ON ST. THEODOTA AND HER THREE SONS, MARTYRS,
AT NICAEA IN BITHYNIA.
LIKEWISE ON ANOTHER OF THE SAME NAME WITH SEVEN SONS,
AT CAESAREA IN MAURITANIA.
Under Diocletian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Theodota, at Nicaea in Bithynia (S.)
The Sons, Martyrs, at Nicaea in Bithynia.
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. The cult among the Greeks and Latins; eulogies, a sacred building at Constantinople, the Acts.
It pleased divine Providence, about to illustrate the city of Nicaea a few years later by the first ecumenical council which was celebrated there, that it should beforehand consecrate it with the blood of very many Martyrs; among whom the name of St. Theodota holds no lowest place, being most celebrated among the Latins and the Greeks alike, Her memory from the Greek Fasti on the 29th of July; although she is not venerated on the same day by both: for the Greeks report her annual memory on the 29th day of July; from which we have transferred her to this day, on which she is marked by the Latin Hagiologists together with the Roman Martyrology. From the Greeks therefore the Great Menaea printed in type mention her thus: Of the holy martyr Theodota, and of her Sons. With which nearly word for word agrees the Menologion rendered into Latin by the most Eminent Sirleto, and published by Canisius,
together with the Ambrosian Menaea; to whose transcript, however, is subscribed: In the Turin copy [α] it is on the 31st day. Moreover the printed Great Menaea celebrate her with these little verses:
Greek textThe fire of the furnace slays with death Theodota, given to God, together with her three dear Sons.
The allusion is plain in Θεῷ δοτὴν, "given to God," and Θεοδότην, "Theodota." Of the canon below. But it is singular that their memory recurs again in the said Menaea at the day 22 December, with Sts. Anastasia and Chrysogonus the martyrs; perhaps joined there for this reason, that their Acts are joined and intermingled. For the rest, to the eulogy which is there given these little verses are prefixed:
Greek textTheodota bears the pyre with her most beloved, glowing with the love of God more than with the flame.
[2] On the said day 29 July the name of our holy Martyr is also marked in the Horologion or Canonical Hours for the use of the Basilian monks, by whom on the same day she was adopted by certain more recent writers; published at Rome in the year 1677. Our Slavo-Russian Sparwenfeld Menologion expresses her name less rightly, when it announces thus: Of the holy martyr Theodosia and of her Sons. Ferrari too, in his Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, from Galesini and the Tables of the Greeks, inscribed these Martyrs on the 29th day of July; rightly indicating in his notes that they are had in the Roman Martyrology on the day 2 August; on which not only there, but in other ancient Fasti too they are recounted, as we shall now see from their annunciations.
[3] [but by the most ancient ones she is noted on this day 2 Aug. together with the Roman Martyrology.] The Little Roman has thus: In Bithynia, of Theodota with her three Sons. Ado uses these words: On the same day (2 August) the birthday of St. Theodota with her three Sons, in the province of Bithynia, in the city of Nicaea, in the time of Diocletian, under the consular Nicetius and the count Leocadius. The same Ado follows up the Saint with a notable eulogy: but of the eulogies both among the Latins and the Greeks it will be spoken below. Usuard expresses himself thus: In the province of Bithynia, in the city of Nicaea, of St. Theodota with her three Sons, of whom the first-born, by name Euodius, confidently confessing Christ, the consular of Bithynia first had beaten with cudgels, then her herself with all her Sons consumed by fire. Florus in this place, and Rabanus, as also the Hieronymian copies, we pass over; concerning which copies, however, discourse will recur below on another occasion. Let it be enough to have indicated the names of the more recent Hagiologists, namely the author of our Florarium, Maurolyco, Felici, and Galesini, who again refers the Saints to this day. But it is to be observed in passing, that in Rabanus, Peter de Natalibus book 6, chapter 14, and Felici, "Theodora" is written: yet we must stand by the Greek and Latin exemplars, which with unanimous consent write "Theodota." Arthur du Monstier inserted our Martyr into his Gynaeceum. The Roman Martyrology uses nearly the same words as Usuard.
[4] And let these things indeed be said concerning the most celebrated and ancient cult of our Heroine: Eulogies among the Greeks, and in Ado: now let us approach her eulogies. The Sirletian Menologion, just cited by us, sets down the following: She was of the city of Nicaea, exceedingly zealous of piety and of the precepts of God, instructing her sons in the discipline of the Lord, in the same times in which the holy martyr Anastasia too was living. But being seized by Leucatius the governor, whose marriage she had refused, for that cause especially she was sent to Nicetius the prefect of Bithynia, by whom, together with her three Sons, being cast into a furnace of fire, she was crowned with martyrdom. The printed Menaea agree; which, however, presently subjoin a shrine sacred to these Martyrs: of which we shall treat afterward. The Latins in composing their eulogies differ far from the Greeks. Before all things there deserves to be transcribed hither that which Ado composed gravely and pathetically in these words: He (the count Leocadius) wished to compel her for many days by blandishments and terrors, that she might be bound to his marriage. But when the holy Woman in no way consented, he sent her, bound with iron together with her Sons, to Nicetius the consular of Bithynia.
[5] But he had her first-born son Euodius, confidently confessing Christ, in which last point it differs from the former ones. beaten with cudgels in the sight of his Mother. To whom the pious Mother cried out: Fear not, Son, these stripes: for through them thou shalt attain the eternal joys of Christ. Then the consular Nicetius ordered a certain Hirtacus, seizing blessed Theodota, first to abuse her, and afterward to set her among the public harlots. Whom, when he wished to hold her, from his nostrils the blood began vehemently to flow. Who, crying out, said to Nicetius: There stands beside her a beautiful youth, clad in golden garments, from whose hand I received a blow on my nostrils. The consular Nicetius therefore ordered an abundant fire to be kindled, and blessed Theodota with her three Sons to be cast in. Who, giving thanks to God, said: Blessed be the name of thy piety, Lord, who hast neither separated me from my Sons in this world, nor suffered me to be sundered from them in the confession of thy name, nor permitted me to be divided in martyrdom. So then holy Theodota with her three Sons was consummated on the fourth day of the Nones of August. So he; which things are set forth more briefly by the cited Florus and Rabanus, drawn without doubt from the same source of the Acts: which can be discussed a little later, when we shall examine the Acts themselves.
[6] For the rest, that the holy Mother and her Sons remained after martyrdom not only not without honor, A sacred shrine and feast at Constantinople. but were held in singular veneration, may be gathered from this, that they had a sacred shrine with a feast at Constantinople, as is clear from the Menaea before cited, which relate this: Their solemnity is celebrated in their martyrium, which is in the Campus; which was part of the Hebdomon: concerning which Du Cange, Christian Constantinople, book 2, page 140. The author and the age of that sacred shrine we learn from Procopius of Caesarea, On the Buildings of the emperor Justinian, book 1, chapter 4 near the end; where he sets the temple of St. Theodota in the suburb which they call Hebdomon or the Seventh: which temple, together with the others which the same author there enumerates, "this our prince," he says, "at the time when his uncle Justin reigned, built from the foundations," namely in the sixth century. But although Procopius neither added to St. Theodota, of whose temple he treats, the title of martyr, nor made mention of her Sons, under whose memory the Menaea asserted it too to have been dedicated; yet we here, on the faith of the same Menaea, understand not without difficulty that not any other Theodota of the same name, but the present one, to whose cult and that of her Sons this shrine was built, Procopius not gainsaying, though not teaching it distinctly enough.
[7] There exists chiefly a twofold history of the Acts of St. Theodota published in type: The Acts in Surius and in Combefis wholly differ: the one, which is read intermixed with the Acts of St. Anastasia in Surius at the day 25 December; and whose compendium is contained in the Adonian eulogy produced above: the other, which Francis Combefis, in a singular little book entitled The Chosen Triumphs of the Illustrious Martyrs of Christ, at Paris in the year of the Lord 1660, published in type in Greek and Latin. Both those histories of the same Martyr are so different from each other, that they have nothing at all in common worthy of consideration, except this one thing, that both record that St. Theodota, together with her Sons, accomplished martyrdom by fire at Nicaea in Bithynia. The Combefisian Acts do not touch even by a word that whole series of the narration which the Surian ones would have to have happened to St. Theodota in Macedonia, at the time when the emperor Diocletian was staying there; nay indeed they clearly enough exclude that history, as is clear from their beginning; from which we have, that the prefect of Bithynia, being informed that there was in the city of Nicaea a certain Woman, Christian by profession, and teaching her children, ordered her to be summoned. Which is diametrically different from that which the Surian history recounts of the Saint sent by Leucadius to the proconsul of Bithynia, etc.
[8] The Surian ones That the Acts published in Surius, or, what comes to the same, the manuscript ones consonant in substance with the same, are very ancient, no one can deny who remembers that they went before Ado in composing that eulogy of his which we produced above. And indeed why should not the genuine sincerity of the things narrated in them, and the credit of the author narrating, be equal to that antiquity? Why, I say, should they be so destitute of these endowments, that, whether they flowed truly from the pen of Metaphrastes, under whose name they stand in Surius; or are the offspring of another writer, they should deserve little credit; as though indeed certain characteristics shining in them breathe of composition? Grant it be so; how does this hinder the substance of the Acts? Add that, since they are so small, it does not seem to be presumed that they sin much in this part. Meanwhile I propose my conjectures about them. The matter therefore in composing them may have stood thus, that some Acts of St. Theodota either existed separately, or intermingled with the Anastasian ones, as they now exist, before the ninth century, which then went before Ado's eulogy; and which afterward, in the tenth century, fell into the hands of Metaphrastes, or of an author of not unlike genius; who either transcribed them, then perhaps moderately interpolated; or somewhat again polished them with ornaments of style, of words, or of sentences.
[9] they are discussed, I confess indeed, without difficulty, that those Acts, regarded by the sole authority of the writer, do not deserve more credit than the Anastasian ones, in which they are inserted; the discussion of which pertains to another time. But that we may not in the meantime define anything too hastily about them, and out of its place, we remit their examination to the day 25 December; on which the criticism of Tillemont, Ecclesiastical Monuments tome 5, can be recalled to the balance; where among the notes from page 715 at the end, he examines the aforesaid Acts at length; and at last, page 718, concluding his dissertation about them, asserts that nothing properly certain is had, nay not even founded, upon the history of St. Anastasia, except those things which he had premised at the beginning of the said note; treating of her translation and cult.
[10] I said a little before, "regarded thus by the authority of the writer"; who although, according to Tillemont, and against a certain critic had conciliated little credit to himself in composing Anastasian Acts of this kind; yet it would not follow that there are not from elsewhere causes why the Acts of our Martyr deserve credit; by reason, I say, of the matter and form, or of the things which are treated in them, and the manner in which they are described. For whether the matter, from the beginning, when the first author digested it, was intermingled with the Anastasian Acts; or whether it then indeed existed separately, disjoined from them, and afterward was joined to the same by some other author, it is so, as I intimated above, of small bulk, that concerning a hodgepodge of things
openly false it does not seem able to move suspicion. But the manner—how does it sin so greatly, that so black a mark should be branded upon them, nay rather, if they sin at all, should they not be defended by a benign patronage?
[11] Nor should you say: The Saint was sent, as they would have it, they are defended. from Macedonia to the proconsul of Bithynia; but who would readily believe this, unless a sufficient reason for that journey be given; which is not indicated even by any single word. Leucadius therefore, returning from Bithynia into Macedonia, according to the Anastasian Acts, as is gathered from their context, what cause had he, that he should send St. Theodota away elsewhere; nay rather, why did he not rather hand her over to the judicial tribunal, to which the Acts report St. Anastasia was handed over by him? I hear. But say, please; that transportation which you object—does it present anything strange; but is it therefore false, is it therefore fictitious? Or, because a cause is not added, was there therefore no cause? I should prefer here to suppose it and hold it as added, than at once to brand a black censure upon our Acts, because it is not expressly added; such as Tillemont brands upon them in the tome above cited, page 643; where after he had indicated that there is no authority in the Anastasian Acts, he presently adds that that very thing which they record of St. Theodota is surrounded by hard circumstances, and that what they would have, that she was sent from Macedonia to the governor of Bithynia, is not a thing easy to believe, when no cause of it is given. But so much indeed hitherto concerning the Acts in Surius; but now what must be determined concerning those which Combefis published, it remains to be said.
§ II. The Acts published by Combefis are discussed; the manuscript exemplars; is Theodota one, or threefold?
To resume here the discourse begun in the preceding paragraph, and for a while interrupted, concerning the Acts published by Combefis, is needful, What sort the Acts are which Combefis published. that, their merits being discussed, we may deliver a fair judgment on them. They are prefixed with this title: Of St. Theodota and her children; but that which is in the Greek, why does Combefis omit it? For the rest, the author's name is nowhere set down; so that he wholly escapes us on every side; but whoever he was, he so bore himself in composing his Acts, that he has left us very few facts drawn out at length with a great compass of speech: whence it comes that we by no means reckon Acts of this kind among the primitive and sincere (such as certainly are very rarely found among the Greeks;) but only among those which are of far inferior note, and stuffed not so much with a multitude and variety of probable things, as with the superfluous phrases of an interpolator, so that they have grown into a greater bulk than the poverty of the argument allowed.
[13] And these things indeed concerning the Acts of St. Theodota printed in type; Those which we have in three different manuscript exemplars, but since besides those we have at hand also manuscript exemplars; of these too account must now be had by us. Our Molsheim vellum codex, quite ancient, has the Passion with this beginning: The emperor Diocletian returning to Sirmium from Macedonia, there was offered to him Theodota with her three Sons, of the Bithynian nation, a citizen * of Nicaea. But the end runs thus: But St. Theodota suffered in the province of Bithynia at the city of Nicaea with her three Sons. We have likewise two other copies, one from the manuscript of the church of Saint-Omer; the other from the Augsburg manuscript, both of the same subject among themselves, and agreeing in substance with the Molsheim one, as is gathered from its beginning, end, and whole course, collated with those. Moreover, as in Surius the Acts of St. Theodota are intermingled with the Anastasian ones, so the said three exemplars intermingle with the Acts of St. Theodota some part of the Anastasian ones, which luxuriates for the most part in such verbose dialogues, that it supplies abundance of speech, little of matter, and consumes the greater part of the Passion, which bears the title of St. Theodota, upon St. Anastasia; and so, because the whole context of the said Passion is not long, it narrates very few things about St. Theodota and her Sons.
[14] they nearly agree in substance with those published in Surius. But if you compare that manuscript Passion with the one published and inserted into the Anastasian in Surius, you will see indeed in these exemplars the style of the writing, the manner of narration, the phrases of expression, and other things of the same kind, and such as befall the matter, to differ; but so to differ, that in substance they nearly agree, and therefore without doubt one and the same is the source, from whose waters those two rivulets which I mentioned afterward flowed as from a first spring. For the rest, we shall give no observations about those exemplars in the notes on the Passion, which we shall reprint from Surius. Let it suffice to have given this one warning, that as the Surian Passion differs from the Combefisian; so that which the said three exemplars have differs in its whole kind from the Combefisian; as is clear from what has been said.
[15] Theodota of Caesarea, There now offers itself a most intricate controversy, touched in the Observations on our Usuard on this day 2 August and remitted hither, whether there be one, or a twofold St. Theodota on this present day among the Latins. The Hieronymian copies in Florentini announce on this day thus: At Caesarea of Mauritania, of Theodota and her 7 Sons; whose deeds are had: on which place the praised author observes that the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden reads thus too together with the Corbie Martyrology, in which likewise he asserts 7 Sons are counted as fellow-martyrs in these words: "On the 4th of the Nones, at Caesarea of Mauritania, of Theodota, of her 7 Sons, whose deeds are had." Two points of this annunciation too openly clash with the annunciations and Acts of our Martyr, to be able conveniently to be fitted to one and the same person; especially since Florentini testifies that the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden makes mention of the Bithynian one separately from the African of Caesarea, thus: At Nicaea in Bithynia the passion of St. Theodota with her three sons, who were all consumed by fire, at the command of the emperor Diocletian under the count Leucadius. Too openly, I say, these clash, to be able to be fitted to one and the same person.
[16] For the place of the contest clashes; likewise the number of the sons clashes; whatever that clause, different from the former, "whose deeds are had," may seem in some way to persuade of identity: for of our Martyr the deeds are had; but of that Mauritanian one not so, as far as we know; Florentini too in his observations, besides the assent of his codices, of the Corbie Martyrology and of the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden, confessing that he can add nothing; and although in all, from the adduced books, is added "whose deeds are had," "yet these," he says, "I grieve are not yet manifest to me." Neither have they hitherto come to our hands, nor do we know them to lurk anywhere; although it can easily happen that they lurk somewhere, having perhaps obtained the same lot as so many other ancient monuments, which, hidden in darkness and gnawed by moths and worms, both lie hid, and will continue to lie hid.
[17] The aforesaid clause therefore can have little or no firmness, so as to fuse those Mothers of the same name into a single person; we admit: most distinct otherwise by two so different and express characters; which being weighed, it appears to us far more probable that two Theodotas are to be admitted, of whom one is called of Nicaea or Bithynia; the other of Caesarea in Africa, or Mauritanian; concerning which region the geographers may be consulted. Two distinct Martyrs therefore rightly admitted Florentini just cited, Tillemont note 70, and most recently the most illustrious Francesco Maria de Aste, archbishop of Otranto, in his Disquisitions on the Roman Martyrology on this day 2 August. And this opinion about the twin St. Theodota, which we embrace as more probable, we do not wish to be held so secure, safe, and certain, that it lacks all fear of the opposite.
[18] For since the Hieronymian copies, on which this whole present controversy alone stands or falls, [although the Hieronymian copies are faulty in several places; from which it is drawn.] are, from manifold transcription, faulty in several places, with names changed, corrupted, transposed, and torn from their own place, and intruded into one not their own, as we indicated on another occasion in tome IV of July, page 354; who shall make us secure enough here that those copies do not labor with a fault concerning the place of contest and the number of the sons of their Theodota, on which two points, differing from the reading of the other martyrologies, all the diversity of both martyrs is founded? Meanwhile, since it is by no means established to us that the present place, whatever be the case of several others, is truly corrupted, therefore it is sincere to us, and shall further be sincere, until it be proved to be faulty or spurious: and so we assert to the Hieronymian copies their own Theodota, as also to the other Martyrologies their own.
[19] What the printed Great Menaea record, on the day on which they treat of our Theodota with her three Sons, The printed Menaea seem to persuade of a certain third of the same name, 29 July, could easily lead not sufficiently cautious readers into error: for to the annunciation of Theodota and her Sons this is prefixed: Of the holy martyr Theodote; where you see the sons omitted. Then in the Echo or Tone 4, which is placed after the first annunciation of St. Theodote, it is said: As a virgin and martyr, as an incorrupt spouse of God … we extol thee with festive praises … Theodota. And presently in the Homoeon or Simile she is reported to have been betrothed in spirit to Christ through faith. Who would not think, while he reads these things, that a certain Theodota, a virgin, is treated of, and so one different from the two Mothers of the same name whom we have given? There is added to this, that to her, who is exhibited as a virgin, a peculiar canon seems to be fitted, of which this is the acrostic: Greek Martyr, direct thou for me the way to God. For then again she is called shining with martyric splendor and virginity, etc. Whoever therefore shall read these things, will he not hold fixed in his mind that these things are so predicated of a certain Theodota, a virgin, that they can by no means be fitted to our two of the same name?
[20] But I candidly profess that I was before in that opinion, [but her text being weighed and explained, we do not distinguish her from our Nicaean one;] before I had run through the whole context of the Menaea to the end, that some third Theodota, a virgin and martyr, was here indicated: but I laid aside that opinion then, when, the beginning and end of the text, as also the antecedents and consequents being collated among themselves, I perceived that after the annunciation of St. Theodota and her sons, and after the eulogy, among those things which are had under ode 9, it is said οἷάπερ παρθένος καὶ μάρτυς, "as a virgin and martyr." Which being read, I judged that a manner must be found by which those things which seemed to persuade of that distinct third Theodota could, nay ought, be accommodated to one and the same our Nicaean or Bithynian one. Ought, I say; for besides that the number of Saints is not to be multiplied, unless suitable weights of reasons prove it; too many things concur for the identity of one and the same Theodota, to be able conveniently to be fused thence into a twofold
[one]; especially if satisfaction can be made to the argument which is drawn from virginity for the diversity of the two. To that argument we shall try to reply, when we have set forth those things which agree. Besides the name and the day of cult, which agree, the manner of the martyrdom endured also conspires, which happened by the burning of fire. Add that to her, who here seems in appearance distinct from the Nicaean one, I find affixed no characters of homeland, city, emperor, or governor, which could in any way ground that distinction. The acrostic of the adduced canon too determines nothing at all which favors the oft-mentioned distinction; and therefore it is not at all to be built up, nor any third Theodota to be admitted here.
[21] and we solve the argument drawn from the said Menaea. But the argument from the Great Menaea, a little before proposed by us, ought not to move us at all to build up three different Saints, when so many reasons occur from elsewhere which make for the identity of two of these three controverted ones, and so convincing indeed, that, unless one wish to be blind, it is necessary that he see them through. The words therefore adduced from the Menaea about virginity, what forbids that they cannot be expounded aptly and conveniently of the widowed chastity of holy Theodota, which she exercised at the time when she was sought for martyrdom? Our interpretation is favored by the very text of the Menaea, Tone 4 after the first ode, from which we have that she loved the most beautiful Christ, and beautified her soul by chastity (δι᾽ ἁγνείας.) The Combefisian Acts favor it; in which she is called καθαρωτάτη, most chaste, or rather most pure. So of Judith it is read: There was also chastity joined to her virtue, so that she knew not a man all the days of her life, from the time that Manasses her husband died. Book of Judith chapter 16, ℣ 26. [20.] They could also be expounded in another improper sense, namely that for defending her chastity, though the holy Martyr was not a virgin, yet after the manner of a virgin she contended against the most sworn enemies of her chastity; and thus there is an allusion to the Acts and eulogies; in which wondrous things are narrated of the Martyr's chastity divinely preserved: and so the particles ὡς, and οἷάπερ, which occur in the Greek text of the Menaea, would have to be understood so as to signify "as," "like," and therefore the sense of similitude, already indicated by us.
Notes* citizen (civis).
§ III. Certain singular points concerning our Saint and her Sons proposed and discussed; a passage wrongly rendered into Latin by Combefis in his Acts.
Whether St. Theodota Among other things which can be asked concerning this Saint and her Sons, this occurs in the first place, whether they truly suffered under Diocletian, or whether it happened otherwise. Both the Acts of St. Anastasia in Surius affirm it, and our manuscript Acts cited above, as does the annunciation of Ado, as we saw; as also the eulogy of St. Theodota in the printed Menaea of the Greeks, on the day 22 December, the compendium of the Acts in Peter de Natalibus, whom we mentioned before; Vincent of Beauvais, book 12 of the Historical Mirror, chapter 65, Tillemont just named, as may be seen in article 62 of the Diocletianic persecution, and finally the recent French legend-writer in the Life which he collected for this day 2 August.
[23] she suffered under Diocletian; But the Combefisian Acts, the eulogy of the said Menaea on this day, and the various annunciations which we recounted above, record certainly nothing at all about the present argument. Yet we are not therefore, as though placed at a crossroads between affirmation on the one part, and silence on the other. For since from silence there can be formed only a negative argument, as they call it, and from elsewhere we have positively that this controverted fact happened under Diocletian; let us too say that it happened under that emperor.
[24] in what year likewise And indeed what hinders that it may be lawful to say this? Why should the Acts, on which this matter chiefly and alone rests, not be of such a kind that they can by themselves make probable credit to us in this matter? Which, because to convict of falsity in this controversy is not at hand, we preferred to follow, rather than to desert them. These things therefore being thus laid down, that martyrdom probably did not happen before the year of Christ 303, in which the first edict of Diocletian against the Christians was published. Whence it would seem consequent that it is less rightly affixed in the eulogy of our manuscript Florarium to the year 296. And indeed that it happened at some interval of time after the persecution had begun, we allow ourselves to be persuaded from the often-alleged Anastasian Acts in Surius num. 21, provided they be true and sincere, and not said by hyperbole, which are had there: and they are these: But when Diocletian had again understood how narrow indeed the prisons were on account of the multitude of the pious who were detained in them, but how vain were all the tortures devised, etc.
[25] she suffered, is examined: and whether she was familiar with St. Anastasia. Which seem to agree with the fourth edict of Diocletian, which came out in the year 304, the second of the persecution, and by which all Christians are condemned to death, a horrible butchery following thereupon; see Tillemont article 19; although he had nothing sufficiently ascertained by force of which he might tie the martyrdom of our Saint to some determined year, and therefore reckoned her among those Martyrs whose proper and peculiar year of contest is unknown; of whom he begins to treat from article 48. Another question could now be here proposed in the present controversy; namely whether our Saint lived so familiarly with St. Anastasia, that all those things truly passed between the two which the Acts in Surius would have to have passed between the two. The Combefisian ones make mention neither so much as by name of St. Anastasia, much less of those other matters even by one single word; which, though it be strange, yet nearly the same reply returns hither which we just gave concerning their silence as to under whom the martyrdom happened.
[26] It is asked also about the day of the martyrdom Another question can now be proposed concerning the day on which our Athletes accomplished their martyrdom. From the day of public cult nothing can be defined about the day of martyrdom, since one is used by the Greeks, another by the Latins, as was shown above; and grant the same be celebrated by both, it would not yet even then be sufficiently established for certain, whether that day of public veneration coincided with the day of martyrdom, although we do not deny that a little more probability would then have been supplied, that, from the common consent of the Western and Eastern church concerning the day of yearly cult, it could even in some way be admitted, that on that same day the contest of our Martyrs fell. The Acts in Combefis record nothing about it; the excerpts from the Anastasian ones in Surius, which we shall presently bring forth, nothing. But Ado above at num. 5, saying, So then holy Theodota with her three Sons was consummated on the fourth day of the Nones of August, expressly determines the day, namely the second of August: which the Passion of St. Theodota from the manuscript of the church of Saint-Omer also notes, and Peter de Natalibus. But because we do not know whence, and whether from sufficiently suitable documents, Ado received that day, and whether he did not rather add it to his eulogy from his own conjecture, nothing compels us to settle the present controversy from the words of Ado alone.
[27] and about the number of her sons, etc. To the questions hitherto proposed let it be lawful for us to superadd a modest little observation concerning the children of our Saint. That they existed to the number of three, is the common consent of the several Latin and Greek Hagiologists whom we gave above. Our Bede, Ado, Usuard, the Acts in Surius, etc., express the name of the first-born son, and hand down that he was called Euodius (faultily Enodius in Peter de Natalibus). The Combefisian Acts, singular in their manner, are here again singular: for they repeat indeed the children of Theodota several times; but determine neither their number, nor the proper name of the first-born. But from the silence of those Acts we are unwilling to move any scruple in so small a matter against the common sense of so many ancient Martyrologists, and that no more than concerning the proper names of Nicetius and Leocadius, under whom our Saints were crowned, although the same Combefisian Acts betrayed none of these.
[28] A passage from Combefis, which the French legend-writer follows, There now remains the last question remitted to the present paragraph, concerning the author of the Martyrdom published by Combefis; of which Acts, because in this paragraph especially, which we are running through, mention has fallen several times repeated, it will not be amiss here to treat of that point. The recent French legend-writer, in his critical Table of authors and Acts prefixed to the month of August, at the day 2 of the same month, after he had brought forth his censure upon the Combefisian Acts, It is said, he says, that these Acts were drawn up by the magistrates of the city of Nicaea; that is to say without doubt, by their notary, or some other at their command. See and marvel at that legend-writer here so ineptly simple, who for his exotically rigid and audacious criticism is so often elsewhere most deservedly beaten by us. He says that it is said; and he tries to mitigate that saying; does he not argue, refute, chastise? By no means at all. But on what foundation, pray, does he affirm that it is said? On no other, so far as we know, than because he read it in the version of Combefis, who rendered these words at the beginning, τὸ γὰρ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν πάθος οὕτως οἱ τῆς Νικαίας ἄρχοντες διέθεντο δραμαθουργήσαντες, thus into Latin: For her (Theodote's) passion the magistrates of Nicaea composed dramatically in this manner.
[29] wrongly rendered from the Greek, So, I say, Combefis rendered these into Latin; but wrongly: for the natural and first-obvious sense of those words signifies 1. that those Acts were transmitted to us by the magistrate or chief men of the city of Nicaea as by their original author. 2. That they were dramatically, that is, in the manner of a scene or public representation, composed by the same, that is, collected, digested, or written. Neither can be said with any appearance of truth: not the first: for if this were true, it must have been done by a magistrate either gentile or Catholic: but it was not done by a gentile: for the context of the Acts most openly cries out against it: nor either by a Catholic, who followed after a gentile, peace being restored to the Church: because these Acts are so verbose and indeterminate. Nor indeed can the second, namely that they were composed dramatically, that is in the manner of a scene, be obtruded: for those Acts, so foreign to dramatic apparatus, so succinct and brief, can by no means be said to be composed dramatically: since, even by the very hypercritical legend-writer whom we alleged confessing, they contain nothing which ought to render them suspect, unless perhaps it be the somewhat too long or too studiously refined reply which the Saint's first-born son had to the judge.
[30] Add that authors who can and will add weight of commendation to their Acts
are not about to say that they were composed dramatically; but that they are original, sincere, and true, etc. And so, since the present version, wrongly employed by Combefis, and admitted by the legend-writer against the very Acts, which both read and could and ought to have weighed, subsists in no sense; it remains that we take refuge in another, this at any rate or a similar one: The passion which the chief men of Nicaea had contrived (δραμαθουργήσαντες) against the Saint herself, they carried out to execution in this manner. Unless it be more pleasing to render them thus: The chief men of Nicaea executed her passion in this order, exhibiting this tragic scene of the matter. Suidas favors us in the participle δραμαθουργήσας, which is rendered by συνεὶς. Which place the Latin version from the edition of Aemilius Portus explaining, among the other significations of this participle, has this: Who contrived, committed, and perpetrated some deed. And in the same place in the notes on συνεὶς, "who understood," from συνίημι; he rightly observes that this does nothing to the matter. I read, he says, συνθεὶς, from συντίθημι. Hesychius: δραμαθουργεῖν, πανουργεῖν, συντιθεῖν, πράττειν.
PASSION
From the Acts of St. Anastasia the martyr in Surius at the day 25 December.
Theodota, at Nicaea in Bithynia (S.)
The Sons, Martyrs, at Nicaea in Bithynia
FROM THE EDITION IN SURIUS.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint is set before the emperor Diocletian; she spurns the marriage of Leucadius; exercises virtues with St. Anastasia; is sent into Bithynia.
To the emperor Diocletian a is brought also the martyr Theodote: who indeed had sprung from the city of Bithynia, Nicaea b: The Saint is set before Diocletian, and asked in marriage by Leucadius; but she was Christian by religion, and fervent in its zeal: and she too was a sojourner with Anastasia and her three children in Macedonia. When therefore she too had set herself before the emperor, a certain man by name Leucadius, greatly taken with her beauty (for Theodote too was most comely in face), vehemently urged with the emperor, that he would have pity on her beauty, and not thus destroy so untimely a most beautiful girl.
[2] but in vain; But since she was sought in marriage, the emperor gladly gave [her] to the willing man: for he thought it would come to pass that from her marriage there would be for her a separation from the religion of Christ. When therefore Leucadius had received Theodote, what did he not say, what did he not do, striving to persuade her, that she should abjure chastity indeed and piety toward Christ: but assent to impiety, and thus be joined in marriage with him?
[3] for St. Theodota most bravely opposes his purpose. But after, doing these things, he seemed to write in water, and to sing to the void, these being of such a kind as she said to him, Theodote: If indeed thou desirest my wealth and moneys, and therefore art eager to take me to wife, behold, I yield thee all things, having chosen for all riches Christ alone. But if thou lovest also my bodily beauty, know that thou lovest those things which cannot at all come to pass. For thou shalt sooner change my form than my mind, even if thou consume me with fire and sword, and all punishments at once.
[4] She exercises good works with St. Anastasia; When therefore Leucadius heard these things, since he was ready to go out together with the emperor going out, he left Theodote at home; but he himself set out on the journey, thinking that Theodota's business was not to be treated lightly and in passing, but reserving it for leisure and a convenient time. When therefore Theodote had been released, and had taken to herself Anastasia c, like in virtue and faith, with one alacrity of mind and consent, and as it were conspiracy, and equal zeal, they performed the accustomed course of piety, being made to the Christians who were shut up in the public prisons all things, physicians of wounds, suppliers of moneys, the solace of past evils, and a most strong consolation for the future. And thus indeed the virgins.
[5] [and dwelling with her she is strengthened against the repeated attempts of Leucadius:] But there came to Theodote, whom we before declared to dwell with the count Leucadius: and she narrates to her singly all things, both what she had suffered, and what God had done through her and with her. A few days after, the count Leucadius too, returning from Bithynia, had with Theodote again discourses like the former, tempting to induce her. But after, speaking many things, he knew that he spoke to the shore, and conferred discourse with the winds, he learns also that Anastasia dwelt with her, and, roused with fury because Theodote was induced by her admonitions to despise him the more, he at once hands over Anastasia, bound, to the judicial tribunal.
[6] who sends her to the proconsul of Bithynia Nay he also transmits Theodote, bound, to the proconsul of Bithynia d, informing him about her by letters, as quickly as it could be done. But when Theodote had come into Bithynia, she was brought to the tribunal of the proconsul. Come, he says, O Theodote, obeying the imperial commands, thou wilt offer sacrifice to the gods. For thus both together with [thy] sons thou shalt live, and shalt be a partaker of many goods. For even if not for thy own, yet certainly for thy sons' sake, it would be fair that thou choose that which is going to be useful to thee.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
The constancy of the first-born son proved by rods; the chastity of the holy Martyr assailed, but divinely defended; martyrdom, apparitions.
But while the proconsul was saying these things to the Martyr, answering, the first-born of her sons a, whose name was Euodius, Euodius, the Saint's first-born But we, he says, O governor, in no way dread the punishments of men, which are wont to procure incorruption indeed to the body, but rather immortality to the soul; nay it lacks little but that I say, we are delighted with them as with a banquet. But we rather fear God, who can punish soul and body in gehenna. But the proconsul, casting his eyes on the boy, When I see thee, he says, quite imperfect in age, I marvel how, and from whom, thou hast thus learned these things, which scarcely many have attained by long time and labor.
[8] him he generously addresses: To which the boy opportunely answered: Our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, himself is he who said: When ye shall be led to kings and governors, take no thought what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. Now therefore these are not my words, nor words of human wisdom: but it is altogether indeed my tongue, but openly they are the words of God. But the judge, as though casting away hope of the Mother, and of her first son, transfers himself to tempting the others, seeing them to be more imperfect in age, thinking it would come to pass that he would draw them to his own opinion.
[9] [but the tyrant, seeing himself lose his labor on the Mother and sons, orders the son to be beaten with rods;] But after the branches seemed to differ nothing from the generous root; but the boys showed that they were indeed her sons, but of this man the brothers; he transfers himself again to the Mother, and her first-born son, Turn, saying, to your own bowels. Spare the tender untimely infants. Be unwilling to see them perishing miserably before your eyes. When he had said many such things, and had seen the words poured rashly into the air, he orders the son to be cruelly beaten with rods before the eyes of the Mother.
[10] whom the Mother exhorts to constancy: Which the generous Mother seeing, not only did or spoke nothing unbecoming; but even as though rejoicing at the blows of her dearest son, stood by alert, assenting with her eyes, inciting by gesture, exhorting with words; Do not succumb, saying, O son: stand bravely, child. These blows for Christ's sake, honors and crowns shall receive.
[11] By these the proconsul, most inflamed in mind, by the suggestion of the malign demon takes a wicked counsel. For to a petulant man, her chastity is assailed, but with vain attempt: and incontinent in loves, he hands over this Woman especially to be venerated. But the joy of the insolent man was not to be lasting. For after Hyrtacus (for so he was called) had but touched her, his whole countenance was forthwith changed, and it was not even granted to look upon the Martyr without fear.
[12] Thus with a great voice he cried out to the proconsul, saying that, as soon as he laid hand on Theodote, he had seen a certain youth, beautiful in face and comely in habit, present together with Theodote, who, a blow being struck upon him, both crushed his nostrils, and made the blood to flow through them b. But the blind proconsul did not see, and the foolish one did not at all understand; and neither, if nothing else, did he revere the evidence of the miracle, [for a heavenly youth restrains and punishes the violator, threatening new threats:] nor did he cease to contend against her. But when he had caused her to be set forth again, he threatened that he would inflict on her the things which seemed the gravest of all, Unless, saying, thou worship the immortal gods, thy sons shall fall slain before thy eyes.
[13] [but Theodota is in no way moved by these, and joyful with her sons entering the furnace of fire, dies.] But she, This too, she says, I have long especially thirsted for. For thus, when I have sent my sons before me to Christ living, and set them as in a safe harbor; then I shall follow in their track, so that I can aptly sing: Behold I and the children which thou hast given me, God. By these the proconsul, more disturbed, ordered her to be given to the fire together with her sons. But after the furnace was kindled, quicker than had been commanded, they, as to a fountain of water, with joy entered the furnace: and the Mother indeed blessed God; but the sons rejoiced together, and thus both * joyful and alert deposited their souls in the hands of God. And them indeed a blessed end thus received.
[14] Apparitions to St. Anastasia. But to Anastasia c appeared even on single nights Theodote, the companion of the contest, and filling her heart with gladness, and adding strength and spirit for the contests. Whom also, often coming, Anastasia, who let no good thing go unexamined, asked this too, in what manner she came to her after death. But she said that this too was given by the Lord to the souls of the Martyrs, that, after they have departed hence, they come to whom they will, and confer discourses with them, and console them d.
NOTES.
* all.
OTHER ACTS
By an anonymous author, published by Combefis among the Chosen Triumphs of the Illustrious Martyrs of Christ, from page 247.
The Saint with her Sons is set before the prefect of Bithynia; the desire of martyrdom; by which, after all the tortures, they are together crowned in the fire.
Theodota, at Nicaea in Bithynia (S.)
The Sons, Martyrs, at Nicaea in Bithynia
FROM THE EDITION IN Combefis.
[The Saint with her people overcomes by fortitude the cruelty of the citizens of Nicaea.] As great a monstrousness of crime as the citizens of Nicaea displayed against the most holy Theodote, so great a faith and piety toward God did the most chaste Woman with her Children display a. They were advanced to such a point, that it did not irk them to put [her] to death b with her whole family. She was advanced to such a point, that she willingly endured to be consummated with her children. For her passion the magistrates of Nicaea composed dramatically in this manner c.
[2] Someone brought word by a messenger that there was in the city a certain Woman, contemning the things which were established by the laws; who namely for a certain and just cause was present and was most dear to God. She is set before the prefect of Bithynia with her sons, They accused, that this same woman taught her children. This fame being spread through the city, and these things announced to the governor; the prefect of Bithynia does not rest; but, counsels being taken foreign to all humanity, and agitating with a tyrannical mind, and headlong in impious error, he summons the most sacred Woman. She came with her children. For neither did she think it must be guarded against, for the sake of the faith, lest her Sons should suffer anything; nor did the Sons think that for martyrdom's sake the passion or any torments d must be shunned.
[3] But the confession was for both most ready. And the matter was to be seen incredible to those who did not see it; who mutually exhort each other to martyrdom. yet to believers and the faithful even very credible. The Mother exhorted the Sons to this bitter contest; the Sons forbade the Mother to shun the torments; and, broken by afflictions, to grow faint, and for the torments' sake to despond in mind; but let there be the same alacrity alike of all, the same knowledge and faith e toward the Lord.
[4] But when, seized together with her Children, she was dragged to the tribunal. The Mother is interrogated; and her elder son intrepidly answers the tyrant, Thou, said the judge, hast taught thy children these new doctrines? They are not new, said the Woman, but long ago sanctioned. What then, says the governor, did thy fathers know this doctrine? To whom the eldest of the Sons: So those our fathers who went before were seduced by error, and turned aside from the right and just way. For God indeed with no envy concealed his doctrine from them; but by the weakness of their own mind, of their own accord they gave place to error: but if we know this doctrine, if we are found better than our fathers, who transgressed, why art thou tortured with envy, thou tyrant of Bithynia?
[5] If it is fixed in thy mind to put us to death, obeying the tyrannic laws, despising death. at once pronounce sentence, and be done. For we shall walk the same path as the Mother. But thy Mother shall sacrifice, he says, even if she will not. Says the Youth, thou art wiser than a man; above a tyrant thou swellest with counsels, thou who sayest it will come to pass that the Mother shall transgress against her own soul, hoping thou wilt persuade her. These things heard, he armed himself for punishment; to every savagery the governor looked; then indeed presuming that he would drive the Mother to consent, then wishing to overcome the haughtiness (calling it pride) of the Sons.
[6] Ordering therefore the Woman to be tortured, he commands the executioners to inflict In vain is the Saint tortured, blows which misbecome the female sex. These they inflicted with all straining of their strength upon the most sacred Woman. The female body bore the tyrant's threats. The works of the executioners became a certain corollary of the constancy of the spirited resisting mind. Thus the tyrant raged against the Martyr, hoping he would strike fear into her Children. But they begged that she would endure; exhorted the Mother g that she would patiently bear the injury. The governor being struck with amazement, and when he profited nothing further, See, he says, how great things your Mother has suffered: give ye too proofs of her firmness.
[7] and her sons: Saying these things, he orders them to be lifted on the rack and the little horse (equuleus). Then the Mother added spirit to them, speaking these same things which she had heard from them. When the matter was of great miracle, and nothing had succeeded according to his wish, but the faith persisted, nor was the knowledge of God at all moved; Whom lovest thou more, O Woman, says the governor, that I may slay him first? Here the Youths unanimously contended, and cried out: Me, said each: for I by obedience have deserved of my parent, and studied to please h.
[8] while she refuses to survive in martyrdom, But she, To whom, she says, I should grant this, tyrant, I know not: by the origin of the flesh indeed I am the Mother; but the sister by doctrine and faith. Wherefore if thou wilt gratify me, and endure me advising, assign us to the same tomb. Let the Mother lie with her sons. Openly we have confessed; slay thou the sons with the Mother, having died by the testimony of Christ. Thrust thou the sword into me i; but to me the Lord shall repay a crown.
[9] she is slain together with them by fire. Thou wilt kindle this thy fire, and consume us for a little and brief time and the moment of one hour; and we shall escape that very fire which we flee. We shall not be burned through all time, we who have endured the fire of this time. These things said, and the Children approving that she had spoken excellently, she went with them rejoicing to death, to be given to the fire, the tyrant of Bithynia so commanding. But to God and the Father be glory, with the Only-begotten, and together with his most holy and life-giving Spirit, now and unto the ages.