The Passion Narrative in the Sibylline Oracles
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The Passion Narrative in the Sibylline Oracles J EAN -M ICHEL
R OESSLI
*
Introduction The question of the relationship between apocryphal and canonical Scrip- tures is fascinating, but it has to be asked in different ways depending on the apocryphal text under study. In this paper I look at the way the passion narratives are retold in the Sibylline Oracles. The question is to be asked specifically for the Sibyls who are “vaticinating” in Books 1, 6, and 8 of the collection. A special place must be given to the first Book, 1 because in *
I wish to thank warmly Dr. Alicia Batten and Dr. Paul Laverdure for their valuable help in editing this text. 1 This book consists of 400 hexameters, an important part of which – verses 1 to 323 – is probably the work of a Jewish author of the turning point of our era, “rewritten” by a Christian who intended to complete it by adding a long section on Jesus and his earthly ministry. Most scholars see Books 1 and 2, separated in the manuscripts by a colophon, as a single writing. Some date its composition in the second or third century of the Chris- tian era. Some others consider that there is no reason to distinguish a primitive Jewish stratum and a Christian rewriting, and conclude that the double Book 1–2 is an entirely Christian work of the second, third or fifth century (see the conclusion below). For recent studies of this double book, see J.L. Lightfoot, The Sibylline Oracles. With Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on the First and Second Books (Oxford 2008); O. Waß- muth, Sibyllinische Orakel 1/2: Ein apokalyptisches Dokument des kleinasiatischen Ju- dentums und seine christliche Adaption. Studien und Kommentar (to be published in the series “Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity” at Brill, Leiden, in 2010); and T. Beech, A Socio-Rhetorical Analysis of the Development and Function of the Noah-Flood Narra- tive in Sibylline Oracles 1–2 (Ph.D. Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, February 2008). A first review of J.L. Lightfoot’s book was published by A. Kachuk in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, June 21, 2008; very recently a shorter review has been published by G.L. Watley in The Classical Review 59/1 (2009), 101–103 (who is about to finish his own dissertation on the Sibylline Oracles 1–2). See also M. Monaca, Oracoli Sibillini (Testi patristici 199; Rome 2008). Translations of the Sibylline Oracles are taken from J.J. Collins, “The Sibylline Oracles,” in The Old Testa- ment Pseudepigrapha (ed. by J.H. Charlesworth; vol. 1: Apocalyptic Literature and Tes- taments; Garden City, N.Y. 1983), 317–472 (unless otherwise stated). The Greek text, sometimes emended, is taken from J. Geffcken, Die Oracula Sibyllina (GCS 8; Leipzig 1902; repr. Berlin 1967).
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it the Sibyl predicts not only the advent of Christ, his passion, and his res- urrection but, still more surprisingly, she also predicts the gospel and the end of the prophets (vv. 382 and 386). This means that the Sibyl, who is a pagan prophetess, considers herself to be on the same level as the prophets, prophesying the history of salvation with them, and also completes them, explaining that their promises are realised in Jesus. And she even pretends to a kind of superiority, since she predicts the teachings of the gospels (v. 382) and the end of prophecy (v. 386). In order to realize this divinatory fiction – since it is obviously a fiction – the Sibyl intends to use both the prophets and the Gospels, often combining the two, either by implicit allusions, or by literal quotations, or even by precise lexical borrowings. In order to build her passion narrative, the Sibyl selects elements from both canonical and apocryphal traditions, sometimes identified and sometimes not, which she illustrates with texts from the prophets. The Passion Narrative in Books 1, 6 and 8 of the Sibylline Oracles (Sibyllina Oracula) Thus this paper analyzes textual fragments related to the passion in Books 1, 6, and 8 of the Sibylline Oracles and compares them with the corre- sponding passages in the New Testament. Subsequently, the paper evalu- ates the Sibyl’s rewriting, points of contact between her work and the ca- nonical Scriptures, possible dependencies, and discrepancies.
In the Sibylline Oracles, the passion narrative proper starts with Christ’s scourging, when he receives blows and spit. We find the scourging in Sib
read in Matt 26:67 and 27:30; Mark 14:65 and 15:19, and Luke 22:63–65. Sib Or 1:365–366
kai. to,te dh. kola,fouj kai. ptu,smata far& mako,enta Then indeed Israel, with abominable lips,
VIsrah.l dw,sei musaroi/j evni. cei,lesi tou,tw| And poisonous spittings, will give this man blows.
eivj avno,mwn cei/raj kai. avpi,stwn u[steron h[xei( Later he will come into the hands of lawless and faithless men, dw,sousin de. qew/| r`api,smata cersi.n av& na,gnoij and they will give blows to God with un- holy hands kai. sto,masin miaroi/j evmptu,smata farmako,enta( and poisonous spittings with polluted mouths.
The Passion Narrative in the Sibylline Oracles 305
dw,sei dV eivj ma,stigaj avnaplw,saj to,te nw/ton·
Then he will stretch out his back and give it to the whips. Luke’s narrative, where there is no mention of the spit, is too different from the text in the Sibylline Oracles to have served as a source for the Sibyl. We can thus set it aside. The words r`api,smata
and evmptu,smata of
Sib Or 8:288–289, however, reveal a close kinship with Matthew’s narrative, where we find the corresponding verbs evmptu,w and r`api,zw in Matt 26:67, and the verb evmptu,w alone in Matt 27:30. The same terms r`api,smata
and evmptu,smata also show a link with Mark’s narrative, where in 14:65 we find the verbs evmptu,w and the substantive r`api,smata
in the dative plural. Nevertheless, since Mark is closer to Luke than to Matthew and we have set aside the third evangelist, we can conclude for now that the closest parallel is with Matthew. Several other passages in the Sibylline
generally the case for most Christian apocalyptic literature of the second and third centuries. In the case of Sib Or 1:365, the kinship with Matt seems to be particularly clear, since Matt 26:67 uses kolafi,zw and evmptu,w, while the Sibylline verse combines the substantives kola,fouj and ptu,smata; an abbreviated form of evmptu,smata in Sib Or 8:288. In the canonical Gospels the spit upon Jesus is mentioned twice and in two different contexts. In Matt 26:67 // Mark 14:65 it is done in front of the Sanhedrin, while in Matt 27:30 // Mark 15:19 it is done by the Roman soldiers. 2 The context is not defined clearly in the Sibylline Oracles. But in Sib Or 1:365–366, the responsibility for the scourging is explicitly stated: it is Israel. “Then indeed Israel, with abominable lips, / and poisonous spittings, will give this man blows.” This anti-Judaism is not new in Book 1 of the Sibylline Oracles, since it appears earlier, in lines 360–361: “And then Israel, intoxicated, will not perceive / nor yet will she hear, afflicted with weak ears.” Yet, in Book 8 the Sibyl leaves the identity of the guilty party vague, because she introduces the scourging by saying that the Logos “will come into the hands of lawless and faithless men” – Jesus is called this two lines earlier (v. 285: “and the Logos, who creates forms, to whom everything is subject”). Who these lawless and faithless men are cannot be easily determined. Nevertheless, we may wonder if the words avno,moi and avpi,stoi refer to the Romans rather than to the Jews, because the latter had
2 In the fourth Gospel, Jesus is also struck twice, the first time by one of the guards of the High Priest (John 18:22: r`a,pisma), the second time by the Roman soldiers (John 19:3: r`api,smata ).
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received the Law (“no,moj”), which is not the case for the Romans. 3 But we can also wonder if the use of these two adjectival nouns does not distin- guish two categories of unbelievers: on the one hand, the Romans, de- prived of the Law (avno,moi), and, on the other hand, the Jews, who are faithless (avpi,stoi). If so, the two adjectival nouns would echo the Gospel narrative, where Jews and Romans alternately participate in the trial of Je- sus. It is true that earlier in Book 8 (v. 220: “Both faithful and faithless men will see God”), specifically in the acrostic poem narrating Christ’s parousia and the Last Judgment, these two words are used interchangeably in order to contrast “just” with “unjust” or “faithful” with “faithless.” 4 But some lines earlier in Book 1 (vv. 362–363), where the anti-Jewish polemic is obvious, the Sibyl announces that “when the raging wrath of the Most High comes upon the Hebrews / it will also take faith away from them.” In the eyes of this Sibyl, there are Jews who are faithless (avpi,stoi). In Book 8 (v. 290), the scene continues with a line which does not have any parallel in Book 1: “Then he will stretch out his back and give it to the whips.” 5 The source here is not found in the canonical Gospels but in the third song of the suffering Servant of Isa 50:6 (NRSV): “I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.” 6 Three key words of this biblical verse are to be found in the scourging narrative in Book 8 of the Sibylline Oracles: ma,stigaj, r`api,smata, and evmptusma,twn, with one differ- ence: in the third song of the suffering Servant the scourging precedes the
3 T. Nicklas, “Apokryphe Passionstraditionen im Vergleich: Petrusevangelium und Si- byllinische Orakel (Buch VIII)”, in Das Evangelium nach Petrus. Text, Kontexte, Inter- texte (ed. by T.J. Kraus & T. Nicklas; TU 158; Berlin and New York 2007), 263–279, here 270. 4 Ibid. 5 Lactantius (Divine Institutes, 4:18:15), Augustine (City of God, 18:23:2), and the author of the Tübingen Theosophy (Beatrice, Anonymi Monophysitae Theosophia. An
Erbse, Fragmente griechischer Theosophien [Hamburger Arbeiten zur Altertumswissen- schaft 4; Hamburg 1941], 10,274) have a slightly different text: “But he will give for
nia compiled at the end of the 5 th or at the beginning of the 6 th century of our era and which relies mostly on Lactantius: see the bibliography in Beatrice and Lightfoot (n. 1), passim.
6 Isa 50:6 LXX: To.n nw/to,n mou de,dwka eivj ma,stigaj( ta.j de. siago,naj mou eivj r`api,smata( to. de. pro,swpo,n mou ouvk avpe,streya avpo. aivscu,nhj evmptusma,twn . – e;mptusma is a hapax legomenon in Isaiah. This biblical verse is also the background of Matt 26:67; cf. U. Luz, Matthew 21–28. A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis 2005), 448, n. 11. Jesus’ prediction of the Son of Man’s sufferings in the Synoptics (Mark 10:34 and paral- lels) is surely inspired by this verse of Isaiah; see D.J. Moo, The Old Testament in the Gospel Passion Narratives (Sheffield 1983), 88–89 and 139–144. The Passion Narrative in the Sibylline Oracles 307
blows and the spit. The process of rewriting in this section of Book 8 is similar to what we read in the Epistle of Barnabas 5:14 which quotes Isa 50:6–7 without 6b–7a: “Again he says, ‛See! I have set my back to whips
7
It must be pointed out that, although they sometimes differ from each other, the two passages from the Sibylline Oracles both qualify the spit upon Jesus’ face as farmako,enta, i.e. “poisonous” or “venomous.” This is not the case in the biblical text. Now, if the canonical Gospels merely say that Jesus received spit on his face, literally “in his eyes,” the Sibylline
adjectives are not the same, the idea of “unclean lips” in Sib Or 1:366 surely comes from Isa 6:5, where the prophet accuses himself and the peo- ple to whom he belongs, that is to say, Israel, of having “unclean lips” (avka,qarta cei,lh e;cwn evn me,sw| laou/ avka,qarta cei,lh e;contoj). This par- allel seems to be more than likely, because the verses quoted (Sib Or 1:360–361, 369–371) are a free rewriting of the same chapter in the Book of Isa 6:9–10, where Israel is accused of stubbornness and stupidity: “And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‛Keep listening, but do not compre- hend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.” (NRSV) 8 Sib Or 8:289 is much less explicit in its accusation on this point. Some scholars state that these verses of the Sibylline Oracles (8:287– 290) are reminiscent of the Gospel of Peter 9 9 , but this is unproven. A de- 7 Barn. 5:14: Kai. pa,lin le,gei\ vIdou,( te,qeika, mou to.n nw/ton eivj ma,stigaj( kai. ta.j siago,naj eivj r`api,smata( to. de. pro,swpo,n mou e;qhka w`j sterea.n pe,tran . Translation by B.D. Ehrman in: The Apostolic Fathers (vol. 1; Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, Mass. 2003); reprint in: id., Lost Scriptures. Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament (Oxford 2003), 224. 8 Isa 6:9–10 LXX: kai. ei=pe Poreu,qhti kai. ei=pon tw/| law/| tou,tw| VAkoh|/ avkou,sete kai. ouv mh. sunh/te kai. ble,pontej ble,yete kai. ouv mh. i;dhte\ evpacu,nqh ga.r h` kardi,a tou/ laou/ tou/tou
‚ kai. toi/j wvsi.n auvtw/n bare,wj h;kousan kai. tou.j ovfqalmou.j auvtw/n evka,mmusan‚ mh,pote i;dwsi toi/j ovfqalmoi/j kai. toi/j wvsi.n avkou,swsi kai. th/| kardi,a| sunw/si kai. evpi& stre,ywsi kai. iva,somai auvtou,j . 9 Gospel of Peter 9: “Others standing there were spitting in his face; some slapped his cheeks; others were beating him with a reed; and some began to flog him, saying, ‛This is how we should honor the Son of God!’” Kai. e[teroi e`stw/tej evne,ptuon auvtou/ tai/j o;yesi kai. avlloi ta.j siago,naj auvtou/ evra,pisan( e[teroi kala,mw| e;nusson auvto.n kai. tinej auvto.n evma,stizon le,gontej\ tau,th| th/| timh/| timh,swmen to.n ui`o.n tou/ qeou/ . Trans-
lated by Ehrman, Lost Scriptures (n. 7), 32; on the critical text cf. T.J. Kraus / T. Nicklas, Das Petrusevangelium und die Petrusapokalypse. Die griechischen Fragmente mit deut- Jean-Michel Roessli 308
tailed comparison shows that the differences are more important than the similarities, and the latter are better explained by the imagery of the suffer- ing Servant in Isa 50:6 than by a literary dependence between both texts. 10
It is interesting to note that the verses 287-290 of Sib Or 8 are quoted after Isa 50:5–6 and Ps 34:15–16 in the Divine Institutes of Lactantius (4:18:15), written at the beginning of the fourth century of our era, as proofs of pagan prophecies of Christ’s Passion. 11 Augustine also cites them, but in Latin, in his City of God 18:23:2, after he presents and dis- cusses the Sibyl’s famous acrostic. The Bishop of Hippo attempts to gather into a coherent unity those verses of the Sibylline Oracles spread throughout Lactantius’ work, “to support the progression of his argument,” as Augustine says. It must be pointed out that all of the 17 verses gathered by Augustine refer to the Passion of Jesus: Afterwards, says she [= the Sibyl], he shall fall into the unjust hands of unbelievers; they shall strike God with unclean hands and shall spit upon him the poisonous spittle of their impure mouths; but he shall simply give over his holy back to their whips. 12 And silently he shall take their blows so that none may know what word, or whence, He comes to speak to hell as he is crowned with thorns. 13 For meat they have given him gall, and for drink, vinegar; this is the kind of hospitality they shall show him at table. 14 Thou fool – not to have recognized thy God, displaying himself before the minds of men; instead, you crowned him with thorns and brewed him the cup of bitter-tasting gall. 15 But the veil of the temple shall be rent; and at midday there shall be a night of pitch-blackness lasting for three hours. 16 And, having died, he shall sleep the sleep of death for three days; then he shall come back from hell to the daylight; the first of the arisen, establishing the be- ginning of resurrection for those whom he has recalled. 17 (The City of God, 18:23:2) 18
scher und englischer Übersetzung (GCS NF 11; Neutestamentliche Apokryphen 1; Berlin and New York 2004). 10 This is also the point of view of Nicklas, “Apokryphe Passionstraditionen” (n. 3), 270–271. See also L. Vaganay, L’évangile de Pierre (ÉtB; Paris 1930), 164–165. Vaga- nay’s conclusions have been accepted by Mara, Évangile de Pierre (SC 201; Paris 1973; ²2006). 23; Ead., Il Vangelo di Pietro (Scritti delle origini cristiane 30; Bologna 2003), 19; M. Erbetta, Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. Vangeli I.1: Scritti affini ai vangeli canonici – composizione gnostiche – materiale illustrativo (Torino 1975), 141; J. Den- ker, Die theologiegeschichtliche Stellung des Petrusevangeliums. Ein Beitrag zur Ge- schichte des Doketismus (EHS XXIII.36; Bern and Frankfurt, Main 1975), 19–20. 11 They can also be found in the Tübingen Theosophy (Beatrice [n. 5], 55,222–225 = Erbse [n. 5], 10,271–274). 12 Sib Or 8:287–290; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:18:15. 13 Sib Or 8:292–294; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:18:17. 14 Sib Or 8:303–304; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:18:19. 15 Sib Or 6:22–24; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:18:20. 16 Sib Or 8:305–306; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:19:5. 17 Sib Or 8:312–314; Lactantius, Div. Inst., 4:19:10. 18 Augustinus, The City of God, 18:23:2: “in manus iniquas”, inquit, “infidelium postea ueniet; dabunt autem deo alapas manibus incestis et inpurato ore exspuent uenena- The Passion Narrative in the Sibylline Oracles 309
These verses come mainly from Book 8 of the Sibylline Oracles (except three verses coming from Book 6). Book 1 apparently was unknown to Lactantius (and consequently to Augustine, who relied on the latter for his knowledge of these lines). Sib Or 8:292–293 The first Book of the Sibyllline Oracles jumps directly from the scourging and the spit to the food and drink given to Jesus on the Cross (1:367). But in Book 8, verses 292–293, there is an interesting development in Jesus’ attitude at the scourging: “Beaten, he will be silent, lest anyone rec-
in Matt 26:65 and Mark 14:65. This is nothing new, except that the order of events here is closer to the canonical Gospels than in Book 1. As for Je- Yüklə 246,16 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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