ARAM, 20 (2008) 101-110. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.20.0.2033123M. KOMINKO 101

ELIJAH IN THE – SYRIAC STORY AND GREEK IMAGE?

Ms. MAJA KOMINKO (University of Oxford)

Elijah is a figure of a paramount importance for Christians, Greek and Syriac speaking alike. From among the events of the prophet’s life, his ascen- sion in a fiery chariot, described IV Book of Kings 2:11-14 is particularly fre- quently discussed in commentaries, both Greek and Syriac. The scene is also very frequently depicted in Byzantine art, but I know of only two representa- tions which can be attributed to Syrian milieu: an 11th century fresco in the nave of the church of Mar Musa al-Habashi monastery1 and a fresco in the little chapel of Ma’aret Saydnaya near Damascus.2 Here I would like to discuss an interesting case of the miniature represent- ing the ascension of the prophet, accompanying a Greek text written under the strong influence of the East Syrian exegetical sources, with which it shares the interpretation of the event. The work in question is the Christian Topography,3 a treatise written and illustrated in the sixth century, but preserved only in later Byzantine copies, dating from the ninth (Vatican Library, cod. gr. 699)4 and eleventh centuries (Sinai, Saint Catherine Monastery, cod. gr. 1186, Lauren- ziana Library, cod. Plut. IX.28).5 The treatise was written anonymously: throughout the Christian Topography the author calls himself “a Christian”.6 Photios, the first authority to mention this work, describes it as the work of a Christian, apparently ignorant of its author’s name.7 It is only in the sources

1 E.C. Dodd, The Frescoes of Mar Musa al-Habashi. A Study in Medieval Painting in Syria (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 2001), 49-50, pl. XI.36. 2 K.C. Innemée, “The Chapel of Saint Elijah near Ma’aret Saydnaya and its Mural Paintings” in Essays on Christian Art in the Middle East 1 (1998), 73-87, fig. 2. 3 For the edition of the text see: W. Wolska-Conus, ed. Cosmas: Christian Topography. 3 vols. Sources Chrétiennes 141, 159, and 197 (Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1968, 1970, 1973). I follow it in numbering the paragraphs of the text I quote. 4 C. Stornajolo, Le miniature della Topografia Cristiana di Cosma Indicopleuste. Codice Vaticano Greco 699, Codices e Vaticanis selecti phototypice expressi, 10 (Milan: Hoepli, 1908). 5 K. Weitzmann, G. Galavaris, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: the illumi- nated Greek manuscripts (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991), 52-65. Miniatures of the Laurenziana manuscripts were reproduced in form of etchings in the edition of the text prepared by 1706 Montfaucon and can be found in volume 88 of the Patrologia Graeca. 6 Christan Topography V:257; VII:1; VII:96-97; VIII:31. In the Vatican manuscript, in VII:97 the treatise is attributed to a certain Xristinóv, but this name is clearly a misspelling of the word Xristianóv. 7 Photius, The Bibliotheca, cod.36.

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from the eleventh century onwards that the work.8 Although the author does not disclose his name, he does reveal some information concerning himself and the circumstances in which his treatise was written. We learn that it was written in ,9 and that there were at least two editions prepared al- ready during the author’s lifetime.10 The original edition, which consisted of five books can be dated on the basis of the internal evidence to about 543,11 while the second, in which Books VI-X were added, must have been made about 547.12 By the time of writing of his treatise the author was quite ad- vanced in years and had already retired from the mercantile career which ear- lier in life had carried him far in commercial pursuits.13 He declares that he had not received full secular education (t±v ∂zwqen êgkuklíou paideíav), is ignorant of the art of rhetoric and does not know how to compose a discourse in an elaborate style.14 Instead he proclaims himself to be a devoted student of

8 In the Laurenziana codex the treatise is attributed to “Cosmas the monk”. The name is in- scribed at the beginning of the Book I (fol.20v), above the decorative band and appears to be written in a different hand from that of the rest of the text. The name Cosmas, accompanied by epithet “Indicopleustes”, appears from the eleventh century onwards, in commentaries on the Psalms and Gospels, which quote the Christian Topography. See: W. Schonak, “Evangelistviten aus Kosmas Indikopleustes in einer griechischen Evangelienhandschrift”, Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie 54, 97-110. Among many attempts at identifying the author of the Christian Topography, the most acclaimed is the hypothesis postulating his identification with Constantine of Antioch, quoted in the Armenian Geography as the author of the work entitled the Christian Topography. This hypothesis, first suggested by: K.P. Patkanov, Armyanskaya Geografiya VII Veka Po P.X. (Pripis Moiseyu Khorenskomy) (Petersburg, 1877), 67; was most recently discussed by: W. Wolska-Conus, “Stephanos d’Athènes et Stephanos d’Alexandrie: Essai d’identification et de biographie”, Revue des Études Byzantines 47, (1989), 28-31. How- ever, the evidence presented in its favour is far from conclusive. 9 See: M. V. Anastos, “The Alexandrian Origin of the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 3, (1946), 73-80. See also: E. Peterson, “Die alexandrinische Liturgie bei Kosmas Indikopleustes”, Ephemerides Liturgicae 46 (1932) 66-74; G. Cuming, The Liturgy of Saint Mark, Orientalia Christiana Analecta (Rome: Pontificium Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1990), 115-116. 10 Christian Topography VI:1. 11 The most interesting piece of evidence can be found in the Christian Topography II:56, where Cosmas writes that he was in Axum “some twenty five years before, at the beginning of the reign of Justin, Emperor of Romans, when Ellasazbaas, then king of Axumites, was about to begin the war against the Hymarites”. This expedition, dated in the older scholarship to the , has been recently very convincingly dated to 518. See: J. Beaucamp, F. Briquel-Chatonnet, C.J. Robin, “La persécution des Chrétiens et la chronologie himyarite”, Aram 11, (1999), 18, 26, 32. Such dating agrees with Cosmas’ information that it took place at the beginning of the reign of Justin. 12 In Book VI:3 two eclipses are mentioned: that of the sun on 12th Mechir and that of the moon on 24th Mesore. These have been identified with the eclipses of 6th February and 17th August 547. See: T. Oppolzer, Canon of Eclipses (New York, 1962), 168, 352. 13 Christian Topography II:54-56; V:8; V:14; V: 51-52. 14 Christian Topography II:1. However, on modesty topoi in Late Antique, particularly Syriac literature, see E. Riad, Studies in the Syriac Preface (Uppsala –Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1988), 35-42. For Christian authors on “external” or “foreign learning” see: A. Cameron, J. Long, Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 35-37. For Christian attitude to the paideia in Late Antiquity see: S. Rubenson, “Philosophy and Simplicity. The Problem of Classical Education in Early Christian

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Patrikios, who had visited Alexandria a few years previously, arriving from “the land of the Chaldeans”.15 This information is of the utmost importance for interpretation of the Christian Topography. Patrikios has been identified with Mar Aba, a katholikos of Persia, a student and later a teacher at the school in Nisibis.16 Consequently his intermediation is a probable explanation of a close coincidence between theories contained in the Christian Topography and those of East Syrian exegetes. The Christian Topography was written to endorse a particular cosmogra- phy. According to Cosmas the universe, based on a , consists of two superimposed spaces, divided by a firmament and corresponding to two states of the human existence: the state of mortality in the space below, where peo- ple and angels dwell, and the state of immortality in the space above, which will open only at the end of times.17 The concept of the two conditions corre- sponding to two spaces of the universe ultimately derives from the works of . The rich symbolical imagery which accompanies the exposition of these theories in the Christian Topography indicates that the teaching of Theodore was transmitted to this treatise via writings of East Syr- ian exegetes of the School of Nisibis.18 As has been already mentioned above, the original edition of the Christian Topography consisted of five books. The first four contained the description of the universe, while the fifth constituted a theological and Biblical supplement to cosmography. In the first part of this book Cosmas describes the events of the Exodus, leading to the construction of the Tabernacle, which according to him was the revealed image of the universe.19 The second part of the book consists of the Treatise on Two Conditions, a catalogue of patriarchs, prophets and saints, who according to Cosmas gave a testimony to the reality of the two states of human existence and to a progression of humankind towards the sec- ond condition.20 Biography”, in T. Hägg, P. Rousseau, Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 110-139 15 Christian Topography II:2. 16 J. Labourt, Le christianisme dans l’empire perse sous la dynastie Sassanide (224-632) (Paris: Lecoffre, 1904), 165-166, 170; P. Peeters, “Observations sur la vie syriaque de Mar Aba, catholicos de l’église Perse (540-552)”, in: Recherches d’Histoire et de Philologie Orienales, Subsidia Hagiographica 27, v. I (Bruxelles, 1951), 119-120; A.H. Becker, Fear of God and the Beginning of Wisdom. The School of Nisibis and the Development of Scholastic Culture in Late Antique Mesopotamia (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), 113-114 17 Christian Topography II:20; II:21; III:14; IV:4; IV:9; V:227. See also W. Wolska, La Topographie Chretienne de Cosmas Indicopleustes, Théologie et science au VIe siècle (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1962), 87-112. 18 For the tradition of Theodore’s exegesis in the East Syrian School see: L. van Rompay, “Quelques remarques sur la tradition syriaque de l’oeuvre exégétique de Théodore deMop- sueste”, IV Symposium Syriacum, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 229, Roma 1987, pp. 33-43, esp. 41-42. 19 Christian Topography V:1-66. 20 Christian Topography V: 67-257.

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All three manuscripts are lavishly illustrated. From the references in the text it is clear that already the original codex contained illustrations. The mini- atures accompanying the scientific exposition are in great majority the same in all three codices. They are not only introduced in the text, but are also very closely related to it. This close relationship makes it almost certain that they reproduce the illustrations of the original, sixth century manuscript.21 The situ- ation is different in the case of the Biblical illustrations which accompany the theological supplement to the treatise. Their relationship with the text is some- what problematic and it seems that some of may have been introduced into the Christian Topography at a later date or modified in the process of copying. The most problematic is the case of the Treatise on Two Conditions where each chapter is preceded by a miniature showing either just a standing figure of the protagonist,22 or a narrative scene from his life. Although in some cases the text following the miniature refers to the illustration, these references are not sufficiently clear to enable us to ascertain whether the miniatures in pre- served codices closely reflect those in the sixth century original. The Treatise begins with the chapter on Adam and finishes with the one on the Second Coming, on the whole comprising of the 38 chapters. The chapter on Elijah, which follows that on David, is accompanied by a miniature representing the ascension of the prophet. The illustration, which is already briefly introduced in the preceding text,23 is preserved in all three codices (Vat. gr. 699, fol. 66v Sin. Gr. 1186, fol. 107v Laur. Plut. IX.28, fol. 146 r.) (ills. 1-2).24 In all three the central scene shows the ascension of Elijah, with the prophet standing in the fiery chariot, turning back and handing his cloak to his disciple Elisha. In the lower right corner a personification of the river Jordan appears. In addition to that, in the Vatican and Sinai codices, to the left of ascending Elijah a raven holding in his beak a large round object is represented. In the Sinai manuscript a group of standing figures is depicted to the left of the raven. Only the components of the scene of the ascension are identified by inscrip- tions. Of those, the inscription accompanying the figure of Elijah – Páter, páter †rma kaì ïppeùv aútoÕ – is a quotation from IV Kings 2:12. The ascension is depicted in its most common iconography, which probably ulti- mately derives from the representation of Helios in his chariot.25 Likewise, the 21 On the relationship between the text and the scientific miniatures of the Christian Topogra- phy see: L. Brubaker, “The Relationship between Text and Image in the Byzantine MSS of Cosmas Indicopleustes”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 70, (1977), 42-57. 22 Most of these illustrations are preserved only in the Vatican codex. 23 Christian Topography V:139. 24 For the miniature in the Sinai codex see K. Weitzmann, G. Galavaris, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: the illuminated Greek manuscripts (Princeton: Princeton Uni- versity Press, 1991), 25 P. Landesmann, Die Himmelfahrt des Elija: Entstehen und Weiterleben einer Legende, sowie ihre Darstellung in der frühchristlichen Kunst (Vienna: Böhlau, 2004), 81-217; L. Réau,

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representation of the personification of the Jordan is very common in this scene, indicating the location where it took place, as described in IV Kings 2:7.26 The raven seems to be a reference to III Kings 17:5-6 where we read that the ravens fed Elijah, when he stayed in the desert. In fact a very similar image of the raven carrying a round object and approaching the sitting Elijah accompanies this passage on fol. 98 of the codex gr. 333 from the Vatican Library, the only illuminated Byzantine manuscript of the Books of Kings extant. This miniature is separated by few pages from the scene of the ascen- sion of the prophet, preserved in the same manuscript (fol. 108).27 In general, although both scenes are quite frequently represented in Christian art, on no preserved example do they appear within one composition. Likewise the crowd of standing figures is not a usual component of this composition. Stand- ing figures do sometimes accompany the scene, as for example on the doors of Santa Sabina in Rome (ill. 4). The most likely explanation is that they are “the sons of the prophets” mentioned by IV Kings 2:7 as watching the ascension from afar. On the whole, although the components of the scene are not unu- sual, their combination has no parallels in Byzantine art. The text following the miniature does not provide any explanation of these additional elements. It focuses on the ascension of Elijah, interpreting it in a rather unusual way. For Greek Christians Elijah, ascending to heaven was a clear type of Christ, and of Christ’s ascension.28 Such interpretation, however, was not acceptable for Cosmas, for whom the entire story of the ascension of Elijah was problematic in the context of his cosmography. As has been already mentioned, Cosmas believed that heaven, the uppermost space of the universe, was closed and inaccessible to humans and angels until the Second Coming of Christ, and that only Christ, during his ascension, crossed its boundary before the end of times. Consequently, in Cosmas’ opinion the only true ascension to heaven was the Ascension of Christ. Accordingly in the text following the miniature Cosmas declares that Elijah did not really ascend to heaven but rather showed the people how to traverse in the sky (oûranodrome⁄n).29 While Cosmas writes that Elijah walked together with angels, we should re- member that according to his cosmography angels, like humans, dwelled be-

“L’iconographie du prophète Elija” in G. Bardy ed. Élie le prophète, v. I Selon les Écritures et les traditions chrétiennes, Les études carmélitaines 35 (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1956), 233- 267. 26 See for example L. Brubaker, Vision and meaning in ninth-century Byzantium: image as exegesis in the homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 360ff. 27 J. Lassus, L’illustration byzantine du Livre des Rois, Vaticanus Graecus 333, Bibliothèque des Cahiers Archéologiques 9 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1973), 54-45. 28 G. Bardy, “Élie chez les pères Grecs” in G. Bardy ed. Élie le prophète, v. I Selon les Écritures et les traditions chrétiennes, Les études carmélitaines 35 (Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1956), 141ff. 29 Christian Topography V:140.

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low the firmament.30 The place of angels and the idea that no human can pos- sibly ascend to the heaven before the end of times is clear in Cosmas’ interpre- tation of the elevation of Saint Paul to the Third Heaven, described in the Sec- ond Epistle to the Corinthians, 12:1-4. He believes that Paul was elevated to the third part of heaven, that is, to two thirds of the entire distance between the earth and the firmament, so that he could meet the angels, who at this very level circulated.31 Consequently, it is clear that when Cosmas writes that Elijah during his elevation “walked in the paths of angels”,32 he does not intend to say that Elijah ascended to heaven itself, although he does not specify where Elijah was taken in the fiery chariot. He interpreted the elevation of Elijah as a type of the Second Coming,33 but it is not entirely clear what he means by that. To the best of my knowledge no other Greek author provides a similar reading. Nevertheless a very similar interpretation appears in Narsai’s Homily on Elijah and Enoch, a text which moreover can elucidate Cosmas’ reading.34 Like Cosmas, Narsai follows Theodore of Mopsuestia’s concept of the two states of existence,35 and believes that both angels and people live in the lower space, while heaven will only be opened at the end of times.36 In his Homily on Enoch and Elijah Narsai stresses that Elijah did not ascend to heaven, but was taken to the earthly Paradise.37 The fact that his ascension looked as if he were taken to heaven was merely a sign of the future ascension of the righteous, who at the time of the Second Coming of Christ will ascend to heaven.38 It therefore seems that the Homily of Narsai provides an indication as to how we should understand Cosmas’ ambiguous reference to the ascension of Elijah as the sign of the Second Coming of Christ. On the basis of Narsai’s Homily it seems that it should be taken not as a reference to Christ’s second descent to the earth, but more to the events that will take place at his Second Coming, namely the ascension of the righteous. This is probably what Cosmas means when he describes the ascending Elijah as showing the people the path through heaven. The text of Cosmas gives no explanation for the presence of the raven in the miniature, and nor does the Homily of Narsai. The episode, frequently men-

30 Christian Topography II:108; IV:2; V:245-247; VII:48;51-54; 57-59; IX:16-17. 31 Christian Topography IX:16-17; IX:19. See also: E. ten Napel, “Third Heaven and Para- dise. Some Remarks on Exegesis of 2 Cor. 12, 2-4 in Syriac”, V Symposium Syriacum 1988, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 236 (Rome, 1990), 53-56. 32 Christian Topography V:140. 33 Christian Topography V:140-141. 34 Edited by: J. Frishmann, The ways and means of the Divine Economy. An Edition, Transla- tion and Study of Six Biblical Homilies by Narsai, PhD Thesis, Leiden University 1992. 35 Narsai, Homilies on Creation 1:49; 1:83-104 (see Homélies de Narsaï sur la création, trans. P. Gignoux, Patrologia Orientalis 34, fasc. 3-4 (Paris: Brepols, 1968) 36 Narsai, Homilies on Creation 1:90-95 37 Narsai, Homily on Enoch and Elijah 321-322. 38 Narsai, Homily on Enoch and Elijah 335-339

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tioned by Greek writers as a symbol of divine salvation, or on occasions – symbol of the Eucharist, is, to the best of my knowledge, linked with the as- cension only by one writer, namely by Aphrahat, who writes: “And because his heart was in heaven, the bird of heaven used to bring sustenance to him and because he took upon him the likeness of the angels of heaven, those very angels brought him bread and water when he was fleeing from Jezebel. And because he set all his thought in heaven, he was caught up in the chariot of fire to heaven and there his dwelling place was established forever.”39 Yet, it does not seem likely that such interpretation influenced the creator of the miniature in the Christian Topography. It appears possible that as in the case of other narrative illustrations the min- iaturist joined the few most characteristic events associated with the story de- scribed in the chapter. Such is, for example, the case of the miniature accom- panying the chapter on , where the Burning Bush and Moses receiving the scroll of the Law are represented within one illustration.40 There, however, it is clear that the two scenes were not merely represented next to each other, but that they are very intricately and purposefully connected.41 This also seems to be truth for the miniature accompanying the chapter on Abraham, where within one composition servants leading a donkey, Isaac carrying wood, and the scene of the sacrifice itself are represented.42 It has been long noted that this miniature combines elements from a cycle of three illustrations accompa- nying Genesis 22 in the Byzantine Octateuchs.43 There, the miniatures show the journey of Abraham and Isaac with two servants leading a donkey,44 Abraham putting wood on Isaac’s shoulders45 and the scene of the sacrifice it- self.46 The miniature in the Christian Topography consists of the elements copied from each of these three scenes. The comparison with the text that ac- companies indicates the motives behind making a similar selection of scenes.

39 Aphrahat, Demonstratio 6:5, (see Aprahat, Demonstrations, ed. K.A. Valavanolickal, Catholic Theologcal Studies of , 3, Changanassery: HIRS Publications, 1999). 40 Vat. gr. 699, fol. 61v, Sin.gr.1186, fol.101v, Laur.Plut.IX.28 fol. 137v. 41 T.C Aliprantis, Moses auf dem Berge Sinai. Die Ikonographie der Berufung des Moses und des Empfangs der Gesetztaflen (München: Herbert Utz Verlag GmbH, 1986), 39-41; M. Kominko, “Teofania na Synaju w Miniaturach Topografii Chrzescijanskiej”, Artifex Doctus. Ksiπga Pami∏tkowa Profesorowi Jerzemu Gadomskiemu na Siedemdziesi∏t∏ Rocznicπ Urodzin Ofiarowana (Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego, 2007), 143-155. 42 Vat. gr. 699, fol. 59r, Sin.gr.1186, fol. 98r, Laur.Plut.IX.28 fol. 132v. 43 As has been already noted by K. Weitzmann, Illustrations in Roll and Codex. A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration. Studies in Manuscript Illumination, 2 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947), 141; D. Mouriki-Charalambous, The Octateuch miniatures of the Byzantine manuscripts of Cosmas Indicopleustes, PhD Thesis, Princeton University 1970, 44- 48; K. Weitzmann, M. Bernabò, The Byzantine Octateuchs (Princeton: Princeton University Perss, 1999), 86-87 44 Vat.gr.747, fol.43r; Vat.gr.746 fol.81v; Ser.fol.87r; Sm.fol.34r. 45 Vat.gr.747 fol.43r; Vat.gr.746 fol.82r; Ser.fol.87v, Sm.fol.34v. 46 Vat.gr.747, fol.43v; Vat.gr.746 fol.83r; Ser.fol.88r; Sm.fol.35r.

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The text concentrates on the sacrifice, and although it does not mention two servants with a donkey, it comments on Abraham’s three day journey to the site of a sacrifice, and describes it as a type of three days between the death and Resurrection of Christ. Likewise, Isaac carrying the wood is described as a prefiguration of Christ carrying the cross.47 It seems, therefore, that the mini- ature was composed from elements consciously chosen, not only to condense a longer cycle, but also to stress the most important aspects of the text. The case of these illustrations shows that the composite nature of the mini- atures of the Treatise on Two Conditions was not a result of random throwing together of images. It rather seems that the illustrations were carefully crafted to provide a visual commentary on the text and to emphasise its particular points. In case of the chapter on Elijah the problem is that these points are not at all clear in the text itself. Indeed, some of them can only be understood with help of Narsai’s Homily on Enoch and Elijah, which provides a key to unlock- ing the significance Cosmas intended, but did not make clear. Whether the case of the miniature is similar, in that we need a key from a different source to understand it, remains uncertain. It seems that somewhere in the translation – from Syriac to Greek, from written to visual – or in the transmission – from a Late Antique codex to Byzantine one – the significance of the entire compo- sition has been somewhat lost.

47 Christian Topography V:99-101.

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Ill. 1. Ascension of Elijah, Vat. Gr. 699, fol. 66v

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Ill. 2. Ascension of Elijah, Sin. gr. 1186, fol. 107v

Ill. 3. Ascension of Elijah, Laur. Plut. IX. 28, fol. 146r

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