The logo of the Melammu Project

The Melammu Project

The Heritage of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East


  The Melammu Project
  
   General description
   Search string
   Browse by topic
   Search keyword
   Submit entry
  
   About
   Open search
   Thematic search
   Digital Library
   Submit item
  
   Ancient texts
   Dictionaries
   Projects
   Varia
   Submit link
  FAQ
  Contact us
  About

  The Newsletter
  To Project Information >

 

Medicine of Life (1)

Printable view
Topics (move over topic to see place in topic list)

03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices





04 Religious and philosophical literature and poetry



03 Religious festivals, cults, rituals and practices



Keywords
idioms
medicine
Period
1st century CE
4th century CE
Byzantine Empire
Neo-Assyrian Empire
Roman Empire
Channel
Christian-Roman philosophers and scholars
Christian-Syriac philosophers and scholars
Christian-Syriac poets
Neo-Assyrian texts


Text
The Syrian Church Fathers speak very often about the Medicine of Life. Ephrem wrote in the commentary on Joshua 4:13 “This is the Church, which gives the absolution with the Medicine of Life, not only to kings but also to all the hosts that follow the kings.” (43.7-8.) The term “Medicine of Life” (sam hayyê) has a long history in Mesopotamia, being the object of the arduous quest of Gilgameš. It is mentioned in the Assyrian letter SAA 10 166.2’, where the Assyrian king revives people by placing “the medicine of life in their nostrils”. In Syrian tradition, the Medicine of Life is a favourite term for the eucharist. Aphrahat calls the Christ with the same term: “Blessed be the Shepherd, who became the Lamb for our atonement! Blessed be the Vineshoot, which became the Chalice for our salvation! Blessed also be the Grape, the source of the Medicine of Life!” (HN 3.15) Ignatius uses the term “medicine of immortality” instead (pharmakon athanasias, Eph. 20.3). Cyrillona developed the image of grain in John 12:24 in application both to Christ himself, dying and rising again, and to the Eucharist, which ‘the Church eats, the elect lady’ (On the Pasch, 265-266). As bread gives strength to the eater, so does Christ’s eucharistic body to ‘the nations’, giving them power to ‘trample on death’ (275-286). Jesus “gives the ‘Medicine of Life’ to the whole world to drink” (Aphrahat, Harm. 42). A passage in Aphrahat’s Carmina Nisibena (36.14) says: ‘The Medicine of Life has entered Sheol and made its dead live.’


Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Aphrahat, Harm. 42
Aphrahat, Hymns on Nativity 3.15
Cyrillona, On the Pasch 265-266
Cyrillona, On the Pasch 275-286
Ephrem Syrus, Commentary on Joshua 43.7-8
Ignatius, To the Ephesians 20.3
SAA 10 166.2’

Bibliography

Murray 1975, 48, 119-120, 122, 235Murray, Robert. Symbols of Church and Kingdom. A Study in Early Syriac Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1975.

Amar Annus


URL for this entry: http://www.aakkl.helsinki.fi/melammu/database/gen_html/a0001366.php


Illustrations
No pictures


^
T
O
P