Dear Chana,
I am currently travelling in France, staying at Auxerre and without access to my paper files and notes home at Münster. But I once looked into the written sources of the typological parallel between the ascensions of Elijah and Christ, for putting the simile of Dante, Inferno XXVI, 34ss. into context: when referring to the invisibility of the prophet, withdrawn to the eyes of his disciple Elisha in a storm or storm of fire ("per turbinem"), Dante does not speak of a storm, but of an ascending 'flame', compared by him to a 'small cloud' ("ch'el vedesse altro che la fiamma sola, / sì come nuvoletta, in sù salire"), cf. "nubes suscepit eum ab oculis eorum" (Acts 1,9).
I never went very far in my investigation of written sources, but as I recall it one of the most influential texts on the typological parallel in question was Gregory's homily XXIX in the second book of his Homiliae in Evangelia, see especially paragraphs 5-6, lines 120-62, CCSL 141, pp. 249-251:
[5] In ueteri testamento cognouimus quod Elias sit raptus in caelum. Sed aliud est caelum aerium. aliud aetherium. Caelum quippe aerium terrae est proximum. unde et aues caeli dicimus, quia eas uolitare in aere uidemus. In caelum itaque aerium Elias subleuatus est, ut in secreta quadam terrae regione repente duceretur, ubi in magna iam carnis et spiritus quiete uiueret. quousque ad finem mundi redeat, et mortis debitum soluat. Ille enim mortem distulit, non euasit. Redemptor autem noster quia non distulit, superauit, eamque resurgendo consumpsit, et resurrectionis suae gloriam ascendendo declarauit. Notandum quoque est quod Elias in curru legitur ascendisse, ut uidelicet aperte monstraretur* quia homo purus adiutorio egebat* alieno. Per angelos quippe illa facta et ostensa sunt adiumenta, quia nec ad caelum quidem aerium per se ascendere poterat. quem naturae suae infirmitas grauabat. Redemptor autem noster non curru, non angelis subleuatus legitur, quia is qui fecerat omnia nimirum super omnia sua uirtute ferebatur. Illuc* etenim reuertebatur ubi erat, et inde rediebat ubi remanebat. quia cum per humanitatem ascenderet in caelum, per diuinitatem suam et terram pariter continebat et caelum.
[6] Sicut autem Ioseph a fratribus uenditus uenditionem Redemptoris nostri figurauit, sic Enoch translatus, atque ad caelum aerium Elias subleuatus, ascensionem dominicam designauit. Ascensionis ergo suae Dominus praenuntios et testes habuit, unum ante legem, alium sub lege, ut quandoque ueniret ipse qui ueraciter caelos penetrare potuisset. Vnde et ipse ordo in eorum quoque utrorumque subleuatione per quaedam incrementa distinguitur. Nam Enoch translatus, Elias uero ad caelum subuectus esse memoratur, ut ueniret postmodum qui nec translatus, nec subuectus. caelum aetherium sua uirtute penetraret. Qui nobis in se credentibus quia carnis quoque munditiam largiretur, et sub eo per incrementa temporum uirtus castitatis excresceret, in ipsa quoque eorum translatione qui ascensionem dominicam ut uidelicet famuli designauerunt, et in ipso se qui ad caelum ascendit, Dominus ostendit. Nam Enoch quidem uxorem et filios habuit, Elias uero neque uxorem. neque filios legitur habuisse. Pensate ergo quomodo per incrementa creuerit munditia sanctitatis, quod et per translatos famulos et per ascendentis Domini personam patenter ostenditur. Translatus namque est Enoch et per coitum genitus et per coitum generans. Raptus est Elias per coitum ge nitus. sed non iam per coitum generans. Assumptus uero est Dominus neque per coitum generans, neque per coitum generatus.
I will check my materials at home when I will be back there next week.
Kind regards,
Otfried Lieberknecht
D-48157 Münster
Dorbaumstr. 86
Tel. +49 (0) 1573 79 79 329
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On 29 July 2018 at 20:15 Chana Shacham-Rosby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and cultureHello all,********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: subscribe medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: unsubscribe medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/medieval-religionMy previous requests to this list have been very helpful (thank you Max for pointing me in the right direction to bestiaries).I am looking into the topology of ascension, focusing on Elijah.
I have found quite a few visual representations- illustrations, stained glass, paintings, facades, etc.- of Elijah going up to heaven in a chariot, on his own or part of a triple presentation with Jesus and Enoch.However, I have not had any luck locating *written sources*. I looked at some commentaries on Kings and Acts, but haven't found an explanation that connects the ascension of Elijah to the ascension of Christ.
Can anyone recommend where I should look?
My research arena is central to western Europe, 11-15th century.One study I read claimed that the topos and imagery originated in the Pauper's Bible iconography and disseminated from there, but I am hesitant to accept this theory without more information.Chana Shacham-Rosby