Expectations of the End in Early Syriac Christianity
Ute
Possekel
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2008
Vol. 11, No. 1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv11n1possekel
Ute Possekel
Expectations of the End in Early Syriac Christianity
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol11/HV11N1Possekel.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
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Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
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Syriac Studies
Bardaisan
Book of the Laws of the Countries
Odes of Solomon
Acts of Thomas
Mara bar Serapion
Aphrahat
Ps.-Ephrem
Apocalypticism
Eschatology
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Apocalyptic imagery was widespread in the
Greek and Latin patristic literature but occurs relatively
seldom in the early Syriac sources. This paper surveys the
eschatologies of Bardaisan, the Odes of Solomon, and
the Acts of Thomas and suggests specific theological,
sociological, and historical reasons why apocalyptic motifs
were not employed on a large scale. Bardaisan’s
opposition to Marcion would have made him reluctant to draw on
any type of dualistic imagery, and his social setting at the
center, not at the margins of his community was not one that
typically gave rise to apocalyptic discourse. The
Odes’ joyful praise of salvation experienced
already now leaves no room for looming disasters or cosmic
battles. Only the Acts of Thomas contain one element
found in apocalyptic literature: a tour of hell, which in the
Acts serves a parenetic function. This paper also
suggests that the scarcity of apocalyptic motifs in early
Syriac Christianity can to some extent be attributed to the
location of these Christians at the frontier.
[1]
Apocalypses and apocalyptic images are widespread in the Greek
and Latin patristic literature.
On the subject of apocalyptic literature in early
Christianity, see for example B. Daley, “Apocalypticism
in Early Christian Theology,” in: The
Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, ed. B. McGinn, vol. 2
(New York: Continuum, 1998), 3-47 (with further literature); P.
Vielhauer and G. Strecker, “Apocalyptic in Early
Christianity. Introduction,” in: New Testament
Apocrypha, ed. E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher, vol. 2
(Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1992), 569-602 (with
further literature). On the subject of patristic eschatology
more generally, see B. Daley, The Hope of the Early Church:
A Handbook of Patristic Eschatology (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1991). Ancient Near Eastern, Christian, and
Jewish apocalyptic traditions are addressed by the essays in D.
Hellholm, ed., Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World
and the Near East: Proceedings of the International Colloquium
on Apocalypticism, Uppsala, August 12-17, 1979, 2nd ed.
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989). On the question of what
constitutes apocalyptic literature, see J. J. Collins, The
Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic
Literature, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1998),
ch. 1: “The Apocalyptic Genre,” p. 1-42 and his
earlier study “Towards the Morphology of a Genre,”
Semeia 14 (1979), 1-20.
In this paper, I shall ask
whether these apocalyptic traditions played a similarly
prominent role for the earliest Syriac-speaking Christians.
Early Syriac Christianity was diverse, and one site of multiple
early Christianities was the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia,
later to become one of the great centers of Syriac Christian
theology and spirituality. By the late second century various
Christian groups existed here side by side: Gnostics,
Marcionites, Bardaisanites, and the so-called Palutians,
predecessors of the later normative church.
An excellent overview of the beginnings of Syriac
Christianity is given by R. Murray, Symbols of Church and
Kingdom: A Study in Early Syriac Tradition, revised ed.
(Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2004), 1-38. For a
“heretical” origin of Edessan Christianity argued
long ago W. Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest
Christianity, German first ed. 1934, Engl. tr. ed. R. A.
Kraft (Mifflintown, PA: Sigler Press, 1996), 1-43. The
Marcionite presence in Syriac-speaking regions is addressed by
H. J. W. Drijvers, “Marcionism in Syria: Principles,
Problems, Polemics,” Second Century 6 (1987/88),
153-172 and D. Bundy, “Marcion and the Marcionites
in Early Syriac Apologetics,” Muséon 101
(1988), 21-32. In the fourth century, Ephrem still much
polemicized against Marcionite Christians in his Prose
Refutations, ed. with English tr. C. W. Mitchell, A. A.
Bevan, and F. C. Burkitt, S. Ephraim’s Prose
Refutations of Mani, Marcion, and Bardaisan, 2 vols.
(London: Williams and Norgate, 1912-1921) (hereafter
PR).
Of the earliest
Edessan Christian communities, it was the group around
Bardaisan (d. 222) that has left the most
extensive—although still rather fragmentary—written
record. We shall first ask how Bardaisan and his community
envisioned the end, and then interpret their eschatological
expectations within the social context of the early
Bardaisanite community. In addition, two further bodies of
early Syriac Christian literature shall be examined here with
regard to their imagination of the end, namely the Odes of
Solomon and the Acts of Thomas, composed most
likely in the second and early third centuries, respectively.
Both the Odes and the Acts of Thomas
originated in approximately the same era in which Bardaisan
flourished, but they can not easily be associated with a
particular locality, so that it becomes much more difficult to
interpret them within their social contexts. How did these
early Syriac Christians envision the end? What expectations did
they hold concerning the last judgment and the world to come?
Did they employ apocalyptic imagery to describe the end? And if
not, why not? We shall begin this survey with Bardaisan, the
theologian from Edessa.
1. Bardaisan
[2] While
the Odes and the Acts of Thomas are of
unknown provenance, it is quite certain that Bardaisan
flourished in the city of Edessa in northern Mesopotamia, for
not only is he named after the river Daisan that flows through
the city, but an eyewitness account of his activity at the
king’s court has come down to us from the pen of Julius
Africanus.
Sextus Julius Africanus, Cesti I,
20,39-53, ed. with French tr. J.-R. Vieillefond, Les
“Cestes” de Julius Africanus (Paris: Didier,
1970), p. 185.
Bardaisan’s thought is preserved in
fragments of his own writings, in refutations by later
opponents, and in the Book of the Laws of the
Countries—the only contiguous text from
Bardaisan’s community that has come down to
us—compiled by a disciple in the early third
century.
The editio princeps of the Book of the
Laws of the Countries was published with English tr. by
W. Cureton, Spicilegium syriacum, containing remains
of Bardesan, Meliton, Ambrose, and Mara bar Serapion
(London: Rivingtons, 1855), 1-21 (text) and 1-34 (translation).
Also ed. F. Nau, Patrologia Syriaca 1.2 (1907;
reprint, 1993). Nau’s edition was reprinted with English
tr. by H. J. W. Drijvers, The Book of the Laws of
Countries: Dialogue on Fate of Bardaisan
of Edessa, Semitic Texts with Translations 3 (Assen: van
Gorcum, 1965; reprint Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2007).
German tr. T. Krannich and P. Stein, “Das ‘Buch der
Gesetze der Länder’ des Bardesanes von
Edessa,” ZAC 8 (2004), 203-229. The Book of
the Laws (hereafter BLC) is here cited from
Drijvers’ edition; translations are mine. The chapter
numbers are from Nau’s edition and were not reproduced by
Drijvers.
Although Bardaisan’s later followers came
to be regarded as heretical on account of their inability to
adapt to the emerging doctrinal consensus, Bardaisan in his
time was regarded as a champion of orthodoxy
Eusebius praises Bardaisan’s defense of
Christian doctrine in Hist. eccl. 4.30.1, ed. E.
Schwartz and Th. Mommsen, Eusebius, Werke II, GCS N.
F. 6 (Berlin, 1999), 392,19-20. A positive view of
Bardaisan’s defense of orthodoxy against the Marcionites
is presented also in the Vita Abercii, ed. Th. Nissen,
S. Abercii Vita (Leipzig: Teubner, 1912).
and made significant
contributions to the theological discourse among
Syriac-speaking Christians.
In particular, Bardaisan’s arguments against
fatalism had a Nachleben in the Syriac Christian
communities. Ephrem draws on them in CH 4,15.
Bardaisan, a philosopher, a former
astrologer, and an adult convert to Christianity, formulated
his theology in the culturally and religiously diverse Edessan
milieu.
On Edessa in late antiquity, see the classic study
by J. B. Segal, Edessa ‘The Blessed City’
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970; reprint, Piscataway,
NJ: Gorgias Press, 2001). The city’s culture and its
political history are discussed by S. K. Ross, Roman
Edessa: Politics and culture on the eastern fringes of the
Roman Empire, 114-242 CE (London: Routledge, 2001); F.
Millar, The Roman Near East. 31 BC - AD 337
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993); M. Sommer,
Roms orientalische Steppengrenze. Palmyra — Edessa
— Dura-Europos — Hatra. Eine Kulturgeschichte von
Pompeius bis Diocletian, Oriens et Occidens 9 (Wiesbaden:
Franz Steiner Verlag, 2005). Several encyclopedia entries
provide overviews: K. E. McVey, “Edessa,”
Anchor Bible Dictionary 2 (1992), 284-287; H. J. W.
Drijvers, “Edessa,” TRE 9 (1982), 277-288;
E. Kirsten, “Edessa,” RAC 4 (1959),
552-597; E. Meyer, “Edessa in Osrhoene,”
RE 5:2 (1905), 1933-1938.
[3] Scholars
of apocalyptic literature, such as Hultgård in his work
on Persian apocalypticism, have stressed that there is a
coherence between an author’s theology of the end of the
world and his theology of its beginning, his cosmogony.
A. Hultgård, “Persian
Apocalypticism,” in: The
Encyclopedia of
Apocalypticism, ed. J. J. Collins, vol. 1 (New York:
Continuum, 1998), 39-83, esp. 44.
A similar
coherence should be observable between an author’s
theology of the end of an individual and his theology of human
nature, his anthropology. This connection is clearly evident in
Bardaisan. Just as Bardaisan’s cosmogony informed his
cosmic eschatology, so did his anthropology form the basis of
his individual eschatology. It is the latter, his individual
eschatology, to which I shall turn first.
1.1. The Individual Resurrection
[4]
Bardaisan upheld the Christian teaching of the resurrection of
the individual, yet he believed that only the human soul, not
the body, would rise from death. In my previous research I have
shown that Bardaisan’s belief about the resurrection of
the soul alone is rooted in his anthropology, which was
principally intended to refute fatalism.
U. Possekel, “Bardaisan of Edessa on the
Resurrection: Early Syriac Eschatology in its
Religious-Historical Context,” Oriens
Christianus 88 (2004), 1-28.
To summarize the
argument briefly, Bardaisan held that human beings, created by
God, are charged to follow the divine commandments,
BLC 11, ed. Drijvers 14,24-16,4.
and as
beings endowed with free will they are capable of choosing the
good and right behavior. Indeed, acting rightly is natural to
humankind, Bardaisan argued, for when a person acts rightly,
feelings of joy and gladness arise, whereas evil deeds result
in feelings of anger and shame
BLC 12 and 14, ed. Drijvers 18,5-7;
18,21-24; 20,2-9.
—an interesting
precursor to the Ignatian “discernment of
spirits”!
Philosophers in antiquity often engaged in
spiritual exercises. On this, see P. Hadot and A. I. Davidson,
Philosophy as a Way of Life: Spiritual Exercises from
Socrates to Foucault (Oxford: Blackwell, 1995); P. Rabbow,
Seelenführung. Methodik der Exerzitien in der
Antike (München: Kösel, 1954).
Yet many challenged Bardaisan’s doctrine
of free will, arguing instead that human behavior is
conditioned by fate. Bardaisan therefore needed to formulate an
anthropology which on the one hand maintained human freedom,
and on the other hand could explain the misfortunes of life
that inevitably befall some people, but are generally
undesired, such as illness, poverty, or breakdown in human
relationships.
He gives divorce or estranged children as
examples for the latter. BLC 19, ed. Drijvers 30,4-24;
BLC 21, ed. Drijvers 34,17-21.
Bardaisan’s anthropological solution was
to concede that the body—but only the body—may be
subject to disturbing planetary influences, which are
understood to be the cause of life’s uncontrollable
misfortunes.
BLC 19-24, ed. Drijvers 30,3-38,7.
Human freedom, however, is not subject to
fate, and in order to uphold this position, Bardaisan had to
posit that free will, the ability to fulfill the divine
commandments, must be independent of one’s bodily
constitution.
He emphasizes that neither physical
strength, nor social status, nor professional skill are
required to obey the Golden Rule, to follow the commandments,
and to avoid stealing, lying, adultery, or hate (BLC
12, ed. Drijvers 16,4-18,5). Doing good is possible and it is
easy, and thus each person is able to “live according to
his own (free) will, and to do everything that he is able to
do, if he wishes it, or if he does not wish, not to do it. And
he may justify himself or become guilty.” (BLC
8, ed. Drijvers 12,13-15).
Consequently, he located human identity in the
mind or soul—the seat of free will—drawing on Greek
philosophy rather than on the biblical notion of a human being
as a psychosomatic unity. Bardaisan regarded the human body as
only a secondary constituent of human nature, which “even
without the sin of Adam would turn to its dust.”
Ephrem, PR II, 143,1-4 (no. 1).
Body, by nature heavy, can not cleave to the soul, which is
light. At the time of death, Bardaisan argues, the soul, the
light part, departs “and like a breath it is for a time
and it flies away lightly.” (PR II, 160,14-16
[no. 65]).
Out of
this anthropology, which locates personhood in the human soul,
arose his conviction that only the soul would rise at the
resurrection.
[5]
Bardaisan substantiated his view of the resurrection of the
soul by means of exegetical arguments. Unfortunately, these are
only very partially preserved in Ephrem’s later
refutation of Bardaisan, a text which itself only exists in the
form of a palimpsest. The exegetical fragments that were thus
preserved address the fall of humankind, words spoken by Jesus,
and the story of Christ’s descent into Sheol.
[6] With
regard to the fall, Bardaisan noted that according to the
Genesis account the consequence of Adam’s sin would be
death (Gen 2:17). Yet it was not Adam, but Abel killed by Cain
who was the first to die, and hence Bardaisan concluded that
the death which would be the recompense of sin (Rom 6:23) must
be the death not of the body, but of the soul.
Ephrem, PR II, 151,11-152,2 (no.
32-34); PR II, 153,20-154,2 (no. 40-41).
Among
Jesus’ words recorded in the Gospel, Bardaisan found
confirmation of his resurrection theology in the text of John
8:51, in which Jesus promises: “Everyone who keeps my
word will not taste death forever.”
Ephrem, PR II, 164,20-22 (no. 80)
and 165,10-12 (no. 83).
Bardaisan
observed that, despite this promise of immortality,
Jesus’ followers had physically died. Therefore, Jesus
must have used the word “death” to refer to the
death of soul. Thirdly, Bardaisan pointed to the story of
Christ’s descent to Sheol to support his belief that only
the soul will be resurrected. Had the consequence of
Adam’s sin been death of the body, he reasoned, Christ
ought to have brought back from Sheol the bodies, which
evidently was not the case. Bardaisan wondered: “Our
Lord, who was raised, why did he not raise all their bodies, so
that as their destruction was by Adam, so their resurrection
should be by our Lord?”
Ephrem, PR II, 162,32-39 (no. 74).
The Diatessaron, which presumably was available to Bardaisan,
in its earliest versions did not include the canonical text of
Mt. 25:52, as was shown by W. L. Petersen, Tatian’s
Diatessaron: Its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and
History in Scholarship, SVigChr 25 (Leiden: Brill, 1994),
404-414. Cf. also Possekel, “Bardaisan of Edessa on the
Resurrection,” 10-11.
[7]
Bardaisan’s individual eschatology was thus shaped by two
major conceptions. The first was an understanding of human
nature which locates personhood exclusively in the soul, an
anthropology which he formulated with the apologetic purpose of
rejecting the astrologers’ claim that planetary
constellations determine human actions, a position that he
himself had formerly embraced.
BLC 18, ed. Drijvers 26,19-22.
The second major component
of Bardaisan’s individual eschatology was a
salvation-historical approach: the consequence of Adam’s
sin was death—understood as death of soul, the essential
part of human nature; death was overcome by Christ, whose
teachings enabled the soul, hitherto condemned to Sheol, to
rise up and pass over into the kingdom.
Ephrem, PR II, 164,41-165,8 (no.
82), cf. no. 81, 83.
1.2. Bardaisan’s Cosmogony
[8]
Bardaisan’s general eschatology, as has been mentioned
above, is rooted in his cosmogony. For Bardaisan, the cosmos is
the work of God the creator, but he does not consider this as a
creation from nothing. The concept of a creatio ex
nihilo was just emerging as normative Christian doctrine
in his time, and Bardaisan was not alone in assuming the
existence of primordial matter.
The best discussion of the subject is G.
May, Creatio ex nihilo: The Doctrine of ‘Creation out
of Nothing’ in Early Christian Thought, German ed.
published in 1978, English tr. A. S. Worrall (Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 1994). Justin, in 1 Apol. 10,2 refers
to a creation out of unformed matter (
),
ed. M. Marcovich, Iustini Martyris Apologiae pro
Christianis, PTS 38 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1994); cf. 1
Apol. 59. On creation theologies in the Syriac Christian
literature, see A. Guillaumont, “Genèse 1, 1-2 selon
les commentateurs syriaques,” in: In Principio:
Interprétations des premiers versets de la
Genèse, Collections des Études Augustiniennes.
Série Antiquité 38 (Paris: 1973), 115-132. On
creatio ex nihilo in Jewish literature, see H.-F. Weiss,
Untersuchungen zur Kosmologie des hellenistischen und
palästinischen Judentums, TU 97 (Berlin:
Akademie-Verlag, 1966), 59-74; M. R. Niehoff,
“Creatio ex Nihilo Theology in Genesis
Rabbah in Light of Christian Exegesis,” HTR
99 (2005), 37-64; see also M. Kister, “Tohu wa-Bohu,
Primordial Elements and Creatio ex Nihilo,” Jewish
Studies Quarterly (forthcoming).
Bardaisan assumed the
pre-existence of several elements which possessed some kind of
power.
That the primordial elements have a power of
their own is stated in BLC 10 and 46, ed. Drijvers,
14,13-18 and 62,9-13. According to Bardaisan, the primordial
elements are water, fire, wind, and air. The element of wind
(ܪܘܚܐ, ruha) was probably included for exegetical
reasons. On the interpretation of the ruah elohim (Gen 1:2) among Syriac Christians, cf.
S. Brock, “The Ruah
Elōhīm of Gen 1,2 and its Reception History in
the Syriac Tradition,” in: Lectures et relectures de
la Bible. Festschrift P.-M. Bogaert, ed. J.-M. Auwers and
A. Wénin, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum
Lovaniensium 144 (Louvain: Peeters, 1999), 327-349.
Bardaisan’s elements therefore differ from the
Empedoclean ones (air, fire, water, earth). Most early
Christian authors accepted the existence of the Empedoclean
elements, which they believed to have been created by God.
According to some of the later Syriac sources, Bardaisan
posited the existence of a primordial darkness below the primal
elements, and of God above them, but it remains questionable
whether such a system goes back to Bardaisan.
Out of these, God fashioned the world. The
elements now occur in a mixture, not in their originally pure
state, yet they retain some of their primeval power. In
particular, the heavenly bodies retain some of this
power—which for Bardaisan constitutes fate—but at
the same time, they are subject to the laws imposed by God, the
creator.
[9] It
should be emphasized that this cosmogony is not a dualistic
creation myth, as can be found among some Gnostic groups or in
the Iranian apocalyptic tradition.
Gnostic texts often regard the created world
as negative, as work of the demiurge. An overview of Gnostic
apocalyptic texts is given by F. Fallon, “The Gnostic
Apocalypses,” Semeia 14 (1979), 123-158; see
also M. Krause, “Die literarischen Gattungen der
Apokalypsen von Nag Hammadi,” in: Apocalypticism in
the Mediterranean World, 621-637. In Zoroastrianism,
dualism does not consist of contrasting matter and spirit, but
two opposing divine principles. On Zoroastrian apocalypticism,
see for example Hultgård, “Persian
Apocalypticism,” 39-83. On Zoroastrian religious ideas
more generally, see M. Boyce, A History of
Zoroastrianism, 3 vols., Handbuch der Orientalistik
(Leiden: Brill, 1989); M. Boyce, Zoroastrians, Their
Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge, 1979).
Zervanism, however, seeks to overcome the dualist system and
proposes a highest god, cf. R. C. Zaehner, Zurvan. A
Zoroastrian Dilemma (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955). The
antiquity of Persian apocalypticism is a matter of debate since
the most important texts date in their current form from the
ninth century. The problems are summarized by Collins, The
Apocalyptic Imagination, 29-33 (with further
bibliography). For an argument that the most ancient layer of
Iranian apocalyptic originated not before the Sassanian period,
see P. Gignoux, “L’apocalyptique iranienne est-elle
vraiment ancienne?” Revue de l’histoire des
religions 216 (1999), 213-277.
To be sure, Bardaisan
acknowledges the existence of evil, which is the work of the
enemy.
BLC 11, ed. Drijvers 14,22-24;
BLC 14, ed. Drijvers 18,22-23.
Evil occurs when a person does not act
rightly, does not follow his or her natural inclination to do
good, or is perturbed or unwell in his or her nature.
BLC 14, ed. Drijvers 18,20-24.
In
Bardaisan’s thought, however, evil clearly is not a
cosmic force, battling with the good God on the level of
equals. Indeed, throughout the Book of the Laws of the
Countries, Bardaisan strongly emphasizes the goodness and
one-ness of God the creator, thereby taking an explicitly
anti-Marcionite position, as has been argued by Han
Drijvers.
Drijvers, Bardaisan of Edessa 75f., 82f., and passim; H. J. W.
Drijvers, “Bardaisan’s Doctrine of Free Will, the
Pseudo-Clementines, and Marcionism in Syria,” in:
Liberté chrétienne et libre arbitre: Textes
de l’enseignement de troisième cycle des
facultés romandes de théologie, ed. G.
Bedouelle and O. Fatio (Fribourg: Éditions
Universitaires, 1994), 13-30.
The anti-Marcionite orientation of
Bardaisan’s theology is of significance for his
eschatology, and I will come back to it below.
1.3. The Last Judgment
[10]
Repeatedly, Bardaisan in the Book of the Laws of the
Countries refers to the end of the world, and to the
judgment to be held on the last day.
BLC 9, ed. Drijvers 14,10-11;
BLC 10, ed. Drijvers 14,16-18.
History, then, is
regarded neither as infinite—although Bardaisan
postulates the pre-existence of elements—nor as cyclic;
rather, it is conceived as having a beginning and an end in
time. On the last day, judgment will be made of all, based on
whether or not they used their free will, a gift from God, to
act according to the divine commandments.
Bardaisan does not develop a doctrine of
atonement. By following Christ’s commandments, one can
obtain justification and salvation.
Bardaisan stated:
“And it is given to (a human being) that he should live
according to his own (free) will, and do all that he is able to
do, if he wishes to do it, or if he does not wish, not to do
it. And he may justify himself or become guilty.”
BLC 9, ed. Drijvers 12,12-15.
This
emphasis on the freedom of the human will and its ability to
perform good deeds worthy of eternal life, although rejected by
the Protestant reformers in the sixteenth century, was shared
by many other early theologians, who, like Bardaisan, wished to
refute the fatalism so widespread in late antique society. It
is not a harmful native horoscope, nor the influence of
maleficent stars that leads people to sin, they maintained, but
a person’s free will.
Justin Martyr argued that “punishments
and good rewards are given according to the quality of each
man’s actions. If this were not so, but all things
happened in accordance with destiny, nothing at all would be
left up to us. … And if the human race does not have the
power by free choice to avoid what is shameful and to choose
what is right, then there is no responsibility for actions of
any kind.” 1 Apol. 43, ed. Marcovich 92,5-11,
tr. C. Richardson, Early Christian Fathers (New York:
Macmillan, 1970), 269. On the question of fatalism and its
refutation in antiquity, cf. D. Amand de Mendieta,
Fatalisme et liberté dans l’antiquité
grecque (Louvain, 1945; reprint Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1973).
[11]
Whereas Bardaisan’s understanding of a last judgment of
people, based on their deeds, was within the mainstream of
early Christianity, another aspect of his eschatology was not.
According to the theologian from Edessa, not only human beings,
but also some elements of the cosmos will be subjected to
judgment. Although he continually emphasized God’s
sovereignty over all of creation, he conceded that the elements
and heavenly bodies did not lose all of their power due to the
mixture of creation. To be sure, whatever power they still have
is granted to them by God, but on account of this remaining
freedom they, too, will be judged, as Bardaisan explained to
his somewhat puzzled disciples.
But know that those things [ܨܒ̈ܘܬܐ,
sebwatha, i.e., heavenly
bodies], which I said were subject to the commandments, are
not completely deprived of all freedom. And therefore they
will all be subjected to judgment on the Last Day.
BLC 9, ed. Drijvers 14,8-11.
One of his followers immediately wondered how those that lie
under determination could be judged, to which the teacher
responded:
Not for that in which they are fixed... will the elements
[ܐܣ̈ܛܘܟܣܐ,
’estokse]
The word ’estokse here refers
to the heavenly bodies.
be judged, but for that over
which they have power. For the heavenly bodies [ܐܝ̈ܬܝܐ,
’itye] were not deprived of their own nature
when they were created, but the energy of their essence was
lessened through the conjunction
The Syriac word here, ܡܘܙܓܐ,
muzaga, can mean “mixture,” but it can
also denote a planetary conjunction. Bardaisan plays on both of
these meanings, as I will show in detail in my forthcoming
monograph.
of one with the other,
and they were subjected to the power of their creator. For
that in which they are subjected they are not judged, but for
that which is their own.
BLC 10, ed. Drijvers 14,13-18.
The last judgment is thus envisioned as a cosmic event that
involves all creatures with any kind of freedom.
1.4. A New World
[12] As
was noted earlier, Bardaisan understood world history as a
process with a clear beginning and an end. This universe was
ordered in a particular way by divine decree, and this order
was to remain “until the course is completed and measure
and number have been fulfilled, as it was ordained beforehand
by him who commanded what the course should be and the
completion of all creatures and the constitution of all
elements (’itye) and natures
(kyane).”
BLC 24, ed Drijvers, 38,3-7.
World history is thus aimed at
perfection, at completion of its prescribed course. It does not
depend on human action, but will occur according to the divine
decree.
Thereby, Bardaisan’s thought is more
in conformity with the biblical tradition that we do not know
the day and hour of the parousia (cf. Mk 13:32) than
with the Gnostic concept that human beings by their actions can
contribute to the destruction of the cosmos. Cf. H. G.
Kippenberg, “Ein Vergleich jüdischer, christlicher
und gnostischer Apokalyptik,” in: Apocalypticism in
the Mediterranean World, 751-768, esp. 762. On apocalyptic
motives in the Gnostic literature, see also G. MacRae,
“Apocalyptic Eschatology in Gnosticism,” in:
Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World, 317-325.
At the end of time, according to Bardaisan,
there will be a new world, which will be perfect and free of
strife. Again, as in his cosmogony, the metaphor of mixture
plays a prominent role in his description of the world to come.
The new world will be founded upon a different intermixture, in
which even the remaining freedom of the elements, which
potentially could cause harm, will disappear. There will be,
Bardaisan explained, different planetary conjunctions that will
no longer produce strife and misery. In the world to come,
there will be no place for inequalities, misfortunes, and even
foolishness! Bardaisan described this peacefulness and
perfection of the eschatological aeon in the conclusion of the
Book of the Laws of the Countries: “In the
constitution of this new world all evil impulses will have
ceased and all rebellions will have ended, and the foolish will
be convinced and every want filled, and there will be
tranquility and peace through the gift of the Lord of all
natures.”
BLC 46, ed. Drijvers 62,15-18.
[13]
Bardaisan’s expectations of the end thus form a coherent
system of thought that is based upon his anthropology and his
cosmogony. Yet perhaps somewhat surprisingly, we find little
detail in the remaining literature of the Bardaisanites about
the end of time. There are no references to a cosmic battle, to
natural catastrophes, or other images typical of apocalyptic
literature. Yet we may assume that Bardaisan, a bilingual man
and an educated philosopher, was familiar with some form of
apocalypticism, for it was widely spread across linguistic and
cultural boundaries, as is evident from Jewish apocalypses,
Graeco-Roman oracles, and the Sibyllines.
That the Sibyllines were known among
Syriac-speaking Christians is illustrated by the Letter of
Mara bar Serapion to his Son, in which the author alludes
to the Sibyllines, ed. with English tr. Cureton,
Spicilegium syriacum 43-48 (text), 70-76
(translation). A short overview of the Sibyllines with further
literature is given by L. R. Ubigli, “Sibyllinen,”
TRE 31 (2000), 240-245. Jewish apocalypses from the
first two centuries of the common era include IV Esra and syr.
Baruch. See the overview by K. Müller,
“Apokalyptik/Apokalypsen III. Die jüdische
Apokalyptik. Anfänge und Merkmale,” TRE 3
(1978), 202-251. A survey of Jewish apocalyptic literature is
given by Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination.
The thirteenth
chapter of Mark presents a picture of the end times, and this
text was at least partially included in the Diatessaron and
thus available to Syriac-speaking Christians. In the second
century, a number of apocalyptic writings were produced by
Christian communities in the Roman Empire, and several early
Christian writings, even if they were not apocalypses per
se, made use of apocalyptic ideas and images.
The Apocalypse of Peter and the
Ascension of Isaiah are both productions of Christian
communities in the second century. Both texts are tr. with
introductions by C. D. G. Müller, in: NTApo 2,
603-638. On the Apocalypse of Peter, see for example
A. Dieterich, Nekyia: Beiträge zur Erklärung der
neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse (Leipzig: Teubner, 1893),
who interprets the text with regard to Greek stories of descent
into Hades; M. Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic
Form in Jewish and Christian Literature (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), who emphasizes Jewish
influence on the Apocalypse of Peter; J. N. Bremmer
and I. Czachesz, eds., The Apocalypse of Peter,
Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 7 (Louvain: Peeters,
2003). See also the Shepherd of Hermas (ed. M.
Whittaker, Der Hirt des Hermas, 2nd ed.,
GCS 48 [1967]) and Didache 16 (ed. with French tr. W.
Rordorf and A. Tulier, La doctrine des douze apôtres
[Didachè], SC 248 [Paris: Cerf, 1978], 194-198).
Apocalyptic themes also occur in the visions of Perpetua and in
the writings of Tertullian and Hippolytus. Cf. Daley,
“Apocalypticism in Early Christian Theology,”
10-13.
Moreover, other systems of thought prevalent in Mesopotamia,
such as Zoroastrianism, have produced elaborate apocalyptic
treatises.
See for example Hultgård,
“Persian Apocalypticism,” with further literature.
See also note 24 above.
Why then, we are led to wonder, did Bardaisan
refrain from employing apocalyptic imagery?
1.5. Theological and Social Context
[14]
Bardaisan’s omission of apocalyptic language was, I
think, a deliberate decision on his part. Two reasons—one
theological, the other sociological—suggest that this was
the case. First, apocalyptic images often present the rising up
of evil powers that challenge the existing order, and are
finally overcome by God, who establishes a new
creation.
Perpetua, for instance, has a vision of
fighting with and winning over an Egyptian man, who is later
identified as Satan. Text ed. with French tr. J. Amat,
Passion de Perpétue et de Félicité
suivi des Actes, SC 417 (Paris: Cerf, 1996). On
Perpetua’s visions, see P. Habermehl, Perpetua und
der Ägypter oder Bilder des Bösen im frühen
afrikanischen Christentum. Ein Versuch zur Passio sanctarum
Perpetua [sic] et Felicitatis, 2nd ed., TU 140 (Berlin: de
Gruyter, 2004); F. J. LeMoine, “Apocalyptic Experience
and the Conversion of Women in Early Christianity,” in:
Fearful Hope: Approaching the New Millennium, ed. C.
Kleinhenz and F. J. LeMoine (Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1999), 201-206.
This type of imagery is dualistic in spirit,
even if it does not picture the opposition of two nearly equal
divine figures, such as Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu in Persian
apocalypticism. Bardaisan, it seems, would have avoided at all
costs the introduction of such imagery into his theological
discourse, for one of his major goals was to refute the
Marcionite claim of the existence of two gods. His
anti-Marcionite stance, which earned him praise from Eusebius,
would have been reason enough to avoid images of a final cosmic
battle.
[15] The
second reason why Bardaisan might not have been inclined to
employ apocalyptic elements in his theology pertains to the
social setting, the Sitz im Leben, of apocalypticism.
Scholars such as Isenberg, Hanson, Nickelsburg, and Frankfurter
have studied the cultural setting of Jewish and Christian
apocalyptic movements and have suggested that apocalyptic
literature often arises in communities who feel marginalized by
the social or religious majority. Nickelsburg sums up
Hanson’s approach:
Ancient apocalyptic movements have a common social
setting in which a group experiences alienation due to
the disintegration of the life-sustaining socio-religious
structures and their supporting myths. Institutional
structures may be physically destroyed or a community may
find itself excluded from the dominant society and its
symbolic universe.
G. W. E. Nickelsburg, “Social Aspects
of Palestinian Jewish Apocalypticism,” in:
Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World, 641-654,
quote on p. 645. See also S. R. Isenberg, “Millenarism in
Greco-Roman Palestine,” Religion 4 (1974),
26-46; P. D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The
Historical and Sociological Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic
Eschatology, revised ed. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,
1979). Nickelsburg stresses that apocalyptic and wisdom
traditions are closely associated in Jewish literature. Both
originate in similar social settings of scribes, cf. G. W. E.
Nickelsburg, “Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism:
Some Points for Discussion,” in: Conflicted
Boundaries in Wisdom and Apocalypticism, ed. B. G. Wright
and L. M. Wills (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature,
2005), 17-37; reprint in J. Neusner and A. J. Avery-Peck, eds.,
George W. E. Nickelsburg in Perspective. An Ongoing
Dialogue, vol. 1, Supplements to the Study of Judaism 80
(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 267-287. See also the W. Meeks,
“Social Function of Apocalyptic Language in Pauline
Christianity,” in: Apocalypticism in the
Mediterranean World, 687-705. A similar interpretive model
guides the work of B. Daley: “I will also assume that
ancient apocalypses were normally ‘sectarian’
productions: written for a community of faith that saw itself
beleaguered or marginalized by the dominant religious and
political systems of the society to which it
belonged...”. (Daley, “Apocalypticism in Early
Christian Theology,” 4). See also D. Frankfurter,
“Early Christian Apocalypticism: Literature and Social
World,” in: Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism 1,
415-453, esp. 432-434.
[16] What
then, was the situation in Edessa in the time of Bardaisan? Our
reconstruction of the Edessan milieu in the early third century
must rely largely on material remains, reports by Roman
historians, and later literary sources, for indigenous literary
productions from this era are lacking (apart from the remains
of Bardaisan’s corpus). Nonetheless, careful
interpretation of the sources gives much insight into Edessan
culture in late antiquity. By the end of the second century,
Edessa had been an independent kingdom for more than three
hundred years,
Since 132 B.C.; on Edessa’s early
history, cf. Segal, Edessa, 1-15.
striving to balance alliances with the
adjacent “superpowers” Rome and Parthia.
These efforts were sometimes viewed as
betrayal by the Roman historians. Cassius Dio, for instance,
blames Abgar for the disastrous defeat of Crassus
(Hist. 40.20-27), ed. with English tr. E. Cary,
Dio’s Roman History, vol. 3, LCL (London:
Heinemann, 1914; reprint 1954). H. J. W. Drijvers emphasizes
that there is no evidence for Abgar’s responsibility of
the defeat, cf. “Hatra, Palmyra und Edessa. Die
Städte der syrisch-mesopotamischen Wüste in
politischer, kulturgeschichtlicher und religionsgeschichtlicher
Beleuchtung,” ANRW II 8 (1977), 799-906, esp.
871.
During
Bardaisan’s adulthood in the 190s, King Abgar VIII
attempted to regain independence, but Septimius Severus
(193-211) occupied the region and established Osrhoene as a
Roman province in the year 195. Thereafter, the Edessan king
adopted an attitude of greater loyalty to Rome. He took a Roman
name, sent his sons as political hostages to Rome, offered the
emperor the services of his world-renowned archers, and
personally visited the imperial capital.
Herodian reports that Abgar’s sons
became political hostages and that the king offered his archers
to support the emperor in his History 3.9.2, ed. and
tr. C. R. Whittaker, Herodian, 2 vols., LCL (London:
Heinemann, 1969-1970). On the fame of the Osrhoenean archers,
see also Herodian, Hist. 6.7.8. Abgar’s visit to
Rome, where he was lavishly received, is noted by Cassius Dio
80.16.2.
Edessa became a
Roman colonia under Caracalla (in 213), but the
kingship continued, at least nominally, until the 240s
AD.
The later history of the Edessan kingdom is
complicated and its chronology is difficult to reconstruct on
account of contradictory statements in the sources. It is
usually assumed that the kingship lasted until either 242 or
248 AD. On this, see J. Teixidor, “Les derniers rois
d’Édesse d’après deux nouveaux
documents syriaques,” Zeitschrift für
Papyrologie und Epigraphik 76 (1989), 219-222;
M. Gawlikowski, “The Last Kings of Edessa,”
in: Symposium Syriacum VII, ed. R. Lavenant, OCA
256 (Rome: Pontifico Istituto Orientale, 1998), 421-428;
A. Luther, “Elias von Nisibis und die Chronologie der
edessenischen Könige,” Klio 81 (1999),
180-198; L. van Rompay, “Jacob of Edessa and the Early
History of Edessa,” in: After Bardaisan: Studies on
Continuity and Change in Syriac Christianity, ed. G. J.
Reinink and A. J. Klugkist (Louvain: Peeters, 1999), 269-286.
This political turmoil, and the disastrous
flooding of the city in the year 201, however, does not appear
to have destabilized Edessan society, for many of
Edessa’s physical remains, in particular the astonishing
mosaics, date from the early third century and indicate a
flourishing city, self-confident in its artistic and cultural
expressions. Moreover, Bardaisan’s group was far from
being a marginalized community in search of a symbolic
universe. Bardaisan was a nobleman, prominent at the Edessan
court, a superb archer (as Julius Africanus relates), a
musician, and a capable disputant. He believed that he defended
Christian orthodoxy in his apologies against Marcionites,
Gnostics, and astrologers. His group stood at the center of
early third-century Syriac Christianity, not at its margins.
Bardaisan’s expectations of the end, the judgment,
resurrection, and the world to come are shaped by his cosmogony
and his anthropology. The remaining fragments of his writings
do not suggest use of apocalyptic imagery, which, I think, can
at least be partially explained by his opposition to Marcionite
dualism and by his prominent position in early Edessan
society.
2. The Odes of Solomon
[17] Let
us now turn to a very different literary production of the
early Syriac church, the Odes of Solomon, and the
eschatological expectations expressed therein.
Text ed. with English tr. J. H.
Charlesworth, The Odes of Solomon. The Syriac texts, edited
with translation and notes, SLB Texts and Translations 13.
Pseudepigrapha 7 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1977).
Unlike
Bardaisan’s writings, this poetic collection can not
easily be associated with a particular Christian community.
Although efforts have been made to locate the Odes in
the early Edessan church, no specific internal or external
evidence supports this hypothesis.
[18]
Space here does not permit an exhaustive treatment of the
eschatology of the Odes, and it must suffice to
highlight some of the major themes.
A brief discussion of the
Odes’ eschatology can be found in Daley,
Hope of the Early Church, 15-16; a more detailed
examination is D. E. Aune, The Cultic Setting of Realized
Eschatology in Early Christianity, NovTestSuppl 28
(Leiden: Brill, 1972), 166-194.
The odist repeatedly
expresses the joy that he feels for being united to the Lord,
whom he has “put on.”
Odes 3,1; 7,4; 15,1; 23,1; 28,2.
He extols the eternal life
that he has acquired by joining himself to the Immortal
One.
Odes 3,8; 28,7.
He knows himself already crowned with the
Lord,
Odes 1,1; 17,1.
a crown that brings salvation.
Odes 1,5.
The Lord has
already given him eternal rest.
Odes 11,12; 38,3.
The Lord has rescued the
poet from the “depth of Sheol” and has freed him
from the “mouth of death.”
Odes 29,4.
The odist is
certain that he will not die,
Odes 5,14.
for he is now already
justified.
Odes 17,2.
Already he has received salvation by leaving
the way of error.
Odes 15,6; cf. 15,8.
It is thus a realized eschatology that we
find expressed in the Odes of Solomon, one in which
apocalyptic imagery, such as details of the coming judgment, or
frightful descriptions of the disasters and crises that will
accompany the end times, are lacking. There is no apocalyptic
tour of hell, but there is a visionary glimpse of paradise with
its abundance of vegetation, a land irrigated by the river of
gladness.
Odes 11,16-24. In his Hymns on
Paradise, Ephrem gives a visionary description of
paradise, ed. with German tr. E. Beck, Des heiligen Ephraem
des Syrers Hymnen de Paradiso, CSCO 174-175, Syr. 78-79
(Louvain, 1957); English tr. S. Brock, St. Ephrem the
Syrian. Hymns on Paradise (Crestwood, NY: St
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1990).
Themes of joy, comfort, and trust dominate in
these poems.
[19] As
dissimilar as the eschatology of the Odes is from that
of Bardaisan, neither one takes recourse to apocalyptic
imagery. Moreover, they both employ the same striking image of
crossing over into eternal life. Bardaisan teaches that the
souls, previously unable to enter paradise—for they were
hindered “at the crossing-place” (ܡܥܒܪܬܐ,
macbarta) by the sin of Adam—are now
able, on account of Christ’s work, to cross at the
crossing-place and to enter the bridal chamber of
light.
Ephrem, PR II, 164,33-165,19 (no.
81-83).
Ephrem summarizes Bardaisan’s
doctrine:
“And the life,” [Bardaisan said,] “that our
Lord brought in
is that he taught truth and ascended,
and allowed them to pass over into the
kingdom.”
Ephrem, PR II, 164,41-165,8 (no.
82); cf. PR II, 165,9-19 (no. 83).
[20]
While for Bardaisan it is only the soul that crosses over into
eternity, for the author of the Odes the entire human
person is able, through faith in the Lord, to cross the
“raging rivers.” The odist’s poetic language
does not spell out that this crossing takes the person from
this world into the next, but the eschatological subtext of the
hymn seems evident.
But those who cross them [i.e., the raging rivers] in
faith
Shall not be disturbed.
And those who walk on them faultlessly
Shall not be shaken.
Because the sign on them is the Lord,
And the sign is the way for those who cross in the name of
the Lord.
Therefore, put on the name of the most high and know
him,
And you shall cross without danger,
Because rivers shall be obedient to you.
The Lord has bridged them by his word,
And he walked and crossed them on foot.
And his footsteps stand firm upon the waters, and were not
destroyed,
But they are like a beam of wood that is constructed on
truth.
...
And the way has been appointed for those who cross over after
him,
And for those who adhere to the path of his faith
And who adore his name.
Odes 39,5-10.13, tr. Charlesworth
(adapted).
[21]
Imagery drawn from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is
woven into this hymn to emphasize that faith in the Lord will
enable the Christian to cross at the
“crossing-places”
(macbarta).
Odes 39,2. Allusions to the
biblical tradition of crossing the Red Sea (e.g., LXX Ex. 14;
Ps. 76,16-20; 77,11-16; Isa. 19,1-10) are highlighted by M.
Lattke, Oden Salomos. Text, Übersetzung,
Kommentar, vol. 3, Novum Testamentum et Orbis Antiquus
41/3 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005),
189-211. Charlesworth, Odes, 137, sees in Ode
39,10 a reference to the tradition that Jesus walked on water.
Lattke, Oden, 202, on the other hand, rejects this
thesis.
This may refer to
overcoming obstacles and being persistent in the faith in this
world, but the hymn also has an eschatological dimension.
3. The Acts of Thomas
[22] The
Acts of Thomas, written in the form of an ancient
novel, relate the missionary journeys of the apostle Thomas to
India.
The Acts of Thomas are preserved in
both a Syriac and a Greek version. Whereas it is generally
acknowledged that the text was originally composed in Syriac,
in many passages the Greek text has preserved a more ancient
version of the Acts. Syriac text ed. with English tr.
W. Wright, Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles. Edited from
Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum and Other
Libraries, 2 vols. (London: Williams and Norgate, 1871;
reprint Hildesheim: Olms, 1990); Greek text ed. R. A. Lipisus
and M. Bonnet, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, vol. 2.2
(Leipzig: 1898; reprint, Hildesheim, 1959), 99-291. English tr.
of the Greek text H. J. W. Drijvers, NTApo 2,
339-411.
The Acts as a whole do not constitute
apocalyptic literature,
On the question of genre, see Collins,
Apocalyptic Imagination, 2-21; idem,
“Towards the Morphology of a Genre.” In order to be
classified as apocalyptic there needs to be a conjunction of
several literary elements, a “significant cluster of
traits,” (Collins) such as a narrative framework,
visions, a revelation by an otherworldly being mediated to a
human recipient, disclosure of a transcendent reality, and a
final judgment. John Collins observes that “[t]he genre
is not constituted by one or more distinctive themes but by a
distinctive combination of elements, all of which are also
found elsewhere.” (Collins, Apocalyptic
Imagination, 12).
but one element commonly found in
apocalyptic treatises does occur in the Acts of
Thomas, namely a visionary description of the punishments
of hell.
On the subject of visions of hell in Jewish
and early Christian literature, see Himmelfarb, Tours of
Hell.
While the details of the account in the sixth
act differ in the Greek and Syriac versions, the main story
line is the same. Upon hearing Thomas’ preaching of a
life of enkrateia, a young man strove to persuade the
woman he loved to become his “consort in chastity and
pure conduct.”
ATh 51, tr. Drijvers, 361.
Much to his chagrin, the woman refused,
and lest she have intercourse with others, the young man killed
her. His crime was revealed when his hands withered up as he
received the Eucharist. He related the events to Thomas the
apostle, who first healed the man’s disease and then
accompanied him, followed by a great throng of people, to the
woman’s house. She was raised to life and told of her
extraordinary tour of hell and the punishments there to be
suffered for various kinds of sins. Upon her revival, the woman
converted, and so did the multitude of onlookers.
ATh 51-59, tr. Drijvers, 360-364..
[23] The
dead woman’s vision of hell functions in the Acts of
Thomas to instill in the audience fear of future
punishments in order to enforce a certain moral code. Similar
stories are preserved from other eras of Christian history, and
they usually serve the same parenetic function. Bede, for
example, relates that the medieval Englishman Drythelm chose to
enter the monastic life after his tour of heaven and hell
during a near-death experience revealed to him what was at
stake.
Bede, Hist. eccl. V 12, ed. B.
Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors, Bede’s Ecclesiastical
History of the English People, Oxford Medieval Texts
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1992); English tr. L. Sherley-Price,
Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
revised ed. (New York: Penguin, 1990).
The inclusion of this apocalyptic episode in
the Acts of Thomas shows that Syriac Christians were
aware of apocalyptic literature and occasionally availed
themselves of such themes,
The vision of hell in the ATh bears
certain resemblances to Apocalypse of Peter 7-12. See
for example A. Jacob, “The Reception of the
Apocalypse of Peter in Ancient Christianity,”
in: The Apocalypse of Peter, ed. J. N. Bremmer and I.
Czachesz, Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 7 (Louvain:
Peeters, 2003), 174-186. Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell,
132-134 suggests that both treatises draw on the same Jewish
traditions.
but it remains a somewhat
isolated example among the literature of the early Syriac
church.
4. Conclusion
[24]
Among the earliest Syriac-speaking Christians, the traditions
surrounding both Bardaisan and the Odes of Solomon
show a marked absence of apocalyptic imagery, a somewhat
surprising result considering the relative popularity of
apocalyptic themes in the second century. For Bardaisan, the
Edessan theologian about whose social setting we are fairly
well informed, I have suggested specific theological and
sociological reasons as to why he might have avoided
apocalyptic symbols. Such considerations are impossible for the
Odes, for their provenance remains unknown. The
attribution of this collection of poems to Solomon, however,
indicates that the author was more attuned to the themes of
wisdom literature than to those of apocalyptic writing.
Of course, as Nickelsburg has argued
extensively, elements of wisdom literature appear in
apocalyptic writing and vice versa, but nonetheless they remain
two distinct approaches. Cf. Nickelsburg, “Wisdom and
Apocalypticism.”
The
Acts of Thomas include a visionary description of the
punishments of hell, one element often found in apocalyptic
literature, but as a whole they do not belong to the genre of
apocalyptic. The Acts thereby support our claim that
early Syriac Christians were familiar with apocalyptic themes,
but generally chose not to convey their theologies through the
medium of apocalyptic.
[25] Even
in a social context of severe distress, some early Syriac
Christians counseled wisdom and patience, rather than casting
their situation into an apocalyptic framework. Mara bar
Serapion, a prisoner of war en route to his exile in a foreign
land, writes to his son with parental advice and
admonition.
Mara bar Serapion, Letter to his
Son (see above n. 39). It should be noted that it is
debated among scholars whether the letter is of Christian or
pagan authorship.
In his letter, probably composed in the third
century,
As is the case wish many of the early Syriac
Christian documents, date and provenance of Mara bar
Serapion’s Letter are difficult to determine.
The letter has been dated to the first century by I. Ramelli,
“Stoicismo e cristianesimo in area siriaca nella seconda
metà del I secolo d. C.” Sileno 25
(1999), 197-212. A second-century date was suggested by
Cureton, Spicilegium syriacum , xiii-xv, and a
third-century date by F. Schulthess, “Der Brief des
Mara bar Sarapion. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der syrischen
Litteratur,” ZDMG 51 (1897), 366-375, esp.
376-381. A fourth-century date was suggested by S. P. Brock,
A Brief Outline of Syriac Literature, Moran Etho 9
(Baker Hill, Kottayam: SEERI, 1997), 18. K. E. McVey, “A
Fresh Look at the Letter of Mara bar Sarapion to his
Son,” in: V Symposium Syriacum 1988, ed. R.
Lavenant, OCA 236 (1990), 269f., 272 suggests a third or
fourth-century date. C. Chin, “Rhetorical Practice in the
Chreia Elaboration of Mara bar Serapion,” 9.2 (2006)
argues that the letter constitutes a rhetorical exercise. I
follow the arguments for a third-century date presented by
Schulthess.
he counsels his son to pursue wisdom and to
meditate upon learning. The youth is to avoid the vanities of
life, for worldly riches, fame, and beauty all may vanish.
Wisdom, on the other hand, can not so easily be taken away, and
can become for him a father and mother.
[26] Why
is it that apocalyptic images are so sparse in the early Syriac
Christian literature? It is difficult to make generalizations,
and any number of cultural factors might explain why the early
Syriac Christians felt more drawn to wisdom traditions, as was
the anonymous author of the Odes of Solomon, or to a
philosophical approach, as were Bardaisan and Mara bar
Serapion. It may be attributable to their residence in a region
constantly embattled by two empires, neither of which could
easily be associated with good or evil. Such a geopolitical
situation may have made them less inclined to develop a
symbolic universe in which good and evil forces engage in a
cosmic battle. It was only in later centuries that the
Syriac-speaking communities availed themselves of apocalyptic
imagery, when more clearly defined hostile empires threatened
their very existence. In the fourth century, Aphrahat, the
Persian sage, drew on the apocalyptic passages in the Book of
Daniel and intimated the eventual demise of the Sassanian
Empire.
Aphrahat, Demonstration 5, ed. J.
Parisot, Aphraatis Sapientis Persae Demonstrationes
I-XXII, Patrologia Syriaca 1.1 (Paris, 1894), German tr. P.
Bruns, Aphrahat, Unterweisungen, vol. 1, Fontes
Christiani 5/1 (Freiburg: Herder, 1991).
And in the seventh century, in the context of
the Arab conquests of the Near East, anonymous Syriac authors
ascribed full-fledged apocalyptic sermons to the authority of
two ancient and venerated figures, Ephrem and
Methodius.
In the seventh century, apocalyptic
treatises by Ps.-Ephrem and Ps.-Methodius refer to the Arab
invasion in prophecies that are vaticinia ex eventu.
Ps.-Ephrem’s Sermon on the End of the World is
ed. with German tr. E. Beck, Des heiligen Ephraem des
Syrers Sermones III, CSCO 320-321, Syr. 138-139 (Louvain:
Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1970), sermo 5, p.
60-71 (text) and p. 79-94 (tr.). Beck dates it to the second
half of the seventh century (Introduction to the tr., p. IX-X).
An apocalyptic Latin sermon, variously ascribed to Ephrem and
to Isidore of Seville is ed. by C. P. Caspari, Briefe,
Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten
des kirchlichen Alterthums und dem Anfang des Mittelalters
(1890; reprint, Brussels: Culture et Civilization, 1964). On
this Latin sermon, see B. McGinn, Visions of the End.
Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 60-61. The treatise by
Ps.-Methodius, originally composed in Syriac, was soon
translated into Greek and Latin. Syriac text ed. with German
tr. G. J. Reinink, Die syrische Apokalypse des
Pseudo-Methodius, CSCO 540-541, Syr. 220-221 (Louvain:
Peeters, 1993). Reinink dates the apocalypse to ca. 691/2 (p.
XII-XV). The Greek versions were ed. (without full knowledge of
the Syriac text) by A. Lolos, Die Apokalypse des
Ps-Methodius (Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1976); A. Lolos,
Die dritte und vierte Redaktion des Ps.-Methodius
(Meisenheim am Glan: Hain, 1978). See now W. J. Aerts and G. A.
A. Kortekaas, Die Apokalypse des Pseudo-Methodius. Die
ältesten griechischen und lateinischen
Übersetzungen, 2 vols., CSCO 569-570, Sub. 97-98
(Louvain: Peeters, 1998). On the apocalyptic themes in
Ps.-Methodius, see for example G. J. Reinink,
“Pseudo-Methodius und die Legende vom römischen
Endkaiser,” in: The Use and Abuse of Eschatology in
the Middle Ages, ed. W. Verbeke, D. Verhelst, and A.
Welkenhuysen (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988), 82-111.
Note should be made here of several sermons “On the
End” by Jacob of Sarug (d. 521), the study of which
exceeds the scope of this paper. These are sermons numbered
31-32, 67-68, 192-195, ed. P. Bedjan, Homiliae selectae Mar
Jacobi Sarugensis, 5 vols. (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1905,
reprint in 6 vols. with additional material Piscataway, NJ:
Gorgias Press, 2006). The French tr. of Jacob’s sermons
on the end by I. Isebaert-Cauuet, Jacques de Saroug,
Homélies eschatologiques sur la fin du monde
(Paris: Migne, 2005) was not available. An excerpt of an
apocalyptic sermon attributed to Jacob is tr. in McGinn,
Visions of the End.
_______
Notes
The most important witness for Bardaisan’s theology,
besides the BLC, is Ephrem, who repeatedly refers to
Bardaisan’s ideas and occasionally quotes short fragments
of Bardaisan’s writings in his Prose Refutations
(see note 2) and his Hymns against Heresies (hereafter
CH), ed. with German tr. E. Beck, Ephraem des
Syrers Hymnen contra haereses, CSCO 169-170, Syr. 76-77
(Louvain, 1957). Ephrem’s polemics, though biased,
constitute a valuable source for Bardaisan’s thought and
for the teachings of his community in the later fourth
century.
The numerous other witnesses to Bardaisan’s teachings
in the Syriac, Greek, Latin, Armenian and Arabic literature,
some of which are highly unreliable, can not be surveyed here.
Most of these are discussed by H. J. W. Drijvers,
Bardaisan of Edessa, Studia
Semitica Neerlandica 6 (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1966).
Porphyry’s citations from a Bardaisanite treatise on
India are edited with a German translation and interpreted by
F. Winter, Bardesanes von Edessa über Indien: Ein
früher syrischer Theologe schreibt über ein fremdes
Land, Frühes Christentum. Forschungen und
Perspektiven 5 (Thaur: Druck- und Verlagshaus Thaur, 1999).
Some of the Arabic sources on the Daysaniya are discussed by W.
Madelung, “Abū ‘Īsā al-Warrāq
über die Bardesaniten, Marcioniten und
Kantäer,” in: Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur
des Vorderen Orients: Festschrift für Berthold Spuler zum
siebzigsten Geburtstag, ed. H. R. Roemer and A. Noth
(Leiden: Brill, 1981), 210-224; G. Vajda, “Le
témoigne de al-Māturidī sur la doctrine des
Manichéens, des Daisānites
et des Marcionites,” Arabica 13 (1966), 1-38; J.
van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3.
Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte des religiösen
Denkens im frühen Islam, 6 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter,
1990-1995); G. Monnot, Penseurs musulmans et religions
iraniennes : ‘Abd al-Jabbār et ses
devanciers, Études musulmanes XVI (Paris: J. Vrin,
1974).
In 116 AD Trajan subjected Edessa to Roman control, but
territories east of the Euphrates were subsequently given up by
Hadrian. In the 160s, Edessa came under Parthian dominance, but
soon Rome regained control and established Edessa as a client
state. The king, Ma‘nu, now took on the title
philorhomaios, for which there is numismatic evidence.
The subject is discussed by Sommer, Roms orientalische
Steppengrenze, 238f.; Ross, Roman Edessa, passim.
On the topic of client kingship more generally, see D. Braund,
Rome and the Friendly King. The Character of Client
Kingship (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1984).
_______
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