JOHN RUFUS: THE LIVES OF PETER THE IBERIAN, THEODOSIUS OF JERUSALEM, AND THE MONK ROMANUS Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Greco-Roman World JohnT.Fitzgerald,GeneralEditor Editorial Board DavidArmstrong ElizabethAsmis BrianE.Daley,S.J. DavidG.Hunter DavidKonstan WendyMayer MargaretM.Mitchell MichaelJ.Roberts JohanC.Thom JamesC.VanderKam Number JOHNRUFUS:THELIVES OFPETERTHEIBERIAN, THEODOSIUSOFJERUSALEM,ANDTHEMONKROMANUS VolumeEditor SebastianP.Brock John Rufus: The Lives of Peter the Iberian, Theodosius of Jerusalem, and the Monk Romanus EditedandTranslatedwithanIntroductionandNotesby Cornelia B. Horn and Robert R. Phenix Jr. SocietyofBiblicalLiterature Atlanta JOHNRUFUS:THELIVESOFPETERTHEIBERIAN, THEODOSIUSOFJERUSALEM,ANDTHEMONKROMANUS Copyright©2008bytheSocietyofBiblicalLiterature. Allrightsreserved. Nopartofthisworkmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyany means,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orby means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be ex- presslypermittedbythe1976CopyrightActorinwritingfromthepublisher. RequestsforpermissionshouldbeaddressedinwritingtotheRightsandPer- missionsDepartment,SocietyofBiblicalLiterature,825HoustonMillRoad, Suite350,Atlanta,GA30329,USA. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData JohnRufus,BishopofMaiuma,fl.476-518. [VitaPetriIberi.English&Syriac] TheLivesofPetertheIberian,TheodosiusofJerusalem,andtheMonk Romanus / John Rufus ; translated with an introduction and notes by CorneliaB.HornandRobertR.PhenixJr. p.cm.—(WritingsfromtheGreco-Romanworld;v.24) Alsopublishedinhardback:Leiden;Boston:Brill,2008. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-58983-200-8(paperbinding:alk.paper) 1.Petre,Iberieli,ca.411-ca.490.2.Theodosius,BishopofJerusalem, fl.450.3.Romanus,Saint,martyrofAntioch,d303?4.Monasticismand religiousorders–Iberia(Kingdom)–History–Earlychurch,ca.30-600.5. Monasticism and religious orders–Palestine–History–Early church, ca. 30-600. I. Horn, Cornelia B. II. Phenix, Robert R. III. John Rufus, Bishop ofMaiuma,fl.476-518.DeobituTheodosii.English&Syriac. IV.Title. BR1102.J642008 270.2092′2–dc22 [B] 2008017292 0809101112131415—54321 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-free,recycledpaper conformingtoANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992(R1997)andISO9706:1994 standardsforpaperpermanence. Table of Contents Preface vii Abbreviations xi Introduction xix TheContextoftheHistoryofGeorgiafromtheFourth totheSixthCenturies xix Christianity and Monasticism in Georgia in the Fourth andFifthCenturies xxv Peter’sGenealogyintheLifeofPetertheIberian:Hagio- graphicAncestry xxxiii The History of the Christological Controversies and Their Context in Palestine from the Fourth to the Sixth Centuries xxxiii Monasticismin Fifth-CenturyPalestine xlviii On theDeathofTheodosius liii TheAnti-ChalcedonianDefeatin Palestine liv Authorship lviii JohnRufus lxii RhetoricandGenrein theLife ofPeter the Iberian lxiii Text-CriticalOverview lxxi Versions andOriginalText lxxiii Synopsis of theVitaPetri IberiandtheDe obitu Theodosii lxxv OutlineoftheVitaPetri Iberi lxxv OutlineoftheDe obituTheodosii lxxxiv GenealogicalTablesoftheFamiliesofPetertheIberian andZuzo lxxxv ChronologicalTimeline lxxxv Texts and Translations LifeofPeter theIberian 2 OntheDeathofTheodosius 282 Bibliography 303 PrimarySources: EditionsandTranslations 303 SecondarySourcesandReferenceWorks 313 vi thelivesofpeter,theodosiusandromanus Indices 337 Indexof BiblicalReferences 337 Indexof Names,Places,andConcepts 345 Preface Thisbookistheresultofseveralyearsoflaborinwhichtherewere many who had a share, those who kindly lent their time, knowl- edge, and sweat to help this work come into being, a work that spanned four cities and two continents. First, we graciously ac- knowledge the assistance of Sidney GriYth, David W. Johnson, andMonicaBlanchardoftheCatholicUniversityinWashington, D.C. Working with them on Oriental Christian texts first in Syr- iac and Coptic as well as the history of Christianity in the Near East set the framework for inspiring Cornelia’s interest in early and late antique asceticism in the Holy Land. The Life of Peter theIberianformedthebasisforCornelia’sdissertationonthehis- toryoftheanti-Chalcedonianchurchinfifth-centuryPalestine. A substantiallyrevisedandreworkedversionofthatearlierworkwas published in 2006 as Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine: The Career of Peter the Iberian (Oxford UniversityPress). An initial draft of the English translation of the works pre- sented here saw the light of day while Cornelia held a Lady Davis Fellowship to study and conduct research for her disser- tation in Jerusalem during 1998–99. The peaceful, quiet, truly monastic atmosphere at Mary Magdala Convent on the Mount of Olives, the abundant resources oVered at the Hebrew Univer- sity of Jerusalem, at the École Biblique et Archéologique, and at the Protestant Institute for Archaeology of the Holy Land, the stimulatingcontactswithscholarsinJerusalemsuchasHanswulf Bloedhorn, Michael Stone, Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony, Aryeh Kofsky, Leah Di Segni, Yitzhar Hirschfeld, and David Satran, butalsothechallengesofeverydaylifeinacitycovetedandfought over by so many factions provided the necessary setting to enter intothemindsetofthezealous,controversialist,andnevertheless alsospiritualwriterandhistorianJohnRufus. WorkontheeditionoftheSyriactexts,however,beganonly when Robert and Cornelia both realized their shared dedication tomattersof theChristianOrient. Robertcarriedthebulkof the work of establishing the Syriac text in comparison with and cor- rectionoftheprecedingeditionesprincipes. Bothcommentaryand viii thelivesofpeter,theodosiusandromanus introductiontotheworkreflectthegreatprogressbothRobertand Corneliahavemadeinbecomingabletocollaboratesmoothlywith oneanother. We wish to record our thanks to Carl GriYn and Kristian Heal at Brigham Young University Press. They were the first to takean interestin publishing this work, when we still lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. Although in the end that collaboration was not meant to be, both of them provided valuable corrections to the typescript and other important assistance for which we are very grateful. WeexpressourgratitudetoJohnFitzgeraldandBobBuller of the Society of Biblical Literature, as well as to the members of the Editorial Board of the Writings from the Greco-Roman World series, for accepting this volume into their renowned se- ries. Withouttheirengagement,thisvolumewouldhaveremained in the dusty manuscript graveyard located on our hard drives. Given their support, however, we have good hopes of adding a companion volume of John Rufus’s Plerophoriae to the present one, thus completing the presentation in Syriac and English of the Opera Omnia of what emerges to be the most influential anti- Chalcedonianhistorianoffifth-andearlysixth-centuryPalestine. Sebastian Brock graciously agreed to taking on the role of editor for the present volume. His well-known expertise in mat- ters Syriac allowed him to provide many valuable corrections as wellaswelcomeadviceforimprovementofthetextandcommen- tary. Our gratitude to him is profound. His contributions and theexperteditorialandproductionworkonthevolumeprovided by Dr. Fitzgerald, Dr. Buller, and their staV allowed this vol- ume to enter into the final stages of the collaboration history on this volume, finally achieved at the end of a long year of labor at our present location at Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Mis- souri. Our colleagues in the Department of Theological Studies herehavemadeit a pleasantand fruitfulone, withthereasonable expectationofmanymoretofollowinthefuture. Wearegrateful toAaronOverbyfor compilingtheindices. This work is dedicated in gratitude and with respect to our formerteachersintheDepartmentofSemiticandEgyptianLan- guages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America: =Dr. MichaelP.O’Connor,Dr. SidneyH.GriYth,Dr. DavidW. Johnson,Dr. DouglasGropp,Dr. JanetTimbie,andDr. Monica preface ix Blanchard. They introduced us to the languages, texts, methods, andideasthatmakeuptheworldoftheancientandearlyChristian Near East. Much of their inspiration has entered into this work andbearsfruitinsomuchelseof whatwe do. CorneliaB. HornandRobertR.PhenixJr. SaintLouis, Missouri Feastof theHoly Cross,14September2005