ON SAINT MOSES, BISHOP OF THE SARACENS IN ARABIA
End of the Fourth Century
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY
Moses, Bishop of the Saracens in Arabia (Saint)
By the author G. H.
Section I. The origin, territories, and war of the Saracens with the Romans.
[1] Ptolemy, in book 5 of his Geography, "in the Arabian sections," and indeed with Stephanus on cities as witness, in the entry on "Charakmoba," calls him "a man worthy of trust in such matters, for he took pains to describe Arabia accurately" -- a man worthy of trust in such matters, the Saracens are twofold according to Ptolemy who expended diligent effort to describe Arabia accurately. And he was able to succeed in this, being born at Pelusium, a city of Egypt neighboring Petreian Arabia, a part of which, nearest to these Egyptians, he assigns in chapter 17 to the Saracen people, from whom he distinguishes other Saracens in Arabia Felix, in Arabia with the Scenitae and Pharanitae interposed, but afterward counted among the Saracens. So Ammianus Marcellinus, in book 23, repeatedly relates that those whom the ancients had called Scenitae were in his time called Saracens; the intermediate Scenitae and Pharanitae and Saint Jerome in his book on Hebrew Places says that Pharan is a town beyond Arabia, adjoining the Saracens, who were wandering in the wilderness -- so that some would even derive the name Scenitae from their tents (tabernaculis). Saint Jerome adds that Ishmael dwelt in the desert of Pharan, and that those who were then Saracens were Ishmaelites. or Ishmaelites Concerning all these, Stephanus of Byzantium is to be understood: "Saraca, a region of Arabia beyond the Nabataeans; the inhabitants are Saracens." Strabo, in book 16 of his Geography, says the Nabataeans were Idumaeans, but having been expelled thence through sedition, they attached themselves to the Jews and embraced their laws. Now there is a town of the Idumaeans, a people of Palestine, called Elusa, neighboring the Saracen people, which Saint Jerome reports in the Life of Saint Hilarion (October 21) to be in great part semi-barbarous on account of the nature of the place; and when Saint Hilarion was passing through there, the entire populace of the town had been assembled in the temple of Venus. with the neighboring Elusans That goddess was worshipped on account of Lucifer (the Morning Star), to whose cult the Saracen nation was devoted; Jerome tacitly ascribes the Elusans to this as well, as they were formerly reckoned to Arabia.
[2] From these barbarians, Saints Sabbas, Isaiah, and thirty-six other monks on Mount Sinai were said to have been killed in the time of Diocletian, as we stated on January 14. hostile to Christians When, however, in the following century their annual feast was being celebrated there, other monks were likewise slaughtered: Theodulus the Presbyter, Paul, John, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Elias, and others, whose struggle, described by the monk Saint Nilus, an eyewitness, we presented on the same January 14. According to this author, the said people in that century inhabited the wilderness stretching from Arabia to Egypt, bounded by the Red Sea and the river Jordan. they worship the star Lucifer They paid ceremonial homage to the star Lucifer, bowed down in worship before it, and sacrificed to it the choicest things from their booty.
[3] These things concerning the Saracens; on account of which we are less inclined to approve what Sozomenus relates about them in connection with the episcopate of Saint Moses (book 6, History of the Church, chapter 38), in these words: Whether correctly said by Sozomenus to be descended from Ishmael "This nation drew its origin from Ishmael, the son of Abraham, and received its name from him; and therefore the ancients called them Ishmaelites after their progenitor. But in order to utterly obliterate the stain of their illegitimate birth and the ignoble status of Hagar, the mother of Ishmael (for she was a slave), they called themselves Saracens, as though descended from Sarah, the wife of Abraham. Those who trace their lineage from him are all circumcised in the manner of the Hebrews, said to Judaize and abstain from pork, and observe many other rites of the Jews. The fact that they do not follow entirely the same laws and institutions of life is to be attributed either to the great length of time that has passed, or to the fact that they were intermingled with neighboring peoples. For Moses, born many centuries later, gave laws only to those who had come out of Egypt; and their neighbors, who, as is credible, were exceedingly superstitious, entirely corrupted the ancestral way of life derived from Ishmael (according to whose sole precepts the ancient Hebrews had regulated their lives before the laws established by Moses, and had used unwritten institutions). and at the same time to worship demons Furthermore, worshipping the same demons as their neighbors and giving them the same honors and names, they transferred the reason for their departure from their paternal and ancestral laws to the similarity of religion which they had with their neighbors. Add to this the great length of intervening time, which, as is customary, buried some things in oblivion and caused others to be worshipped. Later, however, some of them, having met with Jews, learned whence they had drawn their origin, and so returned to that knowledge and devoted themselves to the institutions and laws of the Hebrews. From which time indeed, quite a number among them have followed the Jewish way of life up to now." So far Sozomenus, whom Nicephorus follows (book 11, Church History, chapter 47). But these things are rather to be referred to certain Ishmaelites and Nabataeans, separated from the Idumaeans and Judaizing, as was said above, than to the autochthonous, indigenous Saracens of Arabia, or rather autochthonous peoples of Arabia? about whom Saint Nilus relates (who lived at the same time Sozomenus wrote -- a Salaminian Scholastic in Cyprus, formerly a disciple of Saint Chrysostom -- who lived among these Saracens) that they had no religion, no care or thought for any god, whether handmade or conceived in the mind, beyond the ceremonies and sacrifices offered to the star Lucifer, or Venus, which Metaphrastes also testifies to have been the patron goddess of the Ishmaelites, in the Life of Saint Simeon Stylites (January 5, number 20).
[4] Concerning the Christian faith received by the Saracens, the same Sozomenus writes: "Not long before the present reign of Valens" -- some were instructed in the faith by monks before the year 364 who was adopted as a colleague by his brother Valentinian in the year 364 -- "the Saracens began to embrace Christianity, having been made partakers of the Christian faith through the company of their priests and monks, who lived among them and practiced the monastic discipline in the neighboring wildernesses -- men ennobled both by pious life and by miracles. It is also said that at that time an entire family or tribe was converted to the Christian religion, its leader or chief Zocomus having been baptized and Zocomus, having obtained offspring, was baptized for the following reason. He, being destitute of children, came to a monk, prompted by his great fame, to converse with him and to complain of his misfortune. For among the Saracens (as I judge among all barbarians), the begetting of children is customarily held in the highest esteem. The monk bade him be of good courage, and having offered prayers, dismissed him, promising that if he believed in Christ, he would have a son. When God had fulfilled this promise and a son had been born to him, Zocomus was initiated into the mystery of baptism and led his subjects to the same. From that time this family is said to have been both prosperous and numerous, so as to inspire terror in both the Persians and the other Saracens." So far Sozomenus, and the same is found in Nicephorus.
[5] But the matters that more closely touch upon Saint Moses and the Saracen Queen Mauvia, by whom he was sought for the episcopate, Mauvia the Queen: was she Roman and Christian? are brought forward by Anastasius Bibliothecarius from Theophanes in his Ecclesiastical History, at the year of the world 5868, the year of Christ 368: "They say moreover," he writes, "that Mauvia the Queen herself was also a Christian, Roman by nation, and having been led away captive, she pleased the King of the Saracens on account of her beauty, and thus obtained the kingdom." Meanwhile, among the Alexandrians, when Saint Athanasius died in the consulship of Gratianus II and Probus, in the year 371, Peter was appointed as his successor; but when the Emperor Valens ordered the Arian Lucius to be ordained there, Peter was bound by the Prefect Palladius; around the year 372 but escaping by flight, he went to Rome. At this time a terrible persecution was stirred up against the Catholics and monks, about which we shall treat on May 13, on which day in the Roman Martyrology a commemoration is made of the very many holy Martyrs who were then killed at Alexandria by the Arians for the Catholic faith. "While Lucius," says Rufinus (book 11, Church History, chapter 6), she wages war on the Romans "was conducting all things with arrogance and cruelty, Mauvia, Queen of the Saracen nation, began to batter the towns and cities of the Palestinian and Arabian frontier with a violent war, and to lay waste the neighboring provinces at the same time."
[6] Then, says Socrates (book 4, Church History, chapter 30), "the Saracens, who had previously been allied, revolted from the Romans, with the woman Mauvia ruling over them she devastates the neighboring provinces after the death of her husband. And so all the Roman provinces toward the East were being devastated by the Saracens at that time." Sozomenus, cited above, describes this at greater length: "When the King of the Saracens had died, the treaties with the Romans were broken. Mauvia, his wife, administering the government of that nation, laid waste the cities of the Phoenicians and Palestinians as far as the Egyptians who inhabit that part called Arabion, on the left bank when one navigates the Nile upstream. Nor was the war a light one, such as might be thought to be waged by a woman; but it was fought fiercely, as they say, and with an unconquerable spirit by her against the Romans, to the extent that the Prefect of soldiers in Phoenicia sought aid from the Commander of all cavalry and infantry forces in the East. The Commander, laughing that he was being called to such a war, caused the other to abstain from battle. she routs the Roman army But seeing the Romans, having drawn up their line against Mauvia fighting from the opposite side, turn their backs and barely escape safely with the aid of the Prefect of soldiers in Palestine and Phoenicia, he considered it foolish to remain outside the battle as he had wished. And so, coming to their aid, he resisted the barbarians and supplied the other with an opportunity for safer flight. But he himself, withdrawing, hurled javelins while fleeing and drove back the attacking enemy from the armies. And these things are still commemorated by many of the inhabitants of that place, and are recited in songs among the Saracens." So far Sozomenus, and nearly the same is related by Nicephorus (book 11, chapter 46). Theodoret (book 4, Church History, chapter 21) calls these Saracens Ishmaelites: "The Ishmaelites," he says, "ravaged the territories bordering the Roman Empire, whose leader was Mauvia, who, not embracing in her mind the nature she possessed, assumed a masculine spirit."
Section II. Saint Moses is sought and ordained Bishop of the Saracens.
[7] "In this war," says Socrates, "the providence of God checked the assault of the Saracens. The reason was as follows. A certain Moses, a Saracen by race, who was leading a monastic way of life in the wilderness, [Saint Moses, the Bishop of the Saracens, is sought by Mauvia when she is about to make peace] had been celebrated by fame and universal report on account of his extraordinary piety, steadfast faith, and the miracles wrought by him. Mauvia, Queen of the Saracens, demanded that he be designated Bishop of her nation by the Romans, and on that condition she promised to extinguish the war and make treaties with them. When they heard this, the Roman Generals thought matters were going well for them if peace were established on that condition; therefore, casting aside all hesitation, they gave orders for it to be accomplished." So much there; Rufinus narrates the same thus: "When Mauvia had worn down the Roman army with frequent wars and had put the rest to flight after killing very many, she sought peace and promised she would embrace it on no other condition than that a certain monk named Moses be ordained Bishop of her nation -- one who, leading a solitary life in the desert near her territories, famous for miracles had become magnificently known through his merits, virtues, and the signs that God was working through him. Her petition was made known to the Roman Prince, and it was ordered to be fulfilled without any delay."
[8] Sozomenus has nearly the same: "When the war was growing worse," he says, "it seemed necessary to send envoys to Mauvia concerning peace. She is said to have responded to the envoys that she would by no means conclude treaties with the Romans unless Moses, who was leading a monastic life in the neighboring wilderness -- a man distinguished both for his pious manner of living and for the divine signs and miracles wrought by him -- were created Bishop of her nation." So much there. Theodoret writes somewhat differently: namely, that Mauvia, after many battles had been fought, first made a treaty with the Romans, he dwelt on the borders of Egypt and Palestine and then, having received the light of divine knowledge, requested that a certain Moses, who dwelt on the borders of Egypt and Palestine, be designated as Bishop for her nation. Nicephorus, however, asserts that Mauvia first proudly rejected the conditions of peace with the Romans, but that, having been initiated into the doctrine of our sacred faith, she finally accepted peace, on condition that Moses, who was then living a philosophical life in the neighboring wilderness, be consecrated Bishop of her people -- a man distinguished for his virtue, the severity of his more holy life, and for many signs and wonders. Among the borders, or as Theodoret calls them, "the frontier regions," of Palestine and Egypt, Saint Jerome (on Isaiah 27) places the town of Rhinocorura, which he notes was translated as "the Torrent of Egypt," which it adjoins, by the Seventy Interpreters. At the beginning of the fifth century, Saint Melas the Bishop presided over this city, then inhabited by monks about whom we treated on January 16. Not far from this Rhinocorura is the cell of Saint Hilarion, who came thence to Pelusium, and having visited the brethren who were in the neighboring desert and were dwelling in the place called Lychnos, proceeded to the fortress of the Thebaid, etc., as Saint Jerome relates in his Life. Saint Hilarion died around the time when Saint Moses was sought by Mauvia as Bishop of the Saracens. We have said something about the monks of those regions in the Life of Saint Isidore of Pelusium, February 4, section 1.
[9] Finally, that the Saracens at that time were not so averse to the Christian religion is indicated by Theophanes in Anastasius with these words: "Mauvia, Queen of the Saracens, doing many evils to Christians, sought peace and requested that a certain Moses, one of the religious men dwelling in the desert, be given as Bishop to the Saracens who were becoming Christians among them. But when the Emperor Valens was eagerly doing this, Moses refused to be consecrated by the Arian Lucian, by the command of the Emperor Valens but instead by one of the Bishops who had been in exile, which was in fact done." The one who is called Lucian by Anastasius is called Lucius by others -- the one who, after the expulsion of the Catholic Peter, was intruded into the See of Alexandria. Others recount the matter at greater length, and Rufinus indeed in these words: "Moses, captured by our Generals who had been fighting there unsuccessfully, he is captured and brought to Alexandria was brought to Alexandria to receive the priesthood in the customary manner. Lucius was present, to whom the office of ordaining was deferred. When Moses saw him, he said in the presence of the Generals, who were pressing the matter, and the people: 'I indeed judge myself unworthy of so great a priesthood. However, if any divine dispensation is thought to be fulfilled in me, unworthy though I am, I call to witness our God of heaven and earth that Lucius shall not lay upon me his hands, polluted and stained with the blood of the Saints.' he refuses to be ordained by the Arian Lucian When Lucius saw himself branded with so severe a mark in the eyes of many, he said: 'Why, O Moses, do you so easily condemn one whose faith you do not know? Or if someone has told you otherwise about me, hear my faith, and believe yourself rather than others.' Then he said: 'Cease, O Lucius, to assail me also with your deceitful pretenses. Your faith is well known to me, a persecutor to which the servants of God condemned to the mines bear witness, the Bishops driven into exile, the Presbyters and Deacons banished beyond the borders of Christian habitation -- some delivered to wild beasts, others even to the flames. Can that faith be truer which is received by the ears than that which is perceived by the eyes? With me it is certain: those who rightly believe in Christ do not do such things.' And so, covered with greater disgrace -- since the necessity of providing for the commonwealth was pressing -- he was compelled to acquiesce, so that Moses might receive the priesthood from the Bishops whom he had driven into exile."
[10] Socrates, Sozomenus, and Nicephorus have nearly the same. Theodoret disagrees slightly, writing thus: "Valens, having assented to Mauvia's demand, ordered that divine man Moses to be brought to Alexandria and there to be endowed with episcopal grace, on account of the proximity of that place. When he had been brought there and saw that Lucius wished to lay his hand upon him, he said: 'Far be it that your hand should consecrate me. For by your invocation, the grace of the Holy Spirit descends upon no one.' To whom Lucius said: 'Whence do you make this conjecture, when you say this?' He replied: 'I do not speak following conjecture, steadfast but I know with certainty. For you fight against Apostolic doctrine and teach the contrary, and you join impious deeds to words of blasphemy. For what impious person has not, because of you, insolently attacked ecclesiastical assemblies? What praiseworthy man has not been exiled through you? What barbarous cruelty have not the outrages committed by you day after day far surpassed?' with danger to his life When he had said these things with a very confident spirit, Lucius, having listened attentively to his words, greatly desired to kill him, but was afraid lest he kindle the war anew. he is released by Lucius Wherefore he ordered him to be led to the other Bishops whom he himself had requested." So far Theodoret concerning the encounter of Saint Moses with Lucius, whose impious deeds he had narrated in the preceding chapter from the letter of Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, and here he concludes with this exclamation: "And so we have learned that such crimes were committed at Alexandria by Lucius and were wonderfully checked by divine providence." Socrates adds that at the same time, as soon as the Emperor Valens had departed from Antioch, all who were everywhere tossed by the tempest of persecution, and especially at Alexandria, were greatly encouraged, because Peter had returned from Rome with letters from Damasus, Bishop of Rome. then, when Lucius had been expelled from Alexandria These things both confirmed the faith of Moses and the ordination of Peter. The people, therefore, placing their confidence in them, expelled Lucius and installed Peter in his place.
[11] Sozomenus encompasses the same in few words. Concerning the conferral of the episcopate upon Moses, he says: "When Moses had confirmed by oath he is ordained Bishop by the exiled Bishops that he would never wish to be made Bishop by Lucius, the Roman Generals, having rejected Lucius, led him directly to the Bishops who were already spending their time in exile. By whom Moses, having been created Bishop, betook himself to the Saracens; and when treaties had been made between them and the Romans, he discharged the episcopate there. And finding very few there who professed the Christian religion, he himself led many to profess it." So much there. But according to Socrates, his associates, or intimates, having received permission from the Generals, led him to a certain mountain, so that he might be created Bishop by those who were in exile there. And so, with Moses designated Bishop in this manner, the war of the Saracens was extinguished. Mauvia, moreover, so faithfully kept the peace with the Romans thereafter that she betrothed her daughter to the General Victor. The orthodox faith of this Victor is praised by Theodoret (book 4, chapter 29) and Nicephorus (book 11, chapter 49). Indeed, according to Anastasius, Mauvia, having received the Bishop, made many Christians from the Saracens. he converts the Saracens Their conversion is attributed to the miracles of Saint Moses by Theodoret in these words: "Finally, Moses, when he had received episcopal grace together with admirable faith, set out to those who had sought him, famous for miracles and partly by Apostolic teaching, partly by miracles, led them to the truth." How long he lived is not clear, nor is the city assigned to his episcopal see. Among his successors, Eustathius, Bishop of the Saracens, subscribed to the Synodal letter of the Bishops of Second Phoenicia, in favor of the Council of Chalcedon, addressed to the Emperor Leo, who was created in the year 457. But Socrates (book 5, chapter 1), Sozomenus (book 7, chapter 1), and Nicephorus (book 11, chapter 1) relate that Queen Mauvia, after the death of Valens, brought Saracenic forces to the aid of Constantinople when it was besieged by the barbarians.
Section III. The Memory of Saint Moses in the Sacred Calendars.
[12] Celebrated soon after his death The celebrated name of Saint Moses the Bishop and the fame of the conversion of the Saracens are indicated by the ancient writers, both Greek and Latin, whom we have thus far cited -- Socrates, Theodoret, Sozomenus, Rufinus -- all of them closest in time to the era of Saint Moses, so that they either grew up under his episcopate or at least seem to have been born during it. Indeed, the great consensus of these writers shows that there existed another history of the said wars, of the conversion of the Saracens, and of Saint Moses, from which each of them excerpted what he wrote.
[13] The feast of Saint Moses is celebrated in very many Martyrologies on February 7. In the ancient manuscripts of Liege (Saint Lambert) and Cologne (Saint Mary at the Steps): recorded in ancient Martyrologies "Of Saint Moses, the venerable Bishop." The manuscript of Centula (Saint Riquier) adds: "who converted the Saracen nation in great part." In the ancient Roman Martyrology edited by Rosweydus: "Of Saint Moses, who at the request of Mauvia, Queen of the Saracens, was made Bishop of that nation." Usuard: "Likewise, of Saint Moses, Bishop. He first led a solitary life in the desert and had become known for signs and virtues; afterward, he converted the Saracen nation, of which he had been made Bishop, in great part to the faith of Christ, and so, glorious in his merits, he rested in peace." Bede, in the printed version, at somewhat greater length: "And of Saint Moses, the venerable Bishop, who at first indeed, leading a solitary life in the desert, became magnificently known through his merits, virtues, and the signs that God worked through him; who afterward, at the request of Mauvia, Queen of the Saracens, was made Bishop of that nation, guarded the inviolate fellowship of the Catholic faith, and converted the nation over which he had been given as Bishop in great part to the faith of Christ, and so rested in peace." Ado and Notker have nearly the same. But in this copy the words "In Britain" are wrongly prefixed, which pertain to Saint Augulus, having been omitted by the carelessness of copyists. The remaining manuscripts agree with these, or with Usuard. The Roman Martyrology assigns him to Egypt in these words: "In Egypt, of Saint Moses, the venerable Bishop, who first led a solitary life in the desert; then, at the request of Mauvia, Queen of the Saracens, having been made Bishop, he converted that most fierce nation in great part to the faith, and glorious in his merits, rested in peace."
[14] There is another Saint Moses, the Ethiopian, converted from robbery, whom the Roman Martyrology celebrates with the Greeks on August 28. Peter de Natalibus (book 3, Catalogue of Saints, chapter 104) writes that he rested in peace in the desert of Scetis on the seventh day before the Ides of February, confused with Saint Moses the Ethiopian having left eighty disciples behind, and he compiles many things related about him in the Lives of the Fathers, supposing him to have been the same as the Bishop of the Saracens. Those two persons named Moses were confused by the same error by Francis Maurolycus and Peter Canisius in the German Martyrology, in these words: "Likewise of Moses the Ethiopian, Bishop, who, as a disciple of Abbot Isidore, became known in the desert for signs and virtues. Then, having converted the Saracens over whom he presided to the faith, he rested in peace." Galesinius, omitting the word "Ethiopian" and the statement that he was called a disciple of Abbot Isidore (which pertains to the same Ethiopian), establishes our Moses as Bishop of the Egyptians instead of the Saracens, in these words: "Likewise of Saint Moses, Bishop, who was first a monk distinguished for the praise of his virtues and the holiness of his life, and then, having been made Bishop of the Egyptians, converted them in great part to the faith of Christ, and so, crowned with the glory of his merits, went to heaven."
[15] Alegre (state 2 of the Paradise of Carmelite Beauty, age 5, chapter 89) assigns him to the Carmelites, but also confuses him with the Ethiopian: ascribed to the Carmelites "Moses," he says, "an Ethiopian by nation, Bishop of the Saracens, afterward captured by the Egyptians and made a slave, was cast out by his master on account of his crimes, and became a murderer and robber," etc.; and finally he adds: "Whether this was the same Moses of whom Cassian speaks in his Conferences, together with which two homilies of his have been published -- one on the festivity of the monk, the other on discretion, under the name of Moses the hermit or Abbot -- we are entirely doubtful." So much there. We shall shortly treat of that Moses, an Abbot in the solitude of Scetis. John Baptist de Laezana recounts the same in the Carmelite Annals at the year 372, number 7, where he observes that several Abbots of this name are mentioned: Moses dwelling on the summit of a mountain, Moses of Scetis, Moses the Abbot who lived at Petra, Moses the monk converted from robbery, Moses the Libyan, Moses of Antioch, and Moses the disciple of Polychronius (whom our Rosweydus catalogues in that order in the Index to the Lives of the Fathers), and finally he leaves it uncertain whether he coincides with any of these. We consider him entirely distinct.