The Life of *Melania the Younger (aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439, S01134), by Gerontius, a monk at her monastery, recounts how Melania erected a shrine of the *Apostles (Apostoleion) at her monastery on the Mount of Olives at Jerusalem, in c. 430, and how her husband and mother were buried there. Written in Greek or Latin, probably in Jerusalem, c. 450.
Evidence ID
E02000
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Gerontius, Life of Melania the Younger 49
Gerontius tells of the death of Melania's husband, Pinianus (here described as her spiritual brother):
Μετὰ γαῤ τὴν ἐν Κυρίῳ κοίμησιν τοῦ εἰρημένου αὐτῆς ἀδελφοῦ ἔμεινεν αὕτη ἐν τῷ ἀποστολείῳ, ὅπερ αὐτὴ πρότερον μικρὸν ᾠκοδόμησεν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ λείψανον τοῦ μακαρίου κατέθετο.
'After her brother, whom we have mentioned, fell asleep in the Lord, Melania remained in the Apostoleion that she had constructed a short time before and in which she had also deposited the remains of the blessed man.'
Later in the chapter we are told that Melania's mother (Albina) was also buried there.
The Latin and Greek texts do not differ significantly.
Text: Gorce 1962, p. 220.
Translation: Clark 1984, p. 61.
Cult Places
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
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
This shrine of the apostles, built by Melania and used by her to bury her mother and her husband, was closely associated with the cave on the Mount of Olives, which in Melania's time was believed to be where the Apostles, with Jesus, celebrated the Last Supper (Vincent and Abel 1914, 383-7).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.
Further reading:
H. Vincent and F.-M. Abel, Jérusalem. Recherches de topographie, d'archéologie et d'histoire. Tome second: Jérusalem nouvelle, Paris 1914.
Record Created By
Katarzyna Wojtalik
Date of Entry
11/11/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00084 | Apostles, unnamed or name lost | Certain | S01134 | Melania the Younger, aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439 | Certain |
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