The Life of *Melania the Younger (aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439, S01134), by Gerontius, a monk at her monastery, recounts that she stayed at the martyrion of *Leontios (martyr of Tripolis S00216) in Tripolis (Roman province of Phoenice), when travelling to Constantinople in 436; the martyr helps her obtain the draft animals she needs to pursue her journey. Written in Greek or in Latin, probably in Jerusalem, c. 450.
E02001
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives of saint
Gerontius, Life of Melania the Younger 52
Travelling from Jerusalem to Constantinople, Melania stops at Tripolis.
Τὸ δὲ σημεῖον, ὅπερ ἐποίησεν ὁ Κύριος δί αὐτῆς ἐν Τριπόλει, σιωπῇ παρελθεῖν οὐκ ἀκίνδυνον ἡγησάμην, διότι, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, 'Μυστήριον βασιλέως κρύπτειν καλόν, τὰ δὲ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνακαλύπτειν ἔνδοξον'. Ὡς γὰρ εἰσήλθομεν ἐκαῖσε, ἐμείναμεν ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ, τοῦ ἁγίου Λεοντίου, ἐν ᾧ μαρτυρίῳ σημεῖα οὐκ ὀλίγα ἐπιτελοῦνται.
'I do not consider it without risk to pass over in silence the miracle that God did on her behalf in Tripolis, because, as the Scripture says, "It is good to hide a king's secret, but the works of God are glorious to reveal." When we arrived there, we stayed in the martyrion of Saint Leontius, in whose shrine not a few miracles took place.'
A public official made it very difficult for Melania to get the draft animals she needed in order to proceed towards Constantinople, until the martyr Leontios, in answer to Melania's prayers, rebuked him and made him change his mind.
The Latin and Greek texts do not differ significantly.
Text: Gorce 1962, p. 226.
Translation: Clark 1984, p. 63.
Cult building - independent (church)
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle after death
Material support (supply of food, water, drink, money)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Officials
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 journey occurred in the year 436.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 | S00216 | Leontios, martyr of Tripolis (Phoenicia) | Λεοντίος | Certain | S01134 | Melania the Younger, aristocratic ascetic in Jerusalem, ob. 439 | Certain |
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