medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 17:29:26 -0800 Phyllis wrote:
>Today (24. February) is the feast day of:
>John Theristus (d. 1129) John was born in Palermo, the son of a woman
>captured and enslaved by the Muslims. At the age of 14 J. escaped to
>Calabria and became a monk (later abbot) at Stilo. He got his nickname
>"the mower" (Theristus) by miraculously cutting a large hay field in a
>short time.
In Greek churches John's feast day is pretty uniformly 23. February. His Greek nickname "Theristes" is better latinized as "Theristes" also (as in _Samson Agonistes_, etc.): "Theristus" suggests Greek "Theristos" and that, depending on the initial vowel, would mean either "Harvest" (as opposed to "Harvester, Mower") or else -- how appropriate for a saint! -- "Very Beastly".
John's Life, which exists in two versions, is thought to have been written in the late 12th century and to have been rewritten in the early 13th, probably to document some possessions of his monastery at Stilo when the latter was re-chartered under Frederick II. Two early modern Latin translations, both rather free (but the one in the _Acta Sanctorum_ is considerably more so), underlie many modern accounts of this Italo-Greek saint. More trustworthy is Silvano Borsari, ed. and tr., "Vita di San Giovanni Terista," _Archivio storico per la Calabria e la Lucania_ 22 (1953), 13-21 ("Introduzione"; the argument for dating based on the word "basileus" is, however, unconvincing) and 135-51 ("Testi").
See also Francesco Russo, "Giovanni Theristi, santo," in the _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, vol. 6 (1965), cols. 911-13.
Best,
John Dillon
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