Adrian C . Pirtea | Austrian Academy of Sciences (original) (raw)
Videos by Adrian C . Pirtea
This is the recording of an online lecture I gave on 18 October 2021, in the framework of the lec... more This is the recording of an online lecture I gave on 18 October 2021, in the framework of the lecture series "Visions of Paradise and Hell," organised by Mihaela Timuș (Romanian Academy of Sciences). The lecture focuses on the apocryphal work known as the "Six Books on the Dormition of Mary" and its later reception in Syriac and Arabic. Research for this lecture was carried out as part of my on-going project "The Making of the Byzantine Ascetical Canon" (MonasByz), funded by the European Research Executive Agency, MSCA grant nr. 841476.
Feedback and criticism welcome!
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PhD Thesis by Adrian C . Pirtea
PhD Dissertation (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017), 2020
This is the complete, slightly revised version of my PhD (Freie Universität Berlin 2017, publishe... more This is the complete, slightly revised version of my PhD (Freie Universität Berlin 2017, published online : 2020).
NB: The page numbers differ from the original version submitted in 2017. When citing the dissertation, please refer to the new page numbers, as shown in this file.
The dissertation is also available through Refubium (https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/26662) and ProQuest.
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An English summary of my PhD thesis written in German (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017). Original... more An English summary of my PhD thesis written in German (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017).
Original title: Die "geistigen Sinne" in der ostsyrischen christlichen Mystik. Untersuchungen zum Wahrnehmungsbegriff und zur Gotteserkenntnis in der griechischen und syro-orientalischen asketischen Literatur der Spätantike.
I am currently revising the thesis for publication.
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Papers I: Patristics & Eastern Christianity by Adrian C . Pirtea
Der Mensch als Bild des unergründlichen Gottes. Von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück, eds. Georgiana Huian , Beatrice Wyss and Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (Berlin: De Gruyter), 2023
Pirtea, Adrian C.. "Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Wonder: Tehrā/Temhā in Isaac of Nineveh ... more Pirtea, Adrian C.. "Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Wonder: Tehrā/Temhā in Isaac of Nineveh and Early Syriac Ascetical Literature" In Der Mensch als Bild des unergründlichen Gottes: Von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück edited by Georgiana Huian, Beatrice Wyss and Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, 259-284. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111022406-014
Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Rolle des Staunens in dem Aufstieg des Menschen zur Gotteserkenntnis. Es wird gezeigt, dass das dynamische Verhältnis zwischen Staunen, Wissensdurst und Erkenntnis, das Platon und Aristoteles beschreiben, in ähnlicher Form auch in der syrischen Patristik erkennbar ist. Nach einer skizzenhaften Geschichte der Begriffe tehrā und temhā ('Wunder', 'Staunen') in der frühsyrischen Literatur, wird die komplexe Theologie des Staunens bei Isaak von Ninive eingehend behandelt.
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Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses (ETL) 98/3, 2022
This article discusses the Manichaean Middle Persian translation of the Shepherd of Hermas (Berli... more This article discusses the Manichaean Middle Persian translation of the Shepherd of Hermas (Berlin, Turfan Collection, M97) and investigates the possible reasons as to why Manichaeans developed an interest in this early Christian work. After a short overview of previous scholarship, I provide a codicological, palaeographic and philological analysis of M97 and its relationship to the Greek, Latin, Coptic and Ethiopic versions of the Shepherd. The relevance of another Manichaean fragment from Turfan that mentions ‘Hermas the Shepherd’ (M788) is also briefly addressed. The main part of the article attempts to explain how the text of the Shepherd was transmitted to the Manichaeans in Central Asia and what function this work had in Manichaean church life. I argue that the Manichaean Middle Persian version of the Shepherd played an important, yet hitherto unacknowledged role as a collection of didactic parables, and that its usefulness for homiletics and preaching is analogous to the Manichaean Sogdian Book of Parables (Āzandnāme) derived from Buddhist sources.
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E. Vergani - S. Chialà (eds.), Symposium Syriacum XII, held at St Lawrence College Rome, 19-21 August 2016 (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale), 2022
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A. C. Pirtea, "The Syriac and Sogdian Prefaces to the Six Books on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary," in C. Barbati - V. Berti (eds.), Iranianate and Syriac Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna 2021, pp. 279-331, 2021
NB: Please contact me for the full paper.
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C. Macé and J. Gippert (eds), The Multilingual Physiologus. Studies in the Oldest Greek Recension and Its Translations (IPM 84), Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 263-280, 2021
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A. Jouravel / A. Mathys (eds), Wort- und Formenvielfalt. Festschrift für Christoph Koch zum 80. Geburtstag, Peter Lang, Berlin: pp. 327-352, 2021
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Published in: I. Biliarsky, M. Mitrea, A. Timotin (eds), Religious Rhetoric of Power in Byzantium... more Published in: I. Biliarsky, M. Mitrea, A. Timotin (eds), Religious Rhetoric of Power in Byzantium and South-Eastern Europe. Proceedings of the session held at the 12th International Congress of South-East European Studies (Bucharest, 2-6 September, 2019), Muzeul Brăilei Carol I / Editura Istros, Brăila 2021, pp. 37-61.
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Vigiliae Christianae, 2021
In 543 and 553, two church councils initiated by Justinian condemned Origen's belief that stars p... more In 543 and 553, two church councils initiated by Justinian condemned Origen's belief that stars possess rational souls. In this article, I place Justinian's anathemas in the wider context of sixth-century debates on Biblical cosmology and on the validity of astral sciences. In the first part, I review the arguments for and against astral ensoul-ment and astral signification in Origen, Evagrius, and other Christian and Neoplatonic authors. The second part consists of an in-depth reading of two sixth-century Christian authors who reacted differently to Origen's ideas: Sergius of Rešʿaynā (d. 536) and John Philoponus (d. ca. 570). While Sergius endorses and expands on the Origenian view by integrating Evagrian and Neoplatonic elements, I argue that John Philoponus constructs his arguments not only in opposition to Origen, but specifically as a reaction to the Origenist-Evagrian line of interpretation represented by Sergius. Finally, I offer a few examples of how Sergius' and Philoponus' divergent readings of Origen can contribute to a better understanding of later debates on similar issues in Byzantium and the Islamic world.
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M. Toca, D. Batovici (eds), Caught in Translation. Studies on Versions of Late-Antique Christian Literature, Brill, Leiden, 85-103, 2020
This is the published version of the paper presented at the EASR Conference in Leuven in 2017.
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Pirtea, Adrian. "The Origin of Passions in Neoplatonic and Early Christian Thought: Porphyry of Tyre and Evagrius Ponticus." In Platonism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, edited by Panagiotis Pavlos, Lars Janby, Eyólfur Emilsson and Torstein Tollefsen, 258-74. London: Routledge, 2019., 2019
This chapter explores the connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s (d.305 CE) philosophical ethics ... more This chapter explores the connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s (d.305 CE) philosophical ethics and the ascetic theology of Evagrius Ponticus (d.399 CE). The main foci of this comparison are Porphyry’s and Evagrius’ theories of the soul’s passions (pathē) and the attempt of the two authors to trace back the origins of passions to the interaction between embodied souls and the realm of sensibles. Through a close reading of several key passages in their writings, Pirtea argues that both Porphyry and Evagrius reconstruct a similar “causal chain” in order to explain the emergence of human passions. On the basis of Plato’s and Aristotle’s psychology, Porphyry and Evagrius link the appearance of passions to the pleasure and pain experienced in the act of sense-perception and to the memories, desires, and opinions arising from those experiences. Pirtea further argues that Evagrius’ ideal of reaching a state of “freedom from passion” (apatheia) - long believed to be a token of Stoic influence - is in many respects a reflection of the discussions concerning apatheia in Plotinus’ Enneads and in Porphyry’s Sententiae and De abstinentia. Moreover, in describing the aim of the ascetic as a life “according to the intellect,” Evagrius even adopts Porphyry’s phraseology. The close parallels between Porphyry and Evagrius discussed in this chapter therefore challenge the prevalent theory of an alleged Stoic background for Evagrius’ teachings and provide a new perspective on the relationship between Late Antique Platonism and Early Christian asceticism.
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N. Sims-Williams (ed.), From Liturgy to Pharmacology. Sogdian Christian Texts from the Turfan Collection (Berliner Turfantexte 45), Brepols, Turnhout, 2019
A new edition and English translation of the Sogdian fragments E27/31 and E27/126, now identified... more A new edition and English translation of the Sogdian fragments E27/31 and E27/126, now identified to belong to the Christian Sogdian translation of Isaac of Nineveh's Second Part (Gnostic Chapters, IV.39-46 and a few smaller fragments). The chapter also includes a preliminary critical edition of the Syriac original corresponding to the preserved Sogdian fragments.
Further info: http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503584195-1
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Daniel King (ed.), The Syriac World, Routledge, 2019
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Papers II: Ancient Philosophy & History of Science by Adrian C . Pirtea
B. Mak - E. Huntington (eds), Overlapping Cosmologies in Asia: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Approaches, 2022
Note: Please contact me for the full paper! The belief that celestial dragons are the cause of e... more Note: Please contact me for the full paper!
The belief that celestial dragons are the cause of eclipses was widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the astral sciences of premodern Eurasia these evil beings were often identified with the astronomically computable lunar nodes, allowing for the prediction of eclipses and the astrological interpretation of their effects. After an introductory section which offers a brief historical and methodological survey on this subject, the main part of the chapter discusses the reception of the eclipse-dragon theory in early Iranian and Coptic Manichaeism. As a close reading of the Middle Persian Šābuhragān and other related sources indicates, Mani’s understanding of eclipses resulted from the intentional overlap of two different views on eclipses, both of which were useful in addressing key issues in the Manichaean system: the divinity of the two luminaries and the effects of eclipses and other phenomena on the seasonal cycle and on plant life in particular. This concern can only be explained within the framework of Manichaean soteriology, according to which the divine light-elements that mixed with darkness at the beginning of creation are imprisoned in matter and have to be redeemed through a cosmic purification process. The last section analyzes the Coptic Kephalaia and explores how the Manichaean communities in Late Roman Egypt adapted Mani’s ideas as a result of their encounter with Ptolemaic astrology.
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P. Magdalino, A. Timotin (Hgg.), Savoirs prédictifs et techniques divinatoires de l'Antiquité tardive à Byzance, Pomme d'Or, Geneva 2019, S. 343-369., 2019
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Zur Lichten Heimat: Studien zum Manichäismus, Iranistik, und Zentralasienkunde im Gedenken an Werner Sundermann, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 535-554., 2017
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The purpose of the following essay is to analyse the Biblical concept of kavod (i.e. “Divine Glor... more The purpose of the following essay is to analyse the Biblical concept of kavod (i.e. “Divine Glory”), as it appears in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon (882–942), especially in his Commentary on the Sefer Yezira and in the Book of Beliefs and Opinions. The main concern will be to find out whether a coherent theory of kavod can be extracted out of Saadia’s texts, and to explain how these ideas are to be understood in their proper historical and religious context. As an epilogue, I shall give two examples of Christian authors – somewhat younger than Saadia – who also dealt with the same theological issue of Divine Glory: the Arabic-speaking Coptic theologian Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa' (d. 987), and the Byzantine monk Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022).
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This is the recording of an online lecture I gave on 18 October 2021, in the framework of the lec... more This is the recording of an online lecture I gave on 18 October 2021, in the framework of the lecture series "Visions of Paradise and Hell," organised by Mihaela Timuș (Romanian Academy of Sciences). The lecture focuses on the apocryphal work known as the "Six Books on the Dormition of Mary" and its later reception in Syriac and Arabic. Research for this lecture was carried out as part of my on-going project "The Making of the Byzantine Ascetical Canon" (MonasByz), funded by the European Research Executive Agency, MSCA grant nr. 841476.
Feedback and criticism welcome!
175 views
PhD Dissertation (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017), 2020
This is the complete, slightly revised version of my PhD (Freie Universität Berlin 2017, publishe... more This is the complete, slightly revised version of my PhD (Freie Universität Berlin 2017, published online : 2020).
NB: The page numbers differ from the original version submitted in 2017. When citing the dissertation, please refer to the new page numbers, as shown in this file.
The dissertation is also available through Refubium (https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/26662) and ProQuest.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
An English summary of my PhD thesis written in German (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017). Original... more An English summary of my PhD thesis written in German (Freie Universität Berlin, 2017).
Original title: Die "geistigen Sinne" in der ostsyrischen christlichen Mystik. Untersuchungen zum Wahrnehmungsbegriff und zur Gotteserkenntnis in der griechischen und syro-orientalischen asketischen Literatur der Spätantike.
I am currently revising the thesis for publication.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Der Mensch als Bild des unergründlichen Gottes. Von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück, eds. Georgiana Huian , Beatrice Wyss and Rainer Hirsch-Luipold (Berlin: De Gruyter), 2023
Pirtea, Adrian C.. "Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Wonder: Tehrā/Temhā in Isaac of Nineveh ... more Pirtea, Adrian C.. "Divine Incomprehensibility and Human Wonder: Tehrā/Temhā in Isaac of Nineveh and Early Syriac Ascetical Literature" In Der Mensch als Bild des unergründlichen Gottes: Von der Theologie zur Anthropologie und zurück edited by Georgiana Huian, Beatrice Wyss and Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, 259-284. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111022406-014
Dieser Beitrag untersucht die Rolle des Staunens in dem Aufstieg des Menschen zur Gotteserkenntnis. Es wird gezeigt, dass das dynamische Verhältnis zwischen Staunen, Wissensdurst und Erkenntnis, das Platon und Aristoteles beschreiben, in ähnlicher Form auch in der syrischen Patristik erkennbar ist. Nach einer skizzenhaften Geschichte der Begriffe tehrā und temhā ('Wunder', 'Staunen') in der frühsyrischen Literatur, wird die komplexe Theologie des Staunens bei Isaak von Ninive eingehend behandelt.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses (ETL) 98/3, 2022
This article discusses the Manichaean Middle Persian translation of the Shepherd of Hermas (Berli... more This article discusses the Manichaean Middle Persian translation of the Shepherd of Hermas (Berlin, Turfan Collection, M97) and investigates the possible reasons as to why Manichaeans developed an interest in this early Christian work. After a short overview of previous scholarship, I provide a codicological, palaeographic and philological analysis of M97 and its relationship to the Greek, Latin, Coptic and Ethiopic versions of the Shepherd. The relevance of another Manichaean fragment from Turfan that mentions ‘Hermas the Shepherd’ (M788) is also briefly addressed. The main part of the article attempts to explain how the text of the Shepherd was transmitted to the Manichaeans in Central Asia and what function this work had in Manichaean church life. I argue that the Manichaean Middle Persian version of the Shepherd played an important, yet hitherto unacknowledged role as a collection of didactic parables, and that its usefulness for homiletics and preaching is analogous to the Manichaean Sogdian Book of Parables (Āzandnāme) derived from Buddhist sources.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
E. Vergani - S. Chialà (eds.), Symposium Syriacum XII, held at St Lawrence College Rome, 19-21 August 2016 (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Orientale), 2022
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A. C. Pirtea, "The Syriac and Sogdian Prefaces to the Six Books on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary," in C. Barbati - V. Berti (eds.), Iranianate and Syriac Christianity in Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna 2021, pp. 279-331, 2021
NB: Please contact me for the full paper.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
C. Macé and J. Gippert (eds), The Multilingual Physiologus. Studies in the Oldest Greek Recension and Its Translations (IPM 84), Brepols, Turnhout, pp. 263-280, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A. Jouravel / A. Mathys (eds), Wort- und Formenvielfalt. Festschrift für Christoph Koch zum 80. Geburtstag, Peter Lang, Berlin: pp. 327-352, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Published in: I. Biliarsky, M. Mitrea, A. Timotin (eds), Religious Rhetoric of Power in Byzantium... more Published in: I. Biliarsky, M. Mitrea, A. Timotin (eds), Religious Rhetoric of Power in Byzantium and South-Eastern Europe. Proceedings of the session held at the 12th International Congress of South-East European Studies (Bucharest, 2-6 September, 2019), Muzeul Brăilei Carol I / Editura Istros, Brăila 2021, pp. 37-61.
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Vigiliae Christianae, 2021
In 543 and 553, two church councils initiated by Justinian condemned Origen's belief that stars p... more In 543 and 553, two church councils initiated by Justinian condemned Origen's belief that stars possess rational souls. In this article, I place Justinian's anathemas in the wider context of sixth-century debates on Biblical cosmology and on the validity of astral sciences. In the first part, I review the arguments for and against astral ensoul-ment and astral signification in Origen, Evagrius, and other Christian and Neoplatonic authors. The second part consists of an in-depth reading of two sixth-century Christian authors who reacted differently to Origen's ideas: Sergius of Rešʿaynā (d. 536) and John Philoponus (d. ca. 570). While Sergius endorses and expands on the Origenian view by integrating Evagrian and Neoplatonic elements, I argue that John Philoponus constructs his arguments not only in opposition to Origen, but specifically as a reaction to the Origenist-Evagrian line of interpretation represented by Sergius. Finally, I offer a few examples of how Sergius' and Philoponus' divergent readings of Origen can contribute to a better understanding of later debates on similar issues in Byzantium and the Islamic world.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
M. Toca, D. Batovici (eds), Caught in Translation. Studies on Versions of Late-Antique Christian Literature, Brill, Leiden, 85-103, 2020
This is the published version of the paper presented at the EASR Conference in Leuven in 2017.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Pirtea, Adrian. "The Origin of Passions in Neoplatonic and Early Christian Thought: Porphyry of Tyre and Evagrius Ponticus." In Platonism and Christianity in Late Antiquity, edited by Panagiotis Pavlos, Lars Janby, Eyólfur Emilsson and Torstein Tollefsen, 258-74. London: Routledge, 2019., 2019
This chapter explores the connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s (d.305 CE) philosophical ethics ... more This chapter explores the connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s (d.305 CE) philosophical ethics and the ascetic theology of Evagrius Ponticus (d.399 CE). The main foci of this comparison are Porphyry’s and Evagrius’ theories of the soul’s passions (pathē) and the attempt of the two authors to trace back the origins of passions to the interaction between embodied souls and the realm of sensibles. Through a close reading of several key passages in their writings, Pirtea argues that both Porphyry and Evagrius reconstruct a similar “causal chain” in order to explain the emergence of human passions. On the basis of Plato’s and Aristotle’s psychology, Porphyry and Evagrius link the appearance of passions to the pleasure and pain experienced in the act of sense-perception and to the memories, desires, and opinions arising from those experiences. Pirtea further argues that Evagrius’ ideal of reaching a state of “freedom from passion” (apatheia) - long believed to be a token of Stoic influence - is in many respects a reflection of the discussions concerning apatheia in Plotinus’ Enneads and in Porphyry’s Sententiae and De abstinentia. Moreover, in describing the aim of the ascetic as a life “according to the intellect,” Evagrius even adopts Porphyry’s phraseology. The close parallels between Porphyry and Evagrius discussed in this chapter therefore challenge the prevalent theory of an alleged Stoic background for Evagrius’ teachings and provide a new perspective on the relationship between Late Antique Platonism and Early Christian asceticism.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
N. Sims-Williams (ed.), From Liturgy to Pharmacology. Sogdian Christian Texts from the Turfan Collection (Berliner Turfantexte 45), Brepols, Turnhout, 2019
A new edition and English translation of the Sogdian fragments E27/31 and E27/126, now identified... more A new edition and English translation of the Sogdian fragments E27/31 and E27/126, now identified to belong to the Christian Sogdian translation of Isaac of Nineveh's Second Part (Gnostic Chapters, IV.39-46 and a few smaller fragments). The chapter also includes a preliminary critical edition of the Syriac original corresponding to the preserved Sogdian fragments.
Further info: http://www.brepols.net/Pages/ShowProduct.aspx?prod_id=IS-9782503584195-1
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Daniel King (ed.), The Syriac World, Routledge, 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
B. Mak - E. Huntington (eds), Overlapping Cosmologies in Asia: Transcultural and Interdisciplinary Approaches, 2022
Note: Please contact me for the full paper! The belief that celestial dragons are the cause of e... more Note: Please contact me for the full paper!
The belief that celestial dragons are the cause of eclipses was widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages. In the astral sciences of premodern Eurasia these evil beings were often identified with the astronomically computable lunar nodes, allowing for the prediction of eclipses and the astrological interpretation of their effects. After an introductory section which offers a brief historical and methodological survey on this subject, the main part of the chapter discusses the reception of the eclipse-dragon theory in early Iranian and Coptic Manichaeism. As a close reading of the Middle Persian Šābuhragān and other related sources indicates, Mani’s understanding of eclipses resulted from the intentional overlap of two different views on eclipses, both of which were useful in addressing key issues in the Manichaean system: the divinity of the two luminaries and the effects of eclipses and other phenomena on the seasonal cycle and on plant life in particular. This concern can only be explained within the framework of Manichaean soteriology, according to which the divine light-elements that mixed with darkness at the beginning of creation are imprisoned in matter and have to be redeemed through a cosmic purification process. The last section analyzes the Coptic Kephalaia and explores how the Manichaean communities in Late Roman Egypt adapted Mani’s ideas as a result of their encounter with Ptolemaic astrology.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
P. Magdalino, A. Timotin (Hgg.), Savoirs prédictifs et techniques divinatoires de l'Antiquité tardive à Byzance, Pomme d'Or, Geneva 2019, S. 343-369., 2019
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Zur Lichten Heimat: Studien zum Manichäismus, Iranistik, und Zentralasienkunde im Gedenken an Werner Sundermann, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2017, pp. 535-554., 2017
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The purpose of the following essay is to analyse the Biblical concept of kavod (i.e. “Divine Glor... more The purpose of the following essay is to analyse the Biblical concept of kavod (i.e. “Divine Glory”), as it appears in the writings of the Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon (882–942), especially in his Commentary on the Sefer Yezira and in the Book of Beliefs and Opinions. The main concern will be to find out whether a coherent theory of kavod can be extracted out of Saadia’s texts, and to explain how these ideas are to be understood in their proper historical and religious context. As an epilogue, I shall give two examples of Christian authors – somewhat younger than Saadia – who also dealt with the same theological issue of Divine Glory: the Arabic-speaking Coptic theologian Sāwīrus ibn al-Muqaffa' (d. 987), and the Byzantine monk Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022).
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in: Geller, Mark; Geus, Klaus (eds), Esoteric Knowledge in Antiquity, (MPIWG – Preprint 454), Berlin 2014, pp. 167-198.
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Taking Scholem’s famous Ten Unhistorical Aphorisms on Kabbalah as a starting point, I intend to o... more Taking Scholem’s famous Ten Unhistorical Aphorisms on Kabbalah as a starting point, I intend to offer a comparison between the ways in which the Neoplatonic and the Early Kabbalistic metaphysics and symbolism of light interact. Through a detailed analysis of several fragments from the Enneads and the Sefer ha-Bahir, I argue that in both cases the concept of divine light is construed analogically: First, there is a clear distinction between the transcendent Principle and its manifested, immanent light. This primordial light however, is considered to be superior to a secondary spiritual light which guides this world, either through philosophy or the Torah, and is accessible to the human mind. Eschatologically significant, the first, brilliant light has to be diminished in order to penetrate the human realm, but will be attainable in the afterlife. Thus, the mind's union with the first light and its ascent to the transcendent God is nevertheless possible for both Plotinus and the Bahir.
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Revue des études sud-est européens, 2023
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Iran and the Caucasus, 26/4, 2022
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Church History 91/2, 2022
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](Iran & Caucasus 25, 301-312, 2021
Please contact me for the complete article! This article reviews a collection of twenty-six studi... more Please contact me for the complete article!
This article reviews a collection of twenty-six studies on Eurasia in Late Antiquity, edited by Nicola Di Cosmo and Michael Maas (Cambridge, 2018).
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Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian Studies, 2021
https://rbecs.org/2021/04/13/roggema-treiger/
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Revue des études sud-est européennes (RESEE), 58/1-4, 372-375, 2020
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2020
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Semitica & Classica, 2017
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These are the PPT slides of the lecture I gave as part of the 5th International Byzantine Seminar... more These are the PPT slides of the lecture I gave as part of the 5th International Byzantine Seminar Lecture Series "Networks and Connectivity in and beyond Byzantium" organised by IHAC (Changchun) and the University of Cologne (24 November, 2021).
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Date: 24 November 2021. This online lecture is part of the 5th International Byzantine Seminar Le... more Date: 24 November 2021. This online lecture is part of the 5th International Byzantine Seminar Lecture Series, organised by IHAC (Northeast Normal University, Changchun), in collaboration with the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, University of Cologne, and the Department of Historical and Classical Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Registration required.
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Talk, 18 October, 2021 (online) The last section of the Syriac Six Books on the Dormition of Mary... more Talk, 18 October, 2021 (online)
The last section of the Syriac Six Books on the Dormition of Mary (cant 123-124) contains an extensive description of the Virgin's journey to Heaven and Hell. This description differs significantly from the other known apocalypses of the Virgin (the Greek Apocalypse of the Virgin, the Ethiopic Apocalypse, the Obsequies Apocalypse, etc.). Based on the previous studies of Richard Bauckham, Stephen Shoemaker, Simon Mimouni and others, this paper will focus on a few neglected aspects of this apocryphal work. First, I will address the reception history of the Six Books in the early Islamic period, through an investigation of the earliest Arabic translation, its monastic context, the circulation of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts in Palestine and Sinai and their readership (ninth-tenth centuries). I will then briefly discuss the role of end-time expectations in the original and subsequent redactions of the Six Books, the question of personal vs. universal judgment of sinners, and the link between the Virgin's bodily assumption and that of Enoch and Elijah.
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Talk in the 2021 Lecture Series of the Romanian Society for Byzantine Studies (25.5.2021)
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Paper at the workshop "Formative Exchanges in the Islamicate World: Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, ... more Paper at the workshop "Formative Exchanges in the Islamicate World: Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Islam in Contact" (Dynamics in the History of Religions/Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Bochum), 5-6 June 2019.
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Paper to be presented at the XVIII Oxford Patristics Conference, 19-24 August 2019, as part of th... more Paper to be presented at the XVIII Oxford Patristics Conference, 19-24 August 2019, as part of the workshop "After Vööbus: New Approaches to Syriac Asceticism" (Robert Kitchen & Columba Stewart).
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This paper explores the various approaches to "spiritual hearing" in East Syriac mystical literat... more This paper explores the various approaches to "spiritual hearing" in East Syriac mystical literature (7 th-8 th centuries) and the tensions between the claims of human knowledge vs. ignorance of the Divine. On one hand, the early Syriac translations of Greek ascetical and mystical authors facilitated the reception of a positive theory of spiritual/divine perception which originated in Early Christian Alexandria. First described by Origen, this theory shared some of its key epistemological tenets with Late Antique Platonism and was successfully combined by Evagrius Ponticus with the teachings of the Desert Fathers. It was this Evagrian version of the theory, with its emphasis on positive knowledge of the Divine (gnōsis), that offered the theological framework for East Syriac discussions on spiritual hearing. On the other hand, the Dionysian apophatic model, which insists on ignorance, unknowing, and Divine silence, also played an important role in shaping East Syriac spirituality. Thus, the main purpose of my talk will be to study these (real or apparent) tensions in Syriac Christian mystical discourse from an historical, philosophical, and theological perspective. More specifically, I will concentrate on the subject of spiritual/mystical hearing in the writings of Isaac of Nineveh, Joseph Ḥazzāyā, and John of Dalyāthā, in relation to the apophatic experience of silence, unknowing, etc., also described by these authors.
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by Panagiotis G Pavlos, Jordan D Wood, Christina Hoenig, Jonathan Bieler, Enrico Moro, Sebastian Mateiescu, Sébastien Morlet, Alexander Petkas, Adrian C . Pirtea, E. Brown Dewhurst, Joshua Robinson, and Lars Fredrik Janby
The list of participants in the International Workshop in Oslo.
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This paper explores the possible connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s philosophical ethics and ... more This paper explores the possible connections between Porphyry of Tyre’s philosophical ethics and the ascetical theology of Evagrius Ponticus (d. 399). I will specifically look at the theory of the soul’s passions (pathemata) as expounded by the two authors and address the question of structural similarity and/or direct influence between them. Even if the style of Evagrius is at times obscure and seemingly unsystematic, a close reading of his works reveals a highly developed theory of the passions, in which the author not only defines and classifies them, but also attempts to unveil their psychological and spiritual origins. Moreover, Evagrius goes on to reconstruct a ‚causal chain‘ linking sense-perception, pleasure, pain, memory, desire, and finally the soul’s sinful dispositions. As is well-known, Evagrius’ intense preoccupation with the nature and origin of passions stems from his interest in achieving the state of ‚impassibility‘ – apatheia, a concept best known for its central role in Stoic ethics. However, I will argue that the main source behind the Evagrian theory of passions and impassibility is not of Stoic, but of Platonic origin, and that it particularly resembles the ethical philosophy of Plotinus and Porphyry, as reflected e.g. in the Enneads, in Porphyry’s Sentences and De abstinentia. Because of the long-lasting influence the Evagrian writings exerted on Christian monastic literature, a study of their philosophical background might contribute to a better understanding of certain key concepts and ideas in Christian ascetical theory and practice.
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Gorgias Press is now accepting book proposals for its updated and inter-disciplinary book series:... more Gorgias Press is now accepting book proposals for its updated and inter-disciplinary book series: Studies in Classical and Late Antiquity (CLA). As part of its commitment to publish original academic works in the Humanities, Gorgias Press invites scholars to submit monographs, edited volumes and translations related to the Greco-Roman world and its transition into Late Antiquity, encompassing political and social structures, religion, knowledge and educational ideals, art, architecture and literature. The series will also be interested in studies that look at the interactions between the Greco-Roman worlds with other religious, geographical and cultural groups across the world – in particular those located in, or emerging from Arabia, Persia and Central Asia.
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by Gorgias Press, Simon Wolfgang Fuchs, Isabel Toral-Niehoff, Joas Wagemakers, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David Hernández de la Fuente, Anna Rogozhina, Elena Narinskaya, Johanne Louise Christiansen, Amina Inloes, Marcus Milwright, Najib George Awad (Dr. Phil; Dr. Theol. Habil.), Ryan Schaffner, Laura Hassan, Vladimir Bošković, Mark D Calder, Pietro Longo, Paolo Maggiolini, Keenan Baca-Winters, Saer El-Jaichi, Avraham Elmakias, Orhan Elmaz, Luca Patrizi, Rana Issa, Adam Sabra, Clinton Bennett, Adrian C . Pirtea, Michael R J Bonner, and Paul C. Dilley
Gorgias Press' 2018 Islamic Studies' catalogue sets out a selection of Gorgias' published and for... more Gorgias Press' 2018 Islamic Studies' catalogue sets out a selection of Gorgias' published and forthcoming publications that are related to Islamic and Near Eastern studies, as well as studies carried out for other fields of research that intersect with Islamic studies.
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The Physiologus is an ancient Christian collection of astonishing stories about animals, stones, ... more The Physiologus is an ancient Christian collection of astonishing stories about animals, stones, and plants that serve as positive or negative models for Christians. Written originally in Greek, the Physiologus was translated in ancient times into Latin, Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Georgian, Arabic, and Old Slavonic. Throughout its transformations and adaptations, the Physiologus has never lost its attraction.
The present volume offers an introduction to the significance of the Greek text, a new examination of its manuscript tradition, and a completely revised state of the art for each of the ancient translations. Two chapters of the Physiologus, on the pelican and on the panther, are edited in Greek and in each translation; these editions are accompanied by a new English rendering of the edited texts as well as short interpretative essays concerning the two animals.
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Specimens from the database containing texts that illustrate the cultural context of the Qur'an a... more Specimens from the database containing texts that illustrate the cultural context of the Qur'an at the time of its proclamation.
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Eastern Christian Cultures in Contact
The series consists of monographs, collected volumes, as well as original texts and translations ... more The series consists of monographs, collected volumes, as well as original texts and translations of sources whose primary focus is contact or ongoing interactions between Eastern Christian communities from the age of Patristics down to the late Ottoman Empire. The series will focus on Syriac, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, Coptic, Nubian and Ethiopic Christians. Contacts between these communities are severely understudied in favour of their interactions with the Greek and Latin churches, which are frequently presented in terms of influence and reception within a Roman-or Constantinople-centered perspective. Yet, throughout centuries Eastern Christian communities enriched each other through multi-layered interactions that could also be a result of their opposition to these so-called imperial (in the case of Eastern Roman) and centralized (in the case of the Catholic) churches. Furthermore, academic publications on Eastern Christianities often address each highly sophisticated and specialized field with a small audience of scholars separately, rather than in conversation with each other. This new series, on the one hand, will take us beyond both Byzantino-centric paradigms, serving as a corrective to any binary and limited views and, on the other, will emphasise the existence of polycentric Christianities in ongoing and centuries-long interactions with each other. The publications should explore evidence for entanglements in terms of literary contacts, such as in hagiographical and polemical texts, translations between and among the relevant languages, circulation of texts, topoi, themes and/or persons across languages, as well as aspects of material culture, such as artistic and architectural exchanges or archeological evidence. The series, thus, will fill a gap in targeting and encouraging publications in an innovative field of research, which is not covered by any available academic series. Method of peer review Double-blind undertaken by a specialist member of the Board or an external specialist.
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Medieval literary translations happened at many places and in many contexts, with large urban cen... more Medieval literary translations happened at many places and in many contexts, with large urban centres building up strong competences which often depended on the extraordinary linguistic capabilities of individual translators (both lay and ecclesiastic). Attracting people of various backgrounds, monasteries also became centres of translation, not least because they housed speakers (and readers) of several different languages. Two important such centres from the mid-tenth to the late eleventh century were Mt Athos and Antioch with its environs. This was the period in which Athos was established as a monastic area, with Greek but also Georgian presence from the beginning, and soon attracting also users of Latin and Slavonic. After the Byzantines reconquered Antioch from the Hamdanids in 969, Greek language and literature rose again to prominence on a local level, but also encountered other rich literary traditions, such as Arabic, Armenian, Syriac and Georgian. Both on Mt Athos and on the Black Mountain, these monastic communities engaged in large-scale translation projects of the entire Biblical and Patristic heritage (including hagiography, ascetic literature, homilies, commentaries, etc.). At the same time, the city of Antioch itself fostered a new intellectual environment in which Graeco-Syro-Arabic translations could take place.
Although some of the translators’ names are known, scholars have only recently begun to study these translation activities and projects in more detail. Focusing on the cases of Antioch (incl. the surrounding monastic landscape) and Mt Athos (incl. its interactions with Thessaloniki and Constantinople), this workshop will address the following questions: Who are the main individuals, groups and institutions involved in these translations? What kind of evidence about these translations is still available today (narrative sources, manuscripts, etc.) and how can it be analyzed? Can the work of translator teams be detected in the extant sources and how can we study their translation techniques and methods? What is the relationship between the monastic and the urban translation centres? Are there any translation practices shared between Athos and Antioch that could indicate mutual influence and exchanges?
In addition, the workshop will explore other cases of monastic translations in the Eastern Mediterranean, such as the reception of the corpus of Antiochene translations during the Copto-Arabic Renaissance, or the later Graeco-Slavonic translations on Mt Athos.
Participants: Alice Croq (Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier), Joe Glynias (Harvard University), Miriam Hjälm (Sankt Ignatios College (EHS)/Uppsala University), Christian Høgel (Lund University), Habib Ibrahim (University of Tübingen), Joshua Mugler (Hill Museum & Manuscript Library), Sandro Nikolaishvili (University of Southern Denmark), Adrian C. Pirtea (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna), Lewis Read (University of Vienna), Daria Resh (Swedish Institute at Athens / SDU), Marijana Vukovic (University of Southern Denmark)
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The aim of the workshop is to discuss and investigate Byzantine and Melkite literary production i... more The aim of the workshop is to discuss and investigate Byzantine and Melkite literary production in the monastic centers of the Eastern Mediterranean during the early Islamic period. The invited speakers will present their ongoing research on the Greek, Syriac, Arabic and Georgian texts, translations, and manuscripts produced in the monasteries of Palestine, Sinai, and the region of Antioch.
The workshop is organised as part of Dr. Adrian Pirtea's Marie-Sklodowska-Curie research project "MonasByz" (Grant Nr. 841476), which is hosted by Prof. Claudia Rapp at the Department of Byzantine Studies of the University of Vienna.
Please find the poster and flyer attached. Pre-registration is necessary: Please click on the link on the last page of the flyer and follow the instructions for registration.
For any questions, do not hesitate to contact Adrian Pirtea directly (adrian.pirtea[at]univie.ac.at).
We look forward to welcoming you all at the workshop!
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Workshop/Panel at the Oxford Patristics Conference (5-9 August, 2024)
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This conference has been organised in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to ... more This conference has been organised in partnership with the Embassy of the Republic of Armenia to Austria and the Austrian-Armenian Studies Society (ÖASG). We would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the International Association of Armenian Studies (AIEA), the Austrian-Armenian Studies Society (ÖASG), and the RevIdEM project funded by the European Union (ERC Starting Grant Nr. 101078631, PI: Adrian Pirtea).
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The official programme of the international conference "Connected Revivals? Transregional Perspec... more The official programme of the international conference "Connected Revivals? Transregional Perspectives on the Syriac, Copto-Arabic and Armenian Cultural Renaissances (11th-14th centuries)", organized in the framework of the ERC project "RevIdEM" and hosted at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna (6-8 June, 2024).
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The abstract booklet of the international conference "Connected Revivals? Transregional Perspecti... more The abstract booklet of the international conference "Connected Revivals? Transregional Perspectives on the Syriac, Copto-Arabic and Armenian Cultural Renaissances (11th-14th centuries)", organized in the framework of the ERC project "RevIdEM" and hosted at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna (6-8 June, 2024).
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