CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS DIOMEDES, EULAMPIUS, MELITO, PETER, AND ASCLEPIADES,
AMONG THE GREEKS.
From the Dijon manuscript Synaxarion.
CommentaryDiomedes, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)
Eulampius, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)
Melito, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)
Peter, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)
Asclepiades, Martyr among the Greeks (St.)
D. P.
Of the Greeks, both the printed Menaea, and the manuscript Synaxaria all; even that Constantinopolitan one, more prolix than the rest, which P. Sirmond procured for our Parisian College, devote the whole Office of this day to the Synaxis of the twelve Apostles, to be celebrated, after their Chiefs were honored on the preceding day, some Disciples of the Apostles being added besides; so that they mention no other Saint; except the single Dijon manuscript, whence we have thus consequently described the above-titled Martyrs:
[2] "Saint Diomedes is consummated by the sword." (Ὁ ἅγιος Διομήδης ξίφει τελειοῦται.)
"From his vertebrae he poured out blood to the Lord, The truceless enemy of demons, Diomedes." (Ἐκ σπονδύλων ἔσπεισεν αἷμα Κυρίῳ, Ἄσπονδος ἐχθρὸς δαιμόνων Διομήδης.) There is a play on the words "spondyle" (vertebra), "speisai" (to pour a libation), "aspondos" (bound by no treaty, or, irreconcilable): which all seem in the Greek language to have a common root, but no one will easily so express it in Latin words: the sense you may render thus: To the Lord he pours his own gore from his neck, The sworn enemy of demons, Diomedes.
[3] There follows another, namely, "Saint Eulampius of Tarsus is consummated by the sword." (Ὁ ἅγιος Εὐλάμπιος ἐκ Τάρσου ξίφει τελειοῦται.)
"Why do you bid Eulampius to bow his head, executioner, when he offers every limb to the blade?" (Τί τὴν κεφαλὴν, δήμιε, κλίνον λέγεις Εὐλαμπίῳ, διδόντι πᾶν σπάθῃ μέλος;) Why do you command, executioner, Eulampius to bend his head, who offers all his limbs to the iron?
[4] "On the same day, Saint Melito is consummated by the sword." (Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ὁ ἅγιος Μελιτών, ξίφει τελειοῦται.) On the same day Melito falls by the sword.
"Melito spoke, and divinely-uttered honey… he should there, having dipped his pen, write an epitome." (Εἶπον Μελίτων καὶ θεόῤῥητον μέλι … Ἔχρην ἐκεῖ βάψαντα συντομὴν γράφειν.) Although Melito with his mouth gave divine honey; Yet he must be written here in epitome. Let him render the sense better who can: I confess that by conjecturing I have not attained what the author intends by the words, perhaps not well expressed by the copyist.
[5] "On the same day Saint Peter, of Sinope, dragged along over rocks, is consummated." (Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος, ὁ ἐκ Σινώπης, κατὰ πετρῶν συρόμενος τελειοῦται.) Peter, one of the people of Sinope, dragged over rocks is consummated.
"The divine minds also revere you, Reverend Peter, who gave your flesh to the rocks." (Ἔχουσιν αἰδεῖσθέ σε καὶ θεῖοι νόοι, Αἰδοῖε Πέτρε, δόντα τὴν σάρκα πέτραις.) Reverend Peter, may the minds of the Gods honor you, While he thus offers his limbs to the rocks to be torn apart.
[6] "Saint Asclepiades makes the end of living in the sea." (Ὁ ἅγιος Ἀσκληπιάδης ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τελειοῦται.) Saint Asclepiades makes the end of living in the sea.
"Asclepiades entered into the sea, Seeking to find the good pearl." (Ἀσκληπιάδης τὴν θάλασσαν εἰσέδυ, Ζητῶν ἐφευρεῖν τὸν καλὸν μαργαρίτην.) Asclepiades eagerly enters the sea, wishing There to find the precious Pearl.
[7] The particle of transition twice repeated, "on the same day," is an indication that those whom the writer here consequently celebrates suffered not in one place or time. That the first two pertain to Cilicia, and were beheaded at the same time, would be no absurd conjecture, since one of them is said to have been born at Tarsus. Elsewhere Melito may have suffered the same punishment. Peter of Sinope perhaps will look to Egypt: who if he had Asclepiades as a companion, plunged in the sea, it will not be out of place to suspect, that in some maritime place both being caught as Christians, by the fury of the Gentiles and outside any judgment, they suffered martyrdom.