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The aim of this paper is to describe various features of the Septuagint Psalter. First of all, it is a translation of a Hebrew source text. A thorough comparison of the consonantal text preserved in the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint shows that the word order and the syntax of these two versions of the Psalter diverge only slightly. However, the Septuagint Psalter is much more than a mere translation. At times, the translator does not shrink from correcting the Hebrew Psalter text, e.g. for theological reasons. Moreover, the Egyptian context leaves its traces in the Greek translation. In this paper, I present various examples illustrating not only elements of translation technique but also the theological and cultural background of the translator. [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]

This paper looks into the complex manuscript tradition of the Christian Arabic universal chronicle composed by the Melkite patriarch of Alexandria Eutychius, also known as Sa‘īd ibn Baṭrīq (877-940). A textual analysis of the two recensions of the text (the so-called ‘Alexandrian recension’ and the so-called ‘Antioch recension’), together with codicological and paleographical evidence, leads to the conclusion that, contrary to what claimed by Michael Breydy, the manuscript containing the shortest version of the text (the codex Sinaiticus Arabicus 582) cannot be the author’s autograph, nor does it contain the original recension of the chronicle, but rather an abridged version of it. In view of this, a re-assessment of the whole manuscript tradition and a new critical edition are called for, as well as a re-evaluation of Eutychius’ value as a historian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to collect what we know about Pamphilus of Caesarea's 'school', and to evaluate its impact on the development of Eusebius' work and thought. Pamphilus' school was a circle of friends, not an institution.The few members of the school, known thanks to the Martyrs of Palestine, were very different in terms of age and condition. Pamphilus' teaching is not precisely known. Eusebius suggests that he taught theology and Scripture. He also taught morals, but probably not in a theoretic form. Even if Eusebius often introduces Pamphilus and his pupils as «philosophers», there is no reason to think that Greek philosophy was taught by Eusebius' master, though this remains possible. The general impression is that, though Pamphilus probably intended to imitate Origen who founded a school in Caesarea around 233, the nature of his own teaching was, at least in part, very different from that of Origen. It is sure, however, that the circle venerated Origen and devoted a good deal of its time to search, defend and copy his whole work. It remains to be seen if the circle learnt Origen's thought alone, or also the thought of subsequent Alexandrian masters, such as Theognostus and Pierius, the teacher of Pamphilus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper questions the traditional view which sees a threefold pattern in Clement's literary activity, namely the sequence of Protrepticus, Paedagogus and Stromata (or a different projected but not realized work). A close analysis of Paed. I.1 and a general overview of Clement's remaining writings allow us to individuate two literary domains within his work; on the one hand, rhetorically shaped writings as the Protrepticus, the Paedagogus and the Quis dives salvetur address a large audience, Christian or Heathen, making use of contemporary epideictic style and of mere literal exegesis; on the other hand, writings coming from Clement's teaching activity, as the Stromata, the Eclogae propheticae and the Excerpta ex Theodoto deal with doctrinal issues by means of intellectual speculation and allegorical hermeneutics. In this way it is also possible to contextualize better Clement's literary effort: it aimed to build a complex and multifaceted presentation of Christianity, that could unify the different ways in which Christian tradition was displayed in his days' Alexandria, ranging from radical Jewish Christian communities to elitist and purely intellectual Gnostic teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]