Asceticism and Society in Crisis "nsd0e3410"

1. The critical analysis is Fiorenza, In Memory of Her .

2. Luke 8:1-3, 10:38-42.

3. Fiorenza, In Memory of Her; idem, "Word, Spirit, and Power: Women in Early Christian Communities," in McLaughlin and Ruether, Women of Spirit, 29-70; C. Parvey, "The Theology and Leadership of Women in the New Testament," in Ruether, Religion and Sexism, 117-49.

4. 1 Cor. 14:33-35; 1 Tim. 2:11-14; Titus 2:3-5; Eph. 5:22-24.

5. Gal. 3:27-28.

6. Chadwick, Early Church, 58-59.

7. "The Acts of Paul," in New Testament Apocrypha 2: 322-90 (trans. 352-90), esp. 330-33, and 353-64 (trans. "The Acts of Thecia").

8. Cf., for example, A. Harnack, The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, trans. J. Moffat (New York, 1908), book 4, chap. 2. The role of mothers and wives as "missionaries" for the faith continued. Examples are legion; but, for instance, in the fourth century Augustine of Hippo was profoundly influenced by his pious mother Monica overshadowing his religiously unconvinced father. The two brothers Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa had the example of their devout mother Emmelia and, even more, their great sister Macrina.

9. For the inception and development of ministry and hierarchy for the ecclesiastical body, see, for example, Kirk, Apostolic Ministry; Fliche and Martin, Histoire de l'église 1:259-78, 373-86, 2:387-402. What happened to women in

the midst of this process is delineated in Fiorenza, In Memory of Her; idem, "Word, Spirit, and Power" (see n. 3 above); Parvey, (see n. 3 above); and Danielou, "Ministère des femmes."

10. Clark, Ascetic Piety and Women's Faith . The developing situation for the Western church is well sketched in the two volumes Religion and Sexism and Women of Spirit (see n. 3 above). For the development in the eastern provinces of the empire, cf. Patlagean, "Histoire de la femme déguisée"; idem, Pauvreté économique, esp. 113-55; Grosdidier de Matons, "Femme dans l'empire byzantine"; Beauchamp, "Situation juridique''; and Buckler, "Women in Byzantine Law."

11. J. C. Engelsman, The Feminine Dimension of the Divine (Philadelphia, 1979), sets out the basic issues of this subject.

12. See Lucian, De dea Syria, and Apuleius, Metamorphoses 8.23-31, for ancient views on her cult. For her place in ancient Near Eastern religion and in the Greco-Roman world, see Segal, Edessa, 45-61; Drijvers, Cults and Beliefs at Edessa, esp. 76-121; Strong and Garstang, Syrian Goddess; and Nock, Conversion .

13. Segal, Edessa; Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom .

14. P. Bird, "Images of Women in the Old Testament," in Ruether, Religion and Sexism, 41-88; J. Hauptmann, "Images of Women in the Talmud," in Ruether, Religion and Sexism, 184-212. But the confines of women's lives were rigidly monitored, and no less in the early Christian era than before. See Neusner, History of the Mishnaic Law .

15. Trible, God and the Rhetoric .

16. Von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, esp. 144-76. For a survey of scholarship and discussion of Christianity's inheritance of the Wisdom tradition, see J. D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making: An Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation (London, 1980), 163-212, 324-38. Von Rad does not address the issue of whether Wisdom's female persona is significant in itself. Engelsman, Feminine Dimension of the Divine, attempts to treat the issue, but here (as also for Demeter and the Virgin Mary) she mishandles the sources. On the Shekinah, see Goldberg, Untersuchungen über die Vorstellung .

17. The psychological attraction of a Mother Goddess figure is shown especially in the Greco-Roman world by the adoption of the Isis cult, but similarly of Cybele, the Syrian Goddess, and indeed Diana of the Ephesians. Greek and Roman counterparts did not inspire the same response as these oriental mystery cults. See Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves; and Nock, Conversion . The Great Mother of Greek mythology, probably at her strongest in Minoan Crete, was considerably scaled down in power and diffused as a cult once the pantheon of Zeus and Hera emerged. Lucian commented that one would have to combine Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Nemesis, Rhea, Selena, and the Fates in order to encompass the power of the Syrian Goddess; Lucian, De dea Syria, 32.

18. See Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom, 312-20.

19. See especially Odes 8, 19, 28, 35, and 36; and Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom, 312-20, for discussion of this kind of imagery. For recent assess-

ments of Ode 19, see Lagrand, "How was the Virgin Mary"; and Drijvers, "19th Ode of Solomon." It is not until a considerably later date that Western tradition attempts to explore these possibilities. See McLaughlin, "'Christ my Mother.'"

20. Esp. Ode 19:6-10, in Odes of Solomon, ed. and trans. J. H. Charlesworth, 81-84.

21. Graef, Mary 1:34-35. Graef's suggestion that Ode 19 confuses Mary with the goddess Isis misses the mark: people knew the differences between them.

22. See Brock, "Mary in Syriac Tradition"; idem, "Mary and the Eucharist"; Murray, "Mary, the Second Eve"; and Graef, Mary 1:57-62, 119-29. Compare Graef, Mary; and idem, "Theme of the Second Eve," for parallel developments in later Greek and Western traditions.

23. The origin of the Protevangelion remains in dispute. For the principal theories, see New Testament Apocrypha, 1:370-88; Strycker, Forme la plus ancienne; and Smid, Protevangelium Jacobi . Strycker argues for an Egyptian author, Smid for a Syrian one. Every, " Protevangelion of James, " suggests an origin in Ephesus.

24. The Syriac version of the Protevangelion is in Apocrypha Syriaca, ed. A. Smith-Lewis, Studia Sinaitica 11 (London, 1902). For the Syriac Life of the Virgin, see History of the Blessed Virgin, ed. and trans. E. A. Wallis Budge.

25. Cf. also Brown et al., Mary in the New Testament, 241-82, 293-94, for Mary's place in Greco-Latin works of the second century.

26. Above all, see Brock, Holy Spirit, esp. 79-88, 129-33; and Beggiani, Early Syriac Theology, esp. 101-13.

27. Brock, Holy Spirit, 130-32.

28. For examples from the Syrian Orthodox, Church of the East, and Maronite liturgies, see Brock, Holy Spirit, 79-88, 129-33; and Beggiani, Early Syriac Theology, 101-14.

29. For example, Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves; and Nock, Conversion .

30. See Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom, 312-20. For a vivid example of the transformation of meltha, see the Gospel of John in the Peshitta. Brock, "Aspects of Translation," 87, sees both instances as a logical consequence of translation technique. Cf. also Brock, "Towards a History," 10.

31. Murray, "Mary, the Second Eve," esp. 373.

32. As Murray himself points out, ibid.; but also, for example, this reverence can be seen in the Odes of Solomon .

31. Murray, "Mary, the Second Eve," esp. 373.

32. As Murray himself points out, ibid.; but also, for example, this reverence can be seen in the Odes of Solomon .

33. Segal, Edessa, 38-39.

34. As discussed in the Introduction here. See esp. Bundy, "Marcion and the Marcionites"; Brown, Body and Society, 83-102; Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy; and Vööbus, History of Asceticism 1, for the impact of Marcionism on the Syrian Orient.

35. For example, Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 1.29. Cf. Frend, Rise of Christianity, 215-16.

36. Marcion himself came from Asia Minor—Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 1.1, says from the Pontus—but he made his career in Rome. The particular fertility of the Syrian Orient for his teachings, however, finds an important parallel in the "Phrygian heresy" of Montanism. Both groups granted women positions of high responsibility and sacerdotal import; both Phrygia and the Syrian Orient had worshiped goddesses of magnificent character. A natural extension, in both cases, from religious thought to societal consequences may have unconsciously been at work. Certainly these two heresies were the source of particular bitterness for the mainstream church, and their similar settings are striking. Eusebius, HE 5.14-19, describes the Montanists as spreading "like venomous reptiles." It is interesting to speculate here on the consequences of following a historical tradition written by and about men: contemporary sources tell us that some members of the Montanist sect chose to call themselves Priscillianists after their female foundress Prisca (Priscilla). For the scandalized reaction to heresies that granted authoritative roles to women, see, for example, Tertullian, De praescriptione haereticorum 41.

37. See the earlier discussion in the Introduction here. Cf. Brown, Body and Society, 259-84.

38. In general, see Vööbus, History of Asceticism . We have little evidence for women stylites beyond the mere records of their existence: VÖÖbus, History of Asceticism 2:273-74; Delehaye, "Femmes stylites." Fiey, "Cénobitisme féminin ancien," deals mainly with Iraq and reads the lack of evidence more pessimistically.

39. See esp. Vööbus, History of Asceticism; and Syriac and Arabic Documents, ed. and trans. A. Vööbus. Vööbus, History of Asceticism 2:257, rightly judges the negative motivation behind the authority granted deaconesses to distribute communion: it was the mark of the unworthiness of the nuns that they were not to receive it at the hands of a priest. Cf. also Danielou, "Ministère des femmes."

40. Theodoret, Historia religiosa 29, 30.

41. For a similar presentation, see J.-M. Fiey, "Une hymne nestorienne sur les saintes femmes," Anal. Boll. 84 (1966): 77-110.

42. Febronia, BHO, 302-3; BHG, 208-9.

43. Our oldest manuscript dates back to the sixth century. The Syriac text is in Vita Febroniae, and an English translation is in Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, trans. S. P. Brock and S. A. Harvey, 150-76. Febronia's cult remains popular to this day; cf. Gülcan, "Renewal of Monastic Life."

44. Cf. the similar interchange in the martyrdom of Mahya. I. Shahid, The Martyrs of Najran, Sub. Hag. 49 (Bruxelles, 1971), xix-xxii; translated in Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, trans. S. P. Brock and S. A. Harvey, 109-111.

45. Pelagia, BHO, 919; BHG, 1478-79. The Syriac text is in Vita Pelagiae, and an English translation is in Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, trans. S. P. Brock and S. A. Harvey, 40-62. It is unlikely that the Pelagia and Bishop Nonnus of our text can be identified with the courtesan mentioned by John Chrysostom, or

with the Bishop Nonnus of Theophanes, for reasons of lack of evidence in the former case and inaccurate chronology in the latter. See now the monograph, Pélagie la pénitente, ed. P. Petitmengin; and for a deeply sensitive treatment of her story and theme, Ward, Harlots of the Desert .

46. See Delehaye, Legends of the Saints, 150-55; Delcourt, "Female Saints in Masculine Clothing," in Hermaphrodite, 84-102; and Patlagean, "Histoire de la femme déguisée."

47. "The Acts of Thecla," New Testament Apocrypha, 2:330-33, 353-64.

48. Consider, for example, Matrona of Constantinople (c. 425-524), BHG, 1221-23; the sixth-century Anastasia, BHG, 79-80, who seems to have been a correspondent of Severus of Antioch. When the Piacenza Pilgrim visited the Holy Land around 570, he not only visited Pelagia's tomb but also reported a recent exploit like Anastasia's; Piacenza Pilgrim, Travels, 34, ed. P. Geyer; also in Wilkinson, Jerusalem Pilgrims, 78-89.

49. See the discussion in Patlagean, "Histoire de la femme déguisée."

50. Fiey, "Une hymne nestorienne" (see n. 41 above).

51. For example, Lives, 1, PO 17:12; 4, PO 17:69-71. Compare the parallel case when John himself nearly died as a baby; Lives, 4, PO 17:61-64.

52. John claims the preponderance of females in need of exorcism without hesitation. See esp. Lives, 4, PO 17:65; and cf., for example, the cases in 1, PO 17:12, 14-15; 15, PO 17:223-28.

53. Ibid., 44, PO 18:666-68.

54. Ibid., 4, PO 17:63. Cf. Simeon the Stylite, who had the same rule; Theodoret, Historia religiosa 26.21.

52. John claims the preponderance of females in need of exorcism without hesitation. See esp. Lives, 4, PO 17:65; and cf., for example, the cases in 1, PO 17:12, 14-15; 15, PO 17:223-28.

53. Ibid., 44, PO 18:666-68.

54. Ibid., 4, PO 17:63. Cf. Simeon the Stylite, who had the same rule; Theodoret, Historia religiosa 26.21.

52. John claims the preponderance of females in need of exorcism without hesitation. See esp. Lives, 4, PO 17:65; and cf., for example, the cases in 1, PO 17:12, 14-15; 15, PO 17:223-28.

53. Ibid., 44, PO 18:666-68.

54. Ibid., 4, PO 17:63. Cf. Simeon the Stylite, who had the same rule; Theodoret, Historia religiosa 26.21.

55. Lives, 47, PO 18:676-84.

56. See chap. 4 for detailed discussion.

57. Lives, 47, PO 18:683-84.

58. Lives, 15, PO 17:220-28.

59. The account of Jacob as unwilling exorcist is discussed in chap. 2.

60. Lives, 15, PO 17:225.

61. Ibid., 226-27.

62. Ibid., 228.

63. Ibid., 226.

64. Ibid., 56, PO 19:198-99.