Andrei A. Orlov

From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticism: Studies in the Slavonic Pseudepigrapha

This volume represents the first attempt to study Slavonic pseudepigrapha collectively as a unique group of texts that share common theophanic and mediatorial imagery crucial for the development of early Jewish mysticism.

«MANY LAMPS ARE LIGHTENED FROM THE ONE»: PARADIGMS OF THE TRANSFORMATIONAL VISION IN THE MACARIAN HOMILIES

In the Second Temple apocalyptic materials visionaries normally «see» the extent of the divine glory, Gods Kavod, often portrayed as enthroned anthropomorphic figure. As a consequence of this encounter, the visionary experiences a dra¬matic external metamorphosis which often affects his face, limbs, and garments, making them luminescent. In spite of the dominant role of the Kavod pattern in biblical and apocalyptic theophanic accounts, it becomes increasingly challenged in the postbiblical rabbinic and patristic environments which offered new understandings of the transformational vision. In these new developments, one can see a growing emphasis on the interiorization of the visionary experience. The article investigates the formative role of the Macarian Homilies in the transition from outer to inner in the transformational visions of Eastern Christian tradition.

Celestial Choirmaster: The Liturgical Role of Enoch-Metatron in 2 Enoch and the Merkabah Tradition

This article investigates the roots of Enoch-Metatron’s liturgical office of celestial choirmaster which plays a prominent role in the Merkabah tradition. Although references to this office of the exalted patriarch are absent in 1 Enoch, Jubilees, Genesis Apocryphon, and the Book of Giants, this article argues that the roots of Enoch-Metatron’s liturgical imagery can be traced to the Second Temple Enochic lore, namely to 2 Enoch, the Jewish apocalypse, apparently written in the first century CE. This article investigates a tradition found in 2 Enoch 18 where the translated patriarch encourages the celestial Watchers to start liturgy ‘before the Face of the Lord’, that is, in front of the divine Kabod, the exact location where Metatron will later conduct heavenly worship of angelic hosts in the Shi‘ur Qomah and Hekhalot accounts.

Titles of Enoch-Metatron in 2 Enoch

1. Part of this paper was read at the Annual Meeting of SBL/AAR, New Orleans, 23-26 November 1996. 2. On different approaches to 2 Enoch, cf. I.D. Amusin, Teksty Kumrana (Pamjatniki pis’mennosti vostoka, 33/1; Moscow: Nauka, 1971); F.I. Andersen, ’2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch’, OTP , I, pp. 91-221; Ch. Böttrich, Adam als Mikrokosmos: Eine Untersuchung zum slavische Henochbuch (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995); idem, Das slavische Henochbuch (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlaghaus, 1995); idem, Weltweisheit, Menschheitsethik, Urkult: Studien zum slavischen Henochbuch (WUNT, R.2, 50; Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1992); R.H. Charles, ’The Date and Place of Writings of the Slavonic Enoch’, JTS 22 (1921), pp. 161-63 (163); J.H. Charlesworth, ’In the Crucible: The Pseudepigrapha as Biblical Interpretation’, in J.H. Charlesworth and C.A. Evans (eds.), Pseudepigrapha and Early Biblical Interpretation (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993), pp. 20-43; J.H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Prole-

The Atoning Dyad: The Two Goats of Yom Kippur in the Apocalypse of Abraham

In Atoning Dyad Andrei A. Orlov explores the eschatological reinterpretation of the Yom Kippur ritual found in the Apocalypse of Abraham where the protagonist and the antagonist of the story are envisioned as two goats of the atoning rite.

Interpretation of the Two Goats’ Imagery in Early Jewish and Christian Materials

In Atoning Dyad Andrei A. Orlov explores the eschatological reinterpretation of the Yom Kippur ritual found in the Apocalypse of Abraham where the protagonist and the antagonist of the story are envisioned as two goats of the atoning rite.

Abraham as an Eschatological Goat for Yhwh in the Apocalypse of Abraham

In Atoning Dyad Andrei A. Orlov explores the eschatological reinterpretation of the Yom Kippur ritual found in the Apocalypse of Abraham where the protagonist and the antagonist of the story are envisioned as two goats of the atoning rite.

Primordial Lights: The Logos and Adoil in the Johannine Prologue and 2 Enoch

The Gospel of John begins with the Prologue, the hymn containing complex and unique protological imagery. This chapter explores more closely the protological developments found in 2 Enoch and their similarities with the imagery of the Prologue of John. The luminous nature of the primordial aeon is especially evident in the longer recension, since it portrays the deity bathing in the light produced from Adoils disintegration. The traditions about Adoil and Arukhas, two personified primordial helpers assisting the deity in bringing the world into existence, invite some reflection about the mediatorial proclivities of 2 Enoch . Scholars often see the Sophia traditions as the formative bedrock for later Jewish mediatorial developments, including the Johannine Prologue. The symbolism of opposition of light and darkness plays an equally important role both in 2 Enoch and the Prologue of John. Keywords: 2 Enoch ; Adoils disintegration; Gospel of John; Johannine Prologue

Bibliography on 2 Enoch

This book presents a collection of papers from the fifth conference of the Enoch Seminar. The conference re-examined 2 Enoch, an early Jewish apocalyptic text previously known to scholars only in its Slavonic translation, in light of recently identified Coptic fragments.

The Sacerdotal Traditions of 2 Enoch and the Date of the Text

Experts have repeatedly raised concerns about the date of the apocalypse, noting that the text does not seem to supply definitive chronological boundaries. Indeed, while for the last hundred years 2 Enoch has been consistently included in various collections of early pseudepigraphical texts, scholarly studies show some ambiguity and caution in their treatment of the apocalypse as a sample of early Jewish thought, given the uncertainty of the texts date. One should recognize that, while the adoption of an early date for the text itself does not face great challenges, placing the text within the precise boundaries of Second Temple Judaism is a much more difficult task. This chapter deals with the history of research on the sacerdotal traditions in the apocalypse which constitute an important cluster of motifs scholars often use to demystify the texts date. Keywords:2 Enoch; apocalypse; chronological boundaries; date of the text; Jewish; pseudepigraphical texts; sacerdotal traditions; second temple Judaism