Evagrius Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History (4.31), mentions the rebuilding of the shrine of the *Apostles (S02422) at Constantinople by the emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), reporting that it hosted the burials of emperors and bishops. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria), 593/594.
Evidence ID
E04903
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Major author/Major anonymous work
Evagrius Scholasticus
Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, 4.31, 41-45
... Εἴργασται δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ τῶν θεσπεσίων ἀποστόλων νηὸς οὐκ ἐθέλων ἑτέρῳ τὰ πρωτεῖα διδόναι· ἐν ᾧ οἵ τε βασιλεῖς οἵ τε ἱερωμένοι τῆς νενομισμένης ταφῆς τυγχάνουσι. Περὶ μὲν οὖν τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἁμωσγέπως εἰπεῖν τοιαῦτα.
‘The shrine of the Holy Apostles, which does not willingly grant precedence to any other building, was also constructed by him: in it the emperors and the clergy receive due burial.’
Text: Bidez, Parmentier 2014.
Translation: Whitby 2010.
Cult PlacesRenovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityRenovation and embellishment of cult buildings
Burial ad sanctos
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Monarchs and their family
Source
Evagrius was born in about 535 in the Syrian city of Epiphania. Educated at Antioch and Constantinople, he pursued a career as a lawyer at Antioch, serving as a legal advisor to Patriarch Gregory (570-592). He wrote the Ecclesiastical History in 593/4, with the express purpose of covering the period following the coverage of the mid 5th century ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. His narrative starts with Nestorius and the Council of Ephesus (431) and stops with the death of Evagrius’ patron, Gregory of Antioch, in 592. The work offers a balanced mixture of ecclesiastical and secular events in the East Roman Empire, being best informed about Antioch and Syria. Evagrius also published a dossier of original documents from the archive of Patriarch Gregory of Antioch, which has not survived.Discussion
Justinian’s rebuilding of the Holy Apostles is also mentioned by Procopius in the Buildings (E04332). Evagrius’ phrase οἵ τε βασιλεῖς οἵ τε ἱερωμένοι, most probably means that the shrine received the burials not only of emperors, but also of patriarchs of Constantinople. This is a rare explicit attestation of the use of this shrine for episcopal burials, a practice which may have started in the early 5th century, when the remains of John Chrysostom were brought and deposited in the church (E04017, E04187, E03595, E01312). The medieval descriptions of the Holy Apostles focus on the tombs of the emperors and the collection of relics, which were venerated at the shrine, without mentioning the patriarchal tombs.Bibliography
Text and French translation:Bidez, J., and Parmentier, L., Evagre le Scholastique, Histoire ecclésiastique (Sources Chrétiennes 542, 566; Paris, 2011, 2014), with commentary by L. Angliviel de la Beaumelle, and G. Sabbah, and French translation by A.-J.Festugière, B. Grillet, and G. Sabbah.
Other translations:
Whitby, M., The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus (Translated Texts for Historians 33; Liverpool, 2000).
Hübner, A., Evagrius Scholasticus, Historia ecclesiastica = Kirchengeschichte (Fontes Christiani 57; Turnhout, 2007).
Carcione, F., Evagrio di Epifania, Storia ecclesiastica (Roma, 1998).
Further Reading:
Allen, P., Evagrius Scholasticus, the Church Historian (Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, Etudes et Documents 41; Leuven, 1981).
Treadgold, W., The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke, 2006), 299-308.
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
03/05/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02422 | All Apostles | ὁι θεσπεσίοι ἀποστόλοι | Certain |
|---|
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