ON THE HOLY MARTYRS AT CONSTANTINOPLE, MONKS OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. DIUS
Around the year of Christ 485.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
The monks of the monastery of St. Dius at Constantinople, Martyrs (SS.)
By the author I. B.
Section I. The monastery of St. Dius at Constantinople; its three Archimandrites.
[1] There was a certain Dius, under the rule of Theodosius the Great, renowned at Antioch in Syria for the practice of virtue. He later, prompted by a heavenly admonition, traveled to Constantinople and founded a monastery which, formed according to the discipline of the Acoemetae instituted at the same period by St. Alexander, was famous for many centuries for its repute of piety and holiness. Dius himself, the founder and father of the monastery, having been ordained a Priest by St. Atticus and having performed very many miracles—on account of which he was called the Thaumaturgus—at last departed this life on the 19th of July, on which day he is venerated by the Greeks, as is evident from the Menaea and Menologion, and as Baronius himself attests in volume 6 under the year 484, number 34, and in volume 7 under the year 536, number 64, and in his Notes to 8 February, letter e, and elsewhere.
[2] The most learned Cardinal believes that the monastery was called Diiticum after his name. For the Council of Constantinople under Mennas in the year 536, after the death of Pope St. Agapetus, is said to have been celebrated "in the inner courtyard on the western side of the venerable house of our Lady, the holy and glorious Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, which is near the most holy great church"—as is stated at the beginning of each of the Sessions. This is everywhere rendered in the Latin edition of the Councils as "in Mesaulio dytico." But Baronius holds (in volume 7 under the year 536, number 64) that copyists, not understanding this word, corrupted it, so that for "Diiticum" they wrote "Dyticum," and others "Dipsychum." "But the genuine reading," he says, "is that which gives 'Diiticum'; for there was at Constantinople a very celebrated monastery called that of Dius, from which 'Diiticum' is derived, of which at this time the head was Agapetus, who in the order of Archimandrites is found subscribed in the first place in the petitions submitted to the synod." So far Baronius.
[3] But I am not familiar with that form of derivation by which from Dios one would form Diitikos; nor is Agapetus called "Archimandrite of the Diitica monastery" or "of the Diiticum monastery," but he himself subscribes thus: "Agapetus, by the mercy of God Priest and Archimandrite of Dius, having made supplication, have subscribed." Or alternatively: "Archimandrite of the monastery of Dius." And if that venerable house of the Mother of God were the very monastery of Dius, it would be strange that the monks are never designated by it, since they are always called monks of Dius or Acoemetae, nor do the Archimandrites claim that title for themselves.
[4] For Constans, who was Archimandrite before Agapetus, and Alexander before him, are the first to subscribe to the petition of the monks to the synod in the time of Blessed Pope Hormisdas, which petition was recited in that later synod under Mennas: "Alexander, by the mercy of God Priest and Archimandrite of the monastery of Dius of holy memory, and primate of the venerable monasteries, have subscribed with my own hand." Then after him, Constans subscribes in the Latin edition of the Council thus: "Constans, Priest and Archimandrite of the monastery of St. Dius, have subscribed." In Greek: "Constans, Priest and Archimandrite of the monastery of Dius of holy memory, having prefixed with my own hand the venerable Cross and subscribed my name; but to the petitions, through the hand of Stratonicus, my Deuteriarius." A Deuteriarius (or, as it is written here, Deutereiarius—one might say "Second-in-command," from deuteros, "second") is the prefect of a monastery under the Hegumenos or Archimandrite, as Joannes Meursius has it in his Glossary.
Section II. Cyrillus, Archimandrite of St. Dius, labors for the orthodox faith. Many of his monks become Martyrs.
[5] More ancient than those three Archimandrites of the monastery of St. Dius whom we have already mentioned was Cyrillus, under the Emperor Zeno, whose remarkable zeal for defending the Catholic faith and reverence toward the holy Roman See shone forth. For when Acacius, who held the See of Constantinople from the year 471 to 488, was in communion with Peter Mongus the Eutychian, who had invaded the See of Alexandria, and after being repeatedly admonished by Pope St. Simplicius and his successor St. Felix III, the crafty man had variously deceived them and even the Emperor Zeno himself (upon whose favor, however, he chiefly relied), three legates were sent to Constantinople by Felix: the Bishops Misenus and Vitalis, and Felix the Defensor. "But before they arrived at the capital," says Evagrius (Ecclesiastical History, book 3, chapter 19), "Cyrillus, the Hegumenos of those called the Acoemetae, sent to Felix, in a certain way reproaching his slowness while such things were being done against the true faith." Felix wrote to Misenus and his companions that they should do nothing before they had spoken with Cyrillus and learned from him what should be done.
[6] What followed—how the legates were detained at Heraclea, then cast into prison at Abydos, and afterward corrupted by money—we shall recount more fully in the Life of St. Felix on 25 February. Cedrenus briefly summarizes these events: "In the twelfth year, Felix, having held a Council in the church of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, sent two Bishops and an Executor (Ekdikon) to Constantinople, commanding Zeno and Acacius by letter to expel Peter Mongus from Alexandria as a heretic. In the thirteenth year, by the order of Zeno and Acacius, the Roman legates were seized at Abydos, their letters were taken from them, and they themselves were placed in custody. Zeno threatened them with death unless they entered into communion with Acacius and Mongus... By means of money, Zeno also brought the legates sent from Rome to the point where, contrary to what had been commanded them, they communicated with Acacius. When Felix learned of this, he stripped them of their dignity and also excommunicated Acacius by a letter sent to him. Acacius, unmoved by any of this, struck Felix's own name from the Diptychs." So much from Cedrenus.
[7] What had transpired became known to Felix through the monk Symeon, an Acoemetae sent by Cyrillus, who also reported that Misenus and his companions had been unwilling to speak with any of the orthodox, or to deliver the letters, or to examine what had been done against the true faith. All of which was confirmed by the Priest Silvanus, who had been with Misenus and Vitalis. So Evagrius relates in book 3, chapter 21.
[8] The sentence of condemnation of Acacius was afterward sent to Constantinople through the Defensor Tutus, whom Baronius (under the year 484, number 16) thinks was more properly called Titus. The Deacon Liberatus, in his Breviary on the Nestorian and Eutychian affair, calls him Totus, writing thus in chapter 18: "When Acacius was fully exposed as a heretic, Pope Felix wrote thus in his synodal letters to Acacius: 'You have sinned; do not persist, and make supplication for your former offenses.' Acacius, having received these letters, persisted, neither withdrawing from communion with Peter nor persuading him openly to accept the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome of Pope Leo. Pope Felix, learning of this, sent the sentence of condemnation to Acacius through the Defensor Totus, which begins: 'You are found guilty of many transgressions.' And when such letters were delivered to Acacius, he did not accept them, relying on the patronage of the Emperor; so that those who had brought them were compelled, through a certain Acoemetae monk, to attach the very document of condemnation to his pallium as he was entering to celebrate the sacred rites, and then to withdraw. Yet he continued to officiate until his death, under the Emperor's protection."
[9] Zacharias the Rhetor, as cited by Evagrius in book 3, chapter 18, writes thus: "The sentence of excommunication, or deposition, was delivered by certain men who were leading the solitary life in the monastery called that of the Acoemetae." And he adds (either ignorant of what had transpired, as Evagrius says, or certainly being Eutychian in sympathy, as Baronius has noted) that since the sentence had not been passed according to the Canons, it was not accepted by Acacius.
[10] That these Acoemetae monks, over whom Cyrillus presided as Hegumenos, were from the monastery of St. Dius is evident from Basilius the Cilician, whom Photius records as having lived at that time. Nicephorus Callistus cites him thus in book 16, chapter 17: "As Basilius the Cilician has recorded, Felix also sent to Acacius the sentence of condemnation by which his dignity would be abrogated, and it was delivered to him in the inner sanctuary by the monks of the monastery of Dius. For this reason, his followers killed many of the monks whom we have mentioned, wounded and expelled others, and imprisoned some." Acacius so despised his deposition that, wholly bereft of sense and judgment, he was himself the first to strike the Pope's name from the sacred Diptychs. And he, thus bound in mind and body, shortly afterward entered upon the way common to all.
[11] Anastasius Bibliothecarius, drawing from Theophanes, narrates the same thus: "Felix, having learned what had been done by his Apocrisiarii, deposed them and wrote the deposition to Acacius. The man who bore this document, eluding those who were at Abydos, arrived at the monastery of Dius. The monks of Dius, on the Lord's day, in the sanctuary handed the letter to Acacius. But those who were of Acacius's party killed some of the monks who had delivered the letter, and after punishing others, cast them into prison. Acacius, however, acted senselessly regarding his deposition and removed the name of Felix from the diptychs." Zonaras rightly says of Anastasius that Acacius was kakiston tois orthodoxois genomenon — "the worst thing to befall the orthodox" — whose very name, signifying one free of malice, belied his character.
[12] The memory of those holy Martyrs has been consecrated to posterity by Cardinal Baronius, inscribed on the authority of the Supreme Pontiff in the Ecclesiastical tables under 8 February with these words: "At Constantinople, the birthday of the holy Martyrs, monks of the monastery of Dius, who, in defense of the Catholic faith, while bearing the letters of St. Felix the Pope against Acacius, were most cruelly slain." At the beginning, it might have been placed "the birthday of many Martyrs," as was stated on the authority of Basilius the Cilician. In what year they were killed, we shall investigate in the Life of St. Felix III, on 25 February. Their slaughter occurred on the Lord's day, as Anastasius relates; in what month, it is not specified.