You are cordially invited to a presentation of the most important work of early Christianity, dedicated to pilgrimage. It is a travelogue of a multi-year pilgrimage to the biblical sites of Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Asia Minor from the end of the 4th century, written by an unknown female pilgrim. This travelogue, which was only discovered over a hundred years ago, is a fascinating imprint of her intimate experience of the holy places, but it is also a first-rate historical document that gives a first-hand insight into life at the time in the areas it describes. The text offers an invaluable treasure trove of information for various fields of study, such as the archaeology and topography of the Holy Land, the formation of Christian worship, the history of monastic life, the development of the Latin language, biblical exegesis, the itinerarium as a literary genre, and the phenomenon of journeys or pilgrimages in late antiquity in general.
Experts differ on the author’s biographical, mainly social, background, but the theory that a woman named Egeria is the author of the travelogue is now almost unanimously accepted. This theory relies on the letter of Valerius and his mention of the “holy (monastic) wife (sanctimonialis)” Egeria, who on her return from pilgrimage apparently left an important mark in her place, became an example of piety and attained the glory of sainthood.
The book will be discussed by the editor and translator Br Jan Dominik Bogataj and the biblical scholar Dr Samo Skralovnik in a thematic evening entitled Pilgrimage in the First Church.
The presentation is organised by the Celjska Mohorjeva družba in cooperation with the Synagogue Maribor.