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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


John Malalas, in his Chronographia (18.111), mentions that Pope Vigilius (537-555) sought sanctuary at the church of *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Syria, S00023) in the quarter of Hormisdas in Constantinople, until his relationship with the emperor Justinian was restored on 26 June 550. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid-6th c.

Evidence ID

E05742

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Major author/Major anonymous work

John Malalas

John Malalas, Chronographia, 18.111

Μηνὶ ἰουνίῳ κϛʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνι τῇ αὐτῇ, ἐδέχθη ὁ ἐπίσκοπος Ῥώμης Βιγίλιος ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως· ἦν γὰρ ἀγανακτηθεὶς καὶ προσφυγίῳ χρησάμενος εἰς τὸν ἅγιον Σέργιον τοῖς ἐπίκλην τῶν Ὁρμίσδου.

‘On 26th June in that indiction the bishop of Rome, Vigilius, was received by the emperor. He had incurred the emperor's anger and taken sanctuary at Saint Sergios' in the district known as Hormisdas.’


Text: Thurn 2000.
Translation: Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986, modified.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Non Liturgical Activity

Seeking asylum at church/shrine

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - Popes
Monarchs and their family

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 church of Sergios in the quarter of Hormisdas is the still extant church of Sergios and Bakchos built by Justinian (E04332).

For a discussion of this incident, see E08025.


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.


Record Created By

Efthymios Rizos

Date of Entry

25/06/2018

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00023Sergios, soldier and martyr of RusafaΣέργιοςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E05742 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E05742