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Jerome’s Influence on Marulić’s Description of the Four Evangelists in De hvmilitate et gloria Christi
Ivan Bodrožić
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet, Split
Sažetak
In this article, the author analyses Marulić’s conception of the four evangelists in De humilitate et Gloria Christi, in which Marulić’s fundamental departure is from two scriptural texts. The first text is Ezekiel (cf. 1, 5 ff.), and is concerned with the vision of four creatures (a man, lion, ox and eagle), while the second is from the book of Zacharias, in which the prophet describes four chariots (cf. 6, 1 ff.). With respect to the first argument, the basic contention of Marulić is that the human figure represents Matthew, the lion Mark, the ox Luke and the eagle John. As for the text in Zacharias, Marulić holds that the prophetic description of the chariots heralds the four evangelists, who are the four-horse chariots to which are yoked horses of differing colours. In one they are red, in another black, in a third white, and in a fourth pied, each colour having its own meaning, for it symbolises a certain category of believer: in order, the martyr, the interpreter of the Scriptures, the person under a vow, and the person endowed with diversity of spiritual goods.
Bearing in mind the particularity of Marulić’s exegesis of these Biblical places and the theological arguments used to reinforce his views, the author has investigated possible influences, particularly from the Patristic writers, systematically searching the writings of the Fathers about these interpretations. Christian writers of the first centuries who interpreted the four mentioned figures were Irenaeus of Lyons, Victorinus of Poetovio, Aurelius Augustine, Jerome of Dalmatia, the Pseudo-Athanasius, to whom was added an anonymous author of the second half of the 8th century. They give evidence of the range and popularity of the interpretation of the figures of the evangelists in the writing of Early Christianity, in all their diversity. While Irenaeus, Augustine and Pseudo-Athanasius have their own schemes, all of them different, which do not coincide with that of Marulić, to an extent those of Victorinus, Jerome and the anonymous author correspond in sub-stance to Marulić’s interpretation which, among other things, has remained in the iconography down to our times. Thus the author embarked on an additional analysis, proving on the basis of a comparison of the texts and theological arguments, that Marulić followed the Jerome scheme, while Jerome himself took over the idea from Victorinus.
The second text did not provide such a wide range of thinking, for only two authors in the time of Early Christianity call the Evangelists chariots. One of them is Aurelius Augustine, who only in one place uses the term, without backing up the claim with any particular theological evidence. In comparison with Marulić, it is clear that apart from the actual use of the term four-in-hand there is no similarity between him and our writer. The other Christian writer who spoke much more often about the chariots, interpreting them in his Biblical commentaries, was St Jerome. In places in which he interprets their symbolism, he incessantly refers to the text of the prophet Zacharias and gives an allegorical interpretation to the chariots and the four coloured horses (the red, black, white and pied), an essential correspondence with Marulić’s description being observable, because for him the colours represent the martyrs, the interpreters of the obscure places in the scriptures, the virgins, and those who have the grace of healing and diverse virtues.
Hence the author moves to the undeniable conclusion that Marulić of Split, in both of the arguments offered, was without a question a debtor to the interpretation of Jerome of Dalmatia in his exegetic and theological understanding of the four evangelists.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
35393
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.4.2009.
Posjeta: 2.114 *