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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Greek inscription commemorating the construction or restoration of an oratory (eukterion) of an unnamed *Archangel. Found at Miliopo (the Island of Ikaria, the Aegean Islands). Probably 5th-6th c.

Evidence ID

E03516

Type of Evidence

Inscriptions - Formal inscriptions (stone, mosaic, etc.)

Archaeological and architectural - Cult buildings (churches, mausolea)

+ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου ἐπισκώπου ἡμ̣̣ν Σχωλαστίκου ἐ[- - -]ώθη τὼ εὐκτή-
ριον τοῦ ἀρχανγέλου

1. ἐ[πληρ]ώθη or ἐ[ψηφ]ώθη Deligiannakis, possibly also ἐ[τελει]ώθη

'+ Under our most holy bishop Scholastikos, was [- - -] this oratory (
eukterion) of the Archangel.'

Text: Deligiannakis 2015, 267.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Non Liturgical Activity

Renovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Construction of cult buildings

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Source

The inscription is carved on a panel of the chancel screen of a church at the site 'Taxiarchis' at Miliopo (the Island of Ikaria). First published by Georgios Deligiannakis in 2015, after photographs and a squeeze. The site had been surveyed by Dimitrios Lazaridis and described in his paper in Αρχαιλογικόν Δελτίον in 1968, but he did not edit the inscription. The inscription was mentioned by Ioannes Melas in 1958, and Themistokles Katsaros in 2006. It was omitted in the volume of the Inscriptiones Graecae (XII 6,2), covering the island of Ikaria.

According to Lazaridis, the church was originally a three-aisled basilica, which after a destruction was restored as a smaller, one-aisled sanctuary. Lazaridis dated its construction to the 5th c.


Discussion

The inscription refers to the construction or a restoration of the church. According to Deligiannakis, our text seems to be later than another carved inscription from the same church, which does not use set formulae characteristic of developed Christian epigraphy, so the latter option is more plausible.

Bishop Scholastikos is not otherwise attested. Deligiannakis stresses the importance of this attestation, as, depending on the precise date of the inscription, this may be the first mention of a bishopric on Ikaria.

As for the patron saint, an unnamed Archangel, Deligiannakis suggests that this could have been Michael who is often the patron of churches in Anatolia. Deligiannakis points out that, on the Ionian coast, the cult of Archangels was particularly strong at Miletos.

Dating: based on the shape of letters and the archaeological context, Deligiannakis dates the inscription to the 5th or 6th c.


Bibliography

Edition:
Deligiannakis, G., "Εκχριστιανίζοντας τις νησιωτικές κοινότητες του ανατολικού Αιγαίου. Η περίπτωση της νήσου Ικαρίας [Christianizing island communities in the Eastern Aegean. The case of Ikaria]", Δελτίον της Χριστιανικής Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 36 (2015), 263-274.

Further reading:
Katsaros, Th., Ικαριακά Σύμμεικτα (Athens: , 2006), 184-186 and Fig. 204-209.

Melas, I., Ἱστορία τῆς νήσου Ἰκαρίας, vol. 2 (Athens: J. Melas, 1958), 251, 255.

Reference works:
Bulletin épigraphique (2016), 560.

Images



Photograph of the inscription. From: Deligiannakis 2015, 269.


Photograph of the squeeze and the apse in the background. From: Deligiannakis 2015, 268.






















Record Created By

Paweł Nowakowski

Date of Entry

03/08/2017

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00181Michael, the ArchangelἀρχάνγελοςUncertain
S00191Archangels, unnamed or name lostἀρχάνγελοςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Paweł Nowakowski, Cult of Saints, E03516 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03516