ON ST. ADRIAN, MARTYR,
AT NICOMEDIA, AS THEY WILL HAVE IT,
Under the emperor Licinius, as is reported.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
His cult, Acts, the time and place of his martyrdom.
Adrian, martyr, at Nicomedia, as they will have it (St.)
BY J. P.
Although the historical matters which are current concerning this Saint labor under various difficulties, nevertheless his public veneration both in the Latin and in the Greek Church is well ascertained, His cult from the Roman Martyrology and the Greek Fasti: so that he ought deservedly to be numbered with the other Citizens of heaven of this day. The Roman Martyrology announces him in these words: At Nicomedia, the passion of Saint Hadrian, son of Probus Cæsar, who, reproaching Licinius with the persecution stirred up against the Christians, was ordered by him to be slain; whose body Domitius, bishop of Byzantium, his uncle, buried at Argyropolis. These things are related in nearly the same manner in the Sirletian Menology, which Baronius used; but the most eminent author compressed them somewhat: but what things, both here and elsewhere among the Greeks, need emendation, will be said below. Further, the great Menæa thus relate the memory of this holy Martyr on this present day: The memory of another martyr Adrian — namely one distinct from his namesake, who is also contained in the said Menæa on this day, and who in our work among the Passed Over has been deferred to the VIII of September. In nearly the same manner he is marked in our manuscript supplement to the printed Menæa, from the manuscript Synaxarion of Sirmond and the manuscript of Chifflet: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἄθλησις ἑτέρου ἁγίου μάρτυρος Ἀδριανοῦ. That is: On the same day, the contest of another martyr Adrian. The Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, which we keep in manuscript, and which has been translated from the Arabic into Latin, also makes mention of our Saint, saying: The memory of another St. Adrian.
[2] It is well to add to these, according to our accustomed manner, the two verses The little verses of the Menæa concerning the Saint are expounded. which are subjoined in the great Menæa to his announcement, and which, rendered by us from the Greek into Latin, run thus:
Ἀδριανὸν τμηθέντα κοσμήσει ξίφος Ἐν τῇ μεγίστῃ τῶν στεφάνων ἡμέρᾳ.
The sword shall adorn Adrian, who was cut down, On the greatest day of the crowns.
If I rightly understand the poet's meaning, it seems that it can fitly be thus explained. From the fact that St. Adrian is said to have been the son of the emperor Probus, the poet may have alluded to his royal crown, which the sword by which he underwent martyrdom shall adorn on the greatest of crowns, that is, on the day of the last judgment, on which his own crown shall be given to each by Christ the judge. On the greatest day of the crowns, I say; by which perhaps he also had regard to the θεοστέπτους ἑορτὰς, that is, the crowned courts, or days of the crown of the emperors, so called because on them the emperor, wreathed with a crown, was present at the sacred rites, as it is in Du Cange, book 3 of Constantinople
Christiana, page 37; who in the same place observes that this seems to be understood of the more solemn festivals of Christ, or at any rate of those on which he proceeded to the greater church, which Codinus in the Origins, page 91 of the Meursian edition, intimates were twelve in number, since on the rest he was wont to be present at the divine Offices in the sacred buildings of the palace.
[3] There are examined Now the history of this St. Adrian must be weighed, which contains ill-stitched fables, and relates concerning him falsehoods in no way coherent. That these may be plain to the reader, we shall bring forward his eulogy from the Sirletian Menology, and then endeavor to correct it by our observations: On the same day, it says, the birthday of another Adrian, martyr. He was under Licinius in the city of Byzantium, son of the emperor Probus, with another brother Domitius, who after Titus was archbishop of Byzantium. Blessed Adrian, therefore, desiring to suffer death for Christ, coming to Nicomedia, reproached Licinius that he was rashly laying waste the Roman armies under pretext of the Christian persecution. Wherefore, being tormented in various ways, he was beheaded; whose brother Domitius the bishop, having gathered his holy relics, laid them up at Argyropolis, where the relics of Adrian and Natalia had been laid, together with the apostle Stachys. Thus far there; and nearly the like is narrated in the great Menæa, and in the Supplement mentioned above.
[4] the Acts, Tillemont, in volume 5 of the Ecclesiastical Memoirs, writing of the persecution of the Eastern church under the emperor Licinius, page 508, asserts that he does not see that anything can be founded upon the history of this St. Adrian. But in the first note upon the same persecution, page 783, objecting various difficulties against the said history, and rejecting it as ill founded, he says: The Greeks, who on the XXVI day of August celebrate the feast of the great saint Adrian, on the same day mark another Saint of the same name, whom, like the other, they say to have suffered at Nicomedia and to have been buried at Argyropolis near Byzantium; but they will have it that this befell under Licinius, whereas nevertheless they set the other under the persecution of Diocletian; and they note certain differing circumstances of their history. Nevertheless he judges it difficult enough to believe that these are two distinct Saints; and the more so because the Greeks will have Adrian, whom they set under Licinius, to have been the brother of Domitian, then bishop of Byzantium, and both to have been sons of the emperor Probus, to whom history attributes neither wife nor sons.
[5] The other difficulties which the cited collector of the Memoirs then objects which, although pertain to Domitius, bishop of Byzantium, and he brings them out in this way: The Chronicle of Nicephorus makes Domitius of Byzantium the brother of the emperor Probus, not his son; and this too the same collector judges to be no better founded; adding that this Domitius must have been dead long before Licinius, since that Chronicle attributes to him as successor for ten years Probus his son, who died before Constantine came to Byzantium, that is, before the year 323. Then he says that he will show elsewhere that St. Metrophanes, whom they make the brother and successor of this Probus for ten years, departed this life in the year 313. According to this chronology, therefore, Domitius his father would have died in the year 291, long before the persecution of Diocletian himself; and, if he presided 21 years and six months, as Nicephorus says, he would have been raised to the episcopal chair about the year 270, and would have ruled it as long as Probus, his alleged brother, reigned; and that this could deservedly have been observed by Eusebius, the aforesaid collector notes. These are the arguments which he objects against the history of our St. Adrian of today in the note alleged.
[6] But let us weigh some of Tillemont's observations, labor under various difficulties distributing them under various heads. First, he judges it difficult enough to believe that the two Adrians are distinct. But granted that what is narrated of them is difficult to believe, granted that it is hard to understand — both on account of the slight, or rather no, credit of the little Greek historicules in this matter, whose custom it is, as we have often elsewhere complained, to stuff the Acts of the Saints with fables and to contaminate them with incoherent matters; and also on account of the present history of St. Adrian of today, sprinkled with the same bran of falsehood — yet from this it does not follow that in the nature of things he did not exist as distinct from the other Martyr of the same name. For that the one is distinct from the other is the concordant consent of the Greek Fasti, which we recited above at number 1; to which add the Roman Martyrology. Whoever, therefore, our Adrian may have been; of whatever family born; in whatever place, at whatever time, and under whatever emperor he suffered; by whomsoever, in fine, and wheresoever he was buried — since nevertheless he is from time immemorial in possession of a public cult among the Greeks, and the same cult is prescribed to be paid him among the Latins, it follows that he should go on possessing what he has hitherto possessed. Otherwise how many Saints would have to be erased from the sacred Fasti, of whose lawful veneration it is established, but not so of the truth of their Acts! Castellanus, at the announcement of our St. Adrian which is contained on this XXVI day of August in the Roman Martyrology, sets a marginal note saying that this article is fabulous, taken from the Greeks, and in their books follows the St. Adrian of the eighth day of September, whom they have on this day. Which note, as being altogether too crude, and not sufficiently distinguishing the Saint's history from the Saint's cult, we disapprove.
[7] one of which is refuted, Second, the aforesaid collector of the Memoirs placed great force in this, that the Greeks will have it that Adrian and Domitius, then bishop of Byzantium, were brothers, and also sons of the emperor Probus, to whom nevertheless history attributes neither wife nor sons. But, from this side at least, this argument is nerveless for proving that the Saint of today is not distinguished from the other of the same name. For, besides that all and each of the historians very often do not write all and each of the circumstances of their history, Vopiscus not obscurely indicates that the emperor Probus had descendants, and therefore a wife and offspring. For in the Augustan History, printed at Paris in the year 1620, in his Probus he records these things at page 242: The descendants of Probus, either out of hatred of envy, or out of fear, fled the Roman state, and in Italy about Verona, and Benacus, and Larius, and in these regions placed their household. Assuredly — which I could not pass over — when the image of Probus at Verona had been so struck by lightning that its bordered robe changed colors, the soothsayers answered that the descendants of this family would be of such distinction in the senate that all would discharge the highest honors. But so far we have seen none; yet descendants seem to have eternity before them. Tillemont, volume 3 of the Emperors, article 10, in his Probus, had seen this place of Vopiscus; but whether he rightly enough concludes against him from the silence of history, to which he again takes refuge, I leave to the reader to judge.
[8] as also Baronius: I said from this side at least, because the history of the martyrdom of St. Adrian so wavers from other quarters, and is entangled in so many difficulties, that I altogether do not see how it can be disentangled. Baronius in his notes upon the Roman Martyrology attempted something here, but not happily enough: The Greeks, he says, also treat of the same on this day in the Menology, and describe the contest of his passion, as it is also here narrated. Of the family of the emperor Probus see the Chronicle of the bishop Nicephorus, on the bishops of Constantinople, under Domitius. Not happily enough, I say; for in these words of Baronius three things may be considered: namely, when he says, The Greeks ALSO treat of the same, etc., you would say that he tacitly insinuates that the Latins have kept the memory of this St. Adrian — whereas we know no Fasti which have made mention of him, and consequently Baronius was the first to insert him into the Roman Martyrology from the Menology of Sirleto, which he used; let this be said here in passing. Then the most eminent author asserts — and this pertains more to the matter — that the contest of the same Martyr's passion is described by the Greeks as it is also here narrated; and this is true in the substance of the passion, but not in all its accidents; for the Greeks in the Menology make Domitius the brother of Adrian, whereas in the Roman Martyrology Baronius makes Domitius the father of Adrian. Finally, when he adds of the family of the emperor Probus, etc., and sends the reader to the Chronicle of Nicephorus, bishop of Constantinople, under Domitius, he sufficiently indicates whence he drew this alteration; for in that Chronology published at Paris in the year 1652, page 413, these things are read: 21. Dometius, brother of the emperor Probus, twenty-one years, six months. 22. Probus, son of the same Dometius, XII years.
[9] After these, and several others premised in the said Chronography, We leave the Saint in his ancient possession of cult. What there follow these words: All these were bishops of Byzantium before Constantine was declared emperor. But he, having set out for Byzantium on account of the war undertaken against Licinius, found Metrophanes bishop. 23. Metrophanes, son of the aforenamed Dometius, brother of Probus, and nephew of the emperor Probus, 10 years. Then is set: 24. Alexander lived 98 years, and held the episcopate twenty-three years. Thus far there. But since the things which are wrongly current concerning the first bishops of Byzantium, both in Nicephorus and in others, have been abundantly weighed and corrected before our first volume of the month of August, in the Chronological History of the Patriarchs of Constantinople, we here abstain from repeating new censures, sending the reader thither; where the first three paragraphs may be consulted. Of St. Alexander more will be said on the XXVIII day of August, on which he is entered in the Roman Martyrology. But now, to return to the earlier matter, we judge that St. Adrian of today is to be left in the full possession of public veneration, whatever be the Acts which are imputed to him. But we shall give them from our manuscript copy from a codex of the Imperial Library of Vienna, often indicated in the course of this month.
[10] Acts are given; the time and place of the martyrdom. Further, that copy, of whatever value it be, is prefaced with these words: Μηνὶ Αὐγούστου κς᾽ τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Ἀδριανοῦ ἐπὶ Λικινίου μαρτυρήσαντος. That is: In the month of August, the XXVI, of the holy martyr Adrian, who underwent martyrdom under Licinius. Here for you, reader, is the history of that martyrdom, such as it is, rendered by us from the Greek into Latin. But the Annotations which will be subjoined to it will not be very many, since in this brief Commentary several things which pertain to the matter may easily be read. Above also I have set the Martyr under the emperor Licinius, indicating the time which is noted in the sacred Fasti and in the Acts, not that which ought to be noted; and therefore I have added, as is reported. Let the same be said of the place of contest, which, upon the lead of those documents, we assign at Nicomedia, but cannot prove.
MARTYRDOM
by an anonymous author,
from a manuscript codex of the Imperial Library of Vienna, J. P. translating.
Adrian, martyr, at Nicomedia, as they will have it (St.)
A. By the anonymous writer.
Οὗτος ὁ ἅγιος μάρτυς Ἀδριανὸς ὁ ἐπὶ Λικιννίου μαρτυρήσας, υἱὸς ὑπῆρχε Πρόβου τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος Ῥώμης. Ὅστις Πρόβος δύο ἔσχεν υἱοὺς, αὐτόν τε τὸν Ἀδριανὸν, καὶ Δομίτιον· οἵτινὲς μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν γεγόνασι Χριστιανοὶ, καταλιπόντες τὴν πολιτείαν Ῥωμαίων. Ὁ δὲ Δομέτιος, καὶ χειροτονίας ἐπισκόπου ἠξιώθη τῆς τοῦ Βυζαντίου, μετὰ τελευτὴν Τίτου Ἐπισκόπου τῆς αὐτῆς τῶν
Βυζαντίων πόλεως· ὅστις Τίτος καὶ αὐτὸς δύο υἱοὺς ἔσχεν, Μητροφάνην τε καὶ Πρόβον. Τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως Κάρου τελευτήσαντος, καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ παίδων, Καρίνου μὲν ὑπό τινος τῶν χιλιάρχων, οὗ ἦν τὴν γυναῖκα διαφθείρας, δολοφονηθέντος· Νουμεριανοῦ δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκείου κηδεστοῦ ἅμα τὸ μοναρχῆσαι ἀναιρεθέντος, εἰς Διοκλητιανὸν τὸ κράτος τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἁπάντων ἵσταται. Ὅσα μὲν οὖν αὐτῷ ἀνόσια εἰς τοὺς Χριστιανοὺς πέπρακται, καὶ τὴν ἄμμον τῆς θαλάσσης ὑπερβαίνουσι.
[2] Τοῦ δὲ μακαρίου καὶ ἁγίου Κωνσταντίνου βασιλεύσαντος, καὶ Λικιννίου τοῦ γαμβροῦ αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀναῤῥηθέντος συμβασιλεύειν αὐτῷ, ἀναψυχὴν ἔλαβε τὰ Χριστιανῶν· ὁ γὰρ Λικίννιος κατ᾽ ἀνάγκην τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, καὶ οὐκ οἰκείᾳ γνώμῃ, νόμους ὑπὲρ Χριστιανῶν μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐξετίθετο. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν τὴν κακότεχνον αὐτοῦ προαίρεσιν ἀπέκρυπτεν. Ἅμα γὰρ τὸ διαχωρισθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου, εὐθὺς εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν καὶ ἀρχαίαν δεισιδαιμονίαν ἐτράπετο. Ὅτε καὶ οἱ τεσσαράκοντα μάρτυρες ἐν Σεβαστείᾳ διήθλησαν, τότε καὶ τὸν εἰρημένον ἅγιον μάρτυρα Ἀδριανὸν εὑρὼν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ παῤῥησίᾳ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀνακηρύττοντα, καὶ τὰ πλήθη παραινοῦντα ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς πλάνης τῶν ματαίων εἰδώλων, ἤγαγε παρ᾽ ἑαυτόν.
[3] Παραστὰς δὲ ὁ Μάρτυς ἔλεγε τῷ Λικιννίῳ· Διὰ τί μὴ καθὼς ἀπαρχῆς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ διέπρεψας, ὑπὲρ Χριστιανῶν νομοθετῶν, οὕτως καὶ νῦν ὑπάρχεις, ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκάζεις τὰ πλήθη, βασάνους καὶ ποινὰς ἐπάγων αὐτοῖς, ὁποῖα οὐδὲ βάρβαροι καὶ πολέμιοι κατὰ Ῥωμαίων ποιήσαιέν ποτε; Ὁ δὲ Λικίννιος ἔφη· Σὺ γὰρ Χριστιανὸς εἶ; Πρὸς ὃν ὁ ἅγιος εἶπεν· Καὶ μὲν εὔχομαι ἐν τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ ταύτῃ τελειωθῆναι. Λικίννιος δὲ πρῶτα μὲν ὑποσχέσεσι καὶ θωπείαις ὑποσῦραι αὐτὸν ἤλπιζεν· ἔπειτα ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὸν ἀμετάθετον ὄντα ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, μετὰ πολλὰς βασάνους καὶ τιμωρίας, τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἀποτμηθῆναι προσέταξεν. Τοῦ δὲ ἐν τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ ταύτῃ τελειωθέντος, λαβόντες τινὲς πιστοὶ τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον, ἀπεκόμισαν αὐτὸ ἐν Βυζαντίῳ, ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ τῇ οὔσῃ ἐν Ἀργυροπόλει ἀπέναντι Χρυσοπόλεως.
[4] Ἔνθα καὶ τὰ λείψανα τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἐναπετέθησαν Ἀδριανοῦ καὶ Ναταλίας, καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτοῖς μαρτυρησάντων· ὅπου καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀπέκειτο Στάχυος, ἑνὸς τῶν ὁ ἀποστόλων, ὃς ὑπὸ Ἀνδρέου τοῦ ἀποστόλου ἐπίσκοπος τοῦ Βυζαντίου κατέστη. Ταῖς πρεσβείαις οὖν, Κύριε, τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων καὶ μαρτύρων σου, ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ μηχανῆς τοῦ πονηροῦ, καὶ ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν παράσχου τοῖς ἐκτελοῦσι τὴν σεβάσμιον μνήμην αὐτῶν, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς ὑπάρχεις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
The Saint, son of the emperor Probus This holy martyr Adrian, who accomplished his martyrdom under a Licinius, was the son of Probus, the Roman emperor. Which Probus had two sons, this Adrian and Domitius, who after their father's b death embraced the Christian religion, the superstition of the Romans being forsaken. But Domitius was raised to the dignity of bishop of Byzantium, Titus, prelate of that same city of Byzantium, having departed this life. And that Titus\* also had two sons, Metrophanes and Probus. But after the emperor c Carus and his sons had died — Carinus indeed [d] treacherously slain by one of the chiliarchs, whose wife he had corrupted, and Numerian [f] deprived at once of life and of empire by his own e father-in-law — the monarchy of all the Romans devolved upon Diocletian. And indeed the impious things which were done by him against the Christians surpass the sand of the sea.
[2] But when blessed and holy Constantine was reigning, and Licinius, under Licinius the husband of his g sister, had been taken up by the soldiers\* to reign together with him, the affairs of the Christians began to breathe again. For Licinius, because he stood in need of Constantine, and not of his own judgment, established laws with him in favor of the h Christians. But he did not long keep his malignant purpose hidden. For as soon as he was separated from Constantine, he straightway turned back to his own and ancient superstition; and when the Forty Martyrs contended at i Sebaste, then also, finding the aforesaid martyr Adrian, who at Nicomedia was boldly preaching Christ and admonishing many men to desist from the error of vain idols, he ordered him to be summoned before him.
[3] And the Martyr, standing by, said to Licinius: Why, as k from the beginning you shone in your reign, passing laws for the Christians, do you not now show yourself such, but compel the multitudes, bringing torments and punishments upon them, such as neither barbarians nor enemies would ever have wrought against the Romans? suffered To whom Licinius said: Are you then a Christian? Then the Saint said: And I desire indeed to undergo death in this confession. But Licinius at first hoped by promises and flatteries to draw him away from his purpose; then, when he saw that he was unchangeable in the faith of Christ, after many torments and tortures he commanded his head to be cut off. And when he had been consummated in this confession, certain of the faithful, taking his holy body, carried it away to Byzantium into the church which is at l Argyropolis, over against Chrysopolis.
[4] is translated to Argyropolis. There also the bodies of the holy martyrs Adrian and Natalia, and of those who accomplished their martyrdom with them, were laid; and there also rests the body of m Stachys, one of the seventy n Apostles, who was appointed by the Apostle Andrew o bishop of Byzantium. By the prayers, therefore, of thy holy Apostles and Martyrs, O Lord, deliver us from every assault and contrivance of the devil, and grant remission of sins to those who keep their venerable memory; for thou art blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
d. In the year 285.
f. In the year 284.
\ Otherwise Domitius*.
\* Rather, by Galerius Maximian.