[JSNT 75 (1999) 87-102]

JOHN AS THEOLOGOS:
THE IMPERIAL MYSTERIES AND THE APOCALYPSE
*
Allen Brent
University College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth
The addition of the Divine (= o 0rooyo) to titles of St John occurs
fairly late in the manuscript tradition of the Apocalypse.
1
Yet the term
had a history of pagan connotations in the language of the imperial cult.
Both Stauffer,
2
and more recently Hemer, following Ramsays seminal
study, have emphasized the relationship between the imagery of the
Apocalypse and the iconography and institutions associated with the
imperial cult.
3
Pleket has argued for the existence of specically
imperial mysteries.
4
In this paper, I wish to argue that Johns title as
Christian 0rooyo specically implies that his contemporaries would
* I wish to acknowledge with thanks funding from the British Academy in
support of the research for this paper.
1. R.H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of
St. John (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920), II, p. 236; B. Metzger, A Textual
Commentary on the New Testament (New York: United Bible Societies, 1971),
p.731; R.H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (Michigan: Eerdmans, 1977), p. 63.
2. E. Stauffer, Christ and the Caesars: Historical Sketches (London: SCM
Press, 1955), pp. 150-53, the thesis of which suffered greatly in argumentative force
because of the authors refusal to document the claims that he made with detailed
epigraphic citations.
3. C.J. Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting
(JSNTSup, 11; Shefeld: JSOT Press, 1986); W.M. Ramsay, The Letters to the
Seven Churches and their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse (London: Hodder &
Stoughton, 1904)
4. H. Pleket, An Aspect of the imperial cult: Imperial Mysteries, in HTR 58/4
(1965), pp. 331-47.
88 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
have seen the literary production of his work as analogous to the func-
tions of the pagan ofcial who bore this title in relation to the imperial
cult and, by extension, with the imperial mysteries when celebrated as
part of that cult. The employment of the title 0rooyo demonstrates
therefore that contemporary readers would have read the Apocalypse in
the way in which Hemer, Ramsay and Stauffer proposed.
I will therefore begin with the discussion of Christian epigraphy rele-
vant to the Seers title by analogy with the pagan 0rooyo and mysta-
gogue (section 1). I will then be in a position to analyse the basic
epigraphical evidence (IGRR 4.353) for the existence of specic impe-
rial mysteries (section 2), and features of the Apocalypse that reect
such mysteries (2.1 and 2.2), with particular reference to the role of
0rooyo in such mysteries.
1. Ephesian Inscriptions
We have both later Christian and earlier pagan inscriptions from
Ephesus relating to the title and function of a 0rooyo. I shall argue
that there is an essential continuity between this title as an ofcial of the
imperial cult and its application to John the Seer.
1.1. 0rooyo as Johns Distinctive Title
There are two sixth-century fragmentary inscriptions on marble from
Ephesus which are arguably the text of a constitution or imperial letter
of Justinian I (52765 CE) on the status of the Church at Smyrna.
5
Here
reference is made to the beloved disciple (oyoagtov outov o0gtgv)
of the Fourth Gospel, who rst reclined on Gods breast (aetov rv
[toi tou 0(ro)u ] ovoxi0gvoi otrvoi). It is in consequence that he
can
from there possess the ineffable words (rxri0rv tr [oriv to og ]
tou rxrivo evo,) through which he has shown us his divine and
unfathomable inspiration (oi ev giv xoi [gvo to tr] rv0rov outou
xoi ovrxoigygtov) by reason of which he was ttingly called theologos
and son of thunder (0ro[oyo tr x]oi ovtg uio rixote rxg0g).
Here the John of the Fourth Gospel is united with the Seer of the
Apocalypse. The ogtou which qualies evo is a commonplace
5. SEG 4.517= I. Eph. 1.45A.1-8, translated in P.R. Coleman-Norton, Roman
State and Christian Church (London: SPCK, 1966), III, no. 577.
BRENTJohn as Theologos 89
pagan expression of the secret rites of the mystery cults, and it is the
Seer who as uio ovtg hears such great voices (evoi ryooi),
and the lightning and voices and thunder (ootoaoi xoi evoi xoi
ovtoi).
6
rv0rov also is characteristic of the inspired utterance of
pagan mystagogues.
Moreover, between 564 and 614 CE Andreas of Caesarea had com-
posed his Commentarius in Apocalypsin.
7
In the preface, written to
Macarius his fellow bishop (xuie ou oore xoi ouritouye ), he
announces that his task is to unravel (o voatu oi) the Apocalypse of
John the Divine (tgv tou 0rooyou Ieovvou Aaoxouiv).
8
Thus the
later association of 0rooyo with the Seer is conrmed at this earlier
date, as is our reading of Justinians Constitution in such a light.
Andreas, when commenting upon Rev. 1.1, tells us that:
apocalypsis (o aoxo ui) is (r v r otiv) the revelation of hidden
mysteries (g tev xuatev uotgiev ogeoi) by a mind illuminated
(xotouyoorvou tou gyrovixou) whether through divine dreams
(ritr oio 0riev ovriotev) or in waking vision from divine enlighten-
ment (ritr xo0 uao rx 0rio rore).
9
It is thus primarily John the Seer as uio ovtg that can be described,
in Justinians words, as
speaking nothing human (e [ouorv ov0]eaivov 0ryyorvo), but
from heaven (o r ouovou ), exposing to us the most mystical of
doctrines ([giv to ]uotixetoto tev ooyotev ovooivev) and reveal-
ing them ([tr xoi oaoxouatev]).
The o g tou evo are thus unmistakeably associated with to
uotixe toto te v ooyo tev that are the subject of oaoxoui as
Andreas denes the latter term.
Justinian on another occasion, when writing to Archbishop Hypatius
of Ephesus, refers to St Johns Church in Ephesus as:
6. Rev. 11.15 and 19; 1.10, 12, 15 and passim.
7. B. Altaner, Patrology (trans. H.C. Graef; Edinburgh: Nelson; Freiburg:
Herder, 1960), p. 625.
8. J. Schmid, Studien zur Geschichte des griechischen Apocalypse-Textes. I.
Der Apocalypse-Kommentar des Andreas von Kaisareia (Mnchener theologische
Studien; Munich: Karl Zink, 1955), p. 7.
9. Schmid, Studien, I, p. 11.
90 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
the revered house of the holy theologos and evangelist (to v or
orooiov tou oyiou 0roo]you xoi ruoyyriotou oixov) that is the
adornment of the city of Ephesus (xooov tg Eroiev ovto aore).
10
But the title is not simply an idiosyncratic preoccupation of Justinian.
Part of the grafti on the pillars of the church are records of votive
prayers to the 0rooyo whose name is omitted.
11
1.2. Pagan Association of 0rooyo
0rooyo is used frequently for the person who writes the words to be
set to music and sung in festivals to various divinities. We have an
inscription from Ephesus, in the time of Antoninus Pius, which is the
panegyric dedicated to T. Aelius Alcibiades of Nysa by the guild of
Dionysian craftsmen. Here the panegyrist P. Aelius Pompeianus
([r]iogygoorvou Hoaiou Aiiou Hoag[iovou ]) is described as:
poet with many prizes ([aoig]tou ariotovri xou), composer and
rhapsodist (roaoiou xoi o[e oou]) (in the cult) of divine Hadrian
([0r]ou Aoiovou), theologos of the Temples in Pergamon (0roo you
voev tev rv H[ryoe]).
12
Clearly his musical and poetical functions were combined in the liturgy
of the cults of Pergamon.
We have dating from 104 CE the further endowment of the Artemis
cult by C. Vibius Salutaris, in white marble fragments found in the
south wall of the Theatre of Ephesus. The endowment pays likewise
also for the theologoi and the cantors (ooie xoi toi 0rooyoi xoi
uveooi).
13
Similarly Tiberius Claudius Hermes was honoured in the
time of Philip the Arab by
the council (ouvroiov) of hymn singers (tev uveoev), and theologoi
(xoi 0rooyev), and oracles (xoi 0roeoev), most devoted to the most
holy goddess, Artemis.
14
10. I. Eph. 7.2.4133.9.
11. I. Eph. 7.2.4311(a): Grafto on the farthest west of the two pillars the
Church of St. John in Ephesus: (oo aoor0r augv tou 0rooyou); 7.2.4314:
Another pillar on the North row has a petition in prayer (0rooyr); 7.2.4318 (a):
Running well in North Corridor of the nave of St. John of Ephesus, grafto on
marble cladding (x(ui)r x(ui)r o ygr 0roo yr, og 0goov tou oou o oou
Iroygov); I. Eph. 4.1279: Byzantian prayer inscribed on wall tile in white marble
(K(u)r Hoou X[iotr xoi Ieovvg()] o 0rooyo [uootr go oao ]).
12. I.Eph. 1a.22.1-8.
13. I.Eph. 1a.27.292-97.
14. I. Eph. 3.645.3-7: [t]o aooir[ot]otov t[g] oyietotg [0]re Atrioi
BRENTJohn as Theologos 91
As assimilation takes place between cults of individual deities, and
those of members of the deied imperial family, so 0rooyo appears
side-by-side with imperial titles. L. Cornelius Philoserapis in 220 CE is
described as both ioorooto and 0rooyo.
15
Furthermore, we have
an epigraph (I. Eph. 7.2.4336) dedicated to Gordian III in the name of
the city of Ephesus both as Neokoros of Artemis (vrexo o tg
Atr ioo) and twice Neokoros of the Sebastoi (oi vrexoo tev
Erootev) (line 6). Gordian is addressed in the reconstructed text as
the master of even the sea and every race of men ([to v tg xoi
0oooog xoi aov] [to tou ov] 0eaev yrvou oroaotgv) and the
saviour who has restored and increased the ancient peace by his own
ordering ([xoi oetgo] oaoxotootgoovto xoi raougoovto te ioie
xooe tgv ooiov tou iou rigvgv) (lines 1-2)
in words reminiscent of the rst monuments to the imperial cult under
Augustus.
16
Those that address him as such are L. Cornelius Phron-
tonianus as 0rooyo along with Aurelius Artemas Moschio as uveoo
(lines 12-13), as part of the circle of M. Arunceius Vedius Mithridates
which also includes one Aurelius Artemas, three times ioorooto
(lines 8 and 14).
We are therefore in a developing conceptual context in evidence in
the pagan background to later Christian Ephesus in which the role of
0rooyo was the composition of poetry and myth, to be set to music as
the context for festivals, particularly that of Artemis, and the celebra-
tions of the imperial cult that came to be associated with that pre-emi-
nent city in Asia Minor and its goddess. The 0rooyo assumed a role
ouvr oiov [t]ev uveoev [x]oi 0rooyev [x]oi 0roe oe v. See also I. Eph.
1a.47.73 (M. Koi(io) Hiooeo 0rooyo); 4.1023.4 (104 CE) Titus Flavius
Dionysius Sabinus 0rooyo; 7.1.3074 (0rooyo).
15. I. Eph. 7.1.3015.2.
16. V. Ehrenberg and A.M. Jones, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of
Augustus and Tiberius (Oxford: Clarendon 1955), no. 98 (= OGIS 458; SEG 4.490),
lines 32-37: The Providence that has divinely ordered our life (g 0rie oiotoooo
tov iov gev aovoio), has brought us regard and honour (oaouogv riorvxorvg
xoi iotiiov) and arranged our life with perfect goodness (to trgototov te ie
oirxo ogorv o yo0o v) when it brought to us Augustus (r vrvxor vg to v Erooto v),
whom Providence has lled with virtue for the benet of mankind (o v ri
ruryroiov ov0eaev rageorv ortg) and granted to us and to those after us
as our saviour (eoar griv xoi toi r0 go oetgo oioorvg) who has
made war to cease and ordered the world with peace (tov aouoovto rv aorov,
xoogoovto or rigvgv).
92 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
in writing the paeons for the imperial cult, also with musical accompa-
niment. We nd 0rooyoi combined with uveooi very frequently in
epigraphs, as in the epitaph of Claudius Melampos and Claudia
Tryphosa (123 CE).
17
It is not surprising, therefore, that the uplifting hymn (rtooiov
uvov) of the theologos Laetius should have led its hearer to see
heaven opened to human beings (ouovov ov0eaoi rioov ovoiyo-
rvov).
18
Though the author of the epigraph might make no distinction
between the mystical vision to which the reasoning Platos philosophy
ascends and an apocalyptic vision, nevertheless such a description, as
far as the New Testament is concerned, is far more applicable to the
0roo yo of the Apocalypse and by extension with the fourth
evangelist, who was considered by Christian antiquity to be one and the
same person. At all events, Robert pointed out that the application of
the term to a philosopher such as Laetius was due to the fact that,
unusually, a philosopher had composed a hymn and so on this occasion
had behaved like a 0rooyo rather than a ioooo.
19
1.3. Christian Reections of the Imperial 0rooyo
Horsley was therefore too quick to draw a parallel between this inscrip-
tion and Jn 1.51 or Acts 7.56.
20
But far more frequent visions of the
open heaven are given by the 0rooyo of the Apocalypse, such as Rev.
4.1, 11.19, 15.5 and 19.11. In the Fourth Gospel it is Nathaniel, and not
the Beloved Disciple, who will see the heaven opened (tov ouovov
17. I. Smyrna 1.500.2-3: geov xoivov Kouoiou Mroaou uveoou xoi
0rooyou See also OGIS 513.7 note 4.
18. IG 2.2.3816 cf. SEG 31 (1981) p. 168; G.H.R. Horsley, New Documents
Illustrating Early Christianity (Melbourne: Macquarie University, 1987), IV, p. 70.
Inscription from Athens, rst century.
0riooyou Aoitoio rtooiov uvov oxouoo
ouovov ov0eaoi rioov ovoiyorvov
ri xoto Hu0oyoov ug rtooivri ri oov
rv ooi, Aoitr, Hotev g aoi oivorvo.
(When I heard the uplifting hymn of Laetius theologos, I saw heaven open to men.
If the soul according to Pythagoras transmigrates into another, may Plato appear
and live again in you, Laetus.)
19. L. Robert, Bulletin pigraphique, in Revue des tudes grecques 94 (1981),
p. 448.
20. Horsley, New Documents, IV, pp. 70-71.
BRENTJohn as Theologos 93
ovreyoto) with the angels of heaven ascending and descending on the
Son of Man, a phrase that itself is resonant with apocalyptic imagery.
Likewise, in the vision of Stephen the opened heavens (tou ouovou)
are associated with the apocalyptic vision of the Son of Man standing
on the right hand of God. Thus the charge of blasphemy is the cause of
Stephens stoning as it was the cause of Jesus crucixion (Mk 13.26;
Mt. 22.44; Lk. 21.27). Apocalyptic is thus the true locus for the open
heaven in early Christian writings, and a Christian 0roo yo will be
naturally associated with an apocalyptic vision.
Furthermore, in the open heaven of the Apocalypse we have hymns
(eooi) sung before the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 5.9; 14.3;
15.3) composed by the visionary to express his vision. The function of
uveoo is, as we have seen, closely associated with that of 0rooyo
as the latters words are set to the formers music. The Seer, as Aune
pointed out, was inuenced by the Roman imperial court ceremonial,
which in turn was inuenced by the Hellenistic court ceremonial in
honour of its divine rulers.
21
The focus of that ceremonial and the dis-
course that gave it meaning was increasingly that of the cult of emperor
worship.
Nowhere is this made more clear than in the transformation of the
general title of 0roo yo to orootoo yo in an inscription from
Miletus for the emperor Caligula. Robert pointed to the way in which
this development highlights a specic role for the 0roo yo in the
imperial cult.
22
But in some inscriptions we nd also the term orooto-
ovtg, which appears to refer to the person responsible for displaying
the imperial image at a signicant point in the ritual by analogy with
the iroovtg in the Eleusinian mysteries or the 0roo vtg of the
21. D.G. Aune, The Inuence of the Roman Imperial Court Ceremonial on the
Apocalypse of John, in Papers of the Chicago Society for Biblical Research 28
(1983), pp. 5-26, especially pp. 14-20.
22. L. Robert, Recherches epigraphiques VI. Inscription dAthnes, Revue des
tudes anciennes (1960), p. 321 (= Opera Minora Selecta, II [Amsterdam: Hakkert
1969], p. 837); Pleket, Aspect of the imperial cult, p. 337 mentions the Bithynian
inscription (Att. Mitt. 24 (1899) in which te v uotgi ev i roo vtg and
orootoovtg are used as equivalents. Another Asian example, from Dorylaeum
in Phrygia (IGRR 4.522 [= OGIS 479], would be a Hadrianic inscription erected by
Asklepiades son of Stratonikos 0roi Erootoi xoi 0roi Erootoi xoi
Oovoio Erootg xoi 0ro Peg . His title is orootoo vtg oio i ou xoi
irru.) See also S.R.F. Price, Gods and Emperors: The Greek Language of the
Roman imperial cult, JHS 104 (1984), pp. 79-95 (90).
94 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
Dionysian mysteries at Smyrna.
23
Such considerations lead Pleket to
postulate an imperial oyev uotixo, in which each of these ofcials
played their due part.
24
This ofce seems to have been distinct from the
more general ofce of orootooo in which youths at Athens and
Tanagra served.
25
The existence of imperial mysteries seems also to be
supported by Rev. 14.3 in which the Seer as both 0roo yo and
uveoo of the Christian cult mentions an eogv xoivgv, which no-one
could learn except the 144,000. We have seen too, in Justinians
constitution, that John is 0rooyo because he is a mystagogue: his
words were the ogtou evo which express to uotixetoto tev
ooyotev.
Eusebiuss doubts on the authorship of the Apocalypse are well-
known.
26
In this respect it is not surprising that we nd no epithets of
honour applied to him. But it is interesting to observe how both general
pagan and Christian uses of the term in the Praeparatio Evangelica
often reveal an associative link between the theologos as visionary and
as mystagogue. The Hebrews are in receipt of what has been delivered
by men who were prophet-theologoi (touao 0rooyev aogtev
ovoev aoooroorvo) (10.1.5). He questions the true knowledge of
religion (yveoi ruorrio og0g) in rites and mysteries and in the
rest of the theologia of the ancients (rv trrtoi xoi uotgioi tg tr
og tev aooitotev0rooyio) (14.9.7).
We nd therefore a conceptual t between the pagan 0rooyo with
such a role in the imperial cult, and the vision of the Apocalypse as the
production of a Christian counterpart to the 0rooyo and uveoo of
the imperial cult. I now propose examining in greater detail the key
inscription for the existence and practice of the 0rooyo, uveoo and
23. Robert, Opera Minora Selecto, II, pp. 837-38: Je ne doute pas que le
oroootoo vtg, qui apparat en plusieurs lieux pour le amen, ne soit charg
dune ostension des images impriales de faon analogue au hirophante
dEleusis et au thophante dune confrrie dionysiaque Smyrne, dans des
mystres impriaux.
24. Pleket, Aspect of the imperial cult, pp. 332-41, especially p. 336 where he
refers to the decree of the trvitoi of Dionysus and of Hadrian as the New
Dionysus (SEG VI, 59,128) where the latter has made provision for every role in
the mystery (aovti rri tou uotgiou ragroxrv).
25. S.R.F. Price, Rituals and Power: The Roman imperial cult in Asia Minor
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 189.
26. H.E. 3.24, 17-18, and as expressed in his extensive quotation from Dionysius
of Alexanders Commentary (H.E. 7.25.6-12).
BRENTJohn as Theologos 95
orootoovtg in the imperial mysteries, and the one on which Robert
and Pleket based their arguments. The purpose of my re-examination of
this inscription will be to draw certain parallels till now unnoticed
between the vision of the Seer of the Apocalypse and the imperial cult
practised in the context of specic imperial mysteries.
2. The Imperial Mysteries in IGRR 4.353
This inscription is found on a large stone altar taken from the temple of
Roma and Augustus in Pergamon and covering all four sides. At the
front is a dedication (4.353.a.4-5a) to Hadrian saviour and founder
(oetgi xoi [xti ]otg). But those who make the dedication are an
existing choir of the imperial cult, the hymn-singers (uveooi) of
divine Augustus (0rou Erootou ) and of the goddess Roma (xoi
0ro Peg) (4.353.a.5b). Thirty ve names stood there originally
though two have been lost (4.353.a.17-18). It was certain of the high-
ranking members of this select group, of the family of A. Castricus
Paulus, who dedicated the altar from their private means (4.353.a.30-
31: ov[o0rvtev] t[o]v eov rx tev ioiev Kootixiev).
One of his family whose name survives in the mutilated lines 31-32
is Capito whose ofce is that of 0rooyo. Thus the title that Christian
tradition was to award to the Seer of the Apocalypse was originally not
only the title of a functionary in the imperial cult but was associated
with the imperial uotgio. Here he pronounced the eulogy upon the
emperor and perhaps took part in choreography in which he played the
emperors role in the drama of the cult.
27
The Seer, I will argue, acted in
a fashion reminiscent of such a 0roo yo, both in constructing the
vision that he communicates in the Letters to the Churches, and when
he described the eulogistic hymns of the presbyters to God and to the
Lamb (section 2.1).
Provision for the celebration of the dead Augustuss birthday
(4.353.b.5: gvo Koiooo Erootg, yrvroie Erootou ) in the con-
text of the imperial mysteries now follows in the inscription on the right
hand side of the altar. Indeed the birthday is but one of ve festivals
that are to be commemorated. The second is the festival of new
year presents (dies strenarum = 1 January), the third is the Rosalia
(ooioo) (24 May) for the commemoration of the departed, the fourth
27. Pleket, Aspect of the imperial cult, pp. 337-38.
96 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
is for the mysteries of 25 June (gvo Aeou y uotgioi), and the
fth for Livias birthday (21 September) (4.353.b.3-11). Associated
with each festival is the annual provision (ooo te rvioute aorri tg
og) by the choirs president or conductor (o ruxooo) (4.353.b.2).
The conductor is to provide (aor ri or o ru xooo) both for
Augustuss birthday (tg tou Erootou rvgve yrvroie) and for the rest
of the birthdays of the dead and deied emperors (xoi toi oiaoi
yrvroioi tev outoxotoev) and they shall crown with garlands the
hymn-singers and the mysteries (otrovou toi uveooi xoi toi
uotgioi otroveoiv) in the choir hall (rv te uveorie) (4.353.b.
12-19).
The conductor is furthermore to provide bread and wine for these
mysteries, along with sacricial cake (ao aovov), incense (i ovov),
and lamps (xoi uvou) for Augustus (te Eroote). When we turn
to the inscriptions on the back of the altar we nd, in the context where
these articles are described, that they are te Eroote . Here the priest (o
irru) appointed for the year has, in addition to bread and wine, to
provide a blanket (oteoiv) for the images of the Augusti (ri rixovo
tev Erootev) (4.353.c.4-7). The cantor is to make similar provision
of wine and a blanket. We then learn that
those who are co-opted as hymn-singers from other cities shall give 50
denarii (oeoouoiv or oi xo0iotorvoi retixoi uveooi ogvoio
v) for the images of the Augusti (ri rixovo tev Erootev) (4.353.c.
10-11).
Clearly the uvoi, the oteoi, the oi vo, the oto, the i ovo
and the aoaovov together with the uvoi of the uveooi all have refer-
ence to mystery rites involving the ri xo vr of the dead and deied
emperors (tev Erootev). The inscription on the left side of the altar,
whilst specifying the nancial contributions towards these articles
necessary for the performance of the rite for guild ofcials such as the
secretary (o yootru), mentions (4.353.d.10) that these are for the
mysteries (uotgioi) on 3 June for Livia (gvo Aeou Erootg).
Furthermore, as the inscription on the right side has already reminded
us, the souls of departed members are also included in the incense rite,
and the archon is to provide the cost for a dead member which he can
recoup from the person who replaces him.
28
We shall trace connections
28. 4.353.b.20: toi or o voaouor voi ri i ovov aog ori o o ev
ogvoio ir , oaogrtoi aoo tou ri tov toaov outou rioiovto.
BRENTJohn as Theologos 97
between such rites and the Seers description of the souls of the faithful
departed (2.2).
Not only at Pergamon but in other centres of the imperial cult in Asia
Minor we nd similar indications of imperial mysteries. In the imperial
procession at Ephesus and the ritual associated with it images of the
imperial household played a pivotal role. Images of the imperial family
were included with busts of Artemis and carried to the theatre from the
latters temple where they were kept. They had special bases there on
which they could be set up. There sacrices took place at meetings of
the assembly and festivals such as the Sebasta, the Soteria, and the four-
yearly Great Ephesia.
29
Although there is in neither case the description
of ofcials as aroutroi such as those around the heavenly altar of
the Apocalypse, we do have epigraphic evidence for this title in con-
nection with the imperial cult at Athens. At Athens it was the council of
elders who were responsible for making these special images quite dis-
tinct from the permanently standing statues. Old and damaged images
were the responsibility of the council of elders at Ephesus.
30
Further-
more, youths at Athens and Tanagra served as ofcials called sebasto-
phoroi.
3 1
Also, imperial mysteries were celebrated with a special
ofcial, the orootoovtg. This was the title, according to Pleket, of
the person responsible for exposing the image of the Emperor in the
imperial mysteries at the moment when, in the light of the lamps, the
covering blanket would be removed.
In summary, we can thus see that at Pergamon there existed a choir
(u ve ooi ) associated with the imperial cult that was concerned with
singing eulogies in honour of the birthdays of Augustus and his
imperial house. The choir accompanied a drama with its own ritual,
which involved lamps (uvoi), images of the Emperor (rixovr tev
Erootev), a blanket (oteoi) which covered these, and a 0rooyo
who wrote the lines and presumably assigned them to those who were
to play the appropriate roles. Incense was associated with this ritual
(iovov). That drama, ritual and hymn singing constituted the imperial
uotgio, in which the souls of the departed members of the choir were
involved.
We can now begin to draw a number of parallels with the text of the
29. Price, Rituals and Power, p. 104.
30. I. Eph. 2.23.
31. Price, Rituals and Power, p. 189.
98 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
Apocalypse itself, as the Seer, in the view of his contemporaries, uttered
the ogtou evo and revealed to uotixetoto tev ooyotev.
2.1. Rev. 1.12-13 (ooiov uiov ov0eaou)
IGRR 4.353.c.10-11 and c.4-7 mentioned the imperial mysteries with
rixovr and u voi, as we have seen, in the context of the imperial
mysteries, with a 0rooyo who both composed and interpreted the
ritual of the mystery play. Hemer noted in the letter to the angel of the
Church of Pergamon the background in the pagan mysteries of the
image of the white stone (go ruxg), namely the gift of baptism.
g o had the meaning of tessera as a certicate of admission to and
the custom of hospitality between members of pagan cults.
32
There
appear to be particular examples of this signicance at Pergamon with
the cult of Athena, though such examples tend to apply to the cult of
Asklepios elsewhere.
33
The selection of such a cultic interpretation of go amongst other
possible meanings seems to be well controlled by the question of
admission and non-admission to imperial cultic meals implied by the
references to oyriv rioeo0uto and the 0ovo tou Eotovo (Rev.
2.14-15). Just as the contra-cultural counterpart to the former is the
eschatological ovvo xrxurvov, whose foretaste is the Eucharist,
so too the g o ruxg is the tessera of admission to the Christian
cultic meal, namely baptism. It is not without relevance to our interpre-
tation here that Tertullian was later to use contesseratio hospitalitatis
between apostolic churches in this sense.
34
Clearly the practice fol-
lowed by Christian communities was derived from such mystery cults
and the practice by which their members could also be identied.
In the preface to the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 1.12-20), the
gure that the Seer observes in the midst of the lamps (rv roe tev
uvie v) has, like the image (rixev) of Augustus, a human form
(ooiov uiov ov0eaou) (1.12-13). As such, he stands in stark con-
trast to the later image of the beast. Thus, the lamps that celebrate and
illuminate the imperial mysteries have become, in the Seers vision, the
32. Hemer, Letters to the Seven Churches, p. 97.
33. Philostratus, Vit. Apoll. 6.3; Diogenes Laertius, Succ. 1.110.
34. Tertullian, De Praesc. Haer. 36.2-3; cf. A. Brent, Cultural Episcopacy and
Ecumenism: Representative Ministry in Church History from the Age of Ignatius of
Antioch to the Reformation, with Special Reference to Contemporary Ecumenism
(Studies in Christian Mission, 6; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992), pp. 505-507.
BRENTJohn as Theologos 99
seven churches (1.20). The writer behaves like the orootoovtg who
uncovers the rixev or like the 0roo yo who unravels the imperial
mysteries: he is to write to uotgiov tev rato ootrev and of the
rato uvio (1.20). He declares the mysterious gure ooiov uiov
ov0eaou and reveals his words. The seven stars played their own part
in such mystery initiation as that of the cult of Mithras. Christ is not
called the rixev tou 0rou here as in other early Christian literature
(Col. 1.15) since the horror of the rixev tou 0giou proved too resis-
tant to contra-cultural transformation.
The division between believers and non-believers remains character-
ized in this respect in negative terms. The latter are those who worship
the beast and his image (Rev. 14.9, 15-16, 19-20) and the former those
who do not (13.15; 20.4). But the description of the churches and their
situations is nevertheless swathed in the enigmatic language of the
mysteries. The gure in human likeness (ooiov uiov ov0eaou) is
illuminated and revealed in the light of the churches just like the
imperial rixovr in the imperial cult as John the 0rooyo describes
the mysteries and writes the hymns. Just as the orootoovtg
uncovered the imperial image in the mysteries at Pergamon, so here
John the 0roo yo sings his paeon to the gure like the Son of Man
now uncovered and revealed between the lamp stands.
In this light Price is surely correct to interpret the scene of the image
of the beast coming to life (Rev. 13.14-15) in the context of the ritual
associated with the imperial rixovr.
35
Here in the animated drama of
the ritual is the experience of the priestly magician of whom it could be
said:
and there was granted to him (xoi roo0g oute ) to give a spirit (oouvoi
avruo) to the image of the beast (tg rixovi tou 0giou) in order that
the image of the beast could speak (i vo xoi og og g ri xe v tou
0giou) and should cause to be slain all those who would not worship
the image (xoi aoigog ivo oooi rov g aooxuvgoeoiv tg rixovi tou
0giou oaoxtov0eoiv) (Rev. 13.15).
This would arguably have been very much how the drama and pane-
gyrics arranged by the 0rooyo of the cult would have appeared to the
Seer, as he intentionally constructed his alternative picture of the
worship of Christ fashioned in the formally analogous matrix of the
pagan cult to which he was opposed.
35. Price, Gods and Emperors, pp. 156-58.
100 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
The souls of the departed were represented in the imperial cult at
Pergamon, as we have seen, along with those of the dead and deied
emperors. This feature of those mysteries is represented in the Apoc-
alypse too.
2.2. Revelation 6 and 8: to uo tev rooyrvev
As we noted in connection with the mysteries (uotgioi) for 3 June
centred on the cult for Livia (gvo Aeou Erootg ), incense was
offered both to the departed members of the guild (IGRR 4.353.b.20:
toi or ovoaouorvoi ri iovov) as well as for the dead and deied
emperors.
In the Apocalypse likewise incense is associated with the heavenly
altar, and for the souls that lie under it. In 6.9 and 11, at the opening of
the fth seal, we nd:
under the altar (uaoxote tou 0uoiootgiou) the souls of those who
have been slain (to uo tev rooyrvev) for the Word of God (oio
to v o yov tou 0rou )to each of them was given (r oo 0g ou toi
rxoote ) a white robe (otog ruxg ), and they were told (xoi rr0g
outoi) to repose for a short time (ivo ovoaouoovtoi rti ovov
ixov) until their fellow servants should nd their fullment (r e
age0eoiv xoi oi ouvoouoi outev) along with their brethren (xoi oi
ooroi outev) who were about to be slaughtered like themselves (oi
rovtr oaoxtrvvro0oi e xoi outoi ).
The theme of the souls of the faithful departed is of course familiar
from the Wisdom literature (Wis. 3.1-9). But the direct association with
their cultus in their association with an altar is not made. Although
Charles was committed to deriving the vision almost wholly from
Jewish sources, his quotation from 1 En. 6.11 will not support such a
claim here since there is no reference to the repose (ovoaouro0oi) of
their souls.
36
In Rev. 6.11, to the contrary, the identical term for the
repose of departed members of the college of the imperial choir is used
for Christian martyrs (Rev. 6.11: ovoaouoovtoi; cf. IGRR 353.b.20:
o voaouor voi ri i ovov). Incense (iovo) too follows the
opening of the seals in 8.3-4 where the angel stood at the altar (roto0g
36. At all events, it is arguable that the Hekhalot literature reveals the ability of
Judaism itself to assimilate the language of its worship to images of imperial power;
see P.S. Alexander, The Family of Caesar and the Family of God, in Loveday
Alexander (ed.), Images of Empire (JSOTSup, 122; Shefeld: JSOT Press, 1991),
pp. 285-95.
BRENTJohn as Theologos 101
rai tou 0uoiootgiou) with a golden incense-charger (rev iovetov
uoouv) and where he proceeds to offer the incense (0uiooto), not
in propitiation to the divinized souls of the departed, but as prayers of
the whole people of God which includes them (xoi ovrg o xoavo
tev 0uiootev toi aooruoi tev oyiev).
I will summarize where our discussion has taken us.
3. In Conclusion
Prigent claimed that the background to the Apocalypse was to be found
in a Jewish liturgy.
37
As such he followed Charless seminal treat-
ment.
38
I wish to take issue with the simplicity of such an approach to
the development of the imagery of the Apocalypse, and its implication
that an early Christian document can and ought to be shown to maintain
some kind of Jewish-Christian purity uncontaminated by the back-
ground of pagan culture.
The creation of the vision of the Apocalypse may be understood as
the creation of a counter-culture that reverses the images and values of
the host culture to which it is opposed and by which it is oppressed. In
order to do so, the raw materials of the vision were indeed quarried
from Judaism and early Christianity. But there was an essential, pagan
template into which this material was cast, and that template consisted
in the formal features of the imperial cult with its ritual and panegyrics.
The contra-cultural imagination may choose the Jewish terms
0uoiootgiov and 0uio o for the heavenly cultus, since a cultus in
that location could not conceivably be described in pagan terms of
eo (IGRR 353.a.31: ov[o0rvtev] t[o ]v eov) or ioveto. But
the concern for souls of departed members in terms of the o voaouo-
rvoi reveals that the contra-image of the imperial cult is responsible
for the redescription of the heavenly scene in such sanitized Jewish
terms.
Furthermore, departed members of the college of the Christian cult
are described as to uo tev rooyrvev oio tov oyov tou 0rou. I
have pointed out already that one of the ofces of the Pergamon
imperial college was that of 0roo yo (IGRR 353.a.31: [Koai ]tevo
37. P. Prigent, Apocalypse et liturgie (Cahiers Thologiques, 52; Neuchatel:
Editions Delachaux et Niestl, 1964).
38. R.H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of
St. John the Divine (ICC, 1-2; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920).
102 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 75 (1999)
0roo you). Furthermore, although the author of the Apocalypse does
not use this term of himself, 0rooyo became the classic description of
his ofce as it was clearly perceived by his near contemporaries. I have
already mentioned the role of the ofce of the 0rooyo in writing the
discourse or oyo of the cultic drama in which the imperial rixovr
were involved. The oyo of the Christian cult, for which the martyrs
were slaughtered, is arguably here juxtaposed with that of the imperial
cult. Certainly, as I have already indicated, the letters to the churches
have the quality of the utterance of a mystagogue surrounded by the
uvio and revealing the mysteries of the gure o oiov ui o v o v0e aou
in their midst in terms of such veiled imagery as white stones and
hidden manna.
The form of the imperial template therefore remains indelibly
stamped upon the early Christian and Jewish material used to construct
its reversal of imagery. The analysis with which I began in which the
title of John the Seer as 0rooyo was connected with this term clearly
therefore supports my interpretation of the Apocalypse as a contra-
cultural riposte to the imperial cult. The Seers contemporaries would
clearly have understood his vision in such a context.
ABSTRACT
The title 0rooyo was used in Ephesus in the sixth century in connection with the
cult of St John in which the evangelist and Seer were considered one and the same
person. Furthermore, 0rooyo was a term with its own pagan cultic connotations
from earlier centuries, one of whose forms specically related to the imperial cult.
My concern in this paper has been to argue that the Christian application of this
term to John the Seer reected that earlier paganism. Such reections bear their
own witness to what I establish by independent analysis, namely that the visions of
the Apocalypse are contra-cultural reections of the imperial cult. John the Seer
produces for the Christian cult alternative images to those produced by the func-
tionary in the imperial cult who bears the title of 0rooyo.