medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Monday, February 21, 2011, at 8:14 am, christopher crockett wrote:
> From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > The adjective "seemingly",
>
> is actually an adverb.
Quite so. I was asleep at the switch when I wrote that.
<SNIP>
>
> >....thaumaturge.... Usually, someone is called that because of _thaumata_
> (marvels) operated or said to have been operated in his own lifetime,
> e.g. St.
> Gregory the Thaumaturge, bp. of Neocaesarea. Leo's Bios has him operating
> while living a number of marvels (mostly against an opponent who is
> also a
> thaumaturge).
>
> is there a distinction to be made between "thaumaturge" and, say "miracle
> worker"?
No.
> do Terri,'s "ill doers, possibly magicians (_maleficos_)" qualify as
> "thaumaturges," or is the later term reserved --rather like our "miracles"--
> for the Good Guys only?
The phrasing, as often, is Terri's only by adoption (she's redacting earlier notices written by others). Who the _malefici_ (converting Gregory's accusative into a nominative) actually were is unknown. The word literally means "evil-doers"; what evil they may have been up to -- in fact and in Gregory's view -- is unknown.
That said, yes, it is possible for thaumaturges to be evil. Leo of Catania's opponent Heliodorus is also a thaumaturge. Much of Leo's Bios is structured around the superiority of Leo's divinely enabled good magic to Heliodorus' diabolically inspired (and consequently evilly intended) bad magic. In this contest things do not work out well in the end for Heliodorus.
Best again,
John
(Who was also asleep at the switch when in his previous post in this thread he said that Phyllis had dropped certain matter when she repeated a post in 2006. Phyllis was no longer writing "saints of the day" notices in 2006; the year in question was 2004.)
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