143 Representations of travel motivation confirmed in the epilogue, where Basil refers to his text as an ephymnion, that is a eulogy, dedicated to the saint.470 Secondly, besides framing the narrative as an act of virtue of the author (honouring his spiritual father), Basil explicitly recognises the text as a medium to communicate to various audiences. He targets his text at two types of audiences: those who listen to the text while it is performed, and the saint himself. He addresses the former in the following passage: Εἰ μὲν γὰρ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὁ λόγος εἰς θεωρίας καὶ ἀναβάσεως ὕψος ἐληλακὼς ἐπικαταλαβέσθαι καὶ ὡς μεταδοτική τις δύναμις τοῖς ἄλλοις διαπορθμεῦσαι δυνήσηται […], τῷ ἁγίῳ πάντως θήσει τὰ νικητήρια, καταπλήττων οἶδ’ ὅτι τῇ τῶν ἔργων μεγαλειότητι τῶν ἀκουόντων τὴν σύνεσιν·471 For if my speech, having arrived at the height of contemplation and elevation, is able to include all of his [Euthymius’] virtue and to transmit it to others like some freely available power [….], it will surely bestow the prizes of victory on the saint, astonishing, I know, the understanding of those who listen with the magnitude of his deeds.472 Basil thus recognises an audience of listeners. From this and a later passage, we can distil multiple authorial goals. Firstly, he aims to inspire admiration for the saint in the audience by astonishing them with the narration of Euthymius’ virtues and deeds. Secondly, we learn in a later passage that by astonishing the audience he aims to ‘procure fame for the one who is being celebrated’.473 In other words, he aims to spread the word and increase the devotion to the saint. The journey to an ideal monastic career Unfortunately, the intended context for the performance of the text is uncertain, so we do not know what audience Basil precisely envisaged. The hagiographer suggests that the immediate occasion for the creation of the text is the commemoration day of Euthymius, October 15.474 However, it is unclear where the text was to be read.475 Possibly 470 Ἡμῖν μὲν ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ἀποχρώντως τόδε σοι προσανατέθειται τὸ ἐφύμνιον. Life of Euthymius 39. 471 Life of Euthymius 2.3. 472 I have altered Talbot’s translation for some words to stay closer to the Greek text, although these changes do not greatly affect the interpretation of the passage (e.g., ‘my speech’ instead of ‘my narrative’ for ὁ λόγος, ‘transmit’ instead of ‘communicate’ for διαπορθμεῦσαι, ‘those who listen’ instead of ‘audience’ for τῶν ἀκουόντων). 473 τὸ περίδοξον τῷ ὑμνουμένῳ περιποιηθήσεται, Life of Euthymius 2.3. 474 ‘as the commemoration day of our father is upon us [πατρικῆς ἡμῖν ἐφεστηκυίας μνήμης] and demands to be deservedly honored by us, let me demonstrate the appropriate obedience and, to the extent of my ability, let me turn my strength to the narrative […]’. Life of Euthymius 2.1; translated by Talbot in Alexakis (2016). 475 There has not been a great deal of extensive research to the performance contexts of Byzantine hagiographies in general, but see the comments in the Introduction, pp. 24-25. Possibly the 2020 dissertation of Julian Yang, titled ‘Author and Audience: Creating ‘Sanctifiction’ in Middle Byzantine Hagiography’, will contribute to our knowledge of the performance context and audiences of hagiography, but I have not been able to consult this thesis due to an embargo restricting access until 2025. 3
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