70 Fred. C. Conybcare, The Odes of Solomon Montanist.

The Odes of Solomon Montanist.1 By Fred. C. Conybeare, Oxford.

I hesitate to disagree with conclusions arrived at after careful study by Prof. Harnack; but the more I read and reread Dr. Rendel Harris' new document, the more homogeneous does it appear to me to be. It is quite impossible to discern almost in the same sentence, as Prof. Harnack's separatist .hypothesis requires, Jewish and Christian sources. From what circle then of believers could these hymns have emanated? I suggest that they are Montanist. Let us take an example in hymn 33 which runs as follows: "Wiederum eilte die Gnade und ließ das Verderben und kam herab in ihm, um es unschädlich zu machen. 2Und er vertilgte die Ver- nichtung vor seinem Angesicht und zerstörte alle ihre Ordnungen. 3 Und er trat auf einen hohen Gipfel und ließ seine Stimme (schallen) von einem Ende der Erde bis zum ändern, 4und er zog zu sich heran alle, die ihm gehorchten, und keiner erschien als böse. 5Aber es er- hob sich eine vollkommene Jungfrau, die predigte, rief und sprach: 6Ihr Menschensöhne, kehret um, und ihr Töchter kommet 7und ver- laßt die Wege dieses Verderbens und kommet näher zu mir, und ich will in eure Mitte treten und euch herausführen aus der Vernichtung, 8und will euch weise machen auf den Wegen der Wahrheit; ihr sollt nicht verderben und auch nicht zugrunde gehen. 9Höret mich und laßt euch erlösen, denn ich verkündige die Gnade Gottes unter euch, und durch meine Hände werdet ihr erlöst werden und selig sein. 10Ich bin euer Richter, und denen, die mich angezogen haben, soll kein Un- recht geschehen, sondern sie sollen die neue, unvergängliche Welt be- sitzen. Meine Auserwählten wandeln in mir und meine \Vege will

1 [Vorliegender Aufsatz ging bei der Redaktion am 16.11. 1910 ein, am 2l 11. 1910 eine dasselbe Thema behandelnde Arbeit von S. Fries in Stockholm, die in Heft 2 zum Abdruck kommen wird. E. P.]

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ich denen kundtun, die mich suchen, und ich will in ihnen Vertrauen erwecken auf meinen Namen. Hallelujah." Here Dr. Harnack remarks of verses 7if.: Die Jungfrau spricht in messianischen Worten; es ist hier lehr- reich zu sehen, wie unbek mmert der S nger in Anwendung der- selben ist. And of verses 10f. thus: Wohl Subjektswechsel; denn in diesen Versen spricht Gott selbst. Auch diese Ode macht einen kompilatorischen Eindruck. But if we turn to Epiphanius' chapters against the Montanists we find more than one passage which exactly accords with this ode. Let us remember also that Epiphanius got what little information he gives us from early sources, probably from Hippolytus. I select the following from the Adversus Haereses, XXIX (XLIX): Φαςé ãáñ ούτοé ol κατά Φρύγα, €ΐτ' ουν ΤΤριςκιλλιανοί, εν τη Πεπούίη ή Κυίντιλλαν ή ΤΤρίςκιλλαν, ουê έχù ακριβώς λέγειν, μίαν δε έ£ αυτών, ùς προεΐπον. εν τη ΤΤεπούΖη κεκαθευδηκέναι, êáé τον Xpicrov προς αυτήν έληλυθέναι, ςυνυπνωκέναé τε αύτη τούτù τø τρόπψ, ùς εκείνη άπα- τωμένη £λεγεν. Åν ιδέα, φηςι, γυναικός έςχηματιςμένος εν ςτολή λαμπρή ήλθε πρόο με Xpicroc, êáé ένέβαλεν εν Ιμοί την ςοφίαν, êáé απεκάλυψε μοι, τουτονé τον τόπον είναé αγιον, êáé ώδε την Ίερουςαλήμ εê τοõ ουρανού κατιέναι. Is it not possible that this vision of Christ disguised as a virgin suggested this hymn? But if this conjecture seems too farfetched the position of the prophetess Maximilla in the Montanist church eminently fits this hymn. It is related of her that she claimed to be as it were, an impersonation of Christ, and enforced her teaching with the words: εμού μη άκούςητε, áëëά XpicroO άκούςατε. Compare with this the utterance of the τέλειá παρθένος in vs 9 of the hymn: H ret mich und la t euch erl sen, etc.1 Let us recall the condition of Christian teaching in the Great Church in the 25 last years of the second cen- tury s Tertullian represents it. The idea had grown up that the apostles had left a complete system of doctrine to which nothing could be added. Spiritual illumination was exhausted in the books of the newly formed canon. The traditional · teaching of the primitive

1 Cp. also Epiph. § 13 of the same context where Maximilla is cited as saying: με κύριος τούτοõ τοÏ πόνοõ êáé τήο έπαγγ€λίοê êáΐ της α>νθήκη€ αίρετίοτήν, μηνυτήν, έρμηνβυτην, ήναγκοκμένον, θέλοντá êáé μη θέλοντá μαθεΐν γνώαν 6eoO.

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age was enough; it was authoritative and could not be supplemented. The age of prophecy was over, and the best and highest work left for later ages was that of glossing an inspired text. Tertullian as a Montanist answered that the work of Cod must not be left to stand still while Satan continued as active as ever; and the Montanists no doubt argued in the spirit of the writer of the fourth gospel, that in Jesus the revelation was far from complete, that He had many things to say which his Jewish audience could not bear; and that He there- fore left it to the spirit of truth, when the latter should come, to reveal the entire truth to the faithful. This is exactly the tone of verses 6 foil, in the above hymn. They accurately correspond with the claims of the prophetess Maximilla as reported in Epiphanius and other anti- montanist writers. "Die Jungfrau spricht in messianischen Worten", remarks Dr. Hamack. But this is just how Maximilla spoke. It may be objected that in these "Odes" we encounter little of the characteristic teaching of the montanists. I answer that we cer- tainly do in this hymn and also in no. 34 which follows it find what was most blamed by the catholics in Montanus and his female prophets, namely the pretention to speak with the spirit and authority of the Messiah. As for the minor innovations attributed to the Montanists by censorious catholic opponents,—I do not see how we can expect to find them in these outpourings of the spirit. We might as well search the Psalms or Isaiah for the detailed rules of the Levitical Sacrificial System. For what were these innovations? One was "that in addition to the ordinary paschal fast of the church two weeks of what was called Xerophagy should be observed".1 Could we expect to trace such a rule in such hymns as these. Can we anymore hope to trace in them the rule against second marriages, or their rigorist exclusion of the penitential indulgence which was springing up con- temporaneously in the roman church. According to Tertullian the Paraclete through the new prophets had' that power of reconciling to the church sinners who had lapsed from baptismal innocence which the nitmerus episcoporitm falsely claimed as their own. Is it then not probable that a Montanist prophetess might have exclaimed: Höret mich und laßt euch erlösen, denn ich verkündige die Gnade Gottes unter euch ... Ich bin euer Richter ... If so, there is an echo of the controversy in these hymns. It is unfortunate that we have mainly

1 See Dictionary of Christian Biography, art. Montanus, vol. Ill, p. 942. The Armenian church seems to have added these fasts from the first.

Brought to you by | University of Queensland - UQ Library Authenticated Download Date | 6/15/15 11:41 AM Fred. C. Conj'beare, The Odes of Solomon Montanist. 73 to rely for our knowledge of early Montanism on the writings of such a rigorist as Tertullian or such a dull traducer as Epiphanius. Nevertheless reading between their lines we can discern among the Montanists just such an elan of enthusiasm, just such an identification ot the Christian prophet with the holy Spirit, with Christ and with God, as we encounter in these odes. It is easy to imagine St. Perpetua to have been brought up on such hymns as these. In conclusion I venture to toy — only try/—to clear up some obscure points in these odes. In ode 7 we read vs. 21: Es sollen vor ihm hergehen die Seher und sollen vor ihm sich zeigen und sollen preisen den H chsten in seiner Liebe, denn er ist nahe und sieht, und der Ha wird weg- genommen werden von der Erde, etc May not this be an allusion to the ceremon}' observed in montanist churches, as reported by Epiphanius (loc. cit.): Πολλάκις δε εν τη εαυτών έκκληάá επέρχονταé λαμπαδηφοροΟοαé επτά rwec παρθένοι, λευχείμονεο δήθεν έρχόμεναι, ίνá προφητεύςωá τù ëáéúτ áú δε τρόπον τινά ένδεικνύμεναé ένθουααομοõ TOIC παρουá λαοΐς άπάτην εργάζονται, κλαίειν τε ποιουαν, be οΐκτον μετανοίας άγοικαι, δάκρυá χεόμεναι, êáé ςχήματί τινé έποδυρόμεναé τον των ανθρώπων βίον. The discrepancy is slight that in the Ode the seers sing hymns of praise and give thanks for the removal from earth of hatred and envy. Another point:—In ode 4 we read: Niemand ver ndert deinen heiligen Platz, mein Gott, 2und keiner ist, der ihn vertauschte und an einen ndern Platz stellte, weil er nicht die Macht hat. 3Denn dein Heiligtum hast du bestimmt, bevor du die Pl tze machtest; 4der ltere soll nicht tauschen m ssen mit denen, die j nger sind als er. 5Du hast dein Herz, o Herr, deinen Gl ubigen gegeben, nie wirst du m ig sein und wirst nicht ohne Frucht sein; 6 denn eine Stunde des Glaubens an dich ist mehr wert als alle Tage und Stunden. 7Denn wer wird deine G te anziehen und ungerecht handeln? "Denn dein Siegel ist bekannt,· und deine Gesch pfe kennen es, und deine Heerscharen besitzen es, und die auserw hlten Erzengel sind damit angetan. 9Du hast uns deine Gemeinschaft geschenkt . . . 10Sprenge auf uns deine Tautiopfen . . . ;2das Ende war dir offen- bar . . . 14Denn alles war dir als Gott offenbar und war von Anfang an fest bestimmt vor dir ... Now in the above, vs. 8 recalls the apocalypse ch. 7, where "the servants of God" are "sealed on their foreheads". Vs. 6 recalls Ps. 84: For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. But the writer of

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the ode did not take the psalm in its literal sense, but as a prophecy of the new Jerusalem of Christian faith. This new Jerusalem is the true communion, sent down, as a pure act of the divine grace to Christian believers. Moreover the new Jerusalem, which is a com- munion with the Lord and his elect angels is no innovation. It was promised all along from the first foundation of the world by God who does not go back on his word. The end was visible to him beforehand. Now we know that the Montanists declared that the new Jerusalem had descended at Pepuza in Phrygia. They claimed for their village that it was the spiritual metropolis of the world, and it speedily became a center of pilgrimage. Let us suppose that the enemies of Montanus objected that a paltry village in Phrygia had no right to call itself the new Jerusalem,1 and that the holy place, as the Montanists called their village, really lay in Palestine and was no other than the city of David. To such an adversary a Montanist adversary might well answer that God in his providence had really established his holy place and sanctuary at Pepuza long before he made such places as the lower and earthly Jerusalem, "bevor du die Pl tze machtest"; and that Pepuza was really the older sanctuary in the sense that it was predestined by God to be the seat of the manifestation of his new Jerusalem, the focus at which grace and a new heart should descend. Compare the words of Maximilla already cited: ήλθε Trpoc με Xpicroc êáé ένέβαλεν εν έμοί την αχρίαν, êáé απεκάλυψε μοé τουτονé τον τόπον είναé ίίγιον êáé ώδε την ' Ιερουςαλήμ εê τοõ ουρανού κατιέναι. In effect no one had altered the site of the true Jerusalem, of the genuine sanctuary. No one could. It had been fixt at Pepuza before the ages, and must not be confused with the earthly Jerusalem which was, as a centre of fleshly sacrifices, younger than it, nor never at any time the providential city and abode of grace. "Denn alles war dir als Gott offenbar und'war von Anfang an fest bestimmt vor dir." There was no reason to assert that God must have changed his mind, if the old Jerusalem was to be deserted as the Montanists declared it to be. They denied that it had ever been in the counsels of God to allow to the capital of the Palestinian Jews a more than temporary holiness. It was in Pepuza that Christ would congregate those members of the spiritual 'Israel who bore his seal.

1 Compare the citation of Apollonios, a contemporary of Montanus, in Eusebius H. E. V, 18, 2: OUTOC (Movravoc) €*criv ... 6 ΤΤέττουίαν êáé Τύμιον Ίεροικαλήμ όνο- pdcac (πόλεις be clav αΟταé μικροί της Φρυγίοκ), roue πανταχόθεν εκεί α/ναγαγεΐν

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There is no reason then to suppose with Dr. Harnack, or with the discoverer of these odes, that the Jewish temple was standing when these odes were written. There is nothing about them specifi- cally Jewish or Palestinian. In ode 20 the writer declares that he is a priest of the Lord, and that he discharges priestly office; yet his offering is purely spiritual (und ich bringe ihm dar das Opfer seines Gedankens). His thought, the text adds, is not as the world's, is not fleshly; and the sacrifice of the Lord is justice and purity of heart and speech. I would not deny that a Jew could have uttered such a thought while the temple was still intact; but there is certainly nothing in it to suggest that it was so, but rather the reverse. It may be urged that all the above clues are weak and faint. But Christian historians have left us so few genuine records of the Montanist church that it could not be otherwise. Nevertheless I maintain that what little we know for certain accords well with my hypothesis. It is possible that a careful study of Tertullian's Montanist tracts might reveal other points of agreement.

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