The Greek Life of *Herakleides (bishop of Tamasos in Cyprus, S02698) by a certain Rhodon recounts the life and miracles of its hero, presented as a follower of *Barnabas (Apostle, S00786), who established the ministry of the Cypriot Church through numerous ordinations. Written in Cyprus in the 6th or 7th century.
Evidence ID
E07136
Type of Evidence
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Rhodon, Life of Herakleides of Cyprus (BHG 743)
Brief summary:
The author probably poses as Rhodon, the follower of the Apostle Barnabas (Acts 21:16) and of the bishops Herakleides and Mnason. He wrote the account after the death of a certain Theodoros who left him an account of the life of Mnason.
The whole text is a sequence of miracles performed by Heraklides, recounting the healing of sick and possessed people, and the ordination of clerics at various places in Cyprus. Herakleides dies a peaceful death and is buried at a cave near Tamasos in central Cyprus.
Text: Halkin 1964.
Summary: E. Rizos.
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Saint as patron - of a community
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Healing diseases and disabilities
Power over life and death
Exorcism
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
For the manuscript tradition, see:https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/16334/
Discussion
This peculiar text belongs to a group of hagiographical accounts which were produced on Cyprus, possibly in the 6th or 7th century. Alongside the legends of Barnabas and Auxibios of Soli, this text also refers to a figure of the apostolic era, bishop Herakleides of the town of Tamasos in central Cyprus, who was remembered as the man who established the clergy of the Cypriot church, being, in a way, the root of its apostolic origins. Herakleides is remembered as the 'archbishop' who ordained clerics all over the island also in the Life of Auxibios (E07031). The opening of the text recalls the beginning of the second section of the Life of Epiphanios (E07140), recounting how the author was commissioned with the task of writing the text by another person on his deathbed. The two texts present several similarities, which indicates a mutual interdependence between them.Bibliography
Text:Halkin, F., "Les actes apocryphes de Saint Héraclide de Chypre, disciple de l'Apôtre Barnabé," Analecta Bollandiana 82 (1964), 133-170.
Further reading:
Rapp, C., "The Vita of Epiphanius of Salamis: A Historical and Literary Study," DPhil Thesis, University of Oxford, 1991, vol. 1, 94-98.
Record Created By
Efthymios Rizos
Date of Entry
28/11/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00786 | Barnabas, apostle and companion of *Paul the Apostle, ob. c. 61 | Certain | S02698 | Herakleides, bishop of Tamasos in Cyprus | Ἡρακλείδης, Ἡρακλείδιος | Certain |
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