Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries

331 Pages·2016·3.32 MB·English

by  Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

Prayer and Worship in Eastern
Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries
Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries forges a new
conversation about the diversity of Christianities in the medieval eastern Med-
iterranean centered on the history of practice, looking at liturgy, performance,
prayer, poetry, and the material culture of worship. It studies prayer and wor-
ship in the variety of Christian communities that thrived from late antiquity to
the middle ages: Byzantine Orthodoxy, Syrian Orthodoxy, and the Church of the
East. Rather than focusing on doctrinal differences and analyzing divergent pat-
terns of thought, the essays address common patterns of worship, individual and
collective prayer, hymnography and liturgy, as well as the indigenous theories
that undergirded Christian practices. The volume intervenes in standard academic
discourses about Christian difference with an exploration of common patterns of
celebration, commemoration, and self-discipline.
Chapters by both established and promising, younger scholars interrogate ele-
ments of continuity and change over time – before and after the rise of Islam,
both under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire and in the lands of succes-
sive caliphates. Groups distinct in their allegiances nevertheless shared a com-
mon religious heritage and recognized each other – even in their differences – as
kinds of Christianity. A series of chapters explores the theory and practice of
prayer from Greco-Roman late antiquity to the Syriac middle ages, highlighting
the transmission of monastic discourses about prayer, especially among Syrian
and Palestinian ascetic teachers. Another set of chapters examines the localization
of prayer within churches through inscriptions, donations, dedications, and incu-
bation. Other chapters treat the composition and transmission of hymns to adorn
the liturgy and articulate the emotions of the Christian calendar, structuring litur-
gical and eschatological time.
Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony is Associate Professor and Martin Buber Chair in
Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Derek Krueger is the Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor of Religious Studies at
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA.

Prayer and Worship in
Eastern Christianities,
5th to 11th Centuries
Edited by Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
and Derek Krueger
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 selection and editorial matter, Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony and
Derek Krueger; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Krueger, Derek, editor. | Bitton-Ashkelony, Bruria, editor.
Title: Prayer and worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th centuries /
edited by Derek Krueger and Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony.
Description: First [edition]. | New York : Routledge, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019454 | ISBN 9781472465689 (hardback :
alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315601977 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Prayer—Orthodox Eastern Church. | Prayer—Oriental
Orthodox Churches. | Eastern churches—Liturgy.
Classification: LCC BX107 .P729 2016 | DDC 248.3088/2815—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019454
ISBN: 978-1-4724-6568-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-60197-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
For Lorenzo Perrone

Contents
List of figures ix
List of tables x
Notes on contributors xi
Acknowledgments xiv
Abbreviations xv
Introduction: prayer, worship, and ritual practice 1
BROURIA BITTON-ASHKELONY AND DEREK KRUEGER
1 Theories of prayer in late antiquity: doubts and practices
from Maximos of Tyre to Isaac of Nineveh 10
BROURIA BITTON-ASHKELONY
2 Prayer and the body according to Isaac of Nineveh 34
SABINO CHIALÀ
3 Psalms and prayer in Syriac monasticism: clues from
Psalter prefaces and their Greek sources 44
COLUMBA STEWART
4 Expressions of prayer in late antique inscriptions in the
provinces of Palaestina and Arabia 63
LEAH DI SEGNI
5 Renovation and the early Byzantine church: staging past
and prayer 89
ANN MARIE YASIN
6 The power of the eucharist in early medieval Syria: grant
for salvation or magical medication? 116
VOLKER MENZE
viii Contents
7 The transmission of liturgical joy in Byzantine hymns
for Easter 132
DEREK KRUEGER
8 Greek kanons and the Syrian Orthodox liturgy 151
JACK TANNOUS
9 Various orthodoxies: feasts of the Incarnation of Christ
in Jerusalem during the first Christian millennium 181
DANIEL GALADZA
10 The therapy for grief and the practice of incubation in early
medieval Palestine: the evidence of the Syriac Story of a
Woman from Jerusalem 210
SERGEY MINOV
11 Apocalyptic poems in Christian and Jewish liturgy
in late antiquity 239
HILLEL I. NEWMAN
Bibliography 254
Index of scriptural references 297
Index 299
Figures
5.1 Resafa, plan of Early Umayyad Mosque and Church of the
Holy Cross (Basilica A) 90
5.2 Zahrani (Lebanon), plan of Upper Church with dated inscriptions
indicated 92
5.3 Zahrani (Lebanon), plan of Lower Church with mosaic pavements
of the third and fourth south-side annex chambers 94
5.4 Mount Nebo (Jordan), Memorial of Moses, church plan of
diakonikon-baptistery on north side of courtyard 96
5.5 Mount Nebo (Jordan), Memorial of Moses, excavation photo
of diakonikon-baptistery 97
5.6 Sanctuary of Lot, Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata (Jordan), axonometric
reconstruction of church with dated inscriptions indicated 99
5.7 Sanctuary of Lot, Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata (Jordan), dedicatory
inscription from narthex or diakonikon of the church 100
5.8 Sanctuary of Lot, Deir ‘Ain ‘Abata (Jordan), aerial view of the
church showing mosaic pavements; cave entrance at end
of left aisle (north) 101
5.9 Nabha (Lebanon), plan of church with dated inscriptions indicated 101
5.10 ‘Uyun Musa Valley (Jordan), Basilica of Kaianos, photo of two
superimposed layers of church pavements, looking west 103
5.11 ‘Uyun Musa Valley (Jordan), Basilica of Kaianos, plan of
Lower Church 104
5.12 ‘Uyun Musa Valley (Jordan), Basilica of Kaianos, plan of
Upper Church 105
5.13 Mount Nebo (Jordan), Memorial of Moses, late phase plan with
south baptistery showing mosaics 107
5.14 Mount Nebo (Jordan), Memorial of Moses, photo of south
baptistery 107
6.1 Eucharistic bread stamp, terracotta, Egypt, fifth to sixth century 119
6.2 Syrian eucharistic bread as loaf 120
6.3 Coptic bread stamp, wood, twentieth century 121
6.4 Syrian eucharistic bread stamp, twelve crosses symbolizing the
twelve apostles, wood, twentieth century 122
9.1 Christmas hymn in manuscript Sinai Gr. NE ΜΓ 8 (10th c.), f. 7v. 192