Institut d’Études Augustiniennes

67/1

67/2

Abstracts:

François DOLBEAU, «Un sermon d’Augustin dirigé contre les Ariens: nouvelle édition critique du s. 126», p. 1-31

The textual tradition of Augustine’s Sermo 126, part of which is transmitted only by an incunabulum, is very limited. A first critical edition was published in 1959 by Cyrille Lambot. The discovery of partial manuscripts, including the Mainz collection of sermons (Mainz, Stadtbibliothek I 9), calls for a new edition. First of all, this sermon recalls the connection between faith and reason; then it comments on John 5, 19: “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing”, a cryptic verse that Arians explained in an unorthodox way. Augustine’s text contains great similarities with the Contra sermonem Arianorum and is probably datable from the years 419-420.

Back to the table of contents

Alain LE BOULLUEC, «Les recours polémiques des Pères grecs aux écrits hérétiques, d’Irénée à Épiphane», p. 33-49

Most of the “heretical” writings of the second and third centuries are lost or known
only from short abstracts or excerpts. Our purpose is to register different means by which some Fathers strive to disqualify these writings. Irenaeus neither names nor quotes his sources, but he draws from them a so-called gnostic “myth” (hypothesis) which he links with pagan literature. He separates this “myth” from the biblical references which he describes as false appearance. He uses the diversity of the forms his sources give to the “myth” to denounce what he sees as crumbling sects. When he comments upon a Valentinian writing, he reduces the biblical references to a deceptive cento. In fact, the texts of Nag Hammadi give quite a contrary picture. Epiphanius names and quotes many documents he refutes, but like Irenaeus he argues about the “myth” and likens it to a farce. Origen, in his Commentary on John, does not gives up the common accusation, but he discusses seriously the biblical exegesis of Heracleon.

Back to the table of contents

Almudena ALBA LÓPEZ-, «Hope and the Fulfilment of the Promises of the Old Testament in the Works of Hilary of Poitiers: A Pauline and Soteriological Reading», p. 51-81

Despite having seldom been the subject of systematic analysis, reflections on
Hope and faithful perseverance are present throughout the works of Hilary of Poitiers and, in particular, in his exegesis of the Psalms. This author understood that the entire story of the Old Testament was a preparation and a prefiguration of what would happen from the moment of the Incarnation, and this understanding led him to delve further into the relationship between mankind and the Word throughout the dispensation of salvation. Hilary observes that, in this relationship, the promises and covenants established between the two parties give rise to faithful expectation, allowing humans to orient themselves towards the enjoyment of the good things to come. These promises therefore have a soteriological function which Hilary conceives from a strictly Pauline point of view.

Back to the table of contents

Mattias GASSMAN, «An Ancient Account of Pagan Origins: Making Sense of Filastrius, Diuersarum hereseon liber 111», p. 83-105

The handbook of heresies by Ambrose’s ally Filastrius of Brescia is notoriously
confusing. The 111th section, which derives the popular label pagani for idolaters from an ancient rex Paganus (by Filastrius’ improbable assertion, a son of Hesiod’s Deucalion) is especially difficult. This article attempts an explanation. Filastrius’ account, on its face a fanciful etymology for pagani, in fact aims to explain the origin of their idolatrous religion. Reworking then-standard heresiological and apologetic tradition, he makes idolatry postdate the true, Christian religio by several generations. Though muddled by parallel references to the genuinely Hesiodic Hellen and Graecus, the appeal to King Paganus aims (it seems) to undergird this argument, by proving that no people, even the Greeks/Ἕλληνες, are pagans “naturally.” However, in a puzzle almost as great as the appeal to Paganus itself, Filastrius joins that historical argument to the idiosyncratic belief that humans are naturally Christian. That conviction may reflect awareness, gleaned from Filastrius’ travels around Italy, of Manichaean insistence on mankind’s natural paganism (represented by Faustus of Milevis, who was active at Rome and can be tied, albeit loosely, to Filastrius through Augustine). The argument, with which Filastrius also contradicts Ambrosiaster, may thus reflect theological debates ongoing at Rome in the 380s.

Back to the table of contents

Alan FITZGERALD, «Ambrose of Milan. How David matches and enriches the witness of Job», p. 107-124

This paper examines the Interpellatio Job et Dauid, asking why Ambrose chose
to bring the witness of these two biblical figures together to address the significance of the life of Christ for the Church of his time – whether in relation to the experience of adversity or to theplace of material riches. These sermons were written some time after the basilica crisis in 386, but are not about that crisis. The plea of David is shown to enhance the plea of Job. Where Job is seen as having been tempted in his body, David is proposed as having been tempted in his soul. Job’s example prepares for Christ and that of David prefigures and celebrates Christ.

Back to the table of contents

Gilbert DAHAN, «La traduction de Jérôme dans les correctoires bibliques du XIIIe siècle», p. 125-137

Biblical correctoria are collections of critical notes on the Latin text of the Vulgate,
the major ones being from the 13th century. We examine the references to Jerome on the book of Isaiah: his principles of translation, grammatical problems, alternative readings, and the punctuation, in the main correctoria, written by Dominicans (Hugh of Saint-Cher, the Bible of Saint-Jacques, the two collections of the MS. Paris, BnF lat. 15554) and Franciscans (William of Mara, Gérard of Huy).

Back to the table of contents

Marie-Odile BOULNOIS, «Une homélie sur l’ascension (CPG 5281) faussement attribuée à Cyrille d’Alexandrie», p. 165-194

The attribution of the Homily on the Ascension (CPG 5281) to Cyril of Alexandria is of great importance for the history of the liturgy, for it has been invoked in recent publications to prove that the feast of the Ascension was celebrated in Egypt in the first half of the fifth century. This article refutes the arguments advanced by Datema and Bishop in favor of this attribution. Neither the exegesis of Ps 23:7-10 and Is 63:1-7 found in this homily, nor the textual form of several of the verses quoted, are Cyrillian. The proposed connections with the work of Cyril are not characteristic, some of them going back to Origen, and the christology is not specifically Cyrillian. Apart from Is 63, the homily does not quote any of the biblical texts that Cyril usually
uses when he speaks of the Ascension of Christ. His thirty Festal Letters speak only of the seven weeks of Pentecost, without ever distinguishing the feast of the Ascension.

Back to the table of contents

Konrad F. ZAWADZKI, «„Göttlich ist der Sieg über den Tod.“ Ein vergessenes armenisches Fragment aus dem Kommentar Cyrills von Alexandrien zum 1. Korintherbrief», p. 195-219

In 1929 Joseph Lebon pointed out the existence of an Armenian fragment of Cyril of Alexandria’s commentary on 1 Corinthians. This fragment, preserved in the dogmatic Armenian Florilegium Seal of Faith, dating from the 7th century, represents the only text of the commentary that has come down to us translated into the ancient Armenian language. The present article presents the first complex study of this basically completely unknown text. It offers the wording of the Armenian fragment and its German translation. This is followed by a detailed philological analysis of the text, comparing the Armenian fragment both lexically and syntactically with the corresponding excerpt of the extant Greek version of Cyril’s commentary. In addition, comments on the formal placement of the fragment within the commentary as well as on its content are offered. The article concludes with some remarks on the reception of Cyril’s commentary in Christian Oriental literature.

Back to the table of contents

Stefan FEDDERN, «Augustinus und die Tradition der klassisch-paganen Literatur. Zur Funktion der Zitate im ersten Buch der Confessiones», p. 221-257

While Augustine reveals in connection with the Cicero quote that his philosophical
writings can also be useful in the sense of Chresis for Christians, he exercises a fundamental criticism of the classic pagan poetry, which particularly affects Virgil and thus its icon. Traditional poetry causes an alienation from God for two anthropological and ontological reasons which are internally related: many poetic passages exert a harmful influence on the young recipients in particular, because instead of reason they activate their affects and desires and seduce them into immoral behavior. To make matters worse is the fact that the behavior triggered by such works does not benefit any real person in the sense of Chresis, but that the poetic fictions belong to an intermediate status between the things of the sensually perceptible world and nothing. Ideally, the Bible would be covered in school lessons. Augustine does not criticize the pagan content of classical pagan poetry. Rather, he considers the effects of the psychological mechanism they trigger to be fatal, since they can culminate in the unleashing of desires. Augustine’s reflections on the seductive appeal of affects could be explained by the fourth discussion of Plato’s criticism of poets in the Politeia. But it is unlikely that he knew this passage. Rather, it becomes clear that Augustine, in the discursive passages of the first book of the Confessions, receives and updates Cicero’s criticism of poets by expressing his own point of view on this topic from a Christian perspective.

Back to the table of contents

Raúl VILLEGAS MARÍN, «El debate en torno a la canonicidad de la Sapientia Salomonis y la presencia de Jerónimo en las controversias marsellesas sobre la predestinación», p. 259-274

Hilary of Marseille’s letter to Augustine (ep. 226 inter Augustinianas) shows that
some of Augustine’s critics in Marseilles rejected the canonicity of Wisdom. John Cassian was certainly not among them, for his works attest that he considered Wisdom canonical and he even resorted to this book to argue against Augustine’s views on predestination. We could then surmise that at that time it would have existed in Marseilles a monastic community other than Cassian’s one, maybe the community to which Rusticus of Narbonne and Venerius of Marseilles once belonged. This monastery, strongly influenced by Jerome, became another focus of opposition to Augustine’s views on predestination.

Back to the table of contents

Richard Matthew POLLARD & Anne-Gaëlle WEBER, «Le canon des Pères à l’époque carolingienne et la place de Flavius Josèphe», p. 275-318

We have little idea who exactly belonged to the category of “Church father” in the early Middle ages, or how this category was even defined in this period. As such, it remains impossible to confirm or refute claims of Patristic or quasi-Patristic status or authority for a particular author. Indeed, Heinz Schreckenberg claimed that Flavius Josephus (37–100 CE) almost attained the status of a Church father, even though we still have only a sketchy idea of Josephus’ reception. This preliminary article uses quantitative techniques, many borrowed from the history of science, to address the intersecting questions of who (and what) constituted a Church father in this era, what was Josephus’ position alongside them. We examine measures like number of manuscripts, co-appearences in manuscripts, entries in library catalogues, “co-citation” data, annotations, and even some qualitative analysis to paint a broader and more nuanced picture of the early medieval Fathers. Josephus was probably not a “Father” to most, but the range and depth of his authority was surprising.

Back to the table of contents

Julia AGUILAR MIQUEL, «The Mozarabic reception of Augustine’s De ciuitate Dei: Albar, Eulogius, and Samson of Cordoba», p. 319-348

This paper addresses the reception of Augustine’s De ciuitate Dei in Mozarabic
literature, particularly in Albar, Eulogius, and Samson of Cordoba (9th cent.). The presence of De ciuitate in these authors is not excessively high nor is its use in each of them homogeneous. However, its study is the basis for addressing two major problems that affect the dissemination of the work in general terms. On the one hand, the discussion about whether the work was known in Cordoba before Eulogius’ journey to the North of Spain. I re-examine the passage of the Vita Eulogii which is the starting point of this debate, and provide new information regarding the use of De ciuitate at that time. On the other hand, the relationship between Mozarabic authors and the manuscript Madrid, Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Historia, 29 of De ciuitate Dei, a profusely annotated Emilianensis witness. Although its glosses have been already related with Albar and Samson, this paper offers unnoticed textual similarities between these marginalia, the manuscript’s text, and Agustine’s quotations in Mozarabic authors to support that link and delve into the origin of the witness.

Back to the table of contents