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Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches
Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches
Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches
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Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

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Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches analyzes the hagiographic traditions of seven missionary saints in the Syriac heritage during late antiquity: Thomas, Addai, Mari, John of Ephesus, Simeon of Beth Arsham, Jacob Baradaeus, and Ahudemmeh. Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent studies a body of legends about the missionaries’ voyages in the Syrian Orient to illustrate their shared symbols and motifs. Revealing how these texts encapsulated the concerns of the communities that produced them, she draws attention to the role of hagiography as a malleable genre that was well-suited for the idealized presentation of the beginnings of Christian communities. Hagiographers, through their reworking of missionary themes, asserted autonomy, orthodoxy, and apostolicity for their individual civic and monastic communities, positioning themselves in relationship to the rulers of their empires and to competing forms of Christianity. Saint-Laurent argues that missionary hagiography is an important and neglected source for understanding the development of the East and West Syriac ecclesiastical bodies: the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East. Given that many of these Syriac-speaking churches remain today in the Middle East and India, with diaspora communities in Europe and North America, this work opens the door for further study of the role of saints and stories as symbolic links between ancient and modern traditions.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJun 19, 2015
ISBN9780520960589
Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches
Author

Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Marquette University.

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    Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches - Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

    In honor of beloved Virgil—

    O degli altri poeti onore e lume. . .

    —Dante, Inferno

    The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Classical Literature Endowment Fund of the University of California Press Foundation, which was established by a major gift from Joan Palevsky.

    Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

    TRANSFORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE

    Peter Brown, General Editor

    I. Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity, by Sabine G. MacCormack

    II. Synesius of Cyrene: Philosopher-Bishop, by Jay Alan Bregman

    III. Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity, by Kenneth G. Holum

    IV. John Chrysostom and the Jews: Rhetoric and Reality in the Late Fourth Century, by Robert L. Wilken

    V. Biography in Late Antiquity: The Quest for the Holy Man, by Patricia Cox

    VI. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt, by Philip Rousseau

    VII. Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, by A.P. Kazhdan and Ann Wharton Epstein

    VIII. Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul, by Raymond Van Dam

    IX. Homer the Theologian: Neoplatonist Allegorical Reading and the Growth of the Epic Tradition, by Robert Lamberton

    X. Procopius and the Sixth Century, by Averil Cameron

    XI. Guardians of Language: The Grammarian and Society in Late Antiquity, by Robert A. Kaster

    XII. Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East, A.D. 180–275 , by Kenneth Harl

    XIII. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient, introduced and translated by Sebastian P. Brock and Susan Ashbrook Harvey

    XIV. Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection, by Carole Straw

    XV. Apex Omnium: Religion in the Res gestae of Ammianus, by R.L. Rike

    XVI. Dioscorus of Aphrodito: His Work and His World, by Leslie S.B. MacCoull

    XVII. On Roman Time: The Codex-Calendar of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity, by Michele Renee Salzman

    XVIII. Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and The Lives of the Eastern Saints, by Susan Ashbrook Harvey

    XIX. Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, by Alan Cameron and Jacqueline Long, with a contribution by Lee Sherry

    XX. Basil of Caesarea, by Philip Rousseau

    XXI. In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini, introduction, translation, and historical commentary by C.E.V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers

    XXII. Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital, by Neil B. McLynn

    XXIII. Public Disputation, Power, and Social Order in Late Antiquity, by Richard Lim

    XXIV. The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist Controversy, by Virginia Burrus

    XXV. Symeon the Holy Fool: Leontius’s Life and the Late Antique City, by Derek Krueger

    XXVI. The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine, by Sabine MacCormack

    XXVII. Paulinus of Nola: Life, Letters, and Poems, by Dennis E. Trout

    XXVIII. The Barbarian Plain: Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran, by Elizabeth Key Fowden

    XXIX. The Private Orations of Themistius, translated, annotated, and introduced by Robert J. Penella

    XXX. The Memory of the Eyes: Pilgrims to Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity, by Georgia Frank

    XXXI. Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity, edited by Tomas Hägg and Philip Rousseau

    XXXII. Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium, by Glenn Peers

    XXXIII. Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, by Daniel Caner

    XXXIV. Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D., by Noel Lenski

    XXXV. Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle Ages, by Bonnie Effros

    XXXVI. Qus . ayr ‘Amra: Art and the Umayyad Elite in Late Antique Syria, by Garth Fowden

    XXXVII. Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity: The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Transition, by Claudia Rapp

    XXXVIII. Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity, by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

    XXXIX. There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire, by Michael Gaddis

    XL. The Legend of Mar Qardagh: Narrative and Christian Heroism in Late Antique Iraq, by Joel Thomas Walker

    XLI. City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria, by Edward J. Watts

    XLII. Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination, by Susan Ashbrook Harvey

    XLIII. Man and the Word: The Orations of Himerius, edited by Robert J. Penella

    XLIV. The Matter of the Gods, by Clifford Ando

    XLV. The Two Eyes of the Earth: Art and Ritual of Kingship between Rome and Sasanian Iran, by Matthew P. Canepa

    XLVI. Riot in Alexandria: Tradition and Group Dynamics in Late Antique Pagan and Christian Communities, by Edward J. Watts

    XLVII. Peasant and Empire in Christian North Africa, by Leslie Dossey

    XLVIII. Theodoret’s People: Social Networks and Religious Conflict in Late Roman Syria, by Adam M. Schor

    XLIX. Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome, by Susanna Elm

    L. Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty: Rural Patronage, Religious Conflict, and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt, by Ariel G. López

    LI. Doctrine and Power: Theological Controversy and Christian Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, by Carlos R. Galvão-Sobrinho

    LII. Crisis of Empire: Doctrine and Dissent at the End of Late Antiquity, by Phil Booth

    LIII. The Final Pagan Generation, by Edward J. Watts

    LIV. The Mirage of the Saracen: Christians and Nomads in the Sinai Peninsula in Late Antiquity, by Walter D. Ward

    LV. Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches, by Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

    Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

    Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent

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    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

    University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.

    University of California Press

    Oakland, California

    © 2015 by The Regents of the University of California

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Saint-Laurent, Jeanne-Nicole Mellon, author.

        Missionary stories and the formation of the Syriac churches/ Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent.

            p.    cm. — (Transformation of the classical heritage ; 55)

        Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 978-0-520-28496-8 (cloth, alk. paper) —

    ISBN 978-0-520-96058-9 (electronic)

        1. Syriac Christian saints—Biography—History and criticism.

    2. Missionaries—Middle East—Biography—History and criticism. 3. Christian hagiography—History—To 1500. I. Title. II. Series: Transformation of the classical heritage ; 55

    BX4714.122.S25    2015

    2821’.630922—dc232014040548

    Manufactured in the United States of America

    24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15

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    In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

    To my dear parents, George and Michaeleen Saint-Laurent, alive in the risen light of Christ

    CONTENTS

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction: Missionary Narratives in the Syriac Tradition

    1. Saint Thomas, Missionary Apostle to India

    2. The Teaching of Addai: Founding a Christian City

    3. Mari as Apostle to the Church of Persia

    4. John of Ephesus as Hagiographer and Missionary

    5. Legends of Simeon of Beth Arsham, Missionary to Persia

    6. Hagiographical Portraits of Jacob Baradaeus

    7. Aḥudemmeh among the Arabs

    Conclusion

    Notes

    Abbreviations

    Bibliography

    Index

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    This book began as a dissertation project at Brown University, under the careful guidance of my mentor, Susan Ashbrook Harvey. I am grateful for the time and talent that she shared so generously with me. She remains a support and model.

    I am also grateful to the other members of my dissertation committee: Stanley Stowers and Ross Kraemer. I also wish to thank Chip Coakley, who let me join his Syriac reading group at Harvard, and my teachers from the University of Notre Dame: Joseph Amar, Fr. Brian Daley, SJ, and Blake Leyerle. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to two mentors from my undergraduate training at Gonzaga University: Robert Kugler and Rev. Frederic Schlatter, SJ.

    I am grateful for a junior fellowship in Byzantine Studies for 2008–9 at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, which enabled me to complete my dissertation. In particular, I am thankful for the friendships that I made at Dumbarton Oaks and for the mentorship that I received from Sidney Griffith, Margaret Mullet, Alice-Mary Talbot, and Jan Ziolkowski during my stay in Washington, DC.

    I began the revisions of this book while I was an assistant professor at St. Michael’s College in Vermont. I am grateful to my former colleagues and friends in the Department of Religious Studies there, particularly for the mentorship and friendship of Jim Byrne, John Kenney, Terryl Kinder, and Edward Mahoney. I finished this project while a member of the Department of Theology at Marquette University, and I am grateful also for the help and encouragement of my colleagues at Marquette, especially Sarah Bond, Deirdre Dempsey, and Fr. John Thiede, SJ.

    Many people from my academic journey have helped and encouraged me to complete this project and pursue my love of Syriac hagiography, including Andre Bingelli, Sebastian Brock, Jan Bremmer, Aaron Butts, Muriel Debié, Maria Doerfler, Kristian Heal, Robert Hoyland, George Kiraz, Kathi Ivanyi, Scott F. Johnson, David Michelson, Scott Moringiello, Candida Moss, Richard Payne, Christiana Z. Peppard, Michael Peppard, Daniel Schwartz, Stephen Shoemaker, Kyle Smith, Jack Tannous, David Taylor, Arthur Urbano, Ed Watts, Dietmar Winkler, Lucas Van Rompay, and Fr. Ugo Zanetti. I am also grateful to my student Adam Kane, who will make a great contribution to Syriac studies. Special regards also go to Philip Wood, whose work on Syriac hagiography and legend I admire very much. I discovered his scholarship too late in the writing of this book to be able to engage it properly with my own.

    I also owe thanks to a great circle of friends who have become like family to me and have supported me with love and encouragement: Ann Alokolaro, Mimi Beck, Kate Brayko, Donna Elliot, Cheska Fairbanks, Chris Fiori, Jill Frazee, Alison Gregoire, Emily Holt, Jaime Hawk, Shane Intihar (who proofread my entire dissertation), Jeff Jackson, Eileen Jacxsens, Rochelle Lynam, Kelsey O’Keefe, Erin O’Malley, Gina Pernini, Yasmin Potts, Amy Rainis, the Salvans, Erin Shields, Cindy Sikes, Katy and Beth Tyskiewicz, Elizabeth and Steve Watson, and the Weinmars.

    I thank Joel Walker, Susanna Elm, and an anonymous reviewer for their useful suggestions for the revision of the manuscript of this book. I would also like to thank Peter Brown for encouraging me at various stages of this project. I thank Eric Schmidt, Maeve Cornell-Taylor, and Cindy Fulton of UC Press and Marian Rogers for their expert editing and patience with me. I thank Eleanor Stoneham for the photograph of Deir al Zafaran used on the book’s cover.

    I thank my sister, Marie-Louise, and her husband, Ryan, as well as my nephews, Luke and Michael, and my in-laws, Leo and Dottie Mellon.

    I thank my wonderful husband, Matthew Mellon, for his support, encouragement, patience, and love. Our puppy Blaise helped me in the final editing stages of this book as a faithful companion.

    I dedicate this book to my late parents, George Saint-Laurent (1932–2008) and Michaeleen Nichols Saint-Laurent (1938–2011). How I miss them every day and hope that this book brings a smile to their faces. I thank them for raising me in the Catholic Church, for taking me to French cathedrals and the Holy Land as a young girl, for sending me to study languages, and for nurturing my spirit of curiosity. They helped me to persevere in my studies, and they taught me about the importance of using one’s education for the benefit of the world. Finally, they showed me that beauty and joy can thrive even in the midst of suffering when one’s faith and love are strong. Perhaps my passion for studying saints stems from having been raised by two of them.

    I am mindful, finally, of the Christians of the Syriac churches today whose texts I have analyzed in this book. May this little work be an acknowledgment of my deep love and appreciation of their important heritage. All the mistakes that remain in this book are my own.

    Introduction

    Missionary Narratives in the Syriac Tradition

    This book analyzes seven missionary stories from the Syriac tradition: the Acts of Thomas, the Teaching of Addai, the Acts of Mari, the Life of Simeon of Beth Arsham, the Life of Jacob Baradaeus (two versions), and the Life of Aḥudemmeh. These texts, written between 300 and 800 C.E., offer an idealized portrait of the origin and expansion of the Syriac churches. Syriac is a dialect of Aramaic that was spoken in areas of the Eastern Roman and Sasanian empires that are Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and Iraq today. Syriac missionaries spread their heritage as far as India and China, and thus it is no wonder that the exploits of missionaries figure prominently in Syriac sacred stories. Syriac texts form a rich and important component of the corpus of early Christian and Byzantine literature, while the Syriac language, Syriac culture, and Syriac ecclesial communities have persisted to the present day.

    When he began the Life of missionary bishop Simeon of Beth Arsham, Syriac hagiographer John of Ephesus (507–89) lamented the difficulty of summarizing the holy man’s characteristics.¹ Simeon had too many beautiful qualities to capture in one story, and John doubted that he would be able to portray Simeon’s virtues in a single image. Although John’s admission of his authorial inadequacy was a hagiographic convention,² we should note that he compared his task as hagiographer to that of a painter. Hagiography, for John, meant the creation of portraiture through narrative.³

    John of Ephesus found hagiographic composition difficult and frustrating; it was a labor he undertook out of devotion and love.⁴ While hagiography appears to have been a tedious, trying task for late antique writers, for modern scholars of late antiquity it presents a different set of frustrations. It is a problematic—though entertaining—genre to tackle and study. Hagiography is neither fiction nor history nor scripture, yet it contains characteristics of, allusions to, and motifs from all three of these genres. It is authoritative for religious communities, yet there is no canon of hagiography per se. Unlike the Bible, there are no set rules or theories for the interpretation of hagiographic texts. What method, then, is appropriate for reading and understanding these sacred stories? Retelling and reading hagiographic stories is enjoyable and edifying. But how can theologians and historians gain more robust insights from these texts? If we presume that sacred narratives shed light on the beliefs and cultural ideals of the people who wrote them, what information can we extract from such embellished narrative accounts?

    As we consider a method for interpreting late antique hagiography, perhaps we might take a cue from John himself. As already noted, he likened his authorial craft to that of a painter. The language of portraiture fills many of the missionary stories that we will encounter. Thus it is fitting to consider these stories as sacred objects or works of art. In late antiquity, both written and visual narrative gave Christians media to express and transmit stories in memorable and portable packages. Hagiographic texts, like sacred paintings and objects, contained many stories in a single, appealing bundle.

    By way of illustration, let us consider a late antique carved ivory diptych from northern Italy, held in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich.⁵ The diptych presents two sacred scenes in one picture: the resurrection (Matt. 28) and the ascension of Christ (Acts 1:9–11). This sacred object, which dates to the fifth century C.E., depicts the highlights of both biblical stories and links them in a single frame. We see a tomb, mourners at a tomb, and an angel speaking to a group of women. Above them, Christ is lifted up on a cloud, while two apostles crouch at the foot of the rising cloud. The two stories in this portrayal are retold in a condensed visual narrative.

    Early Christian and Byzantine Christian diptychs and triptychs exemplify how much could be said in a small package through the careful arrangement of symbols and figures.⁶ In order to read them, we must consider each of the pictures separately. Then we can step back to gaze at the panels as a unified visual program. Their precious packaging and costly materials also reflect those who carved them, sponsored them, and used them for personal and public devotions.

    Hagiographic texts might be approached in the same way. As we orient ourselves to these stories and map out the relationships among them, I invite you to imagine each narrative as a diptych or triptych conveying a portable narrative through pictures on individual panels. If the highlights of each missionary story included in this book were captured in a sacred painting, we would notice their shared motifs immediately. We would see a missionary standing before a king and his people, with a city in the background. We would see a hagiographer with a Bible and some other texts, passing his book to a group of monks. We would see an image of the conversion of a city, with missionary and monarch. Such pictures would encapsulate the holiness of the saint, the piety of the monarch, the labor of the hagiographer, and the prayers and preservation of the community.

    In the same way that such a tableau can be understood by considering all the scenes together, so the fullness of a hagiographic story, its reception, and circulation can be grasped only when we consider all the works together, as part of a single program, with the same purpose. Each story discussed in this book comes from the same heritage—with shared symbols of holiness, power, and orthodoxy. All of these stories feature monarchs, missionaries, and an affiliation with a particular location or hagiographer. All share a concern to create a lineage of orthodoxy and distinction. When these stories are considered together, the symbolic power of the missionary story emerges. The figures of hagiographer, missionary, and monarch create a representation of missionary life in the Syriac-speaking milieu, and each is sketched into the texture of the narrative as a silhouette .

    Let us imagine an example drawn from the Life of Jacob Baradaeus.⁷ John of Ephesus, as hagiographer, created in Jacob Baradaeus a portrait of a model missionary bishop for a beleaguered Miaphysite community, and the story’s narrative was driven by the missionary’s relationship to the monarch, Empress Theodora. If the essence of the story were to be shown in a sacred image, three figures would stand out: John of Ephesus, Jacob Baradaeus, and the empress Theodora—a hagiographer, a missionary bishop, and a monarch. The hagiographer John of Ephesus would be writing about the activity of a missionary bishop, Jacob Baradaeus, who would be depicted in the tattered clothing of a monk on the run, leaving the court of the empress Theodora. Jacob would be pictured as ordaining new clergy for the Miaphysites, moving in haste from Constantinople to the frontier of the Persian Empire. The image would highlight the most memorable parts of the story, but as in a hagiographic episode, some events would be absent from the picture. This portrait would share features with other pictures of the missionary life, but its bold characteristics would distinguish it from others of its type. We could, however, understand the portrait by comparing it to others. That is what this book seeks to do with these hagiographic stories.

    John of Ephesus’s audience was a community of Miaphysites (also known as Monophysites or anti-Chalcedonians), a large group of Christians in late antiquity whose leaders had rejected the Christological formula of the Council of Chalcedon. Their bishops, who saw themselves in communion with Cyril of Alexandria, proclaimed that Jesus was one nature, uniting two natures—human and divine—at the time of the incarnation. Their opponents, the Chalcedonians, pronounced that Jesus Christ was one person in two distinct natures, human and divine. The Miaphysite Christians had lost political support for their group with the ascent of Justin I in 518, and the hagiographies of John of Ephesus were written to strengthen and encourage them. Thus each embellished missionary narrative that we examine in this book offers glimpses of significant events in church history. These stories reflect the ways in which new ecclesial bodies were created as the Miaphysites differentiated and positioned themselves in relation to both imperial figures and competing religious groups.

    The chapters of this book focus on two sets of questions in their analysis of the selected missionary stories.

    Literary Questions: What symbolic layers of hagiographic and biblical types are present in these Syriac missionary stories? How do common characteristics and literary motifs in these stories (e.g., apostles, missionaries, kings, cities, conversions, healings, demonstrations of divine power) prove the relevance of the missionary story in the self-presentation of Syriac sacred history? What ideals do these symbols promote?

    Historical Questions: Who are the hagiographers, and what historical communities are behind the composition and reception of these stories? What monastic or ecclesial communities benefited from the beliefs, practices, and heroes that the texts honored and remembered? How do the composition and reception of these missionary stories reflect moments of crisis or self-assertion in the development of the Syriac churches within the Roman and Sasanian empires?

    SYRIAC STORYTELLERS AND THEIR MISSIONARIES

    Hagiographers like John of Ephesus constituted an important body of text producers in the late antique world. They carved out a unique place for themselves among the Christian literate and were as much compilers as creators. Through their choice of religious heroes, they had the power to influence the formation of religious memory, including which heroes would be remembered and which forgotten. They could model their saints on biblical figures, or they could inscribe themselves, their community, or particular locations in the deeds and miracles of their patron hero.

    A saint’s hagiographic portrait reflected the ideals of the hagiographer. In writing about missionary saints, hagiographers drew on several sources: the Bible, apocryphal narratives, and other hagiographies.

    Models from the Bible and Apocryphal Narratives

    The apostles, the first Christian missionaries, were the most important models for portraying missionary saints. Writers of missionary stories situated their characters in an apostolic golden age to show how the missionaries they portrayed lived like the apostles, had been ordained by the apostles, or were in fact among the apostles themselves.

    Biblical prototypes for missionary saints abound in the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in the letters of Paul. The sanctification of travel had a lasting impact on the history of Christianity, a movement that had expanded through the exchange of letters and texts. Missionary travel brought opportunities for discipleship and a chance to obey Jesus’s instruction to go out into the world and baptize the nations in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The letters of Paul demonstrated to Christians that the formation of new communities, and indeed churches, would happen through the traveling ministry of Christian missionaries.⁸ The authors of the seven stories featured in this book all used apostolic discourse—letters, preaching, and material practices similar to those of the original apostles—to create similitude between their patron missionary holy men and Jesus’s original disciples.

    In the Acts of the Apostles, the author of Luke-Acts embellished the missionary events of the first century to create a memorable and bold picture of the community of the first followers of Jesus.⁹ After the book of Acts, other apocryphal legends of the apostles’ journeys promoted a similar view that Christianity had spread through the feats of its divinely directed apostles. Christians in the cities of the Mediterranean and the Syrian Orient traced their roots to these apostles, and legends of the conversion of these places became a genre unto itself: the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.¹⁰

    The earliest texts in this genre, dating to the second and third centuries, include the Acts of John, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, the Acts of Andrew, and the Acts of Thomas (see chapter 1 for the latter). In these texts, Jesus commissions apostles to go forth and baptize the nations, and he allots to each apostle a different part of the world to convert. The apostles and their disciples perform miracles, preach, and baptize, and this results in the establishment of new Christian cities as well as ecclesiastical foundations. These adventure stories are similar in structure to the ancient novels that circulated in the first centuries C.E. István Czachesz has delineated the main literary features of commission narratives among the canonical and noncanonical apostolic Acts.¹¹ He notes that among the early Acts, the Acts of Thomas and the Acts of John were the only stories to describe the commission of their apostles.

    Many of the popular narratives of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles were attributed pseudepigraphically to an apostle to create an orthodox lineage for a burgeoning local church. Topographic references and symbols in the text can sometimes help scholars to locate the places with which the texts and their patron apostles were connected.¹² Many of the sites linked to the early travels of the apostles became places of pilgrimage in the early church. The stories of the saints, the loca sancta linked to their memory, and devotion to their relics as objects of power worked together in the formation of cults to the saints in late antiquity,¹³ places where heaven and earth were joined.¹⁴

    Hagiographic Typology, the Syriac Idiom, and Symbolic Layering

    Hagiographers had a treasury of narrative types for depicting holiness, drawn not only from the apocryphal Acts narratives but from the longer Lives of the saints. They used these types to tell their own stories, modeling their heroes on exempla from their past. Thus although the historical circumstances of saints’ lives might vary greatly, through shared narrative typologies the stories resembled one another, like different variants on a common theme in a single melody.

    Missionary saints were portrayed as types or symbols of the apostles. This apostolic typology gave the hagiographer a way of presenting the orthodoxy and power of his missionary saint. As Robert Murray and Sebastian Brock have shown,¹⁵ Syriac authors preferred symbolic language and poetry for theological expression. This tendency influenced Syriac sacred narrative as well. In an important article on the tradition of the Greek Acts of Thaddaeus, Andrew Palmer has illustrated the centrality of symbolism in stories from the Syriac cultural milieu. He notes that Syriac storytellers and poets, like Ephrem the Syrian, used symbolism to perfect the art of simultaneously speaking on various levels.¹⁶ We can read missionary hagiography therefore as a mode of theological expression, since it used types and symbols to depict the intersection of the human and the divine. The hagiographies considered in this book present missionary saints as the ones through whom the apostles live.

    The Syrian storytellers drenched their narratives in the language of the Bible and the liturgy. The hagiographer’s mastery of his craft was seen in his ability to weave allusions to biblical stories together with references to contemporary local churches, monastic sites, and historical personages. The symbol of the missionary in these narratives contained many layers that worked together to create a past for a community that was also interpreting its present, combining a thorough knowledge of Scripture with a leap of the sympathetic imagination.¹⁷

    Constructions of Lineage and Strategies of Legitimatization

    Hagiographers used a typology of the missionary story—with missionaries, monarchs, healings, and conversion—to describe the emerging independence and expansion of their local communities and larger churches. Persecution, competition, doctrinal disputes, and ascetic zeal incited the production of sacred texts, whose stories depicted communal boundaries and alliances as well as intense rivalries.

    Hagiographers circulated stories in their communities to encourage community members to participate in the construction of their sacred history, which was both local and joined to the history of their respective traditions, whether Miaphysite Syrian Orthodox or Dyophysite Church of the East. Indeed, the composition of missionary stories reveals what Richard Payne has called interventions in an ongoing debate about belonging.¹⁸ These stories show how leaders of West and East Syriac traditions encountered one another and their rulers from rival Christian and Zoroastrian traditions.

    Hagiographers ordered the past through a careful presentation of orthodoxy that rested on the construction of a lineage that could be traced to the apostles. As we will see, these storytellers mythologized their local missionary saints by including their heroes in biblical events of days gone by; this

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