Sortes Sanctorum: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
→History: correct Merovech's name and father's name |
SimLibrarian (talk | contribs) Adding short description: "Late antique text used for divination" |
||
| (42 intermediate revisions by 32 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Short description|Late antique text used for divination}} |
|||
Drawing the '''''Sortes Sanctorum''''' (Lots of the saints) or '''''Sortes Sacrae''''' (Holy Lots) was a type of [[divination]] or [[cleromancy]] practised in early [[Christianity]], derived and adapted from the [[ancient Roman religion|pagan]] ''[[Sortes Homerica]]'' and ''[[Sortes Virgilianae]]''. |
|||
{{italic title}} |
|||
'''''Sortes Sanctorum'''''{{efn|"lots of the saints"}} ([[incipit]] '''''Post solem surgunt stellae'''''){{efn|"after the sun the stars come out"}} is a [[late antique]] text that was used for [[divination]] by means of [[dice]]. The oldest version of the text may have been pagan, but the earliest surviving example—a 4th- or 5th-century [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] fragment on papyrus—is Christian. The original version had 216 answers available depending on three ordered throws of a single die. It was later revised down to 56 answers for a single throw of three dice. This version was translated into [[Latin]] by the time of the [[council of Vannes]] (465), which condemned its use. The Latin version was subsequently revised to render it more acceptable to ecclesiastical authorities. This Latin version survives in numerous manuscripts from the early 9th century through the 16th, as well as in [[Old Occitan]] and [[Old French]] translations.<ref name=TLoLD>AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn, "The Literature of Lot Divination", in AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn (eds.), ''Sortilege and Its Practitioners in Late Antiquity: My Lots Are in Thy Hands'' (Brill, 2018), pp. 42–44.</ref> Beginning in the 13th century, the text was sometimes known as the ''[[Sortes Apostolorum]]'',{{efn|"lots of the apostles"}} a title it shares with at least two other texts.<ref name=WEK>William E. Klingshirn (2002), "Defining the Sortes Sanctorum: Gibbon, Du Cange, and Early Christian Lot Divination" ''Journal of Early Christian Studies'' 10.1, pp. 77–130.</ref> |
|||
The term ''Sortes Sanctorum'' has a long history of being misunderstood and misapplied. It was once believed to be identical with the practice of ''[[sortes biblicae]]'', whereby one would seek guidance by opening the Bible at random and consulting the verses therein.<ref name=WEK/> The mistaken identification seems to have originated with [[Edward Gibbon]] in the third volume of his ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]'', published in 1781.<ref>Edward Gibbon (1781). ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 3''. p. 184 n. 51.</ref> |
|||
Some early Christians went to church and listened for the words of scripture that were being sung when they entered the church as a random means of predicting the future and God's will (along the lines of the Jewish [[Bath Kol]] form of divination), but the Sortes was done more formally, by casually opening the [[Holy Scripture]] and reading the first words to come to hand, with these words being taken to foretell the inquirer's fate. Doing so was often a public event, and sometimes accompanied by ceremonies (such as the 7th century emperor [[Heraclius]] ordering 3 days' public fast before a consultation as to whether or not he should advance or retreat against the [[Roman-Persian Wars#The climax|Persians]] - he took the text that arose as divine instruction to winter in [[Albania]]). Since full copies of the [[Christian Bible]] were rare before printing was invented, the lots usually used the [[Psalms]], the [[Nevi'im|Prophets]], or the four [[Gospels]]. |
|||
The title ''Sortes Sanctorum'' is a reference to ''[[Colossians]]'' 1:12.<ref name=WEK/> |
|||
==History== |
|||
[[Gregory of Tours]] relates that [[Merovech]] used the Sortes to check the predictions of a female fortune-teller that he would (as he hoped) gain the kingdom of his father [[Clodio]]. He had the Psalter, the [[Books of Kings]], and the four Gospels placed on the shrine of St. [[Martin of Tours|Martin]] and held a time of fasting and prayer, but the texts he then drew stated that he would not and were later interpreted as predicting his later ruin. |
|||
==Notes== |
|||
A French writer, in [[506]], says, "this abuse was introduced by the superstition of the people, and afterwards gained ground by the ignorance of the [[bishop]]s.", as is shown by [[Pithon]]'s ''Collection of [[Canon law|Canon]]s'', which contains some forms under the title of ''The Lot of the Apostles''. These were found at the end of the ''Canons of the Apostles'' in the Abbey of [[Marmousier]], and various canons were made at later councils and [[synod]]s (such as the councils of [[Council of London (1075)|London]] under Archbishop [[Lanfranc]] in [[1075]], and [[Council of Corboyl|Corboyl]] in [[1126]]) against the Sortes as superstition. However, they were still occuring in the time of [[St Francis]] who, in denying himself any possessions except coats and a cord, wanted to check if he was still allowed to own books. He prayed and then drew [[Gospel of Mark|Mark]], chapter IV, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables", which he took to mean that he was neither allowed books nor needed them. |
|||
{{notelist}} |
|||
==References== |
|||
A [[Peter of Toulouse]], who had sworn on the Bible that accusations of heresy against him were false, was immediately afterwards convicted by the Sortes when a bystander grabbed the Bible and opened it randomly at the words of the [[Devil]] Legion to Jesus, "What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?", which he adjudged to mean that Peter had nothing to do with Jesus. |
|||
{{reflist}} |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
At the acclamation of [[Martin of Tours|Martin as bishop of Tours]] (371) a few cast aspersions, largely for his lack of personal glamor. According to the ''Vita'' by [[Sulpicius Severus]], |
|||
:''it so happened that the reader, whose duty it was to read in public that day, being blocked out by the people, failed to appear, the officials falling into confusion, while they waited for him who never came, one of those standing by, laying hold of the [[Psalter]], seized upon the first verse which presented itself to him. Now, the [[Psalm]] ran thus: "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise because of thine enemies, that thou mightest destroy the enemy and the avenger." On these words being read, a shout was raised by the people, and the opposite party were confounded. It was believed that this Psalm had been chosen by Divine ordination.'' |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
[[St. Francis of Assisi]], to seek [[divinity|divine]] guidance, is said to have thrice opened to a random page of the book of [[Gospels]] in the [[church]] of [[St. Nicholas]]. Each time he opened to a passage in which [[Christ]] told His disciples to leave their earthly belongings and follow Him. |
|||
[[Category:Bibliomancy]] |
|||
[[Category:Christian Bible]] |
|||
[[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] related, in his autobiographical <i>[[Confessions (St. Augustine)|Confessions]]</i>, how his conversion to the [[Catholic]] faith was assisted by a voice chanting <i>tolle lege</i> or 'take up and read': |
|||
<blockquote> |
|||
So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of |
|||
my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as |
|||
of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up |
|||
and read; Take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I |
|||
began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind |
|||
of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard |
|||
the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting |
|||
it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read |
|||
the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming |
|||
in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as |
|||
if what was being read was spoken to him: <i>Go, sell all that thou hast, |
|||
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and |
|||
come and follow me:</i> and by such oracle he was forthwith converted |
|||
unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was |
|||
sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose |
|||
thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which |
|||
my eyes first fell: <i>Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering |
|||
and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord |
|||
Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence.</i> |
|||
No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of |
|||
this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, |
|||
all the darkness of doubt vanished away. |
|||
</blockquote> |
|||
==Protestant examples== |
|||
To pay a very great deference in opening upon a place of scripture, as to its affording an assurance of [[salvation]], used to be a very common practice amongst the people called [[Methodist]]s, but chiefly those of the [[Calvinist]]ic persuasion; this, it is probable, has declined in proportion with the earnestness of these people in other respects. They had also another opinion, viz., that if the recollection of any particular text of scripture happened to arise in their minds, this was likewise looked upon as a kind of immediate revelation from heaven. This they call being presented or brought home to them. |
|||
==In fiction== |
|||
*In ''Running with Scissors'' (2002) by [[Augusten Burroughs]], the eccentric psychiatrist Dr. Finch performs bibliomancy using the Bible. |
|||
==Sources== |
|||
*''This page draws text from [http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/1/3/8/11387/11387.htm 'The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction', Vol. 10, Issue 273, September 15, 1827], a text now in the [[public domain]].'' |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
| ⚫ | |||
Latest revision as of 05:45, 5 December 2022
Sortes Sanctorum[a] (incipit Post solem surgunt stellae)[b] is a late antique text that was used for divination by means of dice. The oldest version of the text may have been pagan, but the earliest surviving example—a 4th- or 5th-century Greek fragment on papyrus—is Christian. The original version had 216 answers available depending on three ordered throws of a single die. It was later revised down to 56 answers for a single throw of three dice. This version was translated into Latin by the time of the council of Vannes (465), which condemned its use. The Latin version was subsequently revised to render it more acceptable to ecclesiastical authorities. This Latin version survives in numerous manuscripts from the early 9th century through the 16th, as well as in Old Occitan and Old French translations.[1] Beginning in the 13th century, the text was sometimes known as the Sortes Apostolorum,[c] a title it shares with at least two other texts.[2]
The term Sortes Sanctorum has a long history of being misunderstood and misapplied. It was once believed to be identical with the practice of sortes biblicae, whereby one would seek guidance by opening the Bible at random and consulting the verses therein.[2] The mistaken identification seems to have originated with Edward Gibbon in the third volume of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in 1781.[3]
The title Sortes Sanctorum is a reference to Colossians 1:12.[2]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn, "The Literature of Lot Divination", in AnneMarie Luijendijk and William E. Klingshirn (eds.), Sortilege and Its Practitioners in Late Antiquity: My Lots Are in Thy Hands (Brill, 2018), pp. 42–44.
- ^ a b c William E. Klingshirn (2002), "Defining the Sortes Sanctorum: Gibbon, Du Cange, and Early Christian Lot Divination" Journal of Early Christian Studies 10.1, pp. 77–130.
- ^ Edward Gibbon (1781). The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 3. p. 184 n. 51.