Pseudo-Methodius, Apocalypse and Anonymous, An Alexandrian World Chronicle

 

Τῷ δὲ πεντακοσιοστῷ χπὸνῷ τῆς δεθτὲρας χιλιὰδος `έτι μείζὁνος ἐξεκαὐθησαν ὲπὶ τῇ ἀθἐσμῷ  πορνεἰὰ πάντες οἰ άνθρωποι έω τῇ παρεμβολή Κάϊν τῆς προτέρας χείρονες γενόμενοι γενεάς, οἵ  και δικήν αλόγων ζώων αλλήλοις ἐπἐβαινον, ἐπί μέν τοὺς ἅρρενας τό θῆλυ, ἔπὶ δἐ θῆλυ τὀ ἅρρεν. (p.7)

Anno autem D secundi miliarii adhuc etiam mails exarserunt in obscinissimam fornicationem omnes homines in vastris Cain, peius factie priori generationis.  Qui et in more animalium in alterutrum convenientes insurgebant, et quidem in virilem muliebrem sexum <...>.  Similiter isdem turpissimis et incestis actibus hi, qui grant de cognation Cain, utebantur. (p. 80, 82)

For almost as long as Christianity has existed, visions of the end, eschaton, have been proclaimed.  These purported "unveilings" (which is what the word Apocalypse approximately means), have taken many forms.  For tens of millions today (such as the majority of my family, if not quite myself), the Apocalypse begins with a Rapture, or taking up of the faithful to meet Jesus before the seven years of the Great Tribulation begin (for billions of others who profess the Christian faith, this belief, originating in the 19th century, is a pre-millenist heresy).

And despite the disparate beliefs of the eschaton, the notion of the End has had a certain lurid appeal.  Of the earlier post-Revelations apocalyptic books, the seventh century CE book by Pseudo-Methodius (it was a custom in antiquity and the early centuries that followed the collapse of the western provinces of the Roman Empire for authors to take famous religious names as their own, with the hopes of the saintly names lending gravity to their writings) is perhaps one of the first multilingual eschatological bestsellers.  Apocalypse was originally written in Greek sometime around the year 692, based on textual evidence.  It was composed in the aftermath of three generations of calamities for the remnant Roman Empire.  From 632-697, province after province in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa were lost to the advancing armies emerging out of the Arabian peninsula who proclaimed the new faith of Islam.  To many, it was as if the world were on the cusp of collapsing.

By this time, the eastern Empire was thoroughly Christian, if not quite united in beliefs.  The Empire had changed in the previous four centuries from being the cruel persecutor of Christianity to the stalwart defender of the faith.  For many, Christianity had become co-terminus with imperium.  This belief is very prominent throughout Apocalypse, making for imagery that may be puzzling to those modern believers in the eschaton who see the Roman Empire as the harbinger of a worldy, materialistic anti-Christian entity that would emerge to tattoo people with the Sign of the Beast or other such modern imagery.

Pseudo-Methodius's Apocalypse begins with a chronologistic approach, beginning with a history of the world and its sins.  I have quoted above a passage from the second chapter dealing with the progeny of Cain.  I purposely didn't give the translation because it might be more fun for those who do know either Greek or Latin what the author is condemning (and to convince others to use Google Translate to find out what is perversely amusing about that short passage).  In these chapters, in which Old Testament figures and populations are interwoven with the then-current age, there are scourges (such as the 7th century Arabs) who emerge to represent God's wrath over the sins of the world.  Over the course of 14 short chapters (the whole is perhaps 40 pages in English translation), the author presents the case for why contemporary evils were transpiring, before presenting a vision in which a future saintly Roman Emperor would emerge to reclaim the lost lands before relinquishing his authority (and life) in Jerusalem as Jesus descends from Heaven with the Saints.  The imperium of the Romans, transformed into a sort of quasi-dyad with orthodox Christianity, has yielded to its holy successor, the imperium of Christ.

Apocalypse is a fascinating read, as its representations of sinful deeds and the coming triumph of Christ is presented in vivid prose.  It is easy to understand how in a world in which the western Empire had collapsed and new scourges (e.g. the nomadic invasions of the 5th-11th centuries) had emerged that this work was quickly translated into Latin and disseminated throughout the former Roman provinces.  While its presentation may seem quaint today, it still is a key historical work of apocalyptic literature that is well worth the time for anyone interested in the historiography of eschatology to read.

In the Dumbarton Oaks edition that I read, there is a companion work, the anonymous An Alexandrian World Chronicle, that was presented in Latin to the Frankish court by eastern Roman diplomats in the mid-6th century CE.  It is one of the earliest examples of the Christian chronicles of the world.  Divided into two volumes, it presents the world from the entrance of sin until contemporary times.  While there is a strong religious element to it, this work contains lists (a veritable plethora of lists) of rulers from the pharaohs to the Roman emperors, with purported times of their reigns and any notable events during their reigns.  In isolation, this work can be rather tedious at times to read, but taken piecemeal, it does provide an early look at the general layout used by latter world/national chronicles to cover the history of (and reason for) various political entities.

Together, these two works, Apocalypse and An Alexandrian World Chronicle, demonstrate how the 5th century nomadic invasions did not quite sever completely the Latin and Greek-speaking Mediterranean cultures.  The historical value of these two works is immense, even if the writing quality of the second work might not be as appealing to modern readers.