The Greek Martyrdom of *Theagenes (martyr of Parium in Hellespontus, S02558) tells the story of a military recruit who refuses to join the army, is beaten, and eventually drowned in the sea, from which his body is recovered and buried. Probably written in the 4th c., possibly in Cyzicus (north-west Asia Minor).
E06776
Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom
Martyrdom of Theagenes (BHG 2416)
Summary:
§ 1: In the name of God, many martyrs vanquished the conniving enemy [i.e., the Devil].
§ 2: Theagenes lived during the reign of Licinius, and he was the son of a bishop. He refused to join the army, as 'he was a Christian and he was a soldier of the immortal Lord'. The military tribune, named Zelikinthios, being at Parium in Hellespontus (Cyzicus), tried to change Theagenes’ mind, but in vain.
§§ 3-4: Theagenes is then led outside the city and is beaten by other soldiers; even this torture does not manage to change his mind, and the military officer orders he be beaten again, while the martyr addresses psalms to God.
§ 5: Theagenes makes it clear that regardless how much he is tortured, he is not going to repudiate the Christian God.
§ 6: The martyr is then transferred back to the city and when he is asked why his God does not help him escape the torment, he clarifies that suffering for the Christian God is not a torture, but a pleasure. He also announces that the military officer, along with other ungodly people, will suffer great distress and a bad death.
§ 7: Theagenes is then brought to prison and is left there to die of starvation; at night, God appears to him and encourages him to endure martyrdom bravely. Theagenes begins then singing psalms accompanied by a great number of angels. The prison guards recount the events to the military officer.
§ 8: Zelikinthios brings reinforcements to enter the prison, but when they open the gate, they realise that the martyr is there all alone.
§§ 9-11: In the morning, the officer informs the emperor Licinius about the case of Theagenes, and Licinius orders that the Christian man be cast into the sea, which happens soon thereafter. The martyr addresses a three-hour-long prayer to God and encourages his executioners both to complete their task by throwing him into the sea and to become Christians. When they do so, they return to the city and relate to other soldiers what they have seen and experienced, which leads many of them to convert to Christianity.
§ 12: Three days later, many Christian men recover his body and bury it secretly at a place where various healing miracles occur.
The martyr was imprisoned for 40 days and died on 4 January.
Text: Franchi de' Cavalieri 1912 [1902]: 179-185.
Summary: C. Papavarnavas.
Miracle at martyrdom and death
Miracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesSoldiers
Source
For the manuscript tradition, see:http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/17915/
For the edition, see Bibliography.
Its editor (Franchi de' Cavalieri 1912 [1902], p. 162), argued that this Martyrdom dates back to the 4th century, and influenced, a short time later, the redactor of the early martyrdom account (E02052) of *Theodore the Recruit (martyr of Amaseia and Eucaita, S00480): for instance, the story of the angels singing with the imprisoned martyr occurs in both Martyrdoms.
Bibliography
Edition:Franchi de' Cavalieri, P. (ed.), Note agiografiche (Studi e testi 24; Rome, 1912), vol. 4, 179-185.
Christodoulos Papavarnavas
08/10/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02211 | Theogenes, martyr of Parium in Hellespontus | Θεαγένης | Certain |
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