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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Proclus of Constantinople (?) composes his Homily 6, On *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033). Written in Greek at Constantinople, in the early 5th c. The attribution to Proclus is uncertain.

Evidence ID

E05459

Type of Evidence

Literary - Sermons/Homilies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Proclus of Constantinople

Proclus of Constantinople (ps.-Chrysostom), Homily 6, On the Mother of God (CPG 5805 = BHG 1110, 1126e)

The sermon is mostly exegetical, focusing on the doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ and its Old Testament prefigurations.

Liturgical Activities

Sermon/homily

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - 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.

The attribution of this text to Proclus is uncertain.

On the manuscript tradition, see Leroy 1967, 288, and:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/6920/


Bibliography

Text, French translation, and commentary:
Leroy, F. J. L'homilétique de Proclus de Constantinople. Studi e Testi 247. Città del Vaticano, 1967, 273-327.

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

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00033Mary, Mother of ChristΜαρίαCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E05459 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05459