CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Bara, Peter Tamas |
|---|---|
| Title | 'We are honouring the endurance of righteous champions' Observations on Eustathios of Thessalonike's admonitory and hagiographic orations related to the city of Thessalonike |
| Summary | The hagiographic orations of Eustathios of Thessalonike (ca. 1115–ca. 1195) constitute a small group of texts in the œuvre of the prolific writer from his episcopal period. This study scrutinises the Oration to a stylite in Thessalonike, the Life of Philotheos of Opsikion, and the Enkomion of the so-called Kalytenoi martyrs, which attracted little scholarly attention. Chapter 1 investigates how the orations tied into the social and historical milieu of Thessalonike. The section argues that the Oration to a stylite is a ‘mirror for a stylite’, characterising a saintly, urban, rhetorically trained teacher. The study locates the Life of Philotheos into the context of Eustathios’ controversy with the monks of his diocese assuming that the oration was delivered in Thessalonike between 1180 and 1185, aiming at a monastic audience. Chapter 1 demonstrates that the metropolitan bishop composed the Enkomion of the Kalytenoi martyrs after 1185, the Norman sack of Thessalonike, and features Eustathios who wrote the enkomion as a bishop responsible for church services in his diocese. Chapter 2 analyses Eustathios’ hagiographic technique. First, based on Eustathios’ own statements in the Enkomion of the Kalytenoi martyrs the chapter describes how Eustathios composed the oration using oral tradition and written accounts. Second, comparing the Enkomion of the Kalytenoi martyrs to an earlier synaxarion-entry in the Synaxarion of the church of Constantinople about the same saints, the chapter reveals that Eustathios gave to his version a nicer outlook, and emphasised such topics as lay piety, conscious religiosity, and the role of holy teachers. Third, the chapter compares the Life of Philotheos with an earlier vita about Philotheos in the Menologion of Basil II. The comparison illustrates that Eustathios, besides writing the life in high style, portrayed his holy priest, Philotheos, as a model for the Thessalonian monks. The conclusions situate the result of the thesis into the framework of the twelfth century. |
| Supervisor | Gaul, Niels Henrik |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/bara_peter-tamas.pdf |
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