medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Forgive me for being a bit grumpy about the following statement, which 
Terri probably found in the source materials cited for the 10 January 
saints list:
"Nikanor (d. c76) was Jewish, despite his Greek name."
Most Greek speaking Jews of whom we know had Greek names, and probably 
the majority of Jews at that time were Greek speaking. So the "despite" 
simply preserves an old image that sets up a false dichotomy between 
"Jews" and "Greeks." We would do well to find other ways to make 
whatever point was intended -- in the tradition, he was of course also a 
follower of Jesus (another Jew, known by a Grecianized name, Jesus, and 
a Greek title, "Christos").

Bob Kraft, UPenn Emeritus

Terri Morgan wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Today, January 10, is the feast day of:
>
> Agatho, pope (681) - a Sicilian Greek by birth, he apologized for the 
> poor Greek of his legates to Constantinople, saying that the barbarian 
> invasions were such that his people could barely survive, let alone 
> spend time studying Greek. He is is chiefly remembered for his efforts 
> leading to the Sixth Ecumenical Council's anathematization of 
> monotheletism, a posthumously obtained victory that greatly reinforced 
> the prestige of the bishop of Rome (expressed, for example, in the 
> Council's formula that Peter had spoken through Agatho). Agatho's 
> papacy also saw the final submission of the previously autocephalous 
> church of Ravenna to the see of Rome and the first known papal 
> resolution of a dispute between English bishops (saints Theodore of 
> Canterbury and Wilfred of York).
> Here is Agatho (with triple tiara), at right in this composite of two 
> frescoes, in a fifteenth-century portrait in the vaulting just before 
> the entrance to the chapter room of the St. Benedict Monastery at 
> Subiaco: http://www.romeartlover.it/Subiaco7.jpg
>
> Benincasa (Blessed) (d. 1194) was the eighth abbot of the monastery of 
> the Most Holy Trinity at today's Cava de' Tirreni in southern 
> Campania, where he succeeded Bl. Marinus on January 30, 1171. 
> According to John of Capua in 1295, Benincasa was /"pius, prudens, et 
> pastor opimus"/ ("pious, prudent, and a most worthy shepherd"). 
> Benincasa enjoyed excellent relations with king William II, who 
> entrusted to the Cavensians the royal monastery he established at 
> Monreale in the early 1170s,and who granted the abbey the legal status 
> of a tenant in chief in its secular holdings. William also resolved in 
> the abbey's favor a dispute with the bishop of Salerno over control of 
> the port of Vietri, where the abbey kept a ship used in commercial 
> ventures that in Benincasa's time extended to ports in the kingdom of 
> Jerusalem.
> Benincasa's cult was immediate. It was confirmed papally at the level 
> of Beatus in 1928 with seven other abbots from Simeon to Leo II.
> In the later tradition of Monreale, William's choice of the Cavensians 
> to staff that abbey was an act of gratitude for the spiritual care he 
> received from Benincasa in 1172 at Salerno that led to his physical 
> recovery from a painful medical condition then afflicting him.
>
> Diarmaid / Dermot (6th century) was an Irish abbot of royal blood, a 
> native of Connacht. He was associated with St. Senan, and founded a 
> monastery on Innis Clothran in Lough Ree.
>
> Gregory X (blessed) (1276) Theobaldo Visconti was a native of Piacenza 
> who studied canon law at Paris and Liege, then became archdeacon of 
> Liege. In that office, he preached the crusade following an order from 
> Pope Clement IV. While on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1272 he 
> received word that he had been chosen as pope by a committee of 
> cardinals appointed to resolve the papal election deadlock which had 
> kept the office vacant for three years. As Pope Gregory X, he worked 
> to make peace between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, ended the long 
> imperial interregnum, and called the Council of Lyons (which effected 
> a temporary reconciliation between Eastern and Western churches, among 
> other business). Gregory was beatified in 1713.
>
> John the Good, bishop of Milan (660) - restored the bishopric of his 
> city back to it, from Genoa (where it had been transferred earlier in 
> the century); his remains were translated in the eleventh century and 
> again (by Carlo Borromeo) in 1582.
>
> Marcian of Constantinople (d. c480) was of noble birth and became a 
> priest and treasurer of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. In that office 
> he restored much of the church. He also wrote hymns and was a secret 
> lavish almsgiver. A great legend tells that once he was on his way to 
> the consecration of a new church when he passed a nearly naked 
> pathetic beggar. Marcian stripped himself of everything but his 
> chasuble and gave it to the beggar. But when he arrived at the church, 
> the people thought they saw a very fine golden robe under Marcian's 
> chasuble; after the consecration the patriarch even rebuked him for 
> wearing such finery. Upon which Marcian stripped off his chasuble and 
> showed he was naked underneath. He was eventually named “Oikonomos’.
>
> Nikanor (d. c76) was Jewish, despite his Greek name, and was one of 
> the first seven deacons of the nascent Christian church in Jerusalem. 
> Tradition reports that he undertook social services among the 
> Greek-speaking Christians, and later evangelized on Cyprus. Either he 
> was killed there in a persecution ordered by Vespasian, or died 
> peacefully - accounts differ.
>
> Pietro Orseolo (d. 987) was born in Venice in 928. At the age of 20 he 
> became the admiral of the Venetian fleet, and in 976 was elected doge 
> of Venice. He worked very hard to restore internal peace to his city, 
> which had suffered considerable destruction in a series of battles and 
> rebellions, and rebuilt the church of St. Mark and the doge's palace. 
> In 978 Pietro secretly abandoned both his wife & son and his office 
> and entered the Benedictine monastery of Cuxa, then at the urging of 
> St Romuald, he became a hermit. His cult was formally approved in 1731.
>
>
>
> Terri Morgan
> --
> "It's not the verbing that weirds the language - it's the 
> renounification."
> - Mahk Leblanc [log in to unmask]
>
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