Abstract

The author analyses the meaning and function of the invocations of the blood of Christ in Greek magical amulets by exploring their theological and liturgical contexts and the points of contact between the discourse of the church leaders and the language of ‘Christian magic’. The apotropaic power of the blood of Christ, to which the magical texts appeal, is rooted in the Christian teaching, promoted by the Fathers. It is argued that the special attitude to the blood of Christ reflected in the magical texts is to be explained by its soteriological connotations, which could be borrowed by the producers of the amulets from sermons preached in the church as well as from liturgical contexts of both baptism and eucharist.

Full Text
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