O pochodzeniu „Fizjologa”

Abstract

The study deals with an early Christian text known as the “Physiologus”. It was written by an unknown Greek writer and contains miraculous stories about features or behaviors of animals, plants and stones together with their allegorical, Christian interpretation. It was widely read in Middle Ages and became an important source of Christian nature symbolism. Owing to its popularity the “Physiologus” passed into great variety of textual forms, first critical edition of the “Physiologus” was published in 1936 by F. Sbordone. The editor had studied seventy seven manuscripts and distinguished three principal versions of the “Physiologus”: 1) the oldest “Physiologus” (dated, according to Sbordone, back to the 2nd century), 2) the Byzantine recension (according to Sbordone 5th-6ht century), 3) the pseudo-basilian recension (10ht-11th century). The origins of the “Physiologus” remain obscure. The question of dating and attribution are still discussed. Some scholars argue that the text is to be dated back to the 2nd century. However, the first evident citation from the “Physiologus” can not be traced before the middle of the 4th century. The most wide-spread opinion is that the “Physiologus” was written in Alexandria, where Jewish and Christian allegorical exegesis flourished. There are, nevertheless, scholars, who believe it was compound in Caesarea. Speculations concerning the author of the “Physiologus” are rare; worth mentioning is therefore R. Riedinger’s attribution of the “Physiologus” to Pantainos, the teacher of Clement of Alexandria. The animal stories compiled in the “Physiologus” were mostly well known to ancient Greek and Latin writers, but the direct source of the anonymous author is unknown. The greatest resemblance can be traced between the “Physiologus” and the “Kyranides” or Timotheus of Gaza’s “On animals”. It is rather unlikely that the author of the “Physiologus” derived the stories from these books. The most characteristic feature of the “Physiologus” is allegorical interpretation of the natural world. In some chapters occur typological speculation and apologetic statements. In the “Decretum Gelasianum” the “Physiologus” was condemned as heretical. The premises on which this judgement was based remain unknown. It is noteworthy, however, that there are in the “Physiologus” several non-orthodox statements, which bear some resemblance to early Gnostic concepts.