119 Representations of travel motivation works.371 The Life has been variously dated to between 842-845, 842-847 or c. 855.372 The date of death of Ignatius is disputed (either soon after 847 or after 870) which otherwise could have functioned as a terminus ante quem.373 The year 842 serves as a terminus post quem.374 It seems likely that the Life was written when the controversy around iconoclasm was still an urgent matter at the time, and thus might have been written just after the official restoration of icon-veneration in March 843, or possibly even just before. Namely, the text includes several digressions on Gregory’s correct theological standpoints – although the issue of iconoclasm otherwise does not feature prominently in the narrative.375 It seems therefore that these digressions are included just to make sure that Gregory was to be considered on the ‘right’ side of history, even though he was not involved in defending icons himself. Moreover, in the epilogue the author prays to the saint to expel heresies and pray for peace within the church.376 This would suggest that the controversy was not yet fully resolved – possibly even allowing for a pre-restoration date (before March 843) – or that the post-restoration ‘purge’ of iconoclast religious leaders was still in full swing.377 This would mean that the Life was written very soon after Gregory’s death (within a year and up to two years, depending of the exact year of his death). A comment in the epilogue of the Life implies that Ignatius wrote the hagiographical text on a commission from disciples of Gregory: ‘being obedient to pious men, who served the 371 Some scholars doubted Ignatius’ authorship (e.g., Wanda Wolska-Conus), in response to which Ihor Š evčenko elaborated on stylistic similarities between the Life of Gregory and other works known to be written by Ignatius to prove his authorship. Georgios Makris accepts this and has added further stylistic parallels. Since then the authorship of Ignatius has been commonly accepted. See Wolska-Conus (1970), pp. 340–342; 359; Ševčenko (1982), p. 37, note 70; Mango (1985), p. 636; Makris (1997), pp. 46–48. 372 See Prieto Domínguez (2021), pp. 170, footnote 11. 373 Cyril Mango proposed after 847. Mango (1985), p. 645. Makris argued instead that Ignatius lived on to at least 870. Makris (1997), pp. 3–11. A later date of death is necessary for Makris if his hypothesis is true that the Life was written around or just after 855 after the foundation of Joseph the Hymnographer’s monastery dedicated to Gregory; I disagree with a date of 855 for the composition of the Life, see pp. 123-124 below. However, others rejected again the dates proposed by Makris; for this discussion see note 38 in the PmBZ entry for ‘Ignatios Diakonos: Ἰγνάτιος’ (=PmBZ 2665/corr.), Lilie et al. (2013a). 374 The Emperor Theophilus, who died January 842, is implied to be already dead at the time of writing, so 842 would be a terminus post quem. Prieto Domínguez (2021), p. 170; Mango (1985), p. 644. 375 See e.g., Life of Gregory of Decapolis 73. 376 Life of Gregory of Decapolis epilogue, lines 16-19. Prieto Domínguez goes into more detail about the context of iconoclasm as background for the creation of this Life. He speculates that Gregory might even have had iconoclast viewpoints – although he thinks it is more likely that icons were not central in Gregory’s spirituality, so he might represent a more ‘indifferent’ rather than a polemical standpoint towards icons. Ignatius, however, surely did not want to portray Gregory as an iconoclast, as the iconophile theological digressions in the Life indicate. See Prieto Domínguez (2021), pp. 169–186. 377 Malamut interprets the phrase in the epilogue to mean that the Life was written just after the official restoration of icon veneration at March 11 843, although in my view the phrase does not rule out the possibility that it was written earlier: the plea of the author to restore the peace within the church and expel heresies could equally be interpreted to mean that the official restoration had not yet taken place. It does suggest, I think, a date in which the issue was still very urgent and perhaps (some) iconoclasts were still in places of power. So I am inclined to think that the Life was written just before or just after March 843, so in 842 or 843. Malamut (2004), p. 1193; For the political and religious context of the period of iconoclasm, see Haldon and Brubaker (2011). Although it seems that there would not have been a ‘mass expulsion’ of clergy, certainly a number of religious leaders were deposed, and this must have inspired anxiety among those who had had iconoclast sympathies. Brubaker and Haldon (2011), p. 450. 3
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