The Prophet Jonah as a Liturgical Theologian

abstract: The story of the prophet Jonah is composed of seemingly incoherent themes. At once unwilling prophet, repentant sinner, and Christ figure, differing interpretations of Jonah found in early Christian art and biblical commentary present at times contrasting views of the prophet. I argue that the Byzantine rite synthesizes these disparate interpretive traditions of the book of Jonah to offer what Khaled Anatolios has termed "doxological contrition": an experience of glory that moves the worshiper to an experience of repentance. To explore this synthetic process, I examine Jonah's presence in early Christian art and liturgical practice. Then I compare the Greek patristic commentaries on Jonah that begin in the fourth century and continue through the seventh century, offered by Theodore of Mopsuestia, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Maximus the Confessor. I then examine the subsequent liturgical hymnography, which provides a curated view of these different traditions of Jonah's story. I conclude with a reflection on how Jonah in the Byzantine liturgy can shape theological language through the synthesis of the dogmatic and exegetical tradition that it accommodates.