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Proof of jesus pt 14 mara bar serapion
Mara bar 'Serapion, (Syriac: ܡܪܐ ܒܪ ܣܪܦܝܘܢ), sometimes spelled Mara bar Sarapion, was a Syriac Stoic philosopher in the Roman province of Syria. He is only known from a letter he wrote in Syriac to his son, who was also named Serapion, which allegedly refers to Jesus of Nazareth.
Contents
- Proof of jesus pt 14 mara bar serapion
- Ancient accounts of jesus mara bar serapion and lucius by intelligent faith 315
- The letter to his son
- Maras religion
- Maras philosophical stance
- References
The letter indicates that Mara's homeland was Samosata, i.e. modern-day Samsat, Turkey (on the west bank of the Euphrates), but his captivity appears to have been in Seleucia, in modern-day Iraq (on the west bank of the Tigris River).
Mara's captivity took place after the AD 72 annexation of Samosata by the Romans, but before the third century. Most scholars date it to shortly after AD 73 during the first century.
Ancient accounts of jesus mara bar serapion and lucius by intelligent faith 315
The letter to his son
Mara's letter to his son begins with: "Mara, son of Serapion, to Serapion, my son: peace." The letter was composed sometime between 73 AD and the 3rd century. There were three cases when captives were taken from Samosata, in 72 AD by the Romans, in 161/162 by Parthians and in 256 by Sasanians and various scholars have presented arguments for each date. Robert Van Voorst (who himself thinks the letter was composed in the second century) states that most scholars date the letter to shortly after AD 73 during the first century.
The letter is preserved in a 6th- or 7th-century manuscript (BL Add. 14658) held by the British Library. Nineteenth-century records state that the manuscript containing this text was one of several manuscripts obtained by Henry Tattam from the monastery of St. Mary Deipara in the Nitrian Desert of Egypt and acquired by the Library in 1843.
Mara's religion
A number of scholars such as Sebastian Brock, Fergus Millar, Ute Possekel and Craig A. Evans, among others, state that Mara was a pagan. Gerd Theissen states that Mara's reference to "our gods" indicates that he was neither a Jew, nor a Christian, the letter stating:
Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough state that Mara could hardly have been a Christian". Robert E. Van Voorst on the other hand states that the reference to "our gods" is a single reference, which was while quoting his fellow captives, and Mara may have been a monotheist. Van Voorst adds two factors that indicate Mara was not a Christian, the first being his failure to mention the terms Jesus or Christ. The second factor (also supported by Chilton and Evans) is that Mara's statement that Jesus lives on based on the wisdom of his teachings, in contrast to the Christian concept that Jesus continues to live through his resurrection, indicates that he was not a Christian.
Chilton and Evans also state that the use of the term "wise king" to refer to Jesus (rather than a religious designation) indicates that Mara's perception of the events had been formed by non-Christian sources. They state that the term "king of the Jews" has never been seen in the Christian literature of antiquity as a title for Jesus.
Mara's philosophical stance
The letter presents some of its arguments using on a comparative style and draws on Greek learning.
The last paragraph of Mara's letter states:
One of his friends asked Mara, son of Serapion, when in bonds at his side: “Nay, by thy life, Mara, tell me what cause of laughter thou hast seen, that thou laughest.” “I am laughing,” said Mara, “at Time: inasmuch as, although he has not borrowed any evil from me, he is paying me back.”Ilaria Ramelli, who holds that Mara lived towards the end of the first century, states that his letter has strong stoic elements.