LATIN AND GREEK REDACTIONS OF THE PASSIO S. IRENAEI EPISCOPI SIRMIENSIS

Abstract

The literary core of the passion of St. Irenaeus of Sirmium (†304) is believed to be originating from the original Roman court proceedings (acta proconsularia) against the first historical bishop of Sirmium. The passion is preserved in two redactions, Latin and Greek, which made the basis for transmission into other European languages during the Middle Ages. The renowned Italian scholar Manlio Simonetti was the only to conduct a comparative analysis of the two redactions, but actually without taking an insight into the manuscript tradition and the variations within the Greek redactions. Therefore, the paper reexamines the topic, conducts a more elaborate comparative analysis on a much wider selection of manuscripts and consequently promotes new solutions to the question of the original language of the passion and the relation between the two redactions.