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Apprehending the Archangel Michael: hagiographic methods1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Glenn Peers
Glenn Peers*
Affiliation:
Toronto, Ontario
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Extract

This essay examines the means by which hagiographies attempt to describe the presence and appearances of the Archangel Michael. It deals with several hagiographies at some length in order to demonstrate the ways in which each text persuades its audience of the Archangel’s benign proximity. It examines, in particular, the hagiographies of the miracle at Chonae since the ‘pre-history’ of this cult is relatively clear and the shrine’s activities during the Byzantine period were widely acclaimed. This essay also discusses other hagiographies, namely of the sanctuary at Monte Gargano and of the shrine described by Michael Psellus (1018-1081?). In examining these texts, certain structural similarities become apparent: access to the Archangel is made difficult by his unique angelic nature and this difficulty led to textual strategies that make Michael more firmly entrenched in the texts’ levels of narrative. The hagiographies reveal Michael’s elusive elemental force active in a landscape, and work to bind the Archangel — notionally at least — to places in order to strengthen expectation of devotional return.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 20 , 1996, pp. 100 - 121
Copyright
Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1996

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References

2. Ramsay, W., The Church in the Roman Empire Before 170 A.D. (New York-London 1893) 468, and 478 Google Scholar.

3. I argue in my unpublished dissertation, ‘Representing Angels: Cult and Theology in Byzantine Art’ (Johns Hopkins University, 1995), that the hagiography of the miracle at Chonae has common elements with eighth- and ninth-century ‘non-iconophile’ hagiographies analysed recently by Marie-France Auzépy. These common elements allow the Chonae hagiography to be situated in an eighth-/ninth-century context of dissent over proper worship and approach. See Auzépy, M.-F., ‘L’analyse littéraire et l’historien: l’exemple des vies de saints iconoclates’, BS 53 (1992) 57–67 Google Scholar, and my essay, ‘Hagiographie models of worship of images and angels’, forthcoming in B.

4. MPG 98, 1264A.

5. AASS Sept. 8, 41C ff.

6. Bonnet, 20ff. = AB 8 (1889) 308ff. See, for the hagiographies of Michael, BHG, nos. 128ff.

7. MPG 117, 33CD, ‘In a town called Chonae, once Colossae, there was a man by the name of Archippus, prudent and God fearing. He settled at the spring, which gushed forth on account of the guardianship of the Archistrategos, and because of the many miracles, and conversions and baptisms which occurred at the spring, Archippus provoked the jealousy of the hellènes, who could not bear to see the wonderful miracles. Gnashing their teeth over the venerble agiasma, and over Archippus they gathered a great many sympathisers, and damned two rivers, and mixing them together, unleashed them directly to overturn the church, agiasma, and Archippus. As Archippus heard the roaring of the waters, he called on the Archistrategos to help. And straightaway he appeared and struck the rock with his staff which he held and he tunneled the water into the opening. Thereafter the place was called Chonae.’

8. See Liddell, H.G., Scott, R., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford 1968) s.v. , iv Google Scholar.

9. All citations in the text refer to Bonnet.

10. See Gothein, E., ‘L’arcangelo Michele, santo popolare dei Longobardi’, Rassegna Pugliese di scienze, lettere ed arte 13 (1896) 108–9 Google Scholar. Similarly, Hasluck, F.W., Letters on Religion and Folklore (London 1926) 85ff Google Scholar., stated that Michael’s connection with Chonae was with the chasm and not the spring. He saw Michael’s role as primarily of a ‘devil-dompter’ at the mouth of hell; as the opponent of the devil, Michael took care of healings and madness.

11. Guiraud, P., ‘Étymologie et ethymologia (Motivation et rétromotivation)’, Poétique 11 (1972) 408 Google Scholar, ‘Mais dans tous les exemples ici en cause le nom reprend ses droits et c’est lui qui motivé le statut sémiologique du signifié: la forme crée le fond, le mot engendre la chose, par un procédé que l’on pourrait appeler “rétro-motivation”.’ And also, Struever, N., ‘Fables of Power’, Representations 4 (1983) 112 Google Scholar, ‘In retro-motivation, names create situations, narratives generate structures, words engender things; … the newly endowed word is then used as a proof of phenomenal character or event…’ (My thanks to Stéphane Beauroy for talking over this point and suggesting this article.)

12. See, for instance, Otranto, G., ‘Il “Liber de apparitione,” il santuario di San Michele sii Gargano e il Longobardi del Ducato di Benevento’, Santuari e politica nel mondo antico, ed. Sodi, M. (Milan 1983) 241ff Google Scholar.

13. Otranto, G., ‘Il “Liber de apparitione” e il culto di San Michele sul Gargano nella documentazione liturgica altomedievale’, Vetera Christianorum 18 (1981) 440ff Google Scholar.

14. This text was first reported by Petrucci, A., Una versione greco-bizantina dell’Apparino Sancii Michaelis in Monte Gargano (Rome 1955)Google Scholar; and it has been subsequently edited by Sandro Leanza with new readings now found in his ‘Altre due versioni greche inedite dell’Apparitio Sancii Michaelis in Monte Gargano’, in Culto e insediamenti micaelici nell ‘Italia meridionale fra tarda Antichità e Medioevo, ed. C. Carletti and G. Otranto (Bari 1994) 85-93.

15. Rintelen, W.v., Kultgeographische Studien in der Italia Byzantina. Untersuchungen tiber die Kulte des Erzengels Michael und der Madonna di Costantinopoli in Süditalien (Meisenheim am Gian 1968) 15 Google Scholar.

16. AASS Sept. 8, 60B.

17. Leanza, 301, 38-9, AASS Sept. 8, 61C, and MGH 541, 28-31.

18. AASS Sept. 8, 61E, MGH 542, 23-4, and Leanza, 303, 98ff.

19. Leanza, 303, 105-304, 107.

20. Footprints are common signs of presence in ancient sanctuaries throughout the Mediterranean, and they state presence, either of the divinity or of the worshipper. See Dunbabin, K.M.D., ‘“Ipsadeaevestigiae …” Footprints Divine and Human on Graeco-Roman Monuments’, Journal of Roman Archaeology 3 (1990)85–109 Google Scholar. (Dr. Nancy Bookidis very kindly provided me with this reference.)

21. Leanza, 306, 156ff; AASS Sept. 8, 62AB; MGH 543, 4-14.

22. Gothein, , ‘L’arcangelo Michele’, 141 Google Scholar. And see Otranto, G., Cadetti, C., Il santuario di S. Michele arcangelo sul Gargano dalle origine al X secolo (Bari 1990) 57ff Google Scholar., and Campagna, O., ‘La grotta di S. Michele alla Serra di Grisolia’, Bolletino della Badia Greca di Grotta/errata n.s.40 (1986) 57–65 Google Scholar, on the typology of Michael’s cave sanctuanes. On mountain top sanctuanes, see Baumeister, T., ‘Religionsgeschichtliche und kultgeographische Aspekte der westlichen Michaelsverehrung,’ in Memoriam sanctorum venerantes: miscellanea in onore di Monsignor Victor Saxer (Studi di antichità cristiana, 48. Vatican City 1992) 11–19 Google Scholar.

23. Leanza, 300, 5-7.

24. On the topography, see Fisher, E.A., ‘Nicomedia or Galatia? Where Was Psellos’ Church of the Archangel Michael?’ in Gonimos. Neoplatonic and Byzantine Studies Presented to Leendert G. Westerlink at 75, ed. Duffy, J. and Peradotto, J. (Buffalo, 1988) 170ff Google Scholar. (My thanks to Nancy Śevčenko for this reference); and Mango, C., ‘La croix dite de Michel le Cérulaire et la croix de Saint-Michel de Sykéôn’, Cahiers archéologiques 36 (1988) 48 Google Scholar. See, also, now Martin-Hasard, B., ‘Le culte de l’archange Michel dans l’empire byzantin (VIIIe-XIe siècles)’, in Culto e insediamenti micaelici nell’Italia meridionale fra tarda Antichità e Medioevo, ed. Carletti, C. and Otranto, G. (Bari 1994) 356ff Google Scholar.

25. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 121, 26ff.

26. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 125, 12ff.

27. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 126, Iff.

28. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 126, 24ff.

29. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 126, 19-22.

30. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 133, 13-15.

31. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 130, 20ff.

32. Sissinius, AASS Sept. 8, 46EF, describes Michael further as a ‘flashing forth of angelic glory’, an implicit comparison to Moses at Exodus 34: 29ff. For instance, Gregory of Nyssa (ca. 330-ca. 395), MPG 44, 1025C, says that Moses was like the sun, with ‘the light flashing forth from his face.’

Archippus’s reaction is not untypical of such a dreadful epiphany: see Rowland, C., The Open Heaven. A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity (New York 1982) 367 Google Scholar.

33. The same description is found in the Metaphrastic version (Bonnet, 27, 8-9). Sissinius, AASS Sept. 8, 46E, signals the indescribable nature of the vision with standing on the hard rock near the shrine. The ‘just as’ is a significant marker of an approximate description.

34. AASS Sept. 8, 46E. According to Sissinius, Michael disappeared as incomprehensibly as he arrived, ‘The venerable one saw him as if a flame of fire streamed up into the heavens; filled with puzzlement and fear, he went back to sing psalms in the holy shrine, “God has sent his angel and liberated and saved me from the snares of the beasts, and he guarded his sacred shrine from the inundation of the waters.”’ (AASS Sept. 8, 47AB.)

35, Leanza, 303, 83ff. and 315; AASS Sept. 8, 61D.

36. One further example is the appearance of Michael to Gregory the Great (ca. 540-604) on top of Hadrian’s Mausoleum, subsequently Castel San Angelo, in 590. (AASS Sept. 8, 72BC) The connection of the appearance of Michael to Gregory and 1 Chronicles was noted by Hasluck, , Letters on Religions and Folklore, 84–5 Google Scholar.

37. Rojdestvensky, O., Le culte de saint Michel et le moyen age latin (Paris 1922) 54 Google Scholar. See, also, Lueken, W., Michael. Eine Darstellung und Vergleichung der judischen und der morgenländisch-christlichen Tradition vom Erzengel Michael (Göttingen 1898) 73–4 Google Scholar.

38. Rojdestvensky, , Le culte de saint Michel, 55 Google Scholar.

39. Gothein, , ‘L’arcangelo Michele’, 108–9 Google Scholar.

40. MPG 140, 573B-574B.

41. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 120,Iff. and 127, 16-7.

42. This again is a topos of discussion of angels. See, for instance, the sermon ‘On Faith’ by Philoxenus of Mabbug (ca. 440-523), in Budge, E.A.W., The Discourses of Philoxenus Bishop of Mabbôgh, A.D. 485-519. Vol. II. Introduction, Translation, etc. (London 1894) 29–31 Google Scholar. For Pantaleon, the process of apprehension is also indirect; see MPG 140, 575AB.

43. The parallel with the appearance of the angels to drive Apollonius out of the temple in the Third Book of Maccabees is striking: ‘… there appeared from heaven angels, with flashing armour, who filled them with dread and terror. Then did Apollonius fall half dead in the court of the Gentiles and he stretched his hands to heaven …’ See The Third and Fourth Book of Maccabees, trans. Hadas, M. (New York 1953/rp. New York 1976) 164 Google Scholar (4:9-14).

44. Halkin, F., Inédits byzantins d’Ochrida, Candie et Moscou (Brussels 1963) 149–50 Google Scholar.

45. Mango, C., ‘St. Michael and Atis’, 12 (1984) 44 Google Scholar. However, see Mango’s advice (ibid., 44 n7) with regard to the so-called cross of Michael Cerularius in the collection of Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

46. The middle Byzantine assimilation of court officials, particularly eunuchs, and angels, and the incongruities of that assimilation, have been examined recently by Maltese, E.V., ‘Gli angeli in terra: sull’imaginario dell’angelo bizantino’, Materiali e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici 24 (1990) 111–32 Google Scholar.

47. Finally, one need only browse through the many texts concerning Michael and the other angels collected by Amélineau, E., in Contes et romans de l’Egypte chrétienne (Paris 1888)Google Scholar, to realise the endless variations possible.

48. Kurtz/Drexl, I, 138, 23-7. On this episode, see Cutler, A., Browning, R., ‘In the Margins of Byzantium? Some Icons in Michael Psellos’, BMGS 16 (1992) 24–5 Google Scholar.

49. Mango, C., ‘On the History of the Templon and the Martyrion of St. Artemios at Constantinople’, Zograf 10 (1979) 40ff Google Scholar.

50. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A., Varia graeca sacra. Sbornik Greceskich Neizdannych Bogoslovskich Tekstov IV-XV Vekov (Leipzig 1909/rp. Leipzig 1975) 52–3 Google Scholar, and Mango, ‘On the History of the Templon’, 43.

51. Dagron, G., ‘Holy Images and Likeness,’ DOP 45 (1991) 30ff Google Scholar.; and also his ‘Rêver de Dieu et parler de soi. Le rêve et son interprétation d’après les sources byzantines’, in / sogni nel medioevo, ed. T. Gregory (Rome 1985) 42ff.

52. Deubner, L., Kosmas und Damián. Texte und Einleitung (Leipzig 1907) 133,23–24 Google Scholar.

53. See Mansi, G.D., Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 53 vols, in 58 pts. (Paris-Leipzig 1901-27) 13, 32C–33C Google Scholar.

54. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, , Varía graeca sacra, 7, 15-16, 14, 5, 15, 12-13, 35, 21, 60,15–16 Google Scholar.

55. See Deubner, L., De incubatione capita quattor (Leipzig 1900) 68ff Google Scholar.

56. Deubner, , Kosmas und Damián, 99, 21 [my stress]. And other examples of guises: 135,25 Google Scholar, ‘appearing in the form of a jteptxúxou,’ and 145, 43-4, ‘… the two appeared to him in the forms of clerics.’

57. Deubner, De incubatione, 80ff.

58. I can only refer to this important issue in passing but I do examine it more fully in my dissertation, ‘Representing Angels: Cult and Theology in Byzantine Art’.

59. The Greek Anthology, 5 vols., ed. W.R. Paton (London 1927) 1, 34; trans. Mango, C., The Art of the Byzantine Empire. 312-1453. Sources and Documents (Toronto 1986) 115 Google Scholar.