Oratio de honore Mariae, auctore Pseudo-Cyrillo Hieroslymitano
Standard abbreviation: Hom. Honor Vir.
Other titles: none
Other designations: C1 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions; C 1/1 in Mimouni’s
Clavis numbers: CANT 130; ECCA 145
Category: Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs; Dormition Accounts
Related literature: Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin by Peter and John; Homily on the Dormition of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Theodosius of Alexandria
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Homily on the Honor of the Virgin by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/homily-on-the-honor-of-the-virgin-by-pseudo-cyril-of-jerusalem/.
Created August 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Hom. Honor Vir. is cataloged by CANT as Sahidic fragments of a Dormition account. The title here is taken from the end of the work as found in MONB.DL: “End of the homily of the saint Cyril archbishop of Jerusalem, pronounced on the 21st of Ṭūbah, speaking on the honors of the holy virgin Mary” (Orlandi 2008:66). It is not known where the text begins. The narrative has some commonalities with a set of Bohairic fragments entitled Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin by Peter and John; they may even be two parts of the same text.
The extant text begins with a high priest coming to the apostles (who narrate the text) begging for healing. His arm has been torn off and the eyes of the other high priests have been blinded. The priest bewails their lack of piety—instead of giving money to the poor and needy, they became merchants who sold and bought. When Jesus disrupted the temple, he and his fellows conspired to have him crucified. Peter tells the man to embrace the body of Mary and state his belief in Jesus. He does so, then places his arm at his shoulder and it reattaches. Peter tells him to take palm leaves and apply them to the eyes of the other priests; if they believe, they will be healed.
The apostles take the body of Mary to the tomb and place it inside. Peter dismisses with a blessing the ten virgins who attended Mary. Then the high priest arrives and tells the apostles that the Jews sought to burn the body of the virgin, but the tomb would not burn. He tells the apostles to hide so that they will not be harmed by the mob. But God makes the high priests forget their anger and return to their homes. The apostles hear a voice saying that they will be kept safe and that Mary will be resurrected.
Some time later, on 16 Mesore, the apostles are gathered together and see flashes of lightning coming from the tomb and they smell a perfume. Jesus descends on a chariot of fire, draws Mary out of the tomb, and departs with her. The text comes to a close with the apostles making a declaration that they witnessed these events without adding anything or taking anything away.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: John (son of Zebedee), Mary (Virgin), Peter (apostle).
Geographical Locations: Sodom, temple.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (erroneously cataloged along with CPC 0005; PAThs entry)
MONB.DL (10th/11th cent.) ~ see link for editions
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 French
Revillout, Eugène. Les apocryphes coptes. Première partie: Les Évangiles des douze apôtres et de saint Barthélemy. PO 2/2. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1904 (edition and translation of portions of MONB.DL, pp. 58–67).
3.2.2 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 1.2, pp. 330–32).
Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (translation of edition by Revillout, vol. 1, pp. 896–900).
3.2.2 Spanish
Aranda Pérez, Gonzalo. Dormición de la Virgen. Relatos de la tradución copta. Apócrifos cristianos 2. Madrid: Editorial Ciudad Nueva, 1995 (introduction, pp. 63–72; translation, pp. 80–89).
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 Honor of the Virgin by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem
James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924; corrected edition, 1953 (pp. 200–201).
Jugie, Martin. La Mort et l’Assumption de la Sainte Vierge: Étude historico-doctrinale. Studi e Testi 114. Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (p. 154).
Lantschoot, Arnold van. “L’Assomption de la Sainte Vierge chez les Coptes.” Gregorianum 27 (1946): 493–526 (pp. 499–500).
Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (pp. 183–85).