The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

The Greek Martyrdom of Christina of Tyre (BHG 302)

Summary

1. Christina is the only daughter of a rich pagan couple from Tyre. Due to her beauty, her father keeps her in a very high tower, served by several handmaidens. Some local nobles wish to marry her, but her father rejects their offers, since she is only eleven years old.

2. Christina worships Christ, refusing to sacrifice to her father’s gods.

3. Every seven days, her handmaids suggest that she offers a sacrifice, but she refuses and asks them to believe in Christ.

4. Worrying that they might be accused of teaching impiety to Christina, the handmaids ask who has taught her to worship a foreign god. She repeats that she worships the God who created heaven and earth.

5. Her father, Ourbanos (Urbanus), arrives and offers sacrifice, but his daughter stands by the eastern window and prays to God. The handmaidens report to him that Christina has been refusing to sacrifice for one week.

6. Ourbanos asks Christina how she has decided to embrace Christianity. Christina rejects him as her father and persists in her refusal sacrifice. Ourbanos misunderstands her, believing that she has accepted to sacrifice to the gods.

7. Christina asks of her handmaidens to tell her father that she needs a pure and spotless tunic, in order to offer a sacrifice to her god. The tunic is sent, Christina puts it on, and offers up a prayer requesting the forgiveness of her sins.

8. An angel appears and announces to her that she will face martyrdom. Christina asks for the ‘seal of Christ’ for her protection, and the angel places his hand on her head and gives her the sign. She then sees a loaf of bread, white like snow, and asks of the angel to bless it and give her to eat for the forgiveness of her sins, saying that she has not eaten for twelve days. The angel blesses the bread and gives it to Christina.

9. In the evening Christina destroys the gold and silver idols of Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite. She climbs down from the tower through a window and distributes the gold and silver to the poor. She goes up again using the steps. Next day her father comes to worship the idols, but the handmaids report their destruction. Enraged, Ourbanos has Christina beaten, and the maids beheaded.

10. Ourbanos, without his wife knowing, has his daughter tormented, till her torturers get exhausted. He then has her fettered and incarcerated.

11. Christina’s mother hears about what has happened, and visits her daughter in jail to implore her. Christina rejects her as her mother. She remarks that no one in her family has the name Christina, except for herself, indicating that she belongs to Christ.

12. Christina’s mother reports these words to her husband, and Ourbanos, full of rage, orders her to be brought to the praetorium. He orders her to worship the gods, threatening to kill her and rejecting her as his daughter. Christina replies that he is not her father.

13. Ourbanos has her scourged, while Christina gives thanks to God and mocks him, throwing some of her own ripped flesh into his face, as if to eat.

14. Ourbanos has Christina bound onto a wheel over fire. The martyr prays for protection, and the fire burns several pagans, leaving the martyr unharmed.

15. Ourbanos orders her to be bound to a stone and thrown into the sea. However, she is taken up by angels and walks on the water. She gives thanks to Christ, asking for the forgiveness of her sins, and hears a voice telling her that her prayer has been heard. A cloud of light surrounds her.

16. A crown and purple cloak appear on her body, and Christ appears in all his glory and baptises her. He orders the archangel *Michael to take her back to earth.

17. In the praetorium, Ourbanos sees her coming back and believes that his servants did not execute her. He has her arrested again, and asks what kind of magic she has used. He orders that she be kept in jail and beheaded on the next day.

18. Christina prays to Jesus Christ, asking for the punishment of Ourbanos.

19. He dies during the same night, and Christina gives thanks to Christ.

20. A new governor, named Dion, is appointed, and reads the record of Christina. He summons her and promises to marry her to a member of the imperial court, if she converts.

21. Christina rebukes the governor for having the name of a false god. Dion orders that an iron pan with burning materials be prepared for her. Christina prays for protection.

22. She comes out of the fire unharmed. Dion orders that she be publicly paraded with her hair cut, but the women protest against the unfair punishment of such a young child. Dion asks Christina to come with him to the temple of Apollo and sacrifice. Christina prays and causes the idol to move out of the temple for a distance of 40 feet, and stand in front of her.

23. Terrified, Dion admits that Christina’s magic has coerced the idol to move, but adds that this is in fact a sign of the god’s favour for her – Apollo has come out to see her. Christina orders the idol to fall down and be smashed, which it immediately does, and all the crowd converts to Christina’s god. Dion dies on the spot. His assistant (synkathedros/assessor) has Christina imprisoned again.

24. A new pagan governor, Ioustianos, is appointed and resumes Christina’s trial.

25. He orders a furnace to be heated for three days and has Christina closed in it for five days. Accompanied by angels, she gives thanks to God. The soldiers hear their voices and report to the governor who orders them to open it. Christina comes out unharmed, as if from a bath.

26. Ioustianos orders that two asps, two vipers, and two snakes be thrown onto Christina.

27. The snakes do not harm the martyr. The two asps stand by her feet, the vipers hang on her breasts, suckling her nipples like infants, and the two snakes surround her neck licking her sweat. Christina thanks God. Ioustianos asks again about the magic Christina uses. The snake handler attempts to irritate the snakes, but they kill him. Christina, orders the snakes to leave without harming anyone, and prays to Jesus Christ, asking him to raise the man. A voice from heaven grants the petition.

28. Ioustianos orders her breast to be cut off. Milk flows from the wounds, and Christina gives thanks to God. Pious women visit her in jail during the night, and she converts seven of them.

29. Next morning, the governor (now the text calls him Ioulianos) orders that the converts be beheaded, and summons Christina. Christina refuses again to apostatise, and the governor has her bound in the stadium. A voice from heaven encourages her, and promises that every city which will invoke her will be saved from invasion.

30. Christina’s tongue is cut off, and she throws it onto the governor who is instantly blinded. He orders two executioners to pierce her body with swords. Thus Christina dies on 24 July. Ioulianos returns home and dies.

31. Later, a Christian man of Christina’s lineage brings her remains (λείψανον) and buries them in the temple of God. Several miracles and cures occur, and holy water gushes from her sarcophagus (σορός). Visitors take it and are healed.


Text: Norsa 1912.
Summary: E. Rizos.

Saint’s feast

Cult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin
Holy spring/well/river

Saint as patron - of a community
Construction of cult buildings
Composing and translating saint-related texts

Miracle at martyrdom and death
Miracles causing conversion
Punishing miracle
Miracle with animals and plants
Healing diseases and disabilities
Power over life and death
Assumption/otherworldly journey
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous behaviour of relics/images
Miraculous protection - of communities, towns, armies

Bodily relic - unspecified
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics

Women
Children
Family
Unbaptized Christians
Relatives of the saint
Aristocrats
Torturers/Executioners
Animals
Slaves/ servants
Angels

Source

Discussion

Bibliography