ON ST. EUDOCIMUS THE JUST OR THE YOUNGER,
AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
Under the Emperor Theophilus.
PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.
His cult among the Greeks, eulogies, the time of his life, the manner of his death, his double surname, the Acts.
Eudocimus the Just, at Constantinople (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
Two surnames, as you see, have been superadded to this
Saint, namely of "the Just"
and of "the Younger": for in the Greek
Fasti he is recorded now with one,
now with the other;
although he also occurs without any of them in the same,
The Saint in various ways as is plain from the announcements
which we subjoin. The Typicon under the name of St. Sabas has thus:
"Of the holy and just Eudocimus"; with which agree
the Great Menaea of the Greeks struck in type, the Horologion
published in the year 1607, the Anthologion. But the Menologium
translated by the most eminent Sirleto, and published by Canisius,
writes this: "The birthday of blessed Eudocimus
the younger"; with which same surname he is likewise marked in the Menaeon
of Chifflet and in the Ambrosian Menaea: but in the Horologion
of the year 1601, "of Eudocius (for Eudocimus) the just." The Basilian Synaxarium,
in a manner different from the preceding,
announces thus: "The memory of our holy martyr
Eudocimus the Younger." The Kalendar of the Ruthenians in
Possevino simply puts "St. Eudocimus"; and
in that which is in Genebrard "Eudocimus" is noted.
[2] noted in various Fasti; Nor indeed among others is the same manner of announcing this Saint
preserved: for in the Slavo-Russian Menologium
of Sparwenfeld mention is made of St. and just
Eudocimus; but in the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides
published by us before volume 1 of May, page 37,
is had "Eudocimus, tribune, martyr." The announcement
of the Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology, "The Struggle
of the holy new Academic," we altogether suspect
to be corrupted and foully faulty; in place of which
there ought to be written "of the holy NEW (τοῦ
νέου, which means new; but
here signifies young or younger) Eudocimus";
both because the day agrees, and the surname τοῦ
νέου,
"new," that is "of the Younger," agrees; nor does "struggle" conflict:
for elsewhere too, as we have seen, he is reported as a martyr;
not rightly, as we shall say hereafter. In favor of it is the incorruption
of the body, as a mark most proper to the Saint
according to the Acts, num. 14, where
it is so greatly commended; concerning which the proper prayer
of the Saint, in the said Martyrology, is expressed in these words:
"O holy physician Academic, who wast called
from earth to the heavenly dwellings: and thy incorrupt
body remained after death,
because thou didst walk in health * and in a perfect journey,
since thou didst keep thy body from corruption; pray
that we too may be saved." The title of physician here,
singular, can conveniently be referred to the cures which
were wrought through the anointing of the oil of the lamp placed at his tomb,
concerning which the Acts speak. I pass over, that mention
is also made of our Saint in Molanus,
in the edition of the year 1573; in Ferrari, in his Catalogue of Saints
who are not in the Roman Martyrology,
and also in Castellanus, in the additions to his
universal Martyrology, with a small eulogy:
but concerning the eulogies we shall treat a little later, when first we have set forth
some ornaments with which, beyond the announcement,
somewhere in the sacred Tablets of the Greeks he is quite honorably
adorned. This is done in their Great Menaea
cited, as we are now about to see.
[3] Among other things, therefore, accommodated to St. Eudocimus in that same place,
there is found a canon composed in his honor, to whom a canon is fitted and versicles:
of which in this place let it be enough even to make mention, with the acrostich
prefixed to it, expressed in these words:
Ὑμνῶ,
Μάκαρ,
σου
τοὺς
πανευσεβεῖς
τρόπους.
Ἰωσήφ.
That is: I sing, O Blessed one, your most pious ways. Joseph.
"Your most pious ways, O Blessed one, I sing." The name Ἰωσὴφ,
which is added to that acrostic versicle,
denotes Joseph, the composer of the canon;
concerning which matter we said more on the 17th of this month, in the previous
Commentary to the Life of St. Alexius, §4, page
247. Into the odes of the aforesaid canon is interspersed the repeated
announcement of our Saint; and after this three following
versicles are set:
Τὸν
θεῖον
Εὐδόκιμον,
ᾧ
βίος
γέλως,
Τὸ
θεῖον
εὐδόκησεν
ἐκστῆναι
βιου.
Δέχνυται
Εὐδόκιμον
πρώτῃ
τάφος
ἐν
τριακοστῇ.
That is: The divine Eudocimus, to whom life was a laughter, the Divinity was well-pleased to take out of life. The tomb receives Eudocimus on the thirty-first.
"O divine Eudocimus, to whom life was a laughter, It pleased God to snatch you to himself out of life. The thirty-first laid Eudocimus in the tomb."
There is a plain allusion of the poet to the name of holy Εὐδόκιμος and
the verb εὐδοκέω, with a modest wit, as more often happens
in allusions of this kind in the Menaea elsewhere.
[4] Among the eulogies, we render into Latin that one which
is had in the Synaxarium of the Emperor Basil on this day, The eulogy from the Synaxarium of the Emperor Basil is rendered into Latin
that the Greek text may be understood, published by us in print
at the end of the first volume of the month of July. Thus therefore
it runs: "This Blessed one lived under the reign of Theophilus, the hater
of Christ: whose parents, together with the splendor of their life
(for they were patricians), proved themselves
orthodox, Cappadocians by race. Eudocimus,
therefore, rightly instructed by them unto virtue, was created
candidatus by Theophilus, and ordered to command the camps,
first indeed through the region of the Cappadocians,
but then through the Charsian: who,
like a certain balance and rule of justice, rendered to each his own
fairly, distributed very many alms daily,
adorned churches gracefully and skillfully,
defended widows and orphans, and,
to embrace all in a word, exercised every kind of virtue.
His life, therefore, being spent according to the will of God,
seized by a bodily disease, he gave his spirit
to God: whose kinsmen, fulfilling his will,
buried the Saint with his garments and shoes;
glorified by God with many miracles." Thus far the eulogy,
which we shall first briefly explain, before we compare it
with the eulogies noted elsewhere.
[5] and it is explained; Theophilus, who is recorded in it, the son of Michael
the Stammerer, began to reign in the year of Christ
829; ceased in 842, as may be seen in Baronius and
Pagi. Our Saint is said in the same place to have been made candidatus
by him: concerning the dignity of which office,
its institution, number, you will find various things in Du Cange
in his Glossary of the writers of middle and low Latinity.
As to what pertains to the Charsian; that it was situated
in Cappadocia itself, we gather from those things
which are had in Cedrenus in his compendium of histories,
page 457 of the royal edition, narrating concerning
Maslama, that when he had come into Cappadocia,
he took by fraud the fortress Charsian (τὸ
Χαρσιανὸν).
Add that for its situation in Cappadocia there is cited in
Ortelius Porphyrogenitus; but the place is not assigned.
Further, that that fortress supported soldiers of no obscure
name, we can understand from this, that
in Porphyrogenitus, page 169 of the same royal
edition, the Charsianites (τῶν
τοῦ
Χαρσιανοῦ) are named, contending
in excellence of valor with the Armeniacs.
The Great Menaea published in type and the Anthologion write
χαρασιανῶν; but in favor of the other spelling as
sincere and genuine make both those things which we have already cited,
and also the Greek Acts which we have, and
Surius employs. What follows in the eulogy about the excellent
justice of the Saint pertains to his surname,
concerning which soon.
[6] it is likewise compared with other copies of the eulogies. It follows, that we now observe a few things concerning the other copies of the eulogies:
a few things, I say; since they are similar in
matter and substance. In
the printed Menaea, the Anthologion, and the Menologium in
Canisius, the names of St. Eudocimus's parents,
passed over in the above eulogy, are enumerated, namely
Basil and Eudocia, conformably to the Acts; with which
also agrees this clause of the Menologium of Canisius:
"The translation indeed of the holy body was made
on the sixth day of the month of June; but his falling asleep on the thirty-first
of July." The printed Menaea with the Anthologion rightly
add, that that translation was made πρὸς
τὸ
Βυζάντιον, toward Byzantium or Constantinople; but that translation,
both in the eulogies in passing, and in the Acts
handed down more fully, is affixed to no certain year; if however
we believe the Acts, it must have happened not so very long
after the Saint's death, since in them it is said
to have happened while the Saint's mother was still living. But
these and similar things will receive a little more light from the age
and time in which he lived and died: concerning which matter we
now bring forward our conjectures.
[7] The time of his life and death. Standing by the authority, which is certainly slight for us,
of the Acts and the eulogies, we have from it, that
he lived in the time of the Emperor Theophilus, under whom certainly he served as a soldier,
and bore some name and honor,
being ordered to command the camps: and therefore he numbered about
twenty years at that time, when he
was advanced to that rank of dignity; and then that he drew his birth about
the year 813; and further ceased to live about the year
843; if again the Acts narrate truly, which
report that he exchanged life for death at thirty-three
years of age. And from these conjectures (for we do not wish
that any greater weight be in them) it follows,
that for about ten years he professed the military life,
having begun it about the year 833.
The time in which the Saint lived the Slavo-Russian
Menologium defines, saying: "He lived in the year 836
under Theophilus, the enemy of Christ": which year
coheres with the time defined by us rather by hypothesis
than by thesis; for both that, and
several other things, are not sufficiently certain to us, for the reason
that they rest on Acts so uncertain.
[9] We saw above, that somewhere in the Fasti St. Eudocimus
is announced with the title of martyr; Whether the Saint was a martyr: and,
what you would wonder at, in the Synaxarium of the Emperor Basil;
which title in what way it coheres with those things which are said
in the eulogy of the same Synaxarium already adduced by us,
we do not attain: for from it we have, that,
seized by a bodily disease, he gave his spirit to God;
in which conspire three other
eulogies which we mentioned above. But in the Acts, num. 7,
no trace of martyrdom occurs; but it is most plainly
indicated, that he ended his last day by a natural death:
and therefore we judge, that the title of martyr
was thrust in there, and, as plainly undue to our Saint,
is to be expunged from the said Menologium and also
from the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides.
[10] It also remains for us to treat with a little word of the double
surname, of the Just, namely, and of the Younger,
with which we have seen him inscribed in certain sacred Tablets, the reason for his double surname is given.
The notion of the first can and ought to be sought from the eulogies and Acts,
where he is chiefly praised for his justice: whence a name
congruous to that virtue, exercised with the highest perfection,
adhered to him. The second surname plainly
indicates, that a certain synonymous Saint existed
earlier in time than this one of ours: but who this may be,
to whom he refers, or when he flourished, up to now we have nowhere
been able to find. These things being thus set forth, now
the Acts of the Saint come to be weighed; concerning which it pleases us to instruct
the reader, by observing the following few things,
which will suffice for their merit: for the rest will be cast
into the notes.
[11] Of the Acts we can pronounce this, that
they are of the number The character of the Acts; of those which savor not so much of history,
as of a historical oration, decked in several places with the ornament of sentences
and words;
so much so that their author, whether it was Metaphrastes,
under whose name they are published in Surius, or
some other, preferred to speak copiously and to delight,
rather than sincerely to instruct the reader; as is
the custom of the Greeks; concerning which we are again and again compelled
to renew just and repeated complaints in six hundred places,
as is most well known to all who
have greeted the Acts of the Saints from the threshold. But lest anyone
think this censure, harder than the Life
of St. Eudocimus and its merits, is branded by us gratuitously,
let him receive a few specimens,
by which that censure may be confirmed. To say nothing of the author's
prologue; the apostrophe of the mother to
her Son near his tomb, what does it savor of but a stage-scene,
and theatrical pathos, eminently ready and adorned in words and affections,
as may be seen at num. 13?
Here also deserves to be referred the dialogism at num. 16.
Florid too are the things which the author narrates about the body's
integrity after death, num. 14. Add,
that he could have refrained from the sentences of Holy Scripture, with which
he stuffs the history of the matter. But as to what pertains to the substance
of the Life, translation, and miracles,
we give all on the author's credit: for nothing
is at hand for us by which either to prove all those things as
true, or to reject them as false, at least in
some part.
[12] We have also Greek Acts, from July,
as they are ascribed to Metaphrastes, which we have also in Greek. in the library of the King of France;
namely transcribed from the Medicean manuscript,
and marked with this title: Βίος
καὶ
πολιτεία
τοῦ
ὁσίου
καὶ
δικαίου
Εὐδοκίμου. That is: The Life and conversation of the holy
and just Eudocimus. The opening is of this kind: Εὐδοκίμου
τοῦ
κατὰ
Θεὸν
φερωνύμως
εὐδοκιμήσαντος
τὸν
βίον
ἐξηγήσασθαι
καλόν·
ἠδονὴ
γὰρ
ἐντεῦθεν &c. That is: "It is good to expound the life of Eudocimus, who according to God was, in keeping with his name, of good repute; for hence pleasure, etc." And the
end is this: δι᾽
οὗ
δαίμονες
φυγαδεύονται,
νόσοι
λύονται,
καὶ
Θεὸς
ἐν
πᾶσι
καὶ
διὰ
πάντων
δοξάζεται
&c. That is: "through whom demons are put to flight, diseases are loosed, and God is glorified in all things and through all things, etc."—which agree with the Life which we are about to give from Surius. But although the Latin version, which
is read in him, has wherefore it may deservedly displease,
as not rarely contorted, and less clear
and lucid; because bound too slavishly to the interpretation of the idioms of the Greek text:
yet to substitute a new one for
it, we think is not worth the trouble.
Receive therefore the old one, distributed into new numbers
and chapter-titles after our manner.
Notes* is it "sanctitate" (in sanctity)?
THE LIFE
From those published in Surius
under the name of Simeon Metaphrastes.
Eudocimus the Just, at Constantinople (St.)
From the edition in Surius.
PROLOGUE.
The author prefaces about the life of the Saint, conspicuous for all virtues. It is good to expound the life of Eudocimus, who fittingly to his name a
obtained praise from God. For hence at once both pleasure and profit
return not only to the expositors, but much more
to the hearers: not only because he showed himself a vehement
lover of virtue, and chose at once what is honorable
from his earliest age (for this zeal for such a life
was common to him with many others;)
but because in this thing chief and almost singular he excelled either
wholly or in great part, his life in the world
was above the world: and because, while he lived
in the midst of tumults and of these unstable things,
which are full of all storms and filth,
he preserved his soul pure and tranquil, and in no way
defiled: and showed it to be of a timid and petty
mind to pursue flight from the world,
and to use solitude as a helper, just as
if someone sailing in the tranquillity of the sea, and without
any waves or vehement winds, should wish to be called
skilled in navigation, and understanding of those things
which pertain to the sea. Since therefore his life
is a sufficient exemplar, both to all, to say it
once, who claim for themselves the study of virtue, and
to those who live in the world, and choose only
to use the world (as I would say with the divine Paul), not to abuse it:
let his deeds be told, and to the souls of good men
let there be set a divine table, and viands which
are never consumed.
NOTES.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint's birth, education, virtues, military service, death, the miracles that followed it.
Eudocimus, ennobling his illustrious parents by his virtue, The holy Eudocimus, then, drew his lineage indeed
from the Cappadocians, the pious offspring of pious parents.
Of whom the one, Basil, and the other, Eudocia
by name, who had borne him, were notable in lineage,
abounding in wealth, and illustrious in authority.
For Basil was distinguished by the dignity of the Patricians a.
But although he had such illustrious fountains of lineage,
the son seemed not so much noble from his parents,
nor received so much glory from them, as
he himself by his own illustrious deeds brought nobility to his
parents. For sons who are born of illustrious
parents you will find very many: but parents
of such sons, who in the midst of the world
passed a life akin to no reproach,
very few indeed. He therefore, being bidden to attend to learning and disciplines,
placed great zeal in these,
needing no stripes, no terrors, no
other of those things which can rouse a boyish
sloth to honorable things: but he was himself
a spur to himself, from the propensity and alacrity of his mind
to those things which are good. But much more did he watch
over the reading of the divine eloquences, and assiduously
was occupied in them, so much so that he too sang
with the divine David: "I will exult over your eloquences,
as one who has found much spoil." And: "How
I have loved your law, O Lord: all the day it is my
meditation." Therefore it was reputed to him above thousands
of gold and silver, according to the divine prophet, I mean
David: "And the eloquences of God were sweet to his throat,
and above honey to his mouth."
[3] He was free for the divine temples and assiduously came
to them. he excels in these wonderfully beyond his age. And when his equals and companions were given
to hunting, and horse-racing, and
other pursuits of youths, he bore these ill,
and was in no way moved by them, and yielded to none of
those things which flatter youthful desires.
But Eudocimus dwelt pleasantly and gladly,
either in the house of prayer, or in the reading of the divine
eloquences, through which he strove to render himself
a temple worthy of God, as one who showed nothing
unpleasant, nothing base from the deformity of the soul's
perturbations, and from zeal bestowed upon them. Neither
adverse things, nor prosperous, nor anything of those
which can either exalt or depress the mind,
was strong enough to move him from his purpose:
but with the arms on the right hand and on the left (as Paul says)
he used them dexterously, and made them the material
of philosophy. Nay, even when he often went upon the way,
both that which led to the palace, and that which led to
any other place, he had his mind and tongue at once
intent upon the work: this one chanting
the psalms of David, that one attending, and
understanding what was said, and obeying David himself who bade it.
For that did not happen to him which happens to many,
who indeed chant, but do not understand:
and who first fight with the things which they themselves say,
and in the very deed openly contradict them, while
their mind wanders far from the things which are said.
[4] But temperance, which is truly public,
and by its beauty excels the other virtues, Chastity he so loved,
and by it was so openly overcome, that he chose it
as the companion of his life, and one who should dwell with him, and
boldly said with Job not this alone: "My heart
has not followed my eye": but also,
what is greater than that, that he had made a covenant with his eyes,
in no way to have thought upon a virgin: and
so far did he avoid conversing with a woman, that to his mother alone
it was not forbidden to approach him, whom
he held in great veneration: as one who yielded not only
to maternal, but also to virtue's laws. But besides
her it was permitted to no woman at all to speak with him,
or to come to him.
[5] With temperance he joined also almsgiving,
with the fairest that which is most
cheerful: so that by the light of the one his
face was illumined, and by the oil of the other his heart made fat,
and he was both pure and merciful: so that
the loftiness which proceeds from purity, inclining itself to the neighbor
(as is fitting) from consent, was in safety.
So splendidly did he attend to almsgiving, he joins it with an eminent mercy toward the needy;
and so embraced it, that not only
in superfluous things, but also in necessary ones did he conduct himself piously:
and did not sow sparingly, but in blessings:
and not only with money, but also with meats, if from
these help could be given to the poor, did he by no means spare,
and that with a most cheerful, ready, and
alacritous mind, moved by love toward God and neighbor.
For the fruit of charity is mercy toward a brother,
so much so that he himself was readier to give,
than the one who had need of mercy to receive: and
when he had given, he himself rejoiced the more,
and believed himself more helped, than the one
who had received: as the matter truly was. For greater
are the divine graces than the human ones,
which he with a lavish hand bought, gushing forth thence more lavishly.
And, to say it once, Eudocimus was the father
of orphans; the guardian of widows, the clothing
of the naked, the bread of the hungry, the consolation of souls
which were weighed down by sickness.
[6] and also, when he was a soldier, fulfilling all the parts of justice. Although he obtained both honors from the emperor b, and
that glory which is for a time, on account of his virtue,
he was in no way harmed thereby, as one whose warmth
of soul did not grow tepid, nor whose impetus for the spiritual
course became duller: but rather, ascribing
that grace too to God, hence he took occasion
of a greater desire toward him, and of cherishing him
more readily and more eagerly. Certainly, when he had been chosen
to command a part of the army of the Cappadocians,
and was tarrying about that which is called the Charsian c,
he bore great care of the people: as one who was not only
paternally solicitous for them, but also solved
the controversies which were among them mutually, as is wont,
the balance of justice inclining to neither
side: and "judging the orphan" (to say it
with Isaiah) "and justifying the widow," and appearing the same
to all by an equal benevolence toward all.
And what need is there that I say each thing? Eudocimus
was perfect in virtue: he was notable in charity
toward God, and notable in charity toward his neighbor.
Wherefore his ruin and destruction—to detract, I mean,
secretly from a neighbor—he so held in hatred,
that not only did he himself do nothing such, but also
if another wished to do it, he by no means endured
to lend his ears to unseemly words: and as to what pertained to himself,
he kept those too superior to sins.
[7] In the flower of his age he dies most piously. Him thus living, and exercising a pious institute of life,
and rightly conducting himself, the common
end seizes in a foreign land d, when he was thirty-
three years old, and had not yet indeed whitened the hairs
of his hair with gray, but surpassed the gray hairs of many
in prudence. But it grieved Eudocimus,
not that he was absolutely dying, as one who through
his whole life had meditated on that, and what life he had led,
and what lot had followed him:
and moreover, being wise, he was not altogether ignorant
what the law was among composite things: namely,
that having received a beginning, it was necessary to attain an end
also: wherefore the separation of the body did not
disturb him: but that, not having seen his dearest mother,
he had journeyed far. But how did he die? For this
is a partaker at once both of philosophy and of profit. That man
indeed was sick, and the disease had now brought him to this,
that he was drawing his last breath. But he,
having summoned his household, first indeed
diligently charged them, and bound them by an oath,
to lay him in the tomb thus clad,
and by no means to observe upon him * those things which are wont
to be done with the dead. Then, having ordered all to go out
outside the doors, shut in alone, he gives himself to prayer.
But the prayer was (for it was heard by someone
who was listening near the doors) that his departure to God
might be obscure and known to none, in the same way
as almost his whole life turned out manifest to none.
And when he had added other things also to his prayer, and had given
thanks, and at last said, "Into your hands
I commend my spirit," he sent forth a truly holy
soul. But some of those who served at his
burial, affected more rustically than piously
in executing this charge, not only
with the garments and shoes with which he was clad,
but also with the coverlets in which he lay, thus placed him
in a wooden coffin, and buried in the ground him
who had nothing worthy of darkness—covering wholly the sun with a cloud, or a lamp * with a bushel, or rather, if
you prefer, in a storeroom a most precious treasure,
which cannot be consumed. But he was thus indeed
laid away: but God did not suffer him to lie hidden,
but renders him manifest for the profit of many.
And thus he does.
[8] A certain man was vexed by a demonic spirit,
Elias by name, A demoniac is made free at his tomb; when after the Saint's death not many
days had passed. Suddenly he approaches the tomb,
saying many things indeed, but doing many things
which the wickedness of demons is wont to do to the harm
of human nature, which is assailed by them in war
from above. The demon indeed being moved by the Saint, or
rather by the virtue of Christ, that he might make him manifest
and honor him: but moving and torturing,
and disturbing the man with the greatest tempest, when
it had cast Elias to the ground as though dead, that
wicked demon at once departed, as being for the man as it were a certain discipline,
and a medicine for expiating sins, by those
judgments which God knows. And Elias indeed was thus freed from
the demon: but God did not make the glory
of his Servant stop there: nay rather, when, like
a trumpet crying very loud, the miracle was dispersed
among many, it called to the tomb the multitude of those
who labored under various diseases; the tomb,
I say, from which admirably for many
there gushed life and cure.
[9] Of these one woman, who had a son
whose hands were paralyzed, certain feeble people are healed by the oil of his lamp: and who bore them
no otherwise than a stone and a statue, when she had ardently
approached the tomb, had need of no long
delay, no dealings, no days: but as
soon as she came, the oil taken from the lamp of the blessed
tomb brought her help to free her son from
the disease: with which when she had anointed her son's hands, she saw
him at once wholly unharmed, and using his hands
both free, and performing their own office. But another
boy affected in the same way indeed,
differing in this alone, that to the former the hands, but
to him the feet were immovable. He therefore,
offered with a like faith, obtained also a like
cure. For when he too had been anointed
on the feet with the oil of the lamp, straightway he leapt up,
and was the cause of great thanksgiving, which was offered
to the Saint himself, who had cured him, and to God,
who had furnished the grace of the cures.
[10] Again a woman vexed by a demon was freed
from the malignant spirit vexing her, a demoniac is freed; and various diseases are cured by the dust of the tomb. when she had only
approached the tomb, and had well learned
how light pursues darkness, and how
terrible to a bad and fugitive servant is a good and pleasing servant,
because of that union and familiarity
which intervenes for him with the Lord. Further,
to another woman also, who labored under a grievous disease,
the loosing of the tomb was a marvelous cure—
dust taken with faith, then sprinkled with water,
or, to say it better, with her tears, and
placed upon the part of the body which was ailing.
And therefore, when she had sowed in the tears of a faith fervent
toward God, she reaped the exultation of cure. To not
a few others also ill-affected, who were far off,
but in faith were not far, this dust,
brought to them, seemed an apt medicine in every disease,
and one which in many other ways too
was most pleasing. For along with that which it cured
most certainly, it had also swiftness, and
with swiftness, freedom from trouble, and with
freedom from trouble, that there was no fee at all to be paid,
and no harm whatever was received.
Time and speech will fail me, and the hands
serving the work of writing will be exhausted, if we should wish
to comprehend all the miracles which both formerly he,
where he was buried, and now here also translated,
works.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
The integrity and flexibility of the body; its translation to Constantinople; its honorable deposition there.
To the borders of the Charsian, where the body of St. Eudocimus rested, Since the oration made mention of the translation,
concerning that too it must be treated, in what manner
it was done, and what was the cause that his
body, buried in the borders of the Charsian, was translated
to this royal city. Great and swift
was the fame of his miracles pervading into all parts,
and it filled the ears of all: and by nature
indeed it was so, but now it became swifter also
on account of the novelty of the thing. For where would
anyone have hoped, that a man living in the world,
and who had undertaken the administration of a people, and who
at every single hour was tossed by such great waves, could
by himself be at rest, and have the inner man
vexed by no trouble, and preserve in himself unharmed and manifest
the types of the memory of God, and by his fear
keep his heart pure from all filth?
For to exercise piety indeed, and to embrace honesty,
and to be somewhat mindful of virtue and of God's
commandments, you will perhaps find in many even of
those who live in the world. For we will not
altogether strip them of virtue, and attribute it as their own
possession to those alone who are
separated from the world. But to be raised to so great a height
of impassibility and of virtue, that one attains
the grace and splendor of miracles, that
you would say belongs only to those who have bidden much
farewell to the world and to all worldly things, and have embraced
solitudes rather than cities, and deserts, and to be far
removed from friends for Christ's sake,
and of those few: for indeed of few
do we know that perfection which is according to their powers.
[12] When therefore the fame of his death and of his miracles
had thus been dispersed, roused by the fame of the miracles, his mother hastens; his parents (for while they were still
living he died) and especially his mother,
who with the greatest and most genuine love, as mothers are wont toward their sons,
followed him, had a great fire
in their inward parts, both at once as
longing for their son, and desiring to be seen the parents
of him who was so illustrious for miracles. The mother
therefore, not bearing the impulse of her heart, judging it to be
something small and to be esteemed as nothing, and not sufficiently
firm an excuse for a pious mother the length of the journey
and the weakness of old age, taking account of none
of all these things, setting out from Byzantium, to that
which we already said before, the Charsian, with incredible
speed she came. Then, when she had beheld the
multitude of those who assiduously came to the tomb,
and the gift which they obtained who
labored under many and various diseases and afflictions,
and how swift a cure they obtained of those very things,
I mean, the malignant spirits, and of diseases
and afflictions, as if the tomb struck into them a horrible terror,
not permitting them to approach,
so that they could not remain:
or rather as certain hostile enemies, who
cannot even endure the sight of a brave Emperor,
but at once dismiss those whom they have seized,
and cast themselves into flight. When she had seen these things,
and had been poured around the tomb, pleasantly and tunefully
she wept, partly indeed mourning her son as dead,
partly admiring him as living from God, and honored
with such great miracles: and that she herself
too might enjoy the grace and glory, and glory in that name.
[13] "Son," she said with a rather high voice, "son, eternal light
of my eyes, and she indulges maternal affections at the tomb. son, a certain hidden and
ineffable good to your parents: whence to you this
clear and great light of cures? Whence has flowed the copious
grace of the spirit? Are these altogether the recompense of a pious
life, and of hidden labors? Or
rather not only a recompense, but an earnest and prelude
of the goods which await you after these things?
Truly I am blessed among mothers, who am held
worthy to be and to be called the mother of such a son.
No longer do I weave for you maternal lamentations
as for a son, but as for a friend of God
I sing spiritual hymns. No longer do I call you son,
and the fruit of my womb, but son of God by
grace, not of bloods, nor of the will
of the flesh, but truly born of God. Whom, though I myself
bore him carnally, by him again in turn
I am begotten spiritually. Nor do I blush to call him father,
whose true father is that heavenly one: and his kinsmen
are the angels and the choirs of all the Saints,
by the communion of good works and the equality of reward.
Take care of your parents, whose desire for you is
heavier than old age. And yet,
O dearest one, well will you render thanks to your carnal mother
for the nourishment given, if to your spiritual father by your
intercessions you make her familiar. Well
also will you render thanks to your father, that he brought you
to this, that you should be, if for the rest of his old age and weakness
you seek the bosom of Abraham. These things
now demand of you both your father's gray hairs, and your mother's
pains in childbirth, and the breasts which you, who are in every
part perfect, sucked, when you were still
an infant. Take care of your parents, take care of your kinsmen.
He will rejoice, I well know, God, whom you
judge is to be honored in your parents, whom his
precept bids you honor, inasmuch as through them
honor is carried to him. For he is both the first of all,
a father, and maker, and cause, that they should be brought
to this, that they should be."
[14] The body whole She said these things, and orders the stone to be lifted, and the coffin
to be drawn out of the monument. When this had been done,
and, at her order, the coffin was opened, a miracle is beheld,
both most divine to see, and most pleasant
to tell, and most valid for confirming those things which
had preceded. Eighteen
months had passed after the death, and he who
so many days before was dead, had no sign,
not a flowing of the body, not a loosing of the frame,
not a consuming of the flesh, not blackness,
not anything that was faded, or that had withered
and was liquefied: but he seemed wholly
fresh, just as if the soul had lately
left him. The members seemed almost to be with
motion, the cheeks with ruddiness, the lips with bloom, the mouth
with breath. You would have thought that you saw him not at all
dead, but rather sleeping, or
collecting himself, and meditating something more diligently.
Further, the very tunics, the very coverlet garments
were so whole and unharmed, and affected with no detriment
(as regards the burial), as though
they had been placed in a chest, and diligently guarded.
There is in dead bodies of themselves something unpleasant
and foul. There is in garments too, which have lain a long
time, and in other things of that kind, a certain evil
odor, which offends the smell. But there
nothing of that kind, but a good odor, and grace and delight,
as though it were not some tomb and coffin,
but an open garden. What has been said is proved,
and that the body was still whole
and fresh, from what follows.
[15] and flexible; whose garments a certain man takes away; A certain monk, Joseph by name, a priest,
and one who was zealous for piety, when he was then present,
with his hands placed under, and having embraced the dead man,
tried to raise him up. But he yielded, and seemed
to obey, and to give himself up. And so that admirable man
was raised up, his joints and frame
holding rightly among themselves. When the priest had seen this,
and was filled with fear, he asked that
he might be permitted to take away those things with which he was clad. He
again obeyed, and released his hands to the priest
and his feet, that he might use them as he wished. The priest therefore
stripped him of his tunic, and clad him with another.
And from his feet he removes not only the shoes, but
also those things of silk which were placed within upon the feet.
All these things therefore he did so easily, and without
any labor, just as if he brought help
to the priest, and gave himself up, that he might use him conveniently.
Then he lays him back in that
figure in which he was before: so that this whole thing was done by divine
counsel, that he was thus buried, as he was
before: that even from this it might be manifest to all,
that after burial the body remained more powerful
than destruction and dissolution. Which indeed, being seen,
was to many demons and diseases a cause that they
should flee; and deservedly: for if even when it was hidden,
it was terrible to them; after it appeared,
how would it not be of such a kind that it could not at all
be endured?
[16] and likewise secretly the body itself; What followed after these things? The mother strove,
the holy body being taken up, to return home.
"For this star," she said, "arose from my
womb." But those who dwelt in that region
strove not to concede that she should attempt it.
For "although," they said, "that star proceeded from you,
yet it is seen to have set among us. How therefore
will you take from us him who has shown such
rays of miracles? From you indeed a fair
shoot sprouted, but among us it produced the clusters of miracles,
and it pleased him that we should enjoy the new wine
of graces and cures. It was not difficult for God,
if he had wished to turn him back thither whence he proceeded.
Do not therefore seem to fight against the judgment of God
and his will, nor envy us the divine graces.
Do not deprive us of a fountain, which is set forth not for us
alone, but also in common for all to
enjoy. For glory it is enough for you, that
you appeared his mother, over whose dead
body even there is so great contention. You will sooner drive us out of this
country, than deprive our country of this good
given to us by God." She, after she had heard these things,
knowing that some wiser counsel was to be taken by her,
was at rest. Then, when she had bidden
all farewell, she returns home. But that
monk and priest, pious above others, of whom
we spoke before, when he had remained, and by the multitude of days
had driven out all suspicion, and in
guarding him had made the guards more careless,
entering by night, stole away the divine treasure,
and fled with the theft. But the odor of the miracles showed
the ointment which was concealed, and the cure of diseases
was the accuser of the theft.
[17] For a certain woman, while he was borne on the way,
and those who bore him wished to rest in a certain place, famous for miracles on the way toward Constantinople: as is
fitting: she, I say,
when she was vexed by a malignant spirit, rushed upon the coffin,
and leapt grievously upon it, and as by a great
wave was tossed. Then, when she had assailed the Saint
with the foulest curses—not she indeed
altogether, but he who dwelt within her, whom you would call
the adversary—that strong one, struck by him, withdrew,
going away into the places to which by God he had been condemned.
But she returned home again healed.
No long time had passed, and a certain
virgin, superioress of a monastery which was called
Mantineum a, when she labored under a certain secret and grievous disease,
and could not bear the grievous pains which she felt
from it, when she had learned that that
dead body bringing life was being brought, and with great
faith and ardor of mind had gone to meet it, as though
to a living and hearing Saint had told her disease at the coffin,
found the reward of an ardent faith, a swift
cure. Working miracles of this kind, and
obtaining that glory from God, the body is at last
brought into Byzantium, most pleasant to the parents,
and most useful to mortals, more powerful than evil
spirits, stronger than maladies and diseases,
a medicine truly impregnable: nor availing
only against one disease, but, to say it once,
resisting all.
[18] which is honorably deposited at Constantinople. The mother therefore, glad at such a return of her son, and at once
lifting up her head in Christ, and showing splendor and magnificence
in due time, at great expense of silver clothed the coffin:
not only doing this,
as in favor of her son, but striving to honor him
as a friend of God: so that the one indeed
was of nature, but the other of a pious mind, and of a mind
loving God. When therefore the best parents had thus surrounded the coffin
with silver, this truly sacred
temple they deposit in a fair temple which they themselves
had built to the Mother of God herself, made common
benefactors to men, a gift being given which extends
into everlasting: through whom demons are put to flight,
diseases are loosed, and God in all things, and through all things,
is glorified. Since to him is due all glory,
honor, and adoration, now and always, and forever
and ever. Amen.