Using Written Records in Liturgical Oratory: Conflicting Views in Late Sixth-and Early Seventh-Century Egypt

Abstract:I build on insights from performance criticism to model the interface of writing and liturgical oratory in late antique Egypt, with attention to evidence of tension in the relationship. By examining some of the textual remains of late antique oratory, I argue that, in principle, writing served as the invisible, backstage help to oratorical performance. In general, written records supplied memory aids, as a script does to a play. Oratorical performances were recorded in writing, often by stenographers, and published so as to supply scripts for others to produce derivative works by re-performing them. The role of the scriptures and the distinction between orthodoxy and heresy brought this relationship of the invisible backstage guide to the visible performer into question. Two types of writings became more visible, so to speak. For John of Paralos and Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, the written records of heretical orations could not be re-used. In addition, the written records of the scriptures became less malleable on the part of the orator. Pseudo-Evodius of Rome, however, endorsed full discretion on the part of the homilist to produce derivative works of the scriptures.