medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (23. February) is also the feast day of:
John Theristes (11th cent.). This less well-known saint of the Regno
was an Italo-Greek whose family lived at Cursano, a town near Stilo in
the Locride, the strip of territory running along Calabria's
southernmost Ionian coast. Muslim raiders killed many of the town's
inhabitants (including its head official, J.'s father) and enslaved J.'s
mother, who was already pregnant with him. Born in Sicily, J. managed
at age 14 to return to Calabria, where he became a monk and worked
various miracles. The latter included bringing in by himself a large
harvest before a suddenly arising thunderstorm could spoil it. Hence
his appellation 'Theristes' (or 'Theristis'), signifying 'Harvester'.
The monastery that he founded at today's Bivongi (RC) was after his
death named in his honor and perpetuated his cult.
J.'s Bios survives in two versions (BHG 894, 894a). It is thought to
have been written in the 12th century and to have been rewritten in the
early 13th, probably to document some possessions of J.'s monastery when
the latter was re-chartered under Frederick II. Two early modern Latin
translations, both rather free (but the one in the _Acta Sanctorum_ is
considerably more so), underlie many modern accounts of this saint.
More trustworthy is Silvano Borsari, ed. and tr., "Vita di San Giovanni
Terista", _Archivio storico per la Calabria e la Lucania_ 22 (1953),
13-21 ("Introduzione") and 135-51 ("Testi"). A recent historical study
by Paola Gaglioti, _Il monastero calabro di San Giovanni Therestis.
Documentazione e tradizione fino all'eta' moderna_ (Universita' degli
studi di Torino, Facolta' di Scienze Politiche, tesi di laurea, anno
accademico 2000-2001), deals with the hagiography as well as with the
monastery's more mundane documentation and is available online at:
http://www.bivongi.com/itinerari.php?quale=818&categoria=258
(leave this page open; you'll need it for navigation from one page to
another!).
See also Francesco Russo, "Giovanni Theristi, santo," in the
_Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, vol. 6 (1965), cols. 911-13; S. G. Mercati, C.
Giannelli, and A. Guillou, edd., _Saint-Jean-Theristes (1054-1264)_
(Citta' del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1980; = Corpus des
actes grecs d'Italie du sud et de Sicile. Recherches d'histoire et de
geographie, vol. 5; has another ed. of the Bios); and Augusta Acconcia
Longo, "S. Giovanni Terista nell'agiografia e nell'innografia," in
_Calabria bizantina. Civilta' bizantina nei territori di Gerace e Stilo_
(Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino, 1998), pp. 137-54.
In the Latin church, J.'s feast day used to to be 24. February. The
latest revision of the RM lists him (without the appellation
'Theristes') for today, his traditional date in Greek churches. At the
monastery at Bivongi, overseen since February 1995 by the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of Italy, his feast day continues to be the 24th. This may
also be where he is on the calendar of the Roman Catholic diocese of
Locri-Gerace.
An illustrated, Italian-language page on the monastery is here:
http://tinyurl.com/g9t37
And a somewhat closer view of the monastery church (Greek: katholikon;
Italian: cattolica), begun in the late 11th century, is here:
http://www.bivongi.com/admin/foto/732_1.jpg
The more recent portions to the left are the remains of the cloister.
Two rear views of the church:
http://www.ortodossia.it/theris.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/6qlkq
An Italian-language description of the monastery's architecture
(particularly that of the church) is here:
http://www.sbvibonese.vv.it/sezionet/pag281_t.aspx
And here's the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, during his visit in
March 2001.
http://www.ortodossia.it/Patriarca.jpg
Best,
John Dillon
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