“The Angel of the Topos Shall Bless You”: Preliminary Report on the Cult of the Altar-Angels in Late Antique Egypt
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Frederic Krueger
Abstract
This article presents a first look at some of the key sources and hypotheses of ongoing research on a significant yet ill-studied figure in late antique Egyptian-Christian piety: The “Angel of the Altar,” or “of the Topos,” and later “of the Sacrifice” as he is still invoked in the Coptic liturgy today. Since the 4th century, church canons and literary works aiming to instill fear of the altar in monks and clerics warn of the angel guarding it, who can only be seen by monastic and clerical leaders in visions which become a common feature of post-Chalcedonian Coptic homiletics. This angel figure is identified with God’s destructive power defending the ark/altar/temple in the Old Testament. The “Angel of the Altar” also has the crucial liturgical function of lifting the Eucharistic offering to God. He is even considered the true dispenser or withholder of the Eucharist, overshadowing and potentially nullifying the actions of the priest. Originally an impersonal figure, he is sometimes identified with the specific archangel assigned to the church in question, such as Michael or Raphael. In a further step, it seems that some monastic communities who built their corporate identities on the fame of their respective patron saint began to identify the latter with the “Angel of the Altar,” appropriating the concept for the cult of saints. Documentary papyri show how monastic leaders invoked the Angel as superhuman punisher and blesser in the economic interest of the monastery. It is probably in this context that the variant “Angel of the Topos” emerged, amounting to what seems to be the only technical term for “patron saint of a place” in Coptic.
Acknowledgement
For their help in improving upon earlier drafts of this article, I wish to thank Tonio Sebastian Richter, the two anonymous peer reviewers, Harald Buchinger, Ramez Mikhail, and especially Ágnes Mihálykó, who connected me to the previous two, while all three provided invaluable assistance by providing bibliographical references and helping me see much more clearly the essential liturgical dimension of this study. I also owe to Mihálykó my knowledge of some of the most important literary and magical texts cited in this article. Special thanks are furthermore due to Korshi Dosoo, who contributed many a helpful observation and reference and was the first to suggest that the subject matter could be treated in a study more comprehensive than a single article (which had, in fact, expanded too much to be published as originally intended).
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Aufsätze
- In Militia Dei? A Sociohistorical Perspective on the Pachomian Koinonia
- The Coptic Translation of Epiphanius of Salamis’s Ancoratus and the Origenist Controversy in Upper Egypt
- Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and the Interpretation of the Messianic Psalms
- “The Angel of the Topos Shall Bless You”: Preliminary Report on the Cult of the Altar-Angels in Late Antique Egypt
- New Evidence for Severus of Antioch’s Correspondence with the patricia Caesaria (CPG 7071,11): Ethiopic Fragments Related to the Origin of Evil and the Resurrection of the Dead
- Rezensionen
- Elisa Groth: Vocis pura sinceritas. Untersuchungen zum Prosarhythmus im Corpus Cyprianaeum, Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums 30, Paderborn (Ferdinand Schöningh) 2021, S. VIII + 283, ISBN 978-3-506-76020-3, € 99,–.
- Michael J. Hollerich: Making Christian History. Eusebius of Caesarea and His Readers, Christianity in Late Antiquity 11, Oakland, CA (University of California Press) 2021, S. XI + 316 pp. + 1 b/w illustration, ISBN 978-0-520-29536-0, $ 95,–.
- David Lloyd Dusenbury: Nemesius of Emesa on Human Nature. A Cosmopolitan Anthropology from Roman Syria, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2021, S. 240, ISBN 9780198856962, £ 65,–.
- Patrick T.R. Gray: Claiming the Mantle of Cyril: Cyril of Alexandria and the Road to Chalcedon, Late Antique History and Religion 24, Leuven (Peeters) 2021, S. XIV + 306, ISBN 9789042942578, € 95,–.
- Jon C. Cubas Díaz: Das Sepulkralwesen im Rauen Kilikien am Ende der Antike. Funerärarchäologie und Grabepigraphik einer spätantiken Landschaft, Asia Minor Studien 98, Bonn (Habelt) 2021, S. XVIII + 226, 91 Tafeln, 2 Faltkarten, ISBN 978-3-7749-4280-6, € 85,–.
- Susanne Barth: Tätige Nächstenliebe im Werk und Wirken Gregors des Großen, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 122, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2021, S. XIII + 449, ISBN 978-3-16-158950-8; € 89,–.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Aufsätze
- In Militia Dei? A Sociohistorical Perspective on the Pachomian Koinonia
- The Coptic Translation of Epiphanius of Salamis’s Ancoratus and the Origenist Controversy in Upper Egypt
- Diodore of Tarsus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and the Interpretation of the Messianic Psalms
- “The Angel of the Topos Shall Bless You”: Preliminary Report on the Cult of the Altar-Angels in Late Antique Egypt
- New Evidence for Severus of Antioch’s Correspondence with the patricia Caesaria (CPG 7071,11): Ethiopic Fragments Related to the Origin of Evil and the Resurrection of the Dead
- Rezensionen
- Elisa Groth: Vocis pura sinceritas. Untersuchungen zum Prosarhythmus im Corpus Cyprianaeum, Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums 30, Paderborn (Ferdinand Schöningh) 2021, S. VIII + 283, ISBN 978-3-506-76020-3, € 99,–.
- Michael J. Hollerich: Making Christian History. Eusebius of Caesarea and His Readers, Christianity in Late Antiquity 11, Oakland, CA (University of California Press) 2021, S. XI + 316 pp. + 1 b/w illustration, ISBN 978-0-520-29536-0, $ 95,–.
- David Lloyd Dusenbury: Nemesius of Emesa on Human Nature. A Cosmopolitan Anthropology from Roman Syria, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2021, S. 240, ISBN 9780198856962, £ 65,–.
- Patrick T.R. Gray: Claiming the Mantle of Cyril: Cyril of Alexandria and the Road to Chalcedon, Late Antique History and Religion 24, Leuven (Peeters) 2021, S. XIV + 306, ISBN 9789042942578, € 95,–.
- Jon C. Cubas Díaz: Das Sepulkralwesen im Rauen Kilikien am Ende der Antike. Funerärarchäologie und Grabepigraphik einer spätantiken Landschaft, Asia Minor Studien 98, Bonn (Habelt) 2021, S. XVIII + 226, 91 Tafeln, 2 Faltkarten, ISBN 978-3-7749-4280-6, € 85,–.
- Susanne Barth: Tätige Nächstenliebe im Werk und Wirken Gregors des Großen, Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 122, Tübingen (Mohr Siebeck) 2021, S. XIII + 449, ISBN 978-3-16-158950-8; € 89,–.
