A Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the Elchasaites

A Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the ElchasaitesJournal of Early Christian StudiesSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/GPI9VMRI/tei

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

2024-08-15-04:00

Born digital.

CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.AndreaNicolottiA Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the Elchasaiteshttp://syriaca.org/cbss/GPI9VMRIhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/GPI9VMRIhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/GPI9VMRIJournal of Early Christian Studies16:42008513-534The author of the <i>Elenchos </i>attributes to Alcibiades of Apamea, an elchasaite who had arrived in rome around 220 c.e., the preaching of a baptism for the remission of sin, and of ablutions for those that had been bitten by a rabid dog, the sick with consumption, and the possessed by demons. Erik Peterson has interpreted the rabid dog and the diseases as allegories of concupiscence, coming to the conclusion that the elchasaite immersion would not have been an antidote for rabies, consumption, or demonic possession but rather a remedy against concupiscence and against the proliferation of sexual passion. In my opinion, such allegoric explanation is to be rejected. the symptoms of rabies—a disease which causes the infected to suffer from hydrophobia—could have been considered by the baptist elchasaites as proof of a demonic presence within the person. Likewise, the mention of consumption and demonic possession should be interpreted literally, according to a cultural context in which disease, demonic possession, and sins were considered to be tightly linked. The <i>Elenchos </i>would therefore contain an ancient testimony of a christian exorcistic rite performed in the water. Nicolotti, Andrea. “A Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the Elchasaites.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 16:4 (2008): 513–34. Andrea Nicolotti, A Cure for Rabies or a Remedy for Concupiscence? A Baptism of the Elchasaites, Journal of Early Christian Studies 16:4 (2008): 513–34.ElchasaitesI-III CEIII CEbaptismexorcismheterodoxyillnesssexuality