Syllabus
Oral examination will be from one of the following questions:
1. The origins of cults of saints, pagan and Jewish influences
2. The earliest Greek hagiography 1 - circle letters (Martyrium Polycarpi)
3. The earliest Greek hagiography 2 - apostle stories
4. The earliest Latin hagiography - acta martyrum, the first passions (Perpetua and Felicita) and panegyrics (Vita Cypriani)
5. Depositio Martyrum, Roman passiones (Laurentius, Agnes, Sebastian) and Roman sepulchral basilicas
6. Translations
7. Patron saints of churches
8. Martyrologies (of Jeremy, Beda, Florus, Adon, Usuard, and Roman) and calenders in breviaries and missals
9. The earliest lives of heremits (Antonius and Paul)
10. The earliest lives of bishops (Martin, Ambros and Augustin) and the earliest collections of lives (Peristefanon)
Annotation
The cult of saints is one of the chief phenomenona of Christianity and its two thousand year history. This course is a contemporary lecture and seminar, so that the explanatory section is connected with the reading and interpretation of hagiographical literature and sources, as well as the sources to the history of cults of saints.