Description
Book SynopsisThe Orthodox Church understands the Holy Scriptures to be the fountainhead of Tradition. The stories read in the Bible are commonly explored and elaborated in greater depth in liturgical hymns, homilies, and patristic writings. Such is the case with the account found in St Luke’s gospel of a sinful woman who anoints Christ with precious oil shortly before his Passion and Crucifixion. The woman’s story is taken up in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church in Holy Week, where she is held up as an example of repentance and unconstrained love. In this in-depth but readable study the biblical accounts are elaborated through both the liturgical and oratorical tradition of the Church, as found primarily in Greek and Syriac manuscripts, with particular attention given to the former texts, too often overshadowed by the latter. Previously inaccessible texts of late antiquity, such as homilies by Amphilochius of Iconium and Ephrem Graecus, are found here in English for the first time, together with fresh English renderings of other sermons.
This sharply honed and well-constructed work will engage all who encounter the story of the sinful woman in the living tradition of worship in the Orthodox Church, as well as those who are introduced to her through Scripture, liturgical poetry, or scholarly consideration. The present work unveils the intricate nature of the tradition of the Church, which gives greater scope and application to the biblical record through its hymnography and oratory.
Table of ContentsPREFATORY MATERIAL DEDICATION PREFACE ABBREVIATIONS SHORT TITLES AND A NOTE ON TEXTS . PART I. EARLIEST DEVELOPMENTS OF THE SINFUL WOMAN’S STORY. CHAPTER ONE. INTRODUCTION. LUKE 7:36-50 THE STORY OF THE SINFUL WOMAN THE GOSPEL ACCOUNTS HOW MANY WOMEN? MARY MAGDALENE? FILLING IN THE GAPS GENRES OF EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITING: HOMILY, APOCRYPHA, HAGIOGRAPHY, GREEK NOVEL, HYMN WAYS OF STORY-TELLING SCOPE PLAN OF THE BOOK CENTRAL ARGUMENT CHAPTER TWO. EPHREM THE SYRIAN AND THE SYRIAC TRADITION INTRODUCTION CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORLD OF LATE ANTIQUITY EPHREM AND THE BEGINNING OF CHRISTIAN POETRY EPHREM THE SYRIAN’S VERSE HOMILY ON THE SINFUL WOMAN EPHREM THE SYRIAN’S INVENTION OF THE MYRRH-SELLER CHAPTER THREE. AMPHILOCHIUS OF ICONIUM, THE NEGLECTED CAPPADOCIAN INTRODUCTION AMPHILOCHIUS OF ICONIUM, ON THE SINFUL WOMAN WHO ANOINTED THE LORD WITH MYRRH; AND ON THE PHARISEE (HOMILY 4). THE SINFUL WOMAN AND JUDAS: AMPHILOCHIUS’ USE OF BIBLICAL MODELS INTERIOR MONOLOGUE SHAMELESSNESS TRANSFORMED INTO BOLDNESS PART II. GREEK EPHREM’S HOMILY ON THE REPENTANT HARLOT CHAPTER FOUR. PHENOMENON OF THE GREEK EPHREM INTRODUCTION MEETING OF BASIL AND EPHREM OVERVIEW OF THE HOMILY CHAPTER FIVE. TRANSLATION OF GREEK EPHREM'S HOMILY THE REPENTANT HARLOT PROLOGUE HER THOUGHTS AND PLANS ENCOUNTER WITH THE MYRRH-SELLER THE WOMAN PREPARES HERSELF TO ENTER ARRIVAL AT HOUSE OF SIMON REFLECTION BY THE HOMILIST SIMON’S DOUBTS AND THE PARABLE OF THE DEBTORS CHAPTER SIX. SIGNIFICANCE OF GREEK EPHREM’S HOMILY THE REPENTANT HARLOT VOICE OF THE HOMILIST IMAGINING HER VOICE: SILENT SPEECH, INTERIORITY, THE SELF, AND THE POWER OF FICTION DIALOGUE WITH THE MYRRH-SELLER WOUNDED BY THE BEAUTY OF CHRIST ENCOUNTER WITH CHRIST THE PARABLE OF THE TWO DEBTORS: WILL OR OUGHT TO LOVE? PART III: THE SINFUL WOMAN AS A MODEL OF REPENTANCE CHAPTER SEVEN. ROMANOS’ ON THE HARLOT ROMANOS INTRODUCTION TRANSLATION OF THE KONTAKION ROMANOS “ON THE HARLOT” COMMENTARY CHAPTER EIGHT. THE SINFUL WOMAN IN THE LENTEN TRIODION INTRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT OF THE LENTEN TRIDOION THE SINFUL WOMAN IN THE TRIODION HYMNS THE SINFUL WOMAN IN THE GREAT CANON OF ST. ANDREW OF CRETE HOLY WEEK AND GREEK EPHREM’S THE REPENTANT HARLOT HYMN OF KASSIA THE NUN CHAPTER NINE. CONCLUSION WHY THE SINFUL WOMAN? BOLDNESS, CONTINUAL REPENTANCE, AND PERFECT LOVE HOLY HARLOTS CONTINUAL REPENTANCE SINFUL WOMAN AND PERFECT LOVE APPENDIX I: LITERARY CONTEXT LATE ANTIQUE RHETORICAL PRACTICES APPENDIX II LONGER VERSION OF GREEK EPHREM’S HOMILY THE REPENTANT HARLOT (RECENSION B) GLOSSARY OF NAMES BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
