Victor of Tunnuna, in his Chronicle, recounts that in 551/2 the African bishop Verecundus of Iunca took refuge from attempts by the emperor Justinian to force him to condemn the Three Chapters in the shrine of *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017) at Chalcedon (north-west Asia Minor, near Constantinople), and subsequently died there. Written in Latin in Constantinople, 565/566.
Evidence ID
E08274
Type of Evidence
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Victor of Tunnuna, Chronicle s.a. 552
Verecundus vero ecclesiae Iuncensis episcopus in defensione memoratorum perdurans capitulorum Calchedonae, ubi refugium fecerat in diversorio gloriosae matris Euphemiae, de hac vita migravit ad deum.
'Verecundus, however, bishop of the church of Iunca, enduring in defence of the aforementioned Chapters, migrated from this life to God at Chalcedon, where he had taken refuge in a hostel of the glorious mother Euphemia.'
Text: Mommsen 1894, 203.
Translation: David Lambert.
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical Activity
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
Non Liturgical ActivitySeeking asylum at church/shrine
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Source
Victor was a bishop of the city of Tunnuna (or Tonnona) in Latin North Africa, the exact location of which is unknown. He was expelled from his see during the Three Chapters controversy. During his exile he stayed for several years in Egypt, but in 564 was transferred to Constantinople. There he wrote his Latin Chronicle. Only the part covering the years 444-566 is extant. Up to AD 518 it is based mostly on the Church History of Theodore Anagnostes. The written sources of the following part are not easy to identify, but Victor was deeply involved in ecclesiastical politics and had a firsthand knowledge of many events that he mentioned in the Chronicle.Discussion
In his entries for the years 551 and 552, Victor describes how an embassy of four African bishops travelled to Constantinople in connection with the Three Chapters controversy: Reparatus, bishop of Carthage, Firmus, primate of Numidia, Primasius of Hadrumetum and Verecundus of Iunca. They came under intense pressure from the emperor to condemn the Three Chapters. Firmus did so (as a result of bribery according to Victor), but the others refused. As a result Reparatus was deposed and exiled to Euchaita in Pontus. Primasius was confined to the monastery of the Acoemeti in Constantinople, but then reversed his position after being tempted by the offer of a more senior ecclesiastical position. 'However' (vero) – the conjunction is clearly used to contrast Verecundus and Primasius – Verecundus took refuge in the church of Euphemia at Chalcedon (perhaps chosen because of its relevance to the controversy as the site of the Council of Chalcedon) and died there.We have an alternative account of these events in the 'Letter of the church of Milan to the Frankish envoys' (E08275), which contains less detail but was written much closer to the event (in the autumn or winter of 551/2 while Victor wrote in the mid 560s), and is almost certainly more reliable. The letter allows us to date the event more precisely, to no later than the summer of 551, while Victor places it in 552. More importantly, it directly conflicts with Victor's account by asserting that two bishops, not one, took refuge at the church of Euphemia and both were still there when the letter was written. Although it does not name the two bishops, information from other sources shows that they must have been Verecundus and Primasius. It seems clear that Victor, knowing that Primasius eventually recanted and condemned the Three Chapters, has set out to discredit him and to separate him from Verecundus, while the contemporary evidence of the letter shows that they acted together. We know from the acts of the Council of Constantinople that Primasius was still refusing to condemn the Three Chapters when the council opened in 553 (Price 2009, 216-18); he seems only to have changed his position the following year, in the wake of Pope Vigilius (he may or may not have been confined to a monastery in Constantinople at some point – Victor is our only source for this).
One point on which Victor seems to confirm the letter is his statement that Verecundus died at the shrine of Euphemia (in a diversorium, a lodging for pilgrims), which coheres with the claim in the letter that both bishops were ill and unable to obtain medical treatment.
Bibliography
Edition:Mommsen, T., Victoris Tonnonennsis episcopi chronica, in: Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (II) (Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Auctores Antiquissimi 11; Berlin, 1894), 184-206.
Further reading:
Price, R., The Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 553 with related texts on the Three Chapters Controversy (Translated Texts for Historians 51; Liverpool, 2009).
Record Created By
David Lambert
Date of Entry
19/08/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00017 | Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon | Euphemia | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
David Lambert, Cult of Saints, E08274 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08274