Eustratius, in his Life of *Eutychios (patriarch of Constantinople, ob. 582,S01383), tells how a mosaic-worker of Amaseia (northern Asia Minor), while removing a mosaic of Aphrodite, in order to turn a room of a private house into a chapel of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033) - with a chapel of *Michael (the Archangel, S00181) above it - was afflicted in his hand by a demon residing within the mosaic; going to Eutychios, the mosaicist is cured, and then sets up an image (εἰκόνα) of his deliverer in the house where the incident occurred. Written in Greek in 583, or soon after.
E08518
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Eustratius of Constantinople
Eustratius of Constantinople, Life of Eutychios (CPG 7520, BHG 657), lines 1465-1491.
Νεώτερός τις τὴν τοῦ μουσαρίου τέχνην ἐπιστάμενος εἰργάζετο ταύτην ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ Χρυσαφίου τοῦ ἐν εὐλαβεῖ τῇ μνήμῃ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει Ἀμασείᾳ. Τούτου δὲ καταφέροντος τὸ παλαιὸν μουσίον ἀπὸ τοῦ τοίχου, ἱστορίαν ἔχοντος τῆς Ἀφροδίτης—ἠβούλετο γὰρ ὁ μνημονευθεὶς ἀνὴρ ποιῆσαι τὸν αὐτὸν οἶκον εὐκτήριον τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν ἐν ἀνωγέῳ, τὸν δὲ κατώγεον μέγαν οἶκον εὐκτήριον τῆς ἁγίας ἀχράντου δεσποίνης ἡμῶν θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας· ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν. Ὅτε οὖν ἐξώρυξεν ὁ αὐτὸς μουσωτὴς τὸ λαιμίον τῆς ἀκαθάρτου Ἀφροδίτης, ὡς μᾶλλον ὁ παραμένων αὐτῇ δαίμων ἔπληξε τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ τεχνίτου· ἐφλέγμανε γὰρ καὶ ἐπύωσεν ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ· γέγονε δὲ καὶ τραῦμα φοβερόν, ὥστε τὴν τοιαύτην οἱ θεωροῦντες ἀνάγκην τῆς χειρὸς ἔλεγον αὐτὴν ἀποτέμνεσθαι. Ὡς οὖν εἶδεν ἑαυτὸν ἐν πολλῇ περιστάσει, τὸ κρεῖττον ἐπιλεξάμενος, ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν ὅσιον, ὅπως τύχῃ βοηθείας ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ δι’ αὐτοῦ. Ὁ δὲ ποιήσας ἐπ’ αὐτῷ τὴν εὐχὴν ἔχρισε τῷ ἁγίῳ ἐλαίῳ τὴν δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ χεῖρα· αὕτη γὰρ ἦν ἡ πληγεῖσα. Πεποίηκε δὲ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας, καὶ ἀποκατέστη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ὑγιὴς ὡς ἡ ἄλλη διὰ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ βοηθείας. Ἐν ᾧ δὲ οἴκῳ τὴν πληγὴν ἔλαβεν ὁ ἰαθείς, ἐν αὐτῷ ὑπὲρ εὐχαριστίας καὶ εἰς ὑπόμνησιν τοῦ γεγονότος θαύματος ἔστησε τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἁγίου ἀνδρός· δι’ ἧς οὖν χειρὸς τῆς σωτηρίας ἔτυχεν, διὰ ταύτης ἔγραψε τὸν ταύτης μετὰ θεὸν ἰατρόν. Παραπλήσιον δὲ τούτῳ γέγονέ τι καὶ ἕτερον.
'A young man skilled in the craft of mosaic-working was practising this craft in the house of Chrysaphios of blessed memory, in this city of Amaseia. He was removing the old mosaic from the wall which portrayed the story of Aphrodite – for the aforementioned man wanted to turn the same building into a chapel of the archangel by having this on the upper storey, but the ground floor into a great chapel of our holy and undefiled Lady, the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary. This indeed happened. So, when this same mosaicist dug out the face of the impure Aphrodite, <she or> the demon residing in her, struck the craftsman’s hand. For his hand became inflamed and suppurated, and the wound became threatening so that those who inspected the infliction of the hand said that it should be amputated. But, seeing himself in a great crisis, he chose the better <path> and went to the holy man to get help from God through him. <Eutychios>, praying over him, anointed his right hand with the holy oil. This was the one which was stricken. He did this for three days and his hand was restored to health like the other through God’s help. In the same house where the man who was cured had received the blow, in gratitude and for a memorial of the miracle that had taken place, he set up an image of the holy man. So, with the very same hand for which he received healing he painted its doctor, after God. And something else took place similar to this.'
Text: Laga 1992.
Translation: Averil Cameron, lightly modified.
Cult building - oratory
Use of ImagesCommissioning/producing an image
Private ownership of an image
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Healing diseases and disabilities
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMerchants and artisans
Source
For a full discussion of the Life of Eutychios as a source, see E03093.[We are very grateful to Averil Cameron for allowing us to use the unpublished translation of the Life of Eutychios, which was produced by her and a seminar she ran at King's College London in the early 1990s. The translation is currently being prepared for publication in the Liverpool Translated Texts for Historians by Silvio Roggo.]
Discussion
This story is part of a series of miracles worked by Eutychios after he had been deposed as patriarch in 565 and sent into exile to his old monastery in Amaseia (in the province of Helenopontus, northern Asia Minor). He remained there for 12 years, until he was allowed to return to Constantinople as patriarch in 577. The use of oil for anointment of afflicted body parts is a recurrent feature in the miracles narrated in the Life of Eutychios.Chrysaphios, the owner of the house where the mosaicist was working, appears to have been an influential and wealthy citizen of Amaseia, who wished to turn a two-storeyed part of his house into two chapels: one to the 'Archangel' (presumably Michael) above, and one to Mary below. For this purpose, the old decoration of the lower room, which included a mosaic of Aphrodite, needed to be removed; but the demon inhabiting the image of the goddess offered resistance and attacked the mosaicist. Eutychios, however, managed to overcome the demon and to restore the artist’s health. The story culminates with a particular honour for the patriarch: the mosaicist set up in the house (presumably in the new chapel) an image (εἰκόνα) of Eutychios himself, thus perpetuating his victory over the old gods. The account serves to underline the particular divine favour Eutychios enjoyed; Eustratios was thus not only able to highlight Eutychios’ claim to sainthood, but also his legitimacy as patriarch of Constantinople as he was still able to work such miracles despite his deposition.
The conversion of pagans and the fight against pagan gods in the form of demons were basically a mandatory part of the hagiographic account of any saint who dwelt for some time in Asia Minor in the sixth century (Life of Theodore of Sykeon 16 and 38; Life of Nicholas of Sion 15-19). However, unlike Theodore and Nicholas, Eutychios did not live in a remote rural part of Asia Minor, but very close to Amaseia. In this urbanised region, pagan cults could not possibly have taken place publicly anymore. It was, consequently, unfeasible for Eustratios to insert accounts about the destruction of pagan cult centres such as sacred wells or trees into his Life of Eutychios. This would not have been credible. Instead, he had to be content with this episode portraying Eutychios as fighting paganism indirectly. In a private house, the image of Aphrodite that Eutychios destroyed would not have been a cult image, but part of a scene from classical mythology, of the kind frequently found in aristocratic houses.
Bibliography
Edition:Laga, C., Eustratii Presbyteri Vita Eutychii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani (Turnhout: Brepols 1992), CCSG 25.
Further reading:
Roggo, S., The Conflict over the Patriarchate of Constantinople under Eutychios and John Scholastikos (552-582) and its Impact on Imperial Religious Policy (PhD thesis, Cambridge 2022), 154-155.
Silvio Roggo
16/02/2024
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Μαρία | Certain | S00181 | Michael, the Archangel | Uncertain | S01383 | Eutychios, patriarch of Constantinople, ob. 582 | Certain |
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