Gripla - 20.12.2005, Page 21

STYLISTICS AND SOURCES OF THE POSTOLA SÖGUR 19
lacuna in the 645 text), but due to the addition of a homiletic introduction and
concluding material concerning the translatio of Bartholomew’s relics, it
properly belongs to Group B (see below).22
Like the other sagas derived from Pseudo-Abdias, Bartholomeus saga pos-
tola has a characteristic bipartite structure (vita and passio sections), and
displays an overt emphasis on a contextual ‘dualism,’ seen not only in its
structure, which is built on separate conflicts between the apostle and a pair of
rulers, but also in its presentation of thematic concerns. On the structural level,
the central players in the vita and passio sections of Bartholomew’s saga are
the Indian kings Polimius (benign) and his brother Astriges (despotic), but the
saga’s characteristic dualism is also reflected in each of the two sections in the
resolution of the conflict between the saint and a demon: in the vita section,
the demon Astaroth is ‘persuaded’ by the apostle to leave, while in the passio
section the apostle destroys the idol inhabited by the demon Balldath. The
dualistic nature of the saga’s structure is further enhanced by the paralleling of
extended descriptions of first the apostle, just prior to his appearance in the
vita section of the saga (Post.:57.32-758.17), and then the demon Astaroth,
just prior to his departure and the shifting of the saga to the passio section
(Post.:761.5-10).
Within the separate sections of the saga minor structural dualities are
coupled with thematic concerns conveyed primarily through lessons founded
upon ‘typological’ or ‘circular’ reasoning, and the two work together to estab-
lish and support the saga’s doctrinal and didactic core. In the vita section, for
instance, the devil Astaroth exercises control over the heathen worshippers by
seeming to cure when in fact he only ceases to injure those whom he pretends
to cure; this is juxtaposed with 1) Bartholomew’s ability to exercise control
over the demons themselves at will,23 and 2) Bartholomew’s true healing
22 In the following discussion, references to text that falls within the lacuna in AM 645 4to will
be to AM 630 4to (the copy made of AM 652 4to when the latter manuscript was still com-
plete), and marked with an asterix.
23 The apostle’s power is magnified at this point by the fact that his work is seemingly accomp-
lished surreptitiously, that is, the sacrificers do not even know who has muted their idols, and
must ask another demon in another town to describe the apostle to them; to his description of
the apostle the demon (Berith) adds the request that the sacrificers beg the apostle not to
come to his town so that he will not be subjected to such harsh treatment, thus further em-
phasizing the apostle’s power. Berith’s request is worded as follows: „En ef ér leitifl hans, fla
muno flér flviat eins finna hann, ef hann vill flat, en ella eigi. En ef ér finnit hann, fla biflit ér,
at hann come eigi hingat, at eigi gere englar gofls slict at mér, sem fleir gerflo ad Astarofl vin
minom,“ Post.:758.13-17.