Bucolus

ON ST. BUCOLUS, BISHOP OF SMYRNA,

CIRCA A.D. 100.

Preliminary Commentary.

Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna in Asia (Saint)

By J. B.

[1] Whether St. Bucolus was the first bishop of Smyrna in Asia, or Strateas the son of Eunice, remains uncertain. For Pionius, in the Life of St. Polycarp which we published on January 26, St. Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna relates that after the Apostle Paul departed from Smyrna, Strateas and certain others with him took up the office of teaching. But Bucolus was certainly the predecessor of Polycarp. So the Menaea, cited by us in the Prolegomena at that place, section 1, number 3, state: This man (Polycarp) was a disciple of John the Theologian and Evangelist, together with Ignatius the God-bearer, and after Bucolus, the most holy Bishop of Smyrna, predecessor of St. Polycarp, who had foretold the priesthood to him, he was consecrated by the bishops. Suidas also, cited at the same place, section 2, number 15, says: Polycarp, a hearer of John the Evangelist and Theologian, was the successor of Bucolus, the first Bishop of the Church of the Smyrnaeans, and he held the episcopate as the second after him.

[2] The feast of St. Bucolus was recorded on this day by Molanus in his additions to Usuard: venerated on February 6 On the sixth day, of the holy Father Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna — which words are taken from the Greek Horologion. And Ferrarius writes: At Smyrna in Asia, St. Bucolus, Bishop, disciple of St. John the Apostle. Galesinius in his Notes for February 6: In Greece, St. Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna, as is written in the Menologion and Horologion. He was a disciple of the Apostle John and had as his successor in the episcopate Blessed Polycarp.

[3] That the illustrious deeds of St. Bucolus were committed to writing by Pionius may be conjectured from what the same author writes in the Life of St. Polycarp, chapter 1, number 3: what he did, and whence described He says, Strateas took up the office of teaching, and certain others with him, whose names, insofar as I shall be able to discover them, and who and what sort of men they were, I shall set forth. Whether that commentary survives anywhere, we have not yet ascertained. We shall give here an epitome of his Life from the new Anthologion, which Antonius Arcudius had printed at Rome in the year 1598 and dedicated to Clement VIII; then we shall append what is said of him in scattered passages throughout the Life of St. Polycarp.

[4] That he was renowned for miracles, whether performed during his life or divinely wrought at his tomb, Nicephorus Callistus demonstrates in book 3, chapter 34, writing thus: renowned for miracles, Polycarp, a follower of the Apostles, died a martyr's death; he presided over the Church of the Smyrnaeans after Bucolus the Wonderworker, that is, the worker of marvelous deeds. To this pertains what the Greeks sing of him in the Menaea: Shining with the light of the priesthood, you illuminated the peoples, in life O Hierarch; you dispelled the darkness of idols, and through the splendor of your healings, having dispersed the cloud of passions, you passed on to the inaccessible light, interceding greatly for us who venerate you, Blessed Bucolus. This appears to be said of miracles performed during his life; the following, concerning those which occurred at his tomb, the same Menaea sing: and after death: Flourishing like a palm tree in the court of God, you have fallen asleep in the rest due to the righteous, O Bucolus, herald of God. For before your divine monument you cause a plant to grow forth, a miracle to those who behold it. The earth indeed covers your blessed body, manifestly pouring forth healings and graces, O glorious Bucolus; but heaven holds your soul, together with the elect, truly resplendent with divine splendors.

[5] In what year he died, and for how long he governed the Church of Smyrna, is nowhere explicitly recorded. But since it is established from the Life of St. Polycarp that he was already bishop when Polycarp, still a very young man, was brought to Smyrna, and that he prolonged his life so long as to initiate into the priesthood one already sprinkled with grey hairs, he lived long in the episcopate: he is rightly said in that same Life to have completed a long course of piety. If, as certain writers have stated, Polycarp was appointed bishop by St. John the Evangelist, then Bucolus must have died no later than the sixty-eighth year after the Passion of the Lord, he died around the year of Christ 90, since John died in that very year, as St. Jerome testifies in his book On Illustrious Writers of the Church, chapter 9. That year is the ninety-ninth of the common era, the second of Trajan. But Bucolus must have died even earlier, if that youth of whom we treated in the Life of Polycarp, section 4, number 32, was entrusted to him by John, and not to some other bishop near Ephesus; and much more so if Polycarp is that Angel of the Church of Smyrna to whom John wrote from Patmos in Apocalypse 2. Neither point is clear to us; and we incline much more to the belief that Bucolus was that Angel.

[6] Perhaps also Polycarp was not appointed bishop by John in any other way than that John foretold he would be bishop — which Bucolus too, if not in words, certainly by the very act of his dying, indicated, being himself taught from heaven. Although the Greeks assert in the Anthologion below, and in the Menaea, that he consecrated Polycarp is wrongly asserted: that he consecrated him, where among other things, these words are sung to St. Bucolus: After you had nobly administered the sacred See of the Smyrnaeans, O wholly blessed Bucolus, the Spirit brings Polycarp to be consecrated as shepherd after you by your hand. And: Having learned through the Spirit of your departure, O wise Bucolus, you bring your successor, a guide of the rational sheep by grace, to the altar, shining with the splendors of virtues. The narrative of Pionius refutes this, in which there is no mention of John either consecrating him or selecting him by his vote.

[7] Certain things are stated about St. Bucolus in the same Menaea which more truly pertain to St. Polycarp: By your sacred sermons, O glorious Bucolus, he resisted heretics, but not Marcion the execrable Marcion was attacked and expelled, belching forth the filth of every absurdity like a rabid dog. For Marcion (as St. Epiphanius writes, Heresy 22, otherwise 42) did not devise his heresy until about the times of Pope Hyginus and the Emperor Antoninus Pius; and he was scarcely yet born perhaps not yet born at that time. when Bucolus died. Nevertheless, St. Bucolus did fight against heresies, especially those of Ebion and Cerinthus. Hence that praise is attributed to him in the frequently cited Menaea, that as a good shepherd he led the Lord's flock to the pastures of piety, drove away every heresy like savage beasts, and by his teaching drew the peoples from the jaws of the wolf of the mind, and stopped up the mouths of the heretics — mouths that had no door — by his divine learning.

EPITOME OF THE LIFE

from the new Greek Anthologion.

Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna in Asia (Saint)

a

Bucolus is ordained Bishop by St. John: This man from his earliest age devoted himself to innocence and integrity, and became a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. The most celebrated John the Theologian, beloved of Christ, finding him proven and endowed with worthy character, consecrated him as Bishop and most useful pastor of the Church of the Smyrnaeans. He, having been thus initiated and erected by the Holy Spirit b as a public lamp, flooded with heavenly light those who sat in the darkness of errors, and through baptism c made them children of light, freed from innumerable and monstrous demons of hell. He designates Polycarp as Bishop: But before he departed this life, he consecrated Blessed Polycarp as pastor and teacher of the rational sheep d in the same city, and then he himself departed from human affairs. After his body was entombed, e God caused a plant to spring up, which to this day provides healing for many diseases. renowned for miracles after death.

a The same account is found in the Menaea.

b Lampadegoumenos: a word frequently used in the Menaea.

c hyious hemeras, "children of the day." So also the Menaea.

d The Life of St. Polycarp narrates this differently, and from it we draw below.

e Pionius in the same Life of St. Polycarp calls it a myrtle, or myrinen.

ANOTHER LIFE

from the Acts of St. Polycarp, January 26.

Bucolus, Bishop of Smyrna in Asia (Saint)

[1] When Bucolus was Bishop of Smyrna, St. Bucolus as Bishop the boy Polycarp, tracing his origin from the East, was brought to Smyrna. A devout and God-fearing woman, constantly devoted to good works, named Callisto, Polycarp the newcomer at the prompting of an angel, purchased him, brought him home, and rejoiced in raising him honorably and instructing him in heavenly discipline: chapter 1, number 3.

[2] Bucolus loved Polycarp uniquely and had always esteemed him most highly from his earliest age; he loves him uniquely, and he exulted in the hope he had conceived of him, just as parents are accustomed to rejoice in the upright character of their children, because they have found prudent heirs of their possessions. Polycarp himself repaid Bucolus with mutual affection: he revered him as a parent, not with feigned words, nor with love won all at once and suddenly, but gradually and quietly. For he despised those who say — friendship not rashly contracted, He knew the opportune times, so that he would neither cause disgust nor suppose the same things would always please. Neither did Polycarp seek to bestow upon Bucolus a house or any other gift (though he was well able to assist others), but by mutual esteem for virtue: nor would Bucolus accept such. For Bucolus counted as his own gain the young man's readiness toward the needy; and Polycarp in turn was fittingly carrying out the Lord Jesus's command, giving to those unable to repay — while certain others hunt for honor by a kind of artifice and seek in a way to purchase the greater thing with the lesser. Chapter 3, number 10.

[3] Bucolus himself also saw with his own eyes many things rightly done by him. Understanding therefore that he was truly worthy of ecclesiastical orders, but because his age was not yet sufficiently advanced, he first appointed him to the rank of Deacon, with the whole Church giving its approval. He ordains him Deacon: Truly blessed was he who was worthy to lay his hand upon that holy head and with his own mouth to bless such a soul. For the ordination of the duly chosen is proven and legitimate, irreproachable before men, harmless to conscience, and a cause of tranquillity and joy, when it is performed by those who have been placed in the office of divine ministry, through faith in God. Ibid., number 11.

[4] Moreover, Bucolus, frequently admonishing and exhorting him, at length with difficulty persuaded him to teach the Christian faith publicly and to deliver catechetical sermons in the church he imposes catechesis upon him: (for this is the ecclesiastical Catholic canon handed down by Christ, as the foundation of right doctrine) and to expound sufficiently the mysteries that are hidden from many. Ibid., number 12.

[5] Furthermore, as Polycarp advanced in age day by day, so that now the grey hairs, harbingers of old age, were flourishing, now greying, and white hairs had begun to appear at his temples... Bucolus, seeing that Polycarp was now of mature age, and that the ordering of his whole life was more mature than his years warranted, understood that he could be an excellent counselor in matters pertaining to the Church and a partner in teaching. The Lord moreover confirmed and as it were sealed this judgment of his, by divine admonition, commanding the same thing through a vision. And so he ordained him Presbyter, with the whole Church unanimously receiving him with great joy — though he himself vehemently shrank from the office: though long reluctant, for he said that he could scarcely render account for one position and one duty, let alone for several. He then added: If anyone who is unworthy of the honor dares to accept it, he incurs judgment; but if he is worthy, he receives the reward of his former merits, receiving as it were a certain prize of his good deeds — the dignity of the priesthood. When he was not permitted to say more, he yielded to the will of God and the counsel of the devout, and allowed himself to be initiated into the priesthood, He consecrates him Priest: moved also by a divine vision and by many exhortations. Chapter 4, number 17.

[6] When Bucolus had completed a long course of piety, and had frequently been taught from heaven what manner of successor he would have, rejoicing and exulting, he learns by divine revelation that Polycarp will succeed him, and as it were resting content in a wise steward, he departed this life in such a way that, as death drew near, he took Polycarp's hand and first pressed it to his own breast, then to his face — showing that whatever duties and charisms are administered by those faculties and instruments of the senses, by understanding with the heart, and manifests this by signs: seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, breathing in Christ through the nostrils, proclaiming God the Father and his Son Jesus with the mouth — all these were committed to him. When Bucolus had done this, he said, "Glory to you, O Lord," he dies piously: and so fell asleep. Polycarp, however, was not thinking of any of this at the time, for the hope and pursuit of things to come was always his sole concern. But those who were present and witnessed these things conversed privately among themselves about them, full of hope that such a pastor would fall to their lot.

[7] Carrying the body of Blessed Bucolus to the cemetery of the basilica called Ephesiaca, he is buried: a situated near Smyrna, they laid it to rest where now b a myrtle grows, after the translation of the body of St. Thraseas c the Martyr. And when all the rites had been performed, they offered bread for Bucolus and the rest; a healing plant springs up at the tomb: Polycarp celebrates the funeral rites. and the unanimous decision of all was that Polycarp should make the offering. He, however, as he always conducted himself modestly and circumspectly, tried to set aside what pertained to his own honor; but they had anticipated him, so that it could not be otherwise. He therefore yielded to their will and performed the sacrifice. Chapter 5, number 20.

a Halloix explains it thus: The body of Bucolus having been carried into the city of Smyrna (for he had met death in the suburbs) and entombed in the cemetery not far from the Ephesian gate. Whence did he learn that he died outside the city? Certainly in ancient times cemeteries and burial places were for the most part outside the cities.

b On this, see above.

c St. Thraseas, Bishop of Eumenia in Phrygia Pacatiana and Martyr, is venerated on October 5.