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13 pages, 349 KB

Open AccessArticle

Simeon the God-Receiver (Luke 2:21–35) as a Translator of the Septuagint: Investigating the Sources of a Popular Hagiographic Legend in Orthodox Christianity

by Constantin Horia Oancea

Religions 2024, 15(11), 1409; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15111409 - 20 Nov 2024

Viewed by 2553

Abstract

The legend of the old man Simeon, who received Jesus in his arms and was one of the Septuagint translators, is almost unknown in Western Christianity but is very popular today among Orthodox Christians. The version circulating in Orthodox churches is based on the account in Demetrius of Rostov’s Lives of the Saints. The article explores the occurrences of the legend in modern, medieval Slavonic, Byzantine, and oriental writings and attempts to identify the stages of the transmission of the legend from antiquity to modern times. The historical analysis and the comparison of the motifs found in these writings make the hypothesis of a Byzantine archetype of the legend plausible. This writing has been lost, but it was previously translated into Syriac, Arabic, and Slavonic, contributing to the spread of the legend in Eastern and Slavic Christianity. The legend builds on the identification of Simeon in Luke’s Gospel with Shimʿon ha-Tsaddiq. It interprets Luke 2:26 by constructing a pre-history of the episode that places Simeon into the time of the Septuagint translation. The miracle of prolonging Righteous Simeon’s life functions as a reconfirmation of the fundamental character of Isaiah 7:14 for Christianity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Witness of the Orthodox Church in the Political Context of the Secularized Modern State)

11 pages, 295 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Dialogical Paths with Islam in the East: Homage to Arabic Christian Theology

by Evi Voulgaraki-Pissina

Religions 2023, 14(11), 1439; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111439 - 20 Nov 2023

Viewed by 2575

Abstract

This is an opinion article, based on a lifelong syncretic study of the dialogical paths taken by Eastern theologians, Greeks and Arabs. At the crossroads of three continents, in direct relation with the Byzantine and Syriac traditions, with the Mediterranean and its Greco-Roman culture, but also with the Asian and African hinterland, Arab and Arabic-speaking Christian theologians have formed a culture of dialogue. They managed to engage with Islam in shapes and forms that are of very great interest and could point the way to a different approach to Islam today. The article, written by a Greek author, proposes a better integration of Arabic Orthodox theology as an enrichment to Orthodox theology as a whole, serving at the same time a broader connection between the Greek and Arab worlds. The article also proposes that discovering the heritage of the Orthodox East is interesting for Christian theology on a global scale. In primarily Christian/Western academia, one should be open to a genuine encounter with the Islamic world beyond geopolitics and other concerns extrinsic to religion; this is an encounter that would open up paths beyond the “clash of civilisations” impasse and allow for the rediscovery of the humanizing factor of religion. This is of interest to Christian and Muslim theologians as well as serving humanity and creation as a whole. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Growth, Decline, and Transformation of Christian Mission)

17 pages, 866 KB

Open AccessArticle

Ritualized Affective Performances: Syriac Etiquette Guides and Systems Intelligence in Early Christian–Muslim Encounters

by Luis Josué Salés

Religions 2023, 14(11), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111423 - 14 Nov 2023

Viewed by 1856

Abstract

In 2009, Michael Penn published a transcription and English translation of two Syriac texts, To the Rulers of the World (ܠܘܬ ܪ̈ܝܫܢܐ ܕܥܠܡܐ) and Concerning the Entrance before a New Emir (ܕܡܥܠܬܐ ܨܝܕ ܐܡܝܪܐ ܚܕܬܐ). This essay proposes a new historiographical approach to these texts based on the concepts and theoretical apparatus of systems intelligence theory and affect theory. I show how these texts use key Islamic theological and cultural ideas that would affectively resonate with the Muslim authorities while remaining non-objectionable to the orthodoxy of the Assyrian Church of the East. Specifically, I argue that Christians sometimes sought to curry favor with Islamic authorities not so much through logical persuasion, but by creating a sense of affective coherence through attunement to the discursive and theological systems of Islam. Through this strategy, Christians perhaps hoped to gain some small measure of political and religious advantage, especially over and against other Christian jurisdictions, such as the Syrian Orthodox Church. I conclude by discussing what methodological prospects these approaches can offer to the subfield, particularly if combined with other theories that similarly remain underused. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religions in Ritual, Spectacle, and Drama in the Medieval & Early Modern World)

15 pages, 312 KB

Open AccessArticle

When Identity Shifts to Violence: Historical and Hagiographical Cases from Syriac Churches in Interaction with Confessional and Religious Rivals

by Catalin-Stefan Popa

Religions 2023, 14(9), 1179; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14091179 - 15 Sep 2023

Viewed by 2232

Abstract

This article briefly epitomizes violence in the broad context of Eastern Christianity, and secondly deals with the transfer of this phenomenon in Syriac Christianity, for the reason that this has not been studied as much as in the Byzantine literature. The purpose is to demonstrate that identity-based violence was a feature included in the narratives of antique and medieval Eastern Christian discourses, this being closely linked to the struggle for ecclesiastical primacy and political power. The paper discusses paradigmatic cases, methodologically studied in their context, of Christian individuals and religious characters that suffered or acted against rivals with violence. The main focus is on historical and historiographical sources illustrating: (1) Syriac communities and factions defending their identity through language or acts of violence; and (2) identity-based confrontations within the Syriac family: factions within the same community, or sister Churches that became rivals (Syriac Orthodox against East Syrians) instrumentalizing the language of violence, mostly actions of destruction, against their opponents. The conclusion indicates that perseverance in defending the truth, as part of their identity, made the communities opt for confrontation, and when one endured violence, one accepted this on the models of the martyrs and the imitatio Christi. Full article

19 pages, 333 KB

Open AccessArticle

A Home for the ‘Wandering Aramean’—In Germany?

by Elke B. Speliopoulos

Religions 2022, 13(12), 1176; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121176 - 2 Dec 2022

Viewed by 3500

Abstract

Migration to Germany has been a fact of life for the average German since the 1960s. Immigrants started arriving from countries like Turkey, Spain, Greece, or Italy as a post-war labor force was invited to Germany to address workforce shortages. Many of these immigrants ultimately brought their families to live in Germany. One group of these newcomers was Aramean families of Syriac Orthodox faith, forced to flee the Tur Abdin region in southeast Turkey via Syria, Lebanon, and Northern Iraq. This paper will discuss the background and impetus for moving to the West for this immigrant group in detail. It will review the impacts on the life of devout Syriac Orthodox families while living in Germany, a secular country. It will also take an initial look at whether evangelical communities in Germany can come alongside this group, still suffering from a different kind of persecution: the “otherness” of living in Germany. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue World Christianity in History and in Culture)

17 pages, 2014 KB

Open AccessArticle

The Source Value of Arabic Typikon-Manuscripts as Testimonials for the Byzantinization of the Melkites

by Martin Lüstraeten

Religions 2021, 12(11), 931; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110931 - 27 Oct 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2947

Abstract

With the expansion of Islam, the patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria were divided from the Byzantine Empire. The Orthodox Christians there still defined themselves as Byzantine Orthodox and began to adapt their liturgical customs by adopting Byzantine liturgical books. When Greek was not understood any longer, they began to translate and copy their liturgical books, thereby creating their own branch of tradition, which is marked by multilingualism, reception of their own Bible tradition as well as the exclusion of “neo-martyrs” from their calendar of saints. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Constantinople and its Peripheries: The Mechanisms of Liturgical Byzantinisation)

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