Maximus the Confessor

ON ST. MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR

BISHOP OF JERUSALEM.

AFTER A.D. CCCLV.

Maximus the Confessor, Bishop of Jerusalem (S.)

By the Author G. H.

[1] The Tables of the Roman Church, on this day V May, celebrate the memory of S. Maximus with these words: At Jerusalem of S. Maximus the Bishop and Confessor, Sacred Cult. whom Maximian Galerius Caesar, after his eye had been gouged out, and his foot burned with red-hot iron, condemned to the metals. In the Notes are likewise alleged the Greeks, among whom in the Menaea, Synaxaria, or Menologies we find nothing, neither on this nor on any other day: among the Latins only the author of the MS. Florarium has inscribed the name of Maximus of Jerusalem, Bishop, on the XXX of April among the other Saints commemorated by him, with no other word added. Then Sozomen is cited by Baronius: in whom in book I of Ecclesiastical History chapter 10 that encomium is had. Paphnutius the Egyptian and Maximus, who after Macarius governed the Hierosolymitan Church, are extant from the number of those Confessors, whom the tyrant Maximinus, when he had gouged out their right eyes, and weakened the bends of their left feet, condemned to the metals. The same in book 2 chapter 19 sets forth these things. About that time, when Mark after Silvester had held the Roman Episcopate for a brief time, Julius succeeded into that See (in the year CCCXXXVII, as on April XII to this Life we have shown). But into the See of Jerusalem, after Macarius, He is said to have been ordained Bishop of Diospolis: Maximus succeeded. Whom report has it was ordained Bishop of the Church of Diospolis by Macarius, but was hindered by the people of Jerusalem from taking up that See. For because he was a Confessor, and a man otherwise distinguished, by the suffrages of the people it was decreed, that after the death of Macarius he should succeed to the Episcopate of that city. And so when the multitude bore it ill that they were going to be deprived of him, whose virtue they held proven by experience, and a sedition seemed to arise from this matter; it seemed good to the Diospolitans to choose another Bishop, that Maximus might remain at Jerusalem, and discharge the sacred function of the Episcopate together with Macarius, and after his death govern that Church alone. Yet it must be understood, that those who have labored more accurately in investigating this matter, affirm that the people did all things according to the opinion of Macarius, and strove for it with the highest zeal. For they record that he had labored with all care, but reserved that he might succeed S. Macarius. that Maximus should be appointed Bishop after him: because he embraced him in his mind, since he held a right and true opinion concerning God, and was very dear to the people on account of his confession of the faith, and was necessarily to be reserved for succeeding him. For he feared that, after his death, Eusebius and Patrophilus, supporters of the Arian sect, having got a fitting time, would assign that Episcopal See to someone devoted to their opinion: since while Macarius remained alive, they had begun to be eager for novelties; but when from him on that account they had been segregated from the Church, they grew quiet. Thus there.

[2] S. Macarius died about the year CCCXXXV as on day X of March, on whose death he completed the dedication of the church in 1335 (recte 335). on which he is venerated, we have shown. And so the dedication of the Hierosolymitan Church, which in that year was to be made, on day XIII of September, must have had Maximus sufficiently occupied, that he was not present at the Council of Tyre, where the innocence of Athanasius was being oppressed by the highest iniquity. And so not there, but at Jerusalem, the dedication being completed, when there it was being gone into the Council, and the condemnation of Athanasius and the reception of Arius seemed about to be signed, Yet he did not subscribe to the Synod against Athanasius. as in fact each was signed; I would believe it was done as the same Sozomen narrates book 2 chapter 24, that Paphnutius the Confessor, who was present at the Council, took the hand of the Bishop of Jerusalem, and admonished him to rise: for it was not fitting that they themselves, who were Confessors, and for piety had eyes gouged out and hams weakened, should communicate in the counsel of lost men. And this is verisimilarly the cause why Eusebius in book 4 of the Life of Constantine, treating prolixly of that Dedication, which was the most celebrated of all memorable actions in this kind, on account of the multitude of Bishops collected from everywhere to it, deigned to make no mention of the Bishop of Jerusalem; whose, as in his own church, parts there ought to have been the chief.

[3] The same Sozomen book 3 toward the end of chapter 20 writes that S. Athanasius passed through Palestine, he receives S. Athanasius, kindly and humanely received, and that the Council called at Jerusalem, Maximus and other Bishops wrote on his behalf these things. The Holy Council called at Jerusalem to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, and to the Presbyters too and Deacons and people of Alexandria, dearest and chiefly desired brethren, in Christ greeting. To God the moderator of all things, dearest Brethren, for the admirable benefits, both which at every time on us, and which now on your Church He has conferred, by restoring to you Athanasius your Pastor and Lord, and our colleague, in no way can we render worthy thanks. For who could ever have hoped that he would behold with his eyes those things, which you now have actually obtained? But your prayers without doubt have been heard by the Governor of all things, God, and from the Synod he writes for him in the year 349. who bears care of your Church, who has looked upon your tears and lamentations, and therefore mercifully has lent ears to your prayers. For you were as sheep cast out, ill-vexed, not having a shepherd. And for this cause, He who is the true Shepherd, and diligent Caretaker of His sheep, looked down upon you from heaven, and kindly restored to you the one whom you desired. Moreover we, working all things which make for the peace of the Church, and aspiring to your charity, embraced him in friendship before he should come to you: and communicating with him, we have sent these greetings to you, and our wishes for the sake of congratulating through him, to this end that you may understand, both that we are bound by the bond of charity with him, and that you ought earnestly to pray to God for the most religious and most holy Emperors, who, your desire being perceived, and his sincere piety known, deigned to restore him to you most honorifically. Wherefore having embraced him with arms, as they say, open, labor to apply due prayers with thanksgiving to God, who has bestowed this benefit upon you: that you, by God's grace bestowing perpetually, may rejoice, and extol the Lord God with praises, in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom to the Father be glory in perpetuity. Amen. Thus there. The Acts of S. Athanasius we have given on the second day of this month of May, and we have shown this restoration of his to have happened in the year CCCXLIX.

[4] Another author cited in the Notes of the Martyrology is Theodoret, who in book 2 of Ecclesiastical History chapter 27, or by the division of Sirmond chapter 22, has these things: he is deposed by the Arians in the year 355. After Macarius the Chair of Jerusalem held Maximus, a man illustrious for the contests undertaken for the cause of piety: who both had his right eye dug out, and the bend of his right foot cut off. He being then translated to immortal life, Cyril, an alacritous and ready defender of the Apostolic dogmas, was deemed worthy of the Episcopal grace and honor. Thus there. The Acts of S. Cyril we have illustrated on day XVIII of March, and have shown number 9 from Theophanes that in the year CCCLV Maximus the Bishop of Jerusalem was deposed by Acacius of Caesarea and Petrophilus of Scythopolis, the Prelates, and Cyril, whom they hoped would think with them, was substituted in his place. Of S. Maximus also Jerome and Nicephorus the Bishop in their Chronicles make mention: which being passed over from a MS. universal Chronicle, compiled by Theodoricus Pauli of Gorcum, and inserted to it a tract on the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, we give the encomium, of which the title there is this: On Saint Maximus the XL Patriarch of Jerusalem, and this text is appended.

[5] Maximus the XL Patriarch was a pious and very devout man, and an exemplar of those living well. This most holy Maximus was one of the Confessors of those, whom the Emperor Maximian, with right eyes gouged out, and the left ham cut off, had condemned to the metals, among other torments inflicted on him for the faith of Christ. Finally Constantine the Great being baptized, and the abusive Emperors being extinguished, not only was he permitted to go free, but also was assumed to the Patriarchate of the holy Hierosolymitan Church, after many miracles wrought, he gloriously ruled it. For he was a simple, good and innocent man, through whom Christ shone with infinite miracles. He was moreover most stable in the faith of Christ, and ruled his Church in the time of the greatest persecution of tyrants, of Constantius Emperor of the Romans, depraved by the Arian heresy, and of Sapor King of the Persians, who beyond sixteen thousand Martyrs for the faith of Christ crowned with martyrdom. Finally full of virtuous works, and bright with many miracles, he fell asleep in Christ. Thus there.

[6] Nicephorus Callistus book 9 Hist. Eccles. chapter 26, Maximus, he says, the Bishop of Jerusalem, in the persecution of Licinius showed himself an excellent Martyr, when one of his eyes for true piety was gouged out. Thus ineptly the Latin interpreter, when in Greek is read, ὁ κατὰ Μαξιμῖνον διωγμὸς μάρτυρα ἀνεδείκνυ. With Sozomen therefore he attributes it to Maximinus, and Eusebius favors book on the Martyrs of Palestine chapter 8, Glorious for torments previously borne for the faith. where he has these things. When even into the sixth year of the persecution against us the storm raged, from the Confessors of the divine religion, of whom an innumerable multitude long since dwelt in the Thebaid, in a place which was called Porphyrites, from the name of the marble which is dug there; about a hundred men, three excepted, together with women and quite small free-born children, were sent to the Governor of Palestine. To all of whom, when they had confessed God the maker of all and Christ, Firmilian the Governor, who had succeeded Urban, ordered the bends of the left foot to be cut out together with the very nerves with red-hot iron, and the right eyes first indeed to be pierced through with the points of swords together with the membranes and pupils, then to the very roots to be burned with a cautery, as if from the Emperor's mandate. After these things to the metals of the province of Palestine, with labors and afflictions

to be performed, he sends them. Thus there, and with Sozomen the left foot is said to have been weakened: which Theodoret above transferred to the right. Furthermore presently the Confessors are said to have been exhibited to Maximinus, and this is confirmed at the end of the chapter with these words: Not long after again from Egypt one hundred and thirty athletes, noble for the confession of the Christian faith, the same maimings of eyes and feet which the former had undergone already in Egypt, by the order of the Emperor Maximinus, under Maximinus, part to the metals of Palestine, part to those of the province of Cilicia, were condemned and led away. Thus there.

The sixth year of the persecution falls on the year CCCIX, and Galerius Maximian in the year 309. in which Galerius Maximian the Emperor was still living and presided over the highest affairs, and Maximinus his nephew was only Caesar: accordingly the said persecution is excellently ascribed to Maximian Galerius in the Roman Martyrology. At this time however if S. Maximus had been thirty years old, His age he was passing the XLVIII year of his age, when at Nicaea was celebrated the first General Synod, in which he too with other Confessors was present, in the opinion of Godfrey Hermant, in the French Life of S. Athanasius book 2 chapter 1, which is verisimilar; since Eusebius says that the number cannot be entered of the Presbyters, Deacons, Acolytes, and many others, who accompanied the Bishops, and among these was S. Macarius of Jerusalem, on whose dying, S. Maximus could have been almost LVI years old: so that we ought rightly to believe, that he who in the XX year of his Episcopate was deposed, was then very aged, and not long survived his deposition, made in the year CCCLV. S. Maximus is mentioned, Bishop of Jerusalem, on day XXX of April, in the MS. Florarium of Saints.

ON SS. NECTARIUS AND NICETIUS

BISHOPS OF VIENNE IN GAUL.

Cent. IV

Nectarius, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul (S.)

Nicetius, Bishop of Vienne in Gaul (S.)

By the Author G. H.

Two holy Bishops of Vienne in the ancient Ecclesiastical Calendars are joined on day V of May, whom the four very ancient apographs of the Hieronymian Martyrology add toward the end with these words: At Vienne the deposition of Nectarius and Nicetus. The names of each in the ancient Calendars. Which also are read in the very ancient MS. Roman Martyrologies of the Church of S. Peter and of Duke Altempsius, likewise the Casinensian in Lombardic character, the Tornacensian of S. Martin, and the Trevirian likewise of S. Martin, in which they are surnamed Bishops and Confessors. In place of Nicetus is also read Nicetas. Notker writes these things: At Vienne of Nectarius and Nicetius the Bishops. But with other Saints interposed both are read in the MS. Florarium of Saints, in the Auctary of Grevenus to Usuard, and in the German Martyrology of Canisius, in this manner: At Vienne of S. Nicetius the Bishop, a man of venerable sanctity. and afterwards: Of Nectarius, Bishop of Vienne and Confessor. The name of each is also inscribed in the MS. Tamlactense in Hibernia.

[2] S. Ado the Bishop of Vienne, when at the year of Christ CCCXXXVII he treated of Constantius and his brothers Constantine and Constans the Emperors, The time of S. Nectarius's See, adds these things: Then there flourished also at that time Nectarius, the Bishop of Vienne, in the doctrine of the faith eminent: who in that venerable Synod of Vaison was first present, and that of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit there is one nature, and power, and deity, and virtue, in the Church publicly preached and taught. The same Ado then reports the Acts of the Emperors Julian and Jovian; afterwards he describes the times of Valentinian and Valens, but at the end adds: Nectarius of Vienne and Hilary of Poitiers the Bishops die. The Acts of S. Hilary we have illustrated on day XIII of January, and we have said he died in the year CCCLXVII. But just as Nectarius is placed before Hilary, so could this one have died sooner. and some memory on the I of August. But the cited Council of Vaison seems to have been held about the year CCCL. Vaison moreover is an Episcopal city, under the dominion of the supreme Pontiff and of the Archbishop of Avignon. Some refer S. Nectarius to the Kalends of August, when in the Martyrology, under the supposed name of Bede, these things are read: At Vienne of S. Verus the Bishop, who was one of the disciples of the Apostles, and of S. Nectarius the Bishop. But separately Verus, and is called Severus, then also separately Nectarius the Bishop with no place assigned to him, and they are reported in the Martyrologies MS. Bruxellensis of S. Gudula, MS. Florarium, and in the printed one of the year MCCCCXC, likewise in the Auctary of Grevenus. In the supplement of Saussay he is called Bishop of Vienne, just as also by Ferrarius, who annotates that his natalis is not venerated in the Church of Vienne. Truly we also do not find his name in the Calendar, prefixed to the Missal or Breviary, or in the renewed Martyrology by John le Lievre Canon of Vienne, although the same wrote it in the French tract on the Antiquity of the Church of Vienne, and John de Bosco in the tract appended to the Floriacensian Library says he died on the first day of August. These things notwithstanding, with so many ancient Martyrologies we leave him joined to S. Nicetius, his successor, of whom we shall now treat.

[3] Ado in the indicated Chronicle, after the Empire of Gratian and his brother Valentinian subjoins, The singular cult of S. Nicetius, that at the same time the Church of Vienne was governed by Nicetas, a most illustrious Bishop in the dogma of the faith. The same Ado and Usuard, with very many MSS. and printed Martyrologies and the present-day Roman, celebrate the same on this day with these words: Likewise at Vienne of S. Nicetius the Bishop, a man of venerable sanctity. In the MS. Martyrology of Vienne, by the zeal and labor of John le Lievre, as we have said, renewed, these things are read: The natalis of S. Nicetius the Confessor, the fifteenth Archbishop of Vienne. He governed his Church in the times of Gratian and afterwards of Theodosius the Emperors: and was present at the Council of Valence in the Dauphiné held in the year CCCLXXV: and being buried in the church of S. Martin, fourth Bishop of Vienne and Martyr, which he himself had constructed in his honor, was glorified by miracles. Some similar encomium has Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology. In the Breviary of Vienne printed in the year MDXXII is prescribed an Ecclesiastical office of the said S. Nicetius, in which all things from the Common of a Confessor Pontiff with the prayer, Da quaesumus.

[4] About the Council of Valence a doubt could be raised whether truly Florentius the Bishop of the Church of Vienne was present at it, whether he was present at the Council of Valence? as the subscription has in Sirmond. For this Florentius is not found at this time to have presided, but in the third century of Christ is reported to have died a Martyr on day III of January, as we then said. It could therefore be reckoned that his name had crept in in place of Nicetius, which we propose for further inquiry to learned men.

[5] In John Chenu in the Chronological History of Archbishops and Bishops of Gaul, S. Nicetius is said to have been formerly educated by SS. Paschasius and Claudius Bishops of Vienne, even so much that he was even Deacon of B. Claudius. The Acts of S. Paschasius we have given on XXII February, those of S. Claudius we shall give on the Kalends of June. The Sammarthani are very meager in this, and through error place Nicetius before Nectarius.