medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 03/07/12, I wrote:
> Herewith a link to an earlier 'Saints of the day' for 8. March (including St. Pontius of Carthage; St. Probinus; St. Felix of East Anglia; St. Theophylact of Nicomedia; St. Litifredus; St. Duthac; St. Veremundus of Irache; St. Stephen of Obazine):
> http://tinyurl.com/7erhvvj
>
> Further to Theophylact of Nicomedia:
>
> Add this view of Theophylact as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
> http://tinyurl.com/yjvom4u
Another depiction of Theophylact from the same campaign in the same church, this time at right in a March calendar composition:
http://tinyurl.com/7tqtl6s
8. March is also the feast day of:
Apollonius and Philemon (d. early 4th cent.?). We first learn about these Egyptian martyrs in chapter 19 of the originally late fourth-century _Historia monachorum in Aegypto_. According to this legendary account Apollonius was a monk and a deacon who, caught up in a persecution (presumably the Diocletianic one) and imprisoned, was jeered at by pagans of low social standing. One of these who especially derided Apollonius was the debauched flute player Philemon. When Apollonius responded to his insults with mildness and forgiveness Philemon began to undergo a conversion that led swiftly to his rushing before a magistrate, reproaching him for persecuting the innocent, and confessing himself a Christian. Philemon was of course jailed as well; both he and Apollonius underwent severe torture. When Apollonius maintained his Christianity before the magistrate both he and Philemon were sentenced to death by fire. But the fire was put out miraculously by a moist cloud that surrounded these saints. This miracle caused those present, including the magistrate, publicly to accept Christianity then and there. When word of this got to the governor in Alexandria he had Apollonius, Philemon, and all with them brought to Alexandria; on their way there these effected the conversion of the soldiers escorting them. Brought before the governor, all remained firm in their Christianity, whereupon they were drowned in the sea. After their bodies had washed up on shore the martyrs were buried in a common grave, where later miracles occurred and the saints were venerated in a martyrial church.
A seemingly originally fifth-century Passio (BHG 1514; Latin versions, BHL 6803 and 6804; there is also a sixth-century Coptic version in Sahidic) differs from this account in various respects, perhaps most noticeably by having the martyrs also effect the conversion of the persecuting governor of Egypt, Arianus, by giving them other tortures and an execution by decapitation, and by placing both their execution and their cult site at Antinoe / Antinoopolis in Upper Egypt (the capital of the Egyptian Thebaid). In the ninth-century Usuard of Saint-German entered Apollonius and Philemon in his martyrology under 8. March as martyrs of Antinoe with an elogium drawn from BHL 6803. In the tenth century St. Symeon Metaphrastes incorporated a version of BHG 1514 into that of Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus (14. December; the day under which Apollonius, Philemon, and those with them are commemorated in the SynCP, with Philemon being named first).
Philemon as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/3gyzrbf
Philemon as depicted in two different March calendar portrayals in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321/1322) in the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/7ehe6qc [at right]
http://tinyurl.com/76fvbek [upper register; first figure after the angels]
Apollonius and Arianus as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (ca. 1335) of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 5080, fol. 233r):
http://tinyurl.com/7seuhwz
Best,
John Dillon
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