8.Theodoret's Text of Romans Agnès Lorrain1
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
8. THEODORET’S TEXT OF ROMANS 1 AGNÈS LORRAIN In memory of Revd Dr Jerome Murphy O’Connor (o.p.) Attempting to reconstruct the text of Romans in an early Christian writer means both to follow in the footsteps of the scholar who long ago wrote the Codex von der Goltz (GA 1739) and, I hope, to make a small contribution to the great project of the Editio critica maior.2 Within the compass of my own critical edition of Theodoret’s Interpretatio in epistulam ad Romanos (In Rom., CPG 6209), the biblical text poses a central problem.3 The evidence for the text of Paul in Theodoret of Cyr (393–c.460) is particularly important, because he is the only Greek author from the patristic era whose commentary on the Epistles is entirely preserved in its 1 The English translation of Theodoret’s commentary in this paper is taken from R.C. Hill, Theodoret of Cyr. Commentary on the Letters of St. Paul. Brookline MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2001, in spite of its lack of precision at some points. I am very grateful to Kevin Stephens (o.p.) for helping me write the English text of this paper. 2 On the purpose of the scribe who wrote the Codex von der Goltz, see the introductory remark in O. Bauernfeind, Der Römerbrief des Origenes nach dem Codex von der Goltz (Cod. 184 B 64 des Athosklosters Lawra). TU 44.3. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1923, 91. Concerning the Editio critica maior, only the Catholic Letters have so far been published (B. Aland, K. Aland et al., Novum Testamentum Graecum: Editio Critica Major. IV, Die Katholischen Briefe. 2nd edn. 2 vols. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2013). As Morrill and Gram note on page 99 above, preparations are underway for the Pauline Epistles. 3 The edition is part of my doctoral dissertation (Paris-Sorbonne, 2015); further information about the biblical text of Theodoret, especially concerning the whole Pauline corpus, is provided in the introductory chapter. References to this critical text are provided in brackets in the present paper. 165 166 AGNÈS LORRAIN original language. This affords us the opportunity to know precisely the state of his own Pauline corpus. In addition, three features of his exegesis allow us to hope to be able to find interesting details concerning textual variants: first, he respects the sequence of the text, quoting and commenting on every verse; second, he pays close attention to the letter of the text; and third, he is often interested in textual criticism. In the course of this investigation, however, it was more the limitations of the approach than the positive results which came to the fore. For this reason we will focus on methodological issues before considering some features of the text. The vast majority of the variants we found affect neither the meaning nor the characterisation of the text. We have therefore focussed our attention on some variants presented by Bruce Metzger in his Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament.4 METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES In order to reconstruct the biblical text of Theodoret, we shall examine the manuscripts, analyse the commentary, and compare Theodoret with other authors. Nevertheless, we quickly notice that these methods present very little certain information. The problem of the manuscript tradition The first requirement for determining Theodoret’s text is the examination of the manuscripts.5 However, besides the difficulty of choosing between the different surviving witnesses, we cannot exclude the possibility of editorial intervention between Theodoret and the archetype we may reconstruct based on the manuscripts we have. The textual tradition of this work provides a clear illustration of the intervention of a copyist and the autonomy of the biblical text in the lemma when compared with the stemma built from the text of the commentary. So, while Paris, BnF, Supplément gr. 1299 (GA 2242) is a copy of Vatican, 4 B.M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. 2nd edn. London & New York: UBS, 1994, 505–41. Our comparison with the variant readings already noted by the editors of the New Testament is based on the information of both NA28 and K. Aland, Text und Textwert der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testament I, 1. Berlin–New York: de Gruyter, 1991. 5 For the witnesses of Theodoret’s In epistulas Pauli, we not only studied the In Romanos but also the biblical quotations throughout the commentary. For his other works, we made reference to available critical editions. 8. THEODORET’S TEXT OF ROMANS 167 BAV, Vaticanus gr. 1649 (GA 1945), its biblical text is sometimes different. Some details show that the copyist paid more attention to the biblical text than to the commentary and used a biblical manuscript to correct and complete what he considered omissions. Indeed, we found phrases added at the end of a lemma which correspond to parts of verses written in the following sentences but which were not indicated by a diple.6 We may assume that this sort of intervention also occurred at an earlier stage. So the ‘text’ of Theodoret which forms the subject of the present paper, that is to say the biblical text of the archetype (to the extent that it can be reconstructed), may be quite far from the text actually commented upon by the Bishop of Cyr.7 The problem with studying the commentary Since the lemmata and quotations do not provide solid evidence, we must base our investigation on the content of the commentary. Contrary to what one might expect from Theodoret, his commentary on Romans provides little information because the explanations seldom relate to words which are subject to variation. Most surprising is the lack of text-critical remarks in comparison with Origen’s commentary on Romans and in contrast to Theodoret’s interest in the versions of the Old Testament.8 Only one comment may possibly refer to a variant reading. It concerns the name Priscilla. Theodoret says: Priscilla, or Prisca (you can find both forms in the books).9 Is this a comment about different copies of Romans? Both readings are to be found in surviving manuscripts. However, Theodoret does not seem to use the word βιβλίον in reference to different copies of one text, whereas 6 This is described more precisely in my dissertation. 7 The quotations of Romans in other works are probably less subject to correction. We consider them a good witness if they confirm a rare reading. 8 B.M. Metzger, ‘Explicit References in the Works of Origen to Variant Readings in New Testament Manuscripts’ in Biblical and Patristic Studies in Memory of Robert Pierce Casey, ed. J.N. Birdsall and R.W. Thomson, Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1963, 78–95, lists the text-critical remarks of Origen on Romans, according to Rufinus on 88–90. For Theodoret’s other works, see J.-N. Guinot, L’Exégèse de Théodoret de Cyr. Théologie historique 100. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995, 167–252. 9 Τὴν γὰρ Πρίσκιλλαν, ἢ Πρίσκαν, ἀμφότερα γὰρ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις. Theodoret, In Rom., V, PG 82, 220 B 1–2 (in my edition, V, 56: Rom. 16:3). 168 AGNÈS LORRAIN he often uses it in reference to a book of the Bible.10 Therefore, the exegete is probably referring to other books of the New Testament (e.g. Acts 18:2, 18; 1 Cor. 16:19) rather than to other copies of Romans, in the same way as Origen, who, with reference to the same verse, reads ‘Prisca’ and notes that we find ‘Priscilla’ in Acts.11 The commentary does not often indicate a particular reading, although examples of this will be given below. Sometimes a remark seems to be more satisfactory if we suppose a particular reading, and in that case we consider the reading likely but not certain. Let us see, for example, how Theodoret explains Romans 4:11: Εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πατέρα πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων δι’ ἀκροβυστίας, εἰς τὸ λογισθῆναι (καὶ) αὐτοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην. Καὶ πατέρα περιτομῆς. Ὧδε χρὴ στίξαι. Δείκνυσι γὰρ τὸν πατριάρχην πρῶτον μὲν τῶν ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ πεπιστευκότων πατέρα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτὸς ἀκρόβυστος ὢν ἔτι, τὸ τῆς πίστεως δῶρον προσενήνοχε τῷ θεῷ, ἔπειτα μέντοι καὶ Ἰουδαίων, ὡς τῆς περιτομῆς αὐτῷ κοινωνησάντων. So that he might be father of all who believe despite not being circumcised in order that righteousness be reckoned (also) to them, and father of the circumcised. Here there is need of distinction: he shows the patriarch as father first of those who believed while uncircumcised, since he himself while still uncircumcised offered God the gift of faith, then of course also of Jews on the grounds of their sharing circumcision with him.12 The commentary is more coherent without the adverbial καὶ, which would seem to mean that the justification of pagans occurs after that of the Jews: according to Theodoret, Paul affirms that Abraham is ‘first of all’ father of the pagans. In a case such as this, we choose the reading without καὶ, as it is attested in the textual tradition of Theodoret.13 Some embarrassing examples show that the proof is sometimes more apparent than real. This is the case in Romans 7:25. Manuscripts of the 10 See Guinot, L’Exégèse, 180–1. For examples of the of the word βιβλίον meaning a biblical book, see Theodoret, Commentarius in Isaiam, XIX, SC 315, 266 (Is. 61:1); Commentarius in Canticum, PG 81, 49A 2. 11 According to Rufinus’ translation, cf. Origen, Commentarius in Romanos, X.18. 2, SC 555, 372. 12 Theodoret, In Rom., II, PG 82, 89 C 13–D 6 (in my edition: II, 14). 13 One old manuscript of Theodoret quotes the text without καί.