La Doctrina Addai e gli Acta Maris: note storico-letterarie sui loro rapporti intertestuali

Abstract

The present article examines two Syriac documents, the Doctrina Addai and the Acta Maris, and the problem of their reciprocal relationship, from the literary and historical point of view. The Mari story, as related in the latter work, includes a short version of the Addai narrative, which is the object of the former document. This inclusion is clearly intended to link Mari to Addai, and, through Addai, to the Apostles, in order to guarantee an apostolic origin of the Church of Mesopotamia, whereas Mari is not even mentioned among Addai's disciples in the Doctrina. This suggests that two traditions were initially different, and that the Addai story was only later incorporated into that of Mari, which moreover seems to have developed in competition with some traditions to be found in the Addai legend. I endeavour to show that in the two documents, both in the background and in some details, there are several historical features deriving from ancient traditions, although mixed up with legendary elements, chronological shifts and inconsistencies.