ON ST. SALAMANES THE SILENTIARY.
Around the year 400.
PrefaceSalamanes, Silentiary in Syria (Saint)
[1] Among the Palatine dignities there were Silentiaries, both the lesser, who enjoined silence and quiet upon the people, and the greater, who were Senators and presided over the secrets of the Emperor, numbered among the Clarissimi: concerning whom see Johannes Meursius in his Glossary, Silentiaries in the Palace, under the entries Σιλεντιάρης and Σιλεντιάριος; and our colleague Jacobus Gretserus, chapter 5 of book 2 of his Commentaries on chapter 2 of George Codinus. Christ too had His own Silentiaries, all the more illustrious than those inasmuch as it is more magnificent to abstain from all human society and intercourse in order to speak perpetually with the heavenly ones, than to conceal the secrets of mortal kings. The Greeks called these Hesychasts, that is, anchorites of stricter silence and more remote solitude from human society, Others among the monks: Concerning them Justinian writes in Novel 5: "Unless certain of them, living the life of contemplation and perfection, should have a private cell—whom they are accustomed to call anchorites and hesychasts, as those who have been separated from the community for a higher state." That is: unless some of them, who spend their life in contemplation and perfection, should have a private dwelling, whom they are accustomed to call anchorites and silentiaries, as those who, separated from the common life of the brethren, aspire to a more perfect manner of living.
[2] Rosweyde translates Hesychast as "Peaceful" or "Quiet," Their manner of life. Raderus as "solitary": it is better called Silentiary. For thus the great John, whose feast is celebrated on May 13, a Hesychast, is everywhere called a Silentiary; who first in the Laura of St. Sabas, having received a cell, remained in silence, sometimes for three years, sometimes for four, seen by absolutely no one except the one who ministered to him; then in the desert of Ruba he was silent for nine years, removed from all human intercourse: and again in the Laura of St. Sabas he completed forty-seven years, sitting in a cell, in which he was silent until that day when the monk Cyrillus wrote the deeds of his life while he was still living.
[3] Of this class of admirable men was St. Salamanes, also called Salamanus, as is clear from the Greek Menaea, Such was St. Salamanes: his feast day. which on January 23 have this: On the same day, the commemoration of our holy father Salamanes the Hesychast.
You cleave to a lowly and humble life, O Salamanes, sublime in deed and word.
On the same day, the commemoration of our holy Father Salamanes the Silentiary.
You cling to a humble and lowly life, O Salamanes, sublime in deed and word.
Then it appends an epitome of his life, in which he is called Σαλαμάνης, and which is composed from the Philotheus of Theodoret, or book 9 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 19, which we shall give here. The same Menaea record him also on February 17 with a similar eulogy or epitome of his life; and on both days Maximus of Cythera does the same: but Σαλμάνος, Salmanus, is his name on that day in both sources.
[4] Different from this man is Salamines, a monk in Palestine, about whom Sozomen writes, book 6, chapter 32, and Nicephorus, book 11, chapter 39, as Rosweyde also observes: De la Barre considered them the same person.
LIFE FROM THEODORET.
Salamanes, Silentiary in Syria (Saint)
From Theodoret.
[1] Considering that I would do an injustice to virtue if I did not make known to posterity the life of the admirable Salamanes, but instead neglected it, buried in oblivion, I shall briefly bring forward the narrative. There is a certain village to the west of the river Euphrates, overhanging the bank itself, and it is called Capersana. Born there, he embraced the quiet life, and in the village that lies opposite, Salamanes encloses himself in a cell: having found a small dwelling, he shut himself up in it, leaving neither door nor window. Once a year, digging through the earth, he received nourishment for the entire year, never speaking with any person. And he persevered in doing this for no small time, but for a very long period. He speaks to no one:
[2] Moreover, the Bishop of the city to which that village belonged, having learned of the man's virtue, approached wishing to bestow upon him the gift of the priesthood: and having broken through a part of the small dwelling, he entered and laid his hand upon him and completed the prayer; He is ordained to the priesthood and he spoke to him many times and made known the grace for which he had come to him. But when he heard no word in response, he departed, ordering that the opening be built up again.
[3] On another occasion, the inhabitants of the village from which he had originally come, having crossed the river by night and broken through the dwelling, took him away, He is seized by the villagers, and again, neither resisting nor consenting. neither resisting nor commanding, and carried him to their own village: and having built a similar small dwelling on the eastern side, they immediately enclosed him in it. He likewise practiced his quiet, speaking to no one. A few days later, however, the inhabitants of the village opposite, having again attacked by night and broken through the dwelling, led him back to themselves—neither protesting, nor urging them to let him stay, nor again departing with a ready and eager spirit. So completely had he made himself dead to the world, and truly speaking that Apostolic word, he said: I have been crucified with Christ: and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Gal. 2:19-20. And the life I now live in Christ, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Such was this man also. For these things suffice to show the entire manner of his life.
Annotationsb Longus: blesses him.