Publication: El Acta Martirial de Santa Shirin: identidad cristiana en el Imperio sasánida
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2019-06-19
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Abstract
Tras la toma de poder de Ardashir I (224), la inmensa variedad territorial y cultural de Eranshahr, «el Imperio de Irán», se intentó aglutinar bajo la figura totalizadora del monarca y una única religión: el zoroastrismo. Desde el principio, las otras identificaciones religiosas –entre ellas los distintos grupos cristianos, judíos, maniqueos, hinduistas, etc.– quedaron sumidas en una posición, cuanto menos, minoritaria. En este contexto, el cristianismo se esforzaba continuamente por definir unos códigos propios frente a las demás identidades religiosas y se servía de diversas estrategias para ello. Este trabajo tratará de explicitar algunas de aquellas estrategias para observar cómo esta identidad religiosa se creó y articuló en un paisaje cultural y cronológico concreto. Para explicitar dichas estrategias, me serviré del acta martirial de Shirin (m. 559), conservada en griego y escrita a finales del s. VI, donde se narra el nacimiento, conversión al cristianismo, captura y ejecución de una joven de dieciocho años llamada Shirin. El texto, conservado en griego, está tomado de la edición de Devos (1946). Se trata, pues de un análisis literario del texto, apoyado en fuentes primarias y secundarias, donde se intenta dar cuenta del vasto y complejo paisaje sociocultural y político en que se crearon estos testimonios. Además de analizar las estrategias identitarias, el trabajo toma a consideración un aspecto hasta ahora desconocido en los estudios de los testimonios hagiográficos: la corporeidad. Al considerar el cuerpo como horizonte cultural, a la vez creador y receptor de códigos culturales específicos en ciertas situaciones, estos testimonios pueden situarse en un paisaje mucho más completo y rico, que abre las puertas a nuevas investigaciones y caminos hacia el estudio de las religiones en general y el conflicto en la Antigüedad Tardía entre cristianismo y demás identificaciones religiosas en particular.
After Ardashir’s seizure of power (224), the territorial and cultural variety of Eranshahr ‘the Empire of Iran’, was attempted to be united under the totalizing figure of the monarch and a single religion: Zoroastrianism. Meanwhile, the other religious identifications –different Christian groups, Jews, Manichaeans, Hindus, etc.– became, to say the least, a minority. In this context, Christians continually endeavoured to define its own cultural agenda in relation to other religious identities and used various strategies to do so. This paper will try to explain some of those strategies in order to analyse hoe this religious identity was created and articulated in a specific cultural and chronological landscape. In order to explain these strategies, I will examine the Act of Shirin (d. 559), a Martyr Act written by the end of the 6th century BCE, that takes into account the birth, conversion to Christianity, persecution and death of an eighteen-year-old-martyr named Shirin. The text, written in Greek, is taken from the edition of Devos (1946). This paper, therefore, is a literary analysis of the text that takes into account primary and secondary sources in order to present the context in which these texts ere written as a vast and complex sociocultural and political landscape where different religious identities struggle to maintain its self-definition against each other and the hegemonic identification. In addition to the analysis of strategies on identity, this paper takes into consideration a methodological approach hitherto unknown to hagiographic studies: embodiment. To consider the body as a cultural milieu, both agent and receiver of specific cultural codifications, these texts can be placed in a much more complex and varied cultural landscape. A way that opens the path to new research in the study of religions in general and Late Antique religious conflict between Early Christian groups and other religious identities in particular.
After Ardashir’s seizure of power (224), the territorial and cultural variety of Eranshahr ‘the Empire of Iran’, was attempted to be united under the totalizing figure of the monarch and a single religion: Zoroastrianism. Meanwhile, the other religious identifications –different Christian groups, Jews, Manichaeans, Hindus, etc.– became, to say the least, a minority. In this context, Christians continually endeavoured to define its own cultural agenda in relation to other religious identities and used various strategies to do so. This paper will try to explain some of those strategies in order to analyse hoe this religious identity was created and articulated in a specific cultural and chronological landscape. In order to explain these strategies, I will examine the Act of Shirin (d. 559), a Martyr Act written by the end of the 6th century BCE, that takes into account the birth, conversion to Christianity, persecution and death of an eighteen-year-old-martyr named Shirin. The text, written in Greek, is taken from the edition of Devos (1946). This paper, therefore, is a literary analysis of the text that takes into account primary and secondary sources in order to present the context in which these texts ere written as a vast and complex sociocultural and political landscape where different religious identities struggle to maintain its self-definition against each other and the hegemonic identification. In addition to the analysis of strategies on identity, this paper takes into consideration a methodological approach hitherto unknown to hagiographic studies: embodiment. To consider the body as a cultural milieu, both agent and receiver of specific cultural codifications, these texts can be placed in a much more complex and varied cultural landscape. A way that opens the path to new research in the study of religions in general and Late Antique religious conflict between Early Christian groups and other religious identities in particular.