Homilia de dormitione, auctore Ps.-Modesto Hierosolymitano
Standard abbreviation: Hom. Dorm. Vir.
Other titles: An Encomium on the Dormition of Our Most Holy Lady, Mary, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin, by Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem
Other designations: G9 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions
Clavis numbers: ECCA 775; CANT 106; CPG 7876
Category: Dormition Narratives
Related literature:
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Moestus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-the-dormition-of-the-virgin-by-pseudo-modestus/.
Created August 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Modestus, Archbishop of Jerusalem, died ca. 634 but Christological statements in the homily indicate that the homily was composed by someone influenced by the Council of Constantinople (680-681). The author writes on the occasion of the festival for Mary’s dormition, saying that the early church leaders revealed nothing about this event nor did those who came after explain it. He wishes to address this absence in this brief writing, much of which is praise for Mary as the Mother of God. Few elements of the Dormition narrative are included in the homily. He mentions angels coming to her at her death and the apostles arriving from every corner of the earth. He includes a lengthy funeral hymn, presumably sung by those present. Then Jesus appears and Mary commits her soul into her hands. Her body is carried on a bier to a tomb in Gethsemane. There the apostles are said to have performed and sung holy things beyond human comprehension and God revealed to them ineffable mysteries; they were given blessings and initiated into gifts of healing. Very briefly, Ps.-Modestus finishes by saying that Christ raised Mary from the grave in a way known only to him.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: apostles, Joachim, Mary (Virgin).
Geographical Locations: Gethsemane, Hades, Jerusalem.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 1085)
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, gr. 354, fols. 49r–72r (16th/17th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Philipps 1447 (43), fols. 72r–78r (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Arca
Mount Athos, Bibliothēkē tou Prōtatou, 57 (Lambros 57), fols. 214r–22v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Esphigmēnou, 76 (lambros 2089), fols. ?–199v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Panagias Kamariōtissēs, 47, fols. 296r–308v (1608/1609) ~ Pinakes
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Coislin 274, fols. 365v–384r (1608) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Giacomelli, Michel Angello, ed. Sancti patris nostri Modesti archiepiscopi Hierosolymitani encomium in dormitionem . . . Mariae. Rome: Excudebant Benedictus Franzesi et Cajetanus Paperi, 1760.
Migne, Jacques Paul, ed. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 86. Paris: Cerf, 1865 (reprinting of Giacomelli’s edition, cols. 3277–3312).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Daley, Brian E., trans. On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies. Popular Patristics Series 18. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Press, 1998 (pp. 83–102).
3.3 General Works
3.3.1 Dormition Narratives
Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le Xe siècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.
McNamara, Martin. “Transitus Mariae: General Introduction.” Pages 225–44 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.
Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995.
__________. Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie: Études littéraires, historiques et doctrinales. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 104. Leiden: Brill, 2011 (pp. 166–67).
Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
__________. Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VIe au Xe siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955.
3.3.2 Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Modestus
Jugie, Martin. “Deux homélies patristiques pseudépigraphes: Saint Athanase sur l’Annonciation; Saint Modeste de Jérusalem sur la Dormition.” Echos d’Orient 39 (1940–1942): 285–89.
__________. La Mort et l’Assumption de la Sainte Vierge: Étude historico-doctrinale. Studi e Testi 114. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (pp. 214–23).
Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (p. 157).