ON S. NAUCRATUS, OR NAUCRATIUS,
PROVOST OF THE STUDITES AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
YEAR 848.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
By what foundation he is judged on this day reported in the Synaxary.
Naucratius, Provost of the Studites at Constantinople (S.)
G. H.
[1] The Greeks in the MS. Menaea, which at Dijon with Peter Francis Chifletius we found, celebrate on this 8 June the memory of Saint Naucratius, whom they assert ended his life in peace, and add these verses, Cult among the Greeks. with an allusion to the etymon of the name, taken from skill in navigating.
Τὴν Ναύκρατος γῆν ἐκπερῶν, ἐπιτρέπει Τὴν ψυχικὴν ναῦν τῷ κυβερνήτῃ Λόγῳ.
Naucratus, having sailed across the earth, commends to God, the governor of the soul, his vessel.
[2] he seems to have been a Studite of C. P. If there were room for conjecture, we judge this S. Naucratus to be the illustrious man Naucratius, who lived among the Studites of Constantinople and presided over them, disciple of S. Theodore the Studite, and fellow-disciple of S. Nicholas, in whose Life illustrated by us on 4 February, chapter 2 n. 12 illustrious men are enumerated, who flourished in the said monastery then with that Nicholas himself, namely S. Theodore, and his brother Joseph, afterwards Archbishop of the Thessalonians. Indeed both Timothy, Athanasius also and Naucratius. For those whom manners join together, place also brings into one. For place is praised in manners, and in turn manners have praise in the place loved. S. Theodore the Studite wrote very many epistles to Naucratius, from which we know that he was proved by various prisons, and stood forth as an illustrious Confessor for the orthodox faith of Christ: but in an epistle to the aforenamed Athanasius, sent into exile, these things are read: Why are the brothers Naucratius and Arsenius detained in strict custody until now, and in like manner Basil and Gregory, monks in the same place? Why is Stephen, that virtue-loving Provost, with fifty-six disciples driven from his monastery, after he together with a hundred and ten, and with him who had been Bishop before, had condemned the Mœcho-Synod with anathema, as a breaker of the Gospel?
[3] About the liberation of Naucratius, and the Prefecture of the Studites committed to him, in the said Life of S. Nicholas the Studite chapter 7 n. 36, these things are read: When moreover Emperor Theophilus had now died, and one wretched tomb had likewise circumscribed his heresy, which I think, deservedly; returned from exile and his Christ-loving wife Theodora, with her son Michael who was quite young, had undertaken the citadel of the Roman Empire; and the impious Jannes, with a certain prelude of eternal vengeance, here also had obtained abdication from divine things; and great Methodius as Pontiff held the helm of the Church, with God-inspired Fathers coming together into one, who then Provost of the Studites, the celebration of Orthodoxy had its beginning, when the ends of the world now had serenity. Then plainly also our common Father and servant of Christ Naucratius, returning from exile, came to Byzantium; and for the merit of his contests, received with much honor by the Empress and the Patriarch himself the illustrious man, at their request undertook the Prefecture of the sacred fraternity of the Brothers, now gathered together into one, in the most venerable monastery of Studius: which indeed great Theodore, was present at the Translation of S. Theodore the Stud. with many labors lately nourishing and augmenting it, had advanced almost to the number of a thousand. And again with new vigor that fold of Christ was alive, like to a certain Paradise, presenting many roses of virtues and the sweet smell of the spirit to those wishing to behold... About that time there happened the illustrious and joy-filled Translation of the Confessor and our holy Father Theodore, from the island of Principe to this our monastery, with the most pious Augusta providing, and the great Pontiff and the whole assembly of the Church running together: and he was gloriously deposited on the twenty-sixth of January, next to his illustrious and God-inspired uncle Plato, together with his brother and Bishop Joseph, on the right toward the Eastern part of the shrine of holy Forerunner: in which place the Relics of victorious Martyrs are buried.
[4] But with Methodius the defender and proclaimer of piety migrating to that blessed lot, when Ignatius had undertaken the helm of the Pontifical summit; that admirable man, and truly illustrious with many crowns of contests Naucratius, died 18 April. on the eighteenth of the month of April was put to sleep in the same, and fell asleep, leaving as his successor the blessed Confessor, and our much-suffering Father Nicholas. Thus there and then, with S. Nicholas's exile and return to the rule of the monastery, miracles and death related, these things about his burial are added. Then his Nicholas's compunctious, buried with other Saints, and illustrious with the very great glory of contests tabernacle, together with B. Naucratius was deposited on the right side, in the most glorious and sacred chapel of the Martyrs, which is situated on the right of the shrine of the Forerunner: in which place the most illustrious and venerable and honorable casket of our holy Father Theodore was placed.
[5] Thus there, from all which we have collected that Naucratius, Provost of the Studites at Constantinople, seems to have been held worthy of veneration of Saints, but because we had not found his name inscribed in the sacred Fasti, on the said 18 April, on which he fell asleep in Christ, we reported him only among the Passed-over: but now we judge, because the said day was impeded either by the Paschal time or by the veneration of other Saints, or because on this day 8 June some elevation of Relics was made, or for any other cause whatever, & he seems to be venerated on 8 June, that this day was chosen for his cult or annual commemoration. The verses related above indicate some pre-eminence of his in governing subjects; and those who with Naucratius on the right side of the chapel are reported buried, all have their own proper cult; as S. Nicholas, his successor, on 4 February; Theodore his predecessor, on 12 November; Plato Hegumen and Archimandrite of the Saccudaei, as also his Companions on their own days. on 4 April; and Joseph Archbishop of the Thessalonians on 14 and 15 July: but those who received Naucratius returning from exile, the Empress Theodora, and Methodius the Patriarch, she indeed has been reported by us on the day 11 February; he below, on the 14 of this June, will be reported. Indeed those who are indicated above to have lived with him, Athanasius and Timothy, seem not to have lacked the honor of annual commemoration among the Saints, for on the day 22 February we treated of a certain Athanasius, thinking nothing yet of the Studites; and some Timothy was reported by us on the Kalends of February, perhaps the same who is praised above.
[6] Time of life. Naucratius however returned from exile in the year 842, and in that year or the following created Provost of the Studites, in that dignity completed his life in the year 848.