ON ST. DIUS, ARCHIMANDRITE AND WONDERWORKER,
AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
ABOUT THE YEAR 430.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
The cult, deeds, monastery founded by him, his age.
Dius, Archimandrite and Wonderworker, at Constantinople (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
As rare is the knowledge of this Saint among the Latins, so frequent occurs among the Greek hagiologists his memory, expressed in their chief fasti. The Typicon printed under the name of St. Sabas, the Synaxarium ascribed to Basil Porphyrogenitus, the Calendar edited by Genebrard, [St. Dius most well known among the Greeks, noted by Molanus, Ferrarius, and Castellanus,] the Menologion translated by Sirletus; the Slavo-Russian and the Synaxarium of the Ruthenians sent by our Georgius David, the Horologion of Grottaferrata printed, the Horologion of smaller form, likewise printed, the Milanese manuscript excerpts of the Ambrosian library, report the name of St. Dius; and the great printed Menaea indeed with the title of Wonderworker, Maximus bishop of Cythera following, as is his wont. The Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, translated by Grazia Simonio the Maronite, writes "Deus" for "Dius." Our manuscript Supplement to the printed Greek Menaea, the Sirmond-Chifflet one, many times elsewhere mentioned, thus chants to the Saint:
Εὖ τελευτῆς καί σοι παμμάκαρ Δίε, Ἔνδοξε πρᾶξιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ κλῆσιν πλέον.
A thrice-blessed end has befallen you, Dius, / Illustrious by your surname, but more by your deeds.
Ferrarius, after Molanus, in his second edition, following the Greeks, on this same 19th day, on which they place him, thus mentions him in the General Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology: At Antioch, of St. Dius the monk. But most recently Castellanus, giving him a place among those added to his universal Martyrology, has thus, rendered from the French: St. Dius, surnamed the Wonderworker, by country an Antiochene, founder of a monastery under the rule of the Acoemetae.
[2] The praised Ambrosian excerpts follow the Saint with this notable eulogy: he is honored with a notable eulogy in our Ambrosian copies, Οὗτος ἦν κατὰ τοὺς καιροὺς Θεοδοσίου τοῦ μεγάλου ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῆς Συρίας, πολλὴν ἐπιδειξάμενος ἄσκησιν· καὶ εἰς μεγίστην ἐπίδοσιν ἀρετῆς ἐλθὼν, παρεγένετο ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει δι᾽ ἀποκαλύψεως, καὶ καταλαβὼν τὸν τόπον, ἔντα νῦν τὸ εὔαγες ἵδρυται μοναστήριον, ἐξεκάθαιρέ τε αὐτὸν, καὶ εἰς μοναστήριον μετεποίησε. Τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ῥάβδον ξηρὰν οὖσαν ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου πηξάμενος, ἥτις τῇ ἐπικλήσει τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ῥιζωθεῖσα, εἰς δένδρον ἐγένετο, καὶ νῦν πέρ ἐστι παρεχομένη τοὺς παρποὺς τελεσφόρους. Προσῆλθε δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Θεοδόσιος, καὶ θαυμάσας αὐτὸν ἰκανὰ παρέσχετο χρήματα, ἐξ ὧν ἡ σύστασις τοῦ μοναστηρίου ἐγένετο. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ μακαριώτατος πατριάρχης Ἄττικος βιασάμενος αὐτὸν πρεσβύτερον κεχειροτόνηκε. Πολλὰ δὲ θαύματα τῇ δυνάμει καὶ ἐπικλήσει Χριστοῦ ἐνεργήσας, καὶ ἐκ τῶν λαγόνων τῆς γῆς κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Μωϋσῆν ὕδωρ ἐξαγαγὼν, καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ δι᾽ ἀπιστίαν πνιγέντα ἀναστήσας. Ἐπὶ τελευτᾷν ἔμελλεν, ἤδη ἄπνους καὶ ἀκίνητος καθορώμενος, καὶ τῶν παρόντων δάκρυσι ἐπιταφίοις δεξιουμένων, καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ταφὴν ἐνεργούντων, παρῆν δὲ καὶ ὁ ἁγιώτατος πατριάρχης Ἄττικος, καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀντιοχείας, ἀνανύψας [*] ὡς ἐξ ὕπνου ὁ Ὅσιος εἶπε προστεθῆναι παρὰ Θεοῦ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ζωῇ ἔτη δεκαπέντε. Ἐπιβιώσας οὖν τὸν εἰρημένον τῶν χρόνων ἀριθμὸν, πρὸς Κύριον ἐξεδήμσε. Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτοῦ σύναξις ἐν τῇ εὐαγεστάτῃ μονῇ αὐτοῦ τῇ οὔσῃ κατὰ τὴν μεγάλην πόλιν καὶ βασιλίδα.
Which I thus render into Latin:
[3] This man lived in the times of Theodosius the Great at Antioch of Syria, rendered into Latin; very remarkable for his ascetic life: and when he had reached a great progress in virtue, warned by a revelation he sought Constantinople; and, having gone to the place where now the illustrious monastery is founded, he cleansed it, and turned it into a monastery. His staff, which was dry, he fixed in the place, which, having taken root by the invocation of the Trinity, grew into a tree, and now indeed yields perfect fruit. And the emperor Theodosius came to him, and, admiring him, supplied him with ample means; from which the building of the monastery was accomplished. Nay, the most blessed patriarch Atticus, compelling him by force, consecrated him presbyter. And he wrought many miracles by the power and invocation of Christ. From the clefts of the earth, like the great Moses, he brought forth water. Someone who from inward distrust had cut off his own throat, he recalled to life. When now, about to die, he displayed neither breath nor motion, and those who were present were following him with mournful tears, and were caring for the things which pertained to his burial, the most holy patriarch Atticus being present, and Alexander of Antioch, the Saint, raising himself as from sleep, said that fifteen years had been added by God to his life. Having therefore survived the said number of years, he departed to the Lord. The last clause, τελεῖται δὲ etc., to the end, "But his solemnity is celebrated
in his most illustrious monastery, which is in the great and royal city," I judge to have been added to this eulogy, perhaps found elsewhere in the Sirmond copy; since in the margin of the produced eulogy, but not in the text of it in the same continued series, it is noted.
[4] the miracles being celebrated by the great printed Menaea, The same eulogy the Basilian Synaxarium has almost entirely; fewer things are in Sirletus, no determinate mention being made of the above miracles: to which the great Menaea, in the heap of many hymns which they prescribe of the Saint on this day, allude in the following text rendered into Latin: You were enriched with the grace of healings and of miracles… You became, Father, from the shoot of a staff, a divine priesthood; and, like Moses from the rock, holy Man, you brought forth water: and, like Elijah, by your prayers you raised the dead, admirable for the greatest prodigies… You drove out the malignant spirits, and erected a sacred school of souls, in which the flock is saved, honoring day by day your monuments, your manly contests, and your wonderful prodigies in faith… Like the sun endowed with much light, rising from the east, you splendidly unfolded the rays of your virtues and miracles, illuminating the ends of the world. And a little before, he is said to have shone with the splendor of miracles almost without number (for in the Greek it is ἀπείρων). Hence also in the same place, at the beginning, he is called, by antonomasia, θαυματοφόρος, a bearer of miracles.
[5] Certain observations concerning the etymology of the monastery of St. Dius, The characteristics of the place and of the persons, interspersed in the produced eulogy, afford occasion for observing some things suited to its elucidation. From the exordium of the eulogy we have that St. Dius lived at Antioch; hence, unless I am mistaken, Castellanus asserted him sprung from Antioch as his country; unless perhaps he read it expressly stated elsewhere. As to what concerns the Saint's monastery; treatment was already long ago made of it, and especially of its etymology, by Bollandus on the 8th of February, page 161, on the occasion of the Constantinopolitan Martyrs, monks of the praised monastery. But since that day, on account of the rarity of the month of February, cannot be equally easily at hand for all, it will be helpful to repeat in a few words what was there said against Baronius, and, some things being added from elsewhere, to establish our former opinion. Thus Bollandus has it: The same most learned Cardinal thinks moreover that the monastery was called Diiticum from his (Dius's) name: for as to the fact that the Council of Constantinople under Menas, in the year 536, after the death of St. Agapetus the Pope, is said to have been celebrated "ἐν τῷ μεσαύλῳ τῷ δυτικῷ τοῦ σεβασμίου οἴκου τῆς δεσποίνης ἡμῶν τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ένδόξου Θεοτόκου καὶ ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, τοῦ ὄντος πληίον τῆς ἁγιωτάτης μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας, in the inner court situated toward the west 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 said at the beginning of each of the several Sessions, this is in the Latin edition of the Councils everywhere rendered "in the Mesaulium Dyticum." But Baronius thinks, volume 7, year 536, number 64, that "since the copyists did not understand this word, they corrupted it, so that for Diiticum they wrote Dyticum, others Dipsychum. But the genuine reading (he says) is that in which Diiticum is put: for there was at Constantinople a very celebrated monastery called Dii, from which Diiticum was derived, whose prefect at this time was Agapetus, who is found subscribed in the first place in the order of archimandrites in the libels given to the synod." Thus Baronius. To which Bollandus.
[6] But neither is that form of derivation known to me, already long ago handed down by Bollandus, by which from Δίος is made Διιτικὸς; nor is Agapetus called μονῆς διιτικῆς or διιτικοῦ μοναστηρίου ἀρχιμανδρίτης: but he himself subscribes thus: "Ἀγαπητὸς ἐλέει θεοῦ πρεσβύτερος καὶ ἀρχιμανδρίτης Δίου, δεηθεὶς ὑπέγραψα. Agapetus, by the divine mercy presbyter and archimandrite of Dius, at my supplication have subscribed. Otherwise, ἀρχιμανδρίτης μονῆς Δίου." And if that venerable house of the Mother of God was itself the monastery of Dius, it is a wonder that the monks, who are always called of Dius or Acoemetae, are never named from it, nor that the Archimandrites claim for themselves that title, as he proves from the subscriptions of Alexander and Constans, which he brings forward in Greek and Latin. Thus already long ago Bollandus: which things can be confirmed more fully from what I add. Theophanes, denoting this place constantly and by one single word, τοῦ Δίου μονὴν, calls it the monastery of Dius, pages 114, 122, 135, 373 of the royal Paris printing published in the year 1655; and again, page 114 cited, τῆς Δίου μοναχοὶ, the monks of Dius: which the translator renders "the monks of Dienses," but not "Diitici."
[7] There is added the fact that by Nicholas I the Pope, Epistle 8, in Labbe, volume 8 of the Councils, against Baronius, column 320, among the hegumens there recounted is mentioned Dositheus Osiidii; which seems to be read, with Cangius, Christian Constantinople, book 4, page 123, "Osii (holy) Dii"; where also the praised author, page 86, from words taken from Justinian's Novel 3, chapter 1, has these things: ὕστερον δὲ ὁ προσκυνητὸς οἶκος τῆς ἁγίας ἐνδόξου παρθένου καὶ θεοτόκου Μαρίας, ὃς πρὸς τῷ ἁγιωτάτης μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας γειτονήματι κείμενος ᾡκοδομήθη παρὰ τῆς εὐσεβοῦς τὴν λῆξιν Βηρίνης. That is: Afterward the venerable house of the holy Mother of God Mary, which, situated in the neighborhood of the most holy great church, was built by Verina of pious memory, Augusta, wife of Leo I; whom Baronius praises at the year 474, number 5. From the nearness of St. Sophia to the said building, Cangius concludes that this is the same as the Chalcopratian, of which he treats page 85, likewise near St. Sophia. However this may be; to the sacred building near the great church, no mention there being made of St. Dius, or the Diitic monastery, the same author most rightly applies the words of the Constantinopolitan council produced a little before from Baronius, by which he confused both these places into one, of which one is proved to be different from the other, both from the diversity of names and of founders, and from the site diverse through almost the whole city, as may be seen in Anselm Banduri in the ancient topographical map prefixed to volume 2 of the Constantinopolitan Antiquities. More may be seen in Cangius.
[8] Codinus, On the Origins of Constantinople, page 61, writes thus: these things are here discussed more fully St. Dius asked the place of the Emperor (Theodosius the Great), and built a monastery on it, which is called Dii. For indeed Baronius himself uses one, and a more genuine and sincere word (you would almost say that, the etymology being here in controversy, he distrusted it) when he treats of the oft-mentioned monastery of St. Dius: for on the 8th of February in the Roman Martyrology he has thus: At Constantinople the birthday of the holy Martyr monks of the monastery of Dius, not of Diiticum; observing the same manner of writing at the year of Christ 484, and in the notation to the day just mentioned, wrongly adding: and so understand that place of the Jerusalem synod, Session 1, where mention is made of the atrium Diiticum: for as the monastery, so also the atrium was named thus from him. For δυτικὸς is not a word proper to a man, but an appellative of a place, and signifies "western," "westward," formed from the verb δύω, which among other things denotes "to set." Whence you may gather that to the words ἐν τῷ μεσαύλῳ τῷ δυτικῷ cited in number 5, it is not badly added in the margin of the place in Labbe, volume 5, column 5, "in the midst of the western court," which Cangius, Christian Constantinople, book 4, page 86, renders "in the western atrium." For the rest, from what he has, book 3, page 19, concerning the mesaulium of St. Sophia, light is shed upon the mesaulium Dyticum. And from these it is established certainly enough that St. Dius was the founder of this monastery, and a certain knowledge is added to what Papebroch noted in the Greco-Muscovite metrical Ephemerides at the memory of Dius the Wonderworker, which they place, speaking thus: In the city of Constantinople there was a most celebrated monastery of this name: whether this one was its founder, I know not, as long as no written Acts are found.
[9] and are established; From what has been said I deduce: 1, that the word Dyticus must be retained as the primitive one, and asserted for the ancient texts. 2. That the atrium Dyticum is a place altogether diverse both from the monastery of St. Dius and from the sacred building of the Virgin Mother of God mentioned before. Of the Acoemetae introduced into this monastery Cangius makes mention, book 4, number 34; and we long ago, in the place cited above, noted that it, formed under the discipline of the Acoemetae, instituted at that very time by Alexander, shone for many centuries with the fame of piety and holiness: of whose institute propagated through the East, and of their monasteries, consult the 15th of January, page 1019. Victor bishop of Tunnuna in his Chronicle makes mention of them, noting the monks of the monasteries of the Achimitentes of Basianus and of Dius. The building of the aforesaid monastery doubtless gave Baronius occasion, in the praised notations, of addressing the Saint by the name of archimandrite, by which we too have addressed him in the title above.
[10] a little digression added concerning the age of the same Saint. Now receive these things concerning the age of the Saint. From Theodosius the Great the emperor, under whom he is asserted to have lived in the eulogy produced above, we gather that he flourished toward the end of the fourth century: since he began to reign from the year of Christ 379 up to the year 395; but the mark of time shining forth in Atticus of Constantinople and Alexander of Antioch, the patriarchs, argues that the Saint survived to about the year of Christ 430. For Alexander, the first of this name, in the preliminary Tract before this volume the thirty-sixth in order, presided from the year 414 up to 417: but St. Atticus, whom we gave on the 8th of January from page 473, sat from the year of Christ 406 up to the year 425. There may be seen both what was said there, and Anselm Banduri's chronological series before the first volume of the Eastern Empire published by him, page 36, and the Commentary of volume 2, book 8, page 892. And from these this system can be constituted; that the birth of St. Dius be attached to about the year 350; his priesthood, although by what determinate year it must be marked is hidden from us; if however, as we just said, he undertook it at the compulsion of St. Atticus, it follows that he did not undertake it before the year 406. But the deadly disease, from which he is above handed down to have prodigiously recovered in the presence of the praised Alexander, belongs, according to what was said, to the year 414 or the three next following: to which if you add the fifteen years which, God granting, were above recorded to have been superadded to those, his death will now have to be fixed at about the year 430, the sum of his whole life comprising about eighty years. Whence may be corrected the epoch of Castellanus, affixed to the announcement produced above from him, toward the year 485, whether he wished it understood of the Saint's death, or of the time in which he flourished: if the Greeks say true.
Annotation* In our Basilian copy ἀνανήψας.