The Life of *Melania the Younger (aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439, S01134), by Gerontius, a monk at her monastery, recounts how, in 417/418, she placed relics of the prophet *Zechariah (S00283), *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) and the *Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (S00103) in the oratory of the female monastery she founded on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem; and how she later built a small martyrion, whose dedication is not recorded, for the male monastery she had founded subsequently. Written in Greek or Latin, probably in Jerusalem, c. 450.
E01999
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Gerontius, Life of Melania the Younger 48, 57 and 59
Chapter 48
Ὅθεν ἐσπούδασεν εὐκτήριον ἐν τῷ μοναστηρίῳ οἰκοδομῆσαι καὸ στῆσαι θυσιαστήριον ἐν αὐτῷ, ἵνα συνεχῶς ἀξιοῦνται τῆς μεταλήψεως τῶν ἁγίων μυστηρίων · καὶ παρεσκεύασεν ἐπιτελεῖσθαι αὐταῖς καθ' ἑκάστην ἑβδομάδα δύο ἀναφορὰς ἐκτὸς τῶν ἑορτῶν, μίαν τῇ παρασκευῇ καὶ μίαν τῇ κυριακῇ. Κατέθετο δὲ ἐκεῖσε καὶ λείψανα ἁγίων μαρτύρων, λέγω δὴ Ζαχαρίου τοῦ προφήτου καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πρωτομάρτυρος Στεφάνου καὶ τῶν ἐν Σεβαστείᾳ μαρτυρησάντων ἁγίων τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἑτέρων ὧν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ ὀνόματα γινώσκει.
'Thus she was eager to have an oratory (eukterion) built in the monastery and to have an altar erected in it, so that they would always have the honor of participating in the holy mysteries. Melania arranged for the sisters to accomplish two eucharistic sacrifices each week, apart from the feast days, one on Friday and one on Sunday. She placed in the oratory the relics of the holy martyrs, I mean those of the prophet Zechariah, the holy protomartyr Stephen, the holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, and others, whose names God knows.'
Chapter 57
Later Melania also founds a male monastery.
Θεωρήσασα δὲ καλῶς ἐπιτελουμένην τὴν ψαλμῳδίαν ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὑτὸ τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων μοναχῶν, ἕτερος θεῖος αὐτήν ὑπεισέρχεται πόθος, καὶ βουλεύεται μαρτύριον μικρὸν οἰκοδομῆσαι, λέγουσα πρὸς τὴν ἐμὴν ἐλεεινότητα · 'Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ ἔστησαν οἱ πόδες τοῦ Κυρίου οὖν ἐνταῦθα σεμνὸν εὐκτήριον, ἵνα μετὰ τὴν ἐμὴν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς Κύριον ἐκδημίαν ἡ προσφορὰ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν κυρίων ἀδιαλείπτως μέλλει καὶ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ ἐπιτελεῖσθαι.' Καὶ ἐπειδὴ πᾶν θέλημα αὐτῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμία τὸν τῶν Θεὸν ἀνέπαυεν, ἐν ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις ἐτελέσθη τὸ ἔργον.
'And when she saw how well the psalmody was performed in the church by the God-loving monks, another pious desire came to her: she wanted to have built a small martyrion. Thus she said to my own humble self, "This is the place in which the feet of the Lord stood. Therefore let us build here a holy oratory (eukterion), so that after my journey from this world to the Lord, an offering on behalf of my soul and those of my masters can also be offered unceasingly in this place." Since every wish and desire of hers satisfied the God of all things, the work was completed in a few days.'
Subsequently (in chapters 58 and 59), the empress Eudocia, on a visit to Jerusalem, attends the dedication of this martyrion, after being cured of a twisted ankle (which had threatened to prevent her doing this) through the prayers of Melania. The Greek text specifies that the dedication involved the deposition in the martyrion of (unnamed) holy relics (hagion leipsanon), a detail that is absent in the Latin.
The Latin and Greek texts of these chapters differ somewhat, but primarily over the precise locations and chronology of events.
Text: Gorce 1962, pp. 218; 240-4.
Translation: Clark 1984, pp. 60; 69-72.
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
RelicsTransfer, translation and deposition of relics
Bodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Monarchs and their family
Source
The Life of Melania the Younger was composed in the middle of the 5th century, shortly after Melania’s death (439 AD). It is extant in Latin and Greek versions. There are some small differences between these texts, but, in relation to the cult of saints, nothing of great significance. Both texts contain 70 chapters. Scholars discuss the question of the Life’s original language. It is currently thought that neither of the preserved versions is original, but that the Greek Life is closer to the archetype.The author of the Life of Melania was Gerontius, a monk and a superior in her monastery on the Mount of Olives after her death. Gerontius presents his protagonist as an extraordinarily generous benefactor of the church, as a perfect (but not excessive) ascetic, and as a humane founder and superior of monasteries, while in no way playing down the high status of his subject and the contacts that this gave her. Although Melania effects a few cures (in chapters 59-61), and is described as being received into heaven at her death, the miraculous plays very little part in the text and there is no account of posthumous miracles at her grave.
Discussion
Melania set up her female monastery in 417/418, soon after her arrival in Jerusalem.Both the Greek and Latin texts specify that the Zechariah, whose relics were deposited in the oratory of the female monastery, was a prophet, and so presumably the prophet Zechariah of the Old Testament (S00283), whose body had been discovered close to Eleutheropolis (E04059). Evidence of his cult beyond his place of burial is, however, limited, so it is possible that these relics were of the father of John the Baptist (S00597), who, according to Christian tradition, was believed to have died a martyr. John's father could be described as a prophet, since, in the Benedictus, at the time of John's circumcision, he prophesied the coming of the Saviour and John's role as his Forerunner (Luke 1:68-79).
The relics of Stephen deposited in the female oratory will have been obtained at some point after the sensational discovery of his body in 415. Later (in chapter 64), Gerontius tells us that the martyrion of the male monastery, which Melania built and dedicated a few years later, contained relics of Stephen (see E02003). These were presumably the same relics as those described here in the oratory of the female monastery, transferred to a more suitable martyr-shrine/martyrion.
Bibliography
Edition, French translations and commentary:Vie de Sainte Mélanie, ed. and trans. D. Gorce, Sources Chrétiennes 90, Paris 1962. (Greek text)
La vie latine de Sainte Mélanie, ed. and trans. P. Laurence, Jerusalem 2002.
English translations:
The Life of Melania the Younger, trans. E. Clark, New York 1984. With commentary.
Lives of Roman Christian Women, trans. C. White, Penguin Classics 2010, pp. 182-230.
Katarzyna Wojtalik
11/11/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Στεφάνος | Certain | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain | S00103 | Forty Martyrs of Sebaste | Certain | S00283 | Zechariah, Old Testament prophet | Ζαχαρίος | Uncertain | S00597 | Zechariah, father of John the Baptist | Uncertain | S01134 | Melania the Younger, aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439 | Certain |
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