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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Greek inscription on a boundary stone granted probably by the emperor Justinian to a sanctuary of unidentified martyrs *Prokopios and *Ioannes/John. Found near Verinopolis (Galatia, central Asia Minor). 527-565.

Evidence ID

E01011

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

ὅροι
παρασχ<ε>-
θέντες
κατὰ θεῖ-
ο
̣ν θέσ-
πισμα
τοῖς ἁγί-
οις μάρ-
τυσιν
Προκοπίῳ
κ(αὶ) Ἰωάννι

'Boundaries granted to (the church of) the holy martyrs Prokopios and John, according to the divine constitution.'


Text:
Studia Pontica III/1, no. 254.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Non Liturgical Activity

Seeking asylum at church/shrine
Awarding privileges to cult centres

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Monarchs and their family

Source

Stone block, seen and copied by J.G.C. Anderson in 1899 at Babali, to the north of Kerkennis Kale (area of ancient Verinopolis, Galatia, central Asia Minor). When recorded, it was kept in the yard of a house. There is no published detailed description of the monument.

Discussion

The inscription marked the boundaries of a church or an estate belonging to a church dedicated to martyrs Prokopios and John. Franz Cumont, the first editor, suggested that Prokopios was to be identified with the homonymous martyr of Kaisareia/Caesarea Maritima (Palestine), killed under Diocletian and mentioned by Eusebius (E00296). He was famous for being the first Diocletianic martyr in that region. As for John, Cumont identified him with a blind Egyptian, likewise martyred in Palestine and known to Eusebius (E00388), or with the person who tore the copy of the edict initiating the Great Persecutions, publicly displayed in Nikomedia (Eus. HE VIII 5). However, these suppositions lack any justified basis, and François Halkin rightly avoids any attempt to identify the martyrs. Given the location of the inscription, it is possible that Prokopios was the martyr of Kaisareia in Cappadocia, a companion of Quartus, recorded in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum (see: E02766). But a pair of local martyrs is also possible.

Dating: 527-565, as the phrasing of the inscription resembles that of boundary stone inscriptions granted by the emperor Justinian (e.g. E00976; E00996).


Bibliography

Edition:
Anderson, J.G.C., Cumont, F., Grégoire, H., Studia Pontica, vol. 3, part 1: Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines du Ponte et de l'Arménie (Brussels: Lamertin, 1910), no. 254.

Further reading:
Amelotti, M., Migliardi Zingale, L., (eds.), Le costitutioni giustinianee nei papiri e nelle epigrafi (Milan: Giuffrè, 1985), 132, 135.

Destephen, S., "Martyrs locaux et cultes civiques en Asie Mineure", in: J.C. Caillet, S. Destephen, B. Dumézil, H. Inglebert, Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IVe-VIIe siècle) (Paris: éditions A. & J. Picard, 2015), 104.

Feissel, D.,
Documents, droit, diplomatique de l'Empire romain tardif (Bilans de recherche 7, Paris, 2010), 48.

Halkin, F., "Inscriptions grecques relatives à l'hagiographie, IX, Asie Mineure",
Analecta Bollandiana 71 (1953), 95-96.

Reference works:
Delehaye, H., "Bulletin des publications hagiographiques", Analecta Bollandiana 30 (1911), 336.


Record Created By

Pawel Nowakowski

Date of Entry

21/12/2015

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00043John, of very uncertain identificationἸωάννηςCertain
S00118Prokopios, martyr of Caesarea of PalestineΠροκόπιοςUncertain
S00647Ioannes/John, a blind Egyptian martyred in Palestine, ob. 309ἸωάννηςUncertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Pawel Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E01011 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01011