The Festal Letters of Athanasius of Alexandria, with the Festal Index and the Historia Acephala trans. by David Brakke and David M. Gwynn (review)

Reviewed by: The Festal Letters of Athanasius of Alexandria, with the Festal Index and the Historia Acephala trans. by David Brakke and David M. Gwynn Mark DelCogliano David Brakke and David M. Gwynn, translators The Festal Letters of Athanasius of Alexandria, with the Festal Index and the Historia Acephala Translated Texts for Historians 81 Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2022 Pp. 347. 130. 00. This book is a marvelous addition to the Translated Texts for Historians series. The centerpiece of this volume is the first full English translation of Athanasius's extant Festal Letters, last translated nearly 175 years ago. The volume also contains fresh English translations of the Festal Index and the Historia Acephala, the first, respectively, in nearly 175 years and in more than 125 years. Brakke is responsible for the translations and Gwynn for the introductions and commentaries. The result is a superb set of translations that are immensely readable and accompanied by extensive and meticulous notes and commentary that enable the reader to interpret and understand the texts in their varied aspects: the historical, theological, polemical, political, ascetical, pastoral, social, literary, textual, and so forth. The volume is thus a model of scholarly collaboration and achievement. Until now only the Festal Letters preserved in Syriac have been available in English in the nineteenth-century translation of Burgess (1854), reprinted in NPNF 2. 4 (1892). This new translation expands the corpus of Athanasian Festal Letters by including the lengthy fragments preserved in Coptic, as well as other short bits found in the Greek, Armenian, Syriac, and Coptic traditions. The translation always makes clear the language on which it is based, even when switches are made in the course of the same letter. Though the translation is based on the standard published editions, Brakke and Gwynn have carefully engaged with Alberto Camplani's landmark 2003 Italian translation and its important text-critical commentary. Brakke and Gwynn divide the Festal Letters into four chronological sections corresponding to discrete stages in Athanasius's career, each with its own introduction: the "early years" of 328–35, "between East and West" during 335–46, the "golden decade" of 346–56, and "from desert exile to church father" during 356–73. A fifth section also with its own introduction is devoted to the important Festal Letter 39 from 367 on the canon of scripture. There is also an informative general introduction to the Festal Letters as a whole, with a discussion of the Alexandrian tradition of bishops circulating letters concerning Easter, the complicated textual transmission of the Festal Letters, their End Page 293 confusing and contested chronology, and the main pastoral themes found in the letters. One key contribution of the introduction is its persuasive revision of the traditional chronology of the Festal Letters. Reading the Festal Letters straight through was illuminating for this reviewer, enabling me to appreciate a facet of Athanasius that one does not find in the same way in his numerous other writings. I was struck by the pastoral and ascetical approach taken in the letters, aimed not at a monastic audience but at all Christians; his constant and abundant recourse to scripture to articulate his message; and the repeated calls to the proper veneration of martyrs. I found the letters that Athanasius wrote from exile to be particularly fascinating. Unless I am mistaken, only five of these are extant—10 (from 338), 13 (from 341), 3 (from 342), 29 (from 357), and 38 (from 366) —despite Athanasius's having been exiled five times for more than seventeen years total. In these letters, Athanasius tries to make theological sense of his own hardships, though reframed as pastoral advice. One cannot ignore, however, the rampant anti-Judaism in the letters, particularly when he engages in figurative versus literal readings of the Old Testament. Burgess also translated the Festal Index into English (1854), reprinted in NPNF 2. 4 (1892). Robertson translated the Historia Acephala into English for the first time for inclusion in the same NPNF volume. The translations of Brakke and Gwynn are based on the critical edition of Martin (1985). Both texts have their own introductions, helping the reader understand the critical issues and highlighting the significance of each text. . .