ON SS. ALEXANDER AND AMMONIUS AND TWENTY OTHER MARTYRS IN CYPRUS.
CommentaryAlexander, Martyr in Cyprus (St.) Ammonius, Martyr in Cyprus (St.) Twenty other Martyrs in Cyprus
By G. H.
[1] Three men named Ammonius, or Amonius, Ammones, or Amones are venerated on this day; the first was a companion of St. Alexander, with whom we deal here. The ancient Roman Martyrology in manuscript, which is called St. Jerome's, These Martyrs at Cyprus, has the following: On the 5th day before the Ides of February, at Cyprus, the birthday of Alexander, Ammonius, and twenty others. In the old Martyrology of Reichenau, or Augia Dives near Constance: At Cyprus, Alexander, Amonius, and twenty others. The manuscript Martyrology of St. Lambert at Liege: The birthday of SS. Alexander and Ammon.
[2] Others add the place of martyrdom. The printed Bede: At Suevus in Cyprus, the birthday of St. Alexander, Ammonius. Galesinius, Rabanus, Notker, the manuscript Bede of the Richenberg monastery, and the manuscript Martyrology of Aachen have the same, at a place called Suevus or Suenus, but the name Ammon is generally given to the companion in these. The manuscript Martyrologies of Laetium, of St. Martin at Tournai, and of Cologne ad Gradus: At Suenus, or Suevus, in Cyprus, the birthday of SS. Alexander, Amonis or Ammonis, and Didymus — which Didymus is joined below to the African Martyrs along with a second Ammon. Usuard, with the order of Martyrs changed, has it thus: At Suevus in Cyprus, SS. Ammon, Alexander. Various other manuscript and printed Martyrologies generally follow, in which this place in Cyprus is written as Suevus, Suenus, Swenus, Snenus, Sienus, or Duenus.
[3] Bellinus, printed at Venice in 1498, diverges from the others: not in Egypt. At Suevus in Egypt, he says, SS. Ammon and Alexander. This reading is corrected in the Paris edition of 1521 as follows: At Suevus in Cyprus, SS. Ammon and Alexander. An earlier edition of Maurolycus gave rise to the error, so that he wrote: At Syene in Egypt, SS. Ammon and Alexander. Syene, or Syena, is indeed a most ancient and famous city of Egypt, but he had recourse to it without solid reason.
[4] In the Roman Martyrology the following is read: At Soli in Cyprus, the holy Martyrs Ammonius and Alexander. On which Baronius observes: Bede, Usuard, at Soli in Cyprus? and all others treat of the same on this day, and the ancient manuscripts agree, although some put Egypt in place of Cyprus, and others have Soli in place of Suevi, and in my judgment this is the more correct reading. Soli is the name of a city in Cyprus, concerning which Strabo writes in book 14, and others. So Baronius. We shall treat of St. Auxibius, Bishop of Soli, on February 19. But we have found no manuscript codex in which these Martyrs are said to have died either in Egypt or at Soli in Cyprus. Furthermore, where this place called Suevus, Suenus, or Duenus was, we have not yet read elsewhere.
[5] In the same Roman Martyrology another Alexander is brought forward in these words: At Rome, the holy Martyrs Alexander and thirty-eight others. And Baronius notes whether the Roman Martyr Alexander is different from this one that they are restored from an ancient manuscript codex of the monastery of St. Cyriacus. Therefore Ferrarius observes in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy that of these holy Martyrs only the memorial survives in the Roman Martyrology, recently inserted by Cardinal Baronius from an ancient codex of the monastery of St. Cyriacus. The words of this Martyrology for February 9 are as follows: On the 5th day before the Ides of February, the birthday of Alexander and thirty-eight others. On the same day, the edification of Blessed Benedict the Abbot, in the codex of St. Cyriacus, and of St. Sena the Virgin. Only this is read in the manuscript of St. Cyriacus. The monastic Martyrologies are silent about the edification of Blessed Benedict the Abbot, and St. Sena the Virgin, as unknown or of uncertain credibility, was omitted by Baronius. Perhaps she is St. Xene, a Roman Virgin also called Eusebia, who died at Mylasa in Caria, whose Life we have given on January 24. But, to the point, only one Alexander is named by the others
as a Martyr in Cyprus with Ammonius and twenty companions. Those who are joined to him in the manuscript of St. Cyriacus as thirty-eight companions confused with a class of other Martyrs? are the same African Martyrs killed with St. Ammon and others at Membresa, joined in that Martyrology by a scribal error, with the place of martyrdom also omitted — which Baronius conjectured to have been Rome.
[6] The manuscript Martyrology of Utrecht adds to the Martyr Alexander an Ammon the Confessor in these words: At Cyprus, Alexander the Martyr, whether St. Ammonius the Martyr is confused with the younger Ammonius, and Ammon the Confessor. Maurolycus, having sent SS. Alexander and Ammon the Martyrs off to Egypt, adds: Likewise at Cyprus, Ammonius the Confessor, a disciple of Origen. In the desert of Scetis, according to Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, book 6, chapter 30, and Nicephorus, book 11, chapter 37, there flourished Origen the Elder, one of the disciples of Anthony the Great, and Didymus and Cronion. Indeed, this Origen is reported to have been a priest and steward of Abbot Pambo in the Historia Lausiaca, chapter 10. Concerning Ammonius, a disciple or fellow student of this Origen, Peter de Natali treats in book 3, chapter 109, under this title: On St. Ammonius, Confessor and Abbot, confused with the Egyptian Abbot? and gives this epitome of his Life: Ammonius the Confessor, a most learned man, disciple of Origen and Didymus. From his youth until death he never ate anything except toasted bread. He was never seen angry, or swearing, or lying, or uttering a vain, harsh, or feeble word. Traveling with Bishop Athanasius to Rome and returning, he reported that he had seen no building or notable work of the city except the churches of the Apostles and the Lateran. Once elected bishop, he cut off his own ear, so that, being maimed and mutilated, he might be judged unworthy of the episcopate. And when they still absolutely insisted on the election despite this, he protested that he would cut out his tongue, and was released. Taking fire from the neighbors' house and having nothing prepared in which to carry it, he carried the coals in the folds of his garment against his body. He rested in peace at Cyprus on the 5th day before the Ides of February, where he was also buried. So that account, drawn from Sozomen and Nicephorus at the cited passages, and from Palladius, chapters 12 and 117, where on account of his severed ear he is surnamed Parotius. But in the Paradise of Heraclides, chapter 2, he is said to have used raw food from his youth until his death, and sometimes bread as well. But none of these authors said that he died in Cyprus on February 9 and was considered a Saint, so that he seems to have been substituted for St. Ammonius the Martyr.