ON ST. CALLINICUS THE FIRST, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE,
Toward the beginning of the 8th century.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The cult is established; the Life.
Callinicus I, patriarch of Constantinople (St.)
BY J. P.
Many things which about this holy Patriarch should here be recorded the reader will find in the Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, which was prefixed to volume 1 of this month, from page 88. Since about this Saint it has been treated elsewhere among us, I shall therefore report nothing here of the accusations of some authors who depicted this man as a heretical and impious person, being insufficiently informed of the very truth of the matter which they relate, as is plain from the apologetic deduction which there, and in Paul III, the predecessor of Callinicus, may be consulted, page 87, and the next following. Nor shall I here repeat what was said there about the time in which he began to sit and in which he died. Nor finally shall I again unweave what stands there about the public cult of the man on this day from the Greek Menaea published in print, to which from the manuscript synaxary of Sirmond was added this testimony of his public veneration: His feast is celebrated in the most holy great church. But hither belongs chiefly the question which was deferred from thence to the present day, namely the decision whether Callinicus is to be numbered by us among the rest of the Saints of the same day, and to the Work
as one of them.
[2] I for my part do not see sufficient reason for calling into doubt, here we attempt to prove much less for taking away from him, the title of saint, which he has possessed already for so many centuries back. Whatever be the case with the printed Menaea, I should scarcely dare to trust in this matter to them alone, since they thrust forward not a few as Saints whom it is established from elsewhere were marked with the black brand of reproach. Receive other testimonies about the sanctity and cult of our Patriarch. In our transcript from the manuscript codex of the Imperial library of Vienna, indicated by us repeatedly through the course of this month, this title is prefixed to his Life: Μηνὶ Αὐγούστῳ κδ᾽ μνήμη τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου Καλλινίκου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεος. That is: In the month of August, on the 24th (day), the memory of the most holy Callinicus, archbishop of Constantinople. But in another transcript of his Life, from the Ambrosian codex, which will be set out below printed in Greek and Latin, these things are indicated: Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ ὁσίου πατρὸς ἡμῶν Καλλινίκου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεος. That is: The Life and conversation of our holy father Callinicus, archbishop of Constantinople, and there is added in the margin μηνὶ τῷ αὐτῷ κθ᾽, that is, in the same month (namely August) on the 29th day.
[3] his public cult. Thou hast here, reader, two agreeing testimonies about his sanctity and cult; but in assigning the day of the cult, which may be noted in passing, they differ, so that from what has been said it follows that on three days of August, namely the 23rd, 24th, and 29th, the memory of the holy man was celebrated. Add the Menaeum of Chifflet, which on today's day thus makes mention of him: Καλλινίκου πατρ. Κ. Π. Which in Latin runs thus: Of Callinicus, patriarch of Constantinople. The same is had on the same day in our transcript from the Turin codex, on which day also he is announced in the Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, which Gratia Simonius the Maronite translated from the Arabic. Whence it is clear that the venerable memory of St. Callinicus was propagated not a little through the Eastern regions. These are the things which we judge to suffice for our inscribing our Patriarch on this day as a saint in our Work, especially because his feast is reported to have been celebrated in the great church of Constantinople (about which Du Cange in Christian Constantinople, book 3, may be consulted), and thus in the public and most conspicuous theater, so to speak, of the Eastern church. Nor ought it to stand in the way that at the inauguration of Leontius he is reported to have cast certain reproaches against the emperor (Justinian Rhinotmetus); as is written in the History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople designated before, from St. Nicephorus, on which matter more is there; for if he offended in the sedition at Constantinople raised against this emperor, in which Callinicus was compelled to involve himself, the same Nicephorus being witness, cited there in that History, it can and ought to be presumed that he washed away by serious penitence the fault contracted from this or from any other matter before his death, an opportune occasion for this having been offered him, when, blinded at Justinian's order, driven into exile, and thrown into a cave covered outside on every side with stones and lime, as the Acts will have it, after forty days, the crust of lime being taken away, he was found still living and breathing, and also that four days later he passed to the Lord, is there narrated. These are the things by which we have attempted to confirm the true and lawful cult of St. Callinicus. Certain other things occur to be observed, but those we remit to the Annotations: so that it now remains to present the copy from the Ambrosian codex, as was indicated before, so often employed by us through the course of this month, where about the author enough has also been treated.
LIFE
By a certain Laurentius, monk of Rossano in Calabria,
From the Ambrosian codex f. N. n. 152. Translated by John Pien.
Callinicus I, patriarch of Constantinople (St.)
By Laurentius.
Ἡμεδαπὸς ὁ Καλλίνικος, καὶ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου, καὶ οὗτος γένημα, θρέμμα, καὶ παίδευμα πιστῶν γεννητόρων ὁ Καλλίνικος καὶ σεμνῶν· ὑφ᾽ ὧν ἀνάγεται καλῶς καὶ παιδεύεται, καὶ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ κληροῦται Χριστοῦ. Πάσαις οὖν γραφαῖς ὁ Καλλίνικος ἑαυτὸν καὶ ταῖς θεοπνεύστοις καὶ ὠφελίμοις μᾶλλον ἐνασχολήσας, ἐπίφημος γίνεται καὶ ἐπίβλεπτος. Ἐνθέν τοι καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐκκλησιαστικοὺς βαθμοὺς διελθὼν, καὶ τῆς τῶν πρεσβυτέρων άξιοῦται καθέδρας, καὶ αἰνεῖ τὸν Κύριον ἐν αὐτῇ. Τῆς φήμης οὖν αὐτοῦ κᾂν τοῖς ἐν τέλει διαδοθείσης, καὶ τῷ τοῦ ἐπιωνύμου τῆς Θεοτόκου τῶν ἐν Βλαχέρναις ναῷ σκευῶν φύλαξ καθίσταται, καὶ οὕτω διάδηλος τοῖς πᾶσι καὶ μέγας γνωρίζεται. Ἄρτι δὲ τοῦ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου προέδρου, Παῦλος δὲ οὗτος ἦν, τὸν βίον ἀπολιπόντος, ὁ μέγας οὗτος Καλλίνικος, τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰς τοῦτο συγκαλεσάσης, αὐτῶν ξήφῳ τῶν ἐκκριτῶν τοῦ βήματος, καὶ πάντων δὴ τῶν ἐν τέλει, πατριάρχης ταύτης χειροτονεῖται, καὶ ἦν οὕτω διακυβερνῶν καλῶς τὴν Χριστοῦ ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας διἳθύνων πηδάλια.
[2] Ἄρτι δὲ Ἰουστινιανοῦ τοῦ νέου, ὃν καὶ ἀπέκγονον Ἡρακλείου φασὶ, τὰ τῆς βασιλείας διἳθύνοντος· σκῆπτρα, ὁ καλὸς Καλλίνικος ἐν ἀρχιερεῦσι διέπρεπε, καὶ σεμνὸς τοῖς πολίταις καὶ δὴ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους τελούσῃ διεγινώσκετο καὶ ἦν μὲν καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τούτῳ καὶ ἀγαπώμενος, καὶ τιμώμενος, κὰι θαύματος ἐν μέρει τιθέμενος· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεί περ ὁ κρατῶν βαρύς τις ἦν πρὸς τοὺς ὑπὸ χεῖρα, καὶ φρενῶν ἐνδείᾳ τὸ ὑπήκοον ἐξεβιάζετο, καὶ ἀπρεπῆ τινὰ καὶ βασιλεῖ ἀπεοικότα πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἀπειργάζετο, μὴ οὂός τε ὢν ὁ ἀρχιερεὺς ἀνεξέλεγκτα ταῦτα κατέχειν, τοῦτο μὲν παρακλήσεσι, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ γραφικαῖς παιδεύσεσιν, ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ στύφουσι λόγοις, καὶ ἀναμνήσεσι κρίσεως ἐκείνης τῆς φοβερᾶς καὶ τῶν φρικτῶν ἐκείνων κολάσεων ἀπεῖργε τοῦτον τοῦ ἐγχειρήματος. Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ καρκῖνος ὀρθὰ βαδίζειν οὐκ οἶδε. Πάλιν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπέμενε, καὶ τὸν Ἅγιον ἐμνησικάκει τῆς διορθώσεως· ἔνθέντοι καὶ πολλὰ τοῦτον ἐλύπει, καὶ ἀφορμὰς ἐζήτει τοῦ θρόνου τὸν Μέγαν κατενεγκεῖν.
[3] Στέλλει γοῦν ποτὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν, εὐχὴν ἀπαιτῶν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει ναοῦ· ναὸς δὲ ἦν οὗτος, ὁ ἐπ᾽ ὀνόματι τῆς Θεομήτορος ἱδρύμενος, καὶ τὰ μητροπολίτου λεγόμενος· ὅπερ ὅσης εὐηθείας ἐστὶ καὶ ῥαστώνης, ἴστε πάντως οἱ εὐσεβέστεροι. Τοῦ μεγάλου τοινυν διαποροῦντος πρὸς τοῦτο, καὶ μηδαμῶς εὐχὴν ἐν τούτῳ παραλόγῳ πράγματι γεγράφθαι λέγοντος, καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς καταστροφὴν ἐκκλησίας Θεοῦ, καὶ εὐήθειαν εἰς τοῦτο τοῦ βασιλέως καταγινώσκοντος, οἱ ἀπεσταλμένοι τὸ ὁμοφρονεῖν ἐκείνῳ καὶ ὁμογνωμονεῖν διὰ σπουδῆς ὅσης τιθέμενοι, τὴν εὐχὴν ταύτην, ὅπερ ἄρα μᾶλλον ἦν, ἐξαπῄτουν τῆς καταλύσεως, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐπιχείρουν ἐπιθέσθαι τῷ πατριάρχῃ, εἰ μή γε τούτοις τὴν εὐχὴν ἐπιτρέψει. Μὴ ἔχων οὖν ἐκεῖνος ὅτι καὶ πράξειε, Δόξα τῷ Θεῷ, λέγει, τῷ ἀνεχομένῳ· καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ ναὸς καθῃρέθη. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως.
[4] Ὁ τοίνυν βασιλεὺς διὰ τὰς ἀμέτρους ἀταξίας, καὶ τὰς ὑπερβαλλούσας ἀνοίας ἐπιτεθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν ῥίνα τέμνεται, καὶ τὴν γλῶτταν, καὶ ὑπερόριος ἐν Χερσῶνι γίνεται. Κρατεῖ τοίνυν ὁ Λέων μετ᾽ αὐτόν· εἶτα Τιβέριος ὁ λεγόμενος Ἀψίμαρος· ὁ μὲν ἔτη τριὰ, ὁ δὲ Τιβέριος ἑπτά. Εἶτα τῆς ὑπερορίας ὁ Ἰουστινιανός οὗτος ἀποδρὰς ταῖς τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτῷ παραινέσεσι καὶ μηνύσεσι, καὶ τοῖς τείχεσι τῆς Κωνσταντίνου προσβαλὼν, καὶ δόλῳ πείσας τόντε Πατριάρχην αὐτὸν, καὶ τοὺς ἐν τέλει, καὶ ὄρκοις, τῆς βασιλείας αὖθις έγκρατὴς ἀναδείκνυται, τὴν εἰσέλευσιν διὰ τοῦ Δευτέρου λεγομένου ποιησάμενος τόπου, ὃν καὶ Δεύτερον αὐτὸς ὠνόμασε διὰ τὸ δεύτερον ἐντεῦθεν ἐπιβηναι τῆς βασιλείας. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐγκρατὴς γέγονε τῶν πραγμάτων, τοὺς ὄρκους, καὶ τὰς πίστεις ἐκείνας ἠθετηκὼς, ἃς προκειμένου τοῦ προσκυνητοῦ σημείου τοῦ τιμίου σταυροῦ, καὶ τῶν ἀχράντων καὶ θείων εὐαγγελίων πεποίηκε· καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ σώματος τε καὶ αἵματος, καὶ ὥσπερ ἔξαρνος γεγονὼς σὺν αὐτοῖς καὶ τῆς πίστεως, φόνων τὴν πόλιν ἐνέπλησε, καὶ μυρίων ἄλλων κακῶν, ὧν λόγος οὐκ ἀρκεῖ παραστῆσαι τὸ πλῆθος.
[5] Αὐτὸν δὲ τὸν μέγιστον ἐν ἀρχιερεῦσι Καλλίνικον καθοσιώσεως δίκαις ὑποβαλὼν, ὅτι τε τῆς ἐκτομῆς αὐτῷ τῆς ῥινὸς αὐτὸς εἴη αἴτιος, καὶ τῆς γλώττης, μηδὲν ἐν τούτοις συνειδότος τοῦ Μάκαρος, ὑπερορίζει κατὰ τὴν Ῥώμην, καὶ στοᾷ τινὶ θεμελίων ἐμβληθῆναι τοίχου κελεύει, καὶ λίθοις ἔξωθεν αὐτὴν καὶ τιτάνῳ διαχρισθῆναι. Γέγονε τοῦτο, καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέρας τεσσαράκοντα περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ χρίσματος, ὦ τῶν μεγάλων σου θαυμασίων Χριστὲ βασιλεῦ, ἔτι ζῶν ὁ Ἄγιος καὶ ἐμπνέων εὐρέθη. Τέτταρας οὖν ἡμέρας ἔκτοτε ζήσας, ὦ σεβάσμιε Πάτερ, καὶ ἀρχιερεῦ, καὶ μάρτυς, πρὸς Κύριον ἐκδημεῖς, καὶ τῷ σηκῷ τῶν πανευφήμων ἀποστόλων φιλοτίμως ἐνθάπτῃ, τούτων αὐτῷ τῷ πάπᾳ μηνυσάντων δι᾽ ὄψεως· καὶ νῦν τῷ τοῦ δεσπότου Χριστοῦ παριστάμενος θρόνῳ ἄιτησαι ταῖς θερμαῖς σου πρὸς αὐτὸν πρεσβείαις ἐπιτυχεῖν ἡμᾶς τῆς ἀλήκτου χαρᾶς τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν· ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
The Saint, conspicuous for his merits, becomes patriarch of Constantinople: Callinicus is one of ours, and of Constantinople; and this Callinicus is the offspring, the nursling, and the pupil of faithful and honorable parents, by whom he is rightly brought up and instructed, and is enrolled among the clergy of the Church of Christ. And so, after Callinicus had occupied himself with all the Scriptures inspired by God and exceedingly profitable, he acquires an illustrious celebrity of name. Thence, passing through all the ecclesiastical grades, he is presented with the honor of the priestly seat, and in it praises the Lord. His fame therefore having been carried even to persons set in dignity, he is made keeper of the vessels in the famous church of the Mother of God which is at Blachernae a, and thus, manifest to all, the great man becomes known. But now, when the bishop of the city of Constantinople (this was Paul b) had departed from life, this great Callinicus — his virtue calling him to it — is by the vote of the very chief men of the sacred tribunal, and of all who were conspicuous in dignity, ordained patriarch of that same city; and he so rightly governed the church of Christ, and steered the rudders of piety.
[2] to the wickedness of the emperor Justinian But most lately, when Justinian the younger, whom they call the great-grandson of Heraclius c, was directing the scepters of the empire, the excellent Callinicus shone out among the chief bishops, and was esteemed distinguished not only by the citizens but also by all who obeyed the Romans, and was held by this emperor in love and honor, and was set in the place, as it were, of a wonder. But since the emperor was hostile to his subjects, and, being out of his mind, compelled them by force to do his bidding, and wrought against them certain unseemly things and unbecoming to an emperor: which, when the Chief Bishop could not suffer without reproof, partly indeed by exhortations, partly by scriptural instructions, and sometimes also by stringent words and by reminders of that dread judgment and of those horrible punishments, he restrained him from his purpose. But the crab knows not how to walk in a straight way. For he persevered again in the same things, and repaid the Saint with injuries for his correction
in return for his direction. Whence he greatly saddened him, and sought occasion for removing the great man from his throne.
[3] he sets himself in opposition: And so at a certain time he sends to him, demanding a prayer for the destruction of a church (now this church was the one which had been built in the name of the Mother of God, and was called the metropolitan's d). What great madness and sloth this is, most pious ones, you all know. And while the great man hesitated at this, and said that no prayers had been written for this absurd business, and for things that looked to the overthrow of a church of God e, and reproved the emperor's stupidity in daring this, those who had been sent, pressing on to comply with his mind with all the zeal they could, and to satisfy his purpose, demand these prayers — which was rather the case — for the destruction, and indeed they set about laying hands on the Patriarch unless he should grant them these prayers. But he, not having ready what he should do, said: Glory to God, who bears with it; and at once the church was destroyed f. And these things thus.
[4] But the emperor, on account of his immoderate departures from the right order of life, and his singular stupidities, being removed from the throne, is mutilated by his subjects in nose and tongue g, and is sent away as an exile to Cherson h. [who, having returned from exile, rages perfidiously against the people of Constantinople;] After him therefore Leo reigns i: then Tiberius k, who is called Apsimarus: and the former indeed for three years, but Tiberius for seven. Afterwards this Justinian, fleeing from exile by the exhortations and communications of his kinsmen, when he had come to the walls of Constantinople, and had by fraud and by oaths persuaded the Patriarch himself and the magistracy to his cause, takes up the empire anew, having made his entrance through the place by the name of Deuteron, to which he himself gave the name Deuteron, because thence for the second time he had entered upon the empire l. And so, having got possession of affairs, he broke the oaths and the pledge which he had given not only before the adorable sign of the precious cross and the immaculate Gospels of God, but also before the Lord's body and blood, and, becoming as it were a denier of the faith together with these, filled the city with slaughters and with a thousand other evils, to set forth the number of which speech does not suffice m.
[5] But Callinicus himself, the greatest among the chief bishops, [and against Callinicus; who, having long survived in a walled-up cave, dies, and is by divine command ordered to be buried.] having been subjected to the penalties of a condemnation, on the ground that he had been the cause of the cutting off of his nose and tongue — although the blessed man was conscious to himself of none of these things — he sends into exile to Rome, and orders him to be thrown into a certain arcade of the foundations of a wall n, and stones to be smeared over on the outside with lime as well o. This is done, and after forty days, the crust of lime being taken away (O how great, Christ the King, are Thy miracles!), the Saint was found still living and breathing [p]. And so, his life prolonged four days from that time, O venerable Father, and chief bishop, and martyr, thou passest to the Lord, and art honorably buried in the sacred house of the most renowned Apostles, after they had signified this by an apparition to the Pope himself [q]: and now, standing by the throne of Christ the Lord, ask by thy fervent intercessions with Him that we may obtain the perpetual joy of the kingdom of heaven: for to Him is due honor and dominion through infinite ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. Of this miracle the Vienna manuscript has nothing.
q. Of this apparition the same manuscript also makes mention. But we should have greater faith both in this apparition and in the miracle immediately preceding, if we saw them confirmed from ancient authors and of greater authority than are the great printed Menaea of the Greeks, which also record the said miracle, and report the Saint laid to rest in the sacred house of SS. Peter and Paul the Apostles, as the holy Apostles had enjoined upon the Pope of the city of Rome who was at that time.