International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Sébastien Morlet
Université Paris Sorbonne, Paris, France; 
[e-mail]
Les 
Testimonia
à Byzance : quelques études de cas / 
The 
Testimonia
in Byzantium : A Few Case Studies
The so-called 
Testimonia
were quotations from the Old Testament supposed to announce 
Christ and the Christians. Extensively used in the NT itself and in patristic literature, either in 
polemical writings or during catechesis, they were the first biblical passages to be commented by the 
Christians and they remained at the basis of Christian faith until the end of Antiquity.
This topic has given rise to famous and important studies by New Testament and Patistic 
scholars, but much remains to be done concerning the history of the 
Testimonia
in Byzantium. 
The Byzantines inherited from a scholarly approach of the Bible, that of the biblical commentaries, 
which is at first sight foreign to the world of the 
Testimonia
. Previous studies have shown how 
Origen’s or Eusebius’ scholarship implied a new way of reading the old 
Testimonia
, now understood 
in their biblical context and not necessarily as prophecies of Christ.
However, the 
Testimonia
survived in Byzantium and continued to be used as textual proofs, 
especially against the Jews. This fact raises several questions : what does the 
Testimonia
tradition 
look like in Byzantium ? Did the Byzantine read the same 
Testimonia
as their ancestors ? Did they 
understand them the same way ? Is there an influence, in Byzantium, of the scholarly method on 
the quotation and exegesis of the 
Testimonia
? The interest of this questioning will be shown from 
an analysis of the 
Testimonia
used in a few antijewish dialogues, especially the dialogue edited by J. 
H. Declerck (around 6
th
-10
th
c.).

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