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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Theophylact Simocatta, in his History (6.5.2 and 7.14.11 - 15.3), describes the burning by invading Avars, in 588 and 598, of the shrine of the martyr *Alexandros (martyr of Dryzipera, S00070) near Dryzipera/Drusipara (eastern Balkans), and how they were miraculously punished with plague. Written in Greek at Constantinople in the early 7th century.

Evidence ID

E00085

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Major author/Major anonymous work

Theophylact Simocatta

Theophylact Simocatta, History 6.5.2, 7.14.11-15.3

6.5.2
εἶτα τῇ Ἀγχιάλῳ προσέμιξεν. ἀπάρας τε ἐντεῦθεν καὶ πρὸς τῷ νεῷ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ μάρτυρος γεγονὼς ἐδίδου τοῦτον τῷ παμφάγῳ πυρὶ παρανάλωμα, τρία τε σημεῖα μεταβὰς τοῖς ἐπὶ κατασκοπῇ παρὰ τοῦ Ῥωμαίων στρατηγοῦ παραπεμφθεῖσι συνετύγχανεν.

7.14.11-15.3
(11.) οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι κατὰ σμικρὸν τῶν Ῥωμαίων εἰς τοὐπίσω τραπέντων ἐπὶ τὰ Δριζίπερα παραγίνονται τήν τε πόλιν ἐπόρθησαν καὶ τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου ναὸν τοῦ περιφανοῦς ἐν τοῖς μάρτυσι τῷ παμφάγῳ πυρὶ κατηνάλωσαν· (12.) τόν τε τάφον τοῦ μάρτυρος εὑρηκότες ἀργύρῳ περιρρεόμενον ἀνοσίως σκυλεύουσι καθυβρίζουσί τε τῇ ἐκβολῇ καὶ τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ τύμβῳ ἐγκείμενον, καὶ λίαν ἐπὶ ταῖς νίκαις ὑψαυχενιζόμενοι ταῖς εὐωχίαις καταστιβαδεύονται.
(15.1) Ἐν ταύταις τοιγαροῦν ταῖς ἡμέραις τὸ κατὰ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν κράτος αὐτοῦ ὁ ἡμέτερος πιστούμενος Ἰησοῦς, εἰς κληρονομίαν τε παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν οἰκουμένην λαβὼν κατάσχεσίν τε τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς, οὐδαμῶς τῷ Χαγάνῳ ἀμάρτυρον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείαν παρῆκεν. (2.) ἀθρόᾳ γὰρ ἐπιφοιτήσει λοιμοῦ τὰ τῶν βαρβάρων περιπίπτουσι πλήθη, καὶ ἦν αὐτοῖς τὸ κακὸν ἀπαραίτητον καὶ σοφίσματος οὐκ ἀνεχόμενον. εἰσπράττεται τοιγαροῦν ὁ Χαγάνος, ἀνθ’ ὧν Ἀλέξανδρον ἠτιμάκει τὸν μάρτυρα, ἀξιολόγους ποινάς· ἑπτὰ γὰρ παῖδες αὐτῷ βουβῶσι περιτυγχάνουσι θέρμῃ τε ῥαγδαίᾳ τινὶ καὶ φλογώδει, καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ τὸν τῇδε καταλύουσι βίον. (3.) οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ Χαγάνος δυστυχῶς εὐτυχεῖ τὰ ἐπινίκια· ἀντὶ γὰρ παιώνων καὶ ᾀσμάτων καὶ ὕμνων καὶ κρότων χειρῶν καὶ συμφωνίας χορῶν καὶ γέλωτος κυματίζοντος θρήνους εἶχε καὶ δάκρυα καὶ πένθη ἀπαρηγόρητα καὶ ζημίαν ἀνυπομόνητον. ἐβάλλετο γὰρ ὑπὸ στρατευμάτων ἀγγέλων, καὶ φανερὰ μὲν ἦν ἡ πληγή, ἀόρατος δὲ ἡ παράταξις.

6.5.2
'Next he [the Avar Chagan] reached Anchialus, and setting out from there he came to the church of the martyr Alexander, which he gave as prey to the all-consuming fire; after moving three miles, he encountered those sent on reconnaissance by the Roman general.'

7.14.11–7.15.3
'(11.) Now, shortly after the Romans had retreated, the barbarians reached Drizipera, sacked the city and destroyed with all-consuming fire the church of Alexander, illustrious among the martyrs. (12.) And having discovered the martyr's grave abounding with silver, they impiously plundered it, and outraged even the body lying in the tomb by throwing it out. And greatly animated by their victories, they started feasting.
(15.1) For these reasons, in those days, our Jesus, manifesting his power over all the nations ‒ for he received from the Father the inhabited world as his inheritance, and the ends of the earth as his possession ‒ by no means allowed his kingdom to remain unwitnessed by the Chagan. (2.) For the barbarian hordes were stricken by a sudden visitation of plague, and their trouble was inexorable and would admit no artifice. The Chagan indeed received remarkable punishments for having dishonoured the martyr Alexander: seven of his sons were afflicted by swellings and raging fiery fever, and departed this life on a single day. (3.) Thus the Chagan celebrated his victory in misery: for instead of paeans, songs, hymns, clapping of hands, singing choruses and waves of laughter, he had dirges, tears, inconsolable griefs and unbearable harm. He was indeed assailed by angelic hosts and their blows were manifest, while their array was invisible.'


Text: de Boor and Wirth 1972.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1986, modified.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Rejection, Condemnation, Sceptisism

Bodily relic - entire body

Miracles

Punishing miracle
Miraculous interventions in war
Miracle after death

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Monarchs and their family
Pagans
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Soldiers

Cult Related Objects

Precious material objects

Source

Theophylact Simocatta wrote his History in Constantinople probably in the late 620s. The period covered by his work is the reign of Maurice (582-602), and the main subjects of the historical narrative are the wars of the East Roman Empire with Persia, and with the Avars and the Slavs in the Balkans. Several digressions of hagiographical, chronographical and geographical interest are inserted in the narrative. Using various earlier sources, Simocatta produces a positive account of Maurice, portraying him as a good emperor overthrown by a tyrant (Phocas). In fact, Maurice was very unpopular in his own times, but cleansing his memory was important to legitimise the rule of Heraclius (610-641), who presented his own coup against Phocas as avenging the murder of Maurice. A supporter and successful official of Heraclius’ regime, Simocatta apparently served this particular political agenda.

Further reading:
Whitby and Whitby 1986, xiii-xxx (introduction); Whitby 1988; Frendo 1988; Olajos 1988.

Discussion

These passages belong to Simocatta’s accounts of two Avar invasions that reached the outskirts of Constantinople in 588 and 598/9 (Whitby 1988, 155, 162-167). The author reports that the shrine of Alexandros outside the town of Drusipara was burned down twice by invading Avar hordes, in AD 588 and 598/9. It is possible that the first of these accounts is false or misplaced, since it appears in the context of a gap in the narrative and somewhat contradicts his claim that the Avars in their second assault (598/9) found the tomb intact with its silver. If the shrine was indeed destroyed twice, the damage of 588 must have been limited or quickly restored. The assault of 598 is more extensively described and its account is quoted paraphrased also by Theophanes (279). Simocatta's source for these events is probably a lost Constantinopolitan chronicle (see Olajos 1988, 121-122, 131-132, 135).

The shrine of Alexandros lay outside the town of Drusipara, where the body of the martyr was buried after his execution under the Tetrarchy (E00321). Drusipara (modern Büyük Karıtşıran, Turkey) was a town on the Balkan Via Militaris, not far from the Long Walls of Constantinople (Külzer 2008, 338-340). Theophylact Simocatta is the only source mentioning the tomb which apparently contained the entire body of the martyr. The date of the church’s construction is unknown.


Bibliography

Edition:
de Boor, C., and Wirth, P., Theophylacti Simocattae Historiae (Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana; Leipzig: Teubner, 1972).

Translation:
Whitby, M., and Whitby, M., The History of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction and Notes (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).

Further reading:
Frendo, J.D.C., “History and Panegyric in the Age of Heraclius: The Literary Background of the Composition of the Histories of Theophylact Simocatta,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 42 (1988), 143-156.

Külzer, A.,
Tabula Imperii Byzantini 12: Ostthrakien (Vienna: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008).

Olajos, T.,
Les Sources de Théophylacte Simocatta Historien (Leiden: Brill, 1988).

Whitby, M.,
The Emperor Maurice and his Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988).


Record Created By

Efthymios Rizos

Date of Entry

14/10/2014

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00070Alexandros, martyr of Dryzipera/DrusiparaἈλέξανδροςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E00085 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00085