Homily on the Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem

Homilia de assumptione, auctore Pseudo-Cyrillo Hierosolymitano

Standard abbreviation: Hom. Assum. Vir.

Other titles: none

Other designations: E4 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions; E3 in Mimouni’s.

Clavis numbers: ECCA 363; CANT 152

Category: Dormition Narratives, Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs

Related literature: Acts of John by Prochorus; Homily on the Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem; Homily on the Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyriacus of Behnesa; Homily on the Life of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem.

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on the Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-the-assumption-of-the-virgin-by-pseudo-cyril-of-jerusalem/.

Created October 2024.

1. SUMMARY

There are two homilies on the assumption attributed to Cyril of Jerusalem: one in Ethiopic and one in Arabic. While there are some overlaps in content, the Arabic text is much longer, due largely to it also including material on the dormition of Mary. The homily is delivered at the house of Mary on 16 Nehasa (Coptic: Mesore), the traditional date in Coptic Christianity for Mary’s assumption. It begins, like the Arabic version, with an application of Psalm 132:13 (God chose Zion to be his dwelling place) to Mary. From here it differs greatly from the Arabic text with lengthy christological comments reflecting Miaphysite views (Jesus’ divinity did not separate from his humanity at any time). The author also speaks in the voice of Jesus to the earth, telling it that he saved the earth by burying the body of Mary within it for six months between her death and assumption. He alludes to some aspects of the dormition, saying that Jesus came to bring her to heaven. She did not die like other men, he writes, nor ascend to heaven like Enoch, because she did not return to earth again. Instead her body joined her in heaven after being in the earth for six months. But not just any earth. She was sent to the land of Edom, where paradise is located, and it is pure and holy. Her body was placed there beneath the tree of life. The earth of paradise was in pain every day since Adam was taken from it, but at her burial the earth and all of its creatures rejoiced.

At this point the Ethiopic text rejoins the Arabic with a statement of how Cyril discovered a book on Mary’s assumption in the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, in Jerusalem (also the house of the Virgin Mary). The book represents the testimony of John as told to his disciple Prochorus. Before he gives the contents of this text, the author states that Mary was born into the world like any man or woman and died like us. She was not an image or a phantasm (later he states that this is the view of Marcionites and Manicheans); a similar statement is made in the Homily on the Life of the Virgin, also attributed to Cyril. The Ethiopic text then lists several dates of festivals in the Ethiopic church: Mary’s birth, the annunciations, the birth of Jesus, etc. up to Mary’s assumption.

The Arabic text goes on to tell the story of Mary’s dormition but the Ethiopic provides only a few bare details (she died and the apostles wrapped her body and brought it in the Valley of Josaphat). What happens next diverges from the Arabic text. A group of Jewish antagonists seek to kill the apostles, they drop the body and flee. But an army of angels take the body the paradise, where it is buried beneath the tree of life. Only John is a witness to these events and he grieves over not knowing what happened to Mary’s body. But a voice reassures him he will learn all on the day of her assumption. Nevertheless, he is immediately taken to see Mary’s resting place where he listens to Jesus deliver a eulogy for his mother. The account finishes with the angel Michael returning John to Prochorus.

The Ethiopic and Arabic texts then align for much of the remainder of the story. The apostles gather on the mountain and Jesus appears and tells them all where Mary’s body lies and promises that they will all come to heaven on the day of Mary’s assumption in six months. In the meantime, they are to go out into the world and preach. John and Prochorus are dispatched to Ephesus. Prochorus mentions some events that occurred there, drawn from the Acts of John by Prochorus. Then one day, John vanishes. Prochorus thinks John has been assumed to heaven, but he is whisked away to join John in paradise to witness Mary’s assumption. Jesus appears and all the angels and cherubim and seraphim rejoice. Jesus says he called John there for the celebration and all who do the Eucharist, or good deeds or gives alms to poor on this day will be rewarded. Mary is brought to the assembly and there she plays her traditional role as mediator, asking Jesus to have pity on sinners and mitigate their punishment. In response, Jesus orders the release of all those baptized from punishment and promises reward to anyone who dedicates a Eucharist to Mary on the day of her assumption, as well as to whoever copies the account of her assumption, and to anyone who builds a church in Mary’s name. Mary thanks Jesus and then a cloud takes the apostles, and Prochorus, back home. Prochorus finishes his account by affirming that it is the testimony of John. Then the homiletic framework concludes with a benediction from Cyril.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Adam (patriarch), Anna (mother of Mary), David (king), Demetrius (disciple), Elizabeth, Enoch (patriarch), Gabriel (angel), Herod (the Great), John (son of Zebedee), John Mark, Joseph of Arimathea, Joseph (of Nazareth), Manekaws (Manicheans), Mary (mother of John Mark), Mary (Virgin), Matthew (apostle), Matyans (Marcionites), Michael (angel), Myron, Nicodemus, Peter (apostle), Prochorus, Romana, Satan, Zechariah.

Geographical Locations: Asia, Edom, Egypt, Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Nazareth, paradise, Smyrna, Valley of Josaphat, Zion.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Ethiopic (CANT 152)

Däbrä Tabor, Bethlehem Church, no shelf number, pp. 272–320 (1398–1408)

London, British Library, Or. 604, fols. 92^r–104^r (1716–1721)

London, British Library, Or. 606, fols. 111^r–127^v (18th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Abbadie 158, fols. 140^r–155^v (18th cent.)

Arras, Victor. De Transitu Mariae Aethiopice. 2 vols. CSCO 342–43, 351–52. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1973 (Ethiopic text based on BL Or. 604 in CSCO 342, pp. 1–33; Latin translation in CSCO 343, pp. 1–25).

Bombeck, Stefan. Die Geschichte der heiligen Maria in einer alten äthiopischen Handschrift. 2 vols. Dortmund: Praxiswissen, 2004 and 2010 (facsimile of Däbrä Tabor manuscript, vol. 1, German translation, vol. 2).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 German

3.2.2 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (summary alongside the similar homily by Ps.-Cyriacus, vol. 1.2, pp. 616–18).

3.3 General Works

3.3.1 Dormition Narratives

Clayton, Mary. The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (pp. 24–100).

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le X^esiècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.

Jugie, Martin. La Mort et l’Assumption de la Sainte Vierge: Étude historico-doctrinale. Studi e Testi 114. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944.

McNamara, Martin. “Transitus Mariae: General Introduction.” Pages 225–44 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.

Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995.

__________. Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie: Études littéraires, historiques et doctrinales. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 104. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

__________. Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VI^e au X^e siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955.

3.3.2 Homily on the Virgin Mary and Her Birth by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem

Broek, Roelof van den. Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Life and the Passion of Christ. A Coptic Apocryphon. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 118. Leiden: Brill, 2013 (pp. 93–98).

Lantschoot, Arnold van. “L’Assomption de la Sainte Vierge chez les Coptes.” Gregorianum 27 (1946): 493–526 (see pp. 500–502).

Mimouni, Simone C. Dormition et Assumption de Marie. Histoire des traditions anciennes. Théologie Historique 98. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (see pp. 245–47).

Orlandi, Tito. “Cirillo di Gerusalemme nella letteratura copta.” Vetera Christianorum 9 (1972): 327–41.

Suciu, Alin. The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017 (p. 136).