)

('Pierced by Bronze Needles": Anti-Montanist Charges of Ritual Stigmatization in Their Fourth-Century Context

SUSANNA ELM

For Christ is like a sing/e body with its many links and organs, which, many as they are, together make up one body . ... Now you are Christ's body, and each of you a limb or organ of it.

(l Cor 12.12, 27)

You sha/1 not make gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks (rpaJlJ.wmmina) upon you: I am the Lord.

(Lev 19.28)

Priests sha/1 not ... gash their bodies . ... No man among your descen­dants for a/1 time who has any physical de(ects sha/1 come and present the food of his God.

(Lev 21.5, 17.)

I bear the marks (ra arryJlam) o( j esus branded to my body. (Ga/6.1 7)

ln the 350's Cyril of Jerusalem delivered a series of catechctical lectures on a variety ofissues he considered crucial to those about tobe baptized. 1 Cyri l

1. An earlier version of this paperwas first given at the AAR/SBL mceting in Wash­ington DC, 1993. I would like to thank the many people who have inspired and helped me, especially the authors assemblcd in this collection, and P. Brown, M. Maas, E. A. Clark, and W. Tabbernee.

Jou rnal ofEarly Christian Studies 4:4,409- 439 © 1996 The johns Hopkins Univcrsity Press.

410 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

devored the sixteenth of these Ieerures to the nature and agency ofthe Holy Spirit, which he explained in part through a display of irs heretical mis~ constructions. One of the heresies that had falsified the Holy Spirit was par­ticu!arly reprehensible. Not only bad rheir founderclaimed tobe in fact the Holy Spirit, even worse, his followers, "on rhe pretext of rheir so-called mysteries ... cut rhe throats of wretched little children and chopped them into pieces for their unholy banquets. " 2

They were the Montanists, a well-known heresy of long standing.3 Even though the heresy itself was not new, Cyril inaugurates here an inrriguing deve[opment: he is the first in our sources to accuse Monranists of ritual child murder.

Our earlier sources know the heresy of Montanus by the movement's own description, namely as the "New Prophecy," and they attack it pre­cisely because of the form and content of its founders' (Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla's) prophetic utterances.4 It was the early opponents' prin­cipai concern to demoostrate that the ecstatic "New Prophecy" was false, rhe prophets' visions satanic in origin, and therefore all their claims to spir­itual leadership illegitimate and gravely injurious to their followers.

The fourth-cemury sources, drawing on the earlier authorities, continue and intensify this line of ittack. Yet, in addition to their condemnation of Montanist prophecy, fourth-century authors now also levelled the charge of ritual child murder,5 even though rhe heresy of Montanus had already

2. Cyr. ]er. Cat. 16 De spiritu sancto 1.8, held in 348. Trans. by L. P. McCau!ey and A. A. Stephenson, The Works of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, vol. 2, The Fathers of rhe Church, no. 64 (Washington D.C.: The Carholic University Press, 1970), 79-80; R. Ly­man, "A Topography ofHeresy: Mapping rhe Rhetorical Crearion of Arianisrn," in Ar­ianism after Arius: Essays on the Development of the Fourth Century Trinitarian Con­(iicts, ed. by M. R. Barnes and D. H. Wllliams (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993), 45-62, here 48-53; W. Telfer, Cyril of ]erusalem and Nemesius o(Emesa, Library of Christian Classics, no. 4 (London: SCM Press, 1955), 19-63,36-39 for dates.

3. ln rhis lecrure, Cyril actually coins the term "Montanists" in line with the anri­heretical rradition of naming secrs afrer rheir founder.

4. They are Eus. HE 5.14-19; an unidentified ear!y source in Epiph. Haer. 48.4-13; inc!uding some 14 aurhentic oracles preserved here, and sources concerning Rome and North Africa; trans. by R. E. Heine, The Montanist Oracles and Testimonia, PMS, no. 14 (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1989), 2-9, 53-93. K. Aland, "Bemerkungen zum Montaoismus und zur frühchristlichen Eschatologie," in Kirchengeschichtliche Entwürfe (Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1960), 105-148, here 111 n. 58, 143-48.

S. Ritual child murder accusations will not be rhe focus of rhe following discussion; r shal! insread concentrare on one specific aspect, rhough human sacrifice rernains rel­evant for its connotations. For scholarly Iirerature on this subjecr and its anrhropo­logical significance, see, e.g., mosr recendy, ]. Rives, "Human Sacrifice among Pagans and Christi ans," ]RS 85 (1995): 65-85; A. McGowan, "Eating People: Accusarions of Cannibaiism Against Christians in the Second Century," ]ECS 2 (1994 ): 413-442; and

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 411

all but disappeared in the Westernpart of the Romanempire and had un­dergone a nurober of transformations in the East.6

Most of the fourth-century authors who repeat Cyril's initial accusa­tion, for example, Filastrius of Brescia, Jerome, the author of the Homily on the Ps.-Prophets, Praedestinatus, Isidore of Pelusium and Timorhy of Constantinople, follow the pattern he established, i.e., they accuse Mon­rarrists of killing children in a ritual context wirbout providing further

the discussion between D. Frankfurter and S. A. Kem in Religion 23 (1993): 229-241, 355-367 and Religion 24 (1994): 353-360 and 361-378. See also S. Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (Bioomington: Indiana University Press, 1984}, esp. 54-78, and bibliography at 170-71; R. Grant, "Charges of 'Immorality' against Vari­ous Religious Groups in Amiquity," in Studies in Gnosticism and Hellenistic Religion: Festschrift G. Quispel, ed. R. van den Broek and M.J. Vermaseren, ttudes pn~liminaires aux religions orientales dans !'Empire Romain, no. 81. (Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1981), 161-70; and chapter 7 in A. RousseHe, Pomeia: On Desire and the Body in Antiquity, trans. by E Pheasant {Oxford: Basi! Blackwell, 1988), 107-128.

6. Monranism emerged in the 160's or early 170's in Asia Minor, in the Phrygian vii­Jage Ardabau. Eus. HE4.27; Epiph. Haer. 48. L2. Thechronology is uncertain since Eu­sebius and Epiphanius disagree. Eusebius places the origins in ca. 171, whereas Epipha­nius proposes "the 19th year of Antoninus Pius," i.e., 156/57; I am following most recent scholars who prefer Eusebius' dating, cf. T. D. Barnes, "The Chronology of Mon­tanism," ]TS, n.s. 21 (1970): 403-408. Mostsources forM. are collected in P. de La­briolle, Les sources et l'histoire du Montanisme, Collectanea Friburgensia, n.s. 15. (Fri­bourg: Publications de l'Universire de Fribourg, 1913). Re-edired and trans. in selection by Heine, Montanist Oracles. Bibliography an Montanism is substantial; cf., e.g., Aland, "Bemerkungen," 105-148; A. Daunton-Fear, "The Ecstasies of Mon­tanus," StP 17 (1982): 648-51; W. H. C. Frend, "Montanism: A Movemenr of Prophecy and Regional Idenriry in the Early Church," in Sects and New Religious Movements, ed. by A. Dyson, and E. Barker, Bulletin of the ]ahn Rylands Library, no. 70.3 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988), 25-34; F. C. Klawiter, The New Prophecy in Early Christianity: The Origin, Nature and Deuelopment of Mon­tanism, A.D. 165-220 {Ph.D. Diss. Chicago, 1975); id., "The RoJe of Marryrdom and Persecurian in Developing the Priestly Authority of Women in Early Christianity: A Case Study of Montanism," CH 49 {1980): 251-61; R. Shepard Kraemer, Her Share of the Blessings: Warnen :S Religions among Pagans, Jews, and Christians in the Greco­Roman World {New York: Oxford University Press, 1992); P. de Labriol!e, La crise Montaniste (Paris: Leroux, 1913 ); D. Powell, "Tertullianists and Cataphrygians," VC 29 (1975): 33-54; A. Strobel, Das heilige Land der Montanisten: Eine religionsgeo­graphische Untersuchung, Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, Bd. 37 (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1980); D. H. Williams, "The Origins of the Montanist Movement: A Sociological Analysis," Religion 19 (1989): 331-51. As far as conrinuity is con­cerned, K. Aland {"Augustin und der Montanismus,'' in Kirchengeschichtliche En­twürfe [Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1960], 149-64) argues for a de facto disappearance of Montanism in the West by the end of rhe fourrh century. However, irs continuity is at­tested in the East unril the ninth century CE., see S. Gero, "Momanus and Montanism According to a Medieval Syriac Source," }TS, n.s. 28 (1977): 520-24; and Strobel, Das heilige Land, 10-29.

412 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

specifics.-:- However, two of these accusations stand out: those made by EpiphJnius and rhen by Augusrine.

In his Panarion Haereses, written berween 374-376, Epiphanius alleges rhar rhe l\1onranists, whom he acrually calls Quintillians, Priscillians and

Pepuzians,

in onc of rheir feasts ... pierce a very young boy in every part of his body wirh bras:> needles and rake his biood ro use at sacrifice ... .

They pierce rhrough rhe body of an innocent boy ... [prerending rhat?] rhis is an initiation into rhe name of Christ. 8

In 428, Augustirre accuses rhe Monrarrists in his Book on the Heresies9 with

[prep:1ring] their eucharist, as it \vere, from the blood of a year old chi!d, \Vhich th-,;y draw off from irs whole body by means of minute puncture \VOunds, and ro mix it with rhe flour, and rhence make bread. If rhe chi!d die, rhey consider him ro be a martyr; if he live, he is considered ro be a high priest.

In mher words, according to Epiphanius, Monrarrists sacrificed children by killing rhem through piercing or pricking with needles. Augustirrethen echoes Epiphanius' charges in his denunciation of the sect. He adds, how­ever, that v!crims thus pricked achieve an exalted status: eirher as martyrs, or, if rhcy survive, as priesrs, displaying their puncture-marks as a sign of rheir disrinction. 1ü

These cbims are, to say the least, unusual. However, their full impact is morc appropriately conveyed by citing the original Creek term for puncrure-narks and irs Latin rranslireration: stigmata. Stigmata are in our own understanding quinressenrially Christi an. Ever since Francis of Assisi experienced rhe phenomenon, the term has become a terminus tech-

7. Fibst. Diversarum hereseon liber 49; ]er. Ep. 41.4; Ps.Chrys. Hom. de Ps.-Proph. (PG 59, 559)~ Praed. 1.26-28; Isid. Pelus. Epistol.lib.quinque 1.142; Tim. Const. De iis qui ad eu!. atcedunt (PG 86, 20); for rhe dare of jerome's lerrer,seej. N. D. KeJJy,jerome (~ew York: Harper and Row, 1975), 95 n. 21; Strobel, Das heilige Land, 264. Mosr transl. in rhe fo!lowing follow Heine wirh my own modifications.

8. Epiph. Haer. 48.15 and 14. For thedare ofEpiphanius' Panarion, cf. A. Pourkier, L'hlinisio!ogie chez Epiphane de Sa!amine, Christianisme Antique, vo!. 4 (Paris: Beau­chesne, 1992··, 19,47-51.

9. Aug. De Haer. 26 and 27. 10. Ac..:ording to Aland ("Augusrin," 161-62) Augustine draws on Filaster as weH

.:ts Epiphaniu~; he also independent!y used Ps.- Jeromc, Ha er. 19, cf. W. Tabbernee, "Rev­eiation 21 and the Montanist 'New Jcrusalem,'" ABR 37 (1989): 52-60, here 58-59, and G. B:ndy, "Le 'De haeresibus' er ses sources," in Studi Agostiniani: Miscellanea Agostini,ma, resti e Studi, no. 2 (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticaua, 1931), 397-416.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 413

nicus for Christ's marks of suffering, which have on rare occasions been bestowed on particularly exalted individuals in recognition of their ex­traordinary spirituality; marks of distinction indeed. 11 However, accord­ing to Liddie and Scott's Greek-English Dictionary, a stigma, derived from rhe verb crrlSro (w prick, or puncture), is quite straightforwardly "a tattoo-mark; especially of a slave or a soldier." What are we to make of rhis?

One of the aims of this paper is to reconstruct the context wirhin which an accusation of killing children through stigmata might have made sense. 12 How might the readers of Epiphanius and Augustirre have under­srood such accusations? What associations did a stigma or stigmata con­veyto a greco-roman audience, regardless of religious affiliation? Once this broader context has been established, the logical next question is why Monrarrists were thus accused. Were there aspects intrinsic to rhe Mon­tanist heresy that could have elicited accusarions of killing children through stigmata, and if so, which ones? Moreover, if indeed Montanism's internal structure was suchthat rhese accusations could reasonably be made, then why did they appear only during the fourth century, when the sect itself was on the wane, and not during its heyday?

These questions Iead ro a second, more broadly defined set of issues, which the present paper can only address ro a limited degree. 13 Do such ac­cusations reflect simply changes wirhin Montanism itself, or do rhey reflect deeper transformationswirhin the religious, instirutional and intellecrual Iandscape of the fourth century per se? Is it possible to trace developments that might explain the rransformation of stigmata as understood in Antiq­uity into the phenomenon that became quintessentially Christian?

11. Earlier stigmata were known but considered heretical; cf. especial!y A. Vauchez, "Les stigmates de saint Fran~ois et leurs derracteurs dans !es derniers siedes du moyen äge," Me!anges d'archeologie et d'histoire 80 (1968): 595-625; P. Debongnie, "Essai critique sur l'histoire des stigmarisations au Moyen äge," in Douleur et Stigmatisation, EtCarm 20 (1936): 22-59; M. Lot-Borodine "Warum kennt das christliche Altertum die mystischen Wundmale nicht?" Benediktinische Monatsschrift 21 (1939): 23-32. For an extensive discussion of much of the scholarly Iiterature on this phenomenon, see 0. Schmucki, The Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi: A Critical lnvestigation in the Light o(Thirteenth-Century Sources, trans. by CE Connors, Franciscan Institute Publica­tions: History Series, vol. 6 (New York: Sr. Bonavemure University, 1991), esp. 7-69.

12. Schalars have on occasion been rempred to dismiss such charges as "mere rhetoric." However, ancient (and modern) authors rarely if ever engage in such a thing as "mere rhetoric." For an insightful discussion of this see, among others, A. Cameron, Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire: The Development of Christian Discourse (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991 ), 1-46.

13. This paper is indeed part of a !arger project.

414 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

I.

Stigmata, ratroo-marks pierced indelibly into a person's body and promi­nemly displayed, send srrong signals, to us as weil as to rhe ancients. 14

While thc plural ofthe rerm-stigmata-roday invokes a specifically Chris­rian phenomcnon, this is nor the case for irs singular. A stigma carries over­vvhdmingl~,r negative associarions. Tobe stigmatized implies imperfecrion, impurity ::lnd degradation, and a stigma marks an ourcast, who is thus iden­tified as '·orhcr," a meaning akin to irs original Greek one, "rarroo-mark of a slave." :s

Yer, not all marking is by definirion negative. Moreover, even negative symbols may have more than one value; they are neither sraric nor imper­vious ro re-interprerarion. 16 To rhe contrary-as srated in the introduction to rhis volume: ''Anomalies can be plowed back into rhe system-'com­posted,' as Mary Douglas puts it-[and if so] the system becomes srronger; if you ear your enemy, you a bsorb his power." 17 Thus, markings, even rhe most horrendous, may be reversed into something positive, and patrerns of social dependence symbolized by such markings, including slavery, may be rransformcd ro represem ultimare authority-not despite, but because of rheir negative association. In pan, rhis paperwill demoostrare the am­bivalence of such negative symbols by showing how and in whar context some anciem :1uthors used slavery and irscorrespondingrarroo- and brand­marks, ro dfecr such reversals, how rhe concept of absolute dependence and its pbysical representarion was transformed imo metaphors of au­thority.

In order for symbols such as the tattoo-mark of a slave to be reversed into a powerful symbol of aurhority, one pre-condition is, however, essen­tial: power and authority must be undersrood as residing in a perfecr body. Only in a socicry where rorrure and physical degradarion were ever presenr realiries feareJ by most except for those of the highesr status, who alone cou!d display bodies "wirhour a gash" or "any physical defect," can mark­ing with an indelible sign of extreme dependence and weakness become an all-powerful symbol. As lang as it occurs voluntarily, such markings can be

15. See, e.g., L Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the ManagementofSpoiled Identity (En­gle\vood Cliifs: Prenti<.:e Hall, 1963).

16. Fora Jelir,eation of the multi-dimensionality of rhe relationship with the "other," see T. Todorov, The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other, trans. R. Ho ward (:\ew York: Haper & Row, 1984), esp. 185-201. I owe this reference to M. Maas.

17. V But-rus, ciring M. Berman, Coming to Our Senses: Body and Spirit in the Hid­den History u{ the West {New York: Bantarn Books, 1989), 81-82.

ELM/PJERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 415

read as represeming supreme disregard of even the highest authority man­ifested in rhe immaculare body, and rhus as projecting an authoriry that transcends such power and becomes unassaila ble. 18

The fourrh century witnessed a fundamental shifr in the understanding and physical representation of leadership. It "ushered in a war of images," foughr over starues, symbols, bodies, and the imagination, all serving as a complex and subrle re-presentation of late antique civic and religious in­stiturional aurhoriry. 19 lt was a period du ring which the dassie rhetoric of paideia became amalgamared with a language that "spoke ofthe wrath and mercy of a new, high God" ro form a new language of power.20 Ir was also the period during which an ernerging religioHpolitical elite-namely bish­ops--constructed and sought to project rhe foundarion of their authority: if the bishop represents the Church, and the Church is the Body of Christ, then what kind of a body does it represent? The murilated body ofJesus on the cross or rhe imperial body of Christ? How should rhe incarnate Christ be "imagined'" And how should the bishop represent that body, what should his physical persona Iook like? Should the Church be embodied in the image of a member of the senarorial elite, shaped by time-honered no­tions of civic responsibility and active patronage, or of an asceric, who soughr ro imirare Christ by letring morrificarion take the "place of the nails and of rhe rhorns?" 2 1 Was the bishop the "high-priest" of Leviricus, or Paul's «sJave of Christ," bearing his "marks branded to his body?" How should such Scriprural passages be read, Iirerally or allegorically, and how could readings deemed correct be translated into a visuallanguage under­standable to all? Conrroversies over stigmata, over markings of the body, rather rhan being simply anri-heretical polemic may thus reflect deeper con­cerns regarding notions of obedience and humility and their incorporation into a Christian aristocratic language, both visual and oral, of power and authoriry.

18. P. Brown, Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire (Madison: The University ofWisconsin Press, 1992), 50-55; R. MacMullen, '"Judlcial Savagery in rhe Roman Empire," Chiron 16 (1986): 147-166. See also H. M. Blalock Jr., '"Status lnconsistency, Social Mobility, Status Integration, and Strucrural Effecrs," American Sociological Review 32 {1967): 790-801.

19. T. Mathews, The C/ash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art (Princeton: Princeron University Press, 1993), 3-11,177-180, quote 10. E. A. Clark, The Origenist Controversy: The Cultura/ Construction of an Early Christfan Debate (Princeton: Princeton Universiry Press, 1992), esp. 43-86 and passim.

20. Brown, Power and Persuasion, 4. 21. Ephrem ofNisibis, cited in A. Vööbus, History of Asceticism in the Syrian Orient,

voi. 2, CSCO 197/Sub 17 (Louvain: SCcretariat du CorpusSCO, 1959), quote 97, 99, 100.

416 JOl'RNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

ll.

Tattooing and, in rare cases, branding were primarily punitive measures, used for criminals, prisoners of war, andin particular slaves. In late antiq­uiry, common soldiers and workers in military facrories (fabricenses) were added ro the !ist of people thus marked, indicating a shift in meaning as­sociated wirb rhese markings that increasingly stressed the notion of "be­ing owned, '' or "possessed. "22 In all cases, the subjects were "inscribed on the face or some other part of the body, for example the band" wirb letters or symbols somehow relevant to their crime, and/or indicarive of their owner­ship rebrion23 Though rhese symbols themselves cannot be fully recon· srructed in each insrance, we areweil informed as far as tbe procedure itse!f is concerned. According to rbe sixtb-century pbysician Aetius, ratroos were applied, "by pricking tbe places wirb needles, wiping away tbe blood, and rubbing in hrst juice of leek, and rben rbe preparation [sei!. of ink (recipe given)J." While Aetius speaks bere of tbe face otber autbors mention specif­ically tbe forebead, even the top of rbe head, and in addition to the band, the rigbr wrist as we!I as the entire arm.24 The process was painful, degrad­ing, mon: rhan occasionally faral. 25 Accordingly, rbe crimes thus punisbed were considered severe, and rbe perperrators ofren runaway slaves; but slaves were ratrooed so frequently rbat tanooing was considered a mark of sla very, t.e., ownership per se, irrespecrive of additional infractions. 26

22. C. Th. 10.22.4. Also now M. Gusrafson, "lnscripta in Fronte: Penal Tanooing in Lare Anriquity," forthcoming. I would like ro rhank the aurhor for making this avail­able to me m l.'npublished form. I sha!l discuss tatrooing and branding at times indis­criminately, whilsr remaining conscious of C. P. Jones' careful reconsrruction of rhe disrincrion (''Srigma: Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquiry," ]RS 77 [1987]: 13 9-55). Much ofrhe following is based on F.J Dölger, "Beiträge zur Geschichte des Kceuneichens I," ]AC I (1958)> 5-19; id., AC I (1929); 2 (1930); 3 (1932); id., Sphragis: Line J/tchristliche Taufbezeichnung in ihren Beziehungen zur profanen und religiösen Kultur des Altertums, Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums, Bd. 5 (Paderborn: Schöningh, 1911 ); and P. Perdrizet, "La miraculeuse histoire de Pandare et de d'Echdorr:, suivie de recherchcs sur Ia marque dans I' Amiquire," Archiv für Reli­gionswissen:;chJ(t 14 (1911): 54-129.

23. Aetius 8.12. Corpus Medicorum Greacorum 8.2., ed. A. Olivieri, 417-418. 24. Jones, "Stigma," 143. 25. See, <:'.g., C.Th. 9.40.2 for people condemned to rhe mines or the gladiatorial

school;Joncs, "Stigma," 143. 26. See, e.g., Plin. Nat. Hist. 18.4; Petr. Satyr. 103.1-5, 105.11-106; Mart. 10.56.6

tristia servorum stigmata de!et Eros; Claudian, In Eutrop. 2.342-45: pars humili de plebe duces / pars compede suras I cruraque signati nigro liventia ferro I iura regmmt, {acies quann./is :nscripta repugnet I seque suo prodat titulo. In fact, as poinred our by Jones ("Stigma," 14 7-150), rhe line dividing slaves from criminals {especially those con­demned to the rnines) and prisoners of war is a thin one.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 417

Tartooing and branding also occurred volunrarily, usually in a religious conrext. 27 This was known to Jewish and Chrisrian a urhors as well as rheir "pagan" Counterparts. According to the rhird book of Maccabees, Prolemy Philopator forced his Jewish subjects to be "stamped by fire on their bodies with the ivyNleaf, rhe emblem of Dionysus"-a mark the king hirnself also displayed.28 Philo of Alexandria laments the fact that Jewish apostates "yearn to enter the service of idols madewirb hands, confirm­ing it with letters, not [written] in documenrs bur as is customary with slaves, marking (Ka~:acrül;,ovtEt;) the letters on their bodies wirb heared iron so that they remain indelibly. "29 Tertullian, in an attack agairrst "pa­gan," i.e., satanic, attempts at counrerfeiring Christian mysreries, nores that Mithras "marks the forehead of his soldiers with a sign. " 30 That this sign might have been permanent is suggested by Gregory of Nazianzus, who refers to mystical brand-marks among worshippers of Mithras in his oration "Against Julian. " 31 John Lydus notices in the comext of circum­cision, that the Ethiopians "seal" boys with brand-marks in honor of a god they call ApoJlo32

In his sendup of the Cynic Peregrinus, Lucian of Samosara mockingly predicts that he will soon have his own cult with priests worshipping him

27. Decorative ranooing is known, bur extremely rare and usually discussed in a "barbarian" comexr, i.e., among Thracians, Skythians and Britons, seeJones, "Stigma," 145-146. For the (poremially irrelevant) distinction berween decorarive and religious ratrooing, see Dölger, "Religiöser oder profaner Charakter der Stammestärowierung?" AC 2, 204-209.

28. 3 Macc 2.29; da ring roughly from the 2nd ro 1st century BCE; cf. The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, voi. 1, ed. by R. H. Charles et al. {Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963 ), 155-62, quote 165. For Philopator, cf. Plut. Quomodo adula­tor ab amico internoscatur 12 "cwrcO:vwv E.rxapO:i;n;." The Etymologicon magnum then describes his markings under rhe heading rano; as: KCt1:€01:i;(8at, W; oi. y6:Um; cf. Dölger, Sphragis, 42-43, esp. 43 n. 1.

29. Philo, De spec. leg. 1.58; Dölger, AC 3, 101 n. 2 argues in favor of placing the "but" before the "marking," followed by Jones, "Stigma," 152, who is trying to dis­tinguish branding from tattooing. In my own context the relation between slavery and "marking" is crucial, which borh versions maimain.

30. Tert. De praescritione haereticorum 40.4: et, si adhuc memini Mithrae signat il­lic in (rontibus milites suos.

31. Gr.Naz. De Orat. 14; Or. 4 in ]ul. 70; Bernardi emends the addition of <f]Kai> or <cö:; I.I-1J01:tK6:r;> to Kation; E.v8iKotx; as a later Ms addition {SC 309, 180, n. 3). P. Beskow {"Branding in rhe mysteries of Mithra?" in Mysteria Mithrae, ed. U. Bianchi, Etudes preliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'empire romain, vol. 80 [Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979], 487-501 ), posits that neirher one of rhese references aBudesto a per­manent sign and argues that there is no evidence for any such markings among the fol­lowers of Mithras, esp. 499.

32. John Lydus, Lib. Mens. 4.53 Cf. also Sextus Empiricus, Pyrrn. hypot. 1.148, 188. Cf. Dölger, Sphragis, 43.

418 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIE$

wirb "whips or brand-marks (xaurr]picuv) or some such monstrosity,"33

andin his somewhat ironic-yer "hisrorically accurate" 34-description of rhe sacrdices affered to rhe Syrian Goddess Atargatis, Lucian informs us rhat her worshippers were "rarrooed (cr-rU:;ov'tat), some on their wrists and somc on rheir necks. Forthis reason all Assyrians are stigmatephoroi. " 35

Indeed, 3 papyrus from the Prolemaic period describes a runaway slave from Arargatis' central sanctuary in Hierapolis, ancient Bambyke in Syria, who had "barbarian letters" tattooed onto his right wrist; U. Wilken pro­poseJ rhat rhese represenred rhe initials of Atargatis and her consort Hadad. 36

Though relarively infrequent, occasionaily ambiguous, and culled ro­gethcr from a diverse group of authors, rhe literary evidence for religious!y morivared tattooing and branding cired rhus far reveals cerrain basic as­pecrs: rhe practice was comrnon and widespread enough to permit authors spanning nearty five cenruries ro dispense with further explanation. Sec­ondly, all aurhors presenr the cusroms of marking in an ar best ironic, bur rnorc oftcn ourrighr negative fashion. Thirdly, they remain aware of a con­nection berween ratrooing, branding and notions of ownership, even in a religio us conrext.

Herodotus darifies at least one aspect of such ownership when describ­ing a temple devored to an Egyprian God he calls Heracles: "If a slave, who­ever his masrer be, flees here and applies the sacred stigmata, giving hirn­sei( to the God, it is forbidden ro lay hold of him." Slaves who run away from rheir earthly master and "give themselves to the God," symbolizing this acr through a voluntary application of <'sacred stigmata," will achieve imrnunity, and rhus freedom frorn earthly bondage.37

A significanr number of inscriprions artest rhat such de facto manumis-

33. !.uc. Peregr. 28; Perdrizet, "La miraculeuse histoire," 118-124. 34 . .\-1. Hörig, "Dea Syria-Arargaris," ANRWII.17.3 (New York: De Gruyter, 1984),

1536-\581, quore 1540. 35. ~Ps.? ·) Lucian. Dea Syr. 59. Cf. The Syrian Goddess (De Dea Syria} Attributed to

Lucian. ed. :md trans. by H. W. Attridge and R. A. Oden, Society of Biblical Litenture: Texts (.\.-fissoula: Schalars Press, 1976), 1-5, for question of attribution and dating. F. Bömer, L'ntersuchungen über die Religion der Sklaven in Griechenland und Rom, Bd. 3, Forschungen zur Antiken Sklaverei, Bd. 14.3 (Sruttgan2 : F. Steiner, 1990), 89; Dö!ger, "'Religiöse Tätowierung im Atargatiskult von Hierapolis in Syrien," AC 2 (1930): 297-300; R. A. Ogden, Studies in Lucian's De Syria Dea, Harvard Semitic Monogr;lphs, no. 15 (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1977).

36. PPar. 10.8-9. U. Wilken, "Zu den 'Syrischen Gönern,"' in Festgabe für A. Deiß­mann (Tübingen, 1927), 7. Dölger (AC 2, 298) is more cautious, but Jones ("Stigma," 144), a..:ceprs Wi!ken's view.

37. Or at least from punishmem, Hdt. 2.113.1; Dölger, AC 3, 257-258; Jones, ''Srigm2," 144.

ELMIP!ERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 419

sions were a long standing tradition, performed under the aegis of most major deities, and continued to occur throughout the Roman empire.38 In later Roman Asia Minor, rhe largest number of such inscriptions comes from rhe sanctuary of Apollo Lairbenos and Leto in rhe countryside near Dionysopolis in Phrygia. 39 They reveal thar service ro a god occurred in several different forms. One form consisred simply in a (legally free) devo­tee's owing rhe god so many days' agriculrural or manuallabor;40 however, most of the rhirry-six texts from the Apollo sancruary refer to a more per­manent form of service-as a sacred slave. As late as the middle of rhe third cenrury C.E., men, warnen and children were "given to" or "registered wirh" rhe God Apollo (mmypa~w i\.no:Uwvt 1>.) as his slaves. In rhe

38. The Iiterature on slavery in antiquiry is, of course, vast. I eire only a selection of the works actually used. Fora comprehensive bibliography, see now A. j. Harrill, The Manumission o(Siaves in Early Christianity, Hermeneutische Untersuchungen zur The­ologie, Bd. 32 (Tübingen: j. C. B. Mohr, 1995), passim. The Iirerature regarding sacred slavery and manumission to a God is likewise vast and conrroversial, largely because of the broad variations regarding both modus of transfer from private individual to deity as weil as degree of ownership. Dependence on a temple/God could range from occa­sional service, ro serfdom (i.e., laoi, katoike), to various degrees of slavery more akin ro rhe juridical definirions, including sacred prostitution, though temple slaves remain dis­tincr from others because of rheir ties ro rhe land which prevented selling. Still funda­mental is Bömer, Untersuchungen, esp. vols. 2 and 3, despite the pre-empire focus. His desideratum re, a more rhorough discussion of sacred slavery during the empire, re­mains. In general, cf. A. Cameron, "lnscriptions relating ro Sacral Manumission and Confession," HTR 32 {1939): 143-179; L. Delekat, Katoche, Hierdoulie und Adop­tionsfreilassung, Münchner Beiträge zur Papyrusforschung und antiken Rechtsge­schichte, Bd. 47 (Munich: Beck, 1964), passim; W. Fauth, and M. B. Stritzky, "Hiero­doulie," RAC 15 (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann, 1991), 73-82; H. \Y/. Pleket, "Religious History as rhe History of Mentality: The 'Believer' as Servant of the Deiry in the Greek World," in Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World, ed. by H. S. Versnel (Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1981 ), 152-192, an overly structura!ist approach; K.-W. Welwei, "Abhängige Landbevölkerung auf'Tempelrerrirorien' im hel~ Ienistischen Kleinasien und Syrien," Ancient Society 10 {1979): 97-118; and R. SchoB, "·Ic:p60ouA.o~ im griechisch-römischen Ägypten," Historia 34 (1985): 466--492. For ear~ Ii er evidence, cf., e.g., H. Kreißig, "Tempeland, Katoiken, Hierodoulen im Seleukiden­reich," Klio 59 (1977): 375-395. I have not been ab!e to consult P. Debord, "Aspects sociaux et economiques de Ia vie religieuse dans I'Anatolie greco-romain," EPRO 88. See also id., "L'esclavage sacre: Etat de question," in Actes sur colloque sur l'esclavage 1971 (Paris: Gallimard, 1973), 135-150.

39. S. Mitchell, Anato!ia: Land, Menand Gods in Asia Minor, vol. 2 (Oxford: C!aren~ don Press, 1993 ), 193-195. The Sanctuary is also the source of one of two major con­fession rexts from rhe region. For the Apo Ho Lairbenos sanctuary, stiH fundamental is H. Oppermann, "Lairbenos," Paulys RE Suppl. 5 {1931): 521-35, here 522-26. For Apollo's relation to slaves, see,e.g., Bömer, Untersuchungen 3:7-52; Strobel, Das heilige Land, 208-14.

40. Apolto Lairb.: MAMA 4.286 = Opperman 23; Lydia: TAM 5.1, 593; SEC 34 (1984), 1210 = Mitchell, Anatolia 1, 193.

420 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

process, they became the God's property, were bound as i.tpoi or i.Epoi. OoüAot to hisland and the nearby "village of Attis,"41 participated some­how in cu!tic riruals, worked the temple land, and substantial fines were exrracted from anyone who might want to take them away.42

A lengthy confession stele illuminates the "reality" of such divine Lord­ship. A managerial slave, who had apparendy unbeknownst to his own master given a slave ro Apollo and registered him with the katagraphe pro­cedure, only ro have this invalidared by his masrer, lamems his dilemma. The Cod's displeasure was great. His temple staff had already seized rhe slave, and rhrough dreams Apollo insisted on his ownership-rights over and above those of the human kyrios. 43 In short, a person, usually a hause­hold slave, could be given to a God and his temple, thereby becoming the deity's possession, bound to the temple-land, under "temporary owner­ship" of the priest(s), and free from any previous human bondage.

Yet, rhis was not the only relationship in which a person could be en­slaved ro a god. Notall "slaves of God" had also been previously slaves of an eanhly master, or were de facto hierodouloi. Several inscriptions refer to free men and women who undersrood and expressed devotion to their deity as a form of servitude, either as the God's servant (hyperetaes) or as God's slavc (OoüAo~-roU8coü).44 In some cases, such persans may have been

41. The r.ame appears on an inscription, which was first edited by W. M. Ramsay, The Cities and Bisbopries o( Phrygia, vol. 1 {Oxford: Clarendon, 1895}, 146, no. 34.

42. MAMA 4.276 a II and III; MA.MA. 4.278 = Oppermann 28. Again, rhe aspect of being bounci to the land constitutes a significanr difference to "ordinary" slavery, cf. Welwei, ··Landbevölkerung," 112. Cf. rhe parallels in the cult of MerJZeus, whose ma­jor sanctuary wirh sacred slaves numbering in the thousands was near Kabeira in Pon­tus. His Phrygian sanctuary was located between Laodicea and Karura, not far from Hi· erapolis, Börner, Untersuchungen 3:200-203 with reference to Schepelern (200, n. 6), also ibid. 293-297; id. Untersuchungen 2:108-111; B. Levick, Roman Colanies in Southern As;a Minor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967}, 61-62. The Apollo/Leto sanc­ruary losr irs :mporrance du ring rhethird century C.E., parallel to the rise of Monranism, Strobel, Das heilige Land, 47.

43. MAMA 4.279 wirh commentary = Oppermann 29; D. Martin, Slaveryas Salva­tion: The Metaphor of Slavery in Pauline Christianity (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990),xv.

44. IC 12, Suppl. 165, first cenr. CE. Melos: Marcus Antonius Glaucos calls hirnself "'servanr of the heavenly gods," Picket, "Believer," 168-171; 168 (n. 67) refers to a free woman c21led to service. According to a Jrd cent. CE. inscription from Macedonian Edessa, a Strat6 gave (Kmaypci!pco) a vineyard to the goddess Ma; she calls herself "slave of the Goddess"; Pleket, ""Religious History," 170. Loukios, slave of Atargatis, is sent by rhe goddess ro collect money for her cult; Hörig, "Dea Syria," 1565. In an epigram from 4th cenr. C.E. Samos, the prov. govern. Plurarch calls hirnself "servant" of Hera, L. Roben, He!lenica 4:55-57. Borh Pleket and Bömer are highly reluctant ro accepr rhe possibiliry thar free persans could indeed identify rhemselves as slaves of a God and ei­[her decbre rhe persans in question as freedmen or stipulate rhis behavior as quintes-

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 421

priesrs, like the synhierodoulos of a certain Glycos from Lydian Maionia, a custom corroborated by Lucian's description of Peregrinus.45 Literary sources mirrar such senriments. Lucius Apuleius demands thar the faithful understand bis relarion to lsis as follows:46

Dedicate yourse!f today ro the obedience to our cult and take on rhe voluntary yoke of her servitude (ministerium); for as soon as you become the goddess' s!ave {servire) you will experience more ful!y the fruir of your freedom.

a sentimenr echoed by Philo:

For tobe rhe slave of God (douleuein Theou) is rhe highest boast of man, a rreasure more precious not on!y than freedom, but rhan wealth and power and all rhar monals cherish.47

"lt is beautiful tobe killed rather than being degraded as a slave," "and no kind of slavery is moredishonorable than rhat which is entered into vol­unrarily. "48 Slavery was feared and despised, and so were its physical sym­bols such as tatroos and brand-marks. But not atl slaves were despised equally, nor uniforrnly degraded and oppressed; rheir statuswas notalways inferior nor rhe norion of slavery exclusively repulsive to everyone.49 The same, it appears, can be said of its syrnbolic markings.

The preceding discussion has revealed rhat ancient authors, all members of the greco-roman elire irrespective of rheir religious beliefs, knew persans who marked rhemselves voluntarily with a symbol representing servitude to a God, and rhey regarded such acrs with at best suspicion. Yer, some of these same aurhors do not hesirare ro phrase religious devorion in rerms of slavery-in a thoroughly positive vein. Literary sourcesteil only half of the srory; rhey do not seek to porrray rhe viewpoinr of those who rhus tattooed rhemselves.50 Yet, rhey teil us enough ro suggesr rhar for sorne followers of

semial!y non-greco-roman. See Martin's trencham commems, Slavery, xv-xviii, and nn. 6 and 7.

45. Pleket, "Believer," 168-169. 46. Apul. Metam. 11.15; cf. also, e.g., Eurip. Phoenissae 203, 282; 205, 221.

Apuleius was born in 125 C.E. in North Africa, see l:ix; E Miliar, "The World of the Golden Ass,'" ]RS 71 (198l)o 63-75.

47. On the Cherubim 107. 48. Publilius Syrus, Sententiae 489, hirnself a former slave; Seneca, Ep. Mor. 47.17. 49. For rhe complexity of the norion and the srarus-raising aspects of servitude to an

aH-powerful masrer, cf. Marrin, 5/avery, 1-49. In general, 0. Patterson, The Sociology of Slaver)' (London: Macgibbon & Kee, 1967), passim.

50. Cf. E. Gabba, "Lirerature," in Sources for Ancient History, ed. M. Crawford (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 1-79, quote 40: "Thus, we can only with enormaus difficulty understand the mema!ity of a slave or a member of the lower dasses, since we perceive it as represented by the Iiterature of the upper dass, in other words of owners and patrons."

422 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTfAN STUDIES

deities such as Apollo, Dionysus, the Syrian Goddess Atargaris and perhaps Mithras, rarrooing and branding were powerful symbols expressing reli­gious dcvotion understood as servitude ro an omnipotent God or Goddess. Some of those were de facto slaves, who, as a result of rhis marking, were manumirred from the bondage of rheir earthly owner. Others had never been sla \'CS and "took on rhe voluntarily yoke of servitude." In so doing, some at least became priesrs.51 Bearing rhese findings in mind, Iet us return ro Epiphanius' and Augustine's accusations, and the quesrion as ro wherher aspects intrinsic to Momanism could have prompted charges of ritual srigmar;zation.

ll!.

According ro Epiphanius,52 cerrain Montanisrs, followers of rhe propher­css Quinrilla ro be precise, "cover with pricks rhe body of an uncorrupred child, and having misled rhose who have been deceived, rhe blood is raken away for consumption in rhe initiarion inro rhe mysreries of the name of Christ."., 3 john of Damascus' description of rhe Pepuzians, whom Epipha­nius had cquared with Quinrillians, Stresses similar poinrs:

They initiate someone by killing a young cbild with copper need!es as do the Cataphrygians and mixing flour \Vith his blood, making bread, they partake of it as rh-:ir offering.54

Indeed, all passages mentioning this parricular Montanist aberrarion share sevcrai essential elements: thc pricking of a young child, specifically wirh neeciles made of bronze or copper; rhe extracrion of blood; its use, of­ten mixed wirh flour, during iniriation inro the mysreries-in shorr, though filtered through an adversariallens, rhe sources describe distincr rires of ini­tiation. 55

.51. Thi,; appears also w be al!uded ro in Lucian's ref. to the cauterized priests of Pere­gnnus.

52. I would iike tO thank W. Tabbernee especially for making portians of his unpub-lished disscrtation (The Opposition to Montanism from Church and State: A Study o{ r the History and Theology of the Montanist Movement as Shown by the Writings and C Legislation o{the Orthodox Opponents o{Montanism [Diss. Melbourne, 1978J, 471- a 482} avaiL1ble ro me. I was, as I now realize, just repeating things he had already stated L with much gre2rer clariry. C. Trevett's condusions ("Fingers up Noses and Pricking with Needles: Possible Reminiscences of Revelation in Later Montanism," VC 49 [1995j: 258-269) 1,ikewise mirrar T.'s analysis very closely.

53. Epiph. Haer. 48.15. n 54. John Dam. Haer. 49. a 55. Tht:s Tr-:vett, "Fingers up Noses," 258-269, echoing Tabbernee, Opposition, o

471-476, <nd id., "Revelarion 21," 58-59 t1

B

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 423

Augustirre adds one additional aspect: "If rhe child dies, rhey consider him ro be a martyr; if he Jives, he is considered tobe a high priest." Jerome, rhough affecting a nore of caution, corroborates rhis, when he says: "I pass over in silence the mysteries of sin, made up as rhey are said ro be of suck­ing children on whom is conferred a rriumphant marryrdom. " 56

This aspect of iniriation finds an inreresring parallel in Prudenrius' Peri­stephanon.57 In his denunciarion of rhe iniriarion ceremonies into rhe culr of Cybele and Attis, one of the most widespread mysrery culrs in the Ro­man empire,58 Prudenrius remarks rhat the initiare (sacrandus) into the myth receives the "seal (s(ragitidas) of consecration" in rhe following manner:

The pagans thrust fine needles imo blazing fire And when red hor rhey brand rheir members wirh the darts. Whatever portion of the body is thus sramped (stigmarit) This they believe is rendered holy by the mark. When from his morral frame rhe breath of life departs, And to his sepulchre the sad procession moves, On these same parts rhin plares of meral are impressed. A sheer of gold all shining overspreads the skin And hides rhe portians by the fiery needles burned.

An unlikely source, book 9 of Michael rhe Syrian's Chronic/e, composed rowards the end of the 12th cenrury, suggests a surprising confluence be­

tween the initiation inro the cult of Cybele and Attis as described by Pru-

56. Hier. Ep. 41.4 57. Prud. Perist. 10.1076-90; trans. Eagan, vol. 43, 237; written ca. 400 C.E.; rhe

tenth hymn of the Peristephanon is devoted to rhe marryr Romanus, and attacks a num­ber of especially misguided pagan re!igious practices. Cf. Dö!ger, "Die religiöse Brand­markung in den Kybele-Attis-Mysterien nach einem Text des christlichen Dichters Pru­dentius," AC 1, 66-72, and Sphragis, 41-42; R. Henke, Studien zum Romanushymnus des Prudentitls, Europäische Hochschu!schriften, Reihe 15: Klassische Sprachen und Literaturen, Bd. 27 (Frankfun a. Main: P. Lang, 1983}, for a general discussion of the 10th hymn; A.-M. Palmer, Prudentius and the Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989), 20-31 for da ring.

58. M. J. Vermaseren, Cybele and Attis: the Myth and the Cult, rrans by H. M. Lem­mers {London: Thames and Hudson, 1977), 24-32; G. Sfameni Gasparro, Soteriology and Mystic Aspects in the Cult of Cybele and Attis, ftudes preliminaires aux religions arieorales dans l'empire Romain, vol. 103 {Leiden: Brill, 1985}, 32-43; H. Hepding, At­tis, seine Mythen und sein Kult, Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, Bd. 1 (Gießen: Ricker'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1903), 126-34.

424 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIE$

dentius, and Monranism. In rhe contexr of Jusrinian's persecution of rhe Monranisrs in rhe sixrh century, we read the following:

In rhe hnd of Phrygia rhere was a village called Pepuza, where the Momanists had a bishop and clerics .... John of Asia wenr [thereJ and burned their place of assembly .... And rhere was found in this building a grear reliquary of mar­ble, which was sealed wirh lead and bound togerher with iron hoops. Upon it was wrirren "Of Momanus and his warnen." And when it was opened there were found [the bodies of] Montanus and of his warnen, Maximilla and Priscilla, wirh p!ates of gold upon their mouths. 59

Of coursc, rhese similariries between "pagan" practices, especially Phrygian ones, and rhe anti-Momanist accusations of stigmatizing have prompted scholarly investigations into possible links between the two. In 1827, August Neander first implied a connection between the cult of Attis and Cybele, rwo deiries intrinsic ro Phrygia and Mysia, the region where Montanism first flourished, and some of its specific rrairs. 60 W. Schepelern in his 1929 study Der Montanismus und die Phrygischen Kulte explored such potentiallinks further. 61 He concluded, however, thar despite many srriking simi!ariries between Montanistritualsand rhose of the cult of At­ris and Cybele, Mominism was a quinressenrially Chrisrian prophetic rnovemenr: irs most distinctly "pagan" aspect, so Schepelern, was a mis­taken confluence of rhe initiatory ratrooing of Cybele wirb Christian bap­risrn, resulting in "pricking" children to dearh.62

Since then, the relationship between Montanism's distinct characteris­rics and irs Phrygian surroundings has conrinued ro receive scholarly at­renrion.6-' In 1912, W. M. Ramsay argued rhar Montanism's Phrygian ele-

59.].-B. Chabot, Chronique de Michelle Syrien, Patriarque jacobite d'Antioche { 1166-99j, vol 4 (Paris, 1910); Gero (" Montanus," 520-521) considers this parr of rhe texr ro be authentic. Cf. also CIL 3 nr. 686 vv 17-22, p. 126. Numerous Sources artest w rhe cominuous persecurion of Momanisrs under Justinian and his successors, cf. Stro­bel, Das heilige Land, 12-29.

60. A. !'-:eander, Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und Kultur, 1:3 (Hamburg: F. Perthes, 1828), 581; trans. by j. Torrey, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. 1 {Boston 1 1: Crackerand Brewster, 1872}, 513.

61. Der Afontanismus und die Phrygischen Kulte: Eine Religionsgeschichtliche Un~ tersuchung, trans. by W. Ba ur {Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1929).

62. Schepelern {Der Montanismus, 122-130, 159-60} stressed rhat all Sources men­tioning othcr "pagan" parallels were from the fourth century, and rhus reflected a "de­cline" of the original!y Chrisrian Montanism inro a semi-pagan cult.

63. Of course, the impact of a given non-Christian religious matrix on specifics of Christian deve!opments isafundamental historiographical and merhodological crux, not only wirh regard ro Phrygia and Momanism, cf., e.g.,J. Z. Smirh, Drudgery Divine: On the Compurison of Early Christianities and the Religions of Late Antiquity ( Chicago: Cniversiry of Chicago Press, 1990), esp. 1-35. Most post-Reformarion schal-

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 425

mems were proof of an indigenous Christian movement in Opposition to a hellenized Catholic Church. W. H. C. Frend then characterized Montanism as an amalgamation of rural-Phrygian and jewish-chrisrian apocalyptic tendencies direcred against an urban, hellenistic Church as well as proresr­ing agairrst persecution by Roman authorities (a view largely shared by A. Strobel), whereas G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville returned to Schepelern's con­clusions. 64

Mostscholarsnow share Schepelern's view that the "New Prophecy," the original Montanist movement, was a profoundly Christian phenome­non. What continues to remain in question is wherher, and if so to what de­gree, its indigenous religious surroundings have influenced Monranism's specific developments.65 However, the mere notion of "indigenous Phry-

arship on M. has been caught in rhe Proresrant!Catholic dispure over early Chrisrianity in general, viewing M. eieher as a reflection of "primitive"' Chrisrianiry {e.g., F. C. A. Schweg!er, Der Montanismus und die christliche Kirche des zweiten Jahrhunderts [Tübingen: L. F. Füss, 1841]; A. Rirschl, Die Entstehungderaltkatholischen Kirche: Eine kirchen-und dogmengeschichtliche Monographie [Bonn2: A. Marcus, 1857]; F. C. Ba ur, "Das Wesen des Montanismus nach den neuesren Forschungen," Theologische Jahr­bücher 10 [1851]: 538-94; G. N. Bonwersch, Die Geschichtedes Montanismus [Erlan­gen: A. Deichen, 1881], reprint Hildesheim: H. A. Gerstenberg, 1972; Aland, "Be­merkungen," 105-148; Klawiter, New Prophecy, see esp. 27 n. 1; Williams, "The Origins of rhe Monranisr Movemem," 331-51), or as a bizarre, novel prophecy ernerg­ing as a response to the pressures of persecution (e.g., E. Renan, Marc-Aurete et Ia fin du monde antique [Paris 12: Calmann Levy, 1912], 207-13; Labriolle, La crise Mon­taniste; R. A. Knox, Enthusiasm: A Chapter in the Historyo(Religion [Oxford: Claren­don Press, 1959], 25-49). The "catholic" perspecrive has, of course, much less invested in a scholarly evaluation of Monranism, conrrary ro the "protesrant" approach, which needs ro demoostrate Montanism's essential validity as an early Christian movemenr. Consequently, for purposes of research rhe latter perspective has proven much more fruitfuL

64. W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empirebefore A.D. 170, reprinrofrhe 5th edirion {Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 1954), 434--400; W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from Maccabbes to the Do­natists (Oxford: B. Blackwdl's, 1965), 216-22, 264-78; id. "Montanism: A Movement of Prophecy and Regiona!Identiry in rhe Early Church," 25-34; Srrobel, Das heilige Land, 292-98; G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, "Montanism and the Pagan Culrs of Phry­gia," Duquesne Studies 3 (1950}: 296-316, wirhaut ref. ro Schepelern.

65. Recenr schalarship has bcen somewhar ambiguous about rhis parricular point, using Schepelern's conclusion of the authentic Christian nature of M. (which is now commonly accepted) to mean that the indigenous religious surroundings had no influ­ence on Momanism (e.g., G. Buschmann, "Christou koinonos [MartPol6,2], das Mar­tyriums und der ungeklärte koinonos-Titel der Montanisten," ZNW 86 [1995]: 243-264, here 247; Trevett, "Fingers up Noses," 262}. While I wholeheartedly agree wirb rhe view of M. 's Chrisrian derivation, I am somewhat puzzled by rhe refusal to con­sider any possibility of non-Chrisrian predispositions. Such views raise the merhod­ological specrer of an overly srrong emphasize on Christianiry's uniqueness, frequently

426 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

gian characreristics" alone, aside from all considerations regarding pagan influence, has its own perils in sofaras it has allowed scholars ro posir such native (''pagan ") influence only concerning pracrices rhar do not conform ro what the scholarly consensus has by now defined as «early Chrisrian": for exampk, the pracrice of tattooing. 66 Yet, if Montanism and its riruals are quimesscntially Christian, than this includes rituals, especially iniriaN rory riruals, rhar could have involved tattooing. In other words, even if cus­toms associated wirh local Phrygian deities, especially the culr of Cybele and Attis, may have facilitated practices such as tattooing, ir is Mon­ranism's Christi an sources that must have given rise ro such practices, and a survey of rhose sources yields indeed signifi.canr corroboration.

IV.

ApoHinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, was one of the first to iniriate steps agairrst Monranus and his women in" Ardabau in Phrygian Mysia." Hedid so when ir bccarne clcar rhar Monranus "was carried away as by the spirit (TCVEUJ . .w·coc;>opllB~vat), and suddenly experienced some kind of possession (Sv xawxfl), and spurious ecsracy ... and began to speak, prophesying, as he prercnded, conrrary to thc cusrom related to rhe Church. "67

Prophecy, rnore precise!y the proper relationship between ecstasy and

evident in discussions denying all pagan connecrion; see Smith, Drudgery Divine, 36-143 and D. Fmnkfurrer's very instrucrive remarks regarding a different cusrom ("Stylites and Phaflobates: Pillar Religions in I.ate Antique Syria," VC 44 [1990j: 168-198; also R. L:me Fox, Pagans and Christians [Harmondsworth: VikingiPenguin Books, 1986], pas~im, and rhe insighrfu! chapters on mysric re!igions in A.]. M. Wed­derburn, Bapt!sm c~nd Resurrection: Studies in Pau!ine Theology against its Greco-Ro­man Background, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, Bd. 44 [Tübingen:j. C. B. Mohr, 1987]).

66. Currendy, ;\1. schalarship is effecring a profound revision, especially rhrough the work of W. T«bbernee er a!. (I have not been ab!e ro consulr C. Trevett's forthcoming smdy of Mont.mism). Thus earlier assumprions rcgarding M.'s predilcction for martyr­dom have been ch:dlenged by W. Tabbernee, ''Early Montanism and Voluntary Mar­ryrdorn," Coiioqwum [7 (1984}: 33-54, bur re-admitted by G. Buschmann, "Mar­tyrium Polyca:pi 4 und der Montanismus," VC 49 (1995): 105-145; and S. Ronchey, lndagine sul n:artirio di san Policarpo: Critica storica e fortuna agiografica di un caso giuriziario in Asia Minore, Nuovi Studi Storici, vol. 6. (Rome: lstiruro storico per il medio evo, 19SI0), Jisc:ussed by ]. Den Boeft and]. Bremmer, "Notiunculae Marryro­!ogicae V," VC 49 1995): 146-164. The significance/role of the koinonos conrinues to

receive attention, ci. W. Tabbernee, "Montanist Regional Bis hops: New Evidence from Ancienr Inscriptions," JECS 1 { 1993 ): 249-280, and Buschmann, "Christou koinonos," 243-264. For :ni!knarian expectations, cf. be!ow, n. 81.

67. Accord:ng w rhe Anonymus, one of our earliesr lirerary sources for Montanism, cited by Eus. HF. 5.16.7.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 427

'"rrue prophecy," intrinsically linked to issues of leadership wirhin Christ­ian communities, was one of the crucial issues at stake. 68 At rhe time of Monranus' emergence, such debates were not new to Asia Minor. Al ready Ignatius' letters,especially the one addressed torhe congregation in Philadel­phia, reveal tensions caused by debares over prophecy and authoriry, waged not only over the form but also over the conrenr of true prophetic exegesis.69 The contenr of Monranus' prophecies is known to us direcrly only rhrough some fifteen oracles, preserved wirhin the framework set by rhe "New Prophecy's" opponenrs.70 These arades reveal that Mooranus and hiswarnen believed rhemselves tobe the vessel through which God re­vealed hirnself directly/ 1 and through whom the imminent end of the world, preceded by war and unrest, was to be foretold. 72 The Iater oppo­nents of Montanism guide us to the mostprominent source for the "New Prophecy's" inspiration: the Book of Revelation.73

The Book of Revelation, first addressed ro Papias, Apo!linaris' prede­cessor as bishop of Hierapolis, and then to seven churches in Asia Minor, opens as follows:

The reve!arion (apokafypsis) of Jesus Christ, which God gave him ro show· his slaves {-rot-; OoUAou; a\n:oi"J) whar musr soon rake place; he made ir known by

68. Eusebius' framing of rhe Montanist heresy and rhe contemporary undersranding of prophecy is, of course, a highly relevant issue, but beyond rhe scope of rhis paper. Ir suffices here ro say rhat controversies centered araund the relationship of ecstasy to prophecy werc not limited ro Chrisrian circles alone, cf. D. Aune, Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Mediterranean World (Grand Rapids: Eerdman, 1983), 201-296, esp. 313-316; D. Grob, "Utterance and Exegesis: Biblical Interpretation in rhe Mon­tanist Crisis," in The Living Text: Essays in Honor of E. W Saunders, ed. D. E. Grob and R. Jewert (Lanham: Universiry Press of America, 1985),73-95; Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 168-261, 375-418; Ronchey, Jndagine, 33-91; G. Schö!lgen, '"Tempus in collecto est': Terrullian, der frühe Montanismus und die Naherw·arrung ihrer Zeit," ]AC27!28 (1984/85)o 74-96.

69. Cf. Eus. HE 5.16.4 regarding Ancrra in Galatia; Aune, Prophecy, 291-296, 339-346; also Trevett, "Apocalypse," 313-321.

70. Eus. HE 5.19.2; Heine, The Montanist Oracles, ix-xii, 2-9. 71. For example, oracles like "Neirher angel nor envoy, bur I the Lord God have

come," Epiph. Haer. 48.11 ""Heine 1; "Behold, man is !ike a lyre; and I flit about like a p!ektron; man sleeps, and I awaken him; behold is the Lord who changes rhe hearrs of men and gives men a heart," Epiph. Haer. 48.4 = Heine 3, attributed to Momanus; or Ylaximilla's sayings such as "I am pursued like a wo!f from ehe sheep. I am not a wolf. I am word, and spirit, and power," Eus. HE 5.16.17 = Heine 5, cf. Matt 7.15.; "After me there will no Iongerbe a prophet but rhe end," Epiph. Ha er. 48.2.4 "" Heine 6.

72. Eus. HE 5.16.18. 73. Epiph. Haer. 48.10.1-3, and especially 51.33, as weil as rhe framing of most of

rhe larer debares; H. Kraft, "Die altkirchliche Prophetie und die Entstehung des Mon­tanismus," ThZ 11 (1955): 249-271.

428 JOUR!'AL OF EARLY CHRISTI AN STUDIES

sending his ange!s to his slave, doulos, John ... , Blessedis rhe one who reads abour thc prophecy, and blessed are those who hear..

Ooe of Rcvelarion's seven introducrory !etters, the one addressed to the church in Phibdelphia, states:

Because you have kept my word of parient endurance, I will keep you from rhe hour of rria! that is coming on the whole world .... I am coming soon .... I zuiil writc on you the name of my God, and rhe name of rhe ciry of my God, rhe new Jcrus;1lem rhar comesdown from my God ....

(Rev 3. 10-13)

Andin Revclation 7.2-3 we read:

I saw anorhcr angel ascending from rhe rising of rhe sun, having the seal (sfragis) of tht' living God, and he calted out with a loud voice .... Do not darnage the earth or rhe sea or rhe rrees, unri! we have marked the s!aves (douloi) of our God with a seal on rheir foreheads (O:xpt Q"(ppayiowllc:v toilc; OoUf.ou; toü Smü ~11Wv E1tl ;;Wv )lc:tffirrwv aUtWv).

Revelation 14 begins with rhe words "Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And wirh him were one hundred and forry-four thousaod who bad his name and bis Father's name written on rheir forehcads." The slaves of God, marked with his seal on their fore­head, arecontrasred in Rev 13.16-19 and 20.4 ro those subject ro the Beast, Vl'ho, in turn, bear irs mark, "rhat is rhe beasr's name or rhe number that Stands for rhe name," placed on their righr hand and on their foreheads. Rev 20 rhen promises those who had proclaimed the trurh (martyrein), bad not sacrificed to rhe Beast and hence did not bears its marks, eternal ruler­ship as "priesrs of God and of Christ" (Rev 20.6).

Even a pcrfunctory reading of Revelation confirms the presence of three inrerrelated conceprs: firsrly, the notion of a new, selected community of God's worshippers, called "slaves of God," singled out for their steadfast­ness in rimcs of trial and unrest caused by the Beasr and its subjects; sec­ondly, rhe indelible marking ofthat selectcommunitythough "sealing" and "inscribing," \vhich indicates rheir "belanging to God," and designates the boundary dividing rhem from those owned by the Beast; and, thirdly, rhe final salvarion of thar select, marked community and its elevarion to priest­hood.74

74. Cf. esp. E. Schüssler-Fiorenza, "Priester für Gott: Studien zum Herrschafts-und Priestermotiv in der Apokalypse," Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen, n.s. 7 (1972): 13~75. Fot a bibl. of the mosr recent schalarship an Rev. see Deutsch, "Transforma­tion," 1 06~ 120, and in general, A. Y. CoUins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia: Westruinster Press,1984).

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 429

The close relationship berween thejohannine rradition, especialiy Reve­larion, and the teachings of Montanus has lang been recognized, and is by now a scholarly sententia communis.75 Geographical dara suggest rhar Montanism flourished in rhe vicinity of Philadelphia, and affinities of con­tent are equally significanr.76

Recenr studies have emphasized anew thar fundamental aspecrs of Mon­tanism-in its earlier incarnation as "New Prophecy," but even more markedly so in its larer, third- and fourrh-century form---can be rraced di­recrly ro inrerpretarions of specific Revelation-passages. These include rhe

75. Thus, ro eire but a fe\'/ examples, Harnack (Dogmengeschichte 1:431 and 427), views the propheric utterances of Rev 14-17 as comprising the Monranists' eschato­logicai and ascetic program; Aland ("Bemerkungen," 132, translation mine) declares rhar "rhe Gospel of John and Reveiarion are the sources from which rhe Montanist movemem has sprung." Cf. Schöllgen, '·Tempus," 87, nn. 119 and 120; more recemly, e.g., Klawiter, The New Prophecy, 86-99; id. "The RoJe of Marryrdom", 251-61; Trevett, "Apocalypse," 313-338. See also C. Deutsch, "Transformation of Symbols: TheNew Jerusaiem in Rv 211-22 5," ZNW78 (1987): 106-126,and D. Kyrraras, "The Transformations of rhe Text: The Reception of John's Revelation," in History as Text: The Writing of Ancient History, ed. by Averil Cameron (London: Duckworth, 1989), 146-62, esp. 148-54.

76. Inscriprions and lirerary sources from rhe second through the early fifth century attest that rhe majoriry of Monrarrists lived in wesrern centrai Anatolia, mainiy in rhe ciries Apameia, Sebasre, Temenorhyrai, Appia, Pepouza{?), and Hierapolis; in rhe Phry­gian highlands, rhe terrirory of Dionysapolis, rhe Upper Tembris Valley(?), as weil as in Lydian Philadelphia and its surrounding areas, wirb a slight majoriry of urban vs. rural dwellers. I am grareful ra W. Tabbernee for letring me see his unpublished paper, "The Sacial Idenriry of Montanisrs: The Epigraphic Data," given ar rhe AARJSBL 1993. His forrhcoming Montanist Inscriptions and Testimonia: Epigraphic Sources Illustrating the History of Montanism, PMS 15 {Macon: Mercer) should be the definitive srudy. The precise locarion of Pepuza, Thymian and Ardabau, as weil as thar of rhe so·called "holy land of rhe Montanisrs" remains uncerrain, cf. most recently C. Markschies, "Nochmals: Wo lag Pepuza? Wo lag Thymian? Nebst einigen Bemerkungen zur Frühgeschichte des Montanismus," Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 37 {1994): 7-28; Strobel's arremprs (Das heilige Land, 60-221) ar identifying rhe "haly land of rhe Montanists" as rhe high valley of Kirbasan, raughly idenrical wirh the ancient p!areau of the Hyrgalei (Piiny, Nat. Hist. 5.113), have been mosdy dismissed; see C. Trevett, "Apoca!ypse, Ignatius, Momanism: Seeking rhe Seeds," VC 43 {1989): 313-338; Mirchell, Anato!ia 2.38-43; and E. Gibson, The "Christians for Christians" Jnscriptions of Phrygia: Creek Texts, Translation and Commentary, Harvard Theological Srudies, vo!. 32 (Missoula: Schalars Press, 1978), passim. Hawever, the vicinity of Philadelphia, and the area berween the ciries Eumeneia,Apamea and Hierapolis in general remain cen­rra!. The Ananymous, relaring Apolinarius' activiries, implies that Mooranus and bis warnen ciaimed ro have been the successors of Ammia and Quadratus, borh prophers in Philadelphia; and rhe area of \1onranus' firsr activities may also be Jocared near Philadelphia, cf. Srrabo, 12.44. A Philadelphia associatian is posired by Ramsay, Cities 1.180; W. M. Calder, "Philadelphia and Monranism," Bull.john Rylands Libr. 7 ( 1923): 309-353; Trevetr, "Apocalypse," 314-317; and Markschi es, "Wo lag Pepuza ?" 26-27.

430 JOLRl\AL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

concrerizarion of eschatological expectations in rhe rhird/fourrh~century propheress Quinrilla's idenrificarion of the 1\1ontanisr cenrers of Pepuza and Thym!on J.S rhe New Jerusalem, based on her lireral exegesis of Rev 21, as well as a number of specific sacramental practices.77 Thus, as shown by C. Trevctt, Epiphanius' garbled account of the Tascodrugitae or "nose­peggers," associated wirh Quintil!a's followers, reflects "the ritual enact­menr of end-time evenrs" rhrough a lireral reading of Rev 20, symbolized here by a raising of one's hand to rhe head in a gesture of silencc and sorrow.78

Epiphanius' description of rhe "nose-peggers'' immediarely precedes rhat of chiidren "pricked with needles"-as Trevett observes, cerrainly not by accident. Indeed, Revelarion 20 alone, irrespective of the additional pas­sages cited above, offers ample evidence thar Epiphanius distorred here Montanist initiatory markings wirh a symbol of God or Christ, signifying rhose who ''belong ro God" and his communiry, and have hence been se­lected toparrakein his mysreries.79

Indeed, tf larer Monrarrists inrerpreted passages regarding the coming of a "new Jerusalem" literally, then there is little reason why they should have read those vvho were his messengers "marked the slaves of our God with a seal on rheir foreheads" ( äxpt crq>payicroo!J.EV -coUc; OoUI..ouc; -co\i 8EoU ilt-tcüv Errt cü.Jv )JErcimUJv a\rrcüv) 80 differenrly. After all, such markings were a symbol of exaltation, represenring steadfasmess in rimes oftrialtobe rewarded by priesrhooci. '~ 1

V.

Significant aspecrs of rhe Christian tradition fundamental to Montanism make it likcly rhar (at least some) followers tattooed themselves, rhough no ancienr sourcesrares unequivocally that they did so. Iris also possible that such practices were limited to what was after all a heretica! secr, centered in an area known and derided in anriquity as somewhat backward, and home to a number of deities whose cults were ramed only by the faintest

77. Tabbernee, ''Reve!ation 21," 56-60. The imminence of the apocalypse was not a "New Prophecy '' specific, cf. Schö!lgen, "Tempus," passim; yet it cenainly inspired as­ceric rigorism, including continence and fasting, as weil as preparedness for marryrdom; Aland, '·Bemerhngen," 126-27; Trevett, ''Apocalypse," 321-322. Fora cha!lenge ro the tradition~li!y ;:.ssumed high preparedness for martyrdom, cf. Tabbernee, "Voluntary Marryrdom," 33--44.

78. Treven, "Fingers up Noses," 258-269, quote 265. 79. Trevetr, "Fingers up Noses," 260-261. 80. Tabbernee, Opposition, 477. 81. Cf. Deutsch, "Transformation," 118~126.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 431

veneer of greco-roman culture.S2 Indeed, mostmodern aurhors concerned wirh accusarions of «pricking" and rheir ritual significance are content with such intra-Momanist explanations. 83

However, if these pracrices were limired to a heretical sect, then why all of a sudden such inrensified accusations? Would such intensiry truly have been necessary-at a poinr in time when the original conflicts raised by Montanism had beende facto settled, irsadherents largely disappeared84-

unless such practices touched on issues closer to home? Iris the very nature of the fourth-cenrury accusations that cast doubts on such a geographic and heterodox circumscription of the phenomenon, because such Iimita­tions are ptecisely the aim of the polemic rhetoric.

The novel accusations of "pricking with bronze needles" did not occur in a vacuum. Whereas earlier accusarions, as menrioned above, reflecr inner­Christian debares concerning prophecy, Monrarrists are now increasingly rainred with exrra-Christian, i.e., "pagan" associations.85 To name bur a few examples, Epiphanius describes Cataphrygian practices with the vocabulary of Dionysiac orgies, and associares Montanist prophetesses wirh Jezebel, who "teaches to eat meat affered to idols. " 86 Filastrius de­scribes rheir mysteries as Cynic, Bacchanalian and more gentilium,87 and Jerome refers ro ""vestiges of ancient stupidity. "88 Earlier sources claimed rhat Montanus had been "a recent convert"; now he was a former ''priest of an idol" (l.Eptl.J-; npO:rtov EiOOOAov ), a "priest of Apollo," and "a castrated half-man" (abscisum et semivirum), rhat is ro say, a devoree of Attis and Cybele.89 Irrespecrive of their historical accuracy, all of these "pagan" as-

82. Lucian, Alexander the Fa/se Prophet, 9-12, 17; Mitehe II, Anatolia 1.230-234, 239-240; 2.11-31.

83. Cf. Trevett, "Fingers up Noses," passim. 84. Cf. the imperial anti-momanist legislation: C.Th. 16.5.34, 5.48, 5.57, 5.65, 6.5. 85. R. A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge Univer­

sity Press, 1990), 6-14. 86. Epiph. Haer. 49.3; 51.33. Cf. MAMA IV, inscriptions on pp. 95-115, nos.

265-308, regarding Dionysopolis, and xiv ff.; Mitchell, Anatolia, s.v., Dionysos/ Sabazios; and, e.g., E. Haspels, "Relics of a Dionysiac Cult in Asia Minor," A]A 66 (1962); 285-87.

87. Fil. Haer. 49, 75. 88. jer. Comm. in ep. ad Ga/2.3. 89. Did. Alex. De Trin. 3.41.3; Mov-ravö<; 6 wü ÄJt6AAwvo.; icpcU~, is the charge

made by the Orthodox in the 4/Sth-C. debate berween hirnself and a Montanist, ed. by G. Ficker. "Widerlegung eines Montanisten," ZKG 26 (1905): 447-63,here455. Fick er assumes the author to have been the Nestorian bishop Eutherius of Tyana, cf. 448; ]er. Ep. 41.4; for the date of the De Trin., see Quasten, Patrology 2.87, although the attri­bution of the Trin. to Did. has been quesrioned, cf. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, 191 n. 74.

432 JOUR'-JAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

sociarions an:, nor by coincidence, consisrent with cultic pracrices tradi­tionally associated wich Phrygia. 90

Worse rhan pagan associarions, however, were rhe new charges of rit­ual chi!d-murder. Regardless of actuai facts (indeed, as described, rhe Montanist prickings need by no means result in death), such accusarions rhemselves were ofren fatal, as rhe orthodox aurhors knew only roo weil. Thus Cyril of Jerusalem conrinues after his attack: "because of this, until rather recent time, in rhe periods of persecution, we were suspected of rhese crimes; for rhese Monrarrists are also called, falsely, it is true, by rhe common name of Chrisrians. " 91 Then as now, ro kill a child was a heinous crime, so terrible rhat "no one could believe it except rhe sort of person who attempts it. " 92 Like noorher charge, it identified the cu!tural and religious, indeed omoiogica!, gap separating the accused from the accuser: Monrarrists were (geographically) "foreign," i.e., Phrygian; re­ligiously and morally "foreign," i.e., heretics and "pagan," and rhey killed children. 9

·'

This is heavy arrillery--overkill one might say-if directed solely against analready vanquished heresy, but appropriate and indeed urgently neces­sary, if at least some readers ofEpiphanius, Augusrine,Jerome and so forth were prone to engage in similar activiries; if such practices were now con­demned; and if, despite condemnations, rhey could nevertheless be justi­fied by Scriprural passages.

As srared above, notions of marking oneself by branding or tattooing as a slave of God, far from being Iimited to Asia Minor and the world ofReve­lation, were recognized and undersrood throughour the Roman Ernpire.94

Furthermore, both norions, rhat of a slave of God, and sacred tatrooing, also appear in the Old and the New Testament, bothin a positive and a neg-

90. In fac:, many of rhe aspecrs of western Anarolia 's non-Christian re!igious tradi­rion preserve <rac;;s rhar mesh weH wirh rhose exhibired by the Johannine tradition and later :.\1onrani-:;m; for prophecy, see Aune, Prophecy, 23-74,201-316, and esp. Groh, "Utterance and Exegesis," 73-95.

91. Cat. lri, l.S. 92. :.\1in. Fdix, Oct. 9.5 93. Categories already associated with "inhuman and man haring demons," cf.

C!emenr Alex. Protr. 3.42.1-43.2. See Rives, "Human Sacrifice,"65-85. 94. Schalars have traditionally viewed the notion of "sacred s!avery" as an "orien­

ra!" arrd as such quintessentially non-greco-roman concept (entering Rome only in rhe process of its ··he!lenization" via orienta! mystery cults and parallel to irs increasing ver­rical srratificarion during rhe empire). While increasingly modified, cf., e.g., Martin, Slavery, passim, rhis view remains widespread, cf., e.g., Bömer's seminal work (e.g., 3.207-208), especially pertinent is his comment on an inscription from O!ympia (Greece): ''Völlig außerhalb dieses Kreises steht aus späterer Zeit auf Inschr. 657 der servv.s Christi: K(Upt)€ 'I(TJO'O)Ü X(ptcrt)E: ... c& öoUAw crou ... Hier hat sich eine Welt verändert," 218.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 433

ative conrexr.95 Leviticus 19.28 denouncessuch markings as part of mis­guided Gentile religious practices: '' You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead or tatroo any marks (ypci)l)la-ra <:rd.!cta) upon you: I am rhe Lord. " 96 Prophets of Baal, faise prophets, are known to "cut them­selves ... until the blood gushes all over them" to achieve visions; in vain (I Kings 18.28-29).

Gen 4.5 describes rhe powerful protecrion offered by rhe mark of an om­nipotent master: "And the Lord pur a mark on Ca in, so that no one who came upon him would kill him." The prophet Isaiah Stresses the bond be­tween rhe people of Israel and God at the End of Days with these words: "This one will say 'I am rhe Lord's,' ... yet another will write on the hand 'The Lord's,' (Emypciwa xnpl. aUwiJ, wU 8eoU Ei)li) and adopt the name oflsrael" (ls 44.5) 97

As far as the New Testament is concerned, leaving the Gospels aside and focusing on Paul's letters, we find that he uses the term doulos Theou, slave of God, in two quite distinct ways: first, as a foliower of God, and second, as a priest of God and rhus a religious Ieader among his followers. 98 Not only does he call hirnself repeatedly a "slave of Christ," but it is as the slave

95. For slavery-language in the O.T., see C. A. Fontela, La esclavitud a traves de Ja Biblia, Bibliorheca Hispana Biblica, vol. 9 (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Invesrigaciones Cientificas, 1986); W. Zimmerli and j. Jeremias, The Servant of God {London2 : SCM Press, 1965), passim. Cf. D. M. Stanley, "The Theme of the Servant ofYahweh in Prim­itive Christian Soreriology, and Irs Transposition by Sr. Paul," Catholic Biblical Quar­terly 16 (1954 ): 385-425. Matt 18.23-31, e.g., describes rhe Kingdom of God in rerms of a subsranrial (imperial) hausehold wirb a masrer and numerous slaves. Luke uses slave language in an even more pronounced fashion. In Lk 1.38 Maria greets the angel, God's messenger, wirb ehe words: "Here I am the slave of rhe Lord(~ OOUATJ Kupi.ou}, Iet ir bewirb me according to your ward"; rhroughout, rhose who proclaim God's message are de­scribed as douloi.]. Vogt, "Ecce ancilla Domini," in id. Ancient Slavery and the Ideal of Man, trans. by T. Wiedernano (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1974), 146-169, here 148-149. In Aces 16.17 Paul and Barnabas announce the "way of salvation" in rheir capacity as "slaves of rhe mosthigh God," and in rhe rhree genera! Episdes James, Sirnon Peter and Jude, by then the Ieaders of rhe Chrisrian communiry, are all addressed as s!ave and apos­tle of God and of "the Lordjesus Chrisr." According w Jn 15.14--15,Jesus no Ionger ad­dresses bis disciples as his slaves (douloi), but as friends (philoi); Manin, Slavery, 50-57.

96. Cf. also Deut 14.1-2; 0. Betz, "stigma," in Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament 7:657-646, here 660-661; Encyclopaedia ]udaica, s.v. rattoo, for Rabbinie inrerpretations.

97. Indeed, often the great prophetic figures rhemselves were "slaves of God, "josh 24.30; judg 2.8; Amos 3.7; ]er 7.25. Deut 6.8 speaks abour the Law as an emblem on the forehead, a turn of phrase repeated in Ex 13.9, 16. where the feasr of Paschis de­scribed as "a sign on your bandandas an emblem on your forehead," serving as a re­minder of the release of the people of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. Encycl. ]ud. s. v. Tattoo; Dölger, Sphragis, 45--46.

98. Bibliography on Paul's use of the slave-metaphor is extensive. For an excellenr overview, cf. Harrill, Manumission, 74-108; Martin, Slavery, 50-135.

434 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

of Christ rhar he srands above human aurhoriry.99 This enslavemenr as­sured frccdom from any human judgment, since Paul is beholden solely to

his master, Jcsus Christ. F urrher, as he states for example in his Letter to rhe Philippians i2.5-9), because of Christ's "raking an rhe form of a slave ... God also highly exalted him." Likewise, Paul is exalted among Christians because, in his words: "I mademyself a slave ro all." 100

Several hundred years larer, Gregory the Great made this precise phrase, servus servorum Dei, parr of the official title of the Pope. 101 Bur, unlike Paul, Pope Gregory rhe Great did not say: "I bear the marks ('t"Ct crny!la-ra)

of Jesus branded to my body (Gal6.17)."

VI.

The Pseudo-Basilian canons, a fourth-century compilarion of Egyptian materials, stipulare in canon 27 thar

''no m2n sh:J.l! Iet his hair grO\v lang ... or tattoo hirnself !ike the pagans," nor should he "sit in front of those who mark themselves with thorns and needles such th:u their blood f\ows to rhe ground." 102

Pelagius condemned "pagans" who defiled rheir bodies rhrough ritual branding with the symbol of rheir God. Theodoret of Cyrrhus commenred on the t2rroos in Leviticus 19.28 thatit was only pagans who "pricked cer­rain parts of their bodies and applied ink. " 103 For rhese aurhors, rarrooing for relig!ous reasons was a pagan pracrice, hence deeply reprehensib!e, and tobe curtail:.:d by all means.

Yer, thc picture, skerched in rhe following only in irs baresr ourlines, is more complex. The same Theodoret described bishops present at Nicaea who had suffered in rhe Grear Persecurion, as bearing "in rheir bodies rhe marks of Christ ("rO. ony!laLa LaU Kupiou "IT]croU)." 104 Shorrly before,

99. E.g., Gai 1. 10, I Cor 9, Rom 1.1, Phil 1.1. 100. I Cor. 9.19~23. Martin, Slavery, 117~ 149, "Pau! ... depicts his leadership as

rhe derived aurhority by association with his masrer Christ ... the purpose of neirher is to depict humility," 135; also for further bib!iography, S. Briggs, "Can an Enslaved God Liberate? Hermeneutical Ref1ections an Philippians 2:6-11," Semeia 47 {1989): 137~153.

101. Cf. R. Bäumer, ·'Servus servorum Dei," in LThK 9, 695~96; G. Te!lenbach, ''Libertas,'' Forschungen zur Kirchen~ und Geistesgeschichte 7 {1935): 199~201; H. Zi!liacus, "Devorionsformeln," RAC 3:871~881.

102. Die Kirchenrechtsquellen des Patriarchats Alexandrien, ed. W. Riede! {Leipzig: A. Deichenscht.' Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1900; reprim Aalen: Sciemia, 1968), 245.

103. Pebg. Expositio in Romanos 1.24; Theod. Quaest. 28 in Lev. {PG 80, 337). 104. Theod. HE 1.7; 2.24; Soc. HE 2.26; Ath. Apologia de fuga 26. Cf. Hefele­

Leclercq, Histuire des Concils 2:375~377.

ELM/PJERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 435

Constantine bad issued an edict stipulating that those sent to work in the mines should no Iongerbe tatrooed on rheir foreheads (minime in eius fa­cie scibatur)-probably aware rhar some Christians bad recenrly suffered exactly such a fare. 105 However, Hilary of Poitiers, in an invecrive agairrst the "Arian" Constanius II says: "On your orderthe [orthodox] bishops ... have been deposed, and now their ecclesiastic foreheads have been rein­scribed wirb the tirle "condemned ro rhe mines." 106 Agairr according ro Theodoret, when Valen's anti-Nicene policies led to bishop Damasus of Rome's condemnation to rhe copper-mines ofPhaeno, he wem "with the mark of the sacred Cross upon bis brow." 107 These texts, all of them from the late fourth/early fifth century, refer to stigmata received as a result of religious persecution, eieher by "pagans" or at the band of "Ar­ian" heretics. In this contexr, stigmata are signs of martyrdom designat­ing a "confessor." Bur rhese were not the only markings symbolizing marryrdom.

In the 340's Ephrem of Nisibis wrote that it was the meaning of asceti­cism to be like a martyr, to make each member of one's body a martyr "worthy of suffering." Ascetics were ro imitate Christ: mortification took the "place of the nails ... and of the rhorns," "to carry rhe pain of the cross .... If you are truly bis, pur on bis suffering." Tobe an ascetic meant "subjugation of rhe body," "everyone who bends bis neck and serves in this insritution, is regarded as dead." 108 Asceticism was imitation of Christ by submitring one's body to mortification in a reenactment of Christ's obedience unto death, rhe dearh of a slave on rhe cross. Epipha­nius addressed bis Panarion primarily to ascetics; Jerome's writings refer­ring to Montanist aberrations also discuss proper ascetic comportment, and ascetics read Augustine's writings agairrst heretics. Iris possible tbat some ascetics stigmatized themselves as a representation of Cbrist's self­enslavement, which led ultimately to the cross. However, physical mark­ings expressing Christian convictions which were highly regarded were not limited to ascetics alone.

lndeed, Chrisrianity bad lang been familiar wirb at least one kind of marking which singled out rhose who belonged ro God: the "seal of bap-

105. C.Th. 9.40.2 (315/16), rhey were insread tobe tattooed on rheir legs. CL Pon­tius, Vita Cypr. 7.1488; M. Gustafson, "Condemnarion to rhe Mines in the Later Ro­man Empire," HTR 87 {1994): 421-433.

106. Hil. In Const. 11.4-7: in ecclesiasticis (rontibus scriptos metallicae damnatio­nis titulo recenseri.

107. Theod. HE 4.22. 108. Ephrem ofNisibis, Hymni et sermones 4, col. 171, co!. 163, 213; Hymni de virg.

2, 76, 120, cited in Vööbus, History of Asceticism 2:95-100.

436 JOURNAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUD!ES

tism," an integral part of rhe initiation inro Christianity. 109 An in-depth discussion of this pracrice would exceed the boundaries of this paper, but some remarks by larer authors are worth mention. Severian of Gabala in­strucrs his catechumens that the seal of baptism is a sign thar renders the receiver recognizable ro God's angels in the hereafter; without it rhey are lost iike unbranded sheep. John of Damascus states that "through baptism we receive the holy Spirit dwelling in us, which is a royal seal with which rhe Lord bro.nds his own sheep." John Chrysostom explains that through baptism rhe Christian has become a king, priest, and prophet; he has been sealed in the samemanneras soldiers whose forehead has been sealed with the emperor's sphragis: like a soldier who deserrs, he who deserts Christ's servicewill be recognized by all men. 110

Most authors clearly understood such sealing as a spiritual imprint upon the soul. 111 However, others saw it as a more tangible "marking" of their foreheads with a sign of the cross, mostly, but not always, in a temporary fashion. 1 12 The martyr Glyceria had the mark of the cross inscribed on her foreheaJ so that all could see it; 113 the hero of the Acta Maximiliani re~ fused to acccpt the military tattoos because his forehead is already marked by Chrisr; a possibly late fourth-cenrury story speaks of a Jewish convert who upon baptism perforared his ear, declaring hirnself a bond-slave of Christ marked by his seal. 114 Procopius of Gaza and Theophylact Simo­catta bmh mention Christians who bore the sign of Christ rartooed on the arms anJ foreheads, much like rhe statues of Li via and Augusrus, whose crosses, carved into their foreheads during late antiquity, arestill here for us ro see. 115

109. G. W. H. Lampe, The Seal ofthe Spirit (London2 : S. P. C. K., 1967), 235-259; V. Saxer, Les ntes de I'initation chritienne du IJ<' au IV" siede: Esquisse historique et sig­nification d'apres leurs principaux timoins, Centro ltaliano di Studi sul!'Airo Medio­evo, Srudi 7 (Spoleto, 1988). Fora col!ecrion of relevant sources, cf. A. Benalt and C. .\1unier, Le Bapt§me dans !' Eglise ancienne (Bern: P. Lang, 1994).

110. Se\·er. Bapt. 2; John Dam. Confess. 3;John Chrysost. Horn. 3. 7 in 2 Cor. Am­brose, Obit. 1/alent. 58, similarly compares rhe "stamp" on Valenrinian II's forehead wirh rhe t;moo of a soldier.

111. Lmpc. Seal, 237-260. 112. Lnnp(·, Seal, 261-296, eso. 276-282. 113. AASS .'-'1ay Jcd. 2, 12. . 114. AB 5, l-52, cap 4 and 9;cf. Carpocratians = Epiph. Ha er. 27.5.9; Clemenr, Ex.

ex Theod. 1;;6.

115. Procop. Comm in lsaiam 44.5; Th.Sim. His!. 5.10.13-15; 0. Hjort, "Augusrus Christianus-Livia Christiana: Sphragis and Roman Portrait Sculpture," in Aspects of Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium, ed. L. Ryden and]. 0. Rosenqvist (Stockholm, 1993 ), 99·- l12. I O\Ve rhis ref. toP. Brown.

ELM/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 437

Thus, at the sametime as Chrisrian authors were condemning stigmata as a «pagan" practice, they lauded other stigmata as symbolizing marryr~ dom, eirher as a result of persecurion from pagans or opposing Chrisrians. Some even praised marks received as a result of ascetic practices. Marking with the cross also continued, either spiritually or lirerally, symbolizing "belanging ro God" like a soldier, who is marked wirh the sign of rhe domi­nus or kyrios ro whom he owes absolute obedience. Ir appears, therefore, as if different kinds of Christians, ascetics, ordinary Christians, and occa­sionally bishops carried stigmata thar signalized in various ways their obe­dience to God, their '' belanging to God," even in adverse circurnstances. It a ppears likewise as if sorne of these stigmata were revered, whereas others were condernned through association with "pagan" rires. The question is, of course, where and by whorn the dividing line was drawn. One specific development rnay suggesr an answer.

During the same period, bishops, especially Gregory the Great's Latin precursors, increasingly ernployed rhe notion of a "slave of God" or «sJave of Christ" when discussing their own authority; occasionally rhese were the samebishops who attacked Monrarrists and others for «pagan" prac­tices such as tattooing. Several Western bishops adopted the phrase servus Dei or servus Christiaspart of their rirle. Hilary of Poirier refers to hirnself as Hilarius servus Christi, as do, for example, Darnasus I of Rorne and Paulinus of Nola, and Arnbrose calls hirnself Ambrosius servus Christi vo­catusepiscopus.116 Augustirre likewise considers hirnself "bishop and slave of Christ's slaves" (episcopus servus Christi servorumque Christi), and one of his writings rnay serve as an exarnple of how notions of being a "servus Dei" were now being articulated.

In one of the newly discovered serrnons, given at Carthage in 404, Au­gusrine cornbines a discussion of the life of the martyr Vincent with an ex~ pose on "obedience." This serrnon is parr of a series devoted ro the con· version of "pagans" and rhe routing of the Donatists, and ir reveals a dramatic picture. 117 Apparently, on the previous day Augustirre had been imerrupted by rioting; he now conrinues his sermon where he was forced to interrupt it, but not withour first digressing to discuss obedience, sorne·

116. Hil. De Syn. Pref.; Damasus I = A. Ferruai, Epigrammata Damasiana (Cirr.3 del Vaticano, 1942), 189; Ambrose, Ep. 63.1. And elsewhere: Eusebius ofVercelli, Ep. 2.4; Paulinus ofNola, CSEL 19.1; cf. Zilliacus, "Devotionsformeln," 877-81; andj. Doignon, "Servi ... facientes vohmtatem Dei ex animo (Eph. 6, 6): Un eclatemenr de Ia norion de servirude chez Ambroise,jerome, Augustin?" RSphth 68 (1984): 201-21 L

117. F. Dolbeau," Nouveaux sermons de saint Augusrin pour Ia conversion des paiens er des donarisres (IIl)," ReuEtAug 38 {1992}: 50-79; I was alerted ro rhis by P. Garnsey.

438 JOUR'JAL OF EARLY CHRISTIAN STUDIES

rhing rhis congregation had been sorely lacking. In so doing, he touches on the subjecr of slavery: God demanded thar Adam absrain from the rree of Life, because God wamed ro dominate and be served (ut dominanti servire­tur); ir is man's natural state ro be God's slave. 118 Indeed, Christ demon­strared rhis by obediently assuming rhe form of a slave and dying a slave's dearh. "Bur someone might say 'My bishop should follow the example of my Y1astcr and serve me."' Augustine's response is straightforward: we are all slaves. bur some slaves obey orders and others give them. 119

With rhis, Augusrinc resumes his sermon on manyrdom to distinguish berween rrue and false martyrs. A true martyr, he argues, in this casc Vin­cenr, becomes recognizable as such through his obedience, though the de­cisive issue is not obedience per se> but obedience ro the correct authority. True manyrs obey the highest power, God and his bishops, whereas false martyrs obey rhe voice of the devil. 12o

Given thar rhe persecurions have ended, one mighr be rempred to con­sider rhis issue ro be moot. Not so. The persecurions conrinue, bur now rhe carholic church is rhreatened from wirhin through hererics like the Do­natists who are roday's false martyrs. And like the false marryrs of old they roo can bc recognized because of their failure ro obey rhe appropriate au­thoriry: rhc true servus Christi servorumque Christi, namely, the bishop. And because ofthat they fail to be rhemselves Christ's servants. 121

:.Yiarks of sla very, marks of martyrdom, marks of true Chrisrian belong­ing-rhc J.ttcmpt ro place Epiphanius' accusations inro rheir conrext has yielded severJ.! results. For mosr greco-romans, stigmata were associated with ensbvemenr, to the point where a stigma became a synonym for slav­ery. Howcver, slavery and irs stigmata were not in al! cases purely degrad­ing. When applied volunrarily in a religious conrext, a stigma could sym­bolize '' belanging ro a God" as his scrvanr or slave, and as such could be a sign of speci:1l selecrion and rhus disrinction, indicating even priesthood.

A closcr examination of Monranism revealed that one of its principal Christian sources, Revelation, conrains precisely such an understanding of stigmata. Funhcrmore, as far as is discernible, fourrh-cenrury develop­menrs vv·irhin Monranism irself suggest an increasingly Iitera! reading of

11 S. C. 7, dominatio deinon deo, sed cui dominatur, utilis est. 119.(.':!-ll;quotelü. 120. c. !3-i4. 121. ( . 20. The use of this term needs furrher invesrigarion. One significam passage

in rhis comcxt is Aug. Ep. 186.1, where he asks Paulinus of Nola wherher he still con­siders Pe!ag,us ·' seruus Dei. I owc rhis refcrence ro R. Dodaro.

ELY!/PIERCED BY BRONZENEEDLES 439

Revelarion, especial!y wirh regard ro aspects of ritual, including initiatory rites that call for "marking" with a sign of Christ's name.

It is at rhis juncrure thar an increasingly Iitera! Montanist reading of Reve­lation might have dovetailed with fundamental transformarions occurring wirhin fourth-century Christianity as a whole. Rather rhan simply ad­dressing changes wirhin a heretical sect, the heightened intensiry of the anti­Momanist attacks reflect debates regarding rhe proper display of Chrisr­ian authority, caught in tension between rhe demands of asceticism and those of aristocratic notions of authority, as well as the necessity to incor­porate concepts of extreme humility and obedience into a language of power understandable to a broad fourth-century audience. The increasing use of the ''servus Dei" as a metaphor for episcopal power may weil have necessitated a tighter control over expressions of the same concept by other people in different conrexts, including the use of tattoos.

Much remains tobe said, especially on those lasr points; bur I hope rhar my analysis of the polemical rhetoric against the stigmata of the Montanist heresy has at least shown thar rhese accusarions were neither "mere rheroric," nor simply a reflection ofstrange and marginalized practices, bur that they touched on centrat issues of a Christian representation of power through images of the body of Christ and his representative, the bishop.

Susanna Elm is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California-Berkeley.