Some Further Notes on Thecla in Syriac Christianity
Lucas
Van Rompay
Catherine
Burris
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2003
Vol. 6, No. 2
For this publication, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
license has been granted by the author(s), who retain full
copyright.
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv6n2burrisvanrompay
Catherine BURRIS and Lucas VAN ROMPAY
Some Further Notes on Thecla in Syriac Christianity
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol6/HV6N2BurrisVanRompay.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute, 2003
vol 6
issue 2
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
Syriac Studies
Thecla
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This paper is a follow up to an earlier
publication in which data related to the Syriac Acts of
Thecla and to the cult of Thecla in Syria were
provisionally collected and surveyed. Some further data are
presented here. They are taken from Syriac literary sources:
the letters of Severus of Antioch, a liturgical hymn, and the
biography of John of Tella. In addition, the Armenian tradition
of the Acts of Thecla is briefly mentioned as a witness
to the early Syriac text.
cburris@email.unc.edu
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Department of Religious Studies, CB#3225
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3225, U.S.A.
&
rompay@duke.edu
Duke University
Department of Religion, Box 90964
Durham, NC 27708-0964, U.S.A.
[1] In an
earlier issue of this periodical we made a first attempt to
survey the Syriac manuscript tradition of the Acts of
Thecla and to bring together various pieces of information
illuminating the popularity of the Acts as well as of
the cult of Thecla in Syria [Burris & Van Rompay 2002]. By
doing so, we intended to pave the way for a more comprehensive
study in the future, comparable to Stephen Davis' treatment of
the Thecla cult in Egypt [Davis 2001]. After the completion of
our earlier paper, a few more interesting data have come to our
attention which we would like to present here briefly.
[2] Several
of the data listed earlier are datable to the sixth century.
Two manuscripts of the Acts originated in the sixth
century, Severus' homily on Thecla can be situated between 512
and 518, and the explicit reference to the Acts of
Thecla in the Life of Febronia probably belongs to
the late sixth or to the early seventh century. Most of our new
data can be related to the sixth century as well.
[3] First,
we return to Severus of Antioch, Syrian-Orthodox patriarch from
512 to 518, whose homily no. 97, delivered on Thecla's feast
day (September 24), was briefly analyzed earlier. It is
apparent in this homily that Severus was familiar with the
Thecla shrine in Seleucia, where healings and miracles were
performed. Now we can offer further evidence of that
familiarity. Among the letters of Severus translated into
Syriac in 668/69 by Athanasius of Nisibis, a letter is
preserved, written to Solon, metropolitan bishop of Seleucia.
The letter belongs to the period prior to Severus' election as
patriarch, probably to the year 511 (shortly after the death of
Bishop Constantine, Solon's predecessor). Like Constantine,
Solon was an anti-Chalcedonian and turned to Severus for advice
and encouragement. In his letter, Severus urged him to stand
firm in the orthodox faith, thereby referring to the patron
saint of Solon's city: "But assuredly the honorable in
virginity and first of female martyrs, and skilled maker of
these things, I mean the holy Thecla, will clothe you in such
raiment to do honor to her vote concerning you."[Brooks I,1,
1902, 12-13 - Brooks' translation: II,1, 1903, 12]. Solon's
successor, Stephen, who must have been an anti-Chalcedonian in
the beginning, but later, probably during the Chalcedonian
restoration under Justin I (518-527), joined the imperial
church, is explicitly mentioned as a Chalcedonian bishop in 532
[Honigmann 1951, 85-88; Brock 1981, 117]. The Chalcedonian
confession of the city's bishop did not detract from the
sanctity of the shrine, and does not necessarily imply that
anti-Chalcedonian worshippers would have lacked any access to
it. In a much later letter Severus, writing about martyr
shrines in general, expressed himself as follows: "Where the
bones of holy martyrs have previously (i.e., before the
Chalcedonians were in control) been laid, it is right to pray
without hesitation: especially when the place is in silence,
and the heretics (i.e., the Chalcedonians) are not unlawfully
conducting services or singing inside." [Brooks I,2, 1904, 305
- Brooks' translation: II,2, 1904, 271]
[4] Our
second reference is more loosely connected to Severus. A hymn
devoted to Thecla is preserved in a collection which originally
can be traced back to Severus, but which later was expanded to
include hymns written by others. The original Greek collection
was translated into Syriac by Paul of Edessa in the early
seventh century. Paul's translation was thoroughly revised on
the basis of Greek manuscripts in the year 674/75 by Jacob of
Edessa, who for many words inserted alternative translations
above the line, marked Paul's interpolations with red, and
added all kinds of notes (a number of them dealing with
scriptural references). It is only in Jacob's revised version
that the work has survived. In his final note, Jacob says that
two hundred and ninety-five (among the three hundred and
sixty-five) hymns are by Severus and that the remaining hymns
are by different authors. For those hymns that do not have an
author's name it is impossible to ascertain whether or not they
go back to Severus.
[5] The
collection of hymns has a small section devoted to "Holy
martyrs who were martyred from among women". It contains hymns
on Thecla, Drusis (two hymns), Euphemia, and Pelagia. The Hymn
on Thecla deserves to be quoted in full [Brooks II, 1911,
620[208]-621[209] - Brooks' translation is largely followed
here].
"The king shall delight in thy beauty" (Ps. 45:12).
Christ who speaks in Paul
- He who said: "I have come to put fire on the earth" (cf.
Luke 12:49-53) -
by inflaming with his love the soul of the holy virgin
Thecla,
He burned from her the bonds of fleshly brotherhood,
He preserved her virginity in purity,
He supported her in the combat of martyrdom,
He quenched the fire,
and placed a muzzle and a bit in the mouth of carnivorous
beasts,
He rendered the idolatrous bondmaid an evangelist and
apostolic,
preaching and proclaiming the word of life everywhere amid
all dangers.
By her prayers bestow, our Savior, upon men and women
alike
thoughts of chastity and thy great mercy.
[6] Jacob's
notes include a number of variants which do not affect the
content of the text. Jacob also provides the reference to the
Gospel of Luke, to which he adds a brief commentary. As for the
two main terms used with regard to Thecla, "evangelist"
(msabbronito) and "apostolic"
(šlihoyto, apparently a substantivized
adjective), no variant is provided. Each of the sentences of
the hymn refers to a specific event in the Acts, while
the main lesson for later Christians seems to be that of
chastity.
[7] Since
the hymn on Thecla, like the other hymns on female martyrs, is
anonymous, we are unable to ascertain whether Severus or a
later sixth-century poet is its author. We may assume that the
Thecla hymn was part of the Greek collection when Paul
translated it into Syriac and that Jacob of Edessa still found
it in the Greek manuscripts which he used in his revision
work.
[8] A
further most interesting reference to Thecla is found in the
biography of John of Tella, one of the leaders of the
anti-Chalcedonian movement in Syria after Severus' exile to
Egypt. Born in 483, John was elected as bishop of Tella in 519.
According to his biographer, Elijah (who wrote shortly after
542), John was of a well-off family in Callinicus (present-day
Raqqaʿ in Syria). He lost his father at an
early age and was raised by his mother and local priests until
he was given a paidagogos when he was twenty. Under the
influence of a local monk, he decided to lead an ascetic life,
but his mother was able to persuade him to come back home. A
second experience, however, decisively turned him away from the
world [Brooks 1907, 42,15-43,2]:
And one day he took the book of the history of the blessed
Thecla (ktobo d-tašʿito
d-tubonito Taqla), who became the disciple of the
blessed Apostle, and he was reading in it. And since he was a
chosen vessel (Acts 9:15) and had not been struck by the
burning arrows of the Evil one (Eph. 6:16), like the rest of
the young men of his age who did not accept instruction, and
(since he) was not ensnared by worldly desires, because he
had been preserved by the divine grace as well as by the
vigilance of his educators, the love of Christ settled with
fervor in his soul. And he immediately took (the book of) the
blessed Apostle and he was reading in it diligently. And as
soon as in truth he had become a disciple of the blessed
Apostle, like the blessed Thecla, he built in his apartment a
small upper room and spent there all his time ... (in order
to practice ascetic life).
[9] The
reading of the Acts of Thecla is presented here, in
early-sixth century Callinicus, as the decisive factor which
made John turn away from a worldly career and opt for a radical
ascetic life. This brings to mind a parallel story in the
Life of Eugenia, set near Alexandria, in which the
reading of the Thecla narrative is at the origin of Eugenia's
immediate and radical change of life (Davis 2001, 143-148, with
references to the different versions of the Life,
including the Syriac one). Our new example shows that such
effects were not the privilege of women, but also could be
experienced by men!
[10]
Finally, an indirect witness to the prominent position of the
Acts of Thecla in Syriac Christianity may be seen in the
Armenian version of the Acts. Already in 1896, Conybeare
suggested that the Armenian text was based on a Syriac rather
than on a Greek original [Conybeare 1896, 54-55 and 59].
Valentina Calzolari, who prepares a new edition, has recently
confirmed this suggestion. The translation most likely may be
traced back to the early fifth century, while the figure of
Thecla starts being incorporated into original Armenian
literature from the late fifth century onwards (Calzolari 1996
and Calzolari 1997).
Acknowledgement
Michael Stone (Jerusalem) and Andrea B. Schmidt
(Louvain-la-Neuve) should be thanked for having drawn our
attention to the Armenian materials._______
Bibliography
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