Alexey Kryukov
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of History, Moscow, Russian Federation;
anagnost@yandex.ru
Byzantine Homilies of the Comnenian Time: Atticism and Asianism
In 1881, Bishop Anthony Vadkovsky suggested the existence of two parallel trends, “didactic”
and “solemn”, in the Byzantine Homiletics. According to his opinion the second tendency receives
strong predominance starting from the 5
th
century AD. More than 100 years later this distinction
still remains relevant and is shared by most researchers of the Byzantine sermon. Among generally
considered features of the “ceremonial” flow one can mention the predominance of festal sermons
and the preacher’s commitment to a specific ancient rhetoric toolkit characteristic of the epideictic
eloquence. According to V. Valiavitcharska (2013), the Byzantine Homiletics at some degree succeeds
the so-called “Asianic” oratory, characterized by splitting the speech to short cola, connected by
common rhythmical patterns and rhymed endings.
594
It should be noted that most of the theoretical arguments concerning the Byzantine
Homiletics expressed so far are mainly based on the material not later than the 10
th
century. Thus
it might be interesting to examine their applicability to a later time. The Byzantine Homiletics of
the 12
th
century is primarily characterized by the appearance of great homiliaries, containing a
large number of relatively short sermons which combine binding to a specific holiday with the
exegetical orientation. However, this type of preaching is not found in the works of educated
bishops of the period in question, such as Eustathius of Thessalonica or Michael Choniates. Keeping
the commitment to the festive teachings, these authors attempt to harmoniously combine the
“ideas” described in Hermogenes’ theory of eloquence. For this reason homoeoteleuta, isokola and
similar rhetorical devices are only of limited use in their sermons. The same applies to rhetorical
questions, exclamations and inner dialogue. However, even more typical for their heritage are so
called cathecheseis, devoted to the theme of the Lent. These teachings, including an element of
the solemn eloquence (panegyrics, praising the merits of fasting), for the most part deal with the
explanation of the moral norms, mandatory for the Christian. The preacher, exactly conforming
the requirements of ancient rhetoric, was trying to convince his audience with the power of his
arguments, rather than to charm his listeners’ ears. These features seem particularly significant in
comparison with the style of St. Neophyte the Recluse, who, not possessing a classical education,
at the same time often demonstrates his commitment to so-called “hymnic passages” (the term
proposed by T. Antonopoulou).
These considerations lead us to the question whether it is possible to talk about a sort of revival
of the “Attic” style of eloquence in the Byzantine preaching of the Comnenian time, while “Asianism”
remained the choice of less educated preachers.
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