chapter three
to denote “heaven” by Syriac-speaking Christians. This would mean that
Jerome’s explanation was drawing on Syriac tradition.
Where did Jerome get the explanation? If he was writing to the pope
in , he had already spent at least seven years in the East and had had
several chances to come across the explanation for the word Hosanna.
Because Jerome obviously believes that “osianna barrama” was in the
original “Hebrew” copy of Matthew, it is quite possible that the reading
was derived from a gospel used by Syriac-speaking Christians. Whether
he had at the same time also obtained some other information from the
same gospel and if this was the same gospel that he claimed to have
translated from onwards, will be discussed below.
The above considerations have been based on the traditional dating
ofEpistle (ce), which results in the – year time gap between
the explanation of Hosanna and Jerome’s other quotations from Jewish-
Christian gospels.However, if one accepts Nautin’s alternative date of
for Jerome’s epistle to the pope, then the letter would have been composed
approximately at the same time as Jerome started to quote from the gospel
that he said was used by the Nazarenes. According to Nautin, Jerome
fabricated the letters later on in Jerusalem. This was after pope’s death and
thetragiceventsinRome(seebelow),andthepublicationoftheletters
Jerome and the pope had allegedly sent to each other would have aimed at
showing Jerome’s exegetical skills to the Romans and showing what close
relations Jerome had with the former pope.^36 Thus, Nautin’s chronology
would make the reference in Jerome’s letter roughly contemporary with
quotations from the “Gospel of the Nazarenes.” Although it would be
tempting to follow Nautin, his theory is highly speculative and not very
much can be built on it.
Nevertheless, even if we trust more the traditional dating, it seems that
it is perfectly understandable as information that Jerome had received
from some Syriac-speaking Christians who may have had this phrase in
their Syriac translation of Matthew’s gospel. There is no evidence that it
would have come from a pre-Matthean Hebrew gospel although Jerome
presents it as such.
Commentary on Ephesians
Jerome left Rome in . After the death of Damasus in , he had
entertained hopes of becoming his successor but Siricius was elected
(^36) See Nautin , and Nautin , –.