Homilia de assumptione Mariae Virginis Theophilo Alexandrino adscripta
Standard abbreviation: Hom. Assum. Vir.
Other titles: none
Other designations: C6 in van Esbroeck’s and Mimouni’s classifications of Dormition traditions
Clavis numbers: ECCA 158; CANT 136
Category: Dormition Accounts
Related literature: Protevangelium of James
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University.
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on the Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Theophilus of Alexandria.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-the-assumption-of-the-virgin-by-pseudo-theophilus-of-alexandria/.
Created October 2024.
1. SUMMARY
This homily contains very little apocryphal content but it is considered important for the study of the dormition accounts because it was delivered on 16 Mesore, the date established in Coptic Christianity for the celebration of the assumption of Mary, 206 days after her dormition on 21 Tobe. There are no narrative elements from the dormition traditions, and the only thematic connection is mention of how Mary intercedes for sinners in heaven.
The homily begins with some discussion of the birth of Jesus, with praise given to Mary for delivering Jesus without pain and to her parents, Anna and Joachim, for conceiving her. The author then segues into praise of Mary’s virginity and a call to his audience to follow her model by abstaining from sex on the Lord’s day and feast days.
The remainder of the text is taken up with a story about an icon of Mary. There was a Christian man who lived in a storehouse south of the city of Alexandria. A Hebrew man offered the landlord a higher amount of rent than the Christian was paying and took over the lease. The Christian and his family were thrown out of their home and in the confusion left behind an icon of the Virgin on a tablet of wood. The Hebrew man brought in workmen, recruited from Theophilus’s church, to renovate the building. When the workmen saw the icon, they stopped what they were doing and adored it. Angered, the Hebrew man smashed the icon and tossed the pieces into a basket. He told one of the workmen to throw the contents of the basket into the water. As the man walked, the basket started to leak blood, soaking the man’s body. This alerted the authorities who thought that he had murdered someone. When he revealed the contents of the basket, the authorities brought him to Theophilus. The bishop and his clergymen washed the icon with oil and water and set the pieces upon a wall in the church. The icon remains there to this day and those who salute it obtain good health and restoration.
Theophilus sent for the Hebrew man and castigated him for damaging the the icon. The man repented and was baptized along with his family. Three days later he died. Theophilus tore down the storehouse and made it a great caravansary and a hospice for strangers. Anyone who lies there with a disease is healed.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Anna (mother of Mary), Joachim (father of Mary), Mary (Virgin).
Geographical Locations: Alexandria.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (CC 396; CPG 2625; PAThs entry)
London, British Library, 6780 + Washington D.C., Smithsonian Freer Gallery of Art, F1908.33 (Coptic MS 2), pp. 60–96 (974) ~ PAThs; MERC.AH
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M600, fols. 1–64 (ca. 905/906) ~ MICH.AP; PAThs; Morgan
MONB.NT, p. ?? (10/11th cent.)
Worrell, William H. The Coptic Manuscripts in the Freer Collection. University of Michigan Studies Humanistic Series 10. New York: MacMillan, 1923 (edition based on BL 6780 + Freer 2, pp. 249–321; English translation, pp. 359–79).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Worrell, William H. The Coptic Manuscripts in the Freer Collection. University of Michigan Studies Humanistic Series 10. New York: MacMillan, 1923 (edition, pp. 249–321; English translation, pp. 359–79).
3.2.2 Italian
3.3 General Works
3.3.1 Dormition Narratives
Aranda Pérez, Gonzalo. Dormición de la Virgen. Relatos de la tradución copta. Apócrifos cristianos 2. Madrid: Editorial Ciudad Nueva, 1995 (general introduction, pp. 15-41; Coptic traditions, pp. 42–59).
Clayton, Mary. The Apocryphal Gospels of Mary in Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 26. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (pp. 24–100).
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.
Jugie, Martin. La Mort et l’Assumption de la Sainte Vierge: Étude historico-doctrinale. Studi e Testi 114. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944.
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.
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 Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Theophilus of Alexandria
Lantschoot, Arnold van. “L’Assomption de la Sainte Vierge chez les Coptes.” Gregorianum 27 (1946): 493–526 (pp. 507–509).
Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (pp. 206–207).