The Syriac Life of *Dometios (monk of Syria, later 4th c., S00414) describes the life and healing miracles of Dometios, an ascetic active in Syria during the second half of the 4th century; probably written before 521.
E06986
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Life of Dometios
Summary:
The narrative sets the scene by describing the ascent to power of the impious Roman emperor Valens. (pp. ... in Bedjan's edition)
Dometios, introduced as a pagan and native of the city of Amida, volunteers to join the army of Valens, eager to assist the emperor in his military campaign against 'the cities of the East'. While staying in the emperor's camp, Dometios is visited in the middle of the night by a sword-bearing angel who punishes him with a bodily affliction by touching his left foot, and promises that he will end his days as a Christian. (pp. ...)
In search of healing for his foot, Dometios leaves the emperor and sets off to the city of Cyrrhus, accompanied by a young man called Abia, in the hope that local physicians will help him. When they reach Cyrrhus, Dometios meets a Christian holy man, Shaba, who instructs him to go to the nearby mount Taurus, saying that his disease can not be cured with the help of medicine, but by 'fasting and prayer'. Dometios follows Shaba's advice and ascends the mountain, where he stays in a cave, praying to God. He is then visited by Shaba, who baptises Dometios and his companion Abia in the waters of a spring that miraculously appears at the location. (pp. ...)
After Shaba leaves, Dometios remains in the cave, praying and fasting for seven days. After that, the angel visits him again and heals his foot. Dometios and his disciple Abia continue their ascetic way of life, deciding to stay in the cave till the end of their lives. After three years, Dometios performs his first miracle by healing a camel from a nearby village, which suffered from a disease of its left leg. As a result, he acquires a reputation as a healer among the locals who start visiting the holy man, seeking cures for their diseases. (pp. ...)
It is related that Dometios died on his own, after having spent thirty years in the cave, leading the ascetic way of life, fighting Satan, and healing people. In the final prayer of the holy man, he asks God that even after his death his bones might continue to provide healing to those who pray before them. At the conclusion, the narrative refers briefly to a conflict that at some point took place between Dometios and local physicians, who tried to block his cave with stones and burn him alive, but failed. It is said that both Dometios and his disciple were buried together in their cave. (pp. ...)
Summary: S. Minov
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Miracle after death
Miracles experienced by the saint
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Punishing miracle
Healing diseases and disabilities
RelicsBodily relic - bones and teeth
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Angels
Source
The Life of Dometios is an account of the life of Dometios, an ascetic healer who was active in Syria during the second half of the 4th century. While it is difficult to establish the work's date with certainty, it appears to have been known to Jacob of Serugh (c. 451-521), which would date it to the early 6th c. at the latest.There is not yet a critical edition of the Life. Its Syriac text was published by Bedjan on the basis of a single manuscript, London, British Library, Add. 14645, dated to the 10th c. (see Wright 1870-1872, vol. 3, 1111-1116). The Life is also attested in ms. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, syr. 235 (13th c.).
Syriac text: Bedjan 1890-1897, vol. 6, 536-556; English translation: Taylor 1938. For general information on the hagiographical dossier of Dometios, see Peeters 1939; Parmentier 1989.
Discussion
In this work, as in the Syriac tradition in general, Dometios' life is set under the emperor Valens (r. 364-378) and he is allowed a peaceful death, whereas in the Greek tradition (E05716) he is said to have been a martyr under the emperor Julian (r. 361-363).Bibliography
Main editions and translations:
Bedjan, P., Acta martyrum et sanctorum. 7 vols (Paris / Leipzig: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890-1897).
Taylor, A.M., History of Mar Domitius the Healer: Translation from the Syriac (London: Luzac and Co., 1938).
van den Gheyn, J., “Acta graeca S. Dometii martyris,” Analecta Bollandiana 19 (1900), 285-320.
Further reading:
Parmentier, M.F.G., “Non-Medical Ways of Healing in Eastern Christendom: The Case of St. Dometios,” in: A.A.R. Bastiaensen, A. Hilhorst and C.H. Kneepkens (eds.), Fructus centesimus. Mélanges offerts à Gerard J.M. Bartelink à l’occasion de son soixante-cinquième anniversaire (Instrumenta Patristica 19; Dordrecht: Kluwer / Steenbrugis: Abbatia S. Petri, 1989), 279-296.
Peeters, P., “S. Dometios le martyr et S. Dometios le médecin,” Analecta Bollandiana 57 (1939), 72-104.
Wright, W., Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, Acquired since the Year 1838. 3 vols (London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1870-1872).
Sergey Minov
25/10/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00414 | Dometios, monk of Syria, later 4th c. | ܕܝܡܛ | Certain |
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