Meditatio mortis. Meditating on Death, Philosophy and Gender in Late Antique Hagiography

Abstract

According to Socrates, as he is described in Plato’s Phaedo, the definition of a true philosopher is a wise man who is continuously practicing dying and being dead. Already in this life, the philosopher tries to free his soul from the body in order to acquire true knowledge as the soul is progressively becoming detached from the body. Centuries after it was written, Plato’s Phaedo continued to play a role for some early Christian authors, and this article focuses on three instances where Christian women mirror Socrates and/or his definition of philosophy. We find these instances in hagiographical literature from the fourth and fifth centuries at different locations in the Roman Empire – in the Lives of Macrina, Marcella and Syncletica. These texts are all to varying degrees impacted by Platonic philosophy and by the ideal of the male philosopher Socrates. As women mastering philosophy, they widened common cultural expectations for women, revealing how Christian authors in certain contexts ascribed authority to female figures.

Prema Sokratu, opisanog u Platonovom Fedonu, definicija pravog filozofa je mudar čovek koji kontinuirano vežba umiranje i smrt. Već u ovom životu filozof pokušava da oslobodi svoju dušu od tela, kako bi stekao istinsko znanje kako se duša progresivno odvaja od tela. Veko-vima nakon što je napisan, Platonov Fedon nije prestao da igra značajnu ulogu za neke ra-nohrišćanske autore, a ovaj članak se fokusira na tri slučaja u kojima hrišćanske žene opo-našalje Sokrata i / ili njegovu definiciju filozofije. Ove slučajeve nalazimo u hagiografskoj literaturi iz četvrtog i petog veka na različitim lokacijama u Rimskom carstvu - u žitijima Ma-krine, Markele i Sinkletike. Sve ove žene su, na manje ili više direktne načine i prema različi-tim strategijama u vezi sa uticajem paganske filozofije na hrišćanstvo, pod uticajem platon-ske filosofije i muškog filozofa Sokrata. Kao žene koje se usavršavaju u filozofiji, one šire zajednička kulturna očekivanja ostalim ženama i otkrivaju kako su hrišćanski autori u odre-đenim kontekstima pripisivali autoritet ženskim figurama.