One of the more spectacular manifestations of the miraculous power of relics was their ability to protect places where they had been deposited against enemies and natural disasters. Stories about cities defended by such palladia can be found both in Eastern and Western evidence at the same time as pagan accounts about statues or talismans that checked barbarians, earthquakes and plagues (Olympiodorius, Zosimus). I’m going to present several types of defensive holy objects (from a statue of Poseidon in Antioch to the letter of Jesus in Edessa to the fragments of the Holy Cross and relics of the Apostles in Constantinople), focus on the relationship between the pagan and Christian traditions and fix the moment which gave rise to the latter.
Robert Wiśniewski earned his PhD at the University of Warsaw in 2002 with a thesis on the role of the devil in early Latin hagiography. He works on late antique Christian religious mentality and practice, although his attention is sometimes attracted by Gallic druids. Robert is currently writing a book on the beginnings of the cult of relics and is involved in a project on Christian divination in Late Antiquity. He is perplexed by the question of how it was possible to be well informed about the future and remain a good Christian.
Related works by Robert Wiśniewski:
- “Lucilla and the Bone. Remarks on an Early Testimony to the Cult of Relics.” Journal of Late Antiquity 4 (2011), 157-161
- „Początki dzielenia relikwii świętych w chrześcijaństwie antycznym: Czy Grecy są winni?” [Dividing relics. Are the Greeks guilty?] in: Timai: Studia poświęcone profesorowi Włodzimierzowi Lengauerowi przez uczniow i młodszych kolegów z okazji Jego 60. urodzin, red. A. Wolicki. Warszawa 2009, 168-185
- „I los padł na Macieja…”. Kilka uwag o późnoantycznym stosunku do losów i pewnym epizodzie z początków Kościoła [“And the Lot Fell on Matthew...”. Some Remarks on the Late Antique Attitude to Drawing Lots and an Episode of the Early Beginnings of the Church], U Schyłku starożytności. Studia źródłoznawcze 10 (2011), 229-236.
- Początki kultu relikwii na Zachodzie [The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics in the West. A Sourcebook], Warsaw, 2011.
- “Looking for Dreams and Talking with Martyrs. Internal Roots of the Christian Incubation.” [submitted to Studia Patristica, forthcoming]