John Chrysostom delivers a homily On Lazarus during the feast of the martyrs *Bernike, Prosdoke and Domnina (mother and daughters, martyrs of Antioch, S01008). Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria), 386/397.
Evidence ID
E02569
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom, On Lazarus (CPG 4356; BHG 275)
Summary
The sermon is given during spring-time, in the period following Easter. The first part of the homily (col. 641-643) refers to the resurrection of Lazarus, thus finishing an earlier sermon. The last section (644) refers to the three martyrs.
Summary: Efthymios Rizos
Liturgical ActivitiesSermon/homily
FestivalsBurial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Non Liturgical Activity
Sermon/homily
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - cemetery/catacomb
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
John of Antioch, bishop of Constantinople, who came to be known as Chrysostom (the Golden Mouth), was born in 344/354 in Antioch on the Orontes where he studied under Libanius. He joined the Nicene Christian community of Antioch, led by bishop Meletios of Antioch, and was ordained priest by Meletios’ successor, Flavianos in 386. Acquiring a great reputation as a preacher, John was appointed as bishop of Constantinople in 397. Clashing with the bishop of Alexandria Theophilos and the empress Eudoxia in 403/404, Chrysostom was deposed and banished to Cucusus in Cappadocia and died in Comana of Pontus in 407.On the manuscript tradition of this text (8 manuscripts), see:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/8475/
Discussion
This sermon was given at Antioch, on the festival of three female martyrs known in the hagiographic tradition as Bernike, Prosdoke, and Domnina – their names are not mentioned by the author. Their feast is recorded by the Syriac Martyrology on 29 April (E01479), and by the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on 13 April. Both in this text and in another sermon on the same saints (E02568), Chrysostom reports that this feast fell in Spring, after Easter.The subject of this feast is a group of three women who commit suicide, while being taken to court by soldiers. Their story is apparently based on an episode of the tetrarchic persecutions, which is mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History 8.12; see E00317), without giving the names of the three women. Chrysostom recounts the story in more detail in his other sermon on the same feast (E02568). Ambrose (in De virginibus 3.7.33–7) associates them with the story of *Pelagia, another virgin who committed suicide in Antioch (E02528). A central element in both legends is the acceptance of suicide as a valid form of martyrdom for women.
Bibliography
Text:Migne, J.-P., Patrologia Graeca 50 (Paris: Imprimerie Catholique, 1862), 641-644.
Further reading:
Downey, G., Ancient Antioch (Princeton, 1961).
Drobner, H.R., The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 327-337.
Kelly, J.N.D., Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom. Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1995).
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
27/06/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01008 | Prosdoke, Bernike and Domnina, mother and two daughters, martyrs of Antioch | Certain |
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