AUTHOR: Silviu LUPAȘCU
ABBA SOPATRUS ON APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE
Danubius, XL, Galati, 2022, pp. 209-220.
Abstract
The textual proximity of “woman” and “apocryphal literature” in a fragment included in the Apophthegmata Patrum may seem paradoxical. Abba Sopatrus’ apophthegm must be understood against the background of the theological debates of Origenists and non-Origenists during the IVth – VIth centuries, in Northern Egypt, and consequently needs to be exegetically enframed between Emperor Justinian Ist (l. 482-565; r. 527-565)’s Edictum contra Origenem and Archimandrite Shenute of Atripe (348-466)’s Contra Origenistas. In fact, the contemporary Gnostic literature was able to generate heretical sexual imagery. The Apocryphon of John (II, 1; III, 1; IV, 1; BG 8502, 2), included in the Nag Hammadi Library, explains in a sexual manner the origin of evil. Abba Sopatrus’ apophthegm testifies about the proximity of Christianity and Gnosticism in Northern Egypt during the period of the Desert Fathers, and also about the effort of the abbas to establish firm limits against sexual lust and the lust of the erroneous dogmata. The one and the other included a tremendous potential danger to disintegrate the monks’ peace of mind and peace of soul.
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