Martyrs

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS

MAMAS AND BASILISCUS.

The cult from the Greek records.

Mamas, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)

Basiliscus, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

From yesterday, on which they are commemorated in the printed Great Menæa, we have referred these Martyrs to today, as was there indicated among the Passed-Over. In the said Menæa, therefore, they are then announced thus, Maximus, bishop of Cythera, agreeing: The cult among the Greeks; Of the holy martyrs Mamas and Basiliscus in the quarter of Darius. In place of that which is found in those Menæa, exceedingly faulty, τῶν ἁγίων μάρτυρος, read more rightly with the prelate of Cythera τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων; for both were Martyrs, not Mamas alone; as will be made plain from the announcements transcribed on this day into the other Greek records. The Turin codex has this: Ἄθλησις τῶν ἁγ. μμ. Μάμαντος καὶ Βασιλίσκου ἐν τοῖς Δαρίου. That is: The contest of the holy martyrs Mamas and Basiliscus in the quarter of Darius. With this agree our excerpts from the manuscript Menæa of the Ambrosian library, and our manuscript Supplement to the printed Menæa, cited several times; in which I read that announcement inserted, but in a different manner from the way the text itself continues, and noted, yet not, as I suppose, thrust in hither from elsewhere.

[2] However that matter may stand, it matters little; the manner of death since the text itself instructs us more clearly concerning those Champions than any other of those produced; teaching by what manner of death each completed his martyrdom. And concerning Basiliscus indeed it speaks thus on this day: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμ. ὁ ἅγ. Βασιλίσκος ὁ γέρων ξίφει τελ. That is: On the same day St. Basiliscus the old man is consummated by the sword. And soon those two verses are subjoined:

Ναὶ, Βασιλίσκε, ψαλμικῶς ἐπ᾽ ἀσπίδα, Καὶ βασιλίσκον βαῖνε τὴν τομὴν φέρων.

That is: Come, Basiliscus, psalm-wise, walk upon the asp and the basilisk, bearing the cut of decapitation. It is evident that there is here an allusion, and not without grace, to that of Psalm 90, verse 13: You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk.

[3] from our Sirmond-Chifflet copies. Now concerning St. Mamas there follow in the same place these things: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμ. ὁ ἅγιος Μάμας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ βληθεὶς τελ. That is: On the same day St. Mamas, cast into the sea, is consummated. He too, like the former, has his verses added, expressed in these words:

Ὡς οἷα μύστης τῶν ἁλιέων Μάμας Τολμᾷ θαλάσσης ἐξερευνᾷν καὶ βάθη.

That is: As though Mamas were a skilled initiate of the fishermen, intrepid he dares to search out even the depths of the sea. By the substantive μύστης, which is commonly wont to be taken for a learner of sacred things, one skilled in mysteries, or one initiated into the rites of some deity, here understand him who is exceedingly and intimately versed in τῶν ἁλιέων, "of the fishermen," or of the fisher's art.

[4] For the rest, from the place or quarter "in that of Darius," which is added to the aforesaid announcements, The Saints had a cult at Constantinople. we gather that these Martyrs were honored with public veneration at Constantinople, namely in their own or another Saint's sacred edifice: of which cult Cangius also makes mention in Christian Constantinople, book 4, page 128, although quite meagerly, from the Menæa; where I find nothing as to in what quarter that district was situated. Petrus Gyllius, in his Thracian Bosporus, book 2, chapter 12, treats of the bridge of Darius: whence that quarter, here designated, perhaps drew its name; which therefore was some part, pertaining to Constantinople, toward the said Bosporus, but at the mouth or strait of Constantinople. And this indeed is our conjecture concerning a place otherwise plainly obscure to us: and perhaps there will be someone (which indeed we hope) who by better and more certain documents may illustrate the situation of that place of which we treat. Furthermore, wherever that quarter was, that it certainly pertains to the city of Constantinople, this is an argument: that when the Greek records add to their announcements a sacred edifice, and some quarter or place where the Saints whom they announce are venerated, by a fixed rule this is to be understood of Constantinople, as daily experience teaches us, and the examples in the cited Cangius, book 4.

* Δαρείου