Un aperçu des productions exégétiques, doctrinales, hymnogra-phiques et iconographiques dans la riche histoire de la réception d'Exode 3 au cours du premier millénaire de notre ère conduit à la conclusion que la lecture chrétienne la plus ancienne, la plus répan-due et la plus constante de ce texte a été son interprétation comme manifestation du Logos incarnaturum, comme « Christophanie ». Les termes couramment utilisés dans la littérature savante pour rendre compte de cette approche exégétique sont insatisfaisants, car ils ne parviennent pas à saisir la dimension épiphanique du texte, tel qu' il a été lu par de nombreux exégètes chrétiens anciens. Cet article examine aussi – et rejette – la proposition récente d' évaluer la relation directe entre le Christ et le Ὁ ὤν d'Exode 3,14 comme un exemple de la « Bible réécrite ». A survey of the exegetical, doctrinal, hymnographic, and icono-graphic productions illustrating the rich reception history of Exodus 3 during the first millennium CE leads to the conclusion that the earliest, most widespread and enduring Christian reading of this text was its interpretation as a manifestation of the Logos-to-be-incarnate: a " Christophany ". The terms currently employed in scholarship to account for this exegetical approach are unsatisfactory because they fail to capture the epiphanic dimension of the text asread by many early Christian exegetes. The article also examines — and rejects — the recent proposal to see the straightforward equation of Christ with the Ὁ ὤν of Exodus 3:14 as an example of “rewritten Bible”.

After a thousand years of progress, the Zoroastrian religion was declared as a national religion by Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid Empire. This is the first time in Iranian history that religion is affiliated with the government. Due to political stability and economic progress, the Zoroastrian religion reached its golden era with its flamboyant fireworks and numerous fire temples. Gradually, there are three Bahram fires, each of which belongs to a certain social class. The aim of this article is to define the meanings of fire in Zoroastrianism and to discuss the importance of fire among the Sassanid politics with the help of historical documents. Lastly, according to my own explorations and experiences, I will analyze historically and archaeologically three Bahram Sassanid fires in order to describe Sassanid society according to religious principles, historical events, and archaeological examples.

The contribution of Oluz Höyük to the Iron Age of the Halys Basin has taken a religious turn. The evidence and the small finds uncovered in layers 2B (425-300 BC) and 2A (300-200 BC) present important data regarding early Zoroastrianism and the earlier periods of the Fire Cult, a topic where unknown data far surpasses what is known. The remains started to be uncovered in 2017 with the discovery of a sacred fire pit, understood to belong to a fire temple, and a sanctuary. Thereby the presence of monotheistic people in Oluz Höyük who worshipped or revered fire and had no belief in figurines of deities was attested. It is understood that these people, who concretised their beliefs by building an atashkadah (fire temple), a sanctuary and a sacred road (Persian Road) leading to them between 425 and 200 BC were Persian in origin and created one of the first communities of Early Zoroastrianism. When the historical process of Zoroastrianism is taken into account, fire burning preserved outdoors in the earlier period (5th century BC) seems to be the central practice of the new religion institutionalised in Oluz Höyük. The presence of the rituals and practices that constituted early Zoroastrianism in the Early and Middle Achaemenid periods shows that North-Central Anatolia (Pontica Cappadocia) and Cappadocia should be evaluated within the sacred geography of the Avesta.

The paper discusses the simile of the fire running through the reeds, which is well attested in classical Armenian literature and is used to describe a formidable assault of an army. The connection of the image with the Iranian concept of kingship and supernatural valour is confirmed by the occurrence of the same simile in the Iranian epic. The original value of the image still survives in some later attestations, though in a less clear and conscious form, and sometimes it is reinterpreted with a Christian context. In most of the later occurrences, anyway, this meaning is completely lost, and the image is employed just as a simile for the violence and destructiveness of an attack. That is the reason why it is applied not only to Armenian troops but also to the enemies, and some later authors show a contact between the original image and a similar simile occurring in the Bible. However, a closer analysis of the texts and a comparison with the Septuagint shows that the interference of the Bible with the traditional Armenian image is just a formal one.

Zoroastrianism has been known as "the world oldest monotheism." The Critical Perspective of the Hebrew Bible places its composition written under heavy Zoroastrian influence. In this paper, I study ancient Achaemenid Religion and challenge the belief that Zoroastrianism in modern times is the same Zoroastrian religion that exists during the Persian Empire. I argue that a thematic approach is not substantial enough evidence to prove that the OT writers appropriated themes and typologies from the state religion of Achaemenid Persian Empire.

The exegesis of the burning bush theophany set forth in Eusebius of Caesarea's Prophetic Extracts and Proof of the Gospel adds a distinctive and original voice to the rich chorus of Jewish and Christian interpreters of Exodus 3. Eusebius posits a disjunction between the visual and the auditory aspects of the theophany – the angel appears, the Lord speaks – and departs from the mainstream of Jewish and Christian tradition by depicting Moses as a spiritual neo-phyte whose attunement to God ranks much lower than that of the patriarchs of old. Even though scholars point to the overall anti-Jewish context of this exege-sis, it is difficult to find satisfactory terms of comparison for some of its details. It appears, therefore, that Eusebius' understudied Prophetic Extracts and Proof of the Gospel offer a surprisingly original interpretation that should enrich the scholarly account of the Wirkungsgeschichte of the famous burning bush episode.

The dialogue of certain parts of 2nd Isaiah with the Avesta has been noted from the 19th century to our day and studied in various forms throughout this period. This paper provides the context in which both corpora might have converged as well as specific echoes from Achaemenid inscriptions and other archeological finds that relate to them. It covers sources from across the empire—from Arachosia in modern-day Afghanistan to Egypt.