The Book of Isaiah as an Influence on Andreas

Abstract

THE BOOK OF ISAIAH AS AN INFLUENCE ON ANDREASThe Old English poem Andreas, found in a unique copy in the Vercelli Book, tells of the passion of St Andrew in the land of the Mermedonians, a cannibalistic, heathen people whom he ultimately converts to Christianity. Andreas is generally agreed to be based on a close Latin translation of the Greek Praxeis Andreou, the Apocyrphon describing Andrew's mission to Mermedonia, although the recension apparently used is now lost. 1 The poet of Andreas borrows many of his images and phrases from sources other than the apocryphal narrative. Andreas's use of Beowulf as a source for imagery and entire lines was first noted by A. Fritzche in Anglia in 1879, and continues to be debated, but less effort has been devoted to identifying borrowings from other sources. 2 Although the typological richness of Andreas has been much discussed, the search for more direct verbal parallels with scripture has been neglected. 3 Given the poet's extensive knowledge of scripture, attested by the

Preparing the Mind for Prayer: The Wanderer, Hesychasm and Theosis

“…The Fontes Anglo-Saxonici database lists 265 citations in Anglo-Saxon authors (http://fontes.english.ox.ac.uk/; accessed 9 th August 2015). For a recent discussion of Isaiah's influence on Andreas, see Appleton (2015). 1969, pp.…”

The Insular Landscape of the Old English Poem The Phoenix

“…The islands of the gentiles would be read as an echo of the Anglo-Saxons' own space, and their own spiritual history as a converted island, encouraging the depiction of spaces as insular in religious works. 30 This impulse is manifest in the representation of the land of Mermedonia in Andreas, a poem about the conversion of an island, which uses material from Isaiah (Appleton 2015), and, like The Phoenix, anglicizes the imagery it inherits from its principal source. In this view the use of ealond and iglond in Old English verse echoes the insulae gentium of the Vulgate, as Wright argues, but does so as a reflection of the national space of the island of Britain.…”