MAIASK. 2018. No. 10
A.A. Romensky (Sevastopol, Crimea)
MIRACLES OF THE BISHOPS OF CHERSONESOS IN THE CONTEXT OF EARLY CHRISTIAN
HAGIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION
DOI: 10.24411/2219-8857-2018-00014
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Pages: 269—278
The article is
devoted to the concept of miracles in the “Lives of Holy Bishops of
Chersonesus” and the “Miracle of St. Capiton”. Miracles in the people’s
representation of the early Middle Ages proved clearly the advantages of the
preached religious doctrine and served as the main argument of sanctity. The
resurrection of adolescent after baptism by the Holy Bishop Basileus is
analyzed in the perspective of “baptism of the dead” in the Early Christian
heresies. The miracle with the entry of Bishop Capiton into the fire
symbolically dates back to the Old Testament narration about miraculous
deliverance of three young men in the “fiery furnace”. The description of the
miracle is very close to the ceremony of fiery initiation. Similar plots are
found not only in Byzantine, but also in Latin sources, as well as in the
later Islamic tradition. The information about miracles and supernatural
phenomena helped to construct the sacred topography of Chersonesus—Cherson. |
Key
words: Chersonesus—Cherson,
Lives of Saints, Byzantine hagiography, Early Christianity, the sacrament of
baptism. |
Received June 11, 2018 |
About
the author: Romensky Alexandr
Alexandrovich ( E-mail: pergamen-romen@mail.ru |