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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


An anonymous Life of *Gregory the Miracle-Worker (missionary and bishop, S00687), not identical to the one composed by Gregory of Nyssa, is produced in Syriac during the 5th or 6th century. The main part of the Syriac Life is taken by the description of miracles performed by Gregory.

Evidence ID

E05938

Type of Evidence

The Syriac version of the Life of Gregory the Miracle-Worker, not identical to the one composed by Gregory of Nyssa (for which see E01878), survives in at least four manuscripts. The earliest among these textual witnesses is ms. Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, N.S. Syr. 4, dated by some scholars to the 5th century (see van Esbroeck 1988; cf., however, Pigulevskaya 1960, p. 140, who dates it to the 6th century). Another early manuscript containing the Life is British Library Add. 14648, dated to the 6th century (see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 3, p. 1091-1092). In both these manuscripts, the Life is transmitted as an anonymous work.

After a brief introduction and the account of Gregory's consecration as bishop of Neocaesarea by Gregory of Nazianzus, the narrative continues by presenting a series of miracles performed by the holy man. These include miraculous punishment of Jews, exorcisms, conversion of a pagan priest, changing the course of a river, drying up of a lake, punishment of people, who slandered him, and some others. The narrative ends with the story of Gregory's miraculous salvation from the persecution, and his peaceful death in Neocaesarea.

While the Syriac
Life has significant amount of shared material with the Life of Gregory produced by Gregory of Nyssa, there are significant differences between the two works, which provide no obvious signs of literary dependance upon each other. It is unclear whether the Syriac Life is a straightforward translation from a Greek original that has not survived, or was originally composed in Syriac. Some scholars, like V. Ryssel, argue that the author of the Syriac Life made use of a lost Greek text, which was also used by Gregory of Nyssa. Others, like P. Koetschau, claim that he relied on a pool of oral traditions about the bishop's life.

No critical edition of the Syriac text of the
Life exists so far. The text of ms. British Library Add. 14648 was published in Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 6, pp. 83-106. A German translation of the same textual witness was published in Ryssel 1894. There is a Russian translation of the Life by Sagarda 1912, made from Ryssel's German text. For a discussion of this work, see also Hilgenfeld 1898; Koetschau 1898; Sagarda 1916, pp. 66-128; van Esbroeck 2004.

Bibliography

Main editions and translations:
Bedjan, P.,
Acta martyrum et sanctorum. 7 vols (Paris / Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890-1897).

Ryssel, V., “Eine syrische Lebensgeschichte des Gregorius Thaumaturgus,”
Theologische Zeitschrift aus der Schweiz 11:4 (1894), 228-254.

Sagarda, N.I., “Сирійское житіе св. Григорія Чудотворца,”
Христіанское чтеніе 10 (1912), 1139-1157.


Further reading:
Hilgenfeld, H., “Die Vita Gregor’s des Wunderthäters und die syrischen Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum,”
Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie 41 (1898), 452-456.

Koetschau, P., “Zur Lebensgeschichte Gregors des Wunderthäters,”
Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie 41 (1898), 211-250.

Pigulevskaya, N.V.,
Каталог сирийских рукописей Ленинграда (Палестинский сборник 6 [69]; Москва / Ленинград: Издательство Академии наук СССР, 1960).

Sagarda, N.I.,
Cвятый Григорiй Чудотворецъ, епископъ Неокесарiйскiй. Его жизнь, творенiя и богословiе: патрологическое изслѣдованiе (Петроградъ: Типографiя М. Меркушева, 1916).

van Esbroeck, M., “Le manuscrit syriaque Nouvelle Série 4 de Leningrad (V
e siècle),” in: Mélanges Antoine Guillaumont. Contributions à l’étude des christianismes orientaux (Cahiers d’Orientalisme 20; Genève: Patrick Cramer, 1988), 211-219.

van Esbroeck, M., “The Syriac Versions of the Panegyric of Gregory of Nyssa on Gregory the Wonderworker and of the Life of the Same,”
Journal of Eastern Christian Studies 56:1-4 (2004), 1-13.

Wright, W.,
Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Acquired since the Year 1838. 3 vols (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1870-1872).


Record Created By

Sergey Minov

Date of Entry

28/08/2018

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00687Gregory the Miracle-Worker (Thaumatourgos), bishop and missionary in Pontus, ob. c. 270ܓܪܓܪܝܘܤCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
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