ON S. ANUB-BISSOIUS, SUFFERING AT HELIOPOLIS, SS. GEORGIUS AND BASJELA HIS WIFE, ARNOBIUS AND PETRUS, ASCHIRION, ARGENIS, AND BELFIJUS,
MARTYRS IN EGYPT.
From the Abyssinian Hagiology.
CommentaryAnub-Bissojus, Martyr at Heliopolis (S.)
Georgius, Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Basjela his wife; Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Arnobius, Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Petrus, Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Aschirion, Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Argenis, Martyr in Egypt (S.)
Belfijus. Martyr in Egypt (S.)
D. P.
At Heliopolis, a most ancient city in Egypt The City of the Sun Ἡλιούπολις, where
Mithras King of Egypt, whose name
similarly means Sun,
is said to have first erected an obelisk to the Sun,
with Pliny as witness; has as witness of its antiquity
and renown, the most holy & most chaste Patriarch Joseph:
who, as we read in Gen. 41, having been made next after Pharaoh,
took thence as wife Aseneth, daughter of Putiphar,
Priest of Heliopolis. This city across the Nile,
toward the North, near Memphis, not only
under the Greek and Roman Empires retained its
celebrity; but also at the time of the Council of Ephesus
was held to be Episcopal; although now, with its name changed,
almost entirely it has collapsed into ruins. In this place either
all the Saints titled, or the first-named Anub, made
Hagiology of the Abyssinians, of which the first stropha at
XIV Buna, or XIII June, is thus rendered in Latin:
[2] he suffered, when, I say salutation to Anub-Bissoius, which is interpreted
Pure-Gold (for Πινοοὺβ means Gold in Coptic,
says Ludolfus) A lion, escaped from the hands of its keeper,
came to him, offering its back, like a good
horse for mounting, when he consummated his martyrdom
at Heliopolis. Which words from
the Acts of the passion, if any are extant, will be able to receive
greater clarity. To this one Ludolfus in the Ethiopic Fasti
joins next Tesfa-Michael, as a consort of the same
Martyrdom from the same Hagiology. But, if
the interpretation proposed to me of the following stropha is sincere,
he does not seem to be praised there as a Martyr,
but as a pious Ascetic; about whose age, therefore,
& (which is consequent) sincere religion, &
legitimate cult founded on this, nothing can be established:
for I elicit this sense from it, & no other: whether also Tesfa-Michael: Tesfa-Michael,
Lord, cover with golden garments,
remembering the steps of his justice; who reverencing thy glory,
at night of the Lord's day stands with bare breast,
binding his loins with a single garment & band.
Where unless τὸ stat is taken for stabat (was standing), or,
was wont to stand, there would not even be discourse about a dead man: whence
at one time Ludolfus doubted, whether these things were not said
in the person of the author, praying for himself: but here as elsewhere
he might do it, he does not seem to do it now: for who, unless
from vain glory, would wish his secret exercise or
mortification to be made known by public song?
[3] Of the others, whom the title has, the passion, is more certainly
expressed by two following Strophae, of which the tenor
is this: Salutation to Georgius, enduring temptations of every kind;
whether at least the two spouses, to whom appeared the dove of Galilee
Mary, while they were stretching out his loins and
striking out his brain. Salutation to his wife Basiola, who mingled her
exercise with the fragrance of her contest:
by which phrase the agon of martyrdom seems to be understood; whose odor
the severe exercise of her former life rendered acceptable to God,
nonetheless sweetly fragrant. But whom
shall we suspect to be Mary, the dove of Galilee, who
appeared to suffering Georgius? & 5 others whether starved by hunger, First here offers itself to the thought,
Mary the Virgin, dwelling in Nazareth a city of Galilee,
& figured in the Canticles by the name of Dove:
a more certain explanation is desired from the Acts.
[4] There remain five others, of whom these things are in the same place; Salutation
to Arnobius, & to Peter like him; Martyrs in Egypt? & not
to Aschirion, Argenis, & Belfijus, their companions:
who for Jesus Christ wrestled with hunger &
thirst, so that they neither ate food nor drank water,
at length killed, not otherwise perhaps,
than by that very substraction of food and drink in prison,
into which they had been cast for Christ. The rest
it is necessary the Acts teach, if any survive; from which
also certainty is to be sought about the Wrestling-place of Martyrdom, which
meanwhile we do not fear to ascribe to Egypt. Verisimilarly
also the aforenamed spouses are to be separated from these
either by place, or time, or both.