Fathers of the Church have left comments on Genesis as well as other works, which explain not only the biblical descriptions of the origins of the world and man, but also Gen 4: 1-16, where it speaks of the sin of Cain. In this paper we present an assessment of the sin of Cain made by some of the Fathers of the Church. It should be noted that they do not stop only on the sin of fratricide, although condemn it the most, but focus their attention also on other sins of Cain, which preceded and led to the killing of Abel by his jealousy, anger, evil thoughts, insincerity. Fathers of the Church recognize the individual and social character of the sins of Cain, which manifests itself in leaving his from God and separation from relatives. This resulted in a permanent division of the family. Fathers also point to the mercy of God and a willingness to forgive. Commentators of Gen 4:1-16 biblical text, however, do not see in Cain repent for any sin committed by him.
Tra le diverse parole-chiavi della narrazione su Caino e Abele (Gen 4,1-16) si nota il termine «volto» (paneh) riferito a Caino (vv.5.6), a Dio (vv.14.16) e alla terra (v.14). Il passaggio dal volto «abbassato» al volto «alzato», oltre a costituire la trama dellazione, diventa immagine delluomo sulla cui faccia risplende il volto di Dio. La prima parte dello studio si concentra sul senso dellapplicazione del termine «volto» a Dio: tale antropomorfismo mette in risalto diverse modalità (guardare, parlare, ascoltare) con cui Dio entra in rapporto con la diversità del creato. Lalterità come principio della creazione divina comporta anche la differenziazione dei rapporti che si stabiliscono tra Dio e i due fratelli, Caino e Abele. La parte successiva viene dedicata al volto abbattuto di Caino: si esamina le cause e le conseguenze di tale atteggiamento. Con il volto piegato il fratello maggiore nega lalterità creata da Dio nel mondo e rifiuta di entrare in rapporto con quelli che sono diversi. Al fondo di tale relazione mancata si trova il rifiuto della diversità che penetra il suo mondo interiore di passioni e di sentimenti. Lultima parte dellanalisi invece cerca di individuare il modo in cui Caino può alzare il suo volto e, di conseguenza, entrare in rapporto con Dio, con suo fratello, con la terra e infine con se stesso. Alla luce della domanda divina riportata nel v.7 si vede che tale passaggio richiede da Caino: (1) una parola che mette in ordine («domina») il suo mondo interiore; (2) la fiducia nella parola di Dio che vede la possibilità del suo «essere buono»; (3) laccettazione del rapporto diverso di Dio con gli uomini, il quale esprime non la parzialità di Dio, bensì la sua approvazione dellalterità presente nel mondo. In questa prospettiva il racconto su Caino e Abele si presenta come una lotta di Dio per la restituzione del suo volto sulla faccia di Caino.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify an ‘enigmatic man’ represented on the right side of the Banganarti Anastasis painting as Abel and to exclude the identification of the figure as ‘Moses at the Burning Bush’. The ‘enigmatic man’ is young and he holds a stick in his hand, which seems to be the shepherd’s crook. Such an attribute is typical for images of Abel (a younger son of Adam and Eve killed by his brother). The absence of the Manus Dei and sandals makes the identification of the figure as ‘Moses at the Burning Bush’ a bit unlikely. In Banganarti, Abel is set in a separate field, what makes this image unusual. Solitude of Abel brings to mind an apocryphal Ethiopic Book of Enoch. In this text the lonely spirit of Abel cries and awaits for the Resurrection and condemnation of Cain’s offspring. The image from Banganarti allows to state that some apocryphal texts had an impact on Nubian painting and for this reason several murals are unique on the background of Byzantine art.
The article opens with a discussion of the originality of the adverb εἰκῇ (“without cause”) in Mt 5:22a, and the question of whether Jesus prohibits all anger or only unjustified anger. The main body of the article, however, examines to what degree Jesus’ teaching on homicidal anger should be viewed as innovative or even radical. This analysis is accomplished by looking at a wide range of intertextual connections between the Matthean idea of homicidal anger, as expressed in Mt 5:21-22, and various Old Testament and extra-biblical ancient Jewish texts. Jesus’ teaching does not in fact differ appreciably from biblical teaching on the issue, especially that found in wisdom literature. Peri-testamental and rabbinic literature likewise contain a number of more or less exact parallels to Mt 5:21-22. Taken together, these all help us establish the correct meaning of Mt 5:21-22. Nevertheless, there is an undeniable originality in the sharp and legalistic overtone of the Matthean formulation, specifically the idea of anger as a cause of murder. Moreover, the targumic reading of Gen 9:6 helps clarify the semantic field of κρίσις in Mt 5:22, which should be understood as divine punishment of any anger.
PL
Głównym celem artykułu jest ukazanie oryginalności nauczania Jezusa na temat gniewu prowadzącego do śmierci, zdefiniowanego w Mt 5,21-22. Artykuł otwiera dyskusja na temat autentyczności obecności przysłówka εἰκῇ („bez przyczyny”) w Mt 5,22, rzutująca na odpowiedź na pytanie czy Jezus potępia każdy rodzaj gniewu czy tylko gniew nieusprawiedliwiony. W celu odkrycia oryginalności oraz znaczenia Jezusowego nauczania na temat gniewu w Mt 5,21-22 zaprezentowano wiele tekstów starotestamentowych oraz tekstów zaczerpniętych ze starożytnej żydowskiej literatury pozabiblijnej. Idea gniewu prowadzącego do śmierci obecna jest już w ST, zwłaszcza w literaturze mądrościowej. Wskazać można również wiele paralel w literaturze peritestamentalnej oraz rabinackiej. Niemniej jednak kategoryczno-legalistyczna forma wypowiedzi Jezusa nosi znamiona oryginalności. Targumincza lektura Rdz 9,6 pomaga także zdefiniować pole semantyczne terminu κρίσις w Mt 5,22 jako Bożego sądu dotykającego wszystkich unoszących się gniewem.
Artykuł zajmuje się problemem tłumaczenia hebrajskiego słowa מִנְחָה w perykopie Rdz 4, 3–5a. Istnieją trzy podstawowe kierunki translatorskie omawianego terminu: sakralne (np. ofiara), świeckie (np. prezent, dar) i świecko-sakralne (np. dar ofiarny). Obecne opracowanie, opierając się zasadniczo na argumencie pochodzącym z wersetu Hbr 11,4, popiera to ostatnie ukierunkowanie
DE
At the end of 2016, a revised edition of the Catholic Bible translation (Einheitsübersetzung) was published. One of the many corrections introduced referred to the word מִנְחָה in Gen 4,3–5a. It was translated as “a gift” (Gabe). The previous translation (1980) read this word as “a sacrifice” (Opfer). This article examines the validity of a given correction, proposing to combine both translation traditions into one as “a sacrificial gift” (Opfergabe).
Satan’s interference in the events described in the first chapters of the book of Genesis and in the life of the protoplasts is not mentioned at all in the biblical text. This happens, however, in pseudo-canonical texts. The article is a short survey on the apocryphal accounts that mention Satan and their influence on art. The main focus is put on the inclusion of the image of Satan behind Cain’s figure in a number of depictions of the scene The Murder of Abel in the Russian art of the 16th and 17th centuries. The possible links between this visual motif with several literary sources is examined, among them the Short and the Explanatory Palaea, the Tale of Bygone Years (Povest’ vremennykh let or Primary Chronicle), Russian recensions of the apocryphon The Sea of Tiberias, and of The Revelation of Pseudo-Methodius of Patara. In addition, some instances of the same visual decision in Balkan art are pointed out and their connection to Russian models is underlined.
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