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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


The Miracles of *Artemios (38) recount how *Artemios (martyr of Antioch under Julian, S01128), at his shrine in Constantinople, healed a boy, George (the same George as in Mir. 39 and 40), who was a reader in the church; Artemios appeared to him in a dream accompanied by *John (the Baptist, S00020) and *Phebronia (virgin and martyr of Nisibis, S01632), Artemios' companion healer. Written in Greek in Constantinople, 582/668; assembled as a collection, 658/668.

Evidence ID

E04254

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles

Miracles of Artemios (BHG 173), 38

There was a a 9-year-old boy named George, but nicknamed Koutales. He was a son of people who made their living from bartering and exchanging gold. The boy became a reader in the church of the Forerunner. Although his parents trained him to master their business, he found it disreputable, since he was wise despite his youth. Therefore, he quietly withdrew from his parents and visited the church of St. John. His parents brought him back home by force. After a few days, George fell severely ill, with the result that his genitals became swollen and he was on the verge of death. His parents brought him to the church of John and left him there for forty days.

ὁ οὖν φιλάνθρωπος θεός, ὁ τὰ βάθη τῶν καρδιῶν ἐπιστάμενος, ἐπένευσεν ἐπ’ αὐτῷ· καὶ τῇ τριακοστῇ καὶ ὀγδόῃ ἡμέρᾳ, κοιμωμένου αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ ἀριστερῷ ἐμβόλῳ, ὁρᾷ ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ αὑτοῦ ὥσπερ ἐξιόντα ἐκ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τὸν ἅγιον Ἀρτέμιον καὶ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ τὸν Πρόδρομον μηλωτὴν ἐνδεδυμένον·καὶ κατόπισθεν ἀμφοτέρων ὡς ἀπὸ βημάτων τριῶν τὴν ἁγίαν Φεβρωνίαν καὶ ὡς πρὸς τιμὴν τοῦ Προδρόμου προηγούμενον ἔμπροσθεν τὸν ἅγιον Ἀρτέμιον ὡς ἀπὸ ἑνὸς βήματος. καὶ ὡς ἐξῆλθον τὰ κάγκελλα, τὰ πλησίον τοῦ σκευοφυλακίου, καὶ διήρχοντο τὸν ἔμβολον, ἔνθα οἱ νοσοῦντες ἀνέκειντο, παριὼν ὁ Πρόδρομος τὸ βλέμμα αὑτοῦ πρὸς ἕκαστον ἔπεμπεν. ὅτε δὲ συνεπλησίασεν τῇ στρωμνῇ, ἐφ’ ἧς ὁ ῥηθεὶς κατέκειτο Γεώργιος, ἔστη· ὁμοίως καὶ ἡ τὰ μοναχικὰ φοροῦσα ἀπέστη τοῖς αὐτοῖς τρισὶ βήμασιν ἑστῶσα· καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου προκύψαντος ἐκ τοῦ τόπου, οὗ ἦν ὁ Πρόδρομος ἑστηκώς, ἐφώνησεν τὸν ἅγιον, “Ἴθι ὧδε, ἀδελφὲ Ἀρτέμιε”, εἰπών· ὁ δὲ ὀξέως ἐπλησίασεν αὐτῷ καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· “Περὶ τούτου ἦν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος· ἄξιός ἐστιν ἐλέους τυχεῖν”. καὶ ἐκτείνας ὁ ἅγιος τὴν χεῖρα αὑτοῦ καὶ ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ νοσοῦντος μέχρι τῶν ὀνύχων τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ ἐποίησεν τὸν τίμιον σταυρὸν καὶ εἶπεν· “Ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ ἀληθινὸς θεὸς ἡμῶν, αὐτὸς ἰᾶται αὐτὸν ταῖς εὐχαῖς ἡμῶν”. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀποβηματίσαντες κατῄεσαν ὡς ἐπὶ τὸν νάρθηκα. ἔξυπνος δὲ γενόμενος ὁ νοσῶν Γεώργιος καὶ πρὸς τὸν ὄνειρον ἐν ἑαυτῷ γενόμενος ψηλαφᾷ ἑαυτὸν καὶ ηὗρεν ὅλον τὸ σῶμα αὑτοῦ ὑγιῆ ὄντα.

'Then God Who loves mankind (He Who is conversant with the depths of [human] hearts) nodded approvingly upon George; and on the thirty-eighth day as he lay sleeping in the left aisle, in his sleep he saw St. Artemios as though exiting from the sanctuary and behind him the Forerunner clad in a sheepskin; and behind both [of them] approximately at a remove of three paces St. Febronia as though to honour the Forerunner, St. Artemios leading the way in front, approximately at a distance of one step. And as they passed through the railing which was near the sacristy and made their way through the side aisle where the sick were reclining, the Forerunner as he went by cast his gaze upon each one. And when he came near the mattress on which the aforementioned George was lying, he stopped; and similarly she who was wearing monastic garb stopped, standing aloof at a distance of the same three steps. And since [St. Artemios] had gone a little past the spot where the Forerunner was standing, [St. John] addressed the saint: "Come here, brother Artemios", he said. Artemios immediately approached him and said: "We had a conversation about this one; he deserves to receive mercy." And stretching out his hand and starting from the patient's head all the way down to his toenails, the saint made the precious sign of the cross and said: "Our Lord Jesus Christ our true God Himself cures him through our prayers." And then stepping away, they continued on down in the direction of the narthex. The ailing George, after waking up and remembering the dream, touched himself and found himself healthy in his whole body.'


Text: Papadopoulos-Kerameus 1909.
Translation: Crisafulli and Nesbitt 1997, 198-99.
Summary: J. Doroszewska.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Non Liturgical Activity

Saint as patron - of a community
Visiting graves and shrines
Incubation

Miracles

Miracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Children

Source

The Miracles of Artemios is a collection of 45 miracle-stories, effected by the saint at and around his burial and cult site in the church of St. John the Baptist in the Oxeia quarter of Constantinople. Artemios was an Alexandrian dux and martyr of the reign of Julian, who has an independent Martyrdom (E06781). The Miracles does not include this passio, although the stories on occasion show some acquaintance with it. Nothing is known of the cult before the period described in the Miracles.

The
Miracles’ vignettes stretch from (at least) the reign of Maurice (582-602) to that of Constans II (641-668). The current text was compiled in the period 658-668: the terminus post quem is provided by the last datable event mentioned within the text (Mir. 41: 4 October 658) and the terminus ante quem by the fact that Constans is there described as still alive (as he is too in Mir. 23).

The text is not, however, the product of a single pen, but seems instead to be a compilation of several parts. Those narratives at the beginning and end of the collection (Mir.
1-14, 42-45) are short, somewhat unembellished, healing narratives of a more-or-less standardised kind; while those of the central section are far more elaborate and varied, and seem to fall into rough thematic doublets or groups. One such group is conspicuous because all of its miracles (24-31) conclude with some sermonettes on secular medicine. The most obvious explanation for this basic dissonance is that the collection as we have it has been composed from at least three different parts: first, an earlier, more simple collection which opens the text; second, an original composition in the central section (where the addition of the sermonettes to some miracles perhaps indicates the exploitation of another, pre-existent collection of miracles); and third, a final addition of the four concluding miracles.

Besides pre-existent collections of written material preserved within the shrine itself, the text also draws, no doubt, on the oral traditions then circulating amongst the shrine’s clientele. The text itself describes in vivid terms the community of clerics and lay devotees who gathered around the shrine, in particular for its weekend vigil, and several such persons are the protagonists of individual miracles. One such person is an anonymous devotee of the saint’s vigil who features in two long and detailed miracles (Mir. 18, 22); another is George, a cleric and devotee of Artemios, who features as protagonist in three different miracles (Mir.
38-40). It seems clear, then, that the compiler draws from the oral accounts, or perhaps even written records, which the saint’s clerics and devotees produced, and which provide these central miracles with their vivid detail and insight. Indeed, although the compiler of the collection is anonymous, it is reasonable to suppose that he is also a lay devotee of the saint, and perhaps even one of those persons who feature prominently in the text.

Through descriptions of this vigil, and other scattered details, we are offered an unparalleled perspective both on the layout of the church of St. John—which can be reconstructed in some detail—and on the practices of Artemios’s devotees. The saint’s cult was an incubatory healing cult, in which the sick came to the shrine and slept overnight, in the hope of a miraculous cure. The collection underlines the importance of performing ‘the customary rites’ in advance of a cure, which seems to mean the dedication of a votive lamp and other offerings. The weekly vigil is also presented as especially efficacious, for on this night it was possible to sleep in and around the crypt where the tomb which contained the saint’s relics was sited (see e.g. Mir. 17).

Almost all of the cures occur within the church of St John itself, or else upon those who have spent some time there and then withdrawn. The principal mode of healing is a miraculous dream, sometimes in combination with the application of holy oil taken from the tomb’s lamps, or a wax-salve imprinted with the image of the saint. Almost all of the miracles concern healing, but also of a particular kind. For Artemios was a specialist in diseases of the male genitals and groin, which dominate the entire collection. Sick women at the shrine could expect a vision of the martyr *Phebronia, who appears in several places as Artemios’ female equivalent (Mir. 6, 23, 24, 38, 45).

In contrast to equivalent collections, Artemios does not collaborate with secular doctors, or depend on quasi-Hippocratic cures. Indeed, one of the most striking features of the text is the series of sermonettes which punctuate the central miracles and denounce in virulent terms the inadequacies of contemporaneous Hippocratic medicine (Mir. 24-31).

The text was compiled at a moment of high drama for the eastern Roman Empire, in which its territorial holdings, and revenues, had been dramatically reduced through the Arab conquests. This context is however strikingly absent from the collection, which instead paints a picture of vivid and thriving urban life, in particular amongst the capital’s middle classes, who make up the vast majority of the saint’s devotees. Nevertheless, it has been suggested the text offers a powerful political metaphor related to the perceived disease of the body politic: that the cure for all ailments, whether derived from sin or from natural causes, is not to turn to other men, but rather to propitiate and to trust in God.


Discussion

This miracle belongs to the central section of the collection of Artemios' miracles that consists of elaborate and varied narratives (Mir. 15-41; see above, Source).

It is linked with two other miracles: Mir.39 (E07822) and 40 (E04255), in which George is also a protagonist.

'The boy became a reader (
anagnostes) in the church of the Forerunner' - if the term 'reader' is here used in a technical sense, then George would belong to a minor order of the clergy (Crisafulli and Nesbitt 1997, 285).

Bibliography

Text:
Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A., Miracula xlv sancti Artemii, in idem, Varia graeca sacra [Subsidia Byzantina 6] (St. Petersburg: Kirschbaum, 1909): 1-75.

Translation:
Crisafulli, V.S., and J.W. Nesbitt,
The Miracles of St. Artemios. A Collection of Miracle Stories by an Anonymous Author of Seventh Century Byzantium (Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, 1997).

Further reading:
Alwis, A., “Men in Pain: Masculinity, Medicine and the Miracles of St. Artemios,”
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 36. (2012), 1–19.

Busine, A.,“The Dux and the Nun. Hagiography and the Cult of Artemios and Febronia in Constantinople,”
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 72 (2018), 93–111.

Déroche, V., "Pourquoi écrivait-on des recueils de miracles? L’exemple des miracles de saint Artémios," in C. Jolivet-Lévy, M. Kaplan, J.-P. Sodini, (eds),
Les saints et leur sanctuaire à Byzance: textes, images, monuments (Paris, 1993), 95-116.

Deubner, L.,
De incubatione capita quattuor scripsit Ludovicus Deubner. Accedit Laudatio in miracula Sancti Hieromartyris Therapontis e codice Messanensi denuo edita. (Lipsiae: Teubner, 1900).

Efthymiadis, S., "A Day and Ten Months in the Life of a Lonely Bachelor: The Other Byzantium in Miracula S. Artemii 18 and 22,"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 58 (2004), 1-26.

Grosdidier de Matons, J., “Les Miracula Sancti Artemii: Note sur quelques questions de vocabulaire,” in E. Lucchesi and H.D. Saffrey (eds),
Mémorial André-Jean Festugière: Antiquité, Paienne et Chrétienne (Geneva: Cramer, 1984), 263-266.

Haldon, J., “Supplementary Essay: The Miracles of Artemios and Contemporary Attitudes: Context and Significance,” in Crisafulli and Nesbitt,
Miracles of Artemios 33-75.

Kaplan, M., “Une hôtesse importante de l’église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de l’Oxeia à Constantinople : Fébronie,” in D. Sullivan, E.A. Fisher, S. Papaioannou (eds),
Byzantine Religious Culture: Studies in Honor of Alice-Mary Talbot (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 31–52.

Krueger, D.,
Writing and Holiness: The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East (Phildelphia, PA, 2004), 63-70.

Mango, C., “History of the Templon and the Martyrion of St. Artemios at Constantinople,”
Zograf 10 (1979), 40–43.

Rydén, L. “Gaza, Emesa and Constantinople: Late Ancient Cities in the Light of Historiography”, in L. Rydén, J.O. Rosenqvist (eds),
Aspects of Late Antiquity and Early Byzantium (Uppsala: Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 1993).

Rydén, L., “Kyrkan som sjukhus: om den helige Artemios' mirakler,”
Religion och Bibel 44 (1987), 3-16.

Simon, J., “Note sur l’original de la passion de Sainte Fébronie,”
Analecta Bollandiana 42 (1924), 69–76.





Record Created By

Julia Doroszewska, Phil Booth

Date of Entry

30/07/2020

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00020John the BaptistἸωάννηςCertain
S01128Artemios, martyr of Antioch under the emperor JulianἈρτέμιοςCertain
S01632Phebronia, virgin and martyr of NisibisΦεβρωνίαCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Julia Doroszewska, Phil Booth, Cult of Saints, E04254 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04254