Family values in the “Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felecitata”

Authors

  • Alexey V. Kargaltsev The Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, 48, nab. r. Moiki, St Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9258-467X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2024.403

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of family attachments in “The passion of Perpetua and Felicity” and examines the conflict between the values of the Roman family and the Christian faith, which is traditional for the Christian worldview. This problem is reflected in many hagiographic monuments of the Early Church, however, in “The passion of Perpetua and Felicity” all facets of the value conflict are reflected: the martyr acts as a wife, mother, daughter and sister. Contrary to the persistent notion that Christian heroes break with their attachments in favor of faith, the article shows that in reality we are talking about a very complex relationships, the center of which is the Christian idea of love for relatives. The heroine uses her martyrdom as a form of preaching, which should convince family members to join the church and even save those of them who have already died from posthumous torment. The monument indicates that such a mission can be quite successful, and even those of the relatives who had initially opposed the heroine and urged her to save her life through renunciation of faith experienced a moral rebirth. Thus, the goals and objectives of hagiographic literature can be understood not only in the light of comforting church members in the face of persecution, but also as a kind of manifesto of family values for an external audience.

Keywords:

martyrdom, Early Christianity, Perpetua, Carthage, Roman Empire, family, woman

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References


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Published

2024-12-28

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2024)

Section

Research

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Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.