The theme of the holy places of Palestine in the theology of St. Sophronius of Jerusalem

Annotation. The article examines the theological thought of St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (c. 550–638/39) about the holy places of Palestine, which receives original expression in the genres of sermon and anacreontic verse. It is shown that his theology of holy places touches on the areas of apologetics (polemics against pagan philosophy and epistemology), Christology, soteriology and direct communication with God, biblical exegesis. It identifies the following topics: 1) holy places as means of knowledge of God; 2) as an argument confirming the reality of the human nature of Christ in the context of the problem of the movement of God, who fills and cannot contain everything, and at the same time, by virtue of His incarnation, moving from one place to another - a topic significant for the saint’s polemic against monoenergism; 3) veneration and worship given to holy places; 4) the closeness of the veneration of holy places in its theological content and function to the veneration of the Cross of the Lord and the iconographic image of Christ; 5) the connection between holy places and the possibility of contemplating sacred events there as a mystical experience of comprehending spiritual realities; 6) the opportunity to experience Divine grace in holy places; 7) love for holy places, expressed in joy, reverence, memories of them, aspiration to holy places, surprise, gratitude, as well as longing and sadness from the loss of these places, pain from separation from them - using a rich set of poetic means for this. The pragmatic and sacral-mystical role of holy places is explored, within which the functions of revelation, veneration and worship of God, as well as polemical-apologetic, epistemological, anagogical and charismatic functions are highlighted. The reflection of this love in the field of biblical exegesis is shown: the prototype of the desire for holy things is Adam (Gen. 3:23–24), Moses (Deut. 34:1–5), David (2 Sam. 23:8–17) and all the righteous who wanted to see God’s salvation (Matt. 13:17; 1 Pet. 1:8–12). From the 16th century Many works were devoted to systematic theological reflection on the phenomena of pilgrimage and, in part, the holy places of Palestine, the surge of which occurred during the era of the Reformation and the reaction to it, affected the Protestant, Catholic, and then the Greek Orthodox environment and with its methodology showed that the theological thought about pilgrimage and holy places is deeply rooted in the patristic tradition 1 . In the 2nd half. XX century scientists again and with increased interest turned to the study of these phenomena, and the discussion about them, while remaining part of the interconfessional scientific field, at the same time entered the interdisciplinary field, becoming the object of study from the positions of history, literary criticism, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and religious studies. In the field of theology today, the understanding of holy places is recognized as a special branch of theology, which can be designated as “theology of holy places” 2 and partly “theology of pilgrimage”, within which the attention of researchers continues to be drawn to patristic theological thought about the holy places of Palestine as a necessary component of this broader section of theology 3 . We see the task of theological reflection on holy places as twofold: on the one hand, codifying - aimed at mastering, systematically describing, interpreting and updating the heritage already accumulated by the Church, but remaining largely unexplored in this area, and at the same time fundamental - designed to formulate a holistic church teaching about holy places and their veneration, which today is expressed mainly in the form of pilgrimage. As for the relationship between the theology of holy places and the theology of pilgrimage, we note that theological reflection on holy places, as it seems to us, has a primary and predominant role in this context, since it is its provisions that are the starting points and determining ones for the doctrine of pilgrimage, and therefore, in order to present the church concept of pilgrimage, it is necessary first of all to master and describe the theological thought about holy places. The relevance of the fundamental task of presenting a holistic teaching on pilgrimage has been emphasized in the domestic church environment more than once 4. The relevance of the codifying task is indicated, in particular, by the need to correct the prevailing opinion that in patristics the phenomenon of pilgrimage (inextricably linked with the phenomenon of holy places) was practically not touched upon, that Orthodox dogmatics “does not know the theology of pilgrimage,” and “[o]nexplanation and justification of the phenomenon of pilgrimage began much later in the second half of the 19th century in Russia...” 5 In light of this, it seems especially timely to study the patristic heritage of the era of the Ecumenical councils, the works of subsequent theologians, such as the Patriarch of Jerusalem Chrysanthos (Notara, c. 1655–1731) 6 , as well as symbolic texts of Orthodoxy, which present theological thought about holy places and their veneration. In this work we turn to the patristic heritage. As already noted, the formation of a patristic theology of holy places is associated primarily with Palestinian authors 7 . In this area, against the background of the views of Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bl. Jerome of Stridon 8, as well as the views of St. that we have already considered. John of Damascus 9 the legacy of St. remains little studied. Sophronius I, Patriarch of Jerusalem, one of the largest Christian authors of the 7th century. His role in the formation of this section of theological thought was previously noted, but his views on Palestinian shrines were not examined in detail 10 . The purpose of this work is to fill this gap. Let us note that these views do not represent a complete theological system. Rather, we are talking about individual intuitions that are scattered throughout his works and were formed under the influence of the tradition of venerating holy places that was firmly rooted in his time. This explains the difficulties in systematizing the views of the saint and, as a consequence, the descriptive nature of our research, as well as the method, which is based on the principle of compiling a representative selection of his texts about holy places and identifying and revealing in them the main theological themes, which we group, as far as possible, according to the division of the key sections of Christian theology. The identified themes of his theological thought about holy places will make it possible in the future to compare them with the contribution of other Palestinian authors to the patristic theology of holy places and through this to formulate the main provisions of church teaching about these shrines, enriching our understanding of the essence of Christian pilgrimage. St. Sophronius of Jerusalem and his writings on the holy places of Palestine St. Sophronius of Jerusalem (c. 550–638/39) 11, whose life is closely connected with holy places, was born in Damascus 12. Having received a good education, he was a teacher of rhetoric, or “sophist.” Having moved to Palestine, he settled in the city of St. Theodosius the Great near Bethlehem, where he met his future teacher, John Moschus. Together they traveled extensively around the Mediterranean. From about 578, both continued their studies in Egypt, where they met St. Eulogius of Alexandria and visited monasteries. Returning to Kinovia, St. Theodosius, Sophronius took monastic vows, then for ten years, together with John Moschus, adopted monastic experience in Sinai. From about 594, both lived in Palestine, but in 603, fleeing from the Persians, they moved to Syria, Phenicia, then to Asia Minor and Egypt, where they entered the circle of people close to St. John the Merciful. After the capture of Jerusalem by the Persians in 614, they moved to Rome, where John died in 619. After several years spent in the monastery of St. Theodosius, Sophronius c. 626 he went to North Africa, where he met St. Maxim, future Confessor. There in 633 opposed the doctrine of monoenergism, propagated by the Alexandrian Patriarch Cyrus. Soon after this, he went to Constantinople to meet with the promoter of monoenergism, Patriarch Sergius 13, and from there to Jerusalem, where in 634 he was elevated to the patriarchal throne, finding himself in the face of a double threat: opposition from the strong eastern departments that accepted the monoenergetic formula, and the Arab troops approaching Jerusalem, which in the fall of 636 began its siege. Seeing the hopelessness of the situation, in the winter of 637 the saint decided to surrender the city, provided that the Muslims guaranteed the immunity of the residents, the safety of their property and churches, and negotiated with Caliph Umar on the terms of surrender. In 638 the city was surrendered. The death of the saint soon followed. Some passages from the homilies of St. are devoted to understanding the holy places of Palestine. Sophronius on the Presentation and Nativity of Christ, as well as several anacreontic poems, which preserved the imprint of the flowering of liturgical creativity that occurred in the 6th–7th centuries. and affected the capital Constantinople and the Byzantine provinces 14. The Homilia for the Presentation, dating from the time of the patriarchate of the saint, 15 reveals the doctrine of the Trinity and the Incarnation, as well as exegetical questions. It is partly polemical in nature, criticizing pre-Christian philosophy, triadological and Christological heresies 16 . The Homily for Christmas 17 is dated December 25, 634, which means it was pronounced shortly after the Byzantine army in Palestine suffered its first defeat at the hands of the Muslims. Due to instability in the region, the saint was unable to arrive in Bethlehem for the celebration of the Nativity of Christ and led the service in the New Basilica of the Most Holy Theotokos in Jerusalem, after which he delivered the aforementioned sermon 18, in which exegetical, moral and ethical themes, the glorification of the holiday and the holy place of the Nativity were combined with a mention of the historical events of that time. The style of the homilies is solemn and poetic 19. As for the Anacreontic poems, the theological thought of St. Sophronia about holy places was expressed in three of them: 14th - On the capture of Jerusalem, 19th - On the Ascension and about himself, 20th - On the desire that he had for the Holy City and revered places, and in several more references to Palestinian shrines in the Anacreontik corpus 20. The lyrical genre of anacreontic verse, the founder of which is considered to be the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, became a common form of patristic literature in the Christian era 21 . St. Sophrony adapted his metric and followed the principle of breaking the text into short stanzas: as a rule, quatrains - “ikos” (οἶκοι), which had an alphabetical acrostic and alternated with couplets - “kukulia” (κουκούλια or κουκούλλια) 22 . The language of his anacreontic odes is characterized by an abundance of archaic forms in imitation of the Homeric epic syllable of the Ionic dialect, neologisms, as well as features in the use of tense forms of the verb and moods 23. In addition to the ancient Greek tradition, his anacreontics were influenced by early Christian Syriac hymnography. Poem 14 - On the Capture of Jerusalem, presumably composed shortly after 614 24, is an elegy imbued with lamentation about the capture of Jerusalem by Persian troops under the leadership of Khosrow II in 614. 25 Sophronius describes the fear that gripped the Christians at that time, the selfless but unsuccessful defense they organized, the cruelty of the Persians, the huge number of victims among the Christian population 26. As for the poems of the 19th - On the Ascension and about himself and the 20th - About the desire that he had for the Holy City and for revered places, hypotheses were expressed about their composition before 633/634 and later 27, approx. 637 28 According to Donner, verse 19, lines 1–56, does not indicate the time of its composition, and verse 20 dates from 631–633. 29 Both verses are dedicated to the praise of Jerusalem and describe an imaginary and desired pilgrimage 30 Sophronia on holy places 31. Both represent a unique phenomenon in early Christian poetry in their “literary sophistication” and at the same time “cordiality”, “sharpness”, “tenderness” and living “feeling” in relation to Jerusalem 32. Holy places: terminology and list For St. Sophronius of Jerusalem holy places are Anastasis, where Christ was resurrected; The Holy Sepulcher and in it is a stone bed; Mount Golgotha; the place where the Holy Cross of Christ was found; Basilica-Martyrium; Mount Zion is the place of the Last Supper, the washing of feet, the scourging of Christ at the trial of the high priest, the denial of Peter, the descent of the Holy Spirit and the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary; The Sheep Pool with the nearby site of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the site of Christ’s healing of the paralytic; Gethsemane with the tomb of the Mother of God (An. 20); Mount of Olives - the place of the Ascension and conversations of Christ with his disciples about “divine mysteries” - the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, about the last times, about His second coming and the need to stay awake; tomb of Lazarus of the four days; the town of Bethlehem with the cave of the Nativity of Christ, a manger and a cave where the remains of the Bethlehem babies killed by order of Herod are buried (An. 19. 1–56). All of them are united under the collective term “holy places of Christ” (cf. ἁγίους τόπους ... Χριστοῦ – An. 14.95) and simply “holy places” (cf. τόπων ἁγίων – Ap. 14.74). It should be noted that the designation of Jerusalem is characterized by the use of the terms “Holy City” (cf. πόλιος ... ἁγίης – An. 19. 15–16) / “Holy City of God” (Ἁγία πόλις θεοῖο – An. 14. 1, Ἁγιον πόλισμα θεῖον – Ap. 20. 1) and similar expressions: “holy city” (cf.: ἱερὸν ... ἄστυ – An. 14. 94), “city of God” (cf. πόλιν θεοῖο – An. 14. 21), “His [Christ’s] city” (cf. πόλεως ἑῆς – An. 14. 68), “holy city of saints” (cf. ἱερῶν πόλιν δ’ ἁγίων 33 – An. 14. 89), His “sweet / beloved city” (γλυκερὸν ἄστυ – An. 14. 38), “heavenly city” (cf. ἄστεος οὐρανίου – An. 14. 56), “holy Jerusalem” (cf. ἁγίων Ἱεροσολύμων 34 – An. 14. 24). A reverent look at the totality of the holy places of Jerusalem and Palestine as a whole allows the saint to use the concept of “Holy Land” (cf. χθόνα ἁγίην – An. 14. 19–20) with its “holy cities and villages” (cf. ζαθέους πόλεις πολίχνας – Ap. 14. 27) as a unique Christian toponym and mystical reality. Theology of Holy Places: Apologetic and Dogmatic Themes In the polemical and apologetic context of the homily of St. Sophronius at Candlemas presents the holy places as great centers of learning and wisdom that impart knowledge of God, as a Christian alternative to pagan Athens. They eclipsed the Platonic Academy, the Stoic and Peripatetic schools, the Aristotelian Lyceum, whose philosophers opposed God and His wisdom and, leaving Him, began to honor matter more than its Creator (cf. Rom 1:25). “Therefore, the Academy fell asleep, the school of the Stoics fell silent, the peripatetic classes are empty, the Lyceum sleeps” (Hyp. 8–9) - everything went into oblivion. From now on, instead of them, in the Christian empire “Nazareth is proclaimed (προφητεύεται), where God’s gospel sounded; from now on it is more proclaimed (προκηρύττεται) by Bethlehem, where God is born in the flesh, 35 where God lives and works miracles; from now on Golgotha ​​is preached (προμηνύεται), where God accepts the Cross; henceforth Anastasis is sung (ᾄδεται), where the buried God rises [from the dead]; henceforth Zion is proclaimed (προφητεύεται) and [its] northern side is proclaimed (προμηνύεται) (Ps. 47:3), where Christ appears after the resurrection from the dead; from now on the Mount of Olives is glorified (δοξάζεται), from where God ascends to heaven with the human nature (ἀνθρωπίνως) assumed by Him” (Hyp. 9). Developing the theme of holy places as antipodes to the centers of ancient pagan philosophy and their polemical and apologetic role, St. Sophrony formulates his thought in the form of a series of antitheses. Ancient Athens and its schools were suspended, “became mad” and “lost their honor” because “they were a temptation for people, leading them to destruction and into the abyss of hell.” Holy places, on the contrary, are that new thing that “has become wise” (σεσόφισται), “shined” (πεφαίδρυνται), that “has rightfully been awarded glory, because it has given due honor to God”; this is what “saves (τυγχάνει σωτηρία) for people, returns them from death to life and raises them from earth to heaven” (Ibid.). At the root of this opposition between the Athenian philosophical schools and holy places lies the epistemological criterion 36. The fact is that the ancient philosophers - “Aristagoras, Anaxagoras, Anaximanders, Pythagoras, Aristotle and Plato” (Ibid.) - are not able to understand “mysteries” (τὰ μυστήρια) and “miracles” (τὰ μεγαλούργημα /τὰ θαυμάσια) of Christ (Hyp. 8). Sophronius of Jerusalem calls “mysteries” a Christology based on the Gospel, which affirms the reality of the human nature of God the Word 37 . These “mysteries of Christ are ineffable” (Hyp. 8, 10), the human mind is not able to comprehend them on its own, therefore the reality of the Incarnation can only be accepted through Divine revelation and confessed, without going into human reasoning (Hyp. 8) 38 . Ancient philosophy approaches the problem of knowledge of God, based solely on the rational-cognitive ability of man (Ibid.). Holy places in their epistemological function 39, on the contrary, act as means of theological knowledge accessible through Revelation. Gospel places of Palestine, according to St. Sophrony, reveal and confirm Orthodox Christology, thereby performing the function of revelation. Defending the truth and completeness of the Incarnation, the reality of this mystery, St. Sophronius considers the holy places in the context of the Christological problem of the movement of God from one place to another (θεοῦ τοπικὴ 40 μεταχώρησις – Hyp. 10) 41 due to the communion of natures in Christ, united in His one Divine Hypostasis 42 . The term μεταχώρησις here acts as a synonym for the patristic term μετάβασις (Greek “transition”) and indicates the aporia of God, limitless in His nature and limitless in His power, filling everything, incontainable and at the same time, by virtue of His incarnation, leaving one place on earth and passing into other (cf. ἑτέρους μετάβασις – Hyp. 10) 43. The saint also denotes this theological theme with the words “the most miraculous coming forward of Christ,” His “all-blessed performance/appearance,” “the ineffable bringing” into the Old Testament church and, finally, with reference to specific Palestinian toponyms, “the movement of Christ in space when He leaves the divine Bethlehem and enters this city of Jerusalem” on the fortieth day from His birth 44 . This is the same mystery as the birth of the eternal God in the flesh and His circumcision. The Jerusalem saint explains this Christological question as follows: The Son of God, God the Word, truly and immutably became incarnate and clearly showed in Himself two natures in the unity of the Hypostasis, and therefore it is true to say that God Himself obviously and clearly moves in space (Hyp. 10). Holy places confirm the reality of the human nature of God incarnate. His earthly origin, pointing to Bethlehem as His homeland, becomes a Christological argument. Therefore, the result of St. Sophronius summarizes in the form of the following brief aporia: “Thus the Heavenly Bethlehemite comes forward (Βηθλεεμίτης ὁ οὐράνιος πρόεισιν), the Invisible reveals Himself as Visible, the Incorporeal reveals Himself in flesh, the Boundless One – at His coming He limits Himself to the limits of [the human being]” (Ibid.). The context of this statement in the homily for the Presentation is polemical and apologetic: the work is directed not only against pagan philosophy, but also against the explicitly mentioned Monophysitism and Nestorianism (Ibid.). The same theme of Christ's transition from one place to another during His earthly life as an argument confirming the reality of His human nature is also raised in the Council Epistle of St. Sophrony - this time in the context of his polemic not only against monophysitism, but also monoenergism. The saint defends two natures and two actions resulting from them in Christ 45 in contrast to the two natures and one action defended by Patriarch Sergius of Constantinople, the addressee of the letter. About human nature and action, the text of the Synodics says: “... having been born by our birth, He feeds on milk, and grows, and passes through bodily ages until He reaches the perfect age of man; endures our natural hunger and thirst and endures the fatigue of travel like us. The fact is that, like us, He also performed the action of walking, and this, being performed humanly and emanating from [His] human essence, served as proof of His human nature. Therefore, like us, He moved from place to place, because He truly became a man, had our nature without diminishment, accepted the describability of the flesh and was clothed in an image corresponding to us” 46. Thus, the appeal to the places of evangelical Palestine becomes in Sophronius a Christological argument against monoenergism, the struggle against which marked the last years of the saint’s life 47 . Moving on to the next aspect of the theology of Sophronius of Jerusalem, it must be emphasized that, according to the saint, Palestinian shrines are also related to the area of ​​direct communication between a person and God, which is closely related to prayer. Several aspects can be distinguished in this area. Holy places are given reverent veneration and worship. This is primarily expressed in the desire to kiss, venerate the shrine (φιλέω), as well as in the desire to bow (προσκυνέω), fall to the ground (χαμάδις πίπτω), lie prostrate in front of the shrine (ἐκτείνομαι), wrap your arms around her (περιπλέκω), sing (ἀείδω). This practice is attested in the Anacreontic odes 48 in which St. Sophronius describes his desired pilgrimage, saying: “I will kiss the sweet sex” of Anastasis (Ap. 20. 11–13); “finding myself in the middle of the tomb of God, I will bow down and kiss that stone” (Ibid. 20. 16–18), on which the body of the Lord rested; “[at] the columns and apses of the royal tomb... I will dance in a circle, covering them with many kisses” (Ap. 20. 19–22) 49. “I prostrate myself and kiss the sacred rock, the navel of the earth” (Ap. 20:29–32), where the Lord was crucified; on Mount Zion I will embrace “the stone on which the Creator suffered scourging for me” (Apoc. 20:73–75). “Falling to the ground, I kiss the place where the first of Wisdom’s friends [Peter] washed away his misfortune with tears and lamentations” (An. 20. 77–80). In the crypt under the church at the site of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, “oh if I could, with my arms wrapped around me, kiss the walls that are dear to me!” (An. 20. 83–86). “I sing the praises of the glorious and sacred Gethsemane” with the tomb of the Most Holy Theotokos (Ap. 20. 99–100); “I will kiss the Mount of Olives” (An. 19. 3–4); “I will come to worship such an illustrious manger” (An. 19. 49–50). The practice of worship and veneration of holy places is also attested in the homily for Christmas, where the saint speaks of “running at a run” to Bethlehem and there “reaching the place of the Nativity of Life, kissing the God-receiving cave, bowing to the sacred manger and greeting the idolizing city...” (Nat. 515). The veneration of holy places in its theological content and function is on a par with the veneration of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord and the iconographic image of Christ. This is implicitly indicated by the consistent description of the kissing of the “sacred rock” of Golgotha, which, as the saint says, he will perform prostrate, then his joyful procession to the place where all the people of God worship the Life-giving Tree of the Cross, and, finally, how he would like to rush to the “honest image of the Lord of all, depicted by the art of the artist” in order to honor him by kneeling before him (Ap. 20. 29–32, 35–42). At the same time, the saint points to a kind of mediative, intermediary role of holy places, which can be designated as a function of worship and veneration of God, which he sees in them: by honoring and visiting holy places, he gives praise to God there for the saving deeds He performed in these places. Thus, he will diligently glorify the Lord on the Mount of Olives for the boundless depth of wisdom with which He saved people (Ap. 19. 5–8), and would like to praise Him at the tomb of the four-day-old Lazarus resurrected by Him (Ap. 19. 19–22). A significant topic in the theological reflection of St. Sophronia is a connection between holy places and the opportunity for Christians to contemplate sacred events there with spiritual vision. The ascent from the vision of shrines to spiritual contemplation allows us to talk about their anagogical function. In the homily for the Nativity of Christ, the semantics of “vision” and “contemplation” are presented very widely: these are the verbs “to see; contemplate" (θεάομαι)) and its derivatives (Nat. 505, 506 (x2), 509, 511, 514); “to contemplate mystically; understand the hidden meaning of Scripture; comprehend" (θεωρέω) and its derivatives (Nat. 502, 506, 512, 514); “to see” (often in the sense of seeing God) (ὁράω – Nat. 502, 505, 506 (x2), 507, 509, 511, 512 (x5), 514, 515.); “to have before your eyes; behold; consider” (καθοράω – Nat. 504, 507); "observe; look; contemplate God” (κατοπτεύω – Nat. 504, 509, 514); "consider; look at; look at discover” (εἰσαθρέω – Nat. 509, 515); "understand; look, reverently gaze; notice” (βλέπω – Nat. 507, 511, 512 (x2)); nouns “spectacle; that which can be seen” (ἡ θέα – Nat. 506, 507, 514); "view; appearance; appearance” (ἡ ὄψις – Nat. 507). Some of these lexical means have a neutral meaning, indicating the ordinary human ability to see with the help of the visual organs. The part, on the contrary, has a pronounced theological overtones, pointing to the internal, mystical experience of comprehending spiritual realities invisible to ordinary vision. In some cases, to distinguish between sensory and mystical experience, St. Sophronius uses special patristic terms - “carnal” and “spiritual eyes” (cf. σαρκικοῖς καὶ νοητοῖς ὄμμασι βλέπειν – Nat. 512). To designate the former, he also uses the expression “sensual / material / carnal eyes” (cf. αἰσθητοῖς ἰδεῖν ôφθαλμοῖς - Ibid.). Christians, according to the saint, are called to combine these two types of vision - seeing the material and at the same time reflecting on the spiritual (τῶν θεϊκῶν ἐνθυμιῶν ἐμφορούμενοι - Nat. 506), ascending to the spiritual meaning of events and phenomena. Only in this way can man have access to divine secrets, incomprehensible and hidden from him due to the limitations of his nature (Ibid.). The saint presents the Magi, who travel to Bethlehem, accompanied by a star, as a prototype and example of the combination of bodily vision and spiritual contemplation for his flock (Matthew 2:1, 2:9-12). He addresses them with great expression, encouraging them to march to the place of the Nativity to see the Infant Christ there: “... let them see the most amazing miracle and, contemplating the miracle, be amazed, and see a host of angels, [let them] bear the fruitful gifts of the Magi... [let them] be filled with divine thoughts and see the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a God-bearing manger, The Child, Who, at the same time, is the Savior of all, the Lord and God truly ineffable, although He hid Himself for the sake of us, carnal and unable to see His divine nature pure and undisguised, behind the veil of flesh - the flesh and body of His human nature” (Nat. 506). Following their example, Jerusalem Christians, if they keep the moral law and the right faith, will have the opportunity - with the end of the Arab siege of Bethlehem - to see the place of the Nativity again, to contemplate the miracles of Bethlehem and the God born there with spiritual vision (Nat. 508-509). In addition to the cave of the Nativity, the opportunity to ascend through carnal vision to spiritual realities is also provided by the “divine well, which can be mysteriously contemplated at the gates” of the city. Having this well before your eyes, which, within the framework of typological exegesis, acts as a prototype of the Mother of God, who became the Mother of Living Water, that is, Christ, you can “see the salvation revealed through Her” in Christ, who took on human nature for the sake of people and gives life (Nat. 514). Also noteworthy is the relationship between the splendor of the church decoration of the Basilica of the Nativity, erected on a holy place, and the human ability to perceive and feel Divine grace: according to the saint, “through the beauty of the work, heavenly grace shines” (ἀπὸ καλλιεργίας γὰρ / χάρις οὐρανοῖο λάμπει), thus becoming accessible to human perception (An. 19. 39–40). St. Sophronius points to the charismatic function of holy places. On the one hand, touching a holy place imparts grace to a believer. He says: “I will venerate the shining stone, which received the Child God, with my eyes, lips and head, in order to receive from there the gift of grace” (Apoc. 19:45-48). He also mentions the healings that flow “like rivers” from the stone on which the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos took place (Ap. 20:63–66). In addition, he says that to be in Bethlehem, to see the place where God was born in the flesh, and to liturgically honor the miracle of the Nativity there is the desire of the Christian heart and the source of grace-filled gifts. And therefore, as the saint writes, Jerusalem Christians strive to “see the place. and celebrate where the True Light has shone for us, Eternal Life has blossomed, the Treasure of gifts has appeared, delights everyone, enlightens those who look, insatiably fills them with divine joy, gives them an immortal treasure and encourages them to sing to Him with joy and sweetness...” (Nat. 511). On the other hand, seeing holy places and being there is part of those deeds and disposition of the soul through which believers become accomplices of the gospel events that took place in holy places. Because of this, Christians, if they find themselves at the site of the Nativity, will rejoice with the gospel shepherds, present gifts with the wise men, and sing with the angels (Nat. 507). Meanwhile, the most characteristic theme in the understanding of holy places by Sophronius of Jerusalem is his love for Palestinian shrines. This love, for example, is eloquently evidenced by the epithets he applied to Bethlehem, the city where Christ was born 50. This is a “great city” (cf. ἐνὶ Βηθλεὲμ μεγίστῃ πόλεϊ – An. 3.7), “a town in the inheritance of glorious Judah” (An. 3.44), simply “the town of Bethlehem” (Βηθλεὲμ πολίχνη – cf. An. 19. 25), Bethlehem “holy/immaculate” (εὐαγής – cf. An. 19. 31), “theotokos” (θεογόνος – cf. Nat. 505, 512), “god-receptive” (θεηδόχος – cf. Nat. 506, 507; θεοδόχος – cf. Nat. 513), “sacred” (ἱερά – cf. Nat. 508, 514), “holy” (ἁγία – cf. Nat. 513), “god-bearing” (θεοφόρος – cf. Nat. 513), “all-honorable” (πάντιμος – cf. Nat. 513), “divine/wonderful” (θεσπεσία – cf. Nat. 514), “most divine” (θειοτάτη – cf. Nat. 514), “idolizing” (θεοποιός – cf. Nat. 515). His shrines are the “heavenly cave” (τὸ οὐράνιον σπήλαιον – Nat. 505), the “God-receiving cave” (τὸ θεοδόχον ἄντρον – Nat. 515) and inside it, the manger of Christ is “God-receiving” (ἡ θεηδόχος φάτνη – cf. Nat. 505), “God-bearing” (θεοφόρος – cf. Nat. 506) and “sacred” (ἱερά – cf. Nat. 515). This manger and cave are called “truly sublime and heavenly” (τὰ ὄντως ὑψηλὰ καὶ οὐράνια – Nat. 507). The same loving veneration and glorification are also indicated by the epithets applied to other holy places: “sweet land” (cf. Ap. 20:11); “sacred stone” (An. 20. 12) of the Holy Sepulcher; “the most beautiful place Execution” (cf. Ap. 20. 25–26); “sacred rock” Golgotha ​​(Ap. 20. 29–31); “all-bright hill” – the place where the Cross was found (cf. An. 20. 43–46); another, “new beauty” - the Christian basilica in Zion (cf. An. 20. 51–52); “Zion, the shining sun of the universe” (An. 20.67); “holy Sheep Pool” (cf. An. 20.81); “the beauty of the Holy City” (cf. An. 19. 15–16); “sacred abode” - the Basilica of the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem (cf. An. 19. 30) and in it - “so illustrious manger” (cf. An. 19. 49). The loving chanting of holy places is evidenced by the statements: “Oh, luminous tomb, you are truly the ocean of eternal life!” (An. 20. 27–28) and “How great is your glory, O shining rock, on which was erected the Cross, a ransom for mortals!” (An. 20. 33–34). Sophronius of Jerusalem’s love for holy places represents a whole range of feelings and emotions: on the one hand, in his works there is joy, reverence, remembrance of them, a strong desire and longing for holy places, surprise, gratitude, and at the same time, melancholy and sadness from the loss of these beloved places, the pain of forced separation from them. In this regard, the most indicative are Anacreontic poems 14, 19 and 20, as well as the sermon on the Nativity of Christ. The lexical means used by the saint to express the feelings of the believing heart in relation to holy places in prose texts are characterized by great expression and diversity. In poetic texts, these means receive additional expressiveness thanks to the use of a sublime lyric-epic style, which is characterized, on the one hand, by archaic forms in imitation of Homer, and on the other, by some complex neologisms. In the sermon for the Nativity of Christ, the semantic field of joy is represented by the words and expressions “rejoice” (σκιρτάω, lit. “dance” – Nat. 505, 507), “be full of joy” (ἀνάλλομαι, lit. “jump” – Nat. 505), “heavenly joy” (ἡ οὐρανία χαρμοσύνη – cf. Nat. 506); in poetry - with the verbs “dance in a circle; glorify with round dances” (χορεύω – Ap. 19.30; 20.22); participle “rejoicing” (ἀγαλλιῶν – An. 20.4); expressions “with the joy of happy thoughts” (θαλέων χαρᾷ – Ap. 20.35); “I will go rejoicing” (γεγανυμένος πορευθῶ – Ap. 20.44); “Oh, if only I could enjoy spiritual joy” from contemplating the shrine (cf. ψυχοτερπέως τρυφῴην ... ἰδών - Ap. 20. 95–96). Desire and desire for holy places in prose is expressed by the verbs “to want” (βούλομαι – Nat. 505, 506 (x2), 513), “to strive with love” (ποθέω), “to desire” (ὀρέγομαι), “to crave” (κατεπείγομαι), “blaze” (φλέγομαι) (Nat. 505), “strongly desire” (γλίχομαι – Nat. 511, 512); “to desire” (ἱμείρομαι – Nat. 512); “to be jealous” (ζηλόω – Nat. 505); participle “willing” (γλιχόμενος – Nat. 513); expressions “burning with desire” (τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ καιόμενος – Nat. 512); “almost the same as ours, scorched by spiritual thirst” (τῇ καθ’ ἡμᾶς ταύτῃ τάχα πνευματικῇ δίψῃ φλεγόμενος – Nat. 511); “to go to Bethlehem and receive a truly longed-for and blessed object of desire, something more blessed, dearer and more beautiful than which there is none” ποθεινῆς καὶ μακαρίας ἐφέσεως, ἧς οὐδὲν ἂν εἴη ποτὲ μακαριώτερον ἢ τιμιώτερον καὶ τερπνότερον – Nat. 513); “Like David, we are eager and thirsty to see the water [from the well of Bethlehem]. and satiate both the soul and the sight with the same spectacle" ἔχομεν, ἰδεῖν δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ… καὶ ἑστιᾶσαι μόνῃ τῇ θέᾳ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὴν ὅρασιν – Nat. 514); “Bethlehem, desired for us” (cf. τῇ ποθουμένῃ ἡμῖν Βηθλεέμ – Ibid.); “desired land” (cf. γῆς τῆς ποθουμένης – Nat. S. 511); that “desired” (τὸ ποθούμενον – Nat. 512, 513 (x3)) that a Christian strives to see. The theme of aspiration, as a rule, is paired with the theme of vision and visiting holy places, traveling to them; the latter in prose is expressed by the verbs “to go; go a long distance” (πορεύομαι – Nat. 506); “to approach” (προσπελάζω – Nat. 514); “to achieve” (φθάνω); “to come” (ἔρχομαι) (Nat. 513); “to run” (τρέχω) “to that place. where God the Word and Lord revealed Himself to us through an ineffable birth” (Nat. 510–511). In poetry, the semantic field of desire and desire for holy places is represented by the verb “to desire” (ἐθέλω – Ap. 20.3); expressions “irresistible divine desire/love” (ἔνθεος οἶστρος – Ap. 20.5); Zion, “longing for which I sigh” (cf. ἣν ποθέων στενάχω – An. 20.68); “with a heart burning with divine longing, oh that I could come” to Bethlehem Ap. 19. 23–24). The semantics of surprise in the sermon on Christmas is expressed by the concept of “being amazed” (θαμβέω) at the sight of “the most amazing miracle” (τὸ ὑπὲρ θαῦμα… θαῦμα) (Nat. 506) that took place in the cave of the Nativity. The semantic field of grief, sadness and pain is represented by the words and expressions “consumed by grief” (τῇ λύπῃ τρυχόμενος – Nat. 511), “overwhelmed by sorrow worthy of our misfortune, which occurs because we are unworthy of these benefits” (λύπῃ - Nat. 506–507); “in a regrettable manner we become like Adam, having suffered a similar [disaster] to him, or even greater and filled with greater sorrow” (Ἀδὰμ… ἐλεεινῶς… μιμούμεθα παθόντες αὐτῷ παραπλήσια ἢ κἀκείνου μείζονα καὶ λύπης ἀνάπλεα πλείονος – Nat. 507), etc. Motivated by love and desire for holy places, Sophronius of Jerusalem exclaims in verse: “Holy City of God, Jerusalem, I want to be at your gates now to enter there with rejoicing! The divine longing for holy Jerusalem always languishes my heart." 51 “Hail, Zion, shining sun of the universe, longing for which I sigh night and day!” (An. 20. 67–68). “Oh, if only I could enjoy the joy of my soul, [being worthy] to see the tomb in the sacred Gethsemane, which received the body of Mary the Mother of God!” (An. 20. 95–98). “So sweet are you, towering mountain from which Christ the Lord reached heaven!” (An. 20. 101–102). “How sweet, O city of God, to see your splendor from the Mount of Olives!” (An. 19. 17–18). “Oh that Christ, who appeared there, would grant me the privilege of seeing all the beauties of Bethlehem!” (An. 19. 31–32). In his sermon for Christmas, the saint exclaims: “I, like the shepherds, rejoice and... am full of joy when I hear these divine words, and I long to run to the manger that has received God into me, and I long to descend into the heavenly cave, with all the ardor of my soul I strive to behold the mystery accomplished in it and, seeing the Begotten One, to proclaim a song of praise: Glory to God in the highest... (Lk 2.14). But I am also jealous of the God-wise Magi and their God-loving journey, thanks to which they reached the Mother of God Bethlehem... I want to be their companion and wish to bring gifts to the Born...” (Nat. 505). The cry of St. is filled with love and sorrow. Sophronia on Jerusalem destroyed by the Persians in 614: “Holy city of God, abode of the most powerful saints, greatest Jerusalem, what lament will I bring to you?” (An. 14. 1–4). “The flow of tears from my eyes is small in the face of such a great misfortune, the cry of my heart is poor in the face of so much pain. And yet with sorrow I will exclaim to you, weaving sighs and hiding the onslaught of tears, for such ruin has befallen you” 52. “Wail, oh tribes of blessed Christians, because holy Jerusalem is ruined!” (An. 14. 23–24). Love and deep affection for holy places prompt the saint to grieve that due to the siege of Bethlehem by the Arab army after their attack on Palestine and the first victories of 634, on the feast of Christmas he and his flock are deprived of the opportunity to “be” in Bethlehem - “deprived of this heavenly joy and [therefore] overwhelmed with sorrow” (Nat. 506-507). Of course, Jerusalem is the “Holy City” (Nat. 514), and here they glorify the born God, but “they are deprived of the opportunity to contemplate the manger and the cave, truly sublime and heavenly, and in them the One who reigns over heaven and earth” (Nat. 507). And “what could be more worthy of regret than to have a desired good near you and at the same time not be able to get what you want?” 53. “Oh, if only, if only we could become worthy of these benefits! Of course, if we were at those places that are near us, not far away, we would rejoice with the angels and bring gifts to God with the wise men..!” (Nat. 507). Expression of love and sorrow for holy places by St. Sophronia is also performed in the field of biblical exegesis: in the homily at Christmas, the prototype of the desire for the Bethlehem shrines and longing for them are the forefather Adam, the prophets Moses and David, and all the righteous who wanted to see the salvation of God (Matthew 13:17; 1 Pet.1:8-12). St. Sophronius here applies the method of updating the biblical text, which consists in applying a literal interpretation of the Holy Scripture to modern events 54: in the text of the Old and New Testaments, he finds images of people, their feelings and actions, with which he relates his contemporaries, Christians of the 7th century, based on the similarity of their situations. In the deprivation of the holy places of Bethlehem, St. Sophrony first of all likens himself and his flock to the ancestor of humanity, the forefather Adam, who lost his residence in paradise. Adam, expelled from there by God's command, had the Garden of Eden before his eyes, but could not enter there and enjoy this desired good, since his entrance was blocked by an angelic fiery sword (Gen. 3:23–24). Likewise, now, in 634, the Christians of Jerusalem, although they live in the neighborhood, due to their own sins, cannot enter the city of the Nativity of Christ for fear of the deadly sword of the Saracens, who besieged Bethlehem, forcing them to remain at home, not allowing them to leave from there, and thereby making it impossible for them to contemplate that “beatific vision” of the place of the Nativity (Nat. 507). Therefore, believers suffer in the same way, and perhaps more, than Adam once did (Ibid.). Another biblical analogy to St. Sophronius spends time between his flock and the prophet Moses, who, “having been elevated to a high mountain, saw [from there] the Promised Land and wanted to enter it,” but the Lord did not allow him (Deut. 34:1–5). The prophet “grieved so much for the coveted land and was so consumed by sadness” that he gave up his soul to God there. And now the Christians of Jerusalem, “having the place of Christmas nearby” and not being able to enter Bethlehem, are undergoing circumstances similar to those that once befell the prophet-seer of God (Nat. 510–511). Another biblical analogy connects Christians and the prophet David, “a very real native of Bethlehem, coming from the theotokos city of Bethlehem,” who, while the city was captured by the Philistines, “desired and longed” to drink water from his well at the gate, wanted to “run to holy Bethlehem and drink” (Nat. 512–513), “to reach the God-bearing Bethlehem" (Nat. 513), but "could not get what he wanted"; then three brave men, having made their way through the enemy camp, scooped up water and brought it to David (2 Samuel 23:8-17). Now the Jerusalem Christians are “exactly like” the inspired king, “being seized by similar and very similar circumstances” (Nat. 511). David wanted to see with his bodily eyes in two ways - as a prophet and as a righteous man (Nat. 512); Christians, striving for Bethlehem, “imitate his carnal and spiritual vision” (Nat. 512). Understanding of the desire for a holy place is also carried out in the field of New Testament exegesis: in the homily for the Nativity of St. Sophronius interprets Matthew 13:17 and 1 Peter 1:8–12 in this context, saying that all “the righteous and the prophets and the angels desired to see the birth of Christ and the place in which the desired birth of Christ takes place.” And if so, “then how can we, humble and the smallest accomplices of their piety and joint heirs of the Orthodox faith, not desire” the same thing (Nat. 512)? In one case, the biblical realities and shrines themselves, within the framework of typological exegesis, appear as prototypes of Christ and His Most Pure Mother, and because of this they are revered as sacred. An example of this is the “divine well, which can be mysteriously contemplated at the gates” of Bethlehem and which, like the gates of the city, prefigured the Blessed Virgin (Nat. 514) 55. Our research has shown that, within the framework of theological reflection on the holy places of Palestine, St. Sophronius of Jerusalem interprets these shrines in an apologetic, Christological, soteriological, and biblical exegetical key. In his writings, some of the defining features of the understanding of holy places were outlined, and some of them were clearly manifested: 1) seeing them as one of the forms of Sacred Tradition; 2) the Christocentricity of their perception, which is based on the New Testament Revelation and to describe which the saint at the same time uses ancient philosophical methods and argumentation (the latter feature will later appear in St. John of Damascus); 3) the God-centricity of the practice of worshiping holy places as one of the established types of worship (later church consciousness would consolidate this position more fully in patristics and dogmatically in the symbolic texts of Orthodoxy); 4) the liturgical nature of the veneration of holy places, which is manifested in the fact that they are often inscribed in the sacred space of the church, their veneration is often performed in the context of public worship, reflected in homiletical practice and hymnography (the latter feature is especially characteristic of Palestinian hymns); 5) the sacred character, charisma of holy places and their ability to reveal to believers the invisible and sacred through spiritual contemplation. One more defining feature of the theology of holy places that we have identified should be especially noted: it is connected with the theme of praise and love for holy places and is expressed in the exceptionally rich and poetic set of linguistic means that Sophronius uses when speaking about holy places. In our opinion, this should not be seen only as the rhetorical skill and sophistication of the author: it seems that we are talking about a deeper and clearly conscious theological aspect - doxology and love for holy places as an expression of love for God and offering praise to Him, which, in turn, are forms of honoring God along with thanksgiving, prayer, expression of joy and reverent fear of Him. Comparison of the texts of St. Sophronia with other patristic authors in the future will allow us to test this assumption, as well as clarify, using the example of holy places, the content and expression of the patristic category of love for God and the role of the feelings and emotions associated with it. In general, the variety and depth of these topics and provisions give reason to think that it is the study of the patristic heritage that can significantly complement theological reflection on holy places, offer basic definitions and identify the most important provisions of church teaching about them as a necessary component of the theology of pilgrimage, enriching the understanding of the latter with Christological and soteriological content, which is sometimes lacking in the concepts proposed today 56 . An. – Sophronius. Anacreontica. Hyp. – Sophronius. Homilia in Hypapanten. Nat. – Sophronius. Homilia in nativitatem Christi. Ambrose (Pogodin), archimandrite. 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Warminster, England, 2002. › ἐξοχὴν ὑπεροχῆς τῆς Ἁγίας Πόλεως Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου καὶ Ζωοδόχου Τάφου τοῦ Κυρίου, τῆς τε πρὸς αὐτὸν κεχρεωστημένης ἐλεημοσύνης παρὰ πάντων τῶν Χριστιανῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν Διαταγήν, καὶ τῆς ὠφελείας τῶν εἰς προσκύνησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκεῖ σεβασμίων τόπων παραγενομένων. Ἐν Βουκουρεστίῳ, 1768. ?? καὶ περιγραφὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Γῆς, καὶ τῆς Ἁγίας Πόλεως Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ἐνετίησι, 1728. See, for example: Jacobi Gretseri Societatis Jesu theologi De sacris et religiosis peregrinationibus libri quatuor. Ingolstadii, 1606; ?? καὶ περιγραφὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Γῆς, καὶ τῆς Ἁγίας Πόλεως Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ἐνετίησι, 1728; › ἐξοχὴν ὑπεροχῆς τῆς Ἁγίας Πόλεως Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου καὶ Ζωοδόχου Τάφου τοῦ Κυρίου, τῆς τε πρὸς αὐτὸν κεχρεωστημένης ἐλεημοσύνης παρὰ πάντων τῶν Χριστιανῶν κατὰ τῶν ἀποστολικὴν Διαταγὴν, καὶ τῆς ὠφελείας τῶν εἰς προσκύνησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐκεῖ σεβασμίων τόπων παραγενομένων. Ἐν Βουκουρεστίῳ, 1768. Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy: Palestine in Christian History and Thought. New Haven; L., 1992. P. 119. See: Walker P. W. L. Holy City, Holy Places? Christian Attitudes to Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the Fourth Century. Oxford, 1990; Wilken R. L. Op. cit.; Maraval P. L’attitude des Peres du IV e siecle devant les lieux saints et les pèlerinages // Irenikon. 1992. Vol. 65. P. 5–23; Maraval P. Des lieux saints? L’attitude des premiers siècles chrétiens // La Terre/Vie Spirituelle. 1994. Vol. 148.No. 709. P. 189–197; Newman H. I. Between Jerusalem and Bethlehem: Jerome and the Holy Places of Palestine // Sanctity of Time and Space in Tradition and Modernity / ed. A. Houtman, M. Poorthuis, J. Schwartz. Leiden, 1998, pp. 215–227; Bitton-Ashkelony B. Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity. Berkeley; Los Angeles; L., 2005. See, for example: Palamarenko E.V. On the formation of the concept of Orthodox pilgrimage to the Holy Land // Cossacks. 2016. No. 24 (11). P. 95. Vakh K.A. From the compiler // The meaning of pilgrimage / comp. and preparation text by K.A. Vaha. M., 2007. P. 6. More about him: Ekaterina (Kopyl), in. Reception of the views of St. Gregory of Nyssa and Blessed. Jerome to the holy places of Palestine: Patriarch of Jerusalem Chrysanthos Notara // Bulletin of PSTGU. Ser. II: History. History of the Russian Orthodox Church. 2018. Vol. 84. pp. 56–76. Wilken R. L. Op. cit. P. 119. Ekaterina (Kopyl), in. Theology of holy places by St. John of Damascus: main themes // Theological Bulletin. 2019. T. 33. No. 2. pp. 146–177. The theme of the holy places of Palestine in his works, mainly in the light of the historical description of the destruction of Jerusalem in 614 and the appearance of the holy places before 638, is touched upon in the works: Popovich K. Patriarch of Jerusalem Sophronius as a theologian, preacher and hymn writer. Kyiv, 1890. P. 100–101, 137–141; Donner H. Die Anakreontischen Gedichte Nr. 19 und Nr. 20 des Patriarchen Sophronius von Jerusalem. Heidelberg, 1981. S. 35–64; Wilken R. L. Loving the Jerusalem Below: The Monks of Palestine // Jerusalem: Its Sanctity and Centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam / L. I. Levine, ed. N.Y., 1999. P. 248–249. From the available references to his theology of holy places, we will name: Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy. P. 227–231, 235. About him, see: Galin G. Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem / Op. student Kyiv. spirits acad. Grigory Galina. Kyiv, 1853; Popovich K. Decree. op.; Ambrose (Pogodin), archimandrite. Sermons of Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Jordanville, 1988, pp. 4–10; Vailhe S. Sophrone le sophiste et Sophrone le patriarche // Revue de l’Orient chretien. 1902. T. 7. P. 360–385; 1903. T. 8. P. 32–69, 356–387; Schonborn Ch. von. Sophrone de Jerusalem: Vie monastique et confession dogmatique. P., 1972; Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem and Seventh-Century Heresy: The Synodical Letter and Other Documents. N.Y., 2010. P. 15–23; Booth Ph. Sophronius of Jerusalem and the End of Roman History // History and Identity in the Late Antique Near East / Ph. Wood, ed. Oxford; N.Y., 2013. P. 1–27. The biography is presented based on the works of: Schönborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 53–98; Sidorov A.I. Some remarks on the biography of Maximus the Confessor // Byzantine temporary journal. 1986. No. 47. P. 116–118; Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 15–23. On the monoenergetic disputes and the position of Sophronius, see: Schönborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 191–224; Hovorun C. Will, Action and Freedom. Christological Controversies in the Seventh Century. Leiden; Boston, 2008; Booth Ph. Crisis of Empire. Doctrine and Dissent at the End of Late Antiquity. Berkeley; Los Angeles; L., 2014. P. 186–224; 228–241; Markesinis B. Les debúts du monoénergisme: rectifications concernant ce qui s’est passé entre Cyrus d’Alexandrie, Serge de Constantinople et S. Sophrone de Jérusalem // Analecta Bollandiana. 2015. Vol. 133. P. 5–22; Kashchuk O. Sophronius, a Monk of Palestine, and Miaenergism. The Tension Between Exactness and Ambiguity // Vox patrum. 2018. Vol. 38. T. 70. P. 259–280. Booth Ph. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 3. Schönborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 104. Ed. text: Sophronius. Homilia in Hypapanten (hereinafter – Hyp.) // Usener H. Sophronii De praesentatione Domini sermo. Bonner Univ.-Programm zum 3. August 1889. Bonnae: C. Georgi, 1889. Cited. from: Thesaurus Linguae Graecae® Digital Library / M. C. Pantelia, ed. University of California, Irvine. URL: http://www.tlg.uci.edu (access date 07/01/2019) according to the markup adopted in the search engine (by pages of the printed publication). Rus. lane and commentary: Ambrose (Pogodin). Decree. op. pp. 67–87. About homily: Allen P. The Greek Homiletic Tradition of the Feast of the Hypapante. The Place of Sophronius of Jerusalem // Belke K. et al., eds. Byzantina Mediterranea. Festschrift fur Johannes Koder zum 65. Geburtstag. Vienna. P. 1–12. Ed. text: Sophronius. Homilia in nativitatem Christi (hereinafter – Nat.) // Usener H. Weihnachtspredigt des Sophronios // Rheinisches Museum fur Philologie N. F. 1886. Bd. 41. S. 501–516. Quote from: Thesaurus Linguae Graecae® Digital Library according to the markup adopted in the system (by pages of the printed publication). Rus. lane with note: Ambrose (Pogodin). Decree. op. pp. 137–151. Usener H. Weihnachtspredigt des Sophronios. S. 500; Schonborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 103; Piccirillo. Op. cit. P. 197–198. Dating archim. Ambrosia (Pogodin. Op. op. p. 90) is erroneous. Schönborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 102. Ed. text: Sophronius. Anacreontica (hereinafter – An.) // Gigante M. Sophronii Anacreontica. Accedunt Testimonia de Anacreonteis et index verborum. Roma, 1957. P. 25–144; rus. lane verse 19: Popovich K. Decree. op. pp. 148–151; historical and philological commentary. to verses 20 and 19: Donner H. Op. cit. S. 17–22, 30, 35–64. See: Rosenmeyer P. A. The Poetics of Imitation. Anacreon and the Anacreontic Tradition. Cambridge, 2006, pp. 226–228. About Anacreontics St. Sophronia see: Bouvy E. Poètes et mélodes. Étude sur les origines du rythme tonique dans l’hymnographie de l’Église grecque. Nimes, 1886, pp. 169–182; Nissen Th. Die byzantinischen Anacreonteen. Mdnchen, 1940. P. 27–46; Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 9–20; Hunger H. Die hochsprachliche profane literatur der byzantiner. Bd. 2. Mdnchen, 1978. P. 93–94. The icos lines, as a rule, had the following metric scheme: UU– U– | U–U; Kukuliev: –UU– UU– | –UU – U or UU UU– | –UU – U (Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 18 19; Donner H. Op. cit. S. 8–11). Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 11; Couret A. La prise de Jerusalem par les Perses, en 614 // Revue de l’Orient chretien. Premiere serie. 1897. T. 2. P. 129. Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy. P. 227. Another dating was proposed: 620–628. (Couret A. Op. cit. P. 127–128). For verse 14, see: Ibid. P. 123–143; Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy. P. 227–229; Wilken R. L. Loving the Jerusalem Below. P. 248–249. For the circumstances of the capture of Jerusalem by the Persians, see: Strategius de Saint-Sabas. La price de Jérusalem par les Perses en 614 / G. Gérard, et. Louvain, 1960; Piccirillo. Op. cit. P. 172–186. Couret A. Op. cit. P. 131–133. Donner H. Op. cit. S. 7, 33–34. See: Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 15. Donner H. Op. cit. S. 64. The desire to pass through these places is indicated by the forms of the optative, the future tense and the “Homeric” conjunctive of the aorist (Ibid. S. 7, 33–34). Some questions about the structure of these odes are debatable. Ode 20 begins with a description of a visit to the most important shrines - the Holy Sepulcher, Golgotha ​​and the place where the Holy Cross was found, then Mount Zion, then the house of St. Anna, the Sheep Pool and Gethsemane. At the end there is a mention of the Mount of Olives. The integrity of this poem is not questioned - it is based on the presentation of the route of successive visits to these Jerusalem shrines (Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 15–16). As for ode 19, lines 1–56 describe a visit to the Mount of Olives, Bethany and the city of Bethlehem, and lines 57–107 contain an appeal to a certain Basil, perhaps an acquaintance of St. Sophronius the monk. The thematic division of this ode into two parts is also reinforced by metrical irregularities. Taking into account the thematic similarity and complementarity of poems 19 and 20, Usener suggested that they were originally a single whole, and arranged their text in the following sequence: first poem 20, and then 19, lines 1–56. At the same time, he considered lines 57–107 of the 19th poem to be unrelated to the original work (Usener H. Sophronii De praesentatione Domini sermo. S. 6). Gigante rejected this hypothesis and presented the structure of Ode 19 as follows: lines 1–56 – the author’s aspiration to holy places and their description; lines 57–68 – Sophrony’s desire to see his friend Vasily; lines 69–104 – prosopopoeia, or the words of Vasily himself about the desire and joy to meet Sophronius again (Gigante M. Op. cit. P. 13–15); lines 105–108 – conclusion. Subsequently, Wilkinson was inclined to think about the original integrity of the text, today beginning in verse 20 and continuing in verse 19, lines 1-56 (Wilkinson J. Jerusalem Pilgrims before the Crusades. Warminster, England. P. 13-14; Donner H. Op. cit. S. 8.), and Donner showed that they essentially should not be separated (Ibid. S. 64). Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy. P. 230. We have changed it from what is in the edition ἀγίων. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. We have changed it from what is in the edition Ἱροσολύμων. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. Presumably, the toponym “Jerusalem” was further omitted (see: Ambrosy (Pogodin). Op. cit. p. 84). Schonbom Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 119–121. Schonborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 176–178. I was prompted to talk about the functions of holy places by the work of V.V. Bychkov (The Phenomenon of the Icon. History. Theology. Aesthetics. Art. M., 2009. pp. 70–71), where the author, considering the theology of the icon by St. John of Damascus, identifies such functions of the image as didactical-informative, commemorative, anagogical, charismatic. Since Damascus considers holy places to be one of the types of images, by analogy with icons, having made the necessary changes, we can talk about their functions, such as the functions of revelation (revelation), veneration and worship of God (proskinitarian or god-worshipping), mediatory-soteriological, commemorative, anagogical, charismatic, apologetic, apotropaic (for more details, see: Catherine (Kopyl). Theology of the holy places of St. John of Damascus, pp. 146–177). I adhere to the principles of this classification proposed earlier, in relation to Damascus, here too. We have changed it from what is in the edition τοπικὴς. – Editorial of the ABC of Faith. Schonborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 176–177. About this communication, with a quote from the message of St. Leo, Pope, see: Sophronius. Epistula Synodica 2.3.9 // Riedinger R. Op. cit. R. 2. Bd. 2. Pars 1–2. S. 444 (categorization cited from: Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 100); as well as Schonborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 212–213. Archim. Ambrose (Pogodin. Op. op. p.69:84), translating the homily from Latin, believed that the term “progressus Christi” speaks of “the growth of Christ.” However, the Greek original does not indicate this aspect; on the contrary, movement in space is repeatedly spoken of. Ancient philosophy recognized that spatial restrictions do not apply to the divine essence and it is motionless; the possibility of her moving from place to place was rejected. Wed: Hyp. 10. Hyp. 10: ... ????? ἐκ Βηθλεὲμ μὲν τῆς θειοτάτης ἀπαίροντος, εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα δὲ ταυτηνὶ τὴν πόλιν εἰσβαίνοντος. Despite the formal absence of the expression “two actions,” the saint unequivocally defends both divine and human actions in Christ. See: Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 44–45. Sophronius. Epistula Synodica 2.3.12 // Concilium universale Constantinopolitanum tertium. Concilii actiones I–XUSH. Documentum 11 // Riedinger R. Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum. R. 2. Bd. 2. Berlin, 1990, 1992. S. 448, 450; Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 104, 106: ... αὔξεται καὶ τὰς σωματικὰς μεθηλικιώσεις διέρχεται, ἄχρις οὗ πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἡλικίας ἀφίκετο τέλειον, καννν τὴν ἡμῶν καὶ δίψαν προσδέχεται καὶ κόπον καθ’ ἡμᾶς τὸν ἐξ ὁδοιπορίας ὑπέμεινεν. ἐποιεῖτο γὰρ καὶ τὴν πορευτικὴν ἡμῖν ὁμοίως ἐνέργειαν, ἥτις ἀνθρωπίνως ἐνεργουμένη καὶ κατ’ οὐσίαν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν προβαίνουσα τῆς ἀνθρωπείας αὐτοῦ φύσεως ἐτύγχανεν ἔνδειξις. ὅθεν καὶ τόπον ὡς ἡμεῖς ἐκ τόπου μετέβαινεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος καὶ φύσιν τὴν ἡμῶν ἔσχεν ἀμείωτον περιγραφῆς ἠνέσχετο σώματος, καὶ σχῆμα τὸ ἡμῖν ἁρμόζον πεφόρηκε. Wed. rus. Transl.: Acts of the Ecumenical Councils, published in Russian translation at the Kazan Theological Academy. T. 6. Kazan, 1908. P. 151. About the message, see: Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 23–157; Arfuch D. E. Confesar a Cristo, San Sofronio patriarca de Jerusalen y el debate monoenergista en la Epístola Sinodal // Estudios trinitarios. 2014. Vol. 48.No. 1, 2. P. 161–233; Vol. 48.No. 3. P. 479–548. The absence of explicit mention of the two acts in Christ in the Candlemas homily and in Sophronius's other sermons may perhaps be explained by the insistence of Sergius of Constantinople in the Psephos decree of 633 that Sophronius and his opponent Cyrus of Alexandria avoid speaking of both one and two acts (Schonborn Ch. von. Op. cit. P. 104; Allen P. Sophronius of Jerusalem... P. 29). See: Wilken R. L. The Land Called Holy. P. 230–231. The presence of the concept of “dating in a round dance” is explained by the genre peculiarity of Anacreontic poetry. This love for Bethlehem makes St. Sophronia with the blessed Jerome of Stridonsky, who left many touching lines about the city of the Nativity of Christ. Ap. 20. 1–6: Ἅγιον πόλισμα θεῖον / Ἱερουσαλήμ, τεὰς νῦν / ἐθέλω πύλας παρεῖναι /ἵν’ ἀγαλλιῶν ἐσέλθω / / αἰὲν ἐμὴν κραδίην σφόδρα δαμάζει. An. 14. 7–14: Βλεφάρων ἐμῶν τὸ χεῦμα / βραχὺ πρὸς τόσην ἀνίην, / κραδίης ἐμῆς ὁ θρῆνος / μέτριος τόσον πρὸς ἄλγος. // Γοερὸν δ’ ὅμως βοήσω / ἐπί σοι στόνους ὑφαίνων / ὅτι κύρμα τοῖον εὗρες, / δακρύων φορὰν καλύπτων. Nat. 512: ? ἔχομεν καὶ τοῦ ποθουμένου τυχεῖν οὐκ ἰσχύομεν; Fitzmyer J. A. Interpretation of the Bible in the Church // Dictionary of Biblical Interpretation / J. H. Hayes, ed. Vol. 2. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1999. P. 546. On the well of Bethlehem as a typological prophecy, see also: Nat. 511–512. See, for example: Palamarenko E.V. Decree. op.