Miracle 1 of the First Collection of Miracles of *Demetrios (martyr of Thessalonike, S00761) by Archbishop Ioannes/John of Thessalonike recounts the miraculous healing of a Praetorian Prefect of Illyricum from a paralysing disease. The date of the event is not clarified. The author mentions a mural mosaic commemorating ιt. Written in Greek in Thessalonike (south Balkans), in the 610s.
E08059
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
John of Thessalonike, First Collection of Miracles of *Demetrios of Thessalonike (CPG 7920, BHG 499-516k)
Miracle 1. The Prefect who lost his hope
Summary:
Marianos is a man of high lineage and senatorial status, serving as the Eparch (Praetorian Prefect) of Illyricum. He is a virtuous man and generally appreciated by his subjects, but faces a succession of seven spiritual temptations (lust, greed, anger, depression, acedia, vainglory, pride) which he resists heroically through fasting, humility, and prayer. Failing to cause his fall, the Devil inflicts on him a paralysing illness which affects his entire body. Medical treatments have no effect on his condition, and everyone prepares for his death, when one of his associates suggests using a magical parchment. The prefect firmly refuses and, right after this, he has a dream vision of the martyr Demetrios, appearing in the guise of a friend of his also called Demetrios. The saint encourages the prefect and invites him to his house where he will be healed by the power of Christ. Waking up, Marianos despairs, believing that the dream has instructed him to go to his friend’s house in Constantinople. One of his associates, however, suggests that the dream has indicated the shrine of the martyr Demetrios in Thessalonike, and they carry the prefect there. In the shrine, he prays and requests the saint’s help. He soon falls asleep and has a dream of the same figure he saw in his first dream vision. The martyr says that for him the healing of the prefect’s body is easy, but the preservation of his spiritual health is not. Demetrios requests reassurance from Marianos that, after his cure, he will protect his spiritual health, which the prefect promises to do. The martyr touches the prefect’s body saying that Christ is making him healthy. Marianos wakes up and recounts the incident to his servants. As he repeats the words of the saint (‘Christ is making you healthy’), he stands up by himself and asks to be given clothes. His servants borrow official clothes from neighbouring houses, and the prefect enters the saint’s ciborium. He offers a prayer of thanksgiving, placing his head on the silver altar (‘bed’) which bears the saint’s image. He then goes to his palace on foot and returns to the shrine with a great amount of gold and silver offerings and money. He sets up his throne near the church and invites all the poor and the sick of the city, to whom he distributes alms. The story of the miracle is depicted in a mosaic synthesis adorning the south façade of the basilica, overlooking the stadium.
Text: Lemerle 1981.
Summary: E. Rizos.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Descriptions of cult places
Use of ImagesPublic display of an image
Descriptions of images of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityBequests, donations, gifts and offerings
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Vow
Distribution of alms
Visiting graves and shrines
Incubation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesOfficials
Cult Related ObjectsPrecious material objects
Source
The two earliest Collections of Miracles of Demetrios of Thessalonike were written during the seventh century about seventy years apart from one another. They are the latest of the Greek Miracle Collections of Late Antiquity, and of major interest for both the cult of the civic patron martyr of Thessalonike and for the historical conditions in the Balkans in the late sixth and seventh century.The collections were first edited by Cornelius Byeus in Volume IV of October of the Acta Sanctorum (Brussels 1780), whose text was included without changes by Migne in the Patrologia Graeca (vol. 116). A critical edition with French translation (often paraphrased or summarised) and commentary was published by Paul Lemerle in 1979. An improved text edition with Modern Greek translation was published by Panagiotes Christou in 1993. Lemerle’s text, including Christou’s corrections, was reproduced in a volume edited by Charalambos Bakirtzis in 1999, which included a Modern Greek translation by Aloe Sideri, commentary and accompanying papers.
The text is preserved in 37 manuscripts of the 8th to 18th centuries. The manuscript tradition of the two collections and their constituent stories is very unequal. The Second Collection is preserved intact, missing its heading and end, in one single manuscript (Paris Gr. 1517, f. 135-204, 12th c.). By contrast, the miracles of the First Collection survive dispersed in partial selections and not in their proper order, in the 37 manuscripts, on which see:
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/9357/
The Miracles of Demetrios have attracted scholarly interest as a source for the historical conditions in the Balkan region during the late sixth and seventh centuries, especially regarding the settlement of the Slavs in the south Balkans and their attacks against the city of Thessalonike. The parts of the collection, which have been most favoured by modern historians, however, are not necessarily the most informative ones with regard to the cult of the saint. Miracles 8-15 of the First Collection and 1-5 of the Second are virtually accounts of local history interpreted through the prism of the miraculous. The saint protects the whole city through his restless work in the background. Their lengthy historical narratives and very scarce mentions of visions or apparitions may account for the fact that these texts attracted less interest among medieval readers and copyists. Their manuscript tradition is comparatively poor – the mostly historical Second Collection has only one copy. By contrast, the accounts with the richest manuscript tradition are the earlier miracles of the First Collection, which concern stories of individual healing and protection offered by the martyr, and feature impressive apparitions and visions.
The First Collection (by Archbishop John)
The First Collection of the Miracles of Demetrios of Thessalonike is ascribed to the hand of the Archbishop of Thessalonike Ioannes/John whose episcopate started under Phocas (AD 602-613) and finished under Heraclius (AD 613-641). John probably compiled the collection in the 610s or 620s and died the late 620s. According to the author of the Second Collection, Archbishop John was locally remembered and probably venerated as saint.
In a highly rhetorical prologue, the author addresses an audience, perhaps indicating that the book was either intended to be read out in church or originates from a series of homilies given by the bishop at the shrine. The author states that there are numerous early miracles which he is omitting, and that he is talking about stories of the recent past, based on reliable testimonies or his own experience. Whether the earlier stories had been recorded in a written collection is unknown. The sources of the extant collection indeed appear to be mostly oral, except for Miracle five, which was partly based on a letter of archbishop Eusebius to Emperor Maurice.
John’s collection consists of fifteen stories of different lengths, referring to different historical contexts. The author’s intention is more didactic than historical and the order of the narrative is thematic rather than chronological. The collection has not survived intact in any manuscript, but the order of its chapters can be confidently reconstructed through their cross-references. The first group of miracles (1-4) concerns healings of bodily diseases, to which we include the only miracle referring to an exorcism of demoniacs (4). The second (5-7) is a compilation of stories derived from John’s predecessor, Eusebios, which concern miracles related to the saint’s care for his shrine – these are the most informative with the regard to the cult and its material aspects. The last eight miracles concern the saint’s interventions for the collective salvation of the city of Thessalonike, four (8-11) recounting cases of famine and civil war, and another four (12-15) invasions and sieges. Miracles 13 and 14 recount two parts of the same story, whereas Miracle 15 provides an epilogue of sorts, celebrating and affirming the saint’s constant presence in his shrine and unceasing protection for the city.
The chronology of the historical context of each miracle (according to Paul Lemerle), is as follows:
I.1 No date, but ancient episode, possibly from the mid- to early sixth century.
I.2 No date. It could be a summary or altered version of the previous one.
I.3 AD 586.
I.4 No date.
I.5 Under Maurice (AD 582-602) with a reference to the time of Justinian I.
I.6. AD 605.
I.7 Late sixth century.
I.8 AD 586
I.9 No date – probably under Maurice.
I. 10 Under Phocas (AD 602-610).
I. 11 AD 586
I. 12 No date.
I.13 AD 586.
I. 14 AD 586.
I. 15 AD 586.
For a different reading of the text’s redactional history and historical references, see Speck (…)
Discussion
The story of the healing of the praetorian prefect had an important place in the legends produced by the shrine of Thessalonica. Miracle 2 of John's collection seems to be a shorter version of the same story. By the seventh century, the main elements of this account were so deeply embedded in local memory that it was included in the saint's longer martyrdom account (the Passio Altera) as the narrative of the foundation of Demetrios' first basilica.Bibliography
Text and translations:P. Lemerle, Les plus anciens recueils des miracles de Saint Démétrius et la pénétration des Slaves dans les Balkans, Paris 1971-1981 (text edition, French translation, introduction and commentary)
P. Chrestou, Η γραμματεία των Δημητρίων Α. Διηγήσεις περί των Θαυμάτων του Αγίου Δημητρίου, Thessaloniki 1993 (revised text edition, Modern Greek Translation)
Ch. Bakirtzis, A. Sideri, Αγίου Δημητρίου Θαύματα. Οι συλλογές Αρχιεπισκόπου Ιωάννου και Ανωνύμου. Ο βίος, τα θαύματα και η Θεσσαλονίκη του Αγίου Δημητρίου, Thessaloniki 1997 (text edition based on Lemerle and Chrestou, Modern Greek translation, commentary)
Further Reading:
Bauer, F.A. Eine Stadt und ihr Patron. Thessaloniki und der heilige Demetrios (Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 2013).
S. Efthymiadis, 'Collections of Miracles (5th-15th centuries),' in idem (ed.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Greek Hagiography II: Genres and Contexts, Farnham 2014, 103-142 (113-115)
Skedros, J., Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki: Civic Patron and Divine Protector, 4th-7th centuries CE (Harrisburg: Trinity Press, 1999).
Spieser, J. M., "Le culte de Saint Démétrius à Théssalonique," in: J.-P. Caillet et al. (eds.), Des dieux civiques aux saints patrons (IV-VII siècle) (Paris, 2015), 275-291.
Walter, C., The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003).
Efthymios Rizos
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00761 | Demetrios, martyr of Thessalonike | Δημήτριος | Certain |
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