Hermeneutics of the Biblical text in the school of Antioch: Adrian's Introduction to the Divine Scriptures

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Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to determine the place of the Greek revisions of the Scripture in Antiochian exegetical practice, on the example of the work of Adrian of Antioch “Εἰσαγωγή εἰς τὰς θείας γραφάς” (“Introduction to the Divine Scriptures”). The detailed analysis of the work envisaged the highlighting of hermeneutic and linguistic issues, as well as the fixation of linguistic features of the text: phonetics, morphology, syntax and vocabulary. An analysis of all levels of the author’s language was necessary for an adequate understanding of the text and the comparison of biblical quotations with existing revisions of the Scriptures. Therefore, the method of textual and contextual analysis, comparative and statistical methods allowed to determine the specificity of Hadrian’s approach to the sacred text, the conceptual apparatus of his work and the source (divergences of the biblical text).The hypothesis of the presence in Adrian’s citations of clear matches with the Hebrew text and the Syriac translation is proved in this article, which emphasizes the absence of a universal standard LXX that would exist as a codified textological tradition among representatives of the Antioch school. Adrian’s quotation from the memory of the biblical text was also confirmed, in the same way as the assumption about the possibility of Adrian’s translation of the Holy Scriptures and the option of having an existing revision of the text before him, but unknown to us today. The thesis of the broad context of the coexistence of textual traditions, in particular in the 5th century, among the representatives of the Antioch school, found its comprehensive justification.