Homily on the Life of the Virgin by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem

Oratio de Vita Mariae, auctore Pseudo-Cyrillo Hieroslymitano

Standard abbreviation: Hom. Life Vir.

Other titles: On the Life of the Virgin

Clavis numbers: ECCA 182; CANT 96

Category: Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs

Related literature: Protevangelium of James; Homily on the Entry of the Virgin into the Temple, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on the Life 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-life-of-the-virgin-by-pseudo-cyril-of-jerusalem/.

Created January 2020.

1. SUMMARY

Hom. Life Vir. is extant in several complete and fragmentary manuscripts, but only a few of the fragments have been published to date. The complete text is described by Leo Depuydt as: “Episodes from the early life of the Virgin Mary are narrated, but the work does not deal exclusively with her. In the second half, Jesus answers questions addressed to him by the apostles” (1993; vol. 1, p. 208) and by Henri Hyvernat as: “With the exception of an introduction on the terrors of the last judgement, Our Lord Himself, in answer to a query from his apostles, speaks to the end of the homily on his second advent (parousia) and the events that will take place then” (1935:145). Further information can be obtained from the colophon of the text from an Arabic manuscript: “Discourse given by saint Cyril, archbishop of Jerusalem, on the subject of the Blessed Virgin Mary. . . in the church built in his name in (the Valley of) Josaphat in front of Jerusalem, the place where will gather the world . . . He gives this speech on the third day of the month of Kîhak, that is to say the day when her parents presented her to the Temple to dedicate her to the Lord” (Lucchesi 2009: 14). The subscriptio of the Coptic text appears in MONB.DL (Paris, BnF, Copte 131⁵, fol. 66), but a different date for the homily is given: “End of the homily of the saint Cyril archbishop of Jerusalem, pronounced on the 21st of Ṭūbah, speaking on the honors of the saint virgin Mary” (Orlandi 2008:66). In some Arabic manuscripts the homily is attributed to Andrew of Crete. Lucchesi also reports that the Homily on the Entry of the Virgin into the Temple, also attributed to Cyril, is an abbreviation of Hom. Life Vir.

This summary covers only the published fragments from Robinson (Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, pp. 2–17) and Crum (Theological Texts, pp. 11–16). The narrative opens in Robinson’s fragment I with the end of Cyril’s homiletic framework, in which he challenges several charges made by heretics: that Mary was not born in a normal way, that she conceived Jesus through intercourse with Joseph, and that she was taken up bodily into heaven. The narrative then begins with an introduction to Joachim (formerly named Cleopas) and Anna, a married Jewish couple, rich with gold, silver and cattle, yet distressed on account of Anna’s inability to become pregnant. Both Anna and Joachim have a portentous dream featuring a white dove; in Anna’s dream the dove kisses Anna on the mouth. Anna conceives and then is visited by an angel, who informs her that she will give birth to a daughter and she must name her Mary. Anna gives birth to Mary on 15 Baramūdah (April 10, Julian). After the birth, David appears in the midst of Anna and Joachim, singing psalms and playing his harp. The couple then celebrate her birth with seven days of eating and drinking.

In the next episode, an angel appears to the High Priest Zechariah, here brother to Joachim, and tells him to command Anna and Joachim to keep Mary a virgin and bring her to the temple when she is three years old. Zechariah tells the couple what was revealed to him and blesses the child. The fragment finishes with a song of Anna to the Lord.

Fragment IIa begins with Anna taking Mary to the temple. She walks directly onto the holy altar and stands there. The people are amazed to see her face dazzling like the stars of heaven. Thereafter, Mary serves in the temple and is guarded from the outside world: angels feed her with fruits from the tree of life, she wears the same robe her mother gave her until the day of her death, she never adorns herself with clothes or makeup nor does she wear perfume or braid her hair, she does not wash with water, and she stays inside at all times so that she will not see a man.

Fragment IIb takes up the story after a break of four folios. The account of the annunciation draws heavily on the canonical infancy accounts, but adds a detail on the specific mode of Mary’s conception: “by the hearing of her ears.” Following Matt 1:18–19, Joseph is described as not wishing to make Mary a public example; instead he plans to put her away privately. As in Prot. Jas. (13:1), Joseph questions how Mary became pregnant: “But I wonder why I never saw her speaking with a man. How she has conceived then I do not know.” The text then realigns itself with the canonical sources, unfolding through the narration of the decree enforced by Augustus that the whole world should be registered. As they are traveling to Bethlehem, Joseph looks into the face of Mary and finds it “shining like the sun.” He asks her why she is sad and Mary responds, “That which is in my womb troubles me.” The text borrows the elaboration of the journey to Bethlehem from Prot. Jas. 17, but with some notable differences: there is no mention of the donkey or of Joseph’s sons, it omits the detail that Mary was “laughing” as well as her statement about seeing “two people,” and Joseph’s thoughts that “maybe that which is in her is troubling her” is here spoken explicitly by Mary. In addition, Joseph takes Mary to an “inn,” not a cave as in Prot. Jas., and Mary urges Joseph to go into the city and find a midwife. While Joseph searches for a midwife, “the holy Virgin gave birth to her Son in virginity and wrapped him…”. Here the fragment breaks off.

The first fragment published by Crum mentions the celebrations over the conception of Mary by Joachim and Anna (overlapping with Robinson’s fragment 1). In the second, Mary is in the temple and her parents do not visit her. The verso of the page condemns heretical views on Mary held by the Meletians.

Named Historical Figures and Characters (preliminary): Anna (mother of Mary), Anna (prophet), Augustus (emperor), Cleopas, Cyril of Jerusalem, David (king), Elizabeth, Gabriel (angel), Jacob (patriarch), Jesse (patriarch), Jesus Christ, Joachim (father of Mary), Joseph (of Nazareth), Malachias (father of Joseph), Mary (Virgin), Meletians, Moses (patriarch), Zechariah (priest).

Geographical Locations (preliminary): Bethlehem, Israel, Judah, Nazareth, temple, Valley of Jehoshaphat/Josaphat.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Arabic

Giza, Franciscan Seminary, 12, fols. 108^r–123^v (1909)

Qusqam, Dayr al-Muharraq, 9/12, fols. 20^r–34^v

Qusqam, Dayr al-Muharraq, 9/13, fols. 52^v–71^r

The following attribute the text to Andrew of Crete:

Wadi El Natrun, Dayr Qiddīs Anbā Maqqār, 378

Wadi El Natrun, Dayr Qiddīs Anbā Maqqār, 379

Wadi El Natrun, Dayr Qiddīs Anbā Maqqār, 480

Lucchesi, Enzo. “Les sept Marie dans une homélie copte et l’origine du mälkɘ’ éthiopien.” AnBoll 127 (2009): 9–15 (discussion of Arabic manuscripts).

3.1.2 Coptic (CPC 0005; PAThs entry)

New York, Morgan Museum and Library, M634 (=MICH.CF), fols. 1^r–28^v (9th/10th cent.); PAThs; MML

Depuydt, Leo. Catalogue of Coptic Manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library. 2 vols. Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts 4–5. Leuven: Peeters, 1993 (description of text in vol. 1, pp. 208–11; no. 108; includes comparison with edition of Robinson).

Hyvernat, Henri. Catalogue of Coptic manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York: Privately published, 1935 (text described p. 145).

New York, Morgan Library and Museum, Amh. Copt. Pap. 4 (=NM.C04.1–2), fols. 1–2 (7th cent.)

Crum, Walter E. Theological Texts from Coptic Papyri. Anecdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series 12. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913 (text and English translation of NM.C04.1–2, pp. 11–14).

MONB.DL (PAThs entry):

pp. 3–4: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Clarend. b 3 item 14, fol. 1

pp. 5–12: Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. Copt. 109, cass. 25, fasc. 117, fols. 1–4

pp. 13–14: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Clarend. b 3 item 14, fol. 2

pp. 21–22: Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, K 9781

pp. 23–24: Cairo, Coptic Museum, 9274

pp. 27–28: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 131⁵, fol. 105

pp. 87–88: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 129¹⁷, fol. 67

pp. 89–98: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 129¹⁷, fols. 21–25

pp. 99–100: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 131⁵, fol. 66 + Cairo, IFAO, Copte 166

pp. 110–111: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 131⁷, fol. 15

pp. ?: Moscow, Puskin Museum, I.1.B0272(2)

may also contain:

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 132¹, fol. 19–21

Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, 101

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 132², fol. 47

Revillout, Eugène. Apocryphes coptes du Nouveau Testament. Vol. 1 : Textes. Études Égyptologiques 7. Paris: F. Vieweg, 1876 (editio princeps of Vatican, Borg. Copt. 109, cass. 25, fasc. 117, pp. 1–6).

Robinson, Forbes. Coptic Apocryphal Gospels. Translations Together with the Texts of Some of Them. TS 4.2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1896 (introduction, pp. xxi–xxiii, text and English translation of portions of MONB.DL pp. 1–17).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Crum, Walter E. Theological Texts from Coptic Papyri. Anecdota Oxoniensia, Semitic Series 12. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913 (text and English translation of NM.CO4.1–2, pp. 11–14).

3.3 General Works

Constas, Nicholas. Proclus of Constantinople and the Cult of the Virgin in Late Antiquity: Homilies 1–5, Text and Translations. SVC 66; Leiden: Brill, 2003 (discussion of the doctrine of conceptio per aurem, “conception through the ear,” p. 277).

Lucchesi, Enzo. “D’une Vie de Marie à une Homélie sur la Passion.” AnBoll 114 (1996): 269–72.

Lucchesi, Enzo. “Les sept Marie dans une homélie copte et l’origine du mälkɘ’ éthiopien.” AnBoll 127 (2009): 9–15.

Orlandi, Tito. Coptic Texts Relating to the Virgin Mary: An Overview. Rome: CIM, 2008 (see p. 66).

Suciu, Alin. The Berlin-Strausbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017 (pp. 71, 79).