Real and unreal wonders : miracle, magic and narrative realism in the Life and Martyrdom of Jason and Sosipatros (BHG 776)

This article pursues a twofold aim: to examine ancient magic as a rhetorical tool in Byzantine hagiography through narrative analysis, and to shed light on the conception of narrative realism that underlies hagiographical composition. Both aims are addressed through a case study of the Life and Martyrdom of Jason and Sosipatros. Moreover, they are interrelated: the Life’s narrative depiction of magic and miracles relies on a rhetoric of deception that serves to oppose them as respectively illusions and real wonders. The article’s first part offers a close reading of the Life, highlighting its use of a rhetoric of truth and falsehood and identifying specific narrative techniques that explain its efficacy in distinguishing magic from miracles despite their inherent ambiguity. The second part contextualizes this rhetoric within a broader Christian cultural paradigm, illuminating the rhetorical function of hagiography as a vehicle to promote a particular understanding of the world. It argues that hagiographical narrative was conceived of as a medium through which readers could be brought to faith by means of realistic depictions of divine realities – especially miracles – since a reader’s narrative experience allowed them to share in the depicted experience.