orient. From Ignatius of Antioch to Chalcedon 451 A. D. Oxford: ARAM Society for SyroMesopotamian Studies.
2. Amar J. P. (ed.) (1990) “On Hermits and Desert Dwellers”, in V. L. Wimbush (ed.) Ascetic Behaviour in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, pp. 66–80.
3. Beck E. (1958) “Ascétisme et monachisme chez saint Éphrem”. L’Orient syrien, vol. 3, pp. 273–298.
4. Beck E. (1958) “Asketentum und Mönchtum bei Ephräm”. Il monachesimo orientale: atti del Convegno di studi orientali che sull predetto tema si tenne a Roma. Roma: Pont. Institutum Orientalium Studiorum (Orientalia christiana analecta; 153), pp. 341–362.
5. Beck E. (ed.) (1962) Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen de virginitate. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 223–224. Scriptores syri; 94–95).
6. Beck E. (ed.) (1972) Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers Hymnen auf Abraham Kidunaya 2. und Julianos Saba. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 322–323. Scriptores syri; 140–141).
7. Beck E. (ed.) (1972) Des heiligen Ephraem des Syrers. Sermones IV. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 334. Scriptores syri; 148).
8. Biesen K. den (2002) Bibliography of Ephrem the Syrian. Giove in Umbria: Selfpublished.Brock S. P. (1973) “Early Syrian Asceticism”. Numen, vol. 20 (1), pp. 1–19.
9. Canivet P. (1977) Le monachisme syrien selon Théodoret de Cyr. Paris: Beauchesne (Théologie historique; 42).
10. D’jakonov A. P. (r2006) Ioann Efesskij i ego cerkovno-istoricheskie trudy [John of Ephesus and His Church-Historical Works]. SaintPetersburg: Publishing House of Oleg Abyshko (in Russian).
11. Griffith S. (1995) “Ascetism in the Church of Syria. The Hermeneutics of Early Syrian Monasticism”, in V. L. Wimbush, R. Valantasis (eds.) Asceticism. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 220–245.
12. Hagman P. (2010) The Asceticism of Isaac of Nineveh. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13. Kessel’ G. M. (2003) “Uchenie o duhovnoj zhizni Afraata Persidskogo Mudreca po ‘Tahvite o synah Zaveta’” [“The Doctrine of the Spiritual Life of Aphraat of the Persian Sage According to ‘Tahvite of the Sons of the Covenant’”]. Bogoslovskie trudy, no. 38, pp. 356–375 (in Russian).
14. Kessel’ G. M. (2010) “Bibliograficheskij ukazatel’ sochinenij prp. Efrema Sirina, perevedjonnyh s sirijskogo jazyka v serii TSO” [“Bibliography of Works of St. Ephraim Syrian, Translated from the Syriac in the TCO Series”]. Bogoslovskij vestnik, no. 11–12, pp. 1023–1061 (in Russian).
15. Mathews E. G. (1990) “‘On Solitaries’: Ephrem or Isaac?”. Le Muséon, vol. 103, pp. 91–110.
16. Muravjov A. V. (2010) “Mṣalyānūtha. Sirijskoe dos’e ‘messalianskogo’ fenomena (IV v.). K voprosu o nachale dvizhenija ‘molitvennikov’ v sirojazychnoj srede” [“Mṣalyānūtha. Syrian Dossier of the ‘Messalian’ Phenomenon (IV Century). To the Question of the Beginning of the Movement of ‘Prayings’ in a SyroSpeaking Environment”]. Vestnik PSTGU, no. 4 (22), pp. 44–53 (in Russian).
17. Stewart C. (2013) “The Ascetic Taxonomy of Antioch and Edessa at the Emergence of Monasticism”. Adamantius, vol. 19, pp. 207–221.
18. Vööbus A. (1947) Untersuchungen über die Authentizität einiger asketischer Texte, überlief
19. ert unter dem Namen ‘Ephraem Syrus’. Ein Beitrag zur syrischen Literaturgeschichte. Pinneberg: Baltische Universität (Contributions of Baltic University; 25).
20. Vööbus A. (1958) History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient: A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Near East. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 184. Subsidia; 14).
21. Vööbus A. (1960) History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient: A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Near East. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 197. Subsidia; 17).
22. Vööbus A. (1988) History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient: A Contribution to the History of Culture in the Near East. Louvain: Secrétariat du CSCO (CSCO; 500. Subsidia; 81).
23. Walmart A. (1938) “Les rédactions latines de la d’Abraham erémite’”. Revue bénédictine, vol. 50, pp. 225–245.
24. Wimbush V. L., Valantasis R. (eds.) (1995) Asceticism. New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Review
For citations:
Muraviev A.V. Mār Aphrem’ Memra ‘On Solitaries’ and the Founders of the Messalian Movement in 4th Century Edessa. Part I: Context and Text (1–100). Bible and Christian Antiquity. 2020;5(1):97-114. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31802/2658-4476-2020-1-5-97-114
Views:
88
JATS XML
Email this article 