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The paper attempts to offer a fresh look at Philo' s theme of the two kinds of wisdom, the perfect one (represented by Sarah) and the intermediate, or encyclical culture (represented by Hagar), considering analogous images in Greek philosophy. The paper does not aim to sketch once again the history of the notion of enkyklios paideia, either in general terms or in Philo' s perspective, as this history has been sufficiently reconstructed from both a philological and a conceptual point of view. More modestly, I intend to re-define some original traits appearing in Philo' s exegesis of Gen 16,1-6, as developed in the first part of De congressu eruditionis gratia. As a result of this survey, I propose to read Philo' s interpretation as building not only upon the 'canonical' comparison with Penelope and her servants, but also, first and foremost, upon the Platonic metaphors of knowledge as 'eros' and 'childbirth' experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a brief summary of the history of Klostermann' s edition, the paper focuses on the relationship between Origen' s Commentary on Matthew and the analogue commentary, characterized by a high level of compilation, attributed to the so-called Peter of Laodicea. Beyond a recapitulation of the attempts of identification of this mysterious author, the paper offers specimina of comparisons between correspondent sections of Origen' s and Peter' s texts, in order to highlight similarities and differences, and thus to discuss if Peter' s text can be rightly taken into consideration as a useful witness in a new edition of Origen' s text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to continue the discussion begun at the end of the 19th century comparing the reliability of both the 'indirect tradition' of Contra Celsum (represented by the Philocalia) and the 'direct tradition' (preserved only in the manuscript Vaticanus graecus 386 = A). In the first part of this paper, important conclusions resulting from the above discussion are recalled. Since some readings of Manuscript A are still considered problematic to this day, the second part of this paper deals with the question of whether the reliability of the 'indirect tradition' text has been underestimated in specific cases. Based on recent research on the Alethes Logos and a new analysis of Origen' s reply to Celsus' polemic, it is shown that in three selected fragments (fr. I 9, fr. VI 3 and fr. VI 1) the original words used by Celsus are to be found in the Philocalia instead of Manuscript A, i.e. the source that the modern editors of Contra Celsum followed. In part three of this paper it is shown that by preferring the words of the Philocalia for fr. VI 1, a door opens for a reinterpretation of the larger context of the passage for both the Alethes Logos as well as Contra Celsum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper wants to examine what Clement has to say about the language of religion. In order to cover the broader scope of the item five aspects must be regarded. The first section deals with Clement' s cultural approach about Greek and barbarian languages stressing in the end the preeminence of the Hebrew language on religious grounds. The second section shows how he makes use of the universal spread symbolic genre in favour of religious concealment. The next section has to do with his philosophic approach using Aristotle to understand language as a system of signs, and correspondingly religious language as a system of religious codes. The fourth section applies this conception to the Christian revealed religion in its elementary points. It is his decisive insight, that the Christian sign language must be interpreted e.g. by allegorizing, but cannot be abolished. Finally his ideas about Christian prayer are considered under linguistic aspects, displaying his special contribution of the intelligible, silent prayer as a symbol of pure thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from an analysis of the role of astronomy in the De congressu and De opificio by Philo of Alexandria. As a 'queen' among the encyclical disciplines, astronomy represents the vehicle which allows the attainment of philosophy and the aspiration to the knowledge of God. Centuries later, again in Alexandria, in another homonymous De opificio preserved in the same manuscript as that of Philo, John Philoponus seems to put into practice what was theorised by Philo. More mature from a scientific point of view, he will make astronomy his exegetical tool to interpret the cosmogony of Genesis while maintaining the interweaving of exegesis and philosophy already visible in Philo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper intends to examine the importance of the medieval Armenian versions from Greek texts: the versions of the so-called Hellenistic School (Yunaban dprocʽ) have a very characteristic feature because they translate the texts in a strictly literal manner: for these characteristics they often allow the philologist to go back to the original Greek text. In particular, the paper investigates and discusses several passages of the translations from Nemesius’ De natura hominis and from Dionysius Areopagites. In the case of pseudo-Dionysius, we can remark that the Armenian version in some passages agrees with the ancient Syriac version, in opposition to all the Greek manuscript of the direct tradition [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at reconstructing the history of the canvas representing Origen painted by Jusepe de Ribera. Such an atypical iconographic motif was allegedly commissioned by Benedetto Giustiniani because Origen matched the interests of the 17th cent. baroque culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A careful study of the two prologues to Origen's collection of texts and of Gregory of Nazianzus' letter to Theodore of Tyana (ep. 115) indicates that the collection was originally an anonymus compilation (συλλογή or ἐκλογή). Gregory writes that the book he gives to Theodore contains «extracts from the φιλοκαλία of Origen». He uses the word φιλοκαλία to refer to the whole of Origen's work in favorable terms, just as Eusebius of Caesarea writes «φιλοκαλία of Irenaeus» (kephalaion H.e. V 26) to designate the entire work of lrenaeus. Basil and Gregory are not the authors of a collection called Φιλοκαλία, but the readers of an anonymous compilation of texts which Gregory presents as extracts from «the work of great beauty (φιλοκαλία) of Origen». The paper also examines the origin, dating, place of composition, structure, and aims of this anonymous compilation as well as the reasons for its attribution to the two Cappadocians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues for the identification of an indeterminate biblical quotation in Augustine' s De consensu evangelistarum III 48 as the second part of Jb 37,10 cited according to Jerome' s first version, a revision indeed of the book of Job based on the hexaplar Greek text. A comparison with Augustine' s Adnotationes in Iob, relying upon the same version of the book of Job, makes the identification sure. The paper also provides a comparison of Jerome' s two versions of Job 37,10, as the second one (based on the Hebrew text) notably differs from the first one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on Gregory of Nyssa' s anthropological work De opificio hominis. Gregory refuses here some previous interpretations of the doctrine of 'double creation' of man because in his eyes they presuppose a close connection to pagan neoplatonic doctrines, namely the existence of intermediate principles between the first divine principle and the world as well as the transmigration of souls. The last section of the paper examines Gregory' s interpretation of Genesis 1,26-27 on the simultaneous creation of man both as image of God and sexually differentiated, as developed in De opificio hominis 16,185b-d. This compresence of universal and individual features of human nature in God' s foreknowledge is to be understood in the light of Basil of Caesarea' s Epistle 38 on the trinitarian concepts of substance and hypostasis. A parallel reading of the two texts suggests that Gregory is employing a theological framework for the development of his anthropological theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Shepherd of Hermas, a Christian apocalypse from the 2nd century, the narrator sees his first two visions after departing from Rome «unto villages» (εἰς κώμας: 1,3; 5,1). For a long time, a number of scholars have regarded that phrase as a textual corruption for εἰς Κούμας, meaning that Hermas was travelling to Cume, a small town in Campania. The latter phrase is not attested as such by any witness of the Shepherd, but it can be inferred from both ancient Latin translations of the work. Scholars are still divided on this issue. The present paper aims at showing that the conjecture εἰς Κούμας should be retained, despite the sound general rule that attested readings have to be preferred as far as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars of late antique art commonly and uncritically accept that the Revelation provided the source for late antique church decoration. They rarely discuss the extent to which this text served as a basis for the vivid iconographies typical of late antique ecclesiastical décor. This paper explores how the imagery of Revelation impacted on late antique mosaic programs, considering as a crucial case study the triumphal arch of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome and, particularly, the motif of precious stones and jewels so frequent on several elements of the decoration. The latter also appears on a cornice, a jeweled band which later spread in the art of the whole empire, both in church and -- what is less known -- secular contexts. This motif will be explored first in a visual perspective and then defining its value in the culture of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of this paper is to analyse some passages taken from the writings of Evagrius Ponticus and Cassian where, for the one who chooses the ascetic form of life, there is an insistence on the necessity to see things, material and immaterial, in a different way than the one who does not live ascetically. More precisely, the set of texts mentioned here would like to show how the act of seeing the things we see through the eye and the things we imagine with the mind are matters of capital importance for ascetics in late antiquity. The ascetic must, in fact, put aside the habitus of being in the world, because only in this way -- that is, by becoming aware of the limitation imposed by what he considers external -- can he devote himself fully to prayer. To do this, the ascetic must avoid not intentional perception, which means letting the mind create conceptual descriptions (νοήματα) and mental representations (φαντασίαι). By interrupting this process, the ascetic achieves a different way of seeing, which we can call non-representative, and consequently true knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of sight in the last homily of Ambrose's Exameron, considered as an attempt to elaborate a Christian pedagogy of vision. In the first part, dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the prologue of the sixth book (Ambr. Hex. VI 1, 2), I will analyse the rhetorical and exegetical background underlying Ambrose's description of his own homily as an 'ekphrastic periegesis' of the cosmos; the second part is devoted to the analysis of Ambrose's reflections on the physiology of sight and its gnoseological value, focusing in particular on the relationship between corporeal and spiritual senses and the mobility of the inner man's noetic vision (Ambr. Hex. VI 8, 45). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the episodes inspired by the biblical imagery, in the Early Christian repertoire is possible to detect a group of scenes that draw also on alternative sources, like the so-called Apocryphal Literature. In this paper are analysed the representations of the Old Testament dramatic story of Job, the devout and righteous man deprived of all his possessions and then affected by a horrible disease. In the two iconographical schemes used in Early Christian art -- the first showing Job alone sitting on a dunghill and the second one with the Patriarch feed by his wife or visited by his friends -- it is clearly recognizable the influence of the 'intertestamental literature', and in particular of the socalled Testament of Job, an amplification and retelling of Job's tradition, well known and used by the Early Christian interpreters in their comments on the Patriarch story. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden expansion of Muslim troops was initially perceived by many Eastern Christians as an apocalyptic trial, a sign of the End of Time. In the same way, the prolonged struggles and the fear of a Byzantine reconquista led on the Muslim side to the development of a vital apocalyptic production which rose in correspondence to times of internal and external strife. In the process of formation of Muslim eschatological aādīth corpus a central role was played by the (re)discovery of earlier judaeo-christian traditions. These newly achieved histories and prophecies were generally called "Isra'iliyyat"(Israelitic stuff), and were looked in a mix of interest and concern by Muslim scholars. The ancient knowledge of Christians and Jews was eagerly sought for its purported ability in foretelling the future, but at the same time the other two monotheisms represented a polemical adversary and often a perilous enemy for Islam. Apocalyptic discourse had the fundamental role of defusing the threat of religious alterity, by relativizing it in a positively- oriented history. Thus, the adversaries were identified as prophesied anti-messianic figures and their threat was considered a temporary one. This apocalyptic worldview was actually shared by the rivaling religions, in a peculiar use of the very same images, topoi and narrations against each other. This paper will focus on the Muslim production, mainly by analysing the traditions collected in the Kitāb al-Fitan (Book of Tribulations) by Nu'aym b. ammād (d. 842) and by confronting its description and production of religious alterity with those of the coeval Christian apocalyptic texts. This paper hopefully will highlight the role of Apocalyptic as a key moment in the process of Islamic tradition-building, which looked at the previous monotheistic heritage between a will of continuity and a need for scriptural independence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the place of the concept of philautia in the Evagrius Ponticus’ conception of disease of the soul. We consider that this notion (philautia) has serious implications for the complete understanding of the evagrian vision of disease of the soul. Indeed, the philautia is, in the evagrian system, the most direct consequence of the ignorance of itself that the nous suffers after its fall. Philautia is also the immediate cause of the parà phýsin orientation of the passionate part of the soul. Putting the self-satisfaction as a precept, the philautia culminates in the state of spiritual atony and passionate eff ervescence called acedia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Life of John the Merciful, written by Leontios of Neapolis in the middle of the VII century, was translated into Syriac probably during the VIII century and then transmitted in some important Syrian Orthodox collections. The relevant differences between the Syriac version and the original Greek drew the attention of some scholars, who supposed that the Syriac reflects an ancient phase of the Greek text. This paper aims to clarify the issue of the position of the Syriac Life of John the Merciful within the manuscript tradition, which still represents a desideratum. After a detailed description of the extant different versions of the Greek text, the author focuses on the relation between the Syriac translation and the Greek witnesses, employing the stemmatic method, and provides a list of loci where the edition of the Life can be improved thanks to the Syriac. Conclusions are then drawn, shedding light on the Syriac milieus to be held as responsible for the translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Armenian corpus of Philo’s translations is a reference case to assess the usage of the ancient Armenian versions in textual criticism of the Greek originals. The paper highlights the exemplary character of this corpus, pinpoints progresses in the studies from a methodological point of view and sketches lines for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Acts of Peter and Paul are an apocryphal text well known and appreciated both in the Western and Eastern worlds, spuriously attributed to one Marcellus (‘pseudo-Marcellus’) who is also mentioned in other apocrypha. After providing a general introduction to the Acts of Peter and Paul in the Greek, Latin, and Armenian traditions, this paper focuses on a comparison between the Greek text and its Armenian translation, providing relevant examples thereof. The philological analysis shows that the Armenian translation depends on a well-attested Greek text and clarifies on which branch of the Greek manuscript tradition it is most likely based. It also offers some possible explanations for the discrepancies between the two texts that cannot be ascribed to accidents occurring in the Greek manuscript tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article off ers an overview of the corpus of the Armenian writings on Stephen the Protomartyr and, particularly, of the texts related to his death as well as the discovery and the translation of his relics (Revelatio, Translationes, Passiones, including an unpublished Passio Sancti Stephani that I recently discovered). Special attention is paid to the Armenian translations of the Greek and Syriac Panegyrics dedicated to the fi rst martyr, stressing when the original is lost (cf. the translations of the Laudationes attributed respectively to Athanasius of Alexandria and Gregory Thaumaturgus) or is preserved (cf. the translations of some writings in honor of Stephen attributed to Gregory of Nyssa, Proclus of Constantinople, and Ephrem/Jacob of Sarugh). For each text, several unpublished Armenian MSS have been listed in order to pave the way for new critical editions. In the last section, the paper offers the edition of the Armenian text (on the basis of MSS P110 and P118) and the Italian translation of a Panegyric of Saint Stephen attributed to Basil, making for the fi rst time its content accessible also to the readers who do not master the Armenian language. The importance of the Panegyric goes beyond the constitution of the corpus of texts on Stephen; as a matter of fact, it is one of the sources of the Commentary on the Song of Solomon attributed to the Armenian medieval poet Gregory of Narek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Epideixis of Irenaeus of Lyons is known to us only in its Armenian translation. In Epideixis 43 appears a Hebrew quotation both transliterated and translated first from Hebrew to Greek and then from Greek to Armenian. This quotation – as far as we know, the only one in the Hebrew language in the whole work of Irenaeus – entails three problems. First: Irenaeus affirms that it is a quotation of Moses, but we can’t recognize it in any text we know, even if it resounds to Genesis 1,1. Second: it is difficult to reconstruct the original Hebrew text because the transliteration and the Armenian translation don’t correspond to each other. Indeed, a sequence of letters of the transliteration hasn’t any correspondence in the translation, and moreover, it is difficult to identify it with a Hebrew term. Third: in our passage, the Armenian language presents ambiguities that Greek did not, and the scholars do not agree about the position of Irenaeus in the theological point that this quotation would explain, namely if the Word was generated ab aeterno or ante tempus.  is paper pretends to present the status quaestionis of the previous interpretations of the quotation and to support one of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an overview of the rich Armenian tradition concerning Severian of Gabala’ s homilies. After an inventory, it deals with authenticity questions, surveys the relations between the Armenian and Greek forms, evoking a criterion that might help distinguishing early from (comparatively) late translations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

 is paper highlights the infl uence of Ori gen’ s intellectual legacy on the thought of the French theologian Henry de Lubac. In order to achieve this goal, the categories of “history” and “spirit” are scrutinized, constituting as they do not only the title of de Lubac’ s most important work on Origen, but also his fundamental theorical grid to understand the Alexandrian theologian. However, the essay aims to show that, though still retaining some explanatory potential for grasping how Origen’ s thought structures itself, such categories inevitably neglect deeper elements in the latter. Origen’ s assumptions about the epinoiai do especially help solve the aporias raised by de Lubac’ s frequent analogies between Logos, Scripture, Eucharist and Church, all of whom turn hardly distinguishable from one another, without recurring to such theorizing. As a result, a unitary reflection still emerges, centering around the aforementioned relationship between history and Spirit and up to date addressing issues and methods in contemporary theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at providing a general overview on the papyri preserving the Acta Alexandrinorum, dealing as it does with their origin, state of preservation and contents, as well as with the history of research since the time they were found and edited. Moreover, the paper delves into such issues as the dating of the writings and their graphic types. An analysis of the literary aspects of the Acta and their historical relevance for our understanding of the Jewish presence in Egypt during the first centuries of the Common Era is also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The so-called Dialogue with Heraclides is not a whole, but it is a collection of three different literary pieces, probably taken from a larger collection of Origen's διαλέξεις or διάλεκτοι present in his library in Caesarea. The first part of this paper examines the structure of the so-called Dialogue, the literary genre of διάλεξις and its connection with the rhetorical practices of the Second and Third century, and the place of this miscellaneous work in Origen's production. §§2 and 3 analyze style and content of the second part of the so-called Dialogue. Origen deals with the problem raised by someone about some biblical passages, which may be interpreted as indicating that the human soul coincides with blood. By allegorizing these and other biblical texts, Origen offers a short exposition of his doctrine of the spiritual senses, which allows him to solve the posed difficulties. A suggestion about the possible eschatological and martyrological views of Origen's opponents concludes the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with Rufinus' translation of chapter 9 from Gregory of Nazianzus' second Oration and reaches some innovative conclusions about his translation techniques. In or. 2,9, in order to demonstrate the assumption that grazing animal is different from leading souls, the Cappadocian delved into the shepherd' s life and its duties, drawing basically from Theocritus' poetry. As true to its Vorlage as it might appear at first sight, Rufinus' version of the oration bears nonetheless the typical marks of Roman literary translation: explicative additions, more vivid and tangible descriptions, a moralistic attitude, enriching allusions to auctores of renown. In this respect, whereas Gregory alludes to Theocritus as his primary source, Rufinus depends on Virgil' s works, especially the Bucolica and Georgica, which he reads along the lines of ancient Virgilian exegesis as taught in the school of Donatus and then transmitted to us by Servius and Servius Danielinus. In addition to this, Rufinus aims at emphasizing the shepherd' s care for the flock, thus betraying the influences of both the text of the Gospels and the representation of the Good Shepherd in the mosaics of the Aquileia Basilica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the figure of Moses as interpreted by Philo and Origen, in order to capture the contacts between these two exegetes and the dependence of the Christian on the Jew. According to their reading, the figure of Moses is outlined as a prophet (the greatest one), a legislator and a hermeneut (with a distinction between laws that are directly instituted by God and others that are granted by Moses), or finally as a holy man and a model of life, who had access to the contemplation of mysteries. For Philo, such hidden mysteries constitute the meaning of the Pentateuch, are the symbol of the harmony of the cosmos and the law, of the nature and moral life, while for Origen, on the other hand, they represent the Christological meaning, hidden below the types and the adumbrations. The desert cycle brings out some contacts in their way of understanding Easter as a passage or transit, a clear concept in Philo, which Origen acknowledges and enhances. The understanding of the journey in the desert as a spiritual itinerary of the soul is another aspect of their proximity: a place of trial and ascetic commitment for Philo, for Origen a space vacuum perturbationibus et fluctibus, ad quietem discendi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philo's De Vita Mosis has given birth to different questions about its genre, its relationship with other works, its supposed readers; this paper deals especially with this last question. Through a detailed analysis of the most important themes and of the words chosen by Philo, it is possible to notice that the author reserves a lot of attention to Roman values and tries to present Moses and the Jewish culture in the most favourable way for a Roman audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution analyses the relationship between Philo' s philosophical exegesis and some categories that are characteristic of Platonism in the Imperial Age. The figure of Moses is assumed as a point of observation of this phenomenon, since he is a privileged subject in the relationship between man and God. The analysis assumes as a core point the exegesis of Dt 5,31, in which God invites Moses to "stay with him". Two main concepts are at stake: the proximity to God and the idea of stability. This paper therefore tries to explore the possibility that these two aspects are translated and assimilated, throughout Philo' s hermeneutics, to two central axes of Platonism in the Imperial Age: assimilation to God, on the one hand, immutability and the First Principle' s ontological otherness, on the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to give a general introduction to the theme section resulting from an international meeting held at the "Dipartimento di Storia Culture Religioni", Sapienza University of Rome, on November 11-12, 2016. The paper briefly clarifies the importance of the Book of Genesis in Western culture and the value of Origen's interpretation of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to study the kind of relationship which links the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron. This subject has been debated for a long time, since the discovery of the 'apocryphal' Gospel of Thomas, and has been very controversial. Scholars in fact disagree about this issue: some point to a direct relationship, a dependence of the Gospel of Thomas upon the Diatessaron or vice-versa; others instead deny a direct relationship and rather think to an indirect one. This kind of analysis is not easy because of the lack of an original of the harmony of Tatian. We can, in fact, reconstruct the text of the Diatessaron only through his many witnesses but this reconstruction is nevertheless very complex. This paper tries to show some examples of such a complex relationship: three cases in which we can clearly glimpse the connection which exists between the two texts. The analysis showed us that the relationship which does subsist between the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron is not of a direct kind but rather they shared one common source, a gospel tradition with variant readings which probably was available in the canonical text of that time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies Origen's doctrine on 'taste' as 'spiritual sense' as part of his theological development of eating and/or drinking metaphors. To let know the most important fruit of the 'taste of Logos', namely the ontological participation in Trinitarian life, this article offers both a status quaestionis on origenian studies on the subject of 'spiritual nourishment', and a brief approach to Origen's hermeneutical framework for the use of 'eating' and/or 'drinking' metaphors in theological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purported correspondence on faith between Emperor Leo III and Caliph Umar II, conserved in the work of an Armenian historian and in two recently discovered manuscripts, has long drawn the attention of scholars. While most of the modern debate has developed around the authenticity of the letter exchange and around the contents of the religious controversy, the issue of how the two writers address each other in the extant texts can shed some light on how two major religious and political alterities, Byzantium and the Caliphate, conceived the position of their opponent, as well as their own. The paper will briefly discuss the various positions on the authenticity and date of the letters, and will move on to analyse how each of the two powers in the debate represents the other, especially in political terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes chapter LI of Epiphanius's Panarion, as well as the Alogi's opposition to Johannine writings, in order to better understand its meaning in a wider context. A comparison between Epiphanius' account and other contemporary sources exposes the strategies which the bishop of Cyprus implemented to defend orthodoxy in the field of sacred texts, and thus reveals how deep he was involved in the process of canonization of the future New Testament, and especially of the Johannine writings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Christianisation started spreading in the Mediterranean world and beyond, a fundamental issue was how people would receive the new faith. According to Peter Burke and his cultural hybridity theory, an exchange of information and culture affecting both sides takes place when an encounter between two cultures is established. In the history of humanity, there are countless examples of such contacts, not always passive and peaceful. Nonetheless, these exchanges are not always equal in terms of consequences for the groups involved, but it is certain that they all get mutually influenced, which in turn brings about changes. The result of this encounter and exchange is not simply pagan or "purely" Christian, but something new, a hybrid identity product of a clash of cultures. In this paper I will give examples of how this hybridization happened during the process of Christianisation of the Western Europe from 4th to 7th century and I will focus on the history of Gaul, Spain and Britain during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Aqedah" (the binding or sacrifice of Isaac) is one of the most commented episodes of the Book Genesis. In the postexilic and intertestamentarian period it gains more and more importance. Not only Abrahams obedience and faithfulness, but also Isaacs pretended agreement to be sacrificed became topoi of the Jewish exegesis. In the Books of Macabees, in the Book of Jubilees, and in the hellenistic-Jewish literature, Isaac arises gradually as a typos of martyr, whose merits concern all the future generations of Israel. In the rabbinic literature (Targumim, Mekhilta, Midrashim) this line of interpretation has been further developed. Isaac's merits have an important role for the Jewish religious praxis after the destruction of the Tempel (70 CE) and the interruption of the sacrificial cult, which has been replaced by prayers including Gen 22. In the Christian tradition before Origen Isaac is mainly a typos of Christ. Probably Origen's audience also knew of the typology Isaac/Christ and expected to hear of it from the exegete. Nevertheless he prefers to dedicate more attention to the figure of Abraham and ignores any presumptuous agreement of Isaac to be sacrificed. For long parts of the HomGen VIII (dealing with the Aqedah) he neglects the typology Isaac/Christ and follows quasi in literal manner the Biblical narrative. This typology appears in the end of HomGen VIII and is used in HomGen IX in polemical sense against Judaism, when Origen deals with the promises made to Abraham after the binding of Isaac. The answer to the question, why did he mainly neglect this typology interpreting the Aqedah, could be searched in the polemics with his Jewish interlocutors and probably concerns the views of his public. The martyr-role of Isaac appears in the pre-Christian period and probably influenced the typology Isaac/Christ, as many scholars suppose. Nevertheless we can state that also the rabbinic exegesis seems to accept some Christological characteristic in the interpretation of Isaac. The purpose of the present paper is to explore reciprocal influences between Jewish and Christian exegesis of the Aqedah considering Origen's homilies on Genesis and some fragments from the catenas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, I published a German translation (with a Greek text without critical apparatus) of testimonies and fragments by Origen commenting on the Book of Genesis. Now I am preparing the edition in the series „Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller" (de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston). The fragments are the remains of two works by Origen, the commentary and the 'scholia' concerning the first book of the Bible. Almost all fragments of these 'scholia' have come down to us through the florilegium called Collectio Coisliniana (ed. Petit), the exegetical Catena on Genesis (ed. Petit) and the Commentary on Genesis by Procopius of Gaza (ed. Metzler). In preparing the edition I have to rework parts of the editions of Françoise Petit in order to examine the different branches of the manuscript tradition, especially the different types of catena (according to the classification of Karo and Lietzmann). On this occasion one should question anew the origin of the fragments we call 'scholia'. What kind of work was it from which they come? The catenae and florilegia give at best the author's name for a fragment; very seldom we get the title of the work it comes from. Our testimonies give us three terms: 'scholia', 'semeioseis' and 'excerpta', presumably referring to the same kind of source, because Jerome used 'excerpta' as translation for 'scholia' as well as for 'semeioseis'. It is under discussion how to define the literary genre. In his fundamental paper Éric Junod examined the material and gave a rough definition: 'semeioseis', later on called 'scholia', were shorter exegetical remarks, formally distinguished from commentaries and homilies. Christoph Markschies gave them a place in the teaching at Origen's private university in Alexandria and in Caesarea Maritima, namely as both the notes of the hearers of Origen's lectures, analogously to the practice in philosophic schools of their time, and those by Origen himself preparing his lectures. Franz Xaver Risch, however, obtained quite another result from the detailed analysis of a catena on the Psalms, namely the second margin catena of the Codex Vindobonensis theol. gr. 8. As he could show, they are the author's notes in preparing a commentary and cannot be excerpts of any finished work. Of course, since we don't know any detail about the curriculum of Origen's university and the subjects of the lectures, we cannot exclude the possibility of his using any commentary (according to Risch) or any treatise (according to Junod) in teaching. Nor can we exclude 'scholia' coming from notes exclusively meant for purposes of teaching and learning. But we have no evidence. Since the discussion failed to find an exact meaning for 'scholia' or 'semeioseis' or 'excerpta', one should develop a broader concept to explain them. I propose to take them neither as an exact term of a literary genre nor as a label of function in running a private university, but as a category for librarian purposes. I think they were non-terminological designations, formulated ad hoc by users resp. librarians of the library of Caesarea, in order to separate remains of different pieces of Origen's literary legacy from the (finished) commentaries and homilies. Conclusions have to be drawn about the library of Caesarea Maritima as well as about the 'scholia' concerning the book of Genesis. At the time of Origen's death the library would host finished and unfinished works by Origen, possibly including material from the lessons of his 'private university' in Caesarea, as his preparations of lectures or pupil's notices of their contents. Origen's remains may have been with and without book cover, and the intention of some notices may have been uncertain, but they were esteemed as his legacy and included in the process of compiling catenae. 'Scholia' may have been morsels of such uncertain origin as well as excerpts of finished works. The 'scholia' concerning the book of Genesis seem to be drawn from a short commentary, perhaps not yet finished, meant to complete the extant commentary on Gen 1:1-5:1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a general introduction to Origen's exegesis on the Book of Genesis. The few elements that modern scholars have at their disposal from the Commentary on Genesis make them understand on the one hand both the exegetical sophistication and the richness in contents of this commentary, on the other the importance of what we have lost and which we can hardly recover through other Origen's writings. The fact that Origen, in composing the commentary, exposed himself to his critics particularly for what concerns the elaboration of his protologic doctrines, combined with the fact that he later preferred a more covered language for exposing these same doctrines, makes the loss of this commentary particularly painful for those who are trying to reconstruct the evolution of his thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to shed light on some moments of the byzantine tradition of Origen. Particular attention is paid to the transmission of the Commentary on Matthew: the codex Marc. Gr. 43 is shown to have been copied in Mystras for the emperor John VI Cantacuzenus, who took inspiration from the Commentary for his theological treaties, as proved by a reading note here transcribed. The following owner of the manuscript was Bessarion, who plaved a fundamental role in the circulation of Origen's writings and expressed great admiration for the heretic theologian of Alexandria. From a strictly philological point of view, Marc. Gr. 43 is demonstrated to be not a simple copy of Monac. Gr. 191 but to be the result of a probable contamination and to contain conjectures by the scribe himself. It is finally argued that the división between books X and XI of the Commentary on Matthew originated in the Marc. Gr. 43 and can't consequently be considered original. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Ecclesiastical history Eusebius tells about some Christian women who died in order to preserve both their faith and their chastity. When translating these passages, Rufinus puts emphasis on the choice of continence or virginity made by the martyrs, who faced death or committed suicide just to avoid sexual and moral corruption (eg. Potamiena, the women in Antioch, Dorothea, Sophronia). This paper aims at comparing Eusebius' and Rufinus' accounts and at showing how the translator, who is evidently influenced by the monastic way of life which is spreading at his time, changes the original text in the light of the ascetic model that he wants to suggest to his readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Origen's doctrine of the soul, with the main aim to show its continuity with the relationship between soul and spirit as established and developed by the school of Valentinus, and more specifically by Gospel of Truth 34,20-34. By means of an in-depth analysis of the philosophical background implied by such a theologoumenon with special reference to Platonic and Stoic interpretations, this paper attempts to trace anew the historically complex connection between the notions of 'cold' and 'soul', and 'hot' and 'spirit'. As a result, the Valentinian doctrine of the cooled soul is identified as the prime source for Origen's doctrine as described in Prin II 8. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at pointing out the great importance of 'analogy' in Origen's works. As a matter of fact, analogy is very often used - both in the commentaries and in the homilies - to link together biblical texts of the Old and the New Testament; so, it provides an extraordinary tool, whose sources would quite possibly be identified with contemporary Hellenistic-Roman as well as Jewish exegesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the use of the imperfect tense, the aorist tense and the perfect tense in some passages of Origen's Commentary on John. A few texts (CIo VI 60-61; X 186.271.288; XIII 30.37) prolongate investigation. It is neither an analysis of the theory of time nor of the theory of language but of the phrasing and its movement. The past tense and its modulation represent the place where Scripture per se and Origen's scripture became one and the same. But it is also a medium of difference, an expression of other and new relations between tenses and a place beyond (τόπος ὑπέρ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the different scripts used in the Bodmer papyri and especially the manuscripts copied by different hands, to understand the nature of this set of papyri. The conclusion is that the different manuscripts called 'Bodmer Papyri' have different 'origins'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a general presentation of the library which is the subject of this conference and of the problems it raises: the inventory of the books it contained; their bibliological characteristics; the profile of its users; its provenance. Regarding this last point, which was the subject of much discussion, I shall present (and edit with Jean Gascou in the Annex 2) for the first time unpublished documents coming from the binding of P.Bodm. XXIII and shedding new light on the origin of this library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at validating some hypothesis set forth by previous studies, on the ground of texts already known. In particular: 1) do the new homelies add new elements to confirm the existence of daily liturgical congregations in Caesarea? If considered singularly, the texts are not very explicit, but taken together they strengthen the hypothesis that the initiated and catechumens of Caesarea did listen to the Word daily. 2) Who listened to the sermons? As in the other homelies, it was a mixed public composed of initiated and catechumens. 3) Which and how many lectures were done in the different types of meetings? Only from H67Ps I it is possible to conjecture the use of several lectures taken from different books of the Scripture. 4) Which new elements are there to establish a relative chronology of Origen's predication? References to other exegesises on Psalms abund, but there is only one clear reference to the commentary on Hosea, which permits to fix a terminus post quem. 5) When were the homilies preached? The Greek text of Rufin's translation, that made Nautin place Origen's preaching between 238-244, is much more generic, whereas a passage from H77Ps VIII places this predication after the Against Celsus. Such evidence leads to conclude that the extant homilies on Psalms cannot be part of a single series on this biblical book. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The great importance of the newly discovered collection of Origenian Homilies on Psalms can be summarized as follows: 1) we did not held any Origen's homily (neither the Homilies on Jeremiah, nor the homilies translated to Latin by Rufinus and Jerome) containing such an amount of scholiographic material, until the discovery of Cod. Gr. 314, as results from the examples given in this paper; 2) the setting out of an exegesis 'without aberrations' confirms and extends what we know from other Origenian works containing the same topic (see e.g. Prin IV 3,1ff., about the 'obscurities' of the Bible). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]