Palladius of Helenopolis

Yuliya Minets. Works of Palladius of Helenopolis in the context of creation of ideals of Christian life: Historical and social aspect. – Manuscript.
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Candidate of Science in History with major 07.00.02 – World History. – National university of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. – Kyiv, 2010. 
The main research question of my dissertation is the use of biblical texts to construct ideals of exemplary Christian lives in Late Antique writings; I pay particular attention to the different purposes and the target audiences of the texts analyzed. I investigate the narrative structures where the biblical quotations, references, and allusions to the Scripture were used as well as their understanding and interpretation by Late Antique Christian authors, that is, the meanings which were read into the sacred texts and used for developing ideas and ideal images of Christianity in the fourth and fifth centuries. The main sources for the study are two texts of Palladius, bishop of Helenopolis – the Lausiac History and the Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom.
Key words: Palladius of Helenopolis, Lausiac History, Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom, Late Antiquity, the Bible, Christian ideals, narrative strategies, interpretation, target audience.

Минец Ю. О. Творчество Палладия Еленопольского в контексте формирования идеалов христианской жизни: Историко-социальный аспект. – Рукопись.
Диссертация на соискание ученой степени кандидата исторических наук по специальности 07.00.02 – Всемирная история. – Национальный университет «Киево-Могилянская Академия». – Киев, 2010.
В диссертации исследовано творчество Палладия Еленопольского, его роль и значение в формировании идеалов христианской жизни, а именно - рассмотрены стратегии использования, модификации и интерпретации текстов Библии в его произведениях, с учетом разной направленности и целевой аудитории текстов, чем и обуславливается историко-социальный аспект работы. Проанализирована биография и интеллектуальная среда Палладия Еленопольского в контексте церковно-политических событий и теологических дебатов на рубеже IV-V ст.; исследована история текста и проведён источниковедческий анализ произведений Палладия. Прослежены особенности библейских текстов, привлечённых Палладием в свои произведения, проанализированы нарративные конструкции, в которых использованы библейские цитаты, ссылки и аллюзии, а также контекстуальные изменения, ими обусловленные.
Рассмотрено соотношение использования и модификации библейских текстов с целевой аудиторией произведений Палладия, целью и исторической ситуацией их написания. Такие понятия, как мудрость, внешность праведника, гордыня, эсхатологические вопросы, оценка смешанных женско-мужских аскетических сообществ получили различные характеристики от автора в двух произведениях, что может объясняться принадлежностью их к разным сферам христианского дискурса Поздней Античности. В Лавсаике Палладий склонен подавать идеи и ожидания близкие мировоззрению аскетических сообществ и, вероятно, значительной части светских людей, что отображает популярный уровень понимания библейских слов и идей. Напротив, идеи Диалога отвечают ожиданиям и взглядам церковной и светской элиты. Разной целевой аудиторией и, возможно, разным временем написания отдельных фрагментов Лавсаика, а также тенденцией к примирению автора с официальными кругами Константинополя могут объясняться расхождения в использовании библейского материала, изложении взглядов на подвижничество и различные образы святости, имеющиеся в Прологе и в основной части Лавсаика. В основной части Палладий нередко следует аскетическим идеям Евагрия Понтийского; в то время как в Прологе он придерживается более ортодоксальных взглядов, близких к идеям Василия Кесарийского. Основные библейские образы и сюжеты в Диалоге позволяют допустить, что потенциальной аудиторией, которая была заинтересована в такой трактовке, были сторонники Иоанна. Будучи священниками и епископами, которые после изгнания их патрона подверглись преследованиям, в 400-410-х гг. они нуждались в соответствующем нарративе для того, чтобы создать своего героя, засвидетельствовать собственный героизм в его поддержке и оправдать свои страдания за правое дело.
Соотнесены стратегии использования Библии в Лавсаике и Диалоге с теми, что встречаются у авторов, близких Палладию и интеллектуально повлиявших на него. Произведения Иоанна Хризостома были известны Палладию, но в то же время он является достаточно оригинальным автором как с точки зрения изложенных идей, так и относительно использования примеров Писания. В Лавсаике Палладий в целом наследует использование библейской топики и образности Vita Antonii Афанасия Александрийского, характерную для агиографического жанра. Характер привлечения библейских образов в Лавсаике и Apophthegmata Partum свидетельствует, что тексты передают характер понимания Библии, близкий группам подвижников египетской пустыни. Нельзя сказать, что Палладий систематически следует Евагрию в изложении идей подвижничества, но в интерпретации определённых библейских пассажей заметно влияние его аскетической теологии.
Ключевые слова: Палладий Еленопольский, Лавсаик, Диалог про жизнь Иоанна Хризостома, Поздняя Античность, Библия, христианские идеалы, нарративные стратегии, интерпретация, целевая аудитория.

It is well known that the vast majority of ancient Christian writings have been translated into Ethiopic (Gǝʽǝz) from their oriental versions and some only directly from the original Greek texts. This is also true with regard to monastic and hagiographic literature. A number of hagiographic works, ascetical treatises, monastic rules, and collections of sayings of the Desert Fathers, often gathered within Syriac collections, such as, the "Paradise or Garden of the Fathers," and later translated into Arabic, were freely used starting from the 14th century within several Ethiopic monastic collections, such as, the "Mäṣḥafä zenahomu lä-abäw," the "Gadlä abäw qəddusan," and the "Mäṣḥaftä mänäkosat." This article discusses the popular story about saint Paul the Simple, a disciple of Saint Anthony, taken from the "Lausiac History" by Palladius (CPG 6036) as a case study. An Ethiopic version of its integral text was found only in two manuscripts: EMML 1844 (A) and BL Or. 692 (B; the text is not mentioned in Wright’s Catalogue). A textual analysis of the Ethiopic version leads to the conclusion that the document could have been translated directly from a Greek archetype. After the introduction, this article includes the edition of the Ethiopic text and its translation into English.

One of Joachim Camerarius' lesser known and hitherto scholarly almost neglected works is in the focus of this investigation (which is written in German).
The genesis of the "libellus gnomologicus" as well as its content and its intention are examined.
Furthermore, the printer Ernst Voegelin and Georg Mehl von Strelitz (i.e. the person the book is dedicated to), and Johannes Sambucus, who lent Camerarius the manuscript he used for writing the book, are examined.
The article is accompanied by two illustrations: reproductions of the title page (sine anno) and of the 'dedicatio' to Georg Mehl von Strehlitz (Blatt A2r).

See 'google.books' for a preview [see link provided under 'files'].

For a few corrigenda and an extract from a review see downloadable pdf-file.


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The present article analyzes the narrative strategies and discursive conventions that Palladius of Hellenopolis employed in his works, the Dialogue and the Lausiac History, and proposes the reasons why one author could produce two such disparate works. I use the concepts and approaches offered by reader-response criticism in order to differentiate between an implied audience of the historical narrative as the narrative itself mediates it, and the historical audience, i.e., real people of flesh and blood who read the book in the past. The ways in which Palladius chose to present certain topics (the attitude to wisdom and foolishness, eschatological expectations, the appearance of righteous men, male and female ascetics living together, and the attitude to pride) are important indicators of how he envisioned the audiences of the Dialogue and the Lausiac History, and that, to a larger extent, accounts for the impression of the remarkable difference between the two works. An attempt is made to correlate these implied audiences with the diverse groups in Palladius’s immediate milieu and to hypothesize about the real first-hand readers of his works, who were ready and willing to internalize his assumptions and expectations.

Constructing Ideals of Christian Life: Strategies of Interpretation of the Bible in the Lausiac History of Palladius of Hellenopolis

Yuliya Minets (Ukraine)

Thesis Supervisors: Cristian Gaspar, Niels Gaul.
External Reader: Sergey A. Ivanov (Russian Academy of Science).

In the Lausiac History, Palladius, the bishop of Hellenopolis (363/364 – 431) used and interpreted different biblical texts for presentation ideals and concepts of exemplary Christian lives, sometimes involving scriptural quotations and references in new rhetorical constructions and introducing new meanings by changes of the text and context where they were used. The previous studies on of the ways and methods in which biblical texts were interpreted by some Eastern Christian writers focused mostly on the Western part of the Christian world and on Latin writings; similar research on the Greek texts produced by Christian authors in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity are, to the best of my knowledge, not too well represented in the existing scholarship. This study traces how biblical quotations and allusions were used; what ideals and concepts were constructed; how it depends on the purpose and the target audience of the text; how it corresponds with the previous Christian authors and works, especially those which could influenced on Palladius’ views. The analysis allows to identify the place of the Lausiac History in its contemporary Christian discourse and understand the intellectual discussions in which different levels of this discourse were elaborated.
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This study presents a comparative analysis of a vision which both Athanasius of Alexandria (in his Life of Antony) and Palladius of Helenopolis (in his Lausiac History) report of the monk Antony, renowned as first and greatest standard-bearer of Christian anchoretic asceticism, as it emerged in Late antique Egypt. Based on comparison of vocabulary, imagery, and literary framing, contextualized against Late-Roman Egyptian mortuary practices and beliefs, it will be shown that the vision recounted originates not with Palladius or Athanasius, but that both record, independently, an oral tradition originating with the monk Antony or his circle.  It is probable that Palladius records faithfully a version which he learned from Cronius (or, Cronides), a longtime compatriot of Antony, and that Athanasius offers a subtly modified version.  Athanasius’ version is distinguished by its lack of notably Egyptian elements present in Palladius’, and both theological and cultural explanations will be tentatively offered for this situation.

This conference talk (given in German) has tracked the origins - historical and philological - of Joachim Camerarius' hitherto neglected "Libellus gnomologicus". Published without a printed date, its date (May 1569) can be concluded from secondary sources: letters from Camerarius himself, and from Andreas Dudith(ius) and a handwritten note from Johannes Sambucus on a Vienna manuscript. Some further topics have been dealt with in this talk, too (i.a. Agapetus, Georg Mehl von Strehlitz, Camerarius' visit to Vienna in autumn of 1568 etc.).
A printed version is planned to appear in the series "NeoLatina", published by Narr Verlag (Tübingen), prospectively in late 2016.

By comparing St. John Chrysostom's statements on Church unity after his dismissal, one can notice serious inconsistencies between the texts written by John himself and the statements attributed to him by Palladius of Helenopolis, who attempted to attenuate the outcome of the Johannite schism. In fact, the discrepancies are considerable and the Chrysostomic epistles addressed to the oriental bishops (85-90) imply that St. John encouraged the schism.

In the late fourth and early fifth centuries we are informed of the activities of Cassian by Palladius in his defence of John Chrysostom and by Innocent I, both with regard to the exile of John Chrysostom in 404 and with regard to the reconciliation between the churches of Rome and Antioch in 414. Do these three instances refer to the same person, and is that person John Cassian? In this paper it is argued that Palladius does indeed refer to John Cassian and so does Innocent I in his comments about the exile of John Chrysostom. However, the individual involved in the reconciliation between Antioch and Rome is to be seen as a different person, contrary to the opinion of several scholars. This becomes evident through a close reading of Innocent I's Epistulae 19 and 20.

Monastic texts are often subjects of multiple revisions. In this chapter some examples of revisions of various kinds and the possible reasons behind them are discussed. In particular, the authorial voices of these revisions are considered. Monastic authors, like their Classical and Graeco-Roman counterparts, were trained to write according to a set structure of rhetorical strategies. The main focus is given to the writings of Cassian and Palladius of Helenopolis. The works Institutiones and Collationes by Cassian are preserved in Greek versions that give rise to many questions on authorial revision. A couple of stories in Palladius’ Historia Lausiaca are examined. They are found in a monastic collection called Collectio Scorialensis parva and differ considerably from the “standard” edited text. The connection with these works to collections of the Apophthegmata Patrum indicates the great importance of this kind of material for the monastic communities. The texts were used and revised for educational and spiritual purposes in creating a monastic tradition.

The history of medieval literature knows the examples when a narrative, which originally appeared as a primarily orally transmitted story, got fixed in writing. Occasionally, this written story started to be widely read and listened to in public, and thus entered the sphere of a predominantly oral transmission once again, upon which a secondary written fixation sometimes followed.   
This study analyses the principles of interaction of oral and written texts in the Middle Ages, and focuses on the Lausiac History, written c. 420 C.E. by Palladius of Helenopolis (c. 363/364 – c. 431).

Recension de - Alexandre le Grand et les brahmanes. Palladios d’Hélénopolis, Les Mœurs des Brahmanes de l’Inde, suivi de Correspondance d’Alexandre et de Dindime (Anonyme), textes introduits, traduits et annotés par Pierre Maraval, Paris 2016, pour la Revue des sciences religieuses (2017).

The article explores the Slavic translations of the "Lausiac History," a Greek hagiographical work written c. 420 CE by Palladius of Helenopolis. In particular, I focus on three main issues: first, the problem of Slavic translation of the "Lausiac history" as a single integrated composition; second, translations and adaptions of individual chapters and stories, and their incorporation in larger compilations; third, the popularity of the text, and how the title ‘Lausiak’ was understood.

Key words: Hagiography, Palladius of Helenopolis, “Lausiac History”, "Egyptian paterikon”, “Alphabetical Paterikon”, “Historia Monachorum Aegyptorum”, “De Gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus”, “Apophthegmata Patrum”.

This book introduces readers to John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent, a Seventh-century monastic text of spiritual direction written in the tradition of Chalcedonian Christianity.  Engagement with death provides the Ladder’s organizing principle, shaping the monk’s perception of his own life in context of divine judgment, and offering him a model of progress in imitation of Christ which takes account of failures and repentance.  Because the Ladder is an explicitly traditional work, drawing ideas from a broad range of Greek Christian ascetic literature from the Fourth through Sixth centuries, this book sets Climacus’ presentation of death against the backdrop of a developing tradition within which he writes.  It offers a sustained study of the vocabulary and practices of death which emerge from Biblical literature and Greco-Roman philosophical practices, as these are elaborated in the Life of Antony, the Desert Fathers (including Evagrius), and the Gaza Fathers.  Two kinds of engagement with death are common across the literature under survey:  memory of death, which means considering and imagining one’s physical demise and the divine judgment which follows after death; and practices of death, which index a range of ascetic habits focused on virtues like dispassion, humility, and endurance.  Both memory and, to a greater extent, practices of death vary a great deal in the literature surveyed, as do expectations of what effect such practices have on monastic identity-formation.  The book will argue, therefore, that Climacus’ achievement lies in drawing together these variegated, even conflicting, ideas and making of them a coherent and existential principle of ascetic spirituality as death and resurrection.