Palladius of Helenopolis, in his Historical Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom, of 408 or shortly after,reports that, in 402, the so-called 'Tall Brothers', a group of Egyptian ascetics, excommunicated by Theophilos of Alexandria, met the empress Eudoxia at the shrine of *John the Baptist (S00020) in the Constantinopolitan suburb of the Hebdomon. Written in Greek at Syene (Aswan, Upper Egypt).
Evidence ID
E02726
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Palladius of Helenopolis
Palladius of Helenopolis, Historical Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom (BHG 870, 870e, 870f; CPG 6037), VIII. 13-17
καὶ ἐντευξάμενοι τοῖς αὐγούστοις προσέρχονται ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τῇ βασιλίσσῃ δεηθέντες, τῶν μὲν ἀντιδίκων μοναχῶν τὴν δέησιν παρὰ τοῖς ἐπάρχοις γυμνασθῆναι, τὸν δὲ Θεόφιλον παραστάντα καὶ ἄκοντα ἐπὶ Ἰωάννου κριθῆναι.
‘They appealed to the emperors and met the empress at the shrine of Saint John, with the petition that the grievance of their rival monks be tried by the Praetorian Prefect, while Theophilos be summoned, even against his will, in order to be tried by John.’
Text: Malingrey and Leclercq 1988.
Translation: E. Rizos.
Cult Places
Martyr shrine (martyrion, bet sāhedwātā, etc.)
Source
The Historical Dialogue of Palladios, bishop of Helenopolis, with Theodoros, deacon of Rome, on the Life and Conduct of the blessed John, bishop of Constantinople, called Chrysostom (‘the Golden Mouth’) survives in a single manuscript of the eleventh century (Laurentianus IX.14). There are two critical editions of the text, using different numerations (Coleman-Norton 1928; Malingrey and Leclercq 1988).The identification of the author of our text with Palladios of Helenopolis, author of the Lausiac History, was doubted in the past, but is now accepted as certain. Born in 364 in Galatia in Asia Minor, Palladios joined monastic communities of Palestine and Egypt. In Egypt, he was associated with the Origenist disciples of Evagrios of Pontus. In c. 399, he left for Constantinople where he became closely associated with John Chrysostom. By AD 400, the latter ordained him as bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia. Palladios stood by his new protector throughout John’s conflict with Pope Theophilos of Alexandria (401-404) over the affair of the Tall Brothers, former associates of Palladios from Egypt. One year after John’s exile in 404, Palladios visited Rome in order to plead on John’s behalf with Pope Innocent I (401-411). One year later (406), he was exiled to Syene (Aswan), where he received the news of John’s death in Pontus (407) and wrote the Historical Dialogue (in 408 or shortly later).
The Historical Dialogue is one of our main sources of biographical information on Chrysostom and some of his close associates, like Olympias. Its explicitly political and polemical character, however, makes this a special piece of hagiography. Written in 408 or shortly later, amidst the defeat of Chrysostom’s party and under the frustration caused by his recent death, this resentful book portrays its hero as a holy man surrounded by holy ascetics, and dying as a martyr, while demonising his enemies as deranged and vile men acting under the inspiration of the devil for the detriment of the Church. The work has the form of a dialogue between an anonymous eastern bishop and a deacon of Rome named Theodoros, purportedly taking place in Rome. Although the bishop is identified with Palladios in the title, and the setting is perhaps inspired by Palladios’ own visit to Rome in 405, the text is clearly not the actual record of a real meeting. The two discussants are fictitious protagonists of an imaginary visit to Rome by a representative of Chrysostom’s party, who clears John and his associates from all the accusations and rumours circulating about them, denounces Theophilos and his followers, lists those who sided with each of the two parties, and enumerates all those who were exiled or wronged for their support to John – including Palladios himself. The ultimate purpose of the book is to plead with the Church of Rome and Pope Innocent I (401-411) to break their communion with Theophilos and the bishops of the East, until an Ecumenical Council is convoked on the matter – presented as a statement of Theodoros in 20.429-439).
The structure of the text is as follows:
1–4. Prologue and subject of the purported dialogue. Historical context of the conflict in the East.
5–11. The Life of John Chrysostom.
12–19. Defence of John and his closest associates (16.174-17 focusing on the deaconess Olympias and the Egyptian ascetics Ammonios, Hierax, Isaak, and Isaak).
20. Enumeration of the exiled followers of John (including the author himself), and of the bishops siding with Theophilos in Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine. Conclusion.
Discussion
This passage refers to an episode of the affair of the Tall Brothers, and more specifically to the plea of the Egyptian monks with the Empress Eudoxia whom they met during the festival of John the Baptist at the shrine housing his head at the Hebdomon on 24 June 402. The monks petitioned with the empress that she summon Pope Theophilos of Alexandria to Constantinople in order to be tried for a number of criminal accusations (on the context, see Kelly 1995, 200-201). The text provides no details about the meeting which Sozomen (HE 8.13) describes in a different way – the monks voice their complaints, while Eudoxia passes through the city on her carriage, and stops to listen to them. Meetings between emperors and commoners during ecclesiastical festivals in Constantinople are recorded in various cases. Much like the spectacles of the hippodrome, the appearance of the emperors at church festivals provided opportunities of direct contact between the sovereigns and the people, which were occasionally seized by aggrieved people.Bibliography
Text:Coleman-Norton, P.R., Palladii Dialogus de Vita S. Joannis Chrysostomi (Cambridge, 1928).
Malingrey, A.-M., and Leclercq, P., Palladios: Dialogue sur la vie de Jean Chrysostome (Sources Chretiennes 341; Paris, 1988), with French translation.
Translations:
Barnes, T. D., and Bevan, G.A., The Funerary Speech for John Chrysostom (Translated Texts for Historians 60; Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013).
Meyer, R.T., Palladius: Dialogue on the Life of St. John Chrysostom (Ancient Christian Writers 45; New York: Newman Press, 1984).
Moore, H., The Dialogue of Palladius concerning the Life of Chrysostom (London and New York, 1921).
Schläpfer, L., Das Leben des heiligen Johannes Chrysostomus (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1966) (German).
Further reading:
Katos, D., Palladius of Helenopolis: The Origenist Advocate (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Van Nuffelen, P., "Palladius and the Johannite Schism," Journal of Ecclesiastical History 64 (2013), 1-19.
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
14/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Ίωάννης | Certain |
|---|
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