Slaves in early Christian communities basing on the North African hagiography

Alekaey Vital’evich Kargaltsev PhD in History, senior lecturer, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (naberezhnaya reki Moiki, 48/20a, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 191186)
akargaltsev@herzen.spb.ru

Kargaltsev A. V. Slaves in early Christian communities basing on the North African hagiography, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2022, vol. 11, pp. 150–159.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2022-11-150-159

Language: Russian

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of slavery in the writings of early Christian authors. The main attention is paid to hagiographic monuments, where the well-known maxim of the Apostle Paul that «there is neither slave nor free» (Gal. 3:28) is analyzed. It is seen not only in the traditional background of opposing the biblical ideal of social equality and the harsh truth of the life of ancient society, where slavery was the basis of economic life, but also in the light of the position of believers on the eve of suffering for the faith. This ideal seemed to find a comprehensive embodiment. It is noted that it was in the Church of North Africa, as Tertullian testifies, that the problem of slavery was no longer perceived as exclusively social and was leveled by the Christian faith. Slavery was condemned as such, since Christians themselves were servants of God, and in the pagan world it was no worse than all other social vices. The «Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity» mentions the slaves of Felicity and Revocat, but the content of the monument only emphasizes that their fate is one with their masters. In other hagiographic monuments of Roman Africa of the 3rd c. the social status of Christian heroes is completely ignored, which only emphasizes that only on the eve of martyrdom, being in prison, filled with sincere and deep faith, they could achieve the social ideal of the the Apostle Paul. Thus, the problem of the duality of social life, which obviously burdened the believers, is removed, which, among other things, explains both the popularity of martyrdom and Tertullian’s opinion that the real Church is the Church of martyrs.

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Key words: earlier Christianity, hagiography, slavery, Roman Empire, North Africa

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/en/en-kargaltsev-2022/

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Epistle to Philemon in the light of Theology of Apostle Paul

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Bitkin Bachelor of Theology, master of Biblical studies, Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (der. Kolbino, 25a, Leningrad region, Vsevolozhsk district, Russia, 188680)
maestro921@mail.ru

Bitkin V. A. Epistle to Philemon in the light of theology of apostle Paul, Religiya. Tserkov’. Obshchestvo. Issledovaniya i publikatsii po teologii i religii [Religion. Church. Society: Research and publications in the field of theology and religious studies], Saint-Petersburg, 2022, vol. 10, pp. 16–35.

doi: 10.24412/2308-0698-2022-10-16-35

Language: Russian

The article deals with the shortest epistle of the apostle, with a pronounced practical instruction. The appeal to Philemon stands out from the rest of Paul’s writings. However, despite its formal and rhetorical peculiarities, it should be considered in the light of the general Pauline corpus. Having critically analyzed the academic approach on the issue, the author insists that the brevity of the epistle does not mean its theological insignificance. Also, arguments are collected in favor of the traditional interpretation of the epistle, and some considerations are made regarding the place of its creation, that could have been either Ephesus or another city on the route of Paul’s journey. The content of the epistle is an example of the filigree rhetoric of persuasion and, at the same time it can’t be separated from the deep eschatological worldview of the apostle.

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Key words: exegesis, Ephesus, Rome, Onesimus, slavery, belief, eschatology

URL: http://rcs-almanac.ru/en/bitkin-2022-en/

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