Author
Dirk Krausmuller
Publication Place
Mardin Artuklu University -
Mardin Artuklu University
Subject
Dreams, Impersonation, Saints
Type
kitap
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Leitir Library
Library Asset ID
ISSN: 1309-6087, EISSN: 2459-0711
Record ID
cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_c74c40048c0b4ffbb13bbe1cde1644ef
Library Location
DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals
Notes
This article takes as a starting point the life story of John bar Aphthonia, a priest and abbot who lived in Syria in the early sixth century and was very close to the monophysite leader Severus of Antioch. This life story contains one of the first references to the phenomenon that when dead saints appear to believers, God and his angels actually appear in the appearance of those saints. Analysis of the text shows that in fact, unlike his contemporaries, this hagiographer does not believe that saints are passive after death. Therefore, the concept of representation must be considered in the context in which it appears in the text: John's hagiographer uses the dream in which God appears in the guise of a saint to legitimize a violation of monastic rules. It is possible to create a framework for interpretation from contemporary hagiographic texts. In these texts, dreams generally occur when the monks and monasteries break away from their traditions due to the pressures of external forces and they have a function such as saving the situation. This framework allows us to propose an explanation for why representation is used in John's life. The role of a parish's patron saint is usually determined by lay people who patronize the monastery. As a result, saints belong to the same social stratum as laity, who can put pressure on them and make demands on them as equals. Therefore, the following hypothesis can be presented: In hagiography, the author used the concept of representation to eliminate this problem. The reason why the hagiographer used the concept of representation so freely can be investigated in the social environment in which he lived: St. Thomas was a strict coenobitic and the suppression of one's desires was at the center of this ideology. Therefore, the concept of representation can be understood as a reflection of this model into the supernatural realm. John's hagiographer was not interested in portraying the dead saints as powerful, independent guardians who interfered with the affairs of those to whom they were associated. These findings allow us to question Gilbert Dagron's view that the concept of representation is a feature that appears only in the Questions and Answers literature, since hagiographers often insisted on the real presence of saints in dreams and visions. The life story of John shows that Late Antique hagiography was not a monolith, and that a simple juxtaposition of an “enlightened” Questions and Answers with an “obscure” hagiography was not possible.
Detaylı Başlık
Geç Antik Dönem Hagiografisinde Azizlerin Tanrı’yı Temsili: Yuhanna bar Aphtonia Örneği (ö. 537)
