List wczesnochrześcijański. Studium wybranych zagadnień z epistolarów łacińskich IV i V wieku
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Date
2024
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Wydawnictwo «scriptum»
Abstract
W świecie, który niemalże zapomniał, czym jest pisanie listów, z całym tego obrządkiem i atmosferą, powrót do tego sposobu mówienia – żeby użyć słów wielkiego miłośnika i znawcy Ojców Kościoła św. kardynała Johna H. Newmana – „z serca do serca” wydaje się niczym powrót do szczęśliwych lat dziecięcych. Szczególnie, że jest to powrót do dzieciństwa Kościoła, w którym listy odgrywały szczególną rolę. Jest to powrót do wyjątkowego rodzaju literackiego, który balansuje na granicy dialogu, poezji, traktatu naukowego, homilii czy przemowy i przez to jest niezwykle bliski, ale i tajemniczy. Niniejsza monografia – na przykładzie listów św. Ambrożego z Mediolanu, św. Hieronima, św. Augustyna i św. Paulina z Noli – jest próbą odkrycia tego pięknego i tajemniczego świata, a więc również zrozumienia ludzi pierwszych wieków Kościoła, którzy przez listy wyrażali swoje emocje, myśli, problemy, tęsknoty, uczucia, troski i radości.
Description
It is undeniable that Christianity is not only a religion of the Book, but also a religion of the letter. After all, at its origin there are twenty-one letters belonging to the canon of the Holy Scripture, including the twelve letters of St. Paul the Apostle, and the earliest writings of the post- apostolic period also belonged to the category of letters. Christianity was thus built on the art of epistolography, in accordance with its ancient theory. It is therefore not surprising that more than 9 000 works in the form of letters have survived from the period of Christian antiquity. Among these, the collections of letters of four figures who left an unique mark on the history and theology of the Church deserve special attention. These are the letters of St. Ambrose of Milan, St. Jerome of Stridon, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Paulinus of Nola. These four men left more than 500 letters that have survived to the present day, and the total number should certainly be at least three times as high. But it is not primarily the number, nor the esteem in which these four figures are held, that draws our attention to their letters today. In a world that has almost forgotten what letter writing is, with all its ritual and magic, a return to this way of conversation, to use the words of the great enthusiast and expert on the Church Fathers, Cardinal John H. Newman, “from heart to heart”, seems like a return to happy childhood years. Especially since it is a return to the childhood of the Church in which, as I have already noted, letters played a special role. It is a return to a unique literary genre, hovering on the edge of dialogue, poetry, treatise, homily or speech, and therefore extremely close and yet mysterious. This book is an attempt to discover this wonderful and mysterious world and to understand the people of the first centuries of the Church, who expressed their emotions, thoughts, problems, longings, feelings, worries and joys through the letters. The reflections contained in this book are the fruit of several years of research carried out by the author on early Christian epistolography. There are sections written especially for this book, but also chapters that were originally published in other publications, which are included here after revisions and additions in order to provide a compre- hensive study of the phenomenon of the early Christian letter – both in theory and in practice. Our four authors formed an unique network of cor- respondence. They knew each other and, although separated by hundreds of miles, so difficult to travel in those days even for a courier, they supported and enriched each other through their letters. Probably not all of them met face to face but, as they said in their letters, it was the letters that allowed them to almost see each other, to feel each other’s presence and to enrich each other. Thanks to their letters, we too, living more than 1 600 years later, can meet and interact with them.
This work consists of 15 chapters which aim to show the essence and richness of the epistolography of our four authors. Chapter 1 (The Ancient Theory of Epistolography) presents the ancient proposals for the theory of the letter and everything related to it (definition of the letter, style, collections of letters, writing materials). The contributions of both theorists (Demetrius of Phaleron, Pseudo-Libanius, Pseudo-Demetrius, Julius Victor) and Latin practitioners (Cicero, Seneca, Pliny the Younger) are recalled in order to show the literary trend into which early Christian epistolography entered. The Christian theory of epistolography contained in the letters of Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine and Paulinus is presented in chapter 2, entitled The Christian Theory of Epistolography. All the theories of epistolography agree in understanding a letter as a dialogue, a conversation with the absent, but Christianity adds to this peculiar conversation an element of Christian love of neighbour. Chapter 3. (How to Write a Letter?) reveals the practical elements of the letter-writing process contained in the correspondence of our authors (writing materials, the production of a letter and the layout of a letter). An important element in the exchange of correspondence in the ancient world were the carriers of letters, who were often not only paid couriers but also trusted friends and confidants in whom the author of a letter was seen. They are the subject of the next chapter 4., entitled How to Send Letters? Chapter 5. is devoted to the question of collecting and preserving letters (Should Letters Be Preserved?), while Chapter 6. (On Gifts Sent with Letters) to the gifts sent with letters, which in the case of Christian letters were often not of a great material value but of spiritual one. The classical greeting formula included in letters (S.T.V.B.E.E.V.) drew attention to the health and well-being of both the sender and the recipient of the letter. The next, seventh chapter of the monograph - On Health and Illness in Letters – shows the Christian understanding of this formula and how our writers referred to health and well-being in their letters, and what they advised their correspondents to do in case of illness and sickness. Sometimes discussed Fathers were faced with questions about the meaning of suffering and death when they were confronted with the deaths of those close to their correspondents. In Chapter 8. (Letters of Consolation) we therefore look at letters as a form of consolation in which writers give hope to the bereaved. The deceased ones live on in the memories of the letter writers and recur in the memories of the letters, but other memories also appear in the letters. Letters become a way of remembering people and events, and the next, ninth chapter of the book (Letters as a Form of Memory) is devoted to this subject. A letter uses words to convey thoughts and express feelings. As the masters of words, our authors appreciate the great importance and role of words and express this repeatedly in their letters. Their thoughts on the power and role of words are collected in the chapter tenth of the monograph, entitled: The Power and Role of Words. It is undeniable that in Christianity the word plays an important role and is used in many different ways. In the pastoral practice of our authors, the most common form of this word is the form of the sermons they preached to their faithful. Sometimes their letters took the form of sermon. For this reason, the next chapter – the eleventh, entitled Letter and/or Homily – shows the differences and similarities between these two literary genres and the purposes they served, and answers the question of whether one can speak of a letter as a homily. The next four chapters deal with selected specific issues raised in the letters of our authors. Chapter twelve – On Freedom in the Letters – deals, for example, with an important theme in Christian anthropology – freedom. In the exchange of letters, two freedoms have always come together: the freedom of the sender and the freedom of the addressee. This chapter therefore aims to show how our authors understood freedom in their letters. The chapter thirteen illustrates the joys and sorrows of episcopal life presented on the example of the letters of St. Ambrose of Milan, because the letters were meant to convey feelings, including those related to ecclesiastical functions held by our Fathers. The next two chapters of the monograph deal with specific dogmatic issues raised in the letters - chapter fourteen on the Eucharist and chapter fifteen on Mariology. These two topics were indeed the subject of discussion and theological development during this period. The publication also includes an introduction and an extensive bibliography on the epistolography of the selected authors and on ancient epistolography.
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Citation
Wysocki M., List wczesnochrześcijański. Studium wybranych zagadnień z epistolarów łacińskich IV i V wieku, Wydawnictwo «scriptum», Kraków 2024.
ISBN
978-83-67586-90-0