TEOLOGÍA Y NARRACIÓN EN LAS HOMILÍAS SOBRE LA DORMICIÓN DE GERMÁN DE CONSTANTINOPLA

Abstract

Around the 7th-8th centuries, the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin, celebrating both the mystery of her death and that of her resurrection, was already fully consolidated. Among the writings related to the Dormition of Mary, there are three homilies written by Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople. Migne's edition presents them as separate writings, but some authors have thought  that Germanos wrote two texts and then, to fit the scheme of "trilogies", the first was divided. Since there is a great difference between the first (with passages of theological speculation and doxological ones) and the narrative style of the third, it seems appropriate to examine the relationship between the purpose for which Germanos wrote these homilies and the structure he gave them.  This work aims to establish that in the first two homilies, which are more elevated in style, the author delves into doctrinal points that illuminate the narrative of the last one: they are not two blocks unified only for the occasion, but it can be recognised the author’s intention of providing in the first two the key of how to understand the facts that he relates in the third.