Evidence ID
E00712
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Victor of Tunnuna, Chronica
Post consulatum Basilli V[iri] C[larissimi] anno XXI (= AD 561)
Corpus sancti Antonii heremitae repertum cum maximo honore Alexandriam perducitur et in basilica sancti Iohannis Baptistae honorifice collocatur.
'The 21st year after the consulate of Basilius, vir clarissimus (senator) (= AD 561)
The body of St Antony the hermit was found and transferred most respectfully to Alexandria and deposited with respect in the basilica of St John the Baptist.'
Text: Mommsen 1894, 205. Translation: Robert Wiśniewski.
Cult PlacesBodily relic - entire body
Cult building - independent (church)
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Source
Victor was bishop of the city of Tunnuna (or Tonnona) in Latin North Africa, the exact location of which is unknown. He was expelled from his see during the Three Chapters controversy. During his exile he stayed for several years in Egypt, but in 564 moved to Constantinople. There he wrote his Latin Chronicle. Only the part covering the years 444-566 is extant. Up to AD 518, it is based mostly on the Church History of Theodore Anagnostes. The written sources of the following part are not easy to identify, but Victor was deeply involved in ecclesiastical politics and had a firsthand knowledge of many events that he mentioned in the Chronicle.Discussion
According to his Life written by Athanasius, Antony died in his hermitage in the Eastern Desert, was buried in a secret place by his pupils and nobody knew the place of his tomb (see E00669). The discovery and transfer of Antony's body took place during Victor's stay in Egypt and he probably was an eyewitness of these events. The church of John the Baptist mentioned in this notice is probably the one built by bishop Theophilus at, or very close to, the Serapaeum.Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, Th., Victoris Tonnonennsis episcopi chronica, in: Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (II) (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi 11; Berlin, 1894), 184-206.
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Antonius | Certain | S00098 | Antony, 'the Great', monk of Egypt, ob. 356 | Iohannes Baptista | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E00712 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E00712