medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (22. November) is the feast day of:
Philemon and Apphia (1st cent.) Philemon was the recipient of one of St.
Paul's epistles. He was a Christian, whose slave Onesimus had run away.
According to tradition, Philemon freed Onesimus after Paul asked for
forgiveness on his behalf, and that Philemon and his wife Apphia were later
martyred at Colosse.
Cecilia (3rd cent.) Cecilia was a Roman martyr. Her late 5th-century
legend tells that she was a noble young Christian, betrothed to a pagan.
But she had taken an oath of virginity, so refused to consummate the
marriage; instead she converted her husband and his brother. The brothers
were martyred; Cecilia buried them, but was arrested. After she refused to
sacrifice, she was sentenced to be suffocated, but this failed. So a
soldier was sent to behead her, but failed to kill her with three
blows---she survived for three days. Cecilia's tomb was opened in 1599 and
her body found incorrupt, but it disintegrated through contact with the
air. She has been patron of musicians only since the 16th century; this
goes back to an antiphon taken from her Acta---that Cecilia sang in her
hear to God as the organs played at her wedding feast.
Theodore of Studion (d. 826) Theodore founded the monastery of Studion in
Constantinople in c. 800, which became a centerpoint of eastern monastic
life. Throughout his life Theodore promoted monasticism and also the
veneration of icons, for which he was exiled three times.
Benedict de Ponte (blessed) (13th cent.) Benedict was a Dominican
missionary to the Mongols in eastern Europe. He was martyred, killed
immediately after preaching a sermon.
Kallistos II Xanthopoulos (d. 1397) Kallistos was a monk of Xanthopoulon
and was active as a teacher and writer about Hesychasm. His handbook in
100 chapters is regarded as an important document for making monastic
theology comprehensible and accessible to the laity. He was patriarch of
Constantinople for a few months before his death.
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
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