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RITE OR METAPHOR? THE USE OF őpyia IN THE WORKS OF THE GREEK CHRISTIAN WRITERS OF THE 4*# AND 5™ CENTURIES! —o> — FILIP DOROSZEWSKI ABSTRACT This paper examines the semantic field of the term dpyia in the works of Greek Christian writers of the 4" and 5 centuries. It aims to determine if the term was used by Christian authors for Church celebrations, as has been suggested by some scholars. The paper first discusses the origin of the word and the historical development of its meaning, including the first Christian author to use 6pyix positively, Clement of Alexandria. The second part of the paper examines 86 occurrences of the term in Greek Christian literature of the period. The occurrences are divided into four categories based on their meanings: 1) pagan cult, 2) Jewish and heretical worship, 3) metaphor for secret knowledge, and 4) disputable passages from Eusebius of Caesarea (H.E. 2.1.13 and V.C. 4.22.1). The paper concludes that, as far as the 4" and 5" centuries are concerned, the extant sources offer no support for the view according to which öpyıa was used for Church celebrations. ! This paper is part of a collaborative research project on the cult of Dionysus and religious policy of Roman emperors from Augustus to the end of the Severan dynasty, financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education within the National Programme for the Development of Humanities (project number: 2bH 15 0163 83). Classical works are referred to using the abbreviations listed in Geoffrey Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1961 (Christian authors) or Henry G. Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry S. Jones, Greek-English Lexicon. With a Revised Supplement, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1996 (other authors). If none of these lexicons mention the work, titles follow abbreviations from Franco Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, English Edition, edited by Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, Leiden, Brill 2015. +65 + Daröczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 65 ® 2020. 06.15. 11:04:13
