Proclus of Constantinople composes his Homily 33, On the New Lord's Day and *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199), which he delivers in Constantinople during the liturgy of the first Sunday after Easter. Written in Greek in the early 5th c.
Evidence ID
E05454
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Proclus of Constantinople
Proclus of Constantinople (ps. Chrysostom), Homily 33, On the New Lord’s Day and the Incredulity of Thomas (CPG 5832 = BHG 1839-1841)
The author focuses on the incredulity of Thomas and the appearance of the risen Christ to him. He also addresses admonitions to the newly baptised Christians.
Liturgical Activities
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
The life and career of Proclus of Constantinople (c. 380-446) are closely tied into the vibrant intellectual life and tumultuous ecclesiastical politics of Constantinople under the Theodosian dynasty. He was born around AD 380 in Constantinople, where he was trained in rhetoric. An associate of John Chrysostom, his clerical career started under bishop Atticus of Constantinople (406-425) whom he served as a secretary and author of his sermons, and by whom he was ordained to the priesthood. He was elected bishop of Cyzicus in 426, but never took up residence at his see, and continued to reside at Constantinople. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the episcopal throne of Constantinople in 426, 427, and 431, till he was appointed to it at the death of bishop Maximian (431-434). Proclus’ main claim to fame was his celebrated sermons on the Virgin Mary, which he delivered during the episcopate of Nestorius, and which became fundamental texts for the Christology and Mariology of the Council of Ephesus (431). Most of his surviving works are homiletic, on the major feast days of the Church of Constantinople, whose liturgical tradition and calendar were then taking their shape. The relatively small corpus of his genuine works has not been fully assembled yet, and there are a number of dubious or spurious works ascribed to him.Preserved in 110 manuscripts:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/6911/
Discussion
This homily is an early attestation of the use of the episode of Thomas’s incredulity (John 20:24-29) as the evangelical reading and main theme of the celebration of the first Sunday after Easter, which was known as the New Lord’s Day (Νέα Κυριακή) or Antipascha (Ἀντίπασχα), but came to be known as the Sunday of Thomas in the Eastern tradition.Bibliography
Text:Leroy, F.J., L'homilétique de Proclus de Constantinople (Studi e Testi 247; Città Vaticano, 1967), 230-251.
Further reading:
Constas, N.P., Proclus of Constantinople and the Cult of the Virgin in Late Antiquity: Homilies 1-5, Texts and Translations (Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 66; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2003).
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
17/05/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00199 | Thomas, the Apostle | Θωμᾶς | Certain |
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