The Eucharisticos of Paulinus Pellaeus: Towards a Reappraisal of the Worldly Convert's Life and Autobiography

After a sketch of Paulinus' autobiography, his spiritual life is outlined, whereby the view of his adherence to a 'heresy' is rejected. Next the intentions underlying the composition of the "Eucharisticos" are reconsidered: they are to be sought in the author's need to reassure and to comfort himself rather than to impress his contemporaries. Instead of censuring the poem as marred with inconsistencies--many of which are rather due to modern misreadings--the verses of thanksgiving are viewed as a remarkable and mostly successful attempt at coming to grips with the disruptions and inconsistencies of the world Paulinus lived in.