Palladius of Helenopolis, in his Lausiac History (35), recounts his meeting with *Ioannes/John of Lykopolis (ascetic of Egypt, ob. 394, S00102) at Lykopolis (Upper Egypt), who had the charisma of prophecy and was visited by many seeking his advice and blessing. Written in Greek at Aspuna or Ankyra (both Galatia, central Asia Minor), 419/420.
Evidence ID
E03325
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Monastic collections (apophthegmata, etc.)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Palladius of Helenopolis
Palladius of Helenopolis, Lausiac History (BHG 1435-1438v; CPG 6036), 35
Summary:
Ioannes of Lykopolis was a former carpenter and brother of a dyer, who became a monk at the age of twenty-five. He became a hermit on the mountain of Lykopolis. He had the charisma of prophecy, and corresponded with the emperor Theodosius I, predicting his victories over the usurpers Maximus and Eugenius. When Palladios visited him, he found the vestibule of his cell (proeisodikon), where visitors sat waiting, closed. Later they build a larger one, with a capacity of one hundred men. At their meeting, Ioannes appeared to know Palladios’ temptations and thoughts, told him about his father and siblings, and predicted that he would experience hardships in his life. He predicted Palladios' episcopal ordination and troubles, which he would only avoid by staying in the desert. Indeed three years later Palladios fell ill and moved to Alexandria, then Palestine, and finally to Bithynia where he was associated with John Chrysostom and became bishop. Ioannes also met the pious lady Poimenia and revealed to her troubles she would encounter, if she called at Alexandria with her boats. The prophecy came true.
Text: Bartelink et al. 1974.
Summary: E. Rizos.
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting/veneration of living saint
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Visiting/veneration of living saint
Composing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Monarchs and their family
Merchants and artisans
Source
Born in 364 in Galatia in central Asia Minor, Palladius became a monk in 386, spending some years in Palestine, before moving to Alexandria. In c. 390, he joined the monastic community of Nitria, where he spent nine years, under Makarios of Alexandria and Evagrios of Pontus. In c. 399, he returned briefly to Palestine and then left for Constantinople where he became closely associated with John Chrysostom. By 400, he was ordained bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia (north-west Asia Minor), probably by Chrysostom. Palladius stood by his new protector throughout John’s conflict with Pope Theophilos of Alexandria over the affair of the Tall Brothers and the Council of the Oak. One year after John’s exile in 404, Palladius visited Rome in order to plead on John’s behalf with Pope Innocent I (401-411). Returning to Constantinople, he was arrested and one year later (406), he was exiled to Syene (Aswan) and Antinoe in Egypt. There he received the news of John’s death in Pontus (407) and wrote the Historical Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom (in 408 or shortly after, E02400). In the 410s, he was allowed to return to his native Galatia, and was restored as a bishop in the imperial church, being appointed to the see of Aspona.After his return from exile, in c. 419/420, Palladius published the Lausiakon (‘Book for Lausos’, widely known as the Lausiac History), a book commissioned by and dedicated to the patrician Lausos (imperial chamberlain in 420-422). Along with the History of the Monks of Egypt (E03558, composed in 395/397), Palladius’ work inaugurates the monastic genre of edifying stories and apophthegms. It immediately became a success: two decades after its publication, the ecclesiastical historian Socrates used the Lausiac History as a source (4.23.78), and it was translated into Latin and Syriac. There are also Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Arabic translations. Its copious manuscript tradition (242 manuscripts) and unstable transmission render a definitive critical edition of the text very difficult. On the manuscript tradition of the Greek text, see:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/6840/
Like all monastic collections, the Lausiac History was mainly written to provide exemplars of ascetic virtue and edifying stories for broader spiritual benefit, rather than to encourage the active cult of the men and women included within it – indeed some of them serve as negative examples to avoid. It was, therefore, difficult for us to decide how to treat this work in our database, focused as it is on the cult of saints. At one extreme, we could have entered every (positive) figure within it as a saint, while, at the other extreme, we might have ignored the text altogether. In the end we came to a compromise position, with one overview entry for the full text (E03176), where all the holy men and women are named, and individual entries for chapters that either reveal interesting incidental details of saintly cult or cover major figures who, in time, came to attract cult. The Lausiac History in its many manuscripts and its many translations was in fact one of the principal ways these figures came to be known, and often venerated, across the Christian world. Some of its chapters were, indeed, later detached from the collection, and circulated as independent pieces of hagiography.
Discussion
John of Lykopolis was one of the most revered holy men in late fourth-century Egypt, attracting such a great number of visitors that his cell had to be adapted to accommodate large numbers of visitors. Palladius met him shortly before his death in 394, roughly at the same time as the authors of the History of the Monks in Egypt, who also mention John's famous prophecies of Theodosius I's victories. Palladius adduces his own experience of the man's foresight, as he recalls John's predictions of the tribulations of his episcopate.Bibliography
Text:Butler, Cuthbert. The Lausiac History of Palladius: Greek Text Edited with Introduction and Notes. Texts and Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1904.
Bartelink, G. J. M., Barchiesi, M. and Mohrmann, C. Palladio, La Storia Lausiaca. Scrittori Greci E Latini. Milano: Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, Arnoldo Mondadori, 1974. (with Italian translation)
English Translations:
Wortley, J. Palladius, the Lausiac History, Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications, 2015.
Meyer, R. T. Palladius, the Lausiac History, Westminster MD: Newman Press: 1965.
Lowtber Clarke, W. K. The Lausiac History of Palladius, London: Macmillan, 1918.
Further reading:
Katos, D. Palladius of Helenopolis: the Origenist Advocate. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Rapp, C. ‘Palladius, Lausus and the Historia Lausiaca.’ In C. Sode, S. Takács (eds.), Novum Millennium. Studies on Byzantine History and Culture Dedicated to Paul Speck, 19 December 1999, Aldershot: Ashgate, 279-289.
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
02/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00102 | Ioannes/John of Lycopolis, ascetic of Egypt, ob. c. 395 | Ἰωάννης | Certain |
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