Euphrasia

ON SAINT EUPHRASIA

MARTYR AT NICAEA IN BITHYNIA

From the MS. Synaxaria of the Greeks.

Euphrasia, Martyr at Nicaea in Bithynia (St.)

G. H.

In the illustrious Greek MS. codex at Milan of the Ambrosian library, marked with the letter T & num. 364, this elogium for XVIII May is extant.

Αὕτη ην ἐκ πόλεως Νικαίας τῆς κατὰ Βιθυνίαν, κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ καὶ Πρισκιλλιανοῦ Ἄρχοντος, πρὸς ὃν ἀχθεῖσα, διὰ την εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν, In the MS. Synaxarium, τύπτεται μάστιξιν κατὰ τῶν μαστῶν, καὶ τότε μεν τίθεται ἐν φρουρᾷ. Αὖθις δὲ ἀχθεῖσα ἀρτᾶται τῷ ξύλῳ, καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς καταξέεται, καὶ ἐπὶ πῦρ ἀκτωθείσης ἐσχάρας τίθεται, καὶ διελαύνεται σούβλαις πεπυρωμεναις τὰς πλευρὰς καὶ τὰς χεῖρας, ἐξ ὧν ἐυωδία ὥσπερ ἐκ στύρακος ἀναπέμπεται. Διελαθεῖσα δὲ ὁμοίως καὶ τοὺς ἀστραγάλους ὀβελίσκοις ἐκκαυθεῖσιν, ἀπήχθη πάλιν ἐν τῇ φρουρᾷ. Καὶ ἐν δύσι χρόνοις ἐν αὐτῇ ταλαιπορεῖν αἰθήσασα, αὖθις ἐξάγεται, καὶ ἐν θαλάσσῃ ρυφεῖσα τὸν διὰ τοῦ μαρτυρίου κομίζεται στέφανον. Which thus you may render into Latin: whereby her various torments are explained. This one was from the city Nicaea of the province of Bithynia, in the times of Diocletian & Maximian & Priscillian the Governor: before whom brought on account of the faith in Christ, she is scourged on the breasts, & then is placed under guard. But brought again, she is lifted up onto wood, & on the ribs is lacerated with claws: then stretched above a hearth reduced to live coals, with glowing spits her sides & fingers are pierced through, whence a sweet odor as of incense went forth. Similarly also her ankles pierced through with fiery needles, & brought back into prison, for a whole two years there macerated she sustained very many hardships; until brought out again & cast into the sea, she earned the crown of martyrdom. In the MS. Menaea, which are preserved at Dijon in the college of the Society, is celebrated also on this XVIII May, the memory of the holy Martyr Euphrasia, who submerged in the deep of the sea, ended her life. A distich is added with an allusion to the name εὐφρασίας, which signifies honorable joy, the sense of which was in part corroded, that the Savior was said to have gladdened His bride, leading her from the deep of the sea to His throne. Indeed also a hexameter, missing in the metrical Ephemeris, was here noted, as that of which on this day was the chief cult in the Church; & it is of this kind:

Ὀηδοάτῃ δεκάτῃ βάλον Εὐφρασίαν ἐνὶ πὸντω.

On the eighteenth they plunge Euphrasia into the deep.

ON ST. JULIANUS THE MARTYR.

From the MS. Synaxaria of the Greeks.

Juliana, Martyr (St.)

G. H.

The already cited MS. Dijon one also celebrates this holy Martyr on the day XVIII May; with these few words: St. Julianus, dragged in the thorns of a bramble, ended his life by martyrdom, & is added this distich.

Ἰουλιανὸς ἆθλον ἑυρε τὴν βάτον, Τιμῶν Θεοῦ σαρκωσὶν, οὗ ἧ τύπος βάτος.

Julianus bore a reward from the bramble, Who was a type of the incarnate Word.

The same St. Julianus the Martyr, but without an elogium, mention on this XVIII the Turin Menaea of the Duke of Savoy with a MS. Greek Synaxarium. The Milan ones similarly of the Ambrosian Library name the same, but on the preceding day.