Diagnosing Heresy: Ps.-Martyrius's Funerary Speech for John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom died ignominiously as an exiled and condemned heretic. Yet, early biographers worked to reverse his reputation and transformed John into a symbol of Christian orthodoxy. In this essay, I examine how one such biographer, Ps.-Martyrius, managed this task through the language of proper...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins Univ. Press
[2016]
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2016, Volume: 24, Issue: 3, Pages: 395-418 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Martyrius, Antiochia, Bischof ca. 5. Jh.
/ John, Chrysostomus 344-407
/ Funeral oration
/ Eudocia Byzantine Empire, Empress, died 404 380-404
/ Disease
/ Martyrology
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| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KCD Hagiography; saints |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | John Chrysostom died ignominiously as an exiled and condemned heretic. Yet, early biographers worked to reverse his reputation and transformed John into a symbol of Christian orthodoxy. In this essay, I examine how one such biographer, Ps.-Martyrius, managed this task through the language of proper diagnosis. In his Funerary Speech for John Chrysostom, Ps.-Martyrius differentiates the symptoms of the disease of heresy from the symptoms of righteous suffering. To make his case, Ps.-Martyrius compares John's symptoms, through reference to the lesioned bodies of the Constantinopolitan leper community, to the fecund and cursed body of the Empress Eudoxia. Ps.-Martyrius's diagnosis concludes that John's suffering through conspicuous exile conveyed honor and orthodoxy, while Eudoxia's embedded and hidden maladies reflected her culpability as the bearer of lies. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2016.0033 |