Site logo

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


The Paschal Chronicle records the martyrdom of *Menas (soldier and martyr buried at Abu Mena, S00073) at Kotyaion in Phrygia in 295. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.

Evidence ID

E07951

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Major author/Major anonymous work

Pascal Chronicle

Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 295

Ἕτους σξζ’ τῆς εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀναλήψεως τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τῶν προκειμένων ὑπάτων ἐμαρτύρησεν ὁ ἅγιος Μηνᾶς ἐν Koτυαείῳ Φρυγίας Σαλουταρίας ἀθὺρ ιε’, πρὸ ἰδῶν νοεμβρίων.

'In year 267 from the Ascension to heaven of the Lord and under the aforementioned consuls, St. Menas was martyred at Cotyaeum in Phrygia Salutaris, on Athyr 15, day 3 before Ides of November [11 Nov.].'


Text: Dindorf 1832, 512.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 3.

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Source

The Chronicon Paschale (paschal or Easter chronicle) is a chronicle compiled at Constantinople in the first half of the 7th century. It covers events from the creation of the world up to the anonymous author's own time. The Chronicle probably concluded with the year 630 (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, xi), though the surviving text breaks off slightly earlier, in the entry for 628. The traditional name for the Chronicle originates from its introductory section, which discusses methods for calculating the date of Easter. The Chronicle survives thanks to a single manuscript, Vatican, Gr. 1941 (10th c.), on which all other surviving manuscripts depend. The only critical edition remains that of Ludwig Dindorf (1832).

The chronicler uses multiple chronological systems to date events: Olympiads, consular years, indictions, and years from the Ascension, as well as using Roman, Greek, and sometimes Egyptian dates (see Whitby and Whitby 1989, x). Numerous literary sources are utilised for the period before the author's own time, including well-known historical sources such as Eusebius and John Malalas. We have not included entries for material in the
Paschal Chronicle which simply reproduces material in earlier sources already entered in our database.

Discussion

The cult of Menas was centred on the shrine of Abu Mena in northern Egypt, but the Chronicle's placing of his martyrdom at Kotyaion in Phrygia is paralleled in other literature about him, notably his Greek Martyrdom (see E06942).

Athyr, the month used by the chronicler to date Menas' martyrdom, together with the Roman November, is a month in the Egyptian calendar.


Bibliography

Edition:
Dindorf, L., Chronicon Paschale (Bonn, 1832).

Translation:
Whitby, M., and Whitby, M., Chronicon Paschale 284-628 AD (Translated Texts for Historians 7; Liverpool, 1989).


Record Created By

David Lambert

Date of Entry

07/08/2020

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00073Menas, soldier and martyr buried at Abu MenaΜηνᾶςCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07951 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07951