Severus, bishop of Antioch, in his On the Holy Innocents and against the blasphemies of Theodoret, commemorates the martyrdom of the *Innocents (children killed at the order of Herod, S00268). Cathedral homily 64, delivered in Greek, probably in Antioch in 514. Preserved in Syriac.
Evidence ID
E08601
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Severus of Antioch
Severus of Antioch, Cathedral Homily 64 (CPG 7035.64)
ܨܒ̇ܐ ܗܘܝܬ ܫܦܝܪ ܕܥܘ ܇ ܕܐܦ ܝܘܡܢܐ ܐܝܟ ܡܐ ܕܡܢ ܩܕܝܡ ܡܢ ܟܕܘ ܇ ܩܠܐ ܕܝܠܝ ܐ݀ܫܕܪ ܥܠ ܛܠ̈ܝܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܕܚܠܦ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܡܢ ܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܐܬ̇ܩܛܠܘ ܇ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܒܝܕ ܢܒܣܬܐ ܕܗܟܢܐ ܡܫܟܚܐ݀ ܠܓܒܪܐ ܡܫܡܠܝܐ ܡܢ ܫܠܝ ܫ̣ܘܪܘ ܡܛ̣ܘ ܇ ܠܡ̣ܫܘܚܬܐ ܕܩܘܡܬܐ ܕܘܚܢܝܬܐ ܇ ܟܕ ܣܗ̣ܕܘ ܕܐܠܗܐ ܚܝܠܬܢܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܛܠܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܒܒܝܬ ܠܚܡ ܇ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܬܝܠܕ ܠܢ ܠܘ ܓܝܪ ܠܗ ܇ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܐܦ ܐܫܥܝܐ ܢܒܝܐ ܡ̇ܙܥܩ ܇ ܕܛܠܝܐ ܐܬܝܠܕ ܠܢ ܇ ܗ̣ܘ ܓܝܪ ܟܕ ܗ̣ܘ ܐܦ ܒܪܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܗܘܐ ܕܡܢ ܐܒܐ ܇ ܡܠܬܐ ܝܚܝܕܝܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܦ ܐܬܝܗܒ ܠܢ ܇ ܡܛܠ ܕܐܦ ܚܠܦܝܢ ܐܫܠܡ ܗ̣ܘ ܠܗ ܠܪܝܚܐ ܒܣܝܡܐ ܇ ܕܒܚܬܐ ܘܩܘܪܒܢܐ ܠܐܠܗܐ ܘܐܒܐ ܀
ܠܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܗܟܝܠ ܕܩܕܡ ܕܒ̣ܚܬܐ ܕܐܝܟ ܗܕܐ ܩܕ̇ܡܘ ܐܬ̇ܩܛܠܘ ܆ ܡ̣ܢܘ ܕܠܐ ܢܬܠ ܛܘܫܐ ܇ ܕܡ̇ܘܬܐ ܡ̣̇ܠܐ ܐܓܪܐ ܐܫ̣ܟܚܘ ܠܗܘܢ ܇ ܘܕܐܓܪܐ ܪܒܐ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܫܡܝܐ. ܗ̇ܝ ܟܝܬ݀ ܕܐܦ ܐܪܡܝܐ ܗ̇ܗ ܢܒܝܐ ܆ ܓ̣ܠܝܐܝܬ ܩ̣̇ܕܡ ܐܡ̣ܪܗ̇. ܡܢ ܒܬܪ ܓܝܪ ܕܐܡ̣ܪ ܕܪܚܝܠ ܟܕ ܠܒܢ̈ܝܐ ܕܝܠܗ̇ ܐ݀ܠܝܐ ܗܘܬ : ܠܐ ܨܒ̇ܝܐ ܗܘܬ ܠܡܬܒܝܐܘ ܡܛܠ ܕܠܐ ܐܝܬܝܗܘܢ : ܟܕ ܪܚܝܠ ܠܒܝܬ ܠܚܡ ܩ̇ܪܐ ܗܘܐ : ܡܛܠ ܕܬܡܢ ܩܒܝܪܐ ܗܘܬ ܪܚܝܠ ܐܢܬܬܐ ܕܝܥܩܘܒ : ܗ̇ܘ ܕܐܦ ܐܡ̣ܪ ܒܕܘܟ ܡܛܠܬܗ̇ : ܘܩ̇ܒܪܬܗ̇ ܬܡܢ ܒܐܘܪܚܐ ܕܐܝܦܘܕܪܘܡܘܢ ܗܢܘ ܕܝܢ ܕܒܝܬ ܪܗ̣ܛܐ ܕܪ̈ܟܫܐ : ܗܕܐ ܐܝܬܝܗ̇ ܒܝܬ ܠܚܡ ܆
ܐܝ̣ܬܝ ܒܬܪܟܢ ܆ ܗܠܝܢ ܐܡ̇ܪ ܡܪܝܐ. ܢ̣̇ܫܠܐ ܩܠܟܝ ܡܢ ܒ̣ܟܝܐ : ܘܥܝ̈ܢܝܟܝ ܡܢ ܕܡ̈ܥܐ ܆ ܡܛܠ ܕܐܝܬ ܗܘ ܐܓܪܐ ܠܒܢܝ̈ܟܝ ܐܡ̇ܪ ܡܪܝܐ. ܛܒܐܝܬ ܓܝܪ ܡܦܫܩܢܐ ܐܚܪܢܐ݀ ܠܘ ܠܥܒ̈ܕܐ ܕܝܠܟܝ ܐܠܐ ܠܒ̈ܢܝܐ ܕܝܠܟܝ ܦ̣̇ܫܩ. ܫܒܘܩ ܕܝܢ ܕܐܦ ܠܒܕܐ ܕܐܡܐ ܢܚ̣ܫܒܝܗ̇ ܐܢܫ ܕܐܝܬܝܗ̇ ܇ ܠܗ̇ܝ ܕܠܒ̈ܢܐ ܒܝ̈ܬܝܐ ܕܝܠܗ̇ ܬܘܫܛ ܐܢܘܢ ܠܢ̣ܟܣܬܐ ܕܚܠܦ ܫܦܝܪܘܬ ܕܚ̣ܠܝܐ. ܐ݀ܝܢܐ ܗܟܝܠ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܐܓܪܐ ܕܒܢ̈ܝܐ ܕܝܠܗ̇. ܬܘܒ ܗ̣ܘ ܢܒܝܐ ܐܡ̇ܪ. ܢ̣ܦܢܘܢ ܡܢ ܐܪܥܐ ܕܒܥܠܕܒ̈ܒܐ. ܘܢܗܘܐ ܣܒ̣ܪܐ ܠܚܪܬܟܝ ܐܡ̇ܪ ܡܪܝܐ ܆ ܘܢܗܦܟܘܢ ܒܢ̈ܝܟܝ ܠܬܚܘܡ̈ܝܗܘܢ. ܟܕ ܓܝܪ ܫܒܩܘ ܫܒܪ̈ܐ ܠܐܪܥܐ ܕܒܥܠܕܒ̈ܒܝܗܘܢ : ܕܦ̈ܠܚ̣ܐ ܕܗܪܘܕܝܣ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܩ̈ܛܠܝ ܛܠ̈ܝܐ ܆ ܗ̣ܦܟܘ ܠܬܚܘܡ̈ܝܗܘܢ. ܬܚ̈ܘܡܐ ܕܢ ܐܦ ܕܝܠܗܘܢ ܐܦ ܕܟܠܢ ܆ ܦܪܕܝܣܐ ܐܝܬܘܗܝ ܇ ܗ̇ܘ ܐܬܪܐ ܘܒܝܬ ܐܒܗ̈ܐ ܕܒܪ ܐܢܫܐ ܩܕܡܝܐ. ܐܝܟܢܐ ܟܝܬ ܕܡܕܝܢ ܟܡܐ ܕܐ݀ܝܬܝܢ ܒܬܘܬܒܘܬܐ ܗܕܐ ܆ ܠܒܪ ܡܢ ܬܚ̈ܘܡܐ ܕܝܠܢ ܠܡܪܝܢ ܚܢܢ ܇ܐܝܟ ܛܛܪ̈ܝܕܐ ܘܕܫ̣̇ܕܝܢ ܠܐܟܣܘܪܝܐ. ܘܗܢܐ ܣܒܪܐ ܐܝܬ ܠܢ ܡܢ ܒܬܪ ܚܚܪܬܢ ܆ ܦܘܢܝܐ ܛܘܒܬܢܐ ܕܠܘܬ ܗܠܝܢ ܇ ܗ̇ܘ ܕܩܠܝܠܐܝܬ ܐܫ̣ܬܘܝܘ ܠܗ ܛܠ̈ܝܐ ܗܠܝܢ ܀
ܠܐ ܐܢܫ ܗܟܝܠ ܢܚܘܣ ܥܠܝܗܘܢ ܐܝܟ ܐܝܠܝܢ ܕܡܬܚ̈ܢܢܝܬܐ ܚܫ̣ܘ. ܡܐܠܠܘܢ ܕܝܢ ܛܘܒ̈ܬܢܐ ܢܚܫܘܒ ܐܢܘܢ ܇ ܕܗ̣ܘܘ ܩܕܡ̈ܝܝ ܩܘܡܐ ܕܓܘܕܐ ܕܣܗ̈ܕܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܚ̣ܫܘ ܚܠܦ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܀
ܠܗ̇ܢܘܢ̇ ܕܐܦ ܟܠܗ ܡܐܡܪܐ݀ ܨܒ̇ܐ ܗܘܝܬ ܐܝܟ ܕܐ݀ܡܪܬ݀ ܕܐܩ̇ܪܒ ܠܗܘܢ ܆ ܘܠܐ ܝ̇ܕܥ ܐܢܐ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܠܘܬ ܫܒܝܠܐ ܐܚܪܢܐ ܢ̇ܓܕܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܠܝ ܇ ܘܪ̈ܓܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܕܬܫܡ̣ܥܘܢ ܗܠܝܢ ܕܒܩܘܪܘܣ ܐܬܐܡܪ ܇ ܗܢܐ ܓܝܪ ܫܡܐ ܐܝܬ ܠܡܕܝܢܬܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܇ ܠܘܩܒܠ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܕܡܦ̇ܠܓܝܢ ܠܗ ܠܗ̇ܘ ܚܕ ܡܪܢ ܘܐܠܗܢ ܝܫܘܥ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܇ ܒܥܦܝܦܘܬܐ ܕܟܝ̈ܢܐ ܗ̇ܝ ܕܡܢ ܒܬܪ ܚܕܝܘܬܐ.
'I would like, you may be sure, today as in the past, to raise my voice for the little children put to death by Herod for Christ. By such a praiseworthy sacrifice, they have reached, with an unexpected impulse, the perfect man, the measure of spiritual maturity(cf. Eph 4:13), and have testified that he is the mighty God, the child of Bethlehem, born for us and not for himself, as the prophet Isaiah also cries out: ‘Unto us a child is born?’ (Is 9:6) The same in fact was still the Son of the Father, the only Word given to us, because he gave himself up for us to God the Father as a sacrifice and an offering of good order (Eph 5:2).
Those little children who were put to death before this sacrifice, who would not call them blessed? For they have found a death full of reward, full of the great reward of the kingdom of heaven; this is also what the prophet Jeremiah clearly predicted. For he (first) said: Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted, because they are no more (Jer 31:15) naming Bethlehem Rachel, because that is where Rachel, Jacob’s wife, was buried. — Jacob said somewhere about her, ‘I buried her there on the way to the ἱπποδρόμος, that is, to the hippodrome, which is Bethlehem’ (Gen 48:17); — he then added, ‘Thus says the Lord: Hold back the lamentations of your voice and the tears from your eyes: for there will be a reward for your children, says the Lord’ (Jer 31:16-17). Another translator in fact did not translate ‘your works’, but ‘your children’. Granted, however, that one could think that it is also ‘the work’ of the mother to have delivered her own children to immolation for piety. What then is the reward of her children? The prophet himself also says, ‘They will return from the land of the enemies, and there will be hope for your end, says the Lord, and your children will return to their own territory’ (Jer 31:17). Indeed, after leaving the land of their enemies, Herod’s soldiers who put children to death, the little children returned to their own territory, and their territory, like all of us, is Paradise, the land and paternal home of the first father. So, as long as we are in this abode, we remain outside our territory, like subjects driven out and expelled into exile. We have this hope after our end, which is the blessed return to this land, which these children quickly obtained.
Let no one, therefore, show pity on them as on those who suffered unjustly. Rather, let them be considered blessed, for they have become the firstborn in the choir of martyrs who suffered for Christ.
I would like, as I have already said, to devote this entire homily to them, and I do not know how you are leading me down another path and how you wish to hear what was said in Cyrrhus, for it is indeed the name of that city, — against those who divide the one Jesus Christ our Lord and our God by means of the duality of natures after the union. …'
Text: M. Brière, PO 8.2, 313–316.
Translation: K. Papadopoulos, using M. Brière.
Liturgical ActivitiesService for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Non Liturgical Activity
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Dating by saint’s festival
Non Liturgical ActivityTransmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesChildren
Source
Severus of AntiochSeverus 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 64: On the Holy Innocents
Manuscripts, fragments
No Greek or Coptic fragments have been identified to date.
Manuscripts, sixth century Syriac translation
Not extant.
Manuscripts, Jacob of Edessa’s revision
British Library, Add MS 12159, fol. 125va-128rb 868 AD
BAV, Vat. sir. 141, fol. 77rb-81vb 701 AD
Edition
Brière 1976 (PO 8.2), 313-320.
The Syriac edition is based on British Library, Add MS 12159.
Discussion
Which commemoration?Severus begins Homily 64 with a few words on the ‘children killed by Herod’ before yielding to his audience’s request to repeat a homily he had recently preached in Cyrrhus. While Severus does not directly refer to a commemoration, the liturgical setting, Severus’ clear designation of the children as martyrs, and the exhortation to glorify and emulate them, all suggest a commemorative occasion. That Severus had previously preached on the Holy Innocents around the same time in the first year of his episcopacy, also points to a recurring fixed feast (Homily 8, E08598).
The title transmitted with Jacob’s revision of Homily 64 indicates that the homily is in part ‘about the children, those infants who were killed instead of the Messiah by Herod’ (ܥܠ ܛܠ̈ܝܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܫܒܖ̈ܐ ܕܚܠܦ ܡܫܝܚܐ ܡܢ ܗܪܘܕܝܣ) 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 64 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 514 (Homily 63) and before Severus’ annual address at Ignatius’s shrine commemorating Basil and Gregory on 1 January 515 (Homily 65). 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 around 600, commemorates the Innocents on the third Thursday of Pascha with a synaxis in Bethlehem (E03079).
Where?
Severus refers to Cyrrhus in a manner which suggests the location was unfamiliar to his audience, indicating that he was most likely in Antioch.
According to the title transmitted with Jacob’s revision, Homily 64 was preached ‘in a church called κατὰ καινὴν, that is, “(which is) in the new (city),” where those foxes of the Nestorian heresy were creeping in’. If in Antioch, this may denote a church on an island in the Orontes, within a development under Diocletian (284-305) known as the ‘new city’ (Libanius, Or. 11.203-207; Evagrius, H.E. 2.22; Mayer and Allen 2012, 55-56).
What?
Homily 64 is only partially dedicated to the Innocents, because Severus’ audience had asked him to repeat a homily that he had delivered in Cyrrhus ‘against the blasphemies of Theodoret’ (Homily 59).
Severus explicitly identifies his subject as the children ‘killed by Herod for Christ’, referencing Matthew 2:16–18. They are described as ‘little children’ (ܛܠ̈ܝܐ ܗ̇ܢܘܢ ܫܒܪ̈ܐ), emphasizing their vulnerability and innocence that makes their deaths particularly poignant. Severus does not otherwise dwell on the descriptive details of the Gospel episode, focusing instead on themes of martyrdom, sacrifice and eschatological reward.
The children are explicitly designated as martyrs whose deaths are a ‘praiseworthy sacrifice’ that testifies to Christ’s divinity and parallel Christ’s self-offering. Martyrdom grants them immediate spiritual maturity and entry into Paradise, bypassing earthly suffering. Their designation as ‘firstborn in the choir of martyrs’ not only affirms their primacy in the martyrological tradition but also establishes them as archetypes of martyrdom. Rachel, symbolizing Bethlehem’s mothers or the church, weeps for them but is also promised a reward, suggesting maternal participation in their sacrificial offering. Similarly, Severus reminds his audience that like the Innocents, believers are exiles on earth and can share in the same future hope. Rather than victims of injustice, the Innocents are to be regarded as ‘blessed’. Their martyrdom should not elicit pity but be celebrated as a glorious testimony to Christ. This reframing from tragedy to triumph is central to their cult.
Of note is Severus’s sophisticated use of scripture to present the Innocents as martyrs and emphasize their role in salvation history.
Severus connects the Innocent’s deaths to Christ’s incarnation by citing Isaiah 9:6, thus presenting their martyrdom as a consequence of Christ’s birth and reinforcing their role as witnesses to his divine mission.
He interprets Rachel’s weeping in Jeremiah 31:15-17, of which the first verse is repeated in the Gospel of Matthew’s account, as a lament for the Innocents, with Bethlehem as the geographic link, since Rachel’s tomb is near Bethlehem. The ‘reward’ and ‘return’ in Jeremiah’s prophecy are allegorized as a return to Paradise, not Israel. He employs a variant reading to connect the reward to the children. Similarly, the ‘land of the enemies’ is Herod’s forces and ‘their own territory’ is Paradise, humanity’s original abode before the Fall. This connection to Jewish prophetic tradition frames their deaths in terms of God’s plan for salvation and elevates their suffering to a cosmic level.
The reference to Ephesians 4:13 suggests their martyrdom grants them spiritual perfection, while Ephesians 5:2 parallels their deaths with Christ’s. This presents them as participants in Christ’s redemptive work and underscores their stature as figures who, though young, achieve full Christian maturity through martyrdom.
His recall of Genesis 48:17 (contra Brière who points to Genesis 35:19) further links Rachel to Bethlehem through her place of burial. The puzzling reference to a hippodrome reflects the Septuagint text, which differs the Hebrew Masoretic text by introducing an unexpected reference to a hippodrome near Ephrath (Bethlehem). See Newman (2005) and Patrich (2009).
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. Supplément 5; 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.
Newman, H. I., “A Hippodrome on the Road to Ephrath”, Biblica 86, no. 2 (2005), 213–228.
Patrich, J., “Herodian Entertainment Structures”, in: D. Jacobson and N. Kokkinos (eds.), Herod
and Augustus, (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 181–213.
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
18/07/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00268 | Innocents, children killed on the orders of Herod | ܫܒܪ̈ܐ | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Katherin Papadopoulos, Cult of Saints, E08601 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E08601