Università Roma Tre

“Sons of the Covenant” or The asceticism in Syria before the birth of monasticism.
The course aims to introduce students to the great season of ascetic literature in Syriac language, represented by the Expositions of Afraates, the hymns of Efrem and the liber graduum. Particular attention will be paid to the historical context of which such literary production constitutes the expression, that is the institution of the "Sons of the Covenant,"an ascetic pattern that precedes monasticism and is sometimes in friction with episcopal power.

Bibliography:
- P. Bettiolo, Letteratura siriaca, in A.Di Berardino ( a cura di) Patrologia V. Dal Concilio di Calcedonia (451)
a Giovanni Damasceno (†750): I Padri Orientali, Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Marietti, Genova
2000, pp. 413-493.
- V. Berti, Il monachesimo siriaco, in G.Filoramo (ed.), Monachesimo orientale. Un’introduzione, Morcelliana,
Brescia 2010, pp. 139-192.
Further indications will be provided during the class
For the students who can not attend class:
- P.Bettiolo, Letteratura siriaca, in A.Di Berardino ( a cura di) Patrologia V. Dal Concilio di Calcedonia (451) a
Giovanni Damasceno (†750): I Padri Orientali, Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Marietti, Genova 2000,
pp. 413-493.
and one text among the following:
- G.Filoramo (ed.), Monachesimo orientale. Un’introduzione, Morcelliana, Brescia 2010.
- R. Murray, Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge 1975, repr. Gorgias Press, Piscataway, NJ, 2004.