1. Mark Sheridan, O.S.B.
FROM THE NILE
TO THE RHONE
AND BEYOND
Studies in Early Monastic Literature
and Scriptural Interpretation
ROMA 2012

2. 12 Preface
both through translations and through original compositions, as I have tried to
show in a few of these essays.
It was also the period just after the great theological struggle against Arian-
ism that had occupied the energies of so many in the middle years of the fourth
century, a period that left a questionable heritage in the form of imperial in-
tervention in church affairs that had begun with Constantine. The theological
struggles continued, unfortunately, after 430 first against Nestorius, the bishop
of Constantinople and then against the Council of Chalcedon of 451, produc-
ing an extensive polemical literature in Greek, Coptic, Syriac and Latin. In this
John Cassian also took part, having been asked by his friend, the Archdeacon
Leo (later to be known as Leo the Great), to compose a response to Nestorius,
who had denied the propriety of using the term «Mother of God». Leo later
used Cassian’s treatise De Incarnatione Domini in composing his own Letter to
Flavian (also known as the Tome of Leo), which itself became the object of bit-
ter controversy.
Whoever interests himself in this world is inevitably led to questions of his-
toriography, that is, the history of the way the human past has been reconstruct-
ed. What was until several decades ago described as “decline and fall” under the
influence of Gibbon is now described, due to the work of Peter Brown, Averil
Cameron, and many others, as the world of «late antiquity», a rich and cul-
turally varied world, but possessing a certain unity. It was a culture enhanced
through travel and multilingualism, and the confluence of ideas from many dif-
ferent sources. To appreciate it, one must employ the tools of philology, and to
have an interest in the history of ideas, theology, philosophy and historiography.
It remains for me to express my gratitude to the many people who have con-
tributed in one way or another to the writing and research reflected in these es-
says. My thanks are due in particular to my many students and colleagues from
all parts of the world at Sant’Anselmo and at the Patristic Institute «Augustini-
anum» in Rome. My inability to answer the question of a student to my own
satisfaction has often led me to explore new areas. My special thanks are due to
my longtime assistant, Miloš Vojár, for the painstaking task of converting the
various styles in which the essays were originally published into something ap-
proaching uniformity. Some effort has been made to correct errors in the origi-
nal publications, and to add more recent bibliography. The errors that remain
are entirely my own responsibility.

3. ISSN 1972-­3598
Orientalia Parthenopea
XI
[2011]
a cura di
GIOVANNI BORRIELLO
ESTRATTO
Orientalia Parthenopea Edizioni

4. FRANCESCO BIANCHI
«UN PORTO SULLA RIVA DELL’ETERNITÀ».
GERUSALEMME NELLA POESIA DI YEHUDA AMICHAI
A mia madre: 25.7.2010
Gerusalemme è davvero «il grande fermaglio» che riunisce i più importanti
nuclei tematici della poesia di Yehuda Amichai, il maggior poeta israeliano del
’9001. Nelle poesie isolate e nei più ambiziosi cicli poetici dedicati alla città
confluiscono, come hanno già evidenziato gli studiosi che hanno indagato il
rapporto fra il poeta e la città2, il conflitto con Dio e con l’eredità religiosa

Questo articolo è sintesi di un corso tenuto presso la cattedra di Lingua e Letteratura ebraica
della Facoltà di Studi Orientali di Roma. Ringrazio tutti gli studenti che hanno partecipato alle
lezioni -­ in particolare M. Tarquini e M. Vojar -­ che hanno arricchito con le loro osservazioni questo
mio lavoro.
1
Yehuda Amichai (Würzburg 1924 -­ Gerusalemme 2000) emigrò con la famiglia in Palestina
nel 1935 e dopo un breve soggiorno a Petah Tikva, si stabilì a Gerusalemme. Dopo aver preso
parte fra 1942 e il 1945 alla Seconda Guerra Mondiale nella Brigata Ebraica e aver combattuto nel
1948 la guerra di Indipendenza nelle file del Palmach (acrònimo di Plugot Mac|atz «compagnia
d’attacco», un corpo paramilitare che costituì l’ossatura del futuro esercito israeliano), Amichai
si stabili, infine, a Gerusalemme. Qui visse, quasi ininterrottamente, fino alla morte, insegnando
letteratura e Bibbia nelle scuole superiori e all’Università. Le poesie che ho tradotto e commentato
sono raccolte in Shire Yehuda Amichai 1-­5, Yerušalayim-­Tel Aviv, Shoªen, 2004.
2
Cfr. G. Abramson, The Writing of Yehuda Amichai. A Thematic Approach, Albany-­N.J.,
State University, 1989, pp. 124-­136;; R. Omer-­Sherman, «Yehuda Amichai’s exilic Jerusalem»,
Prooftexts XXVI/1-­2 Winter/Spring (2006), pp. 212-­239.