Liber Annuus

From its early stages, monasticism was related to pilgrimages due to the crucial role that the monks played in looking after the needs of pilgrims, either secular or religious. The inextricable link between pilgrims and monks is attested in many holy sites in Palestine, both in deserted and inhabited landscapes. Jerusalem and its hinterland, together with the pilgrim roads that lead to Mount Nebo in the east, Mount Sinai in the south and Egypt in the south-west, were dotted with dozens of pilgrim churches that were served and maintained by monks whose activities are documented both in literary sources and archaeological finds.

Although there are almost no written sources mentioning a pilgrim monastery in Galilee, archaeological excavations have uncovered remains of monasteries in sites such as Sepphoris, Nazareth, Magdala, Tabgha, Capernaum and Kursi. It seems that the area of Galilee on the pilgrim map of Late Antiquity was much more significant than is apparent from the itineraries of early Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. In this study, we will survey the evidence of pilgrim monasteries in Galilee and analyse the place of monasticism in the Galilean Loca sancta in Late Antiquity.

The archaeological site of Machaerus at the Dead Sea is the historical place where St John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. This important scene of the Gospels were excavated by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in two excavation periods under the direction of its late Professors Virgilio Corbo (1978- 1981) and Michele Piccirillo (1992-1993). The Research Team of the Hungarian Academy of Arts has been conducting archaeological excavations and surveys on this pilgrim site since 2009, under the direction of the present author. The article describes the theoretical architectural reconstructions of the Herodian Doric peristyle courtyard and the Ionic royal bathhouse, together with the 2014 anastylosis re-erection of one of their original columns, respectively. Most of the architectural elements of these two genuine Herodian columns of the fortified royal palace were excavated by the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum.

This essay presents five inscriptions in Palestino-christian Aramaic engraved by pilgrims on one of the rocks (rock II) on the Wadî Hajjaj plateau where caravans camped; it is south of ‛Aïn Ḫudhrah situated in the east - northeast of the Sinai Peninsula. This was known to be one of the stops of Palestinian pilgrims from the Byzantine period en route to the Holy Mountain and the Monastery of St. Catherine, and the inscriptions reveal a profound religious sentiment in the hearts of the pilgrims during their journey and their deep faith in Jesus, the Saviour.

The aim of this article is to examine the symbolic significance of the menorah (the seven-branched candlestick) in Judaism, based on various literary sources and artistic/archaeological evidence. Many scholars have engaged with this issue and have considered it as expressing various symbolic ideas. Although some of the ancient secular literary sources also refer to the symbolic significance of the menorah, this theme should necessarily be viewed within the relevant traditional, orthodox, rabbinic sources.

The review / research of the papers kept in the archive of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum provided decisive elements to better understand the figure of Augustus Spijkerman, a numismatist reknown in this field of studies. He was an expert on Roman Provincial coins of Palestine and the Decapolis, shrewd in identifying unpublished specimens and able to establish the conservation of the numismatic holdings of both the Museum and its coin collection in such a way that decades after his direction, they still retain its validity.

The file archive is now divided into 10 sections with some unpublished manuscripts preserved as notes, numismatic writings, lecture notes, letters exchanged with some of the leading scholars of the currency of the Syro-Palestine. We are thus able to explain the rise of his interesting for this subject; the research on the provincial coinage of the Roman Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, the attention not only for the rare coins (from the antiquities market) but also for the discoveries from the excavations. Finally, his contribution to the classification of coins discovered at Khirbet Qumran and Ain-Feshkha during excavations conducted by Roland de Vaux in the fifties of the 20th century are of fundamental (and neglected till now) importance.

663 Briggs Richard S. - Lohr Joel N. (ed.), A Theological Introduction to the Pentateuch. Interpreting the Torah as Christian Scripture, Baker, Grand Rapids MI 2012, xiv-224 pp. (M. Olickal).

665 Baden Joel S., The Composition of the Pentateuch. Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis, Yale University Press, New Haven - London 2012, x-378 pp. (M. Olickal).

669 Dinkler Michal Beth, Silent Statements. Narrative Representations of Speech and Silence in the Gospel of Luke (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 191), Walter de Gruyter, Berlin - Boston 2013, xi-261 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).

673 Dillon Richard J., The Hymns of Saint Luke. Lyricism and Narrative Strategy in Luke 1-2 (The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 50), The Catholic Biblical Association of America, Washington D.C. 2013, x-181 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).

677 Pitta Antonio, Sinossi paolina bilingue, San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo (MI) 2013, 448 pp. (L. Giuliano).

683 Nicholson Suzanne, Dynamic Oneness. The Significance and Flexibility of Paul’s One-God-Language, Pickwick Publications, Eugene OR 2010, xviii-294 pp. (L. Giuliano).

690 Corsani Bruno, Guida allo studio del greco del Nuovo Testamento, Società Biblica Britannica e Forestiera, Roma 2013, 441 pp. (Elisa Chiorrini).

704 Tábet Michelangelo, Collectanea Biblica, a cura di Eusebio González Martínez, EDUSC, Roma 2014, 763 pp. (V. Lopasso).

706 Charlesworth James H. (ed.), The Tomb of Jesus and His Family? Exploring Ancient Jewish Tombs Near Jerusalem’s Walls, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids MI - Cambridge U.K. 2013, xx-605 pp. (L.D. Chrupcała).