THE USE OF RHETORIC IN HAGIOGRAPHY - THE CASE OF THE LIFE OF SYMEON THE FOOL BY LEONTIUS OF NEAPOLIS (Retoryka w sluzbie hagiografii w Zywocie Szymona Glupka)

The aim of my article is to analyse the rhetorical features in the Life of Symeon the Fool, written in the 640s by Leontius, the bishop of Neapolis of Cyprus, or to be more precise, in the second part of it, which is devoted to the conduct of Symeon in the Syrian town of Emesa. The article gives special attention to all elements characteristic of the late antique rhetorical education, namely the progymnasmata - school exercises that trained the student's style of writing, also used by the hagiographers. At a closer look one can find interesting examples of diegema, which add up to a carefully thoughtout sequence of episodes. I argue that it is not as haphazard as has been hitherto accepted.