The Greek Translation of the relics of *Anastasios the Persian (monk and martyr of Persia, ob. 628, S02052), recounts how the martyr's relics were recovered from Persia, aided by miraculous intervention, and brought to Jerusalem by way of Tyre and Caesarea. Written in 631/632, by an anonymous monk of the lavra of St Sabas, near Jerusalem.
E08281
Literary - Hagiographical - Other saint-related texts
The Translation of the relics of Saint Anastasios the Persian (BHG 88)
Summary:
§ 1: Our merciful God and Saviour Jesus Christ restored the empire to our most pious and Christian emperor Herakleios who restored the True Cross to Jerusalem during the twentieth year of his reign [i.e. 630]. After having restored the episcopal throne and the monastic habit there, he returned to Mesopotamia.
§ 2: The afore-mentioned monk [from Jerusalem] (Τοῦ δὲ ἀνωτέρω μνημονευθέντος ἀδελφοῦ) who, at the time, had accompanied the martyr [Anastasios] to Persia was seized with a great zeal to return there in order to take and bring back to Jerusalem the relics of the martyr. In the meantime, the bishop Elias, who was sent from Jerusalem to Persia, visited the monastery of the martyr Anastasios [at Jerusalem] and encouraged the monk to do as he intended. The abbot of the monastery [of Anastasios] at Jerusalem, named Ioustinos, allowed the monk to set out for Persia, together with the bishop.
§ 3: Once they arrived at the monastery in Persia, the monks there recognised the monk from Jerusalem, and comprehending the reason for the visitors' presence, immediately closed the doors of the monastery. In the morning, the visitors entered the monastery and begged the local monks to give them the relics of the martyr, but they vehemently refused.
§ 4: Sorely disappointed, they left the monastery and arrived in a region called Diskarthas [or Dastagerd; see E06606 § 31-35], where they stayed for two nights. The martyr Anastasios appeared to the monk in a dream and encouraged him to return to the monastery. At midnight, he arrived there along with a young Christian man. He found the doors open and secretly entered the monastery in order to steal the martyr’s relics. When all the monks had fallen asleep, he wrapped the relics in a sheet and returned to the bishop at Diskarthas.
§ 5: The bishop, amazed at the miracle performed by the martyr, led the monk, along with the relics, to the catholicos. They took one hand and some other relics, and placed the rest in a box. They affixed some seals to it, accompanied by a letter anathematizing anyone who would dare to break the seals before the casket reached the hands of the superior of the martyr’s monastery [at Jerusalem]. On the way back, the monk went to Tyre, where the inhabitants venerated the martyr’s relics. Then the monk sailed for Caesarea.
§ 6: His arrival in Caesarea filled the city with exceeding joy. The inhabitants insisted that the relics should remain there since Caesarea was the place where the saint’s martyrdom had begun. The monk wrote to the superior of the martyr’s monastery that he should come to Caesarea, together with a few monks. Upon their arrival, the superior gave the inhabitants some of the relics in an effort to satisfy them. In this way, the superior and his monks managed to leave Caesarea and arrive in Jerusalem with the rest of the relics. The whole city wished to approach and venerate the martyr’s relics. Thus, the relics were carried in procession to the monastery on November 2 [631].
§ 7: This is just a summary of what happened. Who is able to recount the miracles performed by the martyr in Persia? It would be good to write them down, and they would be profitable for the listeners, but for now, let us mention only this thing: through the strength given to him by the grace of Christ, he healed many people tormented by impure spirits or different diseases.
Text: Flusin 1992: I, 99-107.
Summary: C. Papavarnavas.
Miracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Saint aiding or preventing the translation of relics
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Bodily relic - arm/hand/finger
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Division of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Source
The text examined here bears as its full title: 'The return of the relics of the holy martyr Anastasios the Persian to his monastery', and is preserved in five manuscripts.For the manuscript tradition, see:
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/9361/
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/16920/
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/17299/
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/42790/
https://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/65295/
For the edition, see Bibliography.
Discussion
According to Flusin (1992: I, 95), the Translation of the relics of Anastasios the Persian was written between 2 November 631 and 31 August 632; that is shortly after Anastasios’ execution [in 628] and the composition of his Martyrdom (E06606), written between 629 and 630. In the manuscript tradition, the Translation always accompanies (in fact, follows) the Martyrdom, in order to complement the story of Anastasios’ martyrdom and that of his relics after his death. According to the Translation, once the True Cross had been restored by Herakleios and peace was established, the monk from Jerusalem who had witnessed Anastasios’ ordeal returned to Persia and stole the martyr's relics to bring them back to Jerusalem.The author of the Translation was presumably either the anonymous monk of the lavra of Saint Sabas (Mar Saba) who wrote the Martyrdom (Flusin 2011: 214) or another monk of the same monastery. This could also explain the strong connection between these two texts, which is reflected not only on a narrative level (the two stories complement each other) but also in terms of their common history in the manuscript transmission. It is highly significant that already at the very outset of his text, the author of the Translation refers to the monk who undertook this mission as the “afore-mentioned” person. In fact, the previous reference to this person is to be found not in the same text, but in the Martyrdom, which is placed in all manuscripts right before the account of the translation of the relics. The anonymous author’s reference to the specific monk in the third person singular suggests that the author and this monk were not the same person, as Flusin (2011: 214) proposed, but two different monks from the same monastery.'
In the tenth century, both stories (i.e., the Martyrdom and the Translation) were combined into one brief narrative in the Synaxarion of Constantinople (SynaxCP 413-414 and 413-416 [at the bottom of the page]).
Bibliography
Text and French translation:Flusin, B., Saint Anastase le Perse et l'histoire de la Palestine au début du VIIe siècle (Paris 1992), vol. I, 98-107.
Further reading:
Detoraki, M., 'Greek Passions of the Martyrs in Byzantium', in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, II: Genres and Contexts (Farnham 2014), 76-77.
Flusin, B., 'Palestinian Hagiography (Fourth-Eighth Centuries)', in: S. Efthymiadis (ed.), The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, I: Periods and Places (Farnham 2011), 214.
Flusin, B., Saint Anastase le Perse et l'histoire de la Palestine au début du VIIe siècle (Paris 1992), 2 vols.
Christodoulos Papavarnavas
26/2/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S02052 | Anastasios, monk and martyr of Persia, ob. 628 | Ἀναστάσιος | Certain |
|---|
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