Biography

Cecilia Antonelli is a Lecturer (“Chargée de cours”) at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) in Switzerland and an Affiliated Researcher at the Institut romand des sciences bibliques (IRSB) of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), also in Switzerland.

Her research focuses on Christian “heresies” and ancient heresiology; the “construction” of memory of Christian origins; the systems of authority in the first Christian centuries; and on Biblical writings, scriptural testimonia, Christian and Jewish apocryphal literature, and the establishment of the New Testament canon.

Cecilia Antonelli is a member of the Association pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (AELAC), of the Societas Novi Testamenti Studiorum (SNTS), and of the Société pour l’étude de la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (SELAC), as well as of the Groupe suisse d’études patristiques / Schweizerische patristische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (GSEP / SPAG) (Département de Patristique et Histoire de l’Église, Université de Fribourg) and of the Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale (CUSO).

After completing her studies in Classics with a particular emphasis on Ancient Christianity at “Roma Tre” University (Bachelor of Classics, 2006; Master in Ancient Philology, Literature, and History, 2008), she earned a PhD in Greek and Roman Civilization and Tradition from the same institution, as well as a PhD in Theology from the University of Geneva (2012), with a thesis conducted under joint supervision. Her professional trajectory began as a postdoctoral researcher in Geneva, supported by a Swiss Confederation Scholarship (2012–2013), followed by a post-doctoral position in Paris at the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Section des sciences religieuses (SSR), funded by the “Doc. Mobility” Scholarship from the Swiss SNSF (2013–2014). Subsequently, she served as a research and teaching associate focusing on the History of Early Christianity at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Geneva (2014–2017), and later as a “Senior SNSF Researcher” (“Chercheuse FNS Senior”) at the University of Lausanne (2017–2023). More recently, she held the position of Lecturer (“Chargée de cours”) at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) for the 2023–2024 academic year, at the University of Lausanne during the 2024–2025 academic year, and at the University of Geneva during the autumn of 2025.

Her editio princeps of the Acts and Martyrdom of the Apostle Bartholomew in Greek (Weimar Q 729 or “Codex Froehner”), with introduction, Italian translation, and commentary, will be published as a volume of the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA), Brepols, including the text and translation of the ancient Armenian version of this Christian apocryphal text (expected publication: end of 2026).

A monograph that develops and expands the results of her PhD Thesis on the fragments of the early Christian author Hegesippus (2nd century) is being prepared and will be published under the title La mémoire oubliée des originnes chrétienne. Les fragments d’Hégésippe entre histoire et légende (Instrumenta patristica et medioevalia (IPM)), Brepols (expected publication: 2027).

While serving as a “Senior SNSF researcher” (“Chercheuse FNS Senior”) in the Digital Humanities project Éditer numériquement la littérature apocryphe chrétienne (ENLAC), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), she began preparing the major electronic critical edition of the “Lives of the Prophets* (BHG 1585-1590) and related texts for the Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum (CCSA), published by Brepols.