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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


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


Severus, bishop of Antioch, in his On the Holy *Innocents (children killed at the order of Herod, S00268), commemorates their martyrdom. Cathedral homily 8, delivered in Greek, probably in Antioch on the Orontes in 512. Preserved in Syriac and a Greek fragment.

Evidence ID

E08598

Type of Evidence

Literary - Sermons/Homilies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Severus of Antioch

Severus of Antioch, Cathedral Homily 8 (CPG 7035.8)

Greek fragment
Τέλειον ν ρχ διέπλασεν τν δάμ κα ο τας κατ μέρος λικίαις ες αξησιν γόμενον· εθέως γρ ατ τν το παραδείσου γεωργίαν πίστευε, μισθν ταύτης ρίσας τς θανασίας τν χάριν.

'He formed Adam as perfect in the beginning, not leading him to grow through incremental stages of age; for he immediately entrusted him with the cultivation of paradise, having designated the grace of immortality as the reward for this task.'

Text: M. Brière and F. Graffin, PO 38.2, 326, 328, 330, 332.
Translation: K. Papadopoulos.


Syriac

1 ܡܬܕܡܪܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܡܢ ܟܠ ܦܪܘܣ ܒܦܘܩܕܢܐ ܕܫܢܝܘܬܐ ܕܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܕܠܘܩܒܠ * ܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܠܐ ܥܕܠܝ ܇ ܡܛܠ ܟܝܬ ܕܐܦ ܥܕܟܝܠ ܬܚܝܬ ܬܕܐ ܐܝܬܝܗܘܢ ܗܘܘ ܇ ܕܦܣܩܐ ܚܪܡܐ ܕܡܘܬܐ ܡ̇ܝܬܐ ܗܘܐ. ܐܠܐ ܠܐ ܬܬܕܡܪܘܢ. ܕܫܢܝܘܬܐ ܓܝܪ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ * ܗܘܐ. ܡܢ ܗܪܟܐ ܟܬܒܐ ܐܠܗܝܐ ܘܟܗܢܝܐ ܕܐܘ̈ܢܓܠܝܐ ܟܕ ܠܠܐ̣ ܡ̣ܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܕܗ̇ܘ ܕܦ̣ܩܕ ܡܚ̇ܘܐ ܐܡ̣ܪ : ܐܬܚ̇ܡܬ. * ܘܐܘܣ̣ܦ ܣ̇ܓܝ. ܚܡ̣ܬܐ ܐܝܬܝܗ̇ ܗܘܬ ܐ̇ܡܪ ܇ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܐܦ̣ܩܬ̇ ܠܓܙܪ ܕܝܢܐ ܆ ܘܚܡ̣ܬܐ ܕܐܚ̣ܕܬ̇ ܠܡܚܫܒܬܐ. ܡܢܐ ܗܟܝܠ ܬܐܠܕ ܗܘܬ ܚܡ̣ܬܐ ܇ ܐܠܐܐܢ ܫܢܝܘܬܐ ܘܐܫܝܕܘܬ ܕܡܐ ܇ ܘܡܪܚܘܬܐ ܕܚܝ̈ܘܬ ܫܢܐ ܀

2 ܟܕ ܗܠܢ ܕܝܢ ܫ̇ܡܥ. ܟܒܪ ܢܐܡܪ ܐܢܫ ܆ ܕܗܒܐܝܬ ܡ̇ܢ ܟܕ ܠܡܠܬܐ ܘܠܥܠ̣ܬܐ ܕܩܛܘܠܘܬ ܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܕܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܐܬܬ̣ܒܥܬ̇ ܇ ܠܠܐ ܡܠܝܠܘܬܐ ܕܡܢ ܪܘܓܙܐ ܝܗ̣ܒܬ. * ܒ̇ܥܐ ܐܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܆ ܕܡܛܠ ܡܢܐ ܫܒ̣ܩ * ܡܫܝܚܐ ܇ ܕܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܕܠܐ ܥܕܠܝ ܟܢܝܫܐܝܬ ܢܬܩ̇ܛܠܘܢ ܇ ܘܥܒ̇ܕܐ ܕܫܢܝܘܬܐ ܕܗ̇ܘ ܢܗܘܘܢ ܇ ܡܐܠܠܘܢ ܕܝܢ. ܥܒ̇ܕܐ ܕܠܐ ܒܘ̇ܠܝܬܐ. ܠܡܫܝܚܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܓܝܪ ܟܕ ܒ̇ܥܐ ܗܘܐ ܆ ܛܒ ܓ̣ܠܝܐ ܕܠܡܫܟܚܘ ܠܐ ܡ̇ܨܐ * ܗܘܐ ܇ ܠܗ̇ܘ ܕܒܟܠ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܠܐ ܡܬܕܪܟܢܐ ܘܥܣ̣ܩ ܠܫܟܚܬܐ ܇ ܘܕܨܒܝܢܐܝܬ ܡܛܠ ܦܘܪܩܢܐ ܕܝܠܢ ܐܬܬܕܪܟ ܘܐܨܛܠܒ ܇ ܐܡܬܝ ܕܪܕܩ ܗܘܐ ܘܐܡܬܝ ܕܨ̇ܒܐ ܗܘܐ. ܚܠܦ ܕܝܢ ܒܥ̇ܬܐ ܕܡܛܠ * ܗ̇ܘ ܆ ܩܛ̣ܠܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܗ̣ܘܐ ܫܘܡܠܝܗ ܕܚܘܫܒܐ ܀

3 ܐܠܐ ܗܕܐ ܆ ܕܬܪܥܝܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܙܥܘܪ̈ܝܬܐ ܚ̇ܙܝܐ ܆ ܘܕܒܥܠܡܐ * ܗܢܐ ܐܣܝܪܐ ܐܝܬܝܗ̇ ܇ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܥܠ ܩܛ̣ܠܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܬܫܬ̣ܓܫ ܇ ܐܝܟ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܬܥ̣ܘܠ ܒܗܘܢ. ܐܪܐܓܝܪ ܆ ܐܠܘ ܐܢܫ ܟܕ ܐܝܬܝܟ ܐܣܝܪܐ ܘܒܒܝܬܐ ܕܠܐ ܙܗܪܐ ܚ̣ܒܝܫ ܗܘܝܬ : ܘܒܟܦܢܐ ܡܕܡ ܢܓܝܪܐ ܘܡܬܝܚܐ ܡܬܥ̇ܨܪ ܗܘܝܬ : ܐܘ ܒܕܘܟ ܐܦ ܒܢ̈ܓܕܐ ܕܥܠ ܚܨܟ ܡܬܒ̇ܣܒܣ ܗܘܝܬ ܆ ܡܫܬܘܕܐ ܗܘܐ ܠܟ ܕܒܝܕ ܚܕܐ ܢܟܣܬܐ ܠܘܬ ܐܬܪܐ ܢܗܝܪܐ ܡܫ̇ܢܐ ܗܘܐ ܠܟ : ܗ̇ܘ ܕܒܢܘ̣ܗܪܐ ܕܠܐ ܡܬܘܡ ܕܥ̇ܟ ܡܬܢ̇ܗܪ : ܘܐܝܬ ܒܗ * ܬܘܪܣܝܐ ܕܠܐ ܫ̇ܪܟ ܠܚ̇ܒܠܐ ܆ ܐܠܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܠܐ̣ ܡ̣ܬܚܒܠܢܐ ܘܠܐ̣ ܡ̣ܣܬܒܥܢܐ : ܘܕܒܢ̈ܨܒܬܐ ܡܕܡ ܡܬܗ̈ܘܢܢܝܬܐ ܆ ܘܒܟܠܝ̈ܠܐ ܕܒܟܠܫܥ * ܪܘ̇ܙܝܢ ܘܫ̇ܘܚܝܢ ** ܘܠܐ ܡܬܘܡ ܚ̇ܡܝܢ ܥ̇ܒܝܛ ܆ ܠܘ ܡܛܝܒܐܝܬ ܠܣܝܦܐ ܨܘܪܟ ܡ̇ܪܟܢ ܗܘܝܬ : ܡܛܠ ܕܠܗ̇ܘ * ܐܬܪܐ ܬܐܙܠ ܗܘܝܬ ܆ ܘܡܥܕܪܢܐ ܘܠܘ ܩܛܘܠܐ ܩ̇ܪܐ ܗܘܝܬ : ܠܗ̇ܘ ܕܡ̣ܚܟ ܀

4 ܡܢܐ ܗܟܝܠ ܡܫܚ̣ܠܦ ܥܠܡܐ ܗܢܐ ܡܢ ܒܝܬܐ ܚܫܘܟܐ ܇ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܠܗ ܡܛܠ ܚܛܝܬܐ ܡܢ ܕܘܒܪܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܢܨܝܚܐ * ܕܦܪܕܝܣܐ ܢܚܬ̣ܢܢ ܇ ܘܒܟܘ̈ܒܐ ܗܢܘ ܕܝܢ ܒܐܣܘܪ̈ܐ ܕܡ̣ܪ̈ܢܝܬܐ ܙܒܢ̈ܝܬܐ ܡܬܥܪܙܠܝܢܢ ܟܝܬ ܘܡܬܩ̇ܒܥܝܢ ܚܢܢ ܇ ܘܟܕ ܐܝܟ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܡܢ ܡܚܘܬܐ ܡܬܪܕܦܝܢ * ܚܢܢ ܒܕܘܥܬܐ ܕܐܦ̈ܐ ܠܚ̣ܡܐ ܐ̇ܟܠܝܢܢ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܒܝܕ * ܡܪܕܘܬܐ ܥܡܝܠܝܐ ܕܐܝܟ ܗܕܐ ܡܝܪ̈ܐ ܢܗܘܐ ܀

5 ܡܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܐܣܬ̇ܓܦܘ ܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܇ ܕܟܕ ܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܝܗ̣ܒ ܬܒܥܬܐ ܕܡܛܠ ܡܣܝܒܘܬ ܩܛ̣ܠܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܝܠܗ ܘܝ̇ܗܒ ܝܬܝܪ ܩܫܝܐܝܬ ܇ ܗ̣ܢܘܢ ܒܝܕ ܚܕܐ ܡܚܘܬܐ ܡܢ ܚܝ̈ܐ ܕܕܘܘܢܐ ܐܓ̣ܗܝܘ. ܘܠܘܬ ܫܘܠܡܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܛܘܒܬܢܐ ܘܕܠܐ ܫܘܠܡ ܫܘ̣ܪܘ ܥܒ̣ܪܘ. ܐܠܘ ܡ̇ܢ ܗܟܝܠ ܥܕܡܐ ܠܗܠܝܢ ܕܩ̇ܪ̈ܝܒܢ ܩܝ̈ܡܢ ܗ̈ܘܝ ܗܠܝܢ ܕܝܠܢ ܆ ܙܒܢܐ ܗܘܐ ܠܢ ܕܐܝܟ ܦܘܠܘܣ ܢܐܡܪ : ܕܐܢ ܒܗܠܝܢ ܚܝ̈ܐ ܒܠܚܘܕ ܡܣ̇ܒܪܝܢܢ ܒܡܫܝܚܐ ܆ ܝܬܝܪ ܡܬܚܢ̈ܢܐ ܐ̇ܝܬܝܢ ܆ ܛܒ ܡܢ ܟܠܗܘܢ ܒܢܝ̈ܢܫܐ. ܐܢ ܕܝܢ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܩܡ ܡܢ ܒܝܬ ܡ̈ܝܬܐ *ܪܝܫܝܬܐ ܕܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܫ̣ܟܒܘ ܆ ܘܦܘܪ̈ܥܢܐ ܕܡܝܬܪܘܬܐ ** ܘܡܣܡ ܒܪ̈ܝܫܐ * ܕܒܝܫܘܬܐ ܇ ܘܗ̇ܝ ܕܐܝܟ ܕܫ̇ܘܝܐ ܠܟܠܢܫ. ܒܡܣ̈ܐܬܐ ܘܒܡܬܩ̈ܠܐ ܕܝܬܝܪ ܟܐܢܝܢ ܕܥܠܡܐ ܕܥܬܝܕ. ܢܬܬܟܝܠܘܢ ܆ ܠܐ ܐܬܥܘܠܘ ܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܡܢ ܡܫܝܚܐ. ܐܠܐ ܒܕܠܩܘ̣ܒܠܐ ܐܦ ܐܬܥ̇ܕܪܘ ܇ ܟܕ ܠܩ̈ܛܠܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܕܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܐܫܬܠܡܘ ܇ ܠܟܝ̈ܠܐ ܕܝܢ ܕܣܗܕܘܬܐ ܩ̣ܛܪܘ. ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܠܗܘܢ ܡܢ ܒܬܪ ܕܘ̈ܥܬܐ ܣܓܝ̈ܐܐܬܐ ܐܫ̣ܬܘܝܘ ܇ ܦܛܪܘܣ ܡ̇ܢ ܗ̇ܘ ܪܝܫܐ ܕܫܠܝ̈ܚܐ ܟܕ ܒܬܪ ܪܝܫܗ ܐܨܛܠܒ ܇ ܦܘܠܘܣ * ܕܝܢ ܘܝܥܩܘܒ ܟܕ ܒܣܝܦܐ ܐܬܪܡ̣ܝܘ ܇ ܣܛܦܐܢܘܣ ܕܝܢ ܗ̇ܘ ܩܕܡܝܐ ܕܣܗ̈ܕܐ ܟܕ ܒܟܐ̈ܦܐ ܐܬܪܓ̣ܡ ܀

6 ܠܝ ܕܝܢ ܆ ܠܡܬܕܡܪܘ ܐܬ̇ܝܬ ܠܝ ܇ ܒܡܘ̈ܗܒܬܐ ܦܐܝ̈ܬ ܠܐܠܗܐ ܕܡܐܬܝܬܐ ܕܒܒܣܪ ܕܡܫܝܚܐ ܇ ܕܡܚ̇ܘܐ ܐܦ ܒܝܕ ܢܟܣܬܐ ܕܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܗܠܝܢ ܇ ܕܠܓܢܣܐ * ܐܢܫܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܢ̣ܚܬ ܠܘܬ ܩܘܡܬܐ ܠܐ ܡܫܡܠܝܬܐ ܘܫܒܪܝܬܐ ܇ ܡܥ̇ܠܐ ܡ̇ܣܩ ܠܘܬ ܡܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܢ ܫܘܪܝܐ. ܡܫ̇ܡܠܝܐ ܓܝܪ ܒܫܘܪܝܐ ܓܒ̣ܠܗ ܠܐܕܡ ܆ ܘܠܐ ܗܘܐ ܕܒܩܘ̈ܡܬܐ ܕܒܐܝܕܐ ܒܐܝܕܐ ܠܬܪܒܝܬܐ ܡܬܐܝܬܐ ܗܘܐ. ܡܚܕܐ ܓܝܪ ܬܪܝܨܐܝܬ ܦܘܠܚܢܐ ܕܦܪܕܝܣܐ ܗܝܡܢܐ : ܟܕ ܛܝܒܘܬܐ ܕܠܐ * ܡܝܘܬܘܬܐ ܬܚ̣̇ܡ ܠܗܐܓܪܐ ܕܗܢܐ. * ܡܛܠ ܕܝܢ ܕܠܡܘܬܐ ܫ̣ܪܥ ܘܢܦܠ ܒܝܕ ܡܛܥܝܢܘܬܐ : ܘܠܒܪ * ܡܢ ** ܦܪܕܝܣܐ ܗ̣ܘܐ ܇ ܘܠܡܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܫ̣ܕܐ ܡܢܗ ܆ ܚ̣ܠܕ ܥ̣ܠ ܠܡܨܥܬܐ ܙܢܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܗܘ̇ܝܐ ܕܝܠܢ ܕܒܝܕ ܫܘܬܦܘܬܐ ܕܙܘܘܓܐ. ܘܡܟܝܠ ܟܕ ܫܒܪܐ ܡܬܝܠܕ ܗ̣ܘ ܒܪܢܫܐ ܆ ܡܚ̇ܘܐ ܒܝܕ ܙܥܘܪܘܬܐ ܆ ܠܚܘܣܪܢܐ ܕܡܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܢ ܫܘܪܝܐ. ܘܒܝܕ ܬܪܒܝܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܒܐܝ̣ܕܐ ܒܐܝ̣ܕܐ ܘܫܘܘܫܛܐ ܕܩܘ̈ܡܬܐ ܆ ܡܚ̇ܘܐ ܠܗ̇ ܕܠܚ̇ܒܠܐ ܡܫܬܕܪܝܢ ܚܢܢ ܀

7 ܐܠܐ ܥܡܢܘܐܝܠ ܗ̇ܘ ܓܒܘܠܐ ܘܐܣܝܐ ܕܟܝܢܐ ܕܝܠܢ ܆ ܠܠܐ̣ ܡ̣ܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܝܠܢ ܒܝܬܝ ܠܗ ܇ ܟܕ ܫܒܪܐ ܡܛܠ ܪܚ̣ܡܬ ܐܢܫܘܬܗ ܠܐ ܡܫܬܚܠܦܢܐܝܬ ܗ̣ܘܐ. ܠܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܕܝܢ ܘܠܓܢܣܐ ܕܝܠܢ ܆ ܡܫ̇ܟܢ ܡܫܡܠܘܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܢ ܫܘܪܝܐ ܇ ܡܐܠܠܘܢ ܕܝܢ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܝܠܗ ܘܕܝܬܝܪ ܐܠܗܝܐ ܆ ܩ̇ܪܐ ܠܗܘܢ ܓܝܪ ܠܘܬ ܕܪ̈ܐ ܚܝ̈ܠܬܢܐ ܕܣܗܕܘܬܐ ܘܕܠܓܒܪ̈ܐ ܦ̣ܐܝܢ. ܡܢ ܗܪܟܐ ܐܦ ܒܐܘ̈ܢܓܠܝܐ ܡ̇ܙܥܩ ܟܕ ܡ̇ܘܕܥ ܆ ܕܡܛܠ ܗܕܐ ܐܬ̣ܐ. ܗ̣ܘܘ ܗܟܝܠ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܐ̇ܡܪ ܡܫ̈ܡܠܝܐ ܆ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܐܒܘܟܘܢ ܗ̇ܘ ܫܡ̇ܝܢܐ ܡܫܡܠܝܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ * ܀

8 ܠܐ̇ܝܟܐ ܡܟܝܠ ܫܢܝܘܬܐ ܕܢܣܛܘܪܝܘܣ ܛܐܙܠ ܇ ܕܐ̇ܡܪ * ܓܘܡܕܢܐܝܬ ܡܛܠ ܐܠܗܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܬܒ̇ܣܪ ܇ ܒ̇ܗܬ ܐܢܐ * ܕܠܫܒܪܐ ܬܪ̈ܝܢܝ ܝܪ̈ܚܐ ܘܬ̈ܠܝܬܝ ܝܪ̈ܚܐ ܐ̇ܩܪܐ ܐܠܗܐ ܀

9 ܐܠܘ ܓܝܪ ܒ̇ܗܬ ܗܘܐ * ܗ̣ܘ ܠܡܬܩ̣ܪܝܘ ܫܒܪܐ ܆ ܩܕܡܐܝܬ ܡܬܚ̇ܡܨ ܗܘܐ ܘܛܒ ܟܐܢܐܝܬ : ܒܗ̇ܝ ܕܢܗܘܐ ܠܐ ܡܫܬܚܠܦܢܐܝܬ ܒܪܢܫܐ ܡܛܠܬܢ. ܐܢ ܕܝܢ ܠܠܐ ܡܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܫܒܪܐ ܡܩ̇ܒܠ ܥܠܘܗܝ ܡܛܠ ܡܕܒܪܢܘܬܐ ܆ ܠܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܕܝܢ ܡܫ̇ܘܬܦ ܠܗܘܢ ܒܡܫܡܠܝܘܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܝܠܗ ܆ ܘܣܗ̈ܕܐ ܡܫ̈ܡܠܝܐ ܥ̇ܒܕ ܠܗܘܢ ܟܕ ܡܣ̣ܬܗܕ ܡܢܗܘܢ * ܐܝܟ ܐܠܗܐ ܆ ܡ̇ܙܥܩ ܓܝܪ ܕܡܐ ܕܝܠܗܘܢ ܒܒܪܬ ܩܠܐ ܕܝܬܝܪ ܪܒܐ ܡܢ ܕܡܐ ܕܗܒܝܠ ܆ ܐ̇ܝܟܢܐ ܒܝܕ ܩܘܡܬܐ ܫܒܪܝܬܐ ܐܢܬ ܡܨ̇ܥܪ ܐܢܬ ܇ ܠܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܦ ܒܗ̇ ܡܥܒܕ ܬܡܝܗܐܝܬ ܗܠܝܢ ܦܐܝ̈ܬ ܠܐܠܗܐ. ܘܦ̇ܣܩ ܐܢܬ ܠܗ ܠܬܪܝܢ ܟܝ̈ܢܐ ܠܗ̇ܘ ܚܕ. ܘܐ̇ܡܪ ܐܢܬ ܠܗ ܟܕ ܡܓ̇ܕܦ ܐܢܬ ܇ ܘܕܫܒܪܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܘܕܡܪܗ ܕܫܒܪܐ ܇ ܟܕ ܢܩܝܦܘܬܐ ܐܚܝܢܝܬܐ ܡܫ̇ܟܢ ܐܢܬ ܠܗܘܢ ܠܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܬܪܝܢ ܟܝ̈ܢܐ ܇ ܘܐܚܪܢܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܡ̇ܥܠ ܐܢܬ ܡܪܐ ܇ ܐܚܪܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܥܠܘܗܝ ܫܠܝܛ ܗ̇ܘ ܡܪܐ ܀

10 ܐܠܘ * ܓܝܪ ܝ̇ܕܥ ܗܘܝܬ ܡܢ ܬܪ̈ܬܝܗܝܢ ܠܐ ܡܬܦܠܓܢܐܝܬ : ܡܢ ܐܠܗܘܬܐ ܟܝܬ ܘܡܢ ܐܢܫܘܬܐ ܚܕ ܠܥܡܢܘܐܝܠ ܆ ܠܐ ܗܘܐ ܕܗ̣ܘ ܥܠ ܢܦܫܗ * ܫܠܝܛ ܐ̇ܡܪ ܗܘܝܬ ܐܘ ܣܪܝܩܐ. ܫܠܝܛ ** ܡ̇ܢ ܓܝܪ ܥܠ ܟܠ ܆ ܗ̣ܘ ܕܝܢ ܠܐ ܡܬܦ̇ܠܓ ܥܠ * ܢܦܫܗ. ܐܠܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗ̣ܘ ܟܕ ܗ̣ܘ ܡܪܐ ܆ ܐܦ ܟܕ ܐܬ̣ܐ ܠܡܫ̇ܡܫܘ * ܠܡܕܒܪܢܘܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܛܠܬܢ ܇ ܘܡܛܠ ܗܕܐ ܇ ܕܢܫܬ̇ܡܗ ܥܒ̣ܕܐ ܘܕܢܬܠ ܢܦܫܗ ܦܘܪܩܢܐ ܚܠܦ ܣܓܝ̈ܐܐ ܩ̇ܒܠ ܥܠܘܗܝ ܀

11 ܗܟܢܐ ܐܦ ܒܥܪܘܩܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܠܡܨܪܝܢ ܆ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܡܛܠܬܗ * ܬܘܒ ܠܬܪܝܢ ܡܦܠܓ ܐܢܬ ܠܗ : ܟܕ ܒ̇ܗܬ ܐܢܬ ܒܣܘܪܩܗ ܗ̇ܘ ܨܒܝܢܝܐ ܆ ܚ̣ܠܝܛܐ ܗܝ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܦܐܝܐ ܠܐܠܗܐ. ܡ̣ܙܝܥ ܓܝܪ ܠܥܒ̈ܝܕܝ ܒܐܝ̈ܕܝܐ ܕܡܨܪܝܢ ܆ ܘܡܥܪܩ ܠܫ̈ܐܕܐ. ܘܠܐܬܪܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܝ̣ܬܝ ܠܦܪܥܘܢ ܗ̇ܘ ܢ̇ܨܐ ܥܡ ܐܠܗܐ ܘܡܓܕܦܢܐ ܠܘܬ ܝܕܥܬܐ ܪܝܫܝܬܐ ܕܐܠܗܐ ܆ ܘܠܘܬ ܗܝܡܢܘܬܐ ܬܪܝܨܬܐ. ܗ̇ܝ ܕܐܦ ܥܕܡܐ ܠܗܫܐ ܐܚܝܕܐ ܒܗ ܡܫ̇ܚܠܦ ܡ̇ܥܒܪ ܀

12 ܡܢܐ ܕܝܢ ܐܪܐ ܠܘܬ ܗܕܐ ܇ ܐܦ ܐܘܛܘܟܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܪܫܝܥܐ ܡܦܢܐ ܠܢ ܇ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܫ̣ܬܝ ܬܛܪܐ ܕܠܝܚܐ ܕܪܫܝܥܐ ܘܐܠܢܛܝܢܘܣ ܘܕܡܢܝ̈ܢܝܐ ܘܕܐܦܘܠܝܢܐܪܝܘܣ. ܐܢ ܓܝܪ ܠܘ ܦܓܪܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܫ̇ܘܐ ܠܢ ܒܐܘܣܝܐ ܣܛܪ ܡܢ ܚ̣ܛܝܬܐ ܆ ܚ̣ܝܕ ܠܗ ܗ̣ܘ ܡܠܬܐ ܐܠܗܐ ܒܩܢܘܡܐ ܆ ܕܢܦܫܐ ܐܝܬ ܠܗ ܡܬܗܘܢܢܝܬܐ ܆ ܣ̇ܓܝ * ܝܬܝܪܐ ** ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܫܘܢܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܠܡܨܪܝܢ. ܪܕܩ ܗܘܐ ܓܝܪ. ܕܐܝܟ ܕܥܠ ܗܓ̈ܓܘܬܐ ܆ ܠܡܓܢܒ ܠܚܙܬܐ ܕܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܚ̇ܙܝܢ ܗܘܘ : ܘܠܐ ܡܬܚܙܝܢܐ ܢܗܘܐ ܆ ܘܢܥܪܘܩ ܡܢ ܐܝ̈ܕܝܐ ܕܗܪܘܕܝܣ. ܐܢ ܟܝܬ ܒܦܢܛܐܣܝܐ ܐܬܚܙܝ ܠܢ ܇ ܘܦܓܪܐ ܫܡ̇ܝܢܐ ܐܘ ܐܐܪܝܐ ܐܝ̣ܬܝ ܠܗ ܇ ܘܠܘ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܫ̇ܘܐ * ܠܢ ܒܐܘܣܝܐ. * ܐܠܐ ܠܗܕܐ ܡܣ̣ܒܪܢܘܬܐ ܡܣܝܒܬܐ ܘܕܠܐ ܐܠܗ ܙ̇ܢܩ ܘܫ̇ܕܐ ܠܪܘܚܩܐ ܆ ܡܠܐܟܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܩܡ ܥܠ ܝܘܣܦ * ܒܫܢ̣ܬܐ ܇ ܟܕ ܐ̇ܡܪ ܇ ܒܙܒܢ ܡ̇ܢ ܩܘܡ ܕܒ̣ܪ ܠܛܠܝܐ ܘܠܐܡܗ ܘܥܪܘܩ ܠܡܨܪܝܢ ܇ ܒܙܒܢ ܕܝܢ ܇ ܩܘܡ ܕܒ̣ܪ ܠܛܠܝܐ ܘܙܠ ܠܐܪܥܐ ܕܐܝܣܪܐܝܠ ܇ ܡܝܬܘ ܠܗܘܢ ܓܝܪ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܒ̇ܥܝܢ ܗܘܘ ܠܢܦܫܗ ܕܛܠܝܐ ܀

13 ܠܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܦ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܚܠܦ ܫܦܝܪܘܬ ܣܥܘܪܘܬܐ ܕܐܝܟ ܗܕܐ : ܦܪܘܥܘ ܛܝܒܘܬܐ ܗܕܐ. ܐܦ ܠܐܝܩܪܗ ܕܝܠܗ ܐܦ ܠܐܝܩܪܐ ܕܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܐܣܗܕܘ. ܒܒܝܬ ܠܚܡ : * ܐܝܟ ܡܪܬܝܢܘܬܗ ܕܦܘܠܘܣ ܆ ܕܠܐ ܬܗܘܘܢ ܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܒܪ̈ܥܝܢܝܟܘܢ. ܐܠܐ ܠܒܝܫܘܬܐ ܡ̇ܢ ܗ̣ܘܝܬܘܢ ܫܒܪ̈ܝܢ : ܒܪ̈ܥܝܢܟܘܢ ܕܝܢ ܗ̣ܘܘ ܡܫ̈ܡܠܝܐ ܆ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܬܣܒܘܢ ܒܡܫܝܚܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܫ̇ܡܠܝܐ ܇ ܒܝܘܡܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܚܝܠܐ ܘܡܫ̇ܒܚܐ ܕܥܬܝܕ ܕܕܢ̣ܚܐ ܕܝܠܗ. ܕܠܗ ܬܫܒܘܚܬܐ : ܠܗ̇ܘ ܕܡܛܠܬܢ * ܐܬܪܡ̣ܝ ܠܣܘܪܩܐ ܕܐܝܟ ܗܢܐ ** : ܘܕܗܟܢܐ ܪܚ̇ܡ ܐܢܫܐ ܘܠܐ ܡܫܬܚܠܦܢܐ ܘܕܠܐ ܦܢܛܣܝܐ ܇ ܗܫܐ ܘܒܟܠ ܙܒܢ ܘܠܥܠܡ ܥܠܡܝܢ. ܐܡܝܢ.

'1 You are completely astonished by Herod’s senseless order against the innocent little children, for in truth they were still at the breast, an order that brought a detestable death sentence. Yet do not be stunned, for it stemmed from madness. This is why the divine and sacred book of the Gospels, showing the lack of reason in the one who issued it, says: He was enraged, and it adds: Greatly (Matt 2:16). It was anger, it says, that pronounced the sentence, and anger that seized his mind. What, then, could anger produce but madness, bloodshed, and the ferocity of wild beasts?

2 But at these words, someone might say: “That’s a fine answer, indeed, that when asked about the motive and cause of the children’s massacre by Herod, you pointed to madness born of anger. But I seek to know why Christ allowed innocent children to be slaughtered en masse, and for this to be the result of that man’s madness, or rather, an iniquitous act. For, on one hand, when Herod sought Christ, it is clear he could not find the One who is utterly ungraspable and hard to find, and who willingly, for our salvation, was seized and crucified when it was necessary and when He willed it. On the other hand, rather than a search for Christ, this massacre of children was the outcome of a vengeful design.”

3 But it is the mark of a shortsighted and worldly mind to be troubled by the massacre of the children, as if it were unjustly done to them. For if, as a prisoner, you were locked in a dark house, pressed by prolonged hunger, or perhaps even with your back torn by blows, and someone then promised to simply bring you through death to a place of light, illuminated by unfading radiance, with food not subject to decay but incorruptible and abundant, in a place rich with spiritual plants, with crowns blooming and thriving at all times, never wilting, would you not eagerly bow your neck to the sword to reach that place, and call the one who struck you a benefactor, not a murderer?

4 How, then, does this world differ from a dark house, this world into which, after the radiant life of paradise, we descended because of sin, where we are truly entangled and caught in thorns, that is, in the bonds of temporal cares (cf. Luke 8:14; Matt 13:22), where, as if battered by blows, we eat our bread by the sweat of our brow (cf. Gen 3:19), to acquire virtue through such painful discipline?

5 How, then, were these children wronged, who, while Herod, because of the infamous massacre he ordered, suffered punishment, and suffered it more harshly, were themselves, in a single stroke, delivered from a wretched life and leapt to a happy and eternal end? If, then, this condition of ours were limited to this present world, it would be the time to say, as Paul did: If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable of men; but if Christ has been raised from the dead, He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15:19–20). And the rewards of virtue, like the punishments of iniquity—according to what suits each—will be measured with the fairer scales and weights of the world to come. In this case, the children were not treated unjustly by Christ; rather, they were favoured, being delivered to Herod’s massacre and weaving the crowns of martyrdom—crowns that Peter, the chief of the apostles, earned only after much toil when he was crucified upside down, and Paul and James when they were struck down by the sword (Acts 12:2), and Stephen, the first martyr, when he was stoned (Acts 7:58).

6 For my part, I came to be astonished at the gifts, so worthy of God, of Christ’s coming in the flesh, because He shows, even through the slaughter of these children, that this human race, fallen to an imperfect and childish age, He raises up and restores to the perfection of its beginnings. For in the beginning, He formed Adam as a perfect being, not brought to growth through successive ages; for He immediately entrusted him with the cultivation of paradise, setting as his reward the grace of immortality. But because Adam fell to death, and through the serpent’s deception was cast out of paradise and cast perfection far from himself, the manner of our coming into existence through the union of marriage was introduced. Then, because man is born a little child, he shows through this inferiority the lack of perfection he has at the start; and through successive growth and the progress of ages, he shows that we are destined for corruption.

7
Yet Emmanuel, the author and healer of our nature, on one hand took upon Himself this imperfection of ours, becoming a little child without change because of His love; on the other hand, He grants to little children and to our race the perfection that existed at the beginning, or rather His own, wholly divine perfection, for He calls them to the valiant and manly struggles of martyrdom. This is why He also cries out in the Gospels, declaring that He came for this: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48).

8 How far, then, will the madness of Nestorius go, who brazenly says of the incarnate God: “I am ashamed to call a two- or three-month-old child God”?

9 For if He Himself were ashamed to be called a little child, He would first—and rightly—blush at having become man without change for our sake. But if, on one hand, He takes upon Himself, for the sake of the divine plan, the imperfection of a little child, and on the other hand, He makes children share in His own perfection and grants them the perfection of martyrs when they bear witness for Him as God—for their blood cries out with a voice louder than Abel’s (cf. Heb 12:24)—how do you, because of this childish age, dishonour the One who, even at that age, performs marvellously what is worthy of God? And how do you cut this One into two natures, blasphemously saying He is a child and the Lord of the child, when you grant these two natures a mere bond of affinity and present one as Lord and the other as subject to that Lord?

10 For if you knew Emmanuel, one from two, without division, namely from divinity and humanity, you would not say, O vain one, that He has authority over Himself. For, on one hand, He has authority over all; on the other, He is not divided against Himself. But the same is Lord, even when He came to fulfill the divine plan for us, and this is why He took upon Himself to be called a servant and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matt 20:28).

11 Likewise, in the flight to Egypt, about which you again divide Him into two because you are ashamed of His voluntary abasement, what is fitting for God is mingled: for He makes the idols of Egypt tremble (Isa 19:1), He puts demons to flight, and that region, which He had entrusted to the God-fighting and blasphemous Pharaoh, He transforms, bringing it to the sublime knowledge of God and to the orthodox faith that still reigns there now.

12 To this, what does the impious Eutyches reply, he who has drunk the dregs of the impious Valentinus, the Manicheans, and Apollinaris? For if it was not a body consubstantial with us, except for sin, possessing an intellectual soul, which the Word of God Himself united to Himself hypostatically, the departure to Egypt was entirely unnecessary. For it would have been fitting, as with hallucinations, for Him to be invisible to deceive the sight of those who saw Him and to escape Herod’s hands, if indeed He appeared to us in imagination and took on a celestial or airy body, and not one consubstantial with us. But this impure and godless opinion was driven out and cast far away by the angel who stood by Joseph in his sleep, saying at one moment: Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt (Matt 2:13), and at another: Arise, take the child, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead (Matt 2:20).

13 To Him, for such a great gift, you also render this thanksgiving, in His honour and in honour of the little children who bore witness in Bethlehem. As Paul admonishes, do not be children in your thinking, but in malice be infants, and in your thinking be mature (1 Cor 14:20), so that through Christ you may receive what is perfect on the coming day, terrible and glorious, of His appearing. To Him be praise, to the One who for us submitted to such charitable abasement, without change or imagination, now and always and forever and ever! Amen!'


Text:
 M. Brière and F. Graffin, PO 38.2, 326, 328, 330, 332.
Translation: K. Papadopoulos, using M. Brière.

Liturgical Activities

Sermon/homily
Service for the saint

Festivals

Saint’s feast
Dating by saint’s festival

Non Liturgical Activity

Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Children

Theorising on Sanctity

Considerations about the veneration of saints

Source

Severus of Antioch
Severus was born c. 465 in Sozopolis in Pisidia to pagan parents. He studied in Alexandria and completed legal studies in Beirut. While in Beirut, he converted to Christianity, and was baptized at the shrine of Leontius in Tripoli around 488. En route back to Pisidia via Jerusalem to embark on a legal career, he was persuaded instead to adopt monastic life in Peter the Iberian’s monastery near Gaza. He progressed to solitary life in the desert of Eleutheropolis before ill health forced him to recover at the nearby monastery of Romanus. He eventually founded his own cenobitic community in Maiuma, near Gaza.

Facing increasing opposition from pro-Chalcedonian monks in Palestine, Severus joined other non-Chalcedonian monks in Constantinople from 508 to 511 to promote miaphysite theology and push back against the pro-Chalcedonian patriarchs of Constantinople (Makedonios II), Jerusalem (Elijah I) and Antioch (Flavian II). He eventually won the trust of the emperor Anastasius (491-518).

Severus was elected bishop of Antioch, possibly on 6 November 512 (Malalas,
Chronicle 16), at a synod of Laodicea (Syria I), after a protracted campaign led by Philoxenus of Mabbug to depose Flavian II. He was consecrated at the Great Church in Antioch on 16 November 512, at which time he preached the first of his 125 Cathedral Homilies, so named to reflect that they were delivered from the cathedra or episcopal throne while he was bishop. While bishop, he travelled and preached extensively, wrote hymns, and engaged in polemics against both radical anti-Chalcedonians such as Sergius the Grammarian and Chalcedonian opponents.

With the accession of Justin I to the imperial throne in 518, ecclesiastical policy favoured Chalcedonian orthodoxy, and Severus, along with 52 other non-Chalcedonian bishops from Syria and Asia Minor, was deposed. Severus fled to Egypt to escape arrest and initially settled in the monastery at Enaton. For the next twenty years, Severus travelled extensively in Egypt, continuing his polemics against Chalcedonians and combatting doctrinal divisions among the non-Chalcedonians. During this time, he effectively became the leader of the Egyptian church while still maintaining oversight of non-Chalcedonian affairs in Antioch.

In an attempt at unification, Justin’s successor Justinian (527-565) invited Severus to Constantinople. Severus travelled to the capital with his protegé Peter of Apamea and the monk Zeʿora of Amida in winter 534–535. After failing to negotiate a settlement, the three men were condemned by the council of Constantinople in 536, which also deposed patriarch Anthimius I of Constantinople for his miaphysite leanings. On 6 August 536, an imperial edict ratified the council’s decision, exiled Severus, and ordered Severus’s works be destroyed with threats of amputation of the hand should any scribe copy them (Justinian,
Novella 42). Defeated, Severus fled from Constantinople and died in semi-obscurity two years later, on 8 February 538, in Chois, Upper Egypt. A small group of adherents transported his remains by boat to the monastery of Glass at Enaton, where he had resided for many years.

A prolific author, Severus left, in addition to his 125
Cathedral Homilies, several dogmatic and polemical works, about 4000 letters of which only about 200 have survived, and over 200 hymns. A baptismal liturgy ascribed to him is not considered authentic. His homilies and hymns in particular show him to be an enthusiastic promoter of the cult of saints.


The Cathedral Homilies
Text, translation, transmission
Severus’s 125 Cathedral Homilies were delivered during the six years of his episcopacy in the see of Antioch (512–518), but only Homily 77 and a few fragments survive in the original Greek. Today, the homilies are largely known through the Syriac translation, in Coptic, and in much later translations into Arabic and Ethiopic (Ge’ez).

Soon after they were delivered, Severus’s
Cathedral Homilies were collected and organized in chronological order of their composition and numbered sequentially. This arrangement probably goes back to the time of Severus himself, since Julian of Halicarnassus’ first letter to Severus, written sometime after 518, refers to one of Severus’s homilies by its number (Brière, PO 29.1, 63). The chronological order and numbering are maintained throughout the manuscript tradition.

The
Cathedral Homilies were translated into Syriac no later than the mid-sixth century and organized into four books containing homilies 1-30, 31-72, 73-100, and 101-25. A large portion of the homilies are still extant in this version in four manuscripts held in the British Library and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (BAV):

Repository Shelfmark Date Contents
British Library Add MS 14599 569 AD hom. 31-59
BAV Vat. sir 142 before 576 AD hom. 73-100
BAV Vat. sir. 143 563 AD hom. 101-125
BAV Vat. sir. 256 6th cent. hom. 101-125

Homilies 1-30 (Book 1) and 60-72 (part of Book 2) are missing except for a few fragments.

Wright (1894, 94-95) ascribed the sixth-century translation of the homilies to Paul of Callinicum, and ostensibly did so based on the translation’s stylistic similarities with Paul’s Syriac translation of Severus’s correspondence with Julian of Halicarnassus and his three polemical works against Julian’s theology (Brière,
PO 29.1, 17). Many commentators since have followed suit. But while Paul is known with certainty to have translated Severus’ anti-Julianist corpus in 528 (see note on BAV, Vat. sir. 140, fol. 145v), none of the four manuscripts which carry unrevised translations of Severus’s homilies carry Paul’s name and the attribution remains contestable.

The sixth-century translations were subsequently revised by Jacob of Edessa (c. 640-708) at the end of the seventh century. Jacob, for his part, never referred to any sixth-century translator by name and always referred to translators in the plural as “the ancients” (
ܩܕܡ̈ܝܐ) (Lash 1981, 372-373). Jacob’s version seems to have been divided into three books although the exact book division varies. In British Library, Add MS 12159 the books contain homilies 1-50, 51-90, 91-125, whereas BAV, Vat. sir. 141 contains homilies 44-91 suggesting the other parts contained 1-43 and 92-125. A colophon in BAV, Vat. sir. 141 indicates Jacob completed this revision in 700/701 but this date may simply refer to the completion of the homilies in the manuscript rather than the whole collection.

Both the sixth-century translation(s) and Jacob’s revision of Severus’s homilies include titles reflecting each homily’s contents and/or occasion. These titles sometimes differ between the sixth and seventh-century translations, and it is possible that Severus himself used shorthand titles as he does when referring to two of his homilies in his apology for Philalethes (CSCO 319, 112-113). The first homily in each new year of his episcopacy is also noted in the manuscript tradition.

Severus’s works were copied and transmitted with great care by the non-Chalcedonian churches which eventually split from the pro-Chalcedonian, imperially backed Byzantine church. Unusual names, special words and terms were also collected and added to patristic
masora, that is, handbooks titled “words and readings” giving vocalisations of ambiguous or unfamiliar words to assist readers. Masora manuscripts such as British Library Add MS 14684, Bibliothèque nationale de France syr. 64 and Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate syr. 7/16 provide valuable information on titles or contents of homilies which are otherwise missing in the manuscript tradition.

The Coptic tradition preserves
Cathedral Homilies 1 and 27 in their entirety, Homily 60 almost complete, and fragments from Homilies 2, 7, 14, 24, 28, 50, 77, 103 and 115, all in the Sahidic dialect. Additional fragments may be identified in future. The Sahidic version of the Cathedral Homilies reflects another tradition from the Syriac. A few homily fragments are also preserved in the Bohairic catenae on the gospels, most importantly British Library, Or. 8812, completed in 888/9 probably from a Greek original and published by de Lagarde (1886).

Extant quotations from
Homily 22 in the 11th-century Arabic Confessions of the Fathers derive from a Coptic rather than a Syriac text (Youssef 2003). Homily fragments preserved in the Arabic gospel catenae, whose earliest extant manuscript BAV, Vat. arab. 452 dates from the 1214, seem to derive from the Bohairic (Caubet Iturbe 1969). Witakowski (2004) lists a very small inventory of Severus in Ethiopic including one inauthentic homily and two other homily fragments which have not have yet been examined.

Editions
All of Severus’s Cathedral Homilies in Syriac translation have been edited and published in Patrologia Orientalis (PO). The base manuscript for the PO edition is British Library, Add MS 12159, written in AD 867/868, which reflects Jacob of Edessa’s revision. As this manuscript is damaged at the beginning, homilies 1-17 have been recovered in whole or in part from other manuscripts or versions. The edition for Homily 77 includes the Greek text which is extant in its entirety. A small number of Greek, Syriac and Coptic fragments of these homilies have been published since the PO editions, and these are noted in individual entries on this database, where relevant.

Except for
Homily 77 on the resurrection (Kugener and Triffaux, PO 16.5) and Homily 52 on the Maccabees (Bensly and Barnes 1895), the sixth-century version remains unpublished.

Themes
Between 512 and 518, Severus preached a cycle of homilies each year beginning on the anniversary of his consecration, in various churches and martyr shrines in Antioch, its suburb Daphne, and towns in the surrounding regions. These locations are sometimes given in the titles. Most homilies were pre-prepared; a few were repeated (e.g., Homily 1) or extemporaneous (e.g., Homily 111). The number of times that Severus preached in each annual cycle seems to have decreased: from 33 in his first year to 14 in his fifth and 13 in his sixth (which was cut short).

The
Cathedral Homilies cover a wide range of themes which Baumstark (1897, 36-39) categorised into four groups: A – important (dominical) feasts; B – saints; C – exegetical homilies for an ordinary Sunday; and D – occasional homilies preached in response to particular circumstances. Most modern commentators follow or adapt this taxonomy. About a third of the Cathedral Homilies relate to saints, but various aspects of the cult of saints are also mentioned in some of the remaining homilies. Alpi (2009, 68) counts 117 homilies addressed to the people of Antioch, thus making these homilies a valuable source for saints’ commemorations in the Antiochene church.

Homilies on saints
Severus preached annually on 1 January at the shrine of *Ignatius (bishop of Antioch and martyr of Rome, S00649) on *Basil (bishop of Caesarea, ob. 379, S00780) and *Gregory (the Theologian, of Nazianzos, $S00837), whose works were influential on his formation. He also preached on feast days for *Athanasios (bishop of Alexandria, ob. 373, S00294) and *Antony (‘the Great’, monk of Egypt, ob. 356, S00098) whom he also admired. Absent are homilies on *John Chrysostom (bishop of Constantinople, ob. 407, S00779) and *Kyrillos/Cyril (bishop of Alexandria, ob. 444, S00874) whom he cited frequently but only eulogized in hymns.

In Antioch he also preached on commemoration days for *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033) and for various biblical saints: *Jonah (Old Testament Prophet, S01237), the *Maccabean Martyrs (pre-Christian Jewish martyrs of Antioch, S00303), the *Innocents (children killed on the orders of Herod, S00268), *John the Baptist (S00020), and *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030). He mentions the commemorations of local martyrs *Ignatius (bishop of Antioch and martyr of Rome, S00649) and *Loukianos (either the theologian and martyr of Nicomedia, S00151, or the martyr of Heliopolis-Baalbek, S00831) in passing but preaches on days commemorating *Babylas (bishop and martyr of Antioch, S00061),
*Barlaam/Barlāhā (martyr of Antioch, S00417), *Romanos (deacon of Caesarea, martyred at Antioch, S00120), *Symeon the Stylite (the Elder, S00343), and *Thekla (follower of the Apostle Paul, S00092). He also preached three times on the commemoration day for *Drosis (virgin and martyr of Antioch, S01189) whose martyrium in Antioch he was refurbishing, as well as twice on the feast day of his patron saint, Leontios (martyr of Tripolis, Phoenicia, S00216), whose cult he probably introduced into Antioch. He preached on foreign saints *Dometios (monk of Syria, later 4th c., S00414), the *Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (S00103), *Ioulianos (martyr of Cilicia, buried at Antioch or in Egypt, S00305), Theodoros (soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00480), and *Tarachos, Probos, and Andronikos (martyrs of Anazarbos, Cilicia, S00710), who were all commemorated in Antioch at the time, and he presided over the deposition of the relics of *Prokopios (martyr of Caesarea of Palestine, S00118) and *Phokas (martyr of Antioch, S00413) at the shrine dedicated to *Michael (the Archangel, S00181) in Antioch. In the countryside, he preached on *Thomas (the Apostle, S00199) at Seleucia, *Sergios (soldier and martyr of Rusafa, S00023) and *Bakchos (soldier and martyr of Barbalissos, S00079) at Chalcis/Qinnasrin, and *Thalelaios (martyr of Aigai, Cilicia, S01137), at Aigai.


Cathedral Homily 8: On the Holy Innocents
Manuscripts, Greek fragments (from the catenae)
BAV, Barb. grec. 569, fol. 48v 16th cent.
Moscow, Gosudarstvennyy Istoricheskiy Muzey, Vladimir 28 (Synod. gr. 385), fol. 72r 10th cent.

Manuscripts, sixth century Syriac translation
Not extant.

Manuscripts, Jacob of Edessa’s revision
British Library, Add MS 12159, fol. 312ra-312vb 868 [lines missing at beginning, end, and elsewhere]
British Library, Add MS 12165, fol. 13va-15rb 1015
British Library, Add MS 14516, fol. 34rb-36rb 9th cent.
British Library, Add 14515, fol. 54vb-56vb 893 [fragmentary]
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Sachau 220 (= ms. 28), 24va-24vb 8th/9th cent. [fragmentary]
Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, 12/19, fol. 73rb-75ra 10/11th cent.
Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate, 12/20, fol. 85vb-88ra Nov. 1000


Edition
Brière 1976 (PO 38.2), 326, 328, 330, 332. Greek fragment and Syriac version.

The Syriac edition is based on British Library, Add MS 12159.



Discussion

Which commemoration?
The homily recalls the children slain by Herod as recorded in Matthew 2:16–18. While Severus does not directly refer to a commemoration, the liturgical setting, Severus’ clear designation of the children as martyrs, and the exhortation to emulate them, all suggest a commemorative occasion. That Severus had preached on the Holy Innocents again around the same time in the third year of his episcopacy, also points to a recurring fixed feast (Homily 64, E08601).

The title transmitted with Jacob’s revision of
Homily 8 names the subject as ‘the children who were massacred by Herod in Bethlehem’ (ܕܥܠ ܛܠܝ̈ܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܡܢ ܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܐܬܩ̇ܛܠܘ : ܒܒܝܬ ܠܚܡ) but does not explicitly refer to a commemoration.

The commemoration of the Holy Innocents is evident in homilies from the early fourth century. Given their association with the life of Christ, their memory was initially mentioned in homilies relating to the Nativity or Epiphany (e.g., Augustine,
Sermo 373). However, it was not until the fifth century that a distinct annual feast began to take shape in both the Eastern and Western churches.

In the West, the earliest evidence of the feast appears in a sermon attributed to Maximinus the Arian from the 420s (Gryson, 1982: 69-72), alongside homilies by figures like Peter Chrysologus (E02991, E02992) and Caesarius of Arles (E07238), with the early sixth-century Calendar of Carthage fixing its celebration on 28 December (E02203). Nevertheless, Nativity and Epiphany sermons continued to include the story of the Innocents until the seventh century, suggesting that a separate celebration took time to become fully established.

In the East, outside of a liturgical feast dedicated to them, the memory of the Innocents appears already in the last decades of the fourth century in the Nativity homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. John Chrysostom focuses on Herod’s anger and the children’s innocence and unjust deaths in his ninth homily
On Matthew (CPG 4424). Homilies by Basil of Seleucia (CPG 6656.37, BHG 824) and his contemporary Proclus of Constantinople (CPG 5825, E05455) are sometimes presented as the earliest attestation of this feast in the East from the mid-fifth century, around the same time that the Feast of the Innocents was being established in the West. However, these homilies do not explicitly refer to a commemoration. Severus’ mention of the Innocents in a Nativity homily (Homily 7) shows they continued to be chronologically and conceptually associated with the Christmas story in his time. That Severus preached twice on them at the same time of year (Homily 8 and 64), however, may be the earliest secure evidence that a fixed feast had been established in Antioch by his time.

When?
The date on which Homily 8 was preached is unknown. Assuming the homilies are arranged in chronological order, its placement and numbering suggest it was delivered after Christmas on 25 December 512 (Homily 7) and before Severus’ annual address at Ignatius’s shrine commemorating Basil and Gregory on 1 January 513 (Homily 9). A possible date is 29 December 512, which emerged as the Innocents’ feast date in the East. However, confirmation of this date came well after Severus. The West Syriac martyrology in the seventh-century British Library, Add MS 17134, lists the commemoration of the infants on 29 December, as do the ninth- or tenth-century Typicon of the Great Church (Hagia Sophia) and the tenth- or eleventh-century Synaxarion of Constantinople. Nevertheless, alternative dates were observed in Jerusalem. The Armenian Lectionary of Jerusalem, reflecting the fifth-century typicon of Jerusalem following the Julian calendar, commemorates the Innocents on 9 May at Bethlehem, while the early seventh-century Georgian version of the Lectionary of Jerusalem, which reflects the liturgical situation of the Church of Jerusalem around 600, commemorates the Innocents on the third Thursday of Pascha with a synaxis also in Bethlehem (E03079).


Where?
If, as argued above, the homily was delivered on the feast of the Holy Innocents, it is likely to have been preached in the Great Church, which functioned as Antioch’s cathedral at this time (Mayer and Allen 2012, 68-80).


What?
Already in Homily 7 on the Nativity, Severus had hinted that there was much more to be said about the whole cycle of events surrounding the Incarnation, including ‘Herod’s plan defiled by the murder, which took up arms against little children, to the point that a demented anger drove him to no longer know whom he wanted to kill’ (PO 38.2: 318, 320). The massacre of the Holy Innocents was therefore both chronologically and conceptually related to the Nativity.

Severus takes up these themes in
Homily 8, which is devoted entirely to the Holy Innocents. He describes them as ‘innocent little children’ who were ‘still at the breast’ (§1), emphasizing their extreme youth and vulnerability, echoing the Gospel account, which specifies the killing of children two years old and younger in Bethlehem and its vicinity (Matt 2:16). Their tender age underscores both their innocence and the brutality of Herod’s act.

The deaths of the Holy Innocents are interpreted as a divine act of mercy rather than injustice. Severus argues that their massacre freed them from the ‘dark house’ of this sinful world, marked by suffering and toil (§3-4), and brought them to a place of ‘unfading radiance’ and ‘incorruptible’ abundance (§3). Their martyrdom is seen as a restoration of humanity’s original perfection, lost through Adam’s fall (§6).

Homily 8 explicitly elevates the Innocents to the status of martyrs, comparing their crowns to those of prominent apostolic martyrs Peter, Paul, James, and Stephen, but without their prolonged toil (§5). Coincidentally, in the earliest calendars, these martyrs were commemorated immediately after Christmas (Stephen on 26/27 December; James, often with John, on 27/28 December; Peter and Paul on 28 December), with the Feast of the Holy Innocents likely celebrated on 29 December in Severu’s time, reflecting their growing liturgical significance. The Holy Innocents’ martyrdom is said to have delivered them instantaneously from a ‘wretched life’ to an ‘eternal end.’ (§5).

The sanctity of the Holy Innocents seems to have emerged by the end of the second century. Irenaeus of Lyons presented their deaths as part of Christ’s divine arrangement, suggesting that these infants were ‘sent on before into His kingdom’ (
Against Heresies 3.16.4). This interpretation reframes the massacre as a kind of first martyrdom, where these children bore witness to Christ through their deaths, not merely as tragic victims but with salvific significance. Few other early sources, such as Clement of Alexandria or Origen, explicitly mention the Holy Innocents, underscoring Irenaeus’s foundational role in shaping their veneration.

Severus addresses potential objections to the justice of their deaths (§2), arguing that their slaughter was not unjust but rather a divine favor (§5). This apologetic tone could suggest that the cult of the Innocents was significant enough to warrant theological defense, possibly due to debates about the morality of their suffering or their status as pre-baptismal martyrs. Alternatively, Severus may simply be continuing a homiletic tradition derived from John Chrysostom, whom he long admired and frequently cited in his letters as ‘wise John’, and who addressed similar questions in the first part of his ninth homily on Matthew. John Chrysostom’s homily would be allocated to this feast in homiliaries.

The homily connects the Holy Innocents to Christ’s Incarnation, portraying their deaths as a demonstration of Christ’s power to elevate humanity from imperfection to divine perfection (§6-7). By becoming a child Himself, Christ shares in human limitation while granting the Innocents the ‘perfection of martyrs’ (§7). Their blood is said to cry out ‘louder than Abel’s’ (§9, cf. Heb 12:24), signifying their witness to Christ’s divinity.

Severus ties the Innocents’ martyrdom to Christ’s Incarnation and divine redemptive plan, emphasizing that their deaths testify to His divinity (§7–9). Within this theological frame, they emerge as martyrs worthy of veneration for their witness to Christ—a view also articulated by John Chrysostom. At the same time, Severus presents the cult of the Innocents as a theological counterpoint to heresies such as Nestorianism, which divides Christ’s divine and human natures, and Eutychianism, which denies His full humanity (§8–12). By honouring the Holy Innocents, believers affirm the orthodox Christology of Christ’s full divinity and humanity, united without division, who became a child to redeem humanity, including its youngest members.

Severus concludes with a call to offer ‘thanksgiving’ in honour of the Innocents, alongside Christ, for their witness in Bethlehem (§13). He also urges believers to emulate their innocence in malice while striving for maturity in thought (§13, citing 1 Cor 14:20), thus also presenting them as moral exemplars.

In sum, by Severus’s time, the Holy Innocents were firmly established as martyrs in liturgical and theological traditions, their example was worthy of imitation, and their veneration served to affirm both Christ’s Incarnation and orthodox Christology.


Bibliography

Text and French Translation:
Brière, M., and F. Graffin (eds. and trans.), “Les Homiliae cathedrales de Sévère d'Antioche: Homélies I à XVII,” Patrologia Orientalis 38.2 (1976), 324-334.

Further reading:
Severus
Allen, P., and C. T. R. Hayward, Severus of Antioch (The Early Church Fathers; London: Routledge, 2004), 3-55.

Alpi, F., 
La route royale: Sévère d’Antioche et les églises d’Orient (512-518). 2 vols. (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique 188; Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient, 2009), 1:188-193.

Hay, K., “Severus of Antioch: An inheritor of Palestinian monasticism”,
ARAM 15 (2003), 159-171.

Cathedral Homilies Text, Transmission and Studies
Baumstark, A. “Das Kirchenjahr in Antiocheia zwischen 512 und 518”, Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchengeschichte 11 (1898), 31-66.

Bensly, R.L., and W.E. Barnes,
The Fourth Book of Maccabees and Kindred Documents in Syriac (Cambridge, 1895), 76-88 (hom. 55 sixth century) and 90-102 (Jacob’s revision).

Brière, M. et al., “Les
Homiliae Cathedrales de Sévère d’Antioche. Traduction syriaque de Jacques d’Edesse”, Patrologia Orientalis 4.1, 8.2, 12.1, 16.5, 20.2, 22.2, 23.1, 25.1, 25.4, 26.3, 29.1, 35.3, 36.1, 36.3, 36.4, 37.1, 38.2 (1908-1976).

Brière, M., “Introduction générale aux homélies de Sévère d’Antioche”,
Patrologia Orientalis 29.1 (1960), 7-76.

Brock, S. P., “Jacob the Annotator: Jacob’s Annotations to His Revised Translation of Severus’ Cathedral Homilies”, in: Gregorios Ibrahim and George Kiraz (eds.),
Studies on Jacob of Edessa (Gorgias Eastern Christian Studies 28; Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010), 1-14.

de Lagarde, P.,
Catenae in Evangelia Aegyptiacae quae supersunt (Göttingen, 1886).

Caubet Iturbe, F. J.,
La cadena arabe del Evangelio de San Mateo, 2 vols. (Studi e Testi 254-255; Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1969-1970).

King, D., “Paul of Callinicum and his Place in the History of Syriac Literature”,
Le Muséon 120 (2007), 327-349.

Lash, C. J. A., “Techniques of a Translator: Work-Notes on the Methods of Jacob of Edessa in Translating the Homilies of Severus of Antioch”, in: F. Paschke (ed.),
Uberlieferungsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen (TU 125; Berlin: Akademie, 1981), 365-383.

Loopstra, J.,
The Patristic “Masora”: A Study of Patristic Collections in Syriac Handbooks from the Near East (CSCO 689 / Syr. 265; Louvain: Peeters, 2020).

Petit, F.,
La Chaîne sur la Genèse. Édition integrale, 4 vols. (Traditio Exegetica Graeca 1-4; Louvain: Peeters, 1991-1996).

Petit, F.,
La chaîne sur l’Exode. Edition integrale I: Fragments de Sévère d’Antioche (Traditio Exegetica Graeca 1; Louvain: Peeters, 1999).

Petit, F. (ed. and French trans.), and L. Van Rompay (Syriac glossary),
Sévère d’Antioche: Fragments grecs tirés des chaînes sur les derniers livres de l’Octateuque et sur les Règnes(Traditio Exegetica Graeca 14; Louvain: Peeters, 2006).

Roux, R.,
L’exegese biblique dans les Homelies Cathedrales de Severe d’Antioche (Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 87; Rome: Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, 2002).

Schulz, M. H. O., “14. An Overview of Research on Bohairic Catena Manuscripts on the Gospels with a Grouping of Arabic and Ethiopic (Gəʿəz) Sources and a Checklist of Manuscripts”, in: H. A. G. Houghton (ed.),
Commentaries, Catenae and Biblical Tradition (Text and Studies 13; Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2016), 295-330.

Toilliez, G., “Rendre témoignage à la maison de Jacob: Sévère d’Antioche, pasteur et prédicateur, d’après ses ‘Homélies Cathédrales’ (512-518)” (PhD diss.; Université de Strasbourg, 2020).

Van Rompay, L., “Jacob of Edessa and The Sixth-Century Syriac Translator of Severus of Antioch’s Cathedral Homilies”, in: B. ter Haar Romeny (ed.),
Jacob of Edessa and the Syriac Culture of His Day (Monographs of the Peshitta Institute 18; Leiden: Brill, 2006), 189-204.

Van Rompay, L., “Severus, patriarch of Antioch (512-538), in the Greek, Syriac, and Coptic traditions”,
Journal of the Canadian Society for Syriac Studies 8 (2008), 3-22.

Witakowski, W., “Severus of Antioch in Ethiopian Tradition”, in: V. Böll, D. Nosnitsin, T. Rave, W. Smidt, E. Sokolinskaia (eds.),
Studia Aethiopica. In Honour of Siegbert Uhlig on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2004), 115-25.

Wright, W.,
A Short History of Syriac Literature (Cambridge, 1894), 94-95.

Youssef, Y. N., “The Quotations of Severus of Antioch in the Book of the
Confessions of the Fathers”, Ancient Near East Studies 40 (2003), 173-224.

Antioch
Alpi, F., “Société et vie profane à Antioche sous le patriarcat de Sévère (512-518)”, in: B. Cabouret, P.-L. Gatier, C. Saliou (eds.), Antioche de Syrie. Histoires, images et traces de la ville antique (Topoi. Orient-Occident. Supplémen5; Lyon: Maison de l'Orient Meìditerraneìen - Jean Pouilloux, 2004), 519-542.

De Giorgi, A. U., and A. Asa Eger,
Antioch: A History (Abingdon: Routledge, 2021).

Downey, G., 
Ancient Antioch (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961).

Mayer, W., and P. Allen,
The Churches of Syrian Antioch (300–638 CE) (Late Antique History and Religion 5; Leuven: Peeters, 2012).

Holy Innocents
Gryson, R.,
Scripta Arriana Latina I (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 87; Turnout: Brepols, 1982), 69-72.

Hayward, P. A., “Suffering and Innocence in Latin Sermons for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, c. 400-800”,
Studies in Church History 31 (1994): 67–80.

Scorza Barcellona, F., “La celebrazione dei Santi Innocenti nell’omiletica greca”,
Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata N.S. 29 (1975), 105-135; 30 (1976), 73-101.

Scorza Barcellona, F., “La celebrazione dei Santi Innocenti nell’omiletica latina dei secoli IV-VI”,
Studi medievali, 3rd series, 15 (1974), 705-767.


Record Created By

Katherin Papadopoulos

Date of Entry

17/07/2025

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00268Innocents, children killed on the orders of Herodܫܒܪ̈ܐ Certain


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