Ilaria Ramelli

A close relationship exists between 1 Timothy and Hellenistic philosophy, especially Stoicism and (Middle) Platonism. A remarkable parallel is found between 1 Tim 5:1-2 and Hierocles the Stoic’s doctrine of oikeiosis. A similar parallel between the notion of spiritual death, as it is expressed in 1 Tim 5:6 and in broadly contemporary authors influenced by Roman Stoicism and Middle Platonism, proves that the author of 1 Timothy knew and adapted conceptions drawn from the Hellenistic moral lore and philosophy of his day. In 1 Tim 5:6 the notion of the spiritual death of the immoral person appears connected both to Paul and to the philosophical landscape of the early Empire (Middle- Platonic and Neo-Stoic). Philo occupies an important place in this tradition, which has remarkable developments in Origen. 1 Tim 5:6 is basic for Origen’s conception of spiritual death. The author of 1 Timothy has a deep knowledge of Hellenistic philosophy, especially Stoicism and Platonism, not only of single points or details, but of crucial philosophical conceptions, which he consciously employs for his own paraenetic discourse. This proves consistent with the long-recognised fact that the Pastoral Epistles represent an attempt at adapting Christian Pauline communities to their Hellenistic cultural environment and making them less suspect in the eyes of Graeco-Roman society.

The relationship between Bardaisan (and his school) and three Syriac documents has been so far overlooked by scholars. I shall here analyse these documents and endeavour to point out their connections with Bardaisan’s milieu. 1) Striking correspondences are highlighted, in thought and even in expression, connecting the Syriac apology ascribed to Melito with the so-called Liber Legum Regionum, stemming from Bardaisan’s school, and some authentic fragments of Bardaisan. 2) According to Moses of Chorene and Barhebraeus, the original nucleus of the Abgar-Addai legend, subsequently expanded into the Syriac Doctrina Addai, was included in Bardaisan’s historical work (which Moses calls History of Armenia). Also in the light of Eusebius’ knowledge of Bardaisan’s work against Fate, I suggest that the initial part of Eusebius’ account of the Abgar-Addai legend may derive from the aforementioned historical work. 3) The Syriac Acta Thomae ascribe to Thomas, the apostle of India, a remarkable part of Bardaisan’s argument against Fate, as attested in his Katà Heimarmenes (partially preserved by Eusebius in Greek) and in the Syriac Liber Legum Regionum. This convergence is all the more significant in that Ephraem attests that apocryphal Acts of Apostles were composed by disciples of Bardaisan.

The present article offers a critical analysis and assessment of the first Patristic attestations that we have at our disposal concerning the origins of the canonical Gospels: Papias of Hierapolis, Polycarpus of Smyrna, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius. Interesting and scarcely studied evidence of the composition of the Gospels, and in particular of the Gospel of John, provided by Theodore of Mopsuestia, is also presented and commented on, in the context of the historical and exegetical tradition of the so-called School of Antioch.

Il presente articolo cerca di affrontare la discussa questione del valore storico del Chronicon di Arbela, documento siriaco del VI sec. d.C. sulla cui autenticità, almeno, oggi non sembrano più sussistere i gravi dubbi che in passato erano stati avanzati. Sono proposti, su fronti diversi, molteplici argomenti che contribuiscono a mostrare come il Chronicon sia un documento affidabile, che presenta numerosi riscontri con fatti e situazioni attestati per altre vie. Anche se, come tutte le fonti, non va trattata senza una prospettiva critica, questa opera storiografica sembra offrire una documentazione di notevole interesse.

Un frammento porfiriano (fr. 64 von Harnack) conferma la notizia di Tertulliano, Apol. 5, 2 sul senatoconsulto del tempo di Tiberio che, rifiutando la proposta dell’imperatore di riconoscere il Cristianesimo, faceva di questa religione una superstitio illicita, i cui seguaci potevano essere messi a morte come tali. È l’inizio della legislazione anticristiana e la base giuridica delle persecuzioni.

Alcuni recenti apporti critici consentono di formulare nuove ipotesi sulla cronologia e sulla storia della dinastia abgaride a Edessa, in particolare riguardo ad Abgar Ukkama, nel I sec. d.C., e ad Abgar il Grande, in età severiana.