The Paschal Chronicle records that in 451 relics of the *Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (S00103) were discovered in the church of *Thyrsos (martyr of Bithynia, S00612) at Constantinople by the empress Pulcheria, alerted by a vision, who then founded a church for them. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.
Evidence ID
E07960
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 451
Πουλχερία ἡ γυνὴ Μαρκιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν ἁγίων τεσσαράκοντα τῶν ἐν Σεβαστείᾳ μαρτυρησάντων κατ᾿ ὀπτασίαν εὑρίσκει τὰ λείψανα κατακρυπτόμενα εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἁγίου Θύρσoυ ὀπίσω τοῦ ἄμβωνος. καὶ ἀνεδομήσατο αὐτῶν, οἶκον ἔξω τῶν τειχῶν τῶν Τρῳαδησίων Καισάριος ὕπατος καὶ ἔπαρχος.
'Pulcheria, the wife of Marcian the emperor, in accordance with a vision, found the remains of the Forty Saints martyred at Sebastea, hidden in the church of St. Thyrsus behind the ambo. And Caesarius, consul and prefect, built a church for them outside the Troadesian walls.'
Text: Dindorf 1832, 590.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 81.
Cult PlacesApparition, vision, dream, revelation
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
MiraclesApparition, vision, dream, revelation
Finding of lost objects, animals, etc.
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Construction of cult building to contain relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Monarchs and their family
Officials
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
This account of the discovery of the relics of the Forty Martyrs is evidently related to the much longer account given by Sozomen (E04058), but differs from it in a number of details, including the date (451 in the Chronicle, between 434 and 447 according to Sozomen). Most significantly, in Sozomen, Caesarius is said to have been the builder of the original church of Thyrsos, not of a subsequent church dedicated to the Forty Martyrs, and the relics of the Forty Martyrs, once discovered, are deposited alongside those of Thyrsos in the original church. The known dates of Caesarius (PLRE I, 'Caesarius 6', PLRE II, 'Caesarius 1'), who was consul in 397, show that the Chronicle cannot be right about his role, and it may also be wrong about the foundation of a new church: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 81, n. 267, state that there is no other evidence for such a church and that the location given by the Chronicle ('outside the Troadesian walls', part of the original city wall built by Constantine) is the same as that of the church of Thyrsos. Janin, however, accepts the foundation of a separate church (Janin 1969, 247-8, 482-3).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).
Further reading:
Janin, R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l'empire byzantin. I: Les églises et les monastères de la ville de Constantinople. (2nd ed.; Paris, 1969).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
01/09/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00103 | Forty Martyrs of Sebaste | οἱ ἁγίοι τεσσαράκοντα | Certain | S00612 | Thyrsos and companions, martyrs of Bithynia | Θύρσoς | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07960 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07960