Seite 75 [75]
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RITE OR METAPHOR? parts, and physical love.** A future countryman of Nonnus, Christodorus of Coptus (floruit 491-518), twice speaks of the öpyıa of wisdom and science." One instance can also be found in the Cologne Mani-Codex (dated to the 5" century"), in which Mani says that in a gospel addressed to his followers he proclaimed the eminent őpyia (67.17)." Finally, Zacharias Rhetor (c. 465—after 536) in Ammonius 2.11 and 15 mentions the dpyta of Aristotelian philosophy. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND ITS TEACHINGS This subcategory includes only eight instances. Methodius of Olympus (turn of the 3" and 4"" centuries) uses the term in the Symposium to refer to the “mysteries” of virginity.” It is worth noting that Methodius’ phrase Tadta TOV THETEPWV, W KahAITApBEvoL, TA Spyta uuornpiwv, “These, o fair virgins, are the orgies of our mysteries”™ (6.5), put by him into the mouth of Agathe, one of the speakers of the dialogue, apparently echoes Clement of Alexandria’s exclamation from Prot. 12.120.2 Tatta tav gudv pvotnpiwv Ta Baxyebuata, “These are the Bacchic rites of my mysteries!” As we have seen, the Dionysiac imagery reinterpreted by Clement in the Protrepticus can hardly refer to actual Christian rites, which makes the figurative meaning of Methodius’ phrase even more obvious. Two other relevant examples occur in Eusebius of Caesarea. In the De laudibus Constantini, he calls his praise of Constantine the Great an initiation into the divine dpyta of the emperor’s deeds.” In the Demonstratio Evangelica, Eusebius juxtaposes the Jewish blood sacrifice with the 6py1a of the soul established by Christ.’ The church writer explains that these dpyia consist of glorifying God “with a clean heart and a pure mind, in purity and a life of virtue, and by true and holy teaching.”® It is clear, then, that the word 45 Dion. 4.264, 7.266, 11.506, 15.70, 17.224 and 377, 18.6, 35.62, 38.31, 41.344 and 381, 42.373; see Vian, Les cultes paiens, 407. 16 AP 2.1.133 and 303. * Albert Henrichs, The Cologne Mani Codex Reconsidered, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 83 (1979), 351. On the broader context in which the passage occurs, see Guy Stroumsa, Hidden Wisdom: Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism, Leiden, Brill 2005, 67. See Riggi, Vita cristiana, passim; Massa, Tra la vigna e la croce, 127. 50 Trans. William R. Clark. 51 L.C. pro.5.7-8 oc ôn ts Oeonpeneïs teAetägiepopavtoduevon wöE nn deiwv öpyiwv &pawöneda; see Riggi, Vita cristiana, 523 with n56. 1.6.66 Ta yuxñs .… 6pyta. Ibidem, trans. William J. Ferrar. 48 49 52 53 .73 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 73 6 2020. 06.15. 11:04:14
