medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On Sunday, November 7, 2010, at 1:55 pm, I wrote:
> 1) Athenodorus of Neocaesarea (d. later 3d cent.). A. was a younger
> brother of St. Gregory the Thaumaturge... In about 238 they
> returned to their native and almost entirely pagan Neocaesarea in
> Pontus (today's Niksar in Turkey), where the young T. soon became G.
> its bishop.
That is, where the young G. soon became its bishop. That garble was the result of heedless copying from last year's notice of Gregory the Thaumaturge, who before he became bishop was known as Theodore.
By way of compensation, herewith three further saints of 7. November:
Auctus, Taurio[n], and Thessalonica (?). Absent from the early martyrologies and not known to have enjoyed an early cult, A., T., and Th. are very poorly attested martyrs of Amphipolis in Macedonia (today's Amfipoli in northeastern Greece's Serres prefecture). According to a synaxary notice that seems derived from a now lost legendary Passio, Th. (also Thessalonicia) was the daughter at Amphipolis of the arrogant and wealthy pagan priest Cleon. When he discovered that she had converted to Christianity he expelled her from his house and deprived her of all financial support. The upright A. and T., citizens of Amphipolis, protested to Cleon against his treatment of Th. Cleon denounced them as Christians. Arrested, they were first tortured and then executed by decapitation. Th. met a similar end shortly thereafter.
Thus far the legend. Like the similarly suspect and recently commemorated Zenobius and Zenobia of Aegae and Galaction and Episteme of Emesa, A., T., and Th. entered the RM under cardinal Baronio and left it in the revision of 2001. Orthodox churches commemorate them today.
A. and T. (scene) and Th. (portrait, upper register) as depicted in a November calendar composition in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) of the narthex of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/2eje5yu
Best again,
John Dillon
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