Aristion

ON ST. ARISTION, AN ANCIENT DISCIPLE OF CHRIST, AT SALAMIS IN CYPRUS.

FIRST CENTURY.

Aristion, ancient disciple of Christ, at Salamis in Cyprus (S.)

By J. B.

[1] No mention of St. Aristion is made in the Greek Menaea. Among the Latins, his memory is consecrated on the twenty-second of February. On that day, Usuardus, the published Bede, Ado, St. Aristion on 22 February and others have this: "Likewise of St. Aristion, who was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ." Some call him Ariston; a manuscript copy of Ado in the library of the Queen of Sweden calls him Aristippus. An old manuscript of the monastery of Centula, inscribed with the name of Bede, reads thus: "On the same day, of Aristion, an ancient disciple of Christ." The place where he either principally labored in sowing the Gospel or departed this life is indicated by Equilinus, Book 3, Chapter 142, in these words: he dies in Cyprus? "after completing the office of preaching, he rested in the Lord at Salamis on the island of Cyprus, on the eighth Kalends of March, as Ado says." Ado indicates the day, not the place. He is expressly mentioned in the Roman Martyrology with this formula: "At Salamis in Cyprus, St. Aristion, who (as the same Papias, about whom discussion had just taken place, testifies) was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ." Maurolycus, Galesinius, and other more recent authors have similar entries.

[2] The same is commemorated on the seventeenth of October by the published Bede, Ado, and Notker: "Likewise of Blessed Aristion, venerated also on 17 October who was one of the seventy disciples of Christ." The old Roman Martyrology edited by Rosweydus agrees. The manuscript of Centula, just as on the twenty-second of February, has there: "The birthday of Blessed Aristion, who was one of the ancient disciples of Christ." But Hermannus Greuen writes thus: "Likewise, according to Ado, here is Blessed Aristion, who was one of the seventy-two disciples of Christ. Usuardus places him on

the eighth Kalends of March. Ado himself places him on both days."

[3] The manuscript Florarium on the same seventeenth of October records this about him: "On the same day, the birthday of St. Aristion, who was one of the seventy-two disciples, learned, a man of outstanding talent, great probity, and marvelous sanctity." These agree with what St. Papias is said to have handed down about him below. For otherwise we have found no Acts of St. Aristion. Mention of him is made in the Acts of St. Barnabas, which, however, we showed to be apocryphal on the nineteenth of February in the entry on Auxibius, and we shall declare more fully on the eleventh of June, on which Barnabas himself is venerated. Nevertheless, whatever their quality, they exist in ancient manuscript codices, and record this about Aristion: he labors in Cyprus: "Sailing thence, we came to Cyprus, and there we found Timon and Aristion, servants of the Lord. Timon, however, was burning with great fevers," etc. Concerning Aristion, they add nothing more.

[4] The apocryphal Synopsis of the Seventy-Two Disciples, published under the name of Dorotheus of Tyre in the Library of the Ancient Fathers, does not list Aristion among them; nor does the Alexandrian Chronicle published by our Raderus. Eusebius, Book 3 of the Ecclesiastical History, Chapter 33, expressly calls him and John the Presbyter tous tou Kyriou mathetai, "disciples of the Lord," one of the 72 disciples of Christ, and reports the words of St. Papias, in which he acknowledges that he learned very many things from them, which will be presented when we treat of St. Papias on this very same day. Thus Eusebius is interpreted by Rufinus, Book 3, Chapter 28. Papias himself indeed indicates about himself, as one who received the faith not from the Apostles but from their disciples, through these words: "It will not displease us to set forth for you all things which we once learned from the Presbyters and faithfully remember, together with their interpretations, and to explain how their truth stands. For we did not give ear to those who spoke many things, but to those who handed down true things; nor to those who recalled the precepts of men, but to those who recalled the commandments of the Lord, received from the Truth itself. And if ever anyone came who had followed the Apostles, I would diligently inquire of him what Andrew or Peter had said; what Philip or Thomas; what James, what John, or what Matthew, or any other of the disciples of the Lord had said; and what Aristion or John the Presbyter and the other disciples were saying." And with much intervening: He teaches St. Papias many things. "He also reports a great many other things from the aforementioned Aristion, as things handed down to him from the words of the Lord." St. Jerome has nearly the same in Chapter 18 of the book On Illustrious Ecclesiastical Writers, and cites this from Papias: "I considered what Andrew, what Peter had said, what Philip ... what also Aristion and the elder John, disciples of the Lord, were saying." Nicephorus Callistus has similar material in Book 3, Chapter 20, where he also recites the words of Papias found in Eusebius, especially these: hate Aristion kai ho presbytero Ioannes tou Kyriou mathetai legousin -- "What things Aristion and John the Presbyter, who were themselves also disciples of the Lord, were saying." But these matters are treated more fully below in the entry on Papias.

[6] The Greek Menologion published by Henricus Canisius has this for the third of September: "On the same day, the birthday of St. Aristion, Bishop of Alexandria, who, tested by fire, departed to heaven." Galesinius pursues his martyrdom more fully on the second of September, received from Greek sources, as he says. But in the catalogue of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, whether the ancient one compiled by Nicephorus or the more recent one which Abraham Ecchellensis the Maronite recently published in Latin, no Aristion is found. Several ancient manuscripts on the same third of September record an Ariston as Bishop, but do not assign him to Alexandria; some assign an Aristippus, but one different from Ariston or Aristion, concerning whom we shall treat in their proper place. Whether our Aristion here was a Bishop, as were many of the ancient Disciples who were not carried off by premature martyrdom like Stephen, is not established for us. was he a Bishop? In Papias, Eusebius, Jerome, Rufinus, and Nicephorus Callistus cited above, he is always placed before John the Presbyter, as one who was perhaps situated in a more exalted rank.