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A Fourth Century Satire?
The Non-Canonical "Epistle of Titus"
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia
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A Fourth Century Satire?
The Non-Canonical "Epistle of Titus"
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia
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The Latin "Epistle of Titus, the Disciple of Paul, on the State of Chastity" |
"Epistle of Titus, the Disciple of Paul, on the State of Chastity" also known as .... The Pseudo Titus Epistle New Testament Apocrypha: Writings Relating to the Apostles Apocalypses etc By Wilhelm Schneemelcher, R. M. Wilson Apoc. Epistle of Titus listed at "FAKE DOCUMENTS" The text is quite long, and has been presented in the above book * under the name of The Pseudo Titus Epistle Aurelio de Santos Otero There is an English Translation hereThe following is taken from Wilhelm Schneemelcher et al:
As the "Epistle of Titus, the Disciple of Paul,
on the State of Chastity" there has survived a noteworthy
document which was discovered in 1896 in a Latin manuscript
of the 8th century (fols. 84-93v of the 'Codex Burchardi'...)
among the 'Homilies of Caesarius of Arles...
Only in 1925 ... was this document published ...
This 'Epistle' is composed in barbarous language,
the solecisms [a] of which are not to be explained simply
through the clumbsiness of some scribe, but also
go back in large part to the author himself.
... [a] In traditional prescriptive grammar, a solecism
is something perceived as a grammatical mistake
or absurdity, or even a simply non-standard usage.
What is most striking is not only the external apocryphal guise,
but also the liberal use that is made in it of all sorts of apocrypha,
especially the Acts of the Apostles and some of the Apocalypses.
...
The author seems to have had above all a concrete ascetic aim in view.
namely to commend a life of chastity. Thise whom he addresses belong to
a special circle of ascetics of both sexes (spadones and virgines),
who have vowed to live in the state of celebacy,
but in whose life several abuses (among them 'spiritual marraige')
have been naturalised.
...
The fact that Pseudo Titus also has recourse to apocryphal quotations
which are distinguished by their misogony [b] not only goes to prove
his own nieve enthusiasm, but also suggests the conjecture that his writing
may have originated in an environment where the ascetic life
especially flourished and the apocryphal writings
(above all the strictly ascetic Acts of the Apostles [Leucius Charinus])
enjoyed great reputation.
... [b] misogamy means hatred of marriage
The following account appears as an insertion of a stand-alone short story. It is quite revealing ... English translation "Consider and take note of the happening about which the following account informs us ...." "A peasant had a girl who was a virgin. She was his only daughter, and therefore he sought Peter to offer a prayer for her. After he had prayed, the apostle said to the father that the Lord would bestow upon her what was expedient for her soul. Immediately the girl fell down dead. O reward worthy and ever pleasing to God, to escape the shamelessness of the flesh and to break the pride of the blood! But this distrustful old man, failing to recognise the worth of the heavenly grace, i.e. the divine blessing, besought Peter again that his only daughter be raised from the dead. And some days later, after she had been raised, a man who passed himself off as a believer [20] came into the house of the old man to stay with him, and seduced the girl, and the two of them never appeared again. [21] [20] The text runs: "homo vinctus fidelis." Our translation is based on Harnack's assumption that a scribe errorneously replaced the original "fictus" by "vinctus". Ficker (NTApo,p.228) understands the "homo vinctus" as "the slave of a believer" or "a bewitched Christian man." [21] Augustine ascribes this story to the Manichaean apocrypha ...
(1) Schneemelcher states that the authors "hatred of marraige"
"proves his own nieve enthusiasm". Another alternative motive
is that the author may have selected such subject matter
in order to satirize the Canonical Christian orthodox writings.
(2) The reference in the footnotes to the alternative translation
to "the slave of a believer" or "a bewitched Christian man."
making off with the peasant's daughter may also very well
be conducive with the use of anti-Christian satire.
(3) SUMMARY of EXTRACT
A peasant seeks a prayer from Peter for his only daughter.
As an immediate result of Christian prayer, the girl falls dead.
The old man distrusts this grace and gets Peter to resurrect the girl.
Later "a bewitched Christian man." makes off with the girl.
Surely this is just another ANTI-CHRISTIAN satirization of the NT Canon?
Let's just check that this is the case by a process of simple substitution ....
Story 2 - A Moslem Story
"A peasant had a girl who was a virgin.
She was his only daughter,
and therefore he sought Muhammad
to offer a prayer for her.
After he had prayed,
the apostle said to the father
that Allah would bestow upon her
what was expedient for her soul.
Immediately the girl fell down dead.
O reward worthy and ever pleasing to Allah,
to escape the shamelessness of the flesh
and to break the pride of the blood!
But this distrustful old man,
failing to recognise the worth of the heavenly grace,
i.e. the divine blessing, besought Muhammad again
that his only daughter be raised from the dead.
And some days later, after she had been raised,
a man who passed himself off as a Moslem believer
came into the house of the old man to stay with him,
and seduced the girl, and the two
of them never appeared again.
This 2nd story might be taken as an example of antiMuslim satire
Story 3 - A Mormon Story
"A peasant had a girl who was a virgin.
She was his only daughter,
and therefore he sought Joseph Smith
to offer a prayer for her.
After he had prayed,
Joseph said to the father
that the Mormon Lord would bestow upon her
what was expedient for her soul.
Immediately the girl fell down dead.
O reward worthy and ever pleasing to Mormon God,
to escape the shamelessness of the flesh
and to break the pride of the blood!
But this distrustful old man,
failing to recognise the worth of the heavenly grace,
i.e. the divine blessing, besought Joseph Smith again
that his only daughter be raised from the dead.
And some days later, after she had been raised,
a man who passed himself off as a Mormon believer
came into the house of the old man to stay with him,
and seduced the girl, and the two
of them never appeared again.
This might be taken as an example of antiMormon satire
Summary
(1) A peasant seeks a prayer from a religious leader for his only daughter.
(2) As an immediate result of the religious leaders prayer, the girl falls dead.
This is not what any poor peasant, or any of us, would call a good result.
In fact is it not the worst result possible?
The author presents the religious leaders God as a henchman.
(3) The old man distrusts this grace and gets Peter to resurrect the girl.
The humor is that the author presents the girl's death as "the grace of the religious leaders God"
-- this humor may be BLACK (see below) -- and I think that it may be viewed as a scathing satire
against the religious leader, the religious leaders God and the religion of these.
We also have the question ...
Why does the religious leader reverse the results of his prayer to his god?
Why does he resurrect whom God has struck down?
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?
WHo is presented as having the final authority between the religious leader and his god?
(4) Later "a bewitched Christian man." makes off with the girl.
This compounds the satire since here at the conclusion of the story
is that what commenced as the virginity of a poor peasant's daughter,
is literally stolen by one of the "deranged members of the religious leader's religion.
Someone is taking pot shots at the religion.
Given this contextual historical background, it is my conclusion that this text may represent an anti christian satire against the new official christian state and imperially sponsored religion under Constantine or his sons (324 to c.359 CE). In support of this conclusion I can cite evidence from the orthodox christian "historian" Eusebius that unbelievers were holding the sacred texts of christianity up for ridicule in the Greek theaters of Alexandria c.324 CE.
ADDENDA .... "Gnostic texts use parody and satire quite frequently ... making fun of traditional biblical beliefs" [April Deconick] A Tale of Three Stories I have outlined three stories based on the original text below. A Moslem Story, A Mormon Story and a General Religious Story. Below this presentation I outline the reasons by which I was convinced that we are dealing with a simple satire directed against the christian religion in this original text.
Why is this satire?
Some questions about the original text, the answers to which may suggest satire ... As one reads through the story sequentially Here are some questions which led me to this conclusion .... We start with a peasant - we might even say a pagan. Was his daughters death a good result for the peasant?. In fact is it not the worst result possible for the peasant? Who here would want their daughter struck down dead? Which moralist wants to have his daughter struck down? Something is not what it seems. It is not just a simple tale for authoritatian moralists. Does not the author present the religious leaders God as a henchman? Why does the author presents the girl's death as "the grace of the religious leaders God"? Are we dealing with a humor that is BLACK (see below)? Are we simply dealing with a simple satire of a religion? Why does the religious leader reverse the results of his prayer to his god? Why does he resurrect whom God has struck down? Isn't this putting the cart before the horse? WHo is presented as having the final authority between the religious leader and his god? Why at the conclusion of the story is that what commenced as the virginity of a poor peasant's daughter, literally stolen by one of the "deranged members of the religious leader's religion? It seems to my way of thinking that the author is taking pot shots at the religion, and that the text is simply a satire. It is cited as a complete story within the text of the overall "Epistle".Why would anyone satire Christianity, Islam, Mormonism, Scientology, etc ...
Necessary Contextual Background is that this text is another late (4th century or later) "Non Canonical Text". Satire is often used as the last ditch between the oppressor and the oppressed. Religious leader and political leaders are all possible subjects of satire especially when a new religion is coming into being and rising prominently amidst an older background of other religions which are being banned. In the 4th century (when gnostic still wrote) the Christian religion was NEW One must bear in mind there was nessarily an epoch in which the christian religion was new, just like a time or an epoch at which time Islam was new, or Mormonism or Scientology (etc etc etc) was new. With the christian religion this epoch was the 4th century, and it is from this specific epoch that this simple story was perhaps first authored and preserved.. Christianity then was one of those new and strange religions, such as the Scientology or Reverand Moon to this century (there would be many examples). The point is that the context I am proposing is that when the christian religion is new. This time best translates as the time when the 50 copies of the Bible were officially launched c.325 CE. Big splash! Given this contextual historical background, it is my conclusion that this text may represent an anti christian satire against the new official christian state and imperially sponsored religion under Constantine or his sons (324 to c.359 CE). In support of this conclusion I can cite evidence from the orthodox christian "historian" Eusebius that unbelievers were holding the sacred texts of christianity up for ridicule in the Greek theaters of Alexandria c.324 CE.