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Document Details :

Title: De Philentolo Fornicatore or The Tale of the Soul Stuck betwixt Heaven and Hell
Subtitle: A Curious Story and a Theological Paradox
Author(s): SILVANO, Luigi
Journal: Byzantion
Volume: 86    Date: 2016   
Pages: 367-418
DOI: 10.2143/BYZ.86.0.3180831

Abstract :
The spiritually beneficial tale De Philentolo fornicatore, as it was termed by the Bollandist fathers, contains quite an original vision of the otherworld, in which a man is shown trapped between Hell and Heaven due to the perfect balance of his good and evil deeds – that is, on the one hand, his numerous charitable actions, and on the other, his repeated sexual sins. This paper aims to provide new insight into the origins and the reception of this tale, together with an edition of four Greek redactions, viz. BHG 1322w, 1322xd, 1322x and 1322xc, the latter two previously unpublished.

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