120 Chapter 3 servant of God’.378 The narrative itself gives no clues as to a connection between Ignatius and Gregory. We hear the author’s voice only in the epilogue – and even then not revealing his connection to the saint.379 No other sources indicate that Ignatius knew Gregory personally. The reason to choose Ignatius to author the Life thus probably rested on Ignatius’ reputation as a prolific writer of hagiographies, rather than a personal connection between Ignatius and the saint. If we are to understand the intended aims of the author by writing this text and to know who were the intended audiences and what was the (original) context in which the text would have been performed, we need to know more about the commissioners and for what occasion and purposes they commissioned the Life. This may give us insight into the rationale behind the representation of travel motivations as well. Although there is consensus on the authorship of the narrative, it is not evident who the commissioners were. Georgios Makris, the editor of the Life, has presented a hypothesis on the identity of the commissioner. Although in the Life itself the commissioners are not called more specific than ‘pious men who served the servant of God’, Makris posed that it is ‘certain’ that Joseph the Hymnographer (b. c. 808 - d. 886) was the commissioner.380 Joseph would have commissioned it to be read in his newly founded monastery. Makris based his conclusions on two passages in the epilogue of the Life: the beforementioned reference to the commissioners as being servants of Gregory and a passage in which the narrator pleads to the saint for intercession on behalf of ‘your flock and your supplicants’ (τῆς σῆς ποίμνης καὶ τῶν σῶν ἱκετῶν). Does this lead to the conclusion that Joseph was the commissioner of the Life of Gregory? Let us review what we know about Joseph the Hymnographer and his relation to Gregory. Joseph was indeed a disciple of Gregory. He was a prolific hymnographer, and many hymns he composed have come down to us, including some dedicated to Gregory.381 Joseph’s Life narrates that Joseph joined Gregory in ascetical practice in Thessaloniki and that they 378 Life of Gregory of Decapolis epilogue, lines 8-10: Καὶ τοῖς τῷ θεράποντι θεοῦ διακονήσασιν εὐλαβέσιν ἀνδράσι καταπειθὴς γενόμενος τῇ μικρᾷ ταύτῃ τοῦ λόγου ὑπηρεσίᾳ ἑαυτὸν καθῆκα προθυμότατα […].: ‘And being obedient to the pious men who served the servant of God, I have directed the mind most eagerly to this small service of this discourse […]’. 379 The first person’s voice indicates that the author hopes that his narrative will be beneficial to others and indicates that he used trustworthy sources – both being hagiographical topoi. The informants that he used included Gregory’s uncle Symeon, a disciple Athanasius and a monk named Peter. Life of Gregory of Decapolis epilogue, lines 4-8; on these topoi, see Pratsch (2005), pp. 347–349. 380 Makris (1997), p. 26. 381 See Š evč enko (1998); Prieto Domínguez (2021), pp. 195–201.
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