The Greek Life of *Nikolaos of Sion (abbot and bishop in Lycia, ob. 564, S00559) mentions that the monastery of Holy Sion in Pharroa of Lycia possessed relics of *John (probably the Baptist, S00020), *Stephen the First Martyr (S00030), *Theodoros (soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00480), *Sergios and Bakchos (martyrs of Syria, S00030, S00079), and the *Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (S00103), and describes the place of the relics of *Nikolaos (abbot of Holy Sion and bishop of Pinara, ob. 564) in the same church. Written in the late 6th c., probably at the monastery of Holy Sion in Lycia (south-west Asia Minor).
E04956
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Life of Nikolaos, Abbot of Holy Sion and Bishop of Pinara (BHG 1347), 80
Ἐτελειώθη δὲ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ δοῦλος καὶ ὁσιώτατος ἐπίσκοπος Νικόλαος κατὰ τήν τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν μηνὶ Δεκεμβρίῳ δεκάτῃ, ἡμέρᾳ τετάρτῃ, ἰνδικτιῶνος τρισκαιδεκάτης, ἐπὶ βασιλείας τοῦ φιλοχρίστου ἡμῶν βασιλέως Ἰουστινιανοῦ ἔτους τριακοστοῦ καί ὀγδόου, ἐπὶ τοῦ ὁσιωτάτου ἀρχιεπισκόπου *** καὶ πατριάρχου μακαρίου. καὶ κατετέθη τὸ ἅγιον καὶ θεοφιλὲς αυτοῦ λείψανον ἔνδον τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἐνδόξου Σιών, ἔνθα τὰ λείψανα ἀπόκεινται τῶν ἐνδόξων, ἀθλοφόρων καὶ καλλινίκων ἁγίων μαρτύρων, τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ προδρόμου καὶ βαπτιστοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Στεφάνου τοῦ πρωτομάρτυρος καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Θεοδώρου καὶ τῶν ἁγίων Σεργίου καὶ Βάκχου καὶ τῶν άγίων τεσσαράκοντα· ἐν τῷ δεξιῷ γυναικίτῃ δεξιᾷ κατασταθείς, ἐπλήρωσεν τὸν βίον καὶ πρεσβεύει ὑπὲρ πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καί τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ άγίου πνευματος, ὡς πάντοτε, καὶ νῦν καί ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν.
‘The servant of God and most hallowed bishop Nikolaos reached his end, by God’s charity, on Wednesday, the tenth of the month of December, in the thirteenth indiction, during the reign of our Christ-loving emperor Justinian, in its thirty-eight year, under the most holy archbishop [?] and Patriarch Makarios. His holy remains, which are dear to God, were deposited inside the holy and glorious Sion, where the relics of the glorious, triumphant and rightly victorious holy martyrs, Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist, Saint Stephen the First Martyr, Saint Theodoros, Saints Sergios and Bakchos, and the Holy Forty Martyrs rest. He has been buried on the right side of the right section of women. He has completed his life and is interceding on behalf of all those who believe in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as always, so now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.’
Text: Ševčenko and Patterson-Ševčenko 1984.
Translation: Efthymios Rizos.
Saint’s feast
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
RelicsUnspecified relic
Bodily relic - entire body
Source
The text is preserved in four manuscripts, on which see:http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/17349/
The editions of the text are based on the Codices Vaticanus Graecus 821 and Sinaiticus Graecus 525.
Discussion
For the context of this passage, see E04953.Bibliography
Text and translations:Anrich, G., Hagios Nikolaos, der heilige Nikolaos in der griechischen Kirche, texte und Untersuchungen (Leipzig, Berlin, vol. 1: 1913; vol. 2: 1917).
Blum, H., Vita Nicolai Sionitae (Bonn, 1997).
Ruggieri, V., La Vita di San Nicola di Sion. Traduzione, note e commentario (Roma: Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 2013). Italian transaltion with commentary.
Ševčenko, I., and Patterson-Ševčenko, N., The Life of St. Nicholas of Sion (Brookline, Mass.: Hellenic College Press, 1984), with English translation.
Further reading:
Foss, C., "Cities and villages in Lycia in the Life of Saint Nicholas of Holy Sion," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 36 (1991), 303-339.
Hellenkemper, H., and Hild, F., Lykien und Pamphylien (Tabula Imperii Byzantini 8) (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2004).
Efthymios Rizos
22/02/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Ἰωάννης | Uncertain | S00023 | Sergios, soldier and martyr of Rusafa | Σέργιος | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Στέφανος | Certain | S00079 | Bakchos, soldier and martyr of Barbalissos | Βάκχος | Certain | S00103 | Forty Martyrs of Sebaste | ἅγιοι τεσσαράκοντα | Certain | S00480 | Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita | Θεόδωρος | Uncertain | S00559 | Nicholas, abbot of Holy Sion, Lycia, ob. 564 | Νικόλαος | Certain |
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