medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
28. July is also the feast day of:
Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas (d. 1st cent.). Along with Stephen (26. December) and Philip (11. October) these are the early assistants said in Acts 6:1-6 to have been selected by the Twelve to perform the task of distributing food among the growing number of disciples. They are thus thought of the first deacons. Nicholas is said at Acts 6:5 --- this is the verse in which all seven are named -- to have been a newcomer from Antioch. The word used for 'newcomer' has several meanings but seems to be used here in its then technical sense of 'one who is a convert to Judaism'. Whereas nothing further is said here about Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas, later tradition included all of them among the Seventy (_aliter_, Seventy-two) disciples and said that Prochorus had been made bishop of Nicomedia and had died a confessor, that Nicanor died along with Stephen, that Timon became bishop of Bostra, that Parmenas became bishop of Soli, and that Nicholas became bishop of Samaria. An influential, seemingly fifth-century _Acts of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian_ circulated under Prochorus' name (BHG 916-917; Latin translation, BHL 4323); this made him John's companion in his travels, led to the pious belief that he died a martyr at Antioch, and gave rise to a rich iconographic tradition in which he is portrayed as John's amanuensis.
Prochorus depicted as a deacon in the eleventh- or early twelfth-century frescoes of the Karanlık Kilise (Dark Church) at Göreme (Nevşehir province) in Turkey:
http://www.pbase.com/dosseman/image/41566379
Prochorus depicted as a martyr bishop in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1312 and 1321) in the windows of the northeast little dome of the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://tinyurl.com/3l6kg9n [NB: The site to which this directs is offline at the moment.]
Prochorus as John's amanuensis:
a) In a Greek-language Gospels belonging to the Dionysiou monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ikon/athos9.gif
b) A late tenth-century version of this scene in another Gospel codex in the same monastery is reproduced here (image is expandable):
http://tinyurl.com/3dubt7
c) In an eleventh-century Greek-language Gospels in the Special Collections of Glasgow University Library (MS Hunter 475 [olim V.7.2], fol. 274v):
http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/treasures/greek.html
d) In a late eleventh- or early twelfth-century copy (ca. 1100) of Symeon Metaphrastes' menologion for the month of September now in the BL in London (MS Add 11870, fol. 197v, illustrating the Bios of John the Theologian):
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_11870_f197v
e) In a thirteenth-century Greek-language Gospels now in the BnF in Paris (ms. Supplément grec 140, fol. 141v):
http://tinyurl.com/449cnmo
f) In a fresco of ca. 1300, attributed to Manuel Panselinos, in the Protaton church on Mt. Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/29qtmq5
g) In an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the dome of the church of the Holy Ascension at the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/3bhv8tv [NB: The site to which this directs is offline at the moment.]
h) In a fourteenth-century (1356) Armenian-language Gospels now in the BnF in Paris (ms. Arménien 17, fol. 258v):
http://tinyurl.com/3fqrwyq
i) In a miniature of ca. 1400 in the Russian-language Khitrovo Gospels, now in Russian State Library, Moscow:
http://www.tanais.info/rublev/rublev20.jpg
j) In a fifteenth-century (1456) Armenian-language Gospels now in the BnF in Paris (ms. Arménien 18, fol. 244v):
http://tinyurl.com/3hjacfm
Best,
John Dillon
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