medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus (d. ca. 305, supposedly) are martyrs of Cilicia, entered under today in the (pseudo-)Hieronymian Martyrology as martyrs of Anazarbus in Cilicia, under 27. September as martyrs of Tarsus in Cilicia, and on several other days simply as martyrs of Cilicia. Byzantine synaxaries record under 12. October (one of their other days in the [ps.-]HM) that the fifth-century bishop Auxentius of Mopsuestia erected a basilica in their honor outside that city, using relics furnished from Anazarbus. There are testimonies to their fifth- and sixth-century cult in Jerusalem and in Antioch; Constantinople had at least two churches dedicated to them.
Tarachus, Probus, and Adronicus also have a legendary and synthesizing late antique Greek Passio (BHG 1574) that makes them citizens of different cities who were arrested in the Great Persecution, tortured at Tarsus and at Mopsuestia, and decapitated on 10. October (another of their days in the [ps.-]HM) at Anazarbus. A widely disseminated Latin translation of their Passio (major versions: BHL 7981 and BHL 7982) underlies the elogia for them under today in the ninth-century martyrologies of Florus of Lyon, St. Ado of Vienne, and Usuard of Saint-Germain. Named in the order Probus, Tarachus, and Andronicus they are the saints of the day for 12. October in the tenth-century Metaphrastic Menologion (St. Symeon Metaphrastes' Passio of them is BHG 1575) and have that day's first entry in the originally tenth-century Synaxary of Constantinople. Though only Tarachus is said to have been a soldier -- and in the Passio it is made clear both that he was a _former_ soldier and that he waived the military privilege of exemption from a form of torture -- all three are at times depicted as military saints.
In the Roman Martyrology today (11. October) is the day of commemoration of Sts. Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus. Byzantine-Rite churches celebrate Sts. Probus, Tarachus, and Andronicus on 12. October.
Some period-pertinent images of Tarachus, Probus, and Andronicus:
a) as depicted (at left, Andronicus; at center, Probus, at right, Tarachius; their martyrdom) in the later tenth- or very early eleventh-century so-called Menologion of Basil II (Città del Vaticano, BAV, cod. Vat. gr. 1613, p. 109):
http://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.gr.1613/0131
http://tinyurl.com/jzmzpd8
b) as depicted in an historiated initial "C" in an earlier twelfth-century passionary (ca. 1101-1125) from St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury (London, BL, MS Arundel 91, fol. 119v):
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=3935
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=big&IllID=12271
c) 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 on one's view of the matter, Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
1) all three, in the October calendar portraits:
http://tinyurl.com/2cr75na
2) Andronicus, full-length image with other military saints in the nave:
http://tinyurl.com/2eb6vva
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/267ozrl
d) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century mosaics (betw. 1315 and 1321) in the exonarthex of the Chora church (Kariye Camii) in Istanbul:
1) Tarachus:
http://tinyurl.com/jg2gxgm
http://www.heiligen.net/afb/10/12/10-12-0304-tarachus_2.jpg
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/9jnvzmr
2) Andronicus:
http://www.heiligen.net/afb/10/12/10-12-0304-tarachus_1.jpg
e) as depicted in an October calendar scene in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1335 and 1350) of the narthex in 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/yfnzyg6
f) as depicted in the mid-fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1350) of the arch between the intermediate and the western bays in the church of the Holy Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
1) Tarachus (in the roundel with the green background):
http://tinyurl.com/yzzmns2
2) Andronicus (in the roundel with a red ground):
http://tinyurl.com/y8kztpl
Best,
John Dillon
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