Autorentext

Julia Doroszewska is a research fellow at the Faculty of History, University of Warsaw, Poland. She is the author of The Monstrous World: Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon of Tralles' "Mirabilia" and has published widely on liminal phenomena in Greek and Roman pagan and Christian cultures.

Klappentext

This book explores how late antique miracle collections depict Christian saints as subversive, theatrical tricksters who blur the boundaries between sacred and profane, human and divine.

Readers will gain a fresh perspective on the cultural and theological imagination of Late Antiquity through a detailed analysis of Greek hagiographic texts. Doroszewska combines literary, religious, and anthropological approaches to show how saints functioned as shape-shifting, paradoxical figures - divine jesters who used ambiguity, humour, and disruption to communicate the sacred. The chronological framework of this study spans from the fifth to the seventh/ eighth century, exploring the emergence, heyday, and eventual decline of miracle collections following the Arab conquest. The volume demonstrates that idiosyncrasies in the characterization of the saints in these texts form a coherent model when approached with the template of the trickster paradigm, offering readers a new understanding of sainthood in late antique Christianity.

Trickster Saints and Their Manifestations and Miracles in Late Antique Hagiography is suitable for scholars and students of late antique Christianity, hagiography, religious studies, classical studies, and those interested in the intersections of literature, folklore, and cultural history.

Inhalt

Abbreviations x

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction 1

Manifestations and Miracles of Saints: The Context 3

Trickster Paradigms 10

"By the Fear of God, the Saint Is an Impostor!" 13

PART 1

Manifestations: Schema: The Looks 19

1 Boundary Crossers: Ambiguous and Ambivalent Personalities 21

Human or Divine? 23

Dead or Alive? 24

'Real' or Dream-Like? 26

Corporeal or Incorporeal? 35

Sacred or Profane? 39

Salvific or Destructive? 43

Tricky Sainthood 48

2 Shape-Shifters: 'True Guises' and Disguises in Performative Saintly Manifestations 54

Saints and Icons 55

Conventions 57

The Saints' 'True Guises' and Costumes 59

'True Selves' of Kyros and Ioannes 65

Saints in Monastic Garments 67

Kyros and Ioannes in Monastic Garments 67

Other Saints in Monastic Garments 69

Saints in Military Attire 71

Saints as 'True Doctors' 76

Conclusion 81

Disguises 82

Physicians 83

Staff of the Sanctuary 87

Clerics and Presbyters 89

Men of Rank and Power 91

Friends and Acquaintances 94

The Saints' Namesakes 95

Strangers 97

"Transformation as Clothing"? 98

Saint Actors 103

Theatrical Imagery, Theatrical Imagination 105

Shape-Shifting and Polymorphy 108

Conclusion 112

PART 2

Miracles: Schema: The Plots 127

3 Sacred Bricoleurs 129

Relics and Presence 130

Healing Touch 132

Contact Relics: Holy Oils 135

Other Organic Products as Contact Relics 141

Icons as Relics: The Image and the Paint 143

Subversively Simple Medicines: Groceries and Plants 144

Tricky Simplicity as a Bricolage: Conclusion 147

4 Mischief-Makers and Trick-Players 154

The Schema: Plots, Scenarios, and Riddles 156

Riddles 163

Mutual Healing Scenarios 164

Other Tricky Treatments 167

Playful Penalties 168

Healing Tricks and Their Background 173

Parallel Punitive Pranks 178

5 Situation-Invertors and Taboo-Breakers 185

Saints' Topsy-Turvy Interventions 186

Just(ified) Theft 186

Sanctified Fornication 192

Society Upside Down 194

Authorities Overthrown: Physicians 194

Heretics Converted 198

The Noble Humiliated, the Low Elevated 198

Subversive Gospels and the Saintly Taboo-Breakers 200

6 Conclusion: Divine Jesters as Messengers and Interpreters of God 205

Bibliography 211

Index 229