CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Rákos-Zichy, Johanna Zsófia |
|---|---|
| Title | Bishops and Burials between Public and Private in Late Antiquity: The Episcopal Construction of the Care for the Dead (366-430 A. D.) |
| Summary | This interdisciplinary thesis explores the striking fusion of “private” and “public” at the burial of family members and in the cult of the martyrs as evidenced by the work of three Late Antique bishops, Damasus of Rome, Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo. Their homilies, letters, Confessions, catacomb inscriptions and theological treatises make manifest the transformation of attitudes and audiences from the traditional “private” to the “congregational” Christian. In the Classical Mediterranean, taking care of the dead traditionally belonged to the family. Bishops, however, appropriated for the Church not only the cult of the martyrs, but also the commemoration of ordinary Christians. For the first time in scholarship, the thesis presents Late Antique bishops at the family grave, arguing that the commemoration of family and friends transformed private funerals into public events and universal exemplars for the Church. I approach the cult of the martyrs from the point of view of the “private” and examine the ways the commemoration of the saints was made public and universal. Bishops discovered, construed and reformed the cult of the saints and prescribed proper behavior to the Christian congregation. The comparison of Damasus, Ambrose and Augustine reveals the different methods that bishops employed and the different contexts in which they worked to extend their authority over the private and the public life of their flock in the late Roman city, even if in the private sphere their intervention remained indirect. In signposting this process, the thesis untangles the ways in which bishops connected with their communities and used their authority to construct the Christian commemoration of the dead. |
| Supervisor | Sághy Marianne |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/rakos-zichy_johanna.pdf |
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