{"title":"The martyrdom of Daniel and the Three Youths","authors":"A. Somov","doi":"10.1177/09518207211015964","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates the legend about the persecution and martyrdom of Daniel and his three companions at the hand of a wicked Persian king. This story is found in Eastern Orthodox liturgical, hagiographical, and homiletical texts and is based on extracanonical traditions similar to those of the “rewritten Bible” in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The article investigates how the canonical story about Daniel and the Three Youths developed into this account of their martyrdom for Christ. The origins, liturgical function, and textual history of this legend are discussed, as well as its structure and tradition-history. My analysis demonstrates that this legend combines a martyrological account (similar to other stories about Jewish martyrs, for example, Daniel 3, 6; 2 Macc 7) with a reinterpretation of stories about biblical heroes. The legend also includes a resurrection story based on an unexpected exegesis of Matt 27:52–53 and 1 Cor 15:6.","PeriodicalId":14859,"journal":{"name":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","volume":"30 1","pages":"198 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2021-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207211015964","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"RELIGION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article investigates the legend about the persecution and martyrdom of Daniel and his three companions at the hand of a wicked Persian king. This story is found in Eastern Orthodox liturgical, hagiographical, and homiletical texts and is based on extracanonical traditions similar to those of the “rewritten Bible” in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. The article investigates how the canonical story about Daniel and the Three Youths developed into this account of their martyrdom for Christ. The origins, liturgical function, and textual history of this legend are discussed, as well as its structure and tradition-history. My analysis demonstrates that this legend combines a martyrological account (similar to other stories about Jewish martyrs, for example, Daniel 3, 6; 2 Macc 7) with a reinterpretation of stories about biblical heroes. The legend also includes a resurrection story based on an unexpected exegesis of Matt 27:52–53 and 1 Cor 15:6.
期刊介绍:
The last twenty years have witnessed some remarkable achievements in the study of early Jewish literature. Given the ever-increasing number and availability of primary sources for these writings, specialists have been producing text-critical, historical, social scientific, and theological studies which, in turn, have fuelled a growing interest among scholars, students, religious leaders, and the wider public. The only English journal of its kind, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha was founded in 1987 to provide a much-needed forum for scholars to discuss and review most recent developments in this burgeoning field in the academy.