Symeon stylites the younger and late antique antioch, / Lucy Parker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parker, Lucy, author.

Series:

Oxford Academic.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

History, Ancient.

Libanius.

Church history--Primitive and early church.

Church history.

Antioch (Turkey).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (287 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2022]

Summary:

Symeon Stylites the Younger and Late Antique Antioch explores the authority of a holy man and its limitations in times of crisis, with a particular focus on the little-studied Antiochene stylite Symeon the Younger. Symeon the Younger (c.521-92) lived through a period of repeated disasters in the region of Antioch, including earthquakes, plagues, and Persian invasions. The book explores how Symeon and his supporters reacted to these crises, which posed a powerful challenge to the claims of holy men to be able to protect their supplicants. It argues that crisis laid bare theological and emotional tensions that had always existed around the role of a holy man as intercessor between God and his supplicants. It considers various texts associated with the stylite, including his sermon collection, his hagiographic Life, and the Life of his mother, Martha, setting these in the broader context of society and culture in the late Roman empire and of developments in hagiography over time. The sermon collection and the Life of Symeon show that the stylite was a divisive figure who played on social tensions and scapegoated the wealthy notables of Antioch for disaster. The Life of Martha reflects a reorientation of priorities for the cult, offering an original vision of holiness based on participation in liturgy and the sacraments. The tensions evinced in these texts are reflected in other hagiographies from the period, offering a new perspective on the state of the Roman empire in the sixth and seventh centuries.

Contents:

List of Figures

Note on Transliterations and Conventions

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Antioch and Northern Syria in the Sixth Century

Disasters in Antioch: A City in Decline?

Society and Culture

Conclusion

2. The Sermons of Symeon Stylites the Younger

The Early Christian Homily

Authorship

Genre

Style

Demons and Monks

Heaven and Hell

Rich and Poor

3. The Life of Symeon Stylites the Younger

The Hagiographer's Worldview

Christology

Opposition and Crisis

4. The Life of Martha

Cult Promotion and Apologetic

A Reorientation of Priorities

Liturgy and Ritual Practice

5. Hagiography and the Crises of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries

Saints' Lives and Disasters

Context for Crisis: Heightened Expectations of Holy Men

Miracle Collections

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on May 13, 2022).

ISBN:

0-19-268879-0

0-19-195566-3

0-19-268878-2