ON SS. NICANDER AND HERMAS, BISHOP AND PRESBYTER, MARTYRS AT MYRA IN LYCIA,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
CommentaryNicander, bishop of Myra, martyr at Myra in Lycia. (S.)
Hermas, presbyter, martyr at Myra in Lycia. (S.)
BY J. V. D. G.
[1] Of the cult of SS. Nicander and Hermaeus among the Greeks, In the synaxarion and the menaia of the Greeks, though not in the Menology of Basil, the memory of the most holy martyrs Nicander, bishop of Myra, and Hermaeus, presbyter, is commemorated on this day: καὶ τῶν ἁγίων ἱερομαρτύρων Νικάνδρου ἐπισκόπου Μύρων καὶ Ἑρμαίου πρεσβυτέρου. Their deeds, taken from these fasti, are narrated in a brief compendium in the Menaeum edited by Bartholomew of Koutloumousiou Vol. Novembr., p. 29., but not very accurately. Wherefore it seemed good to commit it to print again according to the authority of the codices, namely from three codices of the Paris library Omont, Inventaire sommaire des mss grecs de la bibl. nat., 2de partie, p. 99., of which the first, which is marked there no. 1590, was written in the year 1063, and the others, marked nos. 1592 and 1594, belong to the 12th century, and from the synaxarion of Sirmond, now the codex of the Berlin library marked Phillipps no. 1622. These we indicate in our recension by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4; and in each of them the commemorations of the saints of whom we treat are read at fol. 57r, 41r, 89v and 70v.
Μνήμη τῶν ἁγίων ἱερομαρτύρων Νικάνδρου, ἐπισκόπου τῆς Μυρέων μητροπόλεως πόλεως 3, 4., καὶ Ἑρμαίου πρεσβυτέρου. Χειροτονηθέντες χειροτονηθέντος (sic) 1, 3, 4. παρὰ Τίτου ἀποστόλου καὶ ἐπισκόπου Κρήτης, * οὗτοι πολλοὺς τῶν εἰδώλων ἀποσπῶντες καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ προσάγοντες διεβλήθησαν τῷ τῆς πόλεως κόμητι κώμητι 2, ἄρχοντι 4. Λιβανίῳ. Ὁ δὲ τοῖς ἁμιλλητηρίοις αὑτοῦ προσδήσας τούτους omits 2. ἵπποις ἵππους 4. καὶ ἐλαύνων ἐτιμώρει. Συρέντες οὗν οἱ ἅγιοι ἐπὶ πολὺ τραυματίαι ἐγένοντο, τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτῶν κατακοπεισῶν, ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὥστε καὶ τὴν γῆν πᾶσαν μολυνθήναι φοινιχθῆναι 3, 4. τῷ αἵματι [1, 2 add, which scarcely makes sense, ὥστε θαυμάσαντα τὸν κόμητην γοητείαν αὐτοῖς ἐπιγράψαι.]. Εἶτα πάλιν ἐκέλευσεν ἀναρτηθέντας σπαθίζεσθαι καὶ εἰς κάμινον πυρὸς ἀποῤῥιφῆναι. Ἀβλαβεῖς δὲ διαμείναντας θείᾳ ῥοπῇ ῥωπῇ 3. ἐκέλευσεν ὁ μάταιος κατὰ τῆς καρδίας [τῶν
καρδίων 2, 3, 4.] αὐτῶν καὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς καὶ τῶν σπλάγχνων αὐτῶν adds 1. ἥλους ἐμπαγῆναι ἐμπαρεῖναι 1. καὶ ἔτι πνέοντας ἐν τύμβῳ τάφῳ 3, 4. ἀσφαλισθῆναι, καὶ οὕτω τῇ σκληρᾷ καὶ ἀνυποίστῳ ἀνιπίστῳ 1. βίᾳ παρέδωκαν τῷ Θεῷ τὰς ἁγίας αὐτῶν ψυχάς.
The commemoration of the most holy martyrs Nicander, bishop of the metropolis of Myra, and Hermaeus, presbyter. When they had been ordained by Titus, apostle and bishop of Crete, and had led many, turned away from the worship of idols, to Christ, they were accused before the prefect of the city, Libanius. He, having bound them to his untamed horses driven at a gallop, punished them. The saints, then, dragged for a long time, were pierced with wounds, so that, their flesh being torn to pieces, the earth was befouled with blood. Then again he ordered them to be hung up and beaten with clubs and thrown into a furnace of fire. And when by divine power they had remained unharmed, the mad judge commanded nails to be driven into their breast, head and bowels, and them, still breathing, to be thrust into a tomb. And so in this cruel and intolerable punishment they delivered up their holy souls to God.
[2] and elsewhere. All of which the metrical Ephemerides have compressed into this distich:
Χριστὸν ποθοῦντας ζῶντα μάρτυρας δύο Καὶ ζῶντας ἐνθάπτουσι πικρῶς τῷ τάφῳ.
Martyrs longing for the living God, Two, alive, were overwhelmed beneath a mound of earth.
Somewhat more explicit is the commemoration of Sirleto, which runs thus: But Nicander, bishop, and Hermaeus, presbyter, when they had converted many from idols to Christ, being brought before the governor Libanius, torn and hung up for the confession of the Christian faith, delivered up their holy souls to God. Omitting the tortures, the Roman martyrology records the passion at Myra in Lycia of the holy martyrs Nicander, bishop, and Hermas, presbyter, under the governor Libanius. The Capponi Tables testify that St. Nicander is also venerated on the present day among the Ruthenians, but they are wholly silent about St. Hermaeus. And almost all the Slavonic fasti, which the most learned John Martinov collected in the Annus ecclesiasticus graeco-slavicus, cite the holy martyrs Nicander, bishop of Myra, and Hermaeus, presbyter. In the western church, if the one addition of Molanus to Usuard is excepted, which records the holy martyr Nicander, bishop of the Myraeans, but is silent about St. Hermaeus, no trace of their cult appears elsewhere.
[3] It is not demonstrated that St. Nicander was ordained bishop of Myra by Titus, As regards the deeds themselves of SS. Nicander and Hermaeus, Niccolò Carmine Falcone long ago set out the following Sancti Nicolai Acta primigenia, p. 32.: It is established that the Gospel of Christ was sown throughout Lycia from the times of the apostle Paul. Titus, appointed apostle of the Cretans by Paul, and ordained first bishop of Gortyna (which is the metropolis of that island), having been given power to set bishops over those places which had received the faith of Christ, gave a first bishop to Myra, some part of which had already been converted to God. This was St. Nicander, to whom Hermaeus the presbyter was added for his labours, and after many things suffered martyrdom together with him under the governor Libanius. Falcone manifestly drew these things from the menaia cited a little above or from some other similar document. Both Le Quien in the Oriens christianus Vol. I, p. 965, 966. and Gams in the Series episcoporum P. 443. assent to the same tradition. For each places at the head of the succession of the pontiffs of Myra St. Nicander, whom he says was ordained by Titus. We searched long, but in vain, to uncover the historical truth of this tradition and to confirm it by some document besides the testimony of the sacred books of the Greeks, and we are forced to confess that it has appeared to rest on no other foundation.
[4] which the books of the Greeks by no means make certain. We have already heard these sacred books proclaiming that Bishop Nicander was installed by Titus. As an example of their testimony let the Menaeum of Koutloumousiou serve, in the troparia, ode 3, 5, and in the exapostilarion Volume of November, pp. 27 ff..
Κλῆμα εὐφορώτατον, Τίτου φυτείας ἐγένου Τοῦ τῶν Κρητῶν φωστῆρος, Βότρυας φέρον λογικούς, Γλεῦκος ἡμῖν πηγάζοντας σωτήριον, Νίκανδρε μακάριε. Παύλου ναμάτων ἔμπλεως Ὁ Τῖτος γεγονώς, Σὲ καταρδεύει δεικνύων ποταμὸν Ρεῖθρα θαλερὰ τῆς ἀθεΐας Κατακλύζοντα, Νίκανδρε. Φυτεία τοῦ παμμάκαρος Ἐδείχθης Τίτου, Νίκανδρε, Ὑφ᾽ οὗ τῆς πόλεως Μύρων Ἐχρίσθης, ὅσιε πάτερ, Ἀρχιερεὺς θεόληπτος.
A fruitful cluster You were made from the planting of Titus, The illuminator of the Cretans, Bearing spiritual grapes, Distilling for us the saving new wine, O blessed Nicander. Titus, made full Of the streams of Paul, Waters you, showing you a river Overwhelming the turbid torrents Of impiety, Nicander. You were seen to be the offshoot Of most blessed Titus, Nicander, By whom you were consecrated Of the city of Myra, holy father, An inspired prelate.
But it is not granted to establish this encomium of piety from elsewhere, nor is it at all permitted to trust the legends of the Greeks. How then Carmine Falcone dares to write that he has proved that St. Nicander was the first archbishop of Myra we cannot but wonder. Certainly for this reason the most pious commentator on the Acts of St. Nicholas took up this tradition of the Greeks with so great an affection of credulity, because it was especially dear to his heart to carry the see of his most celebrated pontiff back to the times of the apostles. But surely weightier than the gratuitous assertion of Falcone is the fact that Le Quien in the Oriens christianus did not hesitate to inscribe St. Nicander among the bishops of Myra and to assert that he was anointed by St. Titus. Hence one will be moved by this testimony all the more because Le Quien by no means shows himself easy in building the series of prelates in the church of Myra. Nevertheless, since not even Le Quien brings forward a historical document on which a foot may be set with certainty, nothing settled can be retained about the episcopate of St. Nicander. For the rest, the whole succession of the bishops of Myra is rather intricate, nor does Carmine himself deny that no bishop of Myra is found after St. Nicander before Tatian, who is known to have been present at the council of Constantinople in the year 381.
[5] Of the martyrdom of SS. Nicander and Hermaeus. Concerning the martyrdom which SS. Nicander and Hermaeus underwent, very many of the things brought forward in the Acts somewhat displease some. And first, indeed, if it is granted that these saints were appointed in the church of Myra by Titus, they must have suffered under Domitian about the ninety-fifth year of Christ. But certain critics, too hypercritical, ask whether the persecution of Domitian extended so widely that it raged even to these almost farthest bounds of the empire. With the renowned Paul Allard Cf. Histoire des persécutions pendant les deux premiers siècles, pp. 113 ff., we do not think that the opinion of the martyrdom of SS. Nicander and Hermaeus is to be suspected on that account, since along the whole coast of Asia Minor, at Antioch, Smyrna and Pergamum, Christians were most certainly harassed by Domitian's edict. But to others this name of Libanius and this dignity of count of Lycia brought forward in the synaxarion is very displeasing. Falcone notes that the name of Libanius was unheard of by him through the first three centuries, and not found even in Plutarch or Athenaeus, who are the true workshop of the proper names of the ancients. Libanius first occurs in the fourth century, under the emperor Valens, namely the celebrated sophist. And the dignity of count of the City or of a province was not yet in use in the first two centuries, and is employed only in the third or fourth century. To these things, however, one can reply without great difficulty. The name of Libanius at any rate is not inconsistent with its having begun to be used under Domitian. What hinders that it has lain hidden till now? Have all the names of the ancients been found? Moreover, it is not altogether true that this name was unknown before the 4th century Cf. Pape-Benseler, Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen, vol. II, p. 800.. If the name of count does not occur in the first centuries in the documents of the empire, the office itself is nevertheless in use, nor certainly, in kind, did Lycia lack it, as Valois notes on chapter XXVIII of the fifth book of Theodoret. Therefore that word count proves only this, that the Acts were not written until after the first two centuries, which will seem strange to no one. Libanius, consular of Lycia, was called count because the compiler of the Acts of St. Nicander, in writing, accommodated himself to his own time. Finally, because they report unusual tortures, the Acts are judged less worthy of approval. But undeservedly, replies Falcone, for the church of Myra afterwards discovered the nails driven into the bodies of the martyrs, and venerated them, and to preserve the tradition shows them every year on their most celebrated feast. Whence he learned these things it has not been granted to find, but who would dare to trust blindly in Falcone, who in the mere name of Hermaeus of Balbura, one of the signatories of the Synod of Constantinople held in the year 381, thinks he has found testimony for the cult of St. Hermaeus, companion of St. Nicander in burden and martyrdom?
Annotation* cod. Κρίτης