Record | The Cult of Saints

The Paschal Chronicle records that in 623 churches of Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physician martyrs of Syria, S00385) and of Michael (the Archangel, S00181) in the suburbs of Constantinople were plundered by the Avars. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.

Evidence ID

E07971

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Paschal Chronicle, s.a. 623

Εἰσῆλθαν δὲ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους Κοσμᾶν καὶ Δαμιανὸν ἐν Βλαχέρναις, καὶ εἰς τὸν Ἀρχάγγελον πέραν εἰς τὰ Πρoμώτoυ, καὶ οὐ μόνον ὅτι τὰ κιβούρια καὶ ἄλλα κειμήλια ἀφείλαντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν tὴv ἁγίαν τράπειζαν τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Ἀρχαγγέλου κατέκλασαν, καὶ πάντας μετὰ τῶν ἀφαιρεθέντων αὐτῶν μετῴκισαν πέραν τοῦ Δανουβίου, μηδενὸς ἀντιστατοῦντος.

'They entered both SS Cosmas and Damian at Blachernae, and the Archangel on the far side in the quarter of Promotus; not only did they remove the ciboria and other treasures, but they also broke up the holy altar itself of the church of the Archangel, and without any opposition transported everyone, along with the things removed, to the far side of the Danube.'

Text: Dindorf 1832, 713.
Translation: Whitby and Whitby 1989, 165.

Cult Places

Cult building - independent (church)

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Foreigners (including Barbarians)

Cult Related Objects

Precious material objects

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 attack on the suburbs of Constantinople by the Avars occurred in June 623. The church of Kosmas and Damianos was in Blachernae, just outside the northern end of the land-wall: see Janin 1969, 286-9. The church of Michael was in the Promotos (Anaplous) district, on the Bosporos a few miles north of Constantinople: see Whitby and Whitby 1989, 166, n. 451; Janin 1969, 344-5.

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

02/09/2020

Related Saint Records

ID	Name	Name in Source	Identity
S00181	Michael, the Archangel	ὁ Ἀρχαγγέλος	Certain
S00385	Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs of Syria	Κοσμᾶς καὶ Δαμιανός	Certain

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E07971 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07971

The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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

The Paschal Chronicle records that in 623 churches of Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physician martyrs of Syria, S00385) and of Michael (the Archangel, S00181) in the suburbs of Constantinople were plundered by the Avars. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.

E07971

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Cult building - independent (church)

Foreigners (including Barbarians)

Precious material objects

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

David Lambert

02/09/2020

The Paschal Chronicle records that in 623 churches of *Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physician martyrs of Syria, S00385) and of *Michael (the Archangel, S00181) in the suburbs of Constantinople were plundered by the Avars. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.

E07971

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Cult building - independent (church)

Foreigners (including Barbarians)

Precious material objects

Source

Discussion

Bibliography

David Lambert

02/09/2020

The Paschal Chronicle records that in 623 churches of Kosmas and Damianos (brothers, physician martyrs of Syria, S00385) and of Michael (the Archangel, S00181) in the suburbs of Constantinople were plundered by the Avars. Written in Greek at Constantinople, c. 630.