Stephen Mitchell – an obituary

On 22 January 2024, we had an extreme privilege of hosting Stephen Mitchel (University of Exeter Emeritus, FBA, Honorary Vice-President of the British Institute at Ankara) for a day-long consulting meeting and a seminar paper at the Warsaw Epigraphy and Papyrology Seminar.

Paper: “The origins and spread of the cult of St Michael.”

Abstract: The strong and early presence of the cult of St Michael in Asia Minor during late antiquity is a paradox. How can we explain the popularity of a saint, who was a marginal figure in the Old and New Testament, who was not a martyr of the persecutions, who was not linked to a heroic Christian ‘backstory’, and whose miraculous acts are mostly a phenomenon of the later Byzantine and Medieval periods? This presentation will review existing theories, including the identification with pagan Anatolian gods such as Attis and Mên, the link of his cult to hot springs and thermal healing baths, but focus on the Jewish background of belief in angels, archangels and the preeminence of the archistrategos Michael, and relate this to the nature of early Christianity in central Anatolia.

Stephen generously shared his immense knowledge on inscriptions from Asia Minor, and enjoyed talks with our team members and faculty colleagues – Ewa Wipszycka, and Adam Łajtar shown in the photos and Hale Güney who guided him around Warsaw. Together they shared memories of their common colleagues, especially Barbara Levick who passed away in December. Very sadly, Stephen himself died one week after the seminar, having also attended the funeral of his dear friend, David Hawkins, in London. His paper at our seminar being his last research talk. Pawel and Hale attended Stephen’s memorial service in Berlin on 23 February.

Pawel first met Stephen in 2013 at a conference organized in Köln by Walter Ameling. He was really surprised that the author of such prominent books and papers which he often quoted in his dissertation found so much time during coffee breaks to thoroughly discuss ideas and give hints to a completely unknown doctoral student. But this is how Stephen was, always open to people and ready to share his immense knowledge. They kept contact by email and saw each other again in 2017 when Pawel gave a paper about his forthcoming edition of new inscriptions from Euchaita/Avkat at a seminar held at the Theological Faculty of the Humboldt University in Berlin. The following year Stephen was also so kind to come and give a paper during a small seminar organized at Oxford to celebrate the publication of Pawel’s first book. In November 2023, they met again in Köln at an epigraphical workshop organized by Andreas Klingenberg. Stephen seemed to be flourishing, presenting his most recent quantitative research on Christian inscriptions. He really enjoyed meeting his colleagues from the British Institute at Ankara and during conference dinners they spoke a lot about good old times while doing field work in Türkiye. We thought we would certainly have another opportunity to see each other. Not this time. One cannot describe his death otherwise than untimely. We lost a great researcher but first of all a very warm and cordial person. He will be missed and remembered.