Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
INTRODUCTION 27 junction with Tractates i to i g;^"* he further shows that En in Ps
95 should chronologically follow En in P5 131 and so also belongs to this group. The intercalation of these sermons then provides a means of dating the whole group. En in Ps 120 refers to St. Crispina whose feast is December 5. En in Ps 127 concerns a St. Felix; the feast of Felix of Nola occurred in the Carthaginian calendar on January 14, and this fits well with its sequence after Tractates 5 and 6 since these show evidence of being preached in early January. Tractate 1 2 is clearly given shortly before Easter. Tractate 6.25-26 discusses the possession of Donatist property by the Catholic church according to imperial law; Le Landais identifies this law with a rescript of the Emperor Honorius in June, 414. He then suggests that the sermons began in December, 414.
(38) After Tractate 12 he places the 10 Tractates on the First Epistle, then Tractates 13 to 27, the last on the feast of St.
Lawrence, August 10. For Tractates 28 to 54 he finds few chronological indications. Tractates 55 to 124 form an obvious group; they are all fairly brief, the Donatist heresy no longer requires lengthy and urgent exegeses, and the less pressing Pelagian heresy allows a more leisurely development of ideas, although the subject matter requires greater attention and concentration by his hearers and this would explain the briefness. Because of the reference to St. Stephen Tractate 120 must be dated, as Zarb pointed out, at least in the summer of 416. Now St. Stephen is also named in Tractate 101.4, but with no mention of his relics. The remains of Nicodemus were also found with those of Stephen, and this is what prompted the mention of Stephen in Tractate 1 20. Nicodemus is met in Tractates 33, 109, and 111, again with no mention of this much bruited discovery. So Tractates 33, 101, 109, and 111 must precede the summer of 416. It then follows that this whole group of Tractates and Enarrationes were delivered between December, 414, and late summer, 416.
84. For example, Tractate 4.16 promises an explanation of the dove and John the Baptist. En in Ps 126.13 recalls that promise and Tractates 5 and 6 fulfill it. Then En in Ps 1 27. 13 refers to a recent explanation of why the dove carries a branch with olives on it, an explanation given in Tractate 6.19—20. See Le Landais, 17-21.