The Paschal Chronicle includes two entries (for 454 and 468) recording the foundation at Constantinople of a church dedicated to *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199) by Anthemius, son-in-law of the eastern emperor Marcian (r. 450-457), and himself later western emperor (r. 467-472). Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.
Evidence ID
E07962
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 454
Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει βασιλεύοντος Ἀνθήμου ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἐκτίσθη ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ ἁγίου Θωμᾶ, πλησίον τοῦ Βοραιδίου, ἐπιλεγόμενον τὸ Ἀποστολεῖον.
'In this year, when Anthemus [sic] was emperor in Rome, the church of St. Thomas, which is named the Apostoleum, was founded by him near the Boraidion.'
Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 468
Ἰνδ. ς'. ια'. ὑπ. Ἀνθημίου Αὐγούστου τὸ β' μόνου.
Οὗτος Ἀνθήμιος δομεῖται τὸν οἶκον τοῦ ἁγίου Θωμᾶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου, τὰ λεγόμενα Ἀνθημίου, πλησίον τῶν Βοῤῥαΐδου.
'Indiction 6, year 11, the 2nd and sole consulship of Anthemius Augustus
This Anthemius built the church of St. Thomas the Apostle, called that of Anthemius, near the quarter of Boraidion.'
Text: Dindorf 1832, 591 and 597-8.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 83 and 90.
Cult Places
Cult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
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
Anthemius (PLRE II, 'Anthemius 3') was a Constantinopolitan aristocrat who married the daughter of the emperor Marcian (r. 450-457). In 467 he was appointed to the then vacant position of western emperor, and reigned at Rome and Ravenna until he was overthrown and killed in 472. The Chronicle has two entries mentioning his foundation of a church at Constantinople dedicated to the apostle Thomas. The first of these, for 454, records the foundation of the church (though the Chronicle wrongly states that Anthemius was emperor in Rome at the time), the second, for 468, merely mentions that he had founded the church, doing so in connection with his consulship for that year (held concomitantly with his accession as western emperor).There is disagreement about where this church was located: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 83, n. 271, say that the church is 'most naturally' identified with the church of Thomas in the 'district of Anthemius' in Constantinople. Janin's entry on this church (Janin 1969, 251), however, argues that it was founded in the early 5th century by the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius, grandfather of the Anthemius mentioned here. He identifies the church mentioned in the Chronicle as one in the town of Boradion, located on the Asian side or the Bosporus, several miles north of Constantinople (Janin 1975, 17).
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).
Janin, R., Les Églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Paris, 1975).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
01/09/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00199 | Thomas, the Apostle | Θωμᾶς | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07962 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07962