”If any be...”. The Most Famous Paschal Homily. A Rhetorical Approach
11 October 2022
“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” is the famous question of the early Christian Church writer, Tertullian. Following the same dilemma, this paper seeks to answer a similar question: “What has John Chrysostom got to do with Aristotle?”. For example, The Paschal Catechetical Homily of Saint John Chrysostom - a Christian model of eloquence - is discursively analysed by relating to the Aristotelian concept of pathos. My research reveals how and by what means the classical rhetorical pathos is used in the most famous Christian Paschal homily and what are the emotions that the preacher aims to arouse among the audience, given the importance and specificity of the feast.