elements of the definition of a Christian. One must be “convinced” of the community’s teachings.4 The study of the Sibyl, the Old Testament prophets, and the ancient philosophers support the community’s identity.
Christian authors use the term apomnēmoneumata infrequently for writings about famous persons. Thus Origen refers to apomnēmoneumata of (i.e. “about”) Apollonios of Tyana.5 The work was written by a “philosopher” not a Christian. For Origen, it is reliable, because it tells a story that is embarrassing for philosophers. It speaks about a philosopher who falls prey to the witchcraft of Apollonius. Kelsos had claimed that philosophers should be immune against the lures of wizardry.
In an exegetical catena fragment, Apollinaris of Laodicea (died ca. 392) expounds John 20:30. According to Apollinaris “John also teaches us, why he deemed the apomnēmoneumata of Christ’s (earthly) presence worthy of being written down; (viz.) that they (are recorded for) the greatest benefit of their readers …”.6 Apomnēmoneumata are stories about Christ contained within the (canonical) fourth Gospel.
The “memorabilia” of the Apostles and the Prophets are the foundation of Justin’s belief of the cosmic function of the Logos. The term is vague enough in order to require Justin to explain it—apomnēmoneumata, the “so-called Gospel(s)”.7 He prefers the term apomnēmoneumata over the term “Gospel” (euangelion/euangelia). The term euangelion could still have been tainted by the fact that Marcion had been the first one to adopt this term as a designation for a—i.e. his—Gospel.
Justin paraphrases the story of Heracles at the crossroads from Xenophon’s Apomnēmoneumata of Socrates in the Second Apology.8 He refers to this source as “that Xenophontic one (Xenophōnteion)”—apparently “(that) book” (Minns and Parvis: “story”). Xenophon did not name his book Apomnēmoneumata. Nevertheless, it seems to have been known under this designation already in Justin’s time. The term apomnēmoneumata is appropriate for the subject that Justin wants to refer to and for the persons who should understand this designation.9 Gabriella Aragione admits that many of the attestations of the term as designations for books come from florilegia like Diogenes Laertius which postdate Justin’s time,10 even though she assumes that it may have been in use already in the second century.11 Regarding Old Testament texts, Justin was able to refer to “the Prophets” or to Moses who enjoyed a reputation of honor and seriosity among Justin’s fellow philosophers.12 However, he had to appeal to other concepts with regard to the Gospels.
Justin neither invented nor liked the term “Gospel”,13 although he knew its positive connotations.14 His readers could be expected to understand this designation. The apomnēmoneumata are not, apparently, congruent with material that is extant in the four canonical Gospels.15 The term refers to a genre of contents (viz. memorable stories about—and sayings of—Jesus), not to a certain text. Justin’s mixed quotations may also point to the use of a Gospel harmony, which may point to the existence of the canonical Gospels as well as Marcion’s.16
As the Gospels were brand-new texts in Justin’s time, so was the total lack of conventions to use them in a typically Christian way. Justin’s group did not perform reading sessions that were standardized or ritualized beyond what was normal for groups of philosophers. There was neither a yearly cycle of festivals,17 nor a well-established catechetical corpus that insiders of the group could be expected to have mastered. Justin’s designation for these texts, their use in the meetings of his group, and the fact that he does not quote a single line verbatim would be absurd, if these four books had already been the undisputed basis of the Christians’ identity and liturgy for roughly a century. Justin’s group read and discussed Gospel material among other texts because they were interesting, new, and controversial. However, they chose the reading material for similar reasons that may have led to the establishment of the Liturgy of the Word later. Old Testament Prophets and canonical Gospels establish and proclaim an anti-Marcionite stance.
5 Celebrations of Torah in Judaism
If the Christian custom to read the Gospels in formalized meetings should emulate rabbinic celebrations of Torah reading, one may construct Christian Liturgies of the Word as created in opposition to their Jewish parallels. In that case, one may wonder what it means that the Gospel does not seem to replace the Torah or why the reading of the Gospel was furnished with special authority by its assignment to certain members of the clergy, if it should have been regarded as inferior to a preceding Old Testament reading.
5.1 Paragons of Jewish Philosophers: Therapeutai and Therapeutrides
Philo claims that Therapeutai and Therapeutrides can be found everywhere in the ancient world, but especially near Alexandria and in a place above the Mareotic Lake living in solitary, detached houses (which they never leave throughout six days of the week).1 Regarding books, they only possess “laws, oracles (delivered) through the prophets, hymns” as well as other material that is useful for knowledge and piety.2 They read the Holy Scriptures and “have also writings (syngrammata) of men of old, the founders of their way of thinking, who left many memorials (mnēmeia3) of the form used in allegorical interpretation …”4.
This group is Philo’s allegory for ideal congregations of Jews. They meet on the seventh day of the week in order to listen to a discourse of the (male) senior scholar among them. Every fiftieth day, they celebrate a festival, beginning with prayer, then reclining for a banquet, first listening to an exegetical speech concluded with hymn-singing. After a frugal meal of bread (seasoned with some hyssop) and water, they hold a vigil of singing and dancing.5 Philo’s Jews-as-philosophers do not read any text at their gatherings. This group is fictional in a narrow sense (of real persons living near the Mareotic sea and everywhere around the Mediterranean). The properties that they share with Justin’s group are not due to a Judeo-Christian tradition. Such similarities are due to the fact that both Justin and Philo present their own groups as philosophers—like other Greeks and Romans with similar interests.
5.2 Ritualization of Rabbinic Study Sessions
An inscription of the early first century C.E. from Jerusalem mentions a synagogue built for the “reading of the Law and the teaching of the commandments” and adds that the donor, Theodotos, also built “the guest room, the chambers, and the water fittings, as an inn for those in need from foreign parts …”.1 Torah reading is thus established as an activity of Diaspora groups and mentioned by a priest.2 As the corpus of rabbinic texts does not yield reliable information for this epoch, the shape of actual performances of Torah reading that could have influenced Christians of Justin’s time, cannot be recovered. Intellectuals such as Rabbis, Justin’s Christian group, Pythagorean philosophers, and other groups studied and expounded texts. The typically rabbinic performance of Torah reading developed at the same time as the emergence of Christianity.3 Thus, the Tannaim study the sacrificial laws that prescribe the sacrifices on the festival days when these sacrifices were offered in the Temple.4 This practice of anamnetic reading was not or not only motivated by an interest in the understanding of texts. It enabled the rabbis to perform a sacred obligation.5
Rabbinic services of Torah reading neither provide a structural model for the Christian sequence of a Liturgy of the Word followed by the Eucharist (or the other way round) nor for the internal staging of a hierarchy of importance between different corpora of texts. There is no reason to assume any interdependence between the development of the typically Christian and rabbinic ritualization of the reading of sacred texts. Serious studies cannot reach firmer conclusions than “It is not unreasonable to assume some historical relationship …” between the rabbinic Sabbath morning liturgy and analogous performances in Christianity.6
5.3 The Gospels and the Haggadah of Pesach
It has been claimed that the Gospels or the Passion Narratives should have been written in order to be read or recited during (Proto-/Judaeo-) Christian celebrations of the Pascha as a replacement of the Haggadah of Pesach. The Haggadah is not, however, a literary genre, but a single text. It is first