ON ST. ANNA THE VIRGIN
AT THE PROMONTORY OF LEUCATE IN EPIRUS OR BITHYNIA.
ABOUT THE YEAR 918.
Her worship among the Greeks; eulogy; chronology.
Anna the virgin, among the Greeks (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
[1] On the 18th of May, p. 184, on occasion of St. Anastaso, we treated of Leucas or Leucadia, an island of the Ionian Sea near Epirus, lying so near to Acarnania that it is joined to it by a bridge. Strabo, among the things which he writes of Acarnania, hands down the etymology of the place: Notice of the place in which St. Anna is announced among the Greeks: "They named it Leucas," he says, "from Leucata, as I think: for a rock of white color lies before Leucas toward the open sea and Cephallenia, and thence it has its name." Of the same place something was briefly said in the notes on the Acts of St. Nicholas the Pilgrim of Trani on the 2nd of June, p. 251. Further, for "Leucata," it is observed that "Leucate" is also read in the notes of our Charles de la Rue on book 13 of the Aeneid of Virgil Maro, edited by him for the use of the most serene Dauphin of France, verse 274. Leucate, a town of Gaul Narbonensis, does not pertain here; but Leucatas, a promontory of Asia Minor in Bithynia, by which the Astacene gulf is enclosed, on the testimony of Pliny in Ortelius, may somehow pertain here; and for that cause I announced the Saint above "at Leucate of Epirus or Bithynia." Yet I suspect that here rather Leucate of Epirus is designated; because that termination seems to approach more nearly to the Greek ἐν Λευκάτῃ; which place is assigned to her as her own among the Greeks.
[2] Further, the Synaxarium of Dijon, or of our Pierre-François Chifflet, among those things which our copy of it has under this day, thus commemorates her: the little verses, and the eulogy Μνήμη τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ὁσίας Ἄννης, τῆς ἐν τῷ Λευκάτῃ. That is: The memory of the holy and blessed Anna at Leucate. There follow these two little verses:
Σὸς δέσμιος νοῦς σαρκικὰς ῥίψας πέδας. Εἴργοντος, Ἄννα, μηδενὸς, Θεὸν βλέπεις.
That is: Thy bound mind, Anna, having cast off the fetters Of the flesh; now, none preventing, thou beholdest God.
The eulogy which is subjoined has thus: Αὕτη ὑπῆρχεν ἐπὶ Θεοφίλου τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς, ἐκ γένους λαμπροῦ καὶ περιφανοῦς, καὶ περιουσίαν κεκτημένη πολλήν· ἧς ἡ μήτηρ πᾶσαν ἐπιμέλειαν ἐποιεῖτο εὐλαβῶς καὶ κοσμίως τυποῦσθαί τε αὐτὴν καὶ ἀγάγεσθαι. Συνδιατρίψασα δὲ αὐτῇ χρόνον οὐκ ὀλίγον ἡ μήτηρ· ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ τὸν βίον τὸν τῇδε ὑπεξῆλθεν, καὶ καλῶς τὰ κάλλιστα οἰκοθέντε παρὰ τῇ μητέρι συλλεξαμένη ἡ Παῖς, τὸν ἀνθρώπινον καὶ αὐτὴ ὑπεξίσταται βίον. Ἐγκρατὴς δὲ ἡ Ἁγία ὥσπερ ἀρετῆς, οὕτω δὴ καὶ πλούτου γενομένη, τοῖς πτωχοῖς καὶ ἐνδεέσι τῶν χρειωδῶν μετεδίδου. Ἐν τούτοις τῆς ἀοιδίμου Ἄννης γνωριζομένης, ἀνήρ τις, γένος Ἀγαρῆνος, καὶ οὐκ ἀγαθὸς ἄρτι, τῇ τῶν Ῥωμαίων προρυεὶς βασιλείᾳ· from the Synaxarium of Dijon, Βασίλειος δὲ ὁ Μακεδὼν τότε τὰ σκῆπτρα διῆγεν· ᾐτήσατο ταύτην τὴν Παῖδα πρὸς γάμον δοθῆναι αὐτῷ. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐπέτρεψε τοῦτο γενέσθαι. Ἡ δὲ μὴ ἀνασχομένη τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, πολλαῖς θλίψεσι παρὰ τοῦ μιαροῦ ἐκείνου καθυποβάλλεται· καὶ ὁ μὲν ὅπως λάβῃ ταύτην διϊσχυρίζετο· ἡ δὲ εὐχαῖς καὶ δάκρυσι τὸ θεῖον ἐκλιπαροῦσα, λύσιν ταχεῖαν τῶν πειρασμῶν ᾔτει γενέσθαι. Ἀκούει Θεὸς τὴν Οἰκέτιν, καὶ τὸν βιαστὴν μνηστῆρα τῆς παρούσης στερίσκει ζωῆς, καὶ τὸ θέλημα τῶν φοβουμένων αὐτὸν ἐκπληροῖ.
That is: She lived under the impious Theophilus, sprung of a bright and illustrious family, and possessing much wealth: whose mother took all care to form and educate her, piously and decorously, in the laws of piety and honesty. But after the mother had lived with her no little time (for her father had departed from this mortal life), and the Girl had gathered at home from her mother all the best things, that mother too departed from this life. But the holy woman, excelling as much in virtue as in riches, distributed to the poor and needy the necessary things. While the renowned Anna was known for these things, a certain man, an Agarene by race, and by no means good, thrust himself forward to the empire of the Romans (whose scepters Basil the Macedonian then governed), asking that this Girl be given to him in marriage. But the emperor commanded that this be done; which she, refusing to do, is subjected to many afflictions by that impure man; and he indeed insisted that he might take her; but she, supplicating the Divinity with prayers and tears, asked that a swift release from the temptations might come to pass. God hears his Handmaid, and deprives the violent suitor of the present life, and fulfills the will of those who fear him.
[3] Τί τὸ ἐντεῦθεν; Ἀπανίσταται πάμπαν τῶν βιωτικῶν ἡ Μακαρία, καὶ εἴς τινα τῆς Θεοτόκου ναὸν εἰσελθοῦσα, νηστείᾳ καὶ ἀγρυπνίᾳ, καὶ ἐγκρατείᾳ, ἑαυτὴν ἐκδίδωσι· διὰ δύο γὰρ ἡμερῶν νηστεύουσα τροφῆς μικρᾶς
That is: What then? The Blessed one withdraws altogether from the things of this life, and, having entered a certain temple of the Mother of God, gives herself up to fasting and watching and abstinence: for, fasting through two days, of little food
μετελάμβανεν. Ἔστι δ᾽ ὅτε καὶ διὰ πάσης ἑβδομάδος ἄσιτος διέμεινε, καὶ λοιπὸν αὐτῆς οὕτως τὸ σῶμα κατεμάρανεν, ὡς τὰς ἁρμονίας πάσας φαίνεσθαι· τῶν σαρκῶν γὰρ αὐτῆς ἀπὸ τῆς ἄγαν σκληραγωγίας κατακεισῶν καὶ σχεδὸν ἀπονεκρωθεισῶν εὐχερῶς. Καὶ ἥνπερ παρὰ τοῦ πλάστου σύνθεσιν καὶ σύνταξιν ἀκριβῶς παρεδείκνυον, τοῦ δέρματος μόνου τούτοις ἐπικειμένου· καὶ διαρκέσασα ἐν τῇ τοιαύτῃ διαγωγῇ ἔτη πεντήκοντα, καὶ μικρὸν νοσήσασα, τὴν μὲν τίμιον αὐτῆς ψυχὴν εἰς χεῖρας Θεοῦ ἐπαφίησι. Τὸ πολύπονον δὲ καὶ σαρκικὸν αὐτῆς σῶμα παρὰ τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτῇ σορῷ κατατίθεται, ἔνθα καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν πρὸς γένους αὐτῇ διαφερόντων κατέκειντο.
That is: And there were times when she remained without food through a whole week, and thus so wasted away her body that all its joints appeared: for her flesh, from the excessive austerity, sank in and was almost easily deadened. And they accurately displayed the composition and structure given by the Maker, the skin alone lying upon them: and, having endured in such a manner of life fifty years, and having been sick a little, she gives up her precious soul into the hands of God. But her much-laboring and fleshly body is laid by her kinsfolk in a coffin, where also many of those belonging to her by race lay.
[4] Χρόνος ἐῤῥύη πολύς, καὶ ὀχλούμενοί τινες ὑπὸ πνευμάτων ἀκαθάρτων ἀνορύξαντες ἐξήνεγκαν or the Chifflet manuscript, τὸ τίμιον καὶ ἅγιον αὐτῆς λείψανον ἄφθαρτον καὶ ἄσπιλον, πάσης εὐωδίας θείας τε καὶ ἀνθρωπίνης ἀπόζον, ἔνθεν τι καὶ κατανοῆσαι τῶν θειοτέρων ἔξεστι τῷ βουλομένῳ, ὅτι πολλῶν σωμάτων συγκειμένων αὐτῇ ἐν τῷ τάφῳ, τὰ μὲν τὴν φυσικὴν ὑφέστη διάλυσιν, τὸ δὲ σῶον καὶ ὁλόκληρον διέμεινε. Ἀληθῶς φυλάσσει ὁ Κύριος πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν Ἁγίων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ συντριβήσεται· ὅθεν δαίμονες ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπηλάθησαν, τυφλοὶ ἀνέβλεψαν, χωλοὶ περιπάτησαν, καὶ ἁπλῶς πᾶσα νόσος, δι᾽ ἣν ἄνθρωποι πάσχουσι, καὶ τότε καὶ νῦν δραπετεύει. Οὕτως οἶδε Θεὸς δοξάζειν τοὺς ἑαυτὸν δοξάσαντας.
That is: Much time had flowed by, and certain persons troubled by unclean spirits, having dug it up, brought forth her precious and holy relic, incorrupt and unstained, breathing forth every fragrance both divine and human, whence one who wishes may also observe something of the more divine things, namely that, of the many bodies laid with her in the tomb, some underwent the natural dissolution, but hers remained safe and entire. Truly the Lord keeps all the bones of his Saints, and one of them shall not be broken: whence demons were driven out of men, the blind received sight, the lame walked, and, to say it in a word, every disease by which men suffer, both then and now, flees away. Thus God knows how to glorify those who glorify him.
[5] in Latin She lived under the impious Theophilus, sprung of a bright and illustrious family, and abounded in much wealth: whose mother placed all her zeal in this, that she might form and educate her in the laws of piety and honesty. But after the mother had lived with her no little time (for her father had departed from this mortal life), and the Girl had gathered at home from her mother all the best things, that mother too departed from this life. But the holy woman, excelling as much in virtue as in riches, distributed to the poor and needy the necessary things. When from these the name of the venerable Anna grew widely known, a certain man, an Agarene by race, and by no means good, thrust himself forward to the empire of the Romans (whose scepters Basil the Macedonian then governed), asking that this Girl be given to him in marriage. The emperor commanded that this be done; which she, refusing to do, is afflicted with many tribulations by that impure man. And he indeed strove that he might take her; but she, supplicating God with prayers and tears, asked that she might quickly be freed from the temptations. God hears his Handmaid, and deprives the violent suitor of the present life, and fulfills the will of those who fear him.
[6] granted What then? The Blessed one sends away all the things of this life, and, having entered a certain temple of the Mother of God, macerates herself with fastings, vigils, and abstinence: for, her fast being prolonged through two days, she took a little food; sometimes also through the whole week she remained without food. Moreover her body so withered away that all its joints appeared; her flesh, for its hardness, sinking in, and all but reduced almost to death. And after she had persevered in this manner of life fifty years, a small sickness being contracted, she gave up her precious soul into the hands of God. But her body, broken with hardships and consisting of flesh, is placed in the tomb by her kinsfolk; where also several rested who by the excellence of their race were eminent with her.
[7] here they are brought forward: Much time had flowed by, when several persons were troubled by unclean spirits: who, the tomb being dug up again, brought forth her venerable and holy body, which was subject to no corruption or stain, and breathed forth every divine and human fragrance. Whence one may observe something divine in it, if he will: for many bodies lying at the same time with her in the sepulcher had paid the debt of natural corruption; but her body remained safe and entire. Truly the Lord keeps all the bones of his Saints, and one of them shall not be broken. Whence demons were expelled out of men, the blind saw, the lame walked; and, to say it in a word, every disease by which men suffer, both then and now, flees away. Thus God knows how to glorify those who glorify him.
The same is had in the Sirmond manuscript, notes Papebroch, in his apograph of this eulogy. Somewhat briefer are the things which I read in the Milanese copies of the Ambrosian library, more fully related in the Turin manuscript β of the Duke of Savoy, as is likewise ascribed to the same Milanese apograph. And these indeed are the things by which the worship of St. Anna among the Greeks is established. For the rest, I have fitted to her the title of virgin, which, from her having spurned the conjugal marriage, seems, as it appears, not undue to her; although it was not expressed in the notes above.
[8] Theophilus, son of Michael the Stammerer, succeeded his father in the empire in the year 829; from whose chronological notes the chronology of the Saint is composed. he died in 842, after having shown himself a most keen defender of the Iconoclasts; concerning whose penitence, however, toward the end of his life, Baronius produces some things at the cited year 842: under whom, since St. Anna is related to have lived in the praised eulogy, and (as Henschen ascribed to the Milanese copy) in the Turin manuscript β, we now have a starting-point from which we may approximately determine her age. If the things are true which, both in the eulogy which we give, and in that which we have from the Milanese codex, are commemorated concerning Basil the Macedonian—concerning the marriage of the Agarene with our Saint, prescribed by the command of that same emperor, who began his reign in the year 867—then she would have been born about the year 840: and in the twenty-eighth year of her age (after her mother's death, who is thus rightly understood to have lived with her no little time), that is in the year of Christ 868, the second of Basil the Macedonian, she would have been sought as wife by the Agarene; to which if you add the fifty years which she is above asserted to have passed in a most rigid manner of life, she would have reached about the year of Christ 918, and about the 78th of her life. I could indeed have wished that in the eulogy several times named there had been distinctly noted her fatherland, the place of her dwelling and burial, together with the other circumstances; concerning which more things are now not at hand, and which perhaps are had in the Life of the Saint, if indeed it lies hidden somewhere hitherto; which, would that on this occasion, if it lie hidden, it might be brought to light!