medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Philogonus is far more widely known as Philogonius, the standard latinization of the form Philogonios occurring in Chrysostom's homily dealing with him (_contra Anomoeos_, 6). Readers of the latter -- a category that would not seem to include Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly -- might remember Chrysostom as saying that his praise of P. would be completed by the bishop of Antioch (St. Flavian I), presumably in an address given at the same commemoration. Had Flavian not gone on to do this, that reference to him would surely not have remained in Chrysostom's homily as later published. It would thus be more accurate to say that P.'s panegyric was pronounced jointly by St. John Chrysostom and St. Flavian I of Antioch but that only Chrysostom's part thereof has survived.
Chrysostom's homily is available in a Latin translation (accompanying the Greek-language original) at Migne, _Patrologia Graeca_, vol. 48, cols. 747-756. Paul W. Harkins' translation into modern English occurs in Chrysostom, _On the Incomprehensible Nature of God_ ( Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1984; = _The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation_, vol. 72), at pp. 164-183.
In a not unparalleled instance of sanctoral sex-change -- presumably arising from the loss, smudging, or misreading of the end of a name as given in an earlier document -- P. occurs in the December calendar frescoes at Staro Nagoričane as a female saint Philogonia. Other instances in the same church are Chrysanthus of Chrysanthus-and-Daria depicted and labeled as a female saint Chrysanthe and Episteme of Galaction-and-Episteme depicted and labeled as a male saint Epistemos.
Best,
John Dillon
On 12/21/14, Matt Heintzelman wrote:
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> https://www.facebook.com/604882972899463/photos/a.624764970911263.1073741830.604882972899463/753387741382318/?type=1&theater
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> “The holy priest Philogonus was appointed to the see of Antioch in the year 318. His life in the episcopate was an exemplar of sanctity to his entire flock. He was noted for his charity and zeal, and was a determined opponent of Arianism. The purity and heroism of his faith were practically demonstrated when he ranked among the brave confessors of the Church during the persecution of Maximian. Philogonus only governed the see of Antioch five years; but when he slept in the Lord, in 323, he left the affairs of his diocese in a most prosperous condition. His panegyric was pronounced by the renowned sacred orator, St. John Chrysostom.” (Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly. Short Lives of the Saints (Benziger, 1910). In Google Books.)
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