Dear Colleagues,
It gives us great pleasure to share the final programme of The Late Antique Cult of Saints in Eastern Christianity conference (4–5 May, 2023), to be held at the University of Oxford. We would like to invite all to register their attendance through the conference website, where information regarding the papers and speakers is provided. The deadline to register for in-person participation is 2 May. Due to demand, the conference will be streamed via Microsoft Teams. To have access the broadcast, please note that you must register through the website as well.
PROGRAMME:
The Late Antique Cult of Saints in Eastern Christianity
4–5 May 2023
Ertegun House, Oxford
Thursday, 4 May
9:15–9:45 Coffee & Tea
9:45–11:15 Plenary Session
CORNELIA HORN (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg) Memories of Mary among the Pilgrims in Early Byzantine Palestine
11:15–11:30 Break
11:30–13:00 Panel A
PIETY AND PRACTICE
Chair: Phil Booth
CALLAN MEYNELL (University of Oxford) Saint Demetrios and Thessaloniki in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries: The Rise and Fall of an Intercessor?
RAFAIL ZOULIS (Yale University) Swearing in Saints’ Shrines: Legal Oaths, Localised Law, and Hagiography in the Late Antique Mediterranean
KAROLINA TOMCZYSZYN (University of Warsaw) “Anoint your chest and eat some of the wax-salve”: The Use of “Holy Oils” in the Late Antique Cult of Saints in Eastern Christianity
13:00–14:00 Lunch Break
14:00–15:30 Panel B
CONSTRUCTING HOLINESS
Chair: David Taylor
TOM ALEXANDER (University of Oxford) The Ravenous Marwānid Lion and Constantine of the Khurasanis: Navigating the ʿAbbāsid Revolution in the Life of Khaʿīl I (d. 767)
GIULIA DI DOMENICO (University of Bologna) The Cult of the Cross-Dressing Saints and the Legitimisation of Gender Metamorphosis
GEORGE RAMBOW (Princeton Theological Seminary) The Invention of Cyprian of Antioch
15:30–15:45 Break
15:45–17:00 Visit to the Ashmolean Museum
18:00 Social drinks at the Royal Oak Pub
Friday, 5 May
10:30–11:00 Coffee & Tea
11:00–13:00 Panel C
RECORDING SAINTHOOD
Chair: Arietta Papaconstantinou
NATALIE REYNOSO (Fordham University) Obedience unto Death in the Life of Febronia and the Cult that Emerged in the Wake of her Death
DRAGOLJUB GARIC (KU Leuven) Virginity and Noble Suicide in John Chrysostom and Eusebius of Emessa’s Martyr Homilies
KONSTANTINOS BILIAS (Inscriptiones Graeca/Freie Universität Berlin) Three New Fragments of the Parapegma of Sicyon (CSLA E06318)
SIMON PIERRE (Sorbonne Université) The Construction of a Cult and a Life (6th-9th cent) – How Mār Aḥūdemmeh Became the “Apostle and Martyr” Patron Saint for the Miaphysites of Iraq
13:00–14:00 Lunch Break
14:00–15:30 Panel D
SAINTS AND THE RELIGIOUS OTHER
Chair: Alison Salvesen
NUNA TERRI (Université libre de Bruxelles) Saint Thekla in Seleukeia on the Kalykadnos: Model of Intercession and Interconnector between Religious Traditions in Rough Cilicia?
OSNAT EMILY RANCE (University of Regensburg) Copy-Paste: Symeon Stylites’ Triumph over the Jews as a Local Version of the Callinicum Episode
ADINA GOLDMAN (Princeton University) “Rejoice, my innards, rejoice!”: Comedy and Awe in the Life of a Rabbinic “Saint”
15:30–16:00 Break
16:00–17:30 Plenary Session
DAVID TAYLOR (University of Oxford) Adopting the Saints of ‘the Neighbours’: The Case of Egyptian Saints in Syriac
17:30–18:30 Wine Reception
19:00 Dinner
We look forward to seeing you! Chloé Agar, Andrew Hochstedler, and Ya’el Nu’emah Krämer