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Three Contexts for Reading Manasseh's Prayer in The ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THREE CONTEXTS FOR READING MANASSEH’S PRAYER IN THE DIDASCALIA JUDITH H. NEWMAN UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO he Prayer of Manasseh is some- was included in the Didascalia in response thing of an orphan in relation to and in reaction to the Jewish-Christian ten- the scripture of contemporary reli- sions of Syria in the early third century. gious communities. It is excluded The Didascalia is a work of twenty- Tfrom the Tanakh as a non-Hebrew work, and seven chapters in length which is addressed the text lies outside of the Protestant and to the entire Christian community including Roman Catholic canons. It is regarded as lay women and men. It treats such topics as authoritative only in certain Orthodox the duties of the bishop, the nature of pen- Churches, but then not in all. Most who en- ance, liturgical worship, the role of widows counter the Prayer of Manasseh do so in the and deaconesses in the Church, the resolu- context of one of the critical editions of the tion of disputes, and the administration of Bible in the apocrypha or deuterocanonical offerings. section, in which the prayer appears by itself The scholarly consensus holds that the or in worship as a canticle. Yet there is no Didascalia was written in the early third unambiguous evidence for the Jewish litur- century most likely in North Syria, a region gical use of the prayer independent of its in which Jews and Christians struggled and context, and the two contexts in which we competed with each other, and is especially find it, in the early church orders and in a directed against those Christians who still list of Odes appended to the book of Psalms observed Jewish law.1 Unlike the Marcio- in three manuscripts of the Greek Bible, are nites, the authors of the Didascalia were suggestive of two different uses. The pur- only selectively anti-nomian. Indeed, they pose of this essay is to illuminate the earliest affirmed the law, but on their own terms, narrative context in which we find the because the Didascalia distinguishes two Prayer of Manasseh, the Didascalia Apostol- parts to the law. The Didascalia contains orum. I would like to argue on that basis lengthy polemic against those who observe that this pseudepigraphic prayer, whoever the “second law.” While embarking on an composed it and whenever it was composed, analysis of the Didascalia in its socio- ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 7 (2007) - Page 3 Three Contexts for Reading Manasseh’s Prayer in the Didascalia _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ historical setting is beyond our scope, it is THE PRAYER possible to sketch some of the most salient IN ITS IMMEDIATE CONTEXT aspects of the Didascalia so as to begin to understand the nature and function of the We may begin with the prayer’s immediate prayer. context, chapters six and seven of the docu- As I will argue, this strain of anti-Jewish ment. These chapters centrally concern the polemic seems to be the preeminent factor Didascalia’s teaching on repentance and in the choice and use of Manasseh as an ex- forgiveness which involves a penitential emplar of a sinner who offers a confessional process. While the topic is treated elsewhere prayer.2 The Prayer of Manasseh functions in the Didascalia, chapters six and seven especially to rehabilitate Manasseh as a outline in particular the role of bishops in penitent idolater. In the larger context of this regard. Chapter six is titled “Concerning tension between Christians, Jews, and those transgressors and those who repent.” The caught betwixt and between, that is, those bishop is charged at the outset in this way: Jews who desired to join the Christian fold, “Judge therefore O bishop, strictly like God or even more likely, those Christians Almighty, but those who repent receive with whether of Jewish birth or not, who were mercy like God Almighty received. And drawn to the worship and practice of Juda- rebuke and exhort and teach with an oath ism, the successful penitence of an idola- promising forgiveness to those that have trous king would have great significance. sinned as he [God] said in Ezekiel...” The For the latter group, the assured forgiveness chapter then contains a quote from what we of Manasseh’s idolatrous behavior in wor- know in the Masoretic text as Ezek 33:10 ff. shipping other gods would have been a reas- that exhorts Israel to repent: “Turn back, surance to them, who were being exhorted turn back from your evil ways; for why will to turn from Jewish worship and practices. you die, O house of Israel?” There is a long I would like to consider then in turn quote from Ezekiel 18:1-32 with its stress the different contexts in which the Prayer on individual punishment meant to chal- of Manasseh is imbedded: first, within lenge the concept of trans-generational pun- chapters six and seven, which concern ishment. “Son of Man, what do you mean practices of penitence in the early Church by repeating this proverb concerning the and in which we find the scriptural re- land of Israel, ‘The parents have eaten sour counting of Manasseh’s sin and punish- grapes, and the children's teeth are set on ment; second, within the larger frame of edge’? As I live, says the Lord GOD, this the composite Didascalia itself, which will proverb shall no more be used by you in also take us further abroad to consider the Israel.” The message that the sincerely peni- greater Jewish and Christian textual tradi- tent sinner must be mercifully received is tions about Manasseh; and finally, the lar- repeated in different ways throughout chap- ger rhetorical functioning of the discourse ter six. In fact, the emphasis on such neces- of the Didascalia within the warp and woof sary reincorporation of penitents suggests of early third century north Syria, with its that there may have been a practice of exclu- complex interrelationships among Jewish, sion or expulsion of such members from the Christian, and pagan populations. community. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 7 (2007) - Page 4 Three Contexts for Reading Manasseh’s Prayer in the Didascalia _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter six also outlines the process by rebuke, and loose by forgiveness. And know which the sinner is to be treated and ulti- your place, that it is that of God Almighty, mately reincorporated into the community. and that you have received authority to for- The bishop should admonish the transgres- give sins.” The chapter goes on to consider sor, prevent the individual from entering the the great responsibility invested in bishops Church, and allow others to intercede with as a result. The bishop himself should take the bishop on his or her behalf. The bishop care not to warrant reproach, even while is then to talk to the sinner to see if she is acknowledging that all are subject to sin. sufficiently repentant and worthy to con- Like the sixth chapter, chapter seven tinue the process. Then the offender is contains copious use of scripture, especially charged with fasting as penance, for a period long passages from Ezekiel. For example, in ranging from two to seven weeks. After that reference to the bishop’s authority, we find affliction, the bishop is to receive the sinner, interpolated a section from Ezekiel, equiva- if sufficiently penitent, back into the lent to what appears now in the Hebrew Church. It is interesting to note that as one Masoretic text (MT) as Ezek 34. The pas- scriptural precedent for the practice of put- sage concerns the responsibility of shep- ting someone outside of the church, the Di- herds for the flock. The shepherds are refer- dascalia refers to the episode in the book of ences to Israel’s kings in the original con- Numbers, in which Miriam and Aaron have text, but here are understood as referring to challenged Moses’s leadership. Miriam (not the role of bishops. “For the Lord spoke thus Aaron!) is placed outside the camp for seven in Ezekiel concerning those bishops who days. The Didascalia states that Miriam’s neglect their people: ‘And the word of the repentance caused her to be brought back Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, within the camp, yet Miriam’s “repentance” prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, is a narrative detail absent from the biblical and say to them: Thus said the Lord God: text of Numbers. Here is but one example of Woe unto the shepherds of Israel, who feed the phenomenon that we see throughout the themselves, and my sheep the shepherds Didascalia; there is no sense of a fixed ca- have not fed.” I note the use of Ezekiel here nonical text, no clear distinction made be- and in chapter six, because we will return tween scripture and tradition, but rather tra- below to the significance of the use of Eze- ditions of scripture are garnered in order to kiel in discussion of the “second law.” make the rhetorical case of the authors/ First let us attend to the inclusion of compilers. Didascalia 6 ends with a verse Manasseh as exemplar in this chapter. The from Isaiah (58: 36) “Loose every bond of immediate context of the story of Manasseh sin, and sever all bands of violence and ex- exhorts the bishops to learn from ancient tortion;” which is understood as the respon- days “...that from them you may make com- sibility of the bishop toward the people who parison and learn the care of souls, and the have sincerely repented. admonition and reproof and intercession of The same theme continues in Didascalia those who repent and have need of interces- chapter seven in which we find the Prayer of sion.”3 Manasseh, which is also addressed directly The tale of Manasseh is then introduced to bishops.
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