Viri mirantur facilius quam imitantur: Passio Perpetuae in the Literature of Ancient Church (Tertullian, acta martyrum, and Augustine) (original) (raw)
in: Marília P. Futre Pinheiro - Judith Perkins - Richard Pervo (eds.), The Ancient Novel and Early Christian and Jewish Narrative: Fictional Intersections, Groningen: Barkhuis Publishing & Groningen University Library 2012 (Ancient Narrative Supplementum, 16), pp. 189-201. ISBN 9789491431210
The paper examines the reception of the Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis in early Christian literature and refers to the subsequent manipulations of this text. The Passio Perpetuae, though highly venerated in the early Church, contained a number of innovative and -- in the context of Antique and early Christian society -- potentially subversive features. These novel features were felt to undermine the existing social order and hierarchy, and it was necessary to “explain them away” in order to make the text more compliant with traditional and generally accepted social values. This very point of view was often taken into account, when later authors refer to the text. The paper tries to illuminate, how the Passio Perpetuae is presented in the later literary tradition (Tertullian, martyr acts, and Augustine), and how this narrative is re-shaped in order to fit later authors’ intentions.
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2015
While concentrated on the famous Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis, this book focuses on an area that has so far been somewhat marginalized or even overlooked by modern interpreters: the recontextualizing of the Passio Perpetuae in the subsequent reception of this text in the literature of the early Church. Since its composition in the early decades of the 3rd century, the Passio Perpetuae was enjoying an extraordinary authority and popularity. However, it contained a number of revolutionary and innovative features that were in conflict with existing social and theological conventions. This book analyses all relevant texts from the 3rd to 5th centuries in which Perpetua and her comrades are mentioned, and demonstrates the ways in which these texts strive to normalize the innovative aspects of the Passio Perpetuae. These efforts, visible as they are already on careful examination of the passages of the editor of the passio, continue from Tertullian to Augustine and his followers. The normalization of the narrative reaches its peak in the so-called Acta Perpetuae which represent a radical rewriting of the original and an attempt to replace it by a purified text, more compliant with the changed socio-theological hierarchies.
Passio Perpetuae and Acta Perpetuae: Between Tradition and Innovation
Listy filologicke 130, 2007
The article Passio Perpetuae and Acta Perpetuae: Between Tradition and Innovation focuses, after general analysis of the text and its issues was given, on the extant versions of the hagiographic narrative known as Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis. This text contained a number of innovative and - in the context of Antique and early Christian society - potentially subversive features: the central character, Perpetua, is a woman who is claimed by the editor of the text to have extraordinary spiritual authority (e.g. to absolve the dead from punishment in the nether world, to reconcile differences between major Church figures etc.). Perpetua rejects all conventional social roles that were considered natural for a woman (mother, wife, daughter fully subordinated to paternal authority etc.). These novel features were felt to undermine the existing social order and hierarchy, and it was necessary to "explain them away" in order to make the text more compliant with traditional and generally accepted social values. This was the aim of the later version of the narrative known as Acta Perpetuae. In spite of these efforts, Passio Perpetuae remained highly venerated in the mainstream Church and, though innovative, it paradoxically became a tradition in its own right.
Christian Power Struggles: Perpetua and Early Christian Martyrologies
A traditional Christian narrative imagines the first Christians locked in a centuries-long battle with hostile Roman emperors; the heroes of this tradition are martyrs, men and women who died (so the story goes) bravely for the sake of the Christian mission. But thinking of early Christianity like this is a reductive farce. It is like telling the story of Robin Hood and King Richard, where one is the noble hero and the other is an evil miser: the polarization of good and evil make for a fantastic story, and there may even be a kernel of truth in the generalities, but ending the story there would be a gross oversimplification. So, too, must we expand upon and critically examine the stories of early Christian martyrs. This paper will examine one martyrology, “The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas,” from an historical perspective, and will argue that the story—like other martyrologies of its time—sought to portray Christians in a powerful light, before Christianity actually had any real political power. In doing so, I will review the content of the story; examine how its gendered language functions to demonstrate the power of Christianity; locate the martyrology within the context of its literary precedents, specifically ‘noble death’ tales; and contrast the actual historical environment of persecution with Christian accounts.
CHRISTIAN MARTYR AS HOMERIC HERO: A LITERARY ALLUSION IN PERPETUA'S PASSIO
This article argues that the scenes in Perpetua's Passio in which her father begs her to recant her Christianity contain allusions to scenes in the Iliad in which Hector's family begs him to preserve his life by fleeing the battlefield. Hector's choice to die gloriously despite the pain that such a death will cause his loved ones serves as an exemplum for Perpetua's prioritization of her calling as a martyr over her duty to her family. The emphasis placed on the emotional cost of Perpetua's choice is unique in early martyr narratives and may reflect Perpetua's singular status as a Roman matrona who narrates her own martyrdom. n the Passio Sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis, the reputedly autobiographical account of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua, a young Roman woman who died in Carthage in 203 CE, there is a striking scene in which Perpetua's father begs her to save herself by recanting her Christianity (Passio 5). This encounter is unique in early martyr narratives, which usually show little concern with martyrs' families. In this paper I argue that this supplication scene alludes to scenes in the Iliad where Hector is supplicated by Priam and the rest of his family to save himself by avoiding battle and taking shelter within the walls of Troy. I contend that these allusions serve to illuminate the conflict between Perpetua's role as daughter and mother and her role as martyr, and that Hector is a uniquely appropriate exemplum for Perpetua because he too acknowledges the emotional cost of navigating such conflicting roles as he chooses to face his end. His and Perpetua's stories stand in contrast to other exemplary tales of " noble death, " which are usually not concerned with such details. Through this parallel with the Homeric hero, the Passio justifies Perpetua's decision to sacrifice her own life and forsake the obligations she owes to her family as a woman in the cultural context of Imperial Rome. the CJ reviewers for their generous and insightful comments on various stages of this article.
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