The Real Cassian Revisited Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae
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The Real Cassian Revisited Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language Editors J. den Boeft – B.D. Ehrman – J. van Oort D.T. Runia – C. Scholten – J.C.M. van Winden VOLUME 112 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/vcs The Real Cassian Revisited Monastic Life, Greek Paideia, and Origenism in the Sixth Century By P. Tzamalikos LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tzamalikos, P. (Panayiotes), 1951- The real Cassian revisited : monastic life, Greek paideia, and Origenism in the sixth century / By P. Tzamalikos. pages cm. – (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae ; VOLUME 112) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-22440-7 (hardback : alk. paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-22530-5 (e-book) 1. Church history–Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. 2. Book of Monk Cassian the Roman. 3. Cassian, the Sabaite, approximately 470-548. I. Title. BR227.T93 2012 270.2092–dc23 2011049118 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.nl/brill-typeface. ISSN 0920-623X ISBN 978 90 04 22440 7 (hardback) ISBN 978 90 04 22530 5 (e-book) Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers and Martinus Nijhof Publishers. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. τὸν νῦν ἡγούµενον ἀββᾶν Κασιανόν, Σκυθοπολίτην ὄντα τῷ γένει, ὀρθόδοξόν τε ὄντα καὶ βίῳ καὶ λόγῳ κεκοσµηµένον. … the present hegoumen, abba Cassian, who is of Scythopolis by birth, orthodox, and adorned both in his conduct of life and in his teaching. Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Cyriaci, ad547/8. interdum coguntur loqui, non quod sentiunt, sed quod necesse est. [Christian authors] are sometimes compelled to say not what they [really] think, but what necessity dictates. Jerome, Epistula 49.13. And what the dead had no speech for, when living, They can tell you, being dead: the communication Of the dead is tongued with re beyond the language of the living. … So I assumed a double part, and cried And heard another’s voice cry: ‘what! are you here?’ … For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next years words await another voice. … Being between two lives—unowering, between The live and the dead nettle. This is the use of memory: … History may be servitude, History may be freedom. See, now they vanish, The faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them, To become renewed, trans gured, in another pattern. … Those men, and those who opposed them And those whom they opposed Accept the constitution of silence. T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding CONTENTS List of Illustrations . ix Preface.................................................................. xi Abbreviations. xv Introduction. Monk Cassian, the Sabaite of Scythopolis in Palestine and John Cassian, the Scythian of Marseilles. The Resurrection of an Eclipsed Author . 1 Meteora . 1 Cassian as an Intellectual . 4 The Akoimetoi. 13 A Sabaite Scholar Monk at the Monastery of the Akoimetoi (‘the Never-Sleeping’ Monks) . 27 An Anonymous Addresser Addressing an Anonymous Addressee. 37 Conclusion . 42 1. Testimonies, Addressees, and Cassian’s Real Milieu . 49 Gennadius of Marseilles . 49 Photius . 60 Leontius . 66 Cyril of Scythopolis . 78 Castor............................................................ 83 Antiochus of Palestine . 86 John Cassian, the Scythian of Marseilles. 92 2. Cassian the Sabaite . 115 The ‘Monk and Presbyter Cassian’ in ad536 . 115 The Texts of the Codex . 116 Abba Cassian and Posterity. 123 The Anchorites . 131 3. A Greek Writer. 149 Manuscript Editions . 149 Writings by a Graeculus?........................................ 152 A Sixth-Century Writer . 186 viii contents 4. An Eclipsed Author . 207 Scribing in the Middle Ages . 207 Why Was Cassian Styled ‘Roman’ in Later Byzantine Literature? . 227 5. Hellenism in The Sixth Century. 243 Cassian and Greek Philosophy . 243 Hellenism and Christianity: The Ancient Question. 246 Hellenism and Sixth-Century Challenges. 255 6. Doctrinal Decorum and Imperial Power . 259 The Sixth-Century Origenism . 259 The Origenism and Pseudo-Origenism of Cassian . 321 7. Late Antique Intellectual Interplay . 333 Christian Inuence on Neoplatonism . 333 1. Proclus . 336 2. Simplicius and Damascius. 366 Stoicism . 377 Aristotelism . 380 Conclusion . 391 Appendix I. The Book of Cassian Copied by Posterity . 407 Appendix II. Greek References to Cassian . 433 Appendix III. Cassian and Caesarius Reviewed By Photius . 437 Bibliography . 443 I. Codices . 443 II. Primary Sources. 444 III. Modern Sources . 483 IV. Ancient Lexica of Greek Language . 487 Index of Persons of Antiquity, Locations, and Notions . 489 Index of Greek Terms and Expressions . 513 Index of Modern Authors . 520 ILLUSTRATIONS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. 1. Meteora-monasteries ‘in the air’ . 524 Fig. 2. The Judaean desert, where the Great Laura is located . 525 Fig. 3. The Great Laura, on the west side of brook Cedron ............... 525 Fig. 4. The Great Laura from inside (north-east) of brook Cedron ....... 525 Fig. 5. West side of the Great Laura (main entrance) . 526 Fig. 6. The Great Laura today. The vault of the main church (καθολικόν)......................................................... 527 Fig. 7. The Great Laura today. West side of the main church (καθολικόν)......................................................... 528 Fig. 8. Codex Metamorphosis 573 . 529 Fig. 9. Codex Metamorphosis 573 . 529 Fig. 10. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 1r, colophon: Κασσιανοῦ µοναχοῦ βιβλίον (‘The Book of Monk Cassian’) . 530 Fig. 11. Codex Metamorphosis 573. Inside face of front cover . 531 Fig. 12. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 22v ............................. 532 Fig. 13. Codex 573, folio 56v .............................................. 533 Fig. 14. Codex 573, folio 80r .............................................. 534 Fig. 15. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 101r ............................ 535 Fig. 16. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 245r ........................... 536 Fig. 17. Codex Sabaiticus 76, folio 132r ................................... 537 Fig. 18. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 226v ........................... 538 Fig. 19. Codex Sabaiticus 8, folio 92v ..................................... 539 Fig. 20. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 221r ............................ 540 Fig. 21. Codex Sabaiticus 8, folio 96v ..................................... 541 Fig. 22. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 211r ............................ 542 Fig. 23. Codex Sabaiticus 8, folio 98v .................................... 543 Fig. 24. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 232v ........................... 544 Fig. 25. Codex Sabaiticus 8, folio 113v .................................... 545 Fig. 26. Codex Metamorphosis, folio 209r. Cassian’s mathematical rules for forming the calendar . 546 Fig. 27. Codex Metamorphosis 573, folio 209v. Cassian’s mathematical rules for forming the calendar . 547 Fig. 28. Metamorphosis 573, folio 290r .................................. 548 PREFACE The present volume, along with its sibling, A Newly Discovered Greek Father (Cassian the Sabaite eclipsed by John Cassian of Marseilles), which is pub- lished simultaneously in the same series, is the result of research initially set out to determine the real author of the Scholia in Apocalypsin. These Scholia were discovered in 1908, in Codex 573 of the Monastery of Meta- morphosis in Meteora, Greece, and Adolf von Harnack rushed into ascribing them to Origen, only four months after he saw them for the rst time, in July 1911. Never did this attribution enjoy unanimous acceptance by scholars ever since, hence this set of comments on part of John’s Apocalypse has remained an ‘orphan’ text, which made no.