Individual Christian Voices in the Narratives of Late Antique Acclamations

In search of the individual in the late antique reports of acclamations relevant for understanding Christian religious discourse, the article first addresses the fully fledged accounts and surveys the unreliability of the sources as witnesses of the events and of the original impact of the narratives. This aspect comes to the fore when looking at papyri and the epigraphical evidence. Although composed and registered nearer in time to the alleged performances of acclamations, they are likewise unreliable because focused on their reception. In the context of late antique rhetoric and communication strategies, their literary qualities were adequate for a re-performance of the narrative which would reiterate the ritual. Such reception of narratives of acclamations was therefore relevant to an individual construction of traditions and institutions. Finally, the paper discusses homogeneous clusters of religious graffiti, which come out as collective unanimous discourses from the perspective of the viewer, especially when literate. Summing up the aspects of individual reception of the narratives of acclamations and agency of the redactor, the article concludes by demonstrating their importance in processes of religious and political institutionalisation.