The Final Act of Paul: The Miracle of the Apostle’s Re-Attaching Head
There is a little-known tradition which attests to Paul’s decapitated head being lost just outside Rome and discovered much later by a shepherd. I will present four Syriac versions of this tradition, including the Letter of (Pseudo-)Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy, a thirteenth century encyclopa...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2019]
|
| In: |
Apocrypha
Year: 2019, Volume: 30, Pages: 87-106 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Paul Apostle
/ Decapitation <motif>
/ Miracle
/ Vatican Palace
/ Syriac language
|
| IxTheo Classification: | KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | There is a little-known tradition which attests to Paul’s decapitated head being lost just outside Rome and discovered much later by a shepherd. I will present four Syriac versions of this tradition, including the Letter of (Pseudo-)Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy, a thirteenth century encyclopaedia by an East Syrian bishop called The Book of the Bee, and two hagiographic manuscripts. All of these attest to Paul’s head miraculously re-attaching to his body during a vigil/experiment in Rome. I will examine and compare these texts to see what motifs and possible historical events lie behind this unusual posthumous miracle. Il existe une tradition peu connue, selon laquelle la tête de Paul s’est perdue non loin de Rome après sa décapitation, puis a été retrouvée, longtemps après, par un berger. Je vais présenter ici quatre versions en syriaque de cette tradition, qui se trouvent respectivement dans la Lettre du (Pseudo-)Denys l’Aréopagite à Timothée, dans le Livre de l’Abeille, qui est une encyclopédie d’un évêque de Syrie orientale du xiiie siècle et dans deux manuscrits hagiographiques. Tous ces textes attestent le recollement miraculeux de la tête de Paul à son corps durant une vigile/ordalie à Rome. Je vais analyser et comparer ces textes afin de voir quels motifs et quels éventuels événements historiques se cachent derrière ce miracle posthume singulier. |
|---|---|
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Apocrypha
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1484/J.APOCRA.5.120133 |