HYMNS, HOMILIES AND HERMENEUTICS IN BYZANTIUM Abstracts

John Damascene on the Transfiguration of the Lord: Mystical Homiletic Performance and Eschatological Hermeneutics

Dr Vassilis Adrahtas (University of New South Wales)

John Damascene’s oeuvre is generally seen as scholastic and rationalistic, and thus devoid of mysticism and eschatological fervour. However, this assertion is rather sweeping and does not do justice to the comprehensiveness, complexity and subtlety of John Damascene's theologising. On the basis of his homily On the Transfiguration of the Lord, the present paper will attempt to show that John Damascene did work through established mystical tropes and was indeed driven by an eschatological consciousness. In particular, it will be shown that this specific homily is articulated as a dramatised performance that mystically presents ’ (historical) past in light of the experiencing of his (meta-historical) future. As a result, the homily in question is thoroughly informed by an eschatological hermeneutics, which apart from utilising traditional modes of biblical interpretation ultimately puts forward a mysticism of action and an iconic eschatology of being truly human.

The Eye of the Soul in Plato and pseudo-Macarius: Alexandrian and the Roots of Hesychasm

A/Professor Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides (Macquarie University)

Although the mystical tradition of Hesychasm is typically associated with and his fourteenth century dispute with Barlaam of Calabria (Meyendorff 1983: 6-8; Ware 1986: 249; Healey 1999: 227-8), its historical evolution in the writings of earlier writers such as Evagrius Ponticus (345-399; Ware 1986: 177), pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite (5th- 6th century; Russell 2004: 258; Perl 2007: 68); (c. 580 – 662; Moore 2005: 97; Armstrong 1967: 492-3), and Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022; Alfeyev 2000: 80) is well-attested in scholarship. However, to date, the contribution of pseudo- Macarius (300-391) in the core hesychast experience of the uncreated divine light has been rarely examined (except for Sabo 2012; cf. Plested 2004). In light of this discrepancy, my paper focuses on the concept of the eye of the soul, introduced in the sixth book of Plato’s Republic (508) and expanded in his Phaedo (e.g. 66e), and its reception in pseudo- Macarius’ seventh homily. Although pseudo-Macarius eventually places the intellect in the heart (a development appreciated in view of the Old Testament understanding of the heart (lēb), Sabo 2012: 74), in my view, his thought owes a lot to Aristotle’s On the Soul (e.g. 413a23), which Clement had also studied closely (Bos 1993).

Bibliography Alfeyev, H. 2000. St. Symeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition. Oxford. Armstrong, A.H. (ed). 1967. The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy. Cambridge. Bos, A.P. 1993. “Clement of on Aristotle’s (Cosmo-)Theology (Clem. Protrept. 5.66.4),” CQ 43.1: 177-188. Healey, Ch.J. 1999. Christian Spirituality: An Introduction to the Heritage. New York. Meyendorff, J. (ed.). 1983. Gregory Palamas, The Triads. Ramsey, NJ. Moore, E. 2005. Origen of Alexandria and St. Maximus the Confessor: An Analysis and Critical Evaluation of Their Eschatological Doctrines. Boca Raton, FL. Perl, E.D. 2007. Theophany: The Neoplatonic Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite. New York. Plested, M. 2004. The Macarian Legacy: The Place of Macarius-Symeon in the Eastern Christian Tradition. Oxford. Russell, N. 2004. The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Oxford. Sabo, Th. 2012. The Proto-Hesychasts: Origins of mysticism in the Eastern church. PhD Thesis, North- West University. Ware, K. 1986. “The Origins of the Jesus Prayer: Diadochus, Gaza, Sinai,” in C. Jones, G. Wainwright and E. Yarnold (eds), The Study of Spirituality, New York/Oxford, 175-184.

Individuals and Community: Performing Christian Identity in the Kontakia of Romanos

Dr Sarah Gador-Whyte (Australian Catholic University)

The kontakia of Romanos the Melodist are important sources for sixth-century liturgical practice, the dissemination of central theological ideas, and the construction of subjectivity in the period. Recent scholarship has highlighted the function of the poetic persona in the kontakia. The poetic persona often performs the character of humble and penitent Christian, wracked with grief and full of a desire for reconciliation with God. Through a variety of rhetorical techniques, members of the congregation are encouraged to identify with and share in this persona. The characteristics of the humble and penitent persona are also emphasised through narrative devices and dialogues through which the congregation can identify with biblical characters. Such techniques contribute to the construction of a Christian self, the formation of an ideal Christian subjectivity. While acknowledging the importance of the construction of preferred individual identities, this paper foregrounds ways in which the performance of the kontakia constructs Christian communal identity. Communal identity is not merely individual identity on a larger scale, although the poetic persona can certainly be deployed to form communal subjectivities as well as individual identities. Placing the emphasis on construction of communal identity rather than individual subjectivity identifies tensions between individual subjectivity and communal cohesion, and also foregrounds ways in which place and liturgical or ritual action help to characterise and define communities.

The Homiletic Audience as Embodied Hermeneutic: Scriptural Interpretation as Psychagogy in the Preaching of John Chrysostom

Professor Wendy Mayer (Australian Lutheran College, University of Divinity)

Traditionally the exegetical preaching of John Chrysostom has been viewed through the lens of the Antiochene-Alexandrian schools of biblical interpretation. At the same time the moral or ethical portions of his exegetical homilies have been viewed as discrete from the exegetical portion, the two viewed as largely disconnected. The recent shift to view John’s preaching and teaching as holistic with a therapeutic telos (Rylaarsdam 2014) requires us to reconsider both his approach to exegesis and its purpose in his preaching. In a forthcoming chapter on catechesis and homily in early Christian biblical interpretation I conclude that if we accept that in early in both catechesis and homily scriptural interpretation was directed towards effecting the transformation of the whole human person, then the interpretation of Scripture is something that extended beyond reasoned explanation to engage both preacher/teacher and listener alike in a multi-sensory and multi-layered experience. The holistic way of looking at biblical interpretation promoted by preachers like Origen, Augustine and Chrysostom calls us to extend our sights beyond the liturgical context to consider the way in which the Christian person was transformed (or not) through hearing the truths of Scripture communicated in spiritual instruction—that is, to view the life of the Christian person itself as embodied biblical interpretation. This paper takes this idea and seeks to explore it further.

“They are indeed a mighty enchantment”: The Act of Imperial Hymn-Singing in Early Byzantium

Dr Meaghan McEvoy (Macquarie University)

In the course of his conflict with the court of the emperor Valentinian II over one of the basilicas of Milan, Bishop Ambrose asserted that he had been accused of casting a spell over his congregration through introducing them to the wonders of communal hymn-singing. Christian hymn-singing itself was a relatively new activity in the late fourth century, and appeared in also around this period in the context of the conflict between John Chrysostom and the court of the emperor Arcadius. Yet while both of these cases saw congregational hymn-singing wielded as a weapon against emperors, during the reign of Theodosius II (402-450AD) a shift can be detected in this use of hymns, through the numerous examples reported in our sources of the emperor himself taking to leading his subjects in public hymn singing at moments of crisis or celebration. Indeed, by the time of the emperor Heraclius (610-641AD), emperors publicly singing hymns had become so expected that it was a matter of comment that Heraclius was too overcome to sing the prescribed verses on the occasion of his return of the True Cross to in 629AD. This paper will examine the questions of when and why emperors sang hymns publicly, as well as tracing the progression of this tradition to the point where emperors such as Leo V (813- 820AD) and Theophilus (829-842AD) prided themselves on not only their singing but also their composition of hymns and conducting of choirs at religious celebrations. The Tears of a Harlot: Kassia’s On the Sinful Woman and the Biblical Mosaic of Salvation

Dr Andrew Mellas (University of Sydney)

In a hymn for Holy Wednesday by the ninth-century hymnographer Kassia, there is a curious tension between paradisal nostalgia and the eschaton. The tears of the harlot, her repentance at the feet of Christ and her transformation into a myrrhbearer, open a liminal space where Creation, Fall, Incarnation and Passion are glimpsed. Although Kassia’s hymn echoes the biblical reading associated with Holy Wednesday (Luke 7: 36-50), the liturgical performance of her song extends beyond this scriptural passage, evoking a visual and sonic intertextuality. Kassia’s textual strategy begins with a moment in the history of salvation and then expands to encompass the divine economy. Although Kassia dramatises repentance from a woman’s point of view, she also destabilises the identity of her protagonist. The woman who anoints Jesus is a porous figure of repentance who reminds the faithful of how Adam and Eve wept. Kassia’s hymn enacts the fall and exile from paradise and, with the focus on Christ’s imminent passion, the text calls to mind Jesus’ own tears in the Garden of and the empty tomb the myrrhbearers encounter. This paper will explore how Kassia’s hymn collapses the biblical past and future into the liturgical present, inviting the faithful to meditate on the biblical mosaic of salvation and identify with the protagonist of the hymn.

The Theotokos as Selective Intercessor for Souls in Early Byzantine Homilies and Hymns

Professor Bronwen Neil (Macquarie University)

The Apocalypse of the Holy Theotokos enjoyed enormous popularity in the later Byzantine period of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, when the Greek text was translated into almost a dozen other languages. An equally popular work of the mid-tenth century was the Vision of Anastasia. Mary’s role as intercessor for sinners in these two Apocalypses of the ninth to eleventh centuries is typical of Byzantine apocalypticism of the period and can be traced back to her representation in earlier Greek and Syriac homilies and hymns. I focus here on Mary’s role as an intercessor in the homiletic and hymnographic sources. Her intercession for souls in torment was selective in the fact that it was directed toward Christians but not Jews. The increasing recognition of Mary’s humanity in the cult of the Theotokos (Mother of God) emerges as the justification for her discrimination against those who were perceived as the murderers of her son.

John Damascene’s Homily on the Withered Fig Tree: Exegetical and Panegyrical Preaching in Interaction

Fr Dr Damaskinos Olkinuora (University of Eastern Finland)

John Damascene, one of the most famous preachers of his time, delivered an exegetical sermon on the parables of the withered fig tree and the workers of the vineyard on Holy Monday, several days before Pascha, exploring the liturgical Gospel reading of that day. The present paper examines John’s sermon as part of the tradition of patristic exegesis, but also in conjunction with the liturgical celebrations of the day in question. The sermon, previously neglected by scholarship, offers a synthetic exposition of tree and plant metaphors, interweaving paradisal imagery, biblical narratives and the audience’s personal morality, in a masterly way. Moreover, John draws material from the liturgical hymns of the first days of the Holy Week, such as the wedding chamber imagery, probing its signficance for the faithful. This paper explores how John’s skills as a poet, dogmatic theologian, and a preacher converge in the text and performance of this homily.

Modelling the on Biblical Characters: On the Use of Typology in Byzantine Hagiographical Hymns

Dr Kosta Simic (Australian Catholic University)

Modelling saints on biblical figures in Byzantine hymnography was inherited from other genres of Byzantine literature, especially homiletics, hagiography and various monastic writings for spiritual edification. Besides its pure rhetorical dimension that can be related to the classical tradition, this practice within the Christian context obviously served several other purposes. First, it was one of the ways to demonstrate the idea of unity between the Old and New Testaments, and especially the notion of continuity in the history of the chosen people of the “Old” and “New” Israel. Second, the insertion of the saints into the biblical context can also be seen as a convenient way for Christian authors, including hymnographers, to simultaneously praise the saints and render certain biblical figures and events directly relevant to the audience. Finally, the time of the appearance of this practice may also suggest that it was utilised to facilitate the construction of sanctity and development of the cult of the saints other than martyrs. This possibly was one of the reasons that it became widespread in the post-persecution period, when the Church sought out alternative criteria for making new saints. In the early period, martyrs as the only category of saints, were modelled on Christ due to their violent death, which resembled that of Christ’s. After the persecutions, the emphasis was laid on seeking out links between extraordinary Christians and a wide range of biblical heroes in terms of their virtuous way of life. Acquiring their virtues could make a certain person a without physical suffering. With its origins in late antiquity, this sacred rhetoric was maintained and further developed over the following centuries, having been gradually adopted by Byzantine hymnographers especially during the middle Byzantine period.

Sophronius of Jerusalem’s Sermons on the Arabs

Ryan Strickler (Macquarie University)

The seventh century was a period of transformative crisis. The Roman Empire, having narrowly fended off defeat at the hands of the Sassanid Persians, found itself unprepared to fend off the advances of a new foe: the ascendant Arabs, united by a new religion guided by the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. By the end of the century, large portions of Roman territory, including the holy city Jerusalem, was firmly under Islamic control. We have precious few sources concerning the earliest years of Arab expansion. One key exception is a set of letters and sermons, composed by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Sophronius, which bear witness to the slow advance of Arab forces into his territory. Sophronius’s Synodical Letter, composed on his elevation to the patriarchate, shows an early awareness of the threat posed by the Arabs before the full extent of their success. Sermons delivered on various feasts trace the steady losses of Roman territory under the patriarch’s omophorion and chronicle Sophronius’s descent from cautious optimism to near despair.

This paper examines three documents by Sophronius of Jerusalem, his Synodical Letter, written in 634, his Homily on the Nativity, delivered in 636, and his Homily on the Epiphany, delivered circa 638. Of interest will be Sophronius’s increasing use of apocalyptic discourse and biblical rhetoric to provoke repentance and dehumanize his Arab foes, and what his increasingly desperate language reveals about the use of sermons to understand the nature of the early Islamic invasions.

Homiletic Patristic Tradition in Eleventh-Century Byzantine Hagiography: The Case of the Vita A of St Athanasius the Athonite

John Theodoridis (Macquarie University)

The Vita A of St Athanasius the Athonite, if anything, reflects the aftermath of what has been dubbed “the first Byzantine humanism” (P. Lemerle). Apart from being a very important textual witness to the development of Byzantine education, the Vita seems to be a prime example of both the manner and the extent to which patristic homiletics informed the hagiographical trends of Middle Byzantium. What is of particular interest herein is the abundant use of the homilies of St Gregory the Theologian: hardly a page of the edited text of the Vita goes by without some reference to the corpus of these homilies. Why is this so? What is so special about St Gregory the Theologian for the author of the Vita? The present paper aspires to explore the objective—cultural but also social—conditions that necessitated this particular patristic preference, and at the same time look into the subjective reception of a certain tradition that fleshed out in a unique way the sensitivities, expectations and emotionality of a sophisticated elite audience.