Site logo

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


John Malalas, in his Chronographia (18.100), mentions the celebration of a festival of the *Apostles (S02422) at the locality known as the Periteichisma in Constantinople in 547. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid 6th c.

Evidence ID

E05740

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Major author/Major anonymous work

John Malalas

John Malalas, Chronographia, 18.100

Τῇ δὲ αὐτῇ ἰνδικτιῶνι ἐδέχθη Μηνᾶς ὁ ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Κωνσταντινουπόλεως εἰς τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἄθλησιν τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων ἐν τῷ περιτειχίσματι.

‘In that indiction Menas, the archbishop of Constantinople, was admitted back to his see, and went to the festival of the Holy Apostles at the Periteichisma.’


Text: Thurn 2000.
Translation: E. Rizos.

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Source

The Chronographia of John Malalas (c. 490–c. 570) is a Christian chronicle of universal history, from Adam to the death of Justinian I (565). It appears to have been composed in two parts, the earlier of which focuses on the history of Antioch and the East, ending in c. 528 or 532. The second part focuses on the urban history of Constantinople up to the death of Justinian. Malalas is likely to have pursued a career in the imperial administration at both Antioch and Constantinople, writing the two parts of his chronicle while living in these two cities.

Malalas was widely used as a source by Byzantine chroniclers and historians, including John of Ephesus, John of Antioch, Evagrius Scholasticus, the
Paschal Chronicle, John of Nikiu, John of Damascus, Theophanes, George the Monk, pseudo-Symeon, Kedrenos, Zonaras, Theodore Skoutariotes, and Nikephoros Kallistou Xanthopoulos.

The text of the chronicle is preserved in a very fragmentary form, based on quotations in other sources (notably the
Paschal Chronicle and Theophanes), and on a Slavonic translation which follows a more extensive version of the original text. It is believed that we now have about 90% of the text.

On the composition and manuscript tradition of the text, see Thurn 2000, and:
http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/1298/


Discussion

The location of this shrine is uncertain. The Periteichisma is thought to have lain between the Forum of Constantine and the Philoxenos Cistern (Binbirdirek). The term ἄθλησις used in this passage probably refers to the feast (Janin 1969, 50-51).


Bibliography

Text:
Dindorf, L., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae; Bonn, 1831).

Thurn, J.,
Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 35; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2000).

Translation:
Jeffreys, E., Jeffreys, M., and Scott, R., The Chronicle of John Malalas: A Translation (Sydney, 1986).

On Malalas:
Carrara, L., Meier, M., and Radtki-Jansen, C. (eds.), Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas. Quellenfragen (Malalas-Studien 2; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017).

Jeffreys, E., Croke, B., and Scott, R. (eds.),
Studies in John Malalas (Sydney, 1990).

Meier, M., Radtki-Jansen, C., and Schulz, F. (eds.),
Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas: Autor, Werk, Überlieferung (Malalas-Studien 1; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016).

Treadgold, W.T.
The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 235-256.

Further reading:
Janin, R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l'empire Byzantin. I 3: Les eglises et les monastères de la ville de Constantinople. 2nd ed. (Paris, 1969).


Record Created By

Efthymios Rizos

Date of Entry

25/06/2018

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S02422All ApostlesἈπόστολοιCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E05740 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05740