Análisis filológico de S. Ireneo «Adversvs haereses» 3,3,2b

Resumen

35

The philological analysis of a scriptural or patristic text is the proper starting-point for its theological study and interpretation. Here are the principal conclusions of the syntactic and stylistic analysis of the famous text of S. Irenaeus:

1. The hanc enim ecclesiam is the Church of Rome, which is mentioned immediately before (3,3,2a). This is demanded a) by the deictic reference normally inherent in hic as adjective to the object last named, and b) by the explanatory significance of enim.

2. Necesse est expresses the obligation arising from the nature of things; in this case, from the constitution of the Church. Its subject in omnis Ecclesia, where omnis has both its collective and its distributive value: i. e. all the local Churches together and every one in particular. The expression necesse est convenire makes of the Church of Rome the centre of gravity and the key to unity of the whole Church.

3. The antecedent of the adjectival relative clause in qua etc. is the Church of Rome. This is demanded a) by the immediate context, b) by the text itself, c) by the function of the phrase hoc... fideles, d) by the necessity of avoiding a tautology, and e) by the stylistic devices employed.

4. The phrase ab his qui etc. is comparative in significance.

5. The whole period is built up in accordance with the rules of rhythmic prose as regards a) the beginning, b) the end of each member and phrase, and c) the number of syllables. Its stylistic structure is made up of two members: I) Ad hanc... fileles, and II) In qua... traditio. Each member is divided into four phrases.

6. Syntactically, they are both members of a single period: stylistically, they have their own substantive character and independence. This is shown a) by the beginning of each member; b) by the total parallelism in the structure of the final phrases, with the adjectival relative clause between the demonstrative adjective (eos, ea) and the antecedent (fideles, traditio); c) by the symmetrical parallelism of the two members, so that all their phrases can be superimposed; d) by the identical alternation of accented and non-accented syllables in the final clausulae, absent at the end of the six remaining phrases; and e) by the equality or quasi-equality of syllables (isocratic school) of the first member, not to be found in the second (demosthenic school). All this being so, one of the two members cannot depend upon an element present only in the other; that is to say, the relative in qua has as its antecedent, not omnis Ecclesia in 3,3,2b, but Romae Ecclesia in 3,3,2a, through the intermediary of hanc Ecclesiam in 3,3,2b.

7. Here, then, is the translation of the passage according to the syntactico-stylistic requirements and the genius of the Spanish language: For with this Church (of Rome), on account of its supreme principality, all the Church must concur, that is, the faithful from (on) every side. It has always conserved the apostolic tradition better than the (faithful, Churches) on every side.

In a second article, entitled The 'Principalitas' and the 'Principatus' of the Episcopal See of Rome and its Bishop, I shall sketch the semantic field of principalitas, literally translated here by 'principality', and its theological result (the Primacy of the Pope).