Gregory of Nazianzus in his Oration 4 (Against Julian I), of 362/363, refers to the deaths of martyrs, naming the Apostles *John (S00042), *Peter (S00036), *Paul (S00008), and *James (S00108), *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), *Luke (the Evangelist, S00442), *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288), and *Thekla (follower of the Apostle Paul, S00092). He refers to the festivals held in their honour and the miracles effected by their bodily remains. Written in Greek at Nazianzus (central Asia Minor).
E01904
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 4, Against Julian I (CPG 3010.04), 69.
ΞΘ’. Οὐκ ᾐδέσθης τὰ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ σφάγια; οὐδὲ ἐφοβήθης τοὺς μεγάλους ἀγωνιστὰς, τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐκεῖνον, τὸν Πέτρον, τὸν Παῦλον, τὸν Ἰάκωβον, τὸν Στέφανον, τὸν Λουκᾶν, τὸν Ἀνδρέαν, τὴν Θέκλαν, τοὺς ἐπ’ ἐκείνοις τε καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνων τῆς ἀληθείας προκινδυνεύσαντας; οἳ πυρὶ, καὶ σιδήρῳ, καὶ θηρσὶ, καὶ τυράννοις προθύμως ἀντηγωνίσαντο, καὶ παροῦσι κακοῖς καὶ ἀπειλουμένοις, ὥσπερ ἐν ἀλλοτρίοις σώμασιν ἢ ἀσώματοι; τίνος ἕνεκεν; ἵνα μὴ προδῶσι μηδὲ μέχρι ῥήματος τὴν εὐσέβειαν. Ὧν αἱ μεγάλαι τιμαὶ καὶ πανηγύρεις· παρ’ ὧν δαίμονες ἑλαύνονται, καὶ νόσοι θεραπεύονται· ὧν αἱ ἐπιφάνειαι, καὶ ὧν αἱ προῤῥήσεις· ὧν καὶ τὰ σώματα μόνον ἴσα δύνανται ταῖς ἁγίαις ψυχαῖς, ἢ ἐπαφώμενα, ἢ τιμώμενα· ὧν καὶ ῥανίδες αἵματος μόνον, καὶ μικρὰ σύμβολα πάθους ἴσα δρῶσι τοῖς σώμασι.
‘69. Did you have no respect for the victims slain for Christ's sake? Did you not fear those mighty champions, that John, Peter, Paul, James, Stephen, Luke, Andrew, and Thekla? And those who after them and before them faced danger in the cause of Truth, and who joyfully faced fire, sword, wild beasts, tyrants, and evils both real and threatening to come, as though they were in the bodies of others, or rather bodiless! And what for? In order that they might not betray the true faith, even by word. Theirs are the great honours and festivals. By them demons are cast out and diseases healed. Theirs are manifestations, and theirs are prophecies. Their mere bodies can do the same things as their holy souls, when touched or venerated. Even drops of their blood and little signs of their passion, produce equal effect with their bodies!’
Text: Migne, Patrologia Graeca 35 (1857), 589
Translation: Efthymios Rizos
Saint’s feast
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismScepticism/rejection of the cult of saints
Non Liturgical ActivitySaint as patron - of a community
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Exorcism
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Contact relic - dust/sand/earth
Bodily relic - blood
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Pagans
Source
Gregory was born in c. 330 to a wealthy Christian family in Cappadocia. He was educated at Nazianzos, Kaisareia/Caesarea, Athens, and Alexandria, and in 361 he returned to Nazianzos where he was ordained priest by his father, Gregory the Elder, who was bishop of Nazianzos. He was ordained bishop of Sasima in Cappadocia by Basil of Caesarea in 372, but stayed in Nazianzos, administering the local community after the death of his father. After retreating as a monk in Isauria for some years, he moved to Constantinople in 379, in order to lead the struggle for the return of the city to Nicene Orthodoxy. Two years later, the Arians were ousted by the emperor Theodosius I, and Gregory became bishop of Constantinople. In 381, he convened the Council of Constantinople, at the end of which he resigned his throne and retired to Cappadocia where he died in 390.Gregory published his two polemical treatises against the emperor Julian the Apostate (361-363) after the emperor had declared his adherence to the pagan religion. They belong to the author's earliest rhetorical works, written shortly after his ordination to the priesthood.
On the manuscripts of this text, see:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/1798/
Discussion
Gregory denounces Julian’s decision to remove the Christian symbols from the standards of the army, which he describes as an insult against Christ and his martyrs, invoking the power of the latter as unbeatable champions. The author names the first martyrs of the apostolic era as the chief examples, but his words evidently refer to all the martyrs. For him, the proof of their extraordinary grace and glory is the cult they receive through festivals, and the various miracles they perform not only by the power of their spirit, but also by the smallest piece of their relics.Bibliography
Text:Migne, J.-P., Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca 35 (Paris: Imprimerie Catholique, 1857), 532-664 (esp. 589).
Efthymios Rizos
21/11/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Παῦλος | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Στέφανος | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Πέτρος | Certain | S00042 | John, the Apostle and Evangelist | Ἰωάννης | Certain | S00058 | James, 'brother of the Lord' | Uncertain | S00092 | Thekla, follower of the Apostle Paul | Θέκλα | Certain | S00108 | James, the Apostle, son of Zebedee | Ἰάκωβος | Uncertain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Ἀνδρέας | Certain | S00442 | Luke, the Evangelist | Λουκᾶς | Certain |
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