medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
According to another legend, the slayer of Julian was St. Longinus, the
soldier who pierced the side of Christ on Calvary and subsequently became a
Christian martyr. According to this version, Basil was awakened in the
middle of the night by a noise in the monastery chapel. He went down and
found the spear of St. Longinus was missing. The next morning he returned to
the church and found the spear in its accustomed place, but covered in
blood. He soon heard of the death of "the Apostate" by a spear thrust. Kind
of a nasty story when you think they were college students in Athens
together.
jw
John B. Wickstrom
Kalamazoo College
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From: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
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Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2001 8:46 AM
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Subject: Re: [M-R] saints of the day 25. November
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
And it is interesting to note that Mercurius got his own back!
He is said to have been sent by the Virgin Mary to slay
Julian, according to a dream of Basil the great (I think!)
meg
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>> Merkurios (d. c. 360?) Merkurios is one of the most important saintly
>> soldiers of the eastern church, although it is likely that he is a purely
>> legendary figure.
>For a legendary figure, we have a startlingly large amount of relics of the
>chap. At least two churches in Cairo are dedicated to him, and a goodly
number
>claim to have various bones. An analogue of St. George and the dragon,
perhaps
>both can be seen as going back to the prototype of Horus spearing the
>crocodile. St Shenudah of Artipe was harshly critical of newly-evangelised,
>Nile-dwelling, 6th-century fellahin who discovered bones and, in their
piety,
>assumed/claimed them to be the relics of martyrs. A prayer to St. Merkurios
is
>still a part of the ceremony for the ordination of a monk and also in the
>general blessing of a lay congragation.
>Angus, Muscat
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Margaret Cormack [log in to unmask]
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion fax: 843-953-6388
College of Charleston tel: 843-953-8033
Charleston, SC 29424-0001
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