Artemon

ON ST. ARTEMON, PRIEST AND MARTYR, PERHAPS AT LAODICEA IN PHRYGIA,

Under Diocletian.

SYLLOGE.

The sacred Fasti which commemorate the Saint: where, by what kind of death and when he ended his life.

Artemon, priest, M., perhaps at Laodicea in Phrygia. (S.)

BY J. B.

St. Artemon, bishop of Seleucia in Pisidia, you have long since inserted in our Work, in volume III of March, at the 24th day of that month: Various Fasti in which St. Artemon is inscribed, today we give another, a priest and martyr of Laodicea, more than once commemorated in the sacred Fasti of the Greeks and others; whence in our Work he was deferred to this day, on which he is marked both in the Menaea and in the Roman Martyrology, first indeed from the 24th day of March, then from the 12th and 13th days of April. In the Menaea printed in the city of Venice in the press of Antonio Pinelli in the year 1603, he is inscribed together with a rather prolix elogium at the 24th day of March, and again at the 12th day of April, and finally at the 8th day of October: but in the Menology published in Greek by order of the emperor Basil, in Sirmond's Synaxarion, and in the manuscript Catalogue of the Menology of the monastery of Grottaferrata only at the 12th day of April; and at the 13th day of the same month in the Typicon of St. Sabas, in the two Synaxaria of the Ruthenians of Father George David, and in the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld, as in the Ruthenian Calendar in Possevino, volume 2 of the Apparatus Sacer, page 366, at the word Rutheni. Finally, in Sirleto's Menology of the Greeks, at the 8th day of October, he is announced in these words: On the same day, the birthday of St. Artemon, martyr, who under the emperor Diocletian was a priest of the church of Laodicea, was detained for the confession of the name of Christ, and, cast into the flame of fire, obtained the crown of martyrdom. From the Greek Fasti Galesini perhaps first transferred St. Artemon to the Latins, who has thus at this day: At Laodicea, of St. Artimon, priest and martyr: then our Martyr migrated into other more recent Latin Martyrologies, among which the Roman, which is in use today, announces him thus today: At Laodicea, of St. Artemon, priest, who under Diocletian received the crown of martyrdom by fire.

[2] From the cited monuments, however, it is indeed permissible to gather a priest of Laodicea, that St. Artemon formerly did not lack sacred cult in the Eastern Church, and was not without cause transcribed into the Roman Martyrology. But the kind and circumstances of the martyrdom which he underwent are supplied by some of the cited Greek Fasti, yet so discordant with one another, and repeatedly sprinkled with fables which are born to win laughter rather than credence for themselves, that there is hardly anything certain that we may say of St. Artemon. The Greeks composed various elogia of him, which indeed affirm with unanimous consent that St. Artemon was a priest of Laodicea and flourished under Diocletian; but as to the rest they for the most part disagree. But even the circumstances of the martyrdom in which they agree they do not relate explicitly enough: for hence, first of all, a doubt arises what Laodicean church it was of which Artemon acted as priest: for since there were many cities of this name in the East, and nothing occurs anywhere from which it could certainly be discerned which of them Artemon made illustrious both by his virtues and perhaps by his martyrdom, we too can bring nothing certain on that matter. Baronius in the Ecclesiastical Annals at the year 308, after he mentions from Eusebius Stephen, bishop of Laodicea in Syria, continues thus: There are found to have suffered in this persecution in the same church of Laodicea Trophimus and Thalus under the prefect Asclepiades (rather Asclepius); and on another day in the same place, for defending the faith of Christ, Artemon the priest strenuously contended.

[3] That SS. Trophimus and Thalus suffered not at Laodicea in Syria, not, as it appears, in Syria, but in Phrygia or Caria on the river Lycus, Henschenius rightly showed at the 11th day of March, page 59, from the proximity in the same region of the cities of Laodicea and Stratonicea which are mentioned in their Elogium. And the cause of Baronius's writing that was, as Henschenius thinks, the greater celebrity of the Laodicea which is in Syria. What if, then, Baronius, deceived in like manner, falsely ascribed St. Artemon too to Laodicea in Syria? So assuredly it seems to be thought, if only some credence is to be given to the Elogia of St. Artemon — I do not say in those things in which they either disagree with one another or are plainly fabulous, but in those in which they do not dissent and cannot be convicted of error. For it is agreed among them that St. Artemon, together with Sisinius, bishop of Laodicea, went out of the city, came to a temple of the gentiles, and there overthrew the idols:

but Eusebius, cited by Baronius, relates such things of the bishops of Laodicea in Syria that it plainly follows from them that no Sisinius occupied that see during the whole time in which Diocletian either held the empire or survived among the living, that is, from the year 284 to 316. For thus Eusebius writes in book 7, chapter 32, in Valesius: Then, Anatolius having died (bishop of Laodicea in Syria, who, as Jerome witnesses in the book On Ecclesiastical Writers, chapter 73, flourished under the emperors Probus and Carus), Stephen was made the last bishop of the same church before the persecution; a man who indeed had obtained great glory with many on account of Philosophy and the Greek disciplines: but not equally well disposed in mind toward the faith of Christ: as, when the time of persecution went on, was manifestly declared, in which he appeared a dissembler and a coward and unwarlike, rather than a true philosopher.

[4] but rather in Phrygia: Theodotus succeeded Stephen in the see of Laodicea, and that at once, and occupied it at least until the year 325, as is clear from Eusebius, who continues thus: But the church (of Laodicea in Syria) was not on that account to fall; for at once Theodotus restored it, who showed by the facts themselves the truth of his name and of the episcopal office; and he lived at least until the year 325, in which he is read subscribed in Labbe, volume 2 of the Councils, page 51, among the bishops of Coelesyria. At what time, then, from when Diocletian began to govern the Roman empire, could Sisinius have occupied the see of Laodicea in Syria? Michel Le Quien, in volume 1 of the Oriens Christianus, page 793, enumerating the bishops of Laodicea, which for him is in Phrygia Pacatiana, lists Sisinius in the fifth place from the Elogium inscribed to St. Artemon from the Synaxarion of Basil, published by us at the end of volume 1 of April, so that in Le Quien's judgement St. Artemon must be ascribed to Laodicea in Phrygia on the river Lycus: and indeed this does not lack all probability. For the Menaea say at the 24th day of March that St. Artemon, having overcome his torments, withdrew by divine command to the maritime peoples of Asia; and Sirmond's Synaxarion adds that he fell asleep in the Lord in Asia, at I know not what place called Βαλβίνη: which seem to be understood either of Asia Minor, in which Phrygia and Caria are, or of Asia properly so called, situated likewise in Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea: and it appears probable that Artemon went off into a region not far distant from Laodicea. Add that perhaps in Sirmond's Synaxarion for Βαλβίνη one should read Βάλβουρα, which is a city of Caria, situated about midway between Laodicea and the shore of the sea which flows between the island of Rhodes and Asia Minor. The Menaea moreover record that St. Artemon, having gone out of Laodicea together with Sisinius, went to a temple of Diana, and there overturned the statues of Apollo and of Asclepius, or, as some prefer, of Aesculapius: and Hierapolis is little distant from Laodicea in Phrygia, whose coins, Cellarius says in part 2 of the Ancient Geography, page 93, represent Apollo, Diana of Ephesus, Aesculapius and Hygeia or Health; whose cult perhaps Sisinius and Artemon not enduring, they entered some shrine situated between Hierapolis and Laodicea, and broke the idols found there. These things indeed make me think it more probable that the Laodicea mentioned in the Elogia of Artemon was Laodicea of Phrygia, namely Pacatiana, or according to Ptolemy of Caria; granted that in Lycaonia or Pisidia, which is also part of Asia Minor, there occurs another Laodicea, surnamed Combusta, and formerly likewise conspicuous as an episcopal see, as Charles de Saint-Paul thinks. Now let us hear from the Greeks what Artemon suffered.

[5] his deeds from the Menology This elogium is woven for him at the 12th day of April in the Menology of the emperor Basil. Ἀρτέμων

τοῦ

Χριστοῦ

μάρτυς,

ἦν

ἐπὶ

τῆς

Βασιλείας

Διοκλητιανοῦ,

Πρεσβύτερος

ὑπάρχων

τῆς

ἐν

Λαοδικίᾳ

ἁγίας

ἐκκλησίας·

πρὸ

ἑνὸς

δὲ

ἐνιαυτοῦ

τῆς

τελειώσεως

αὐτοῦ,

εἰσελθὼν

ἐν

τῷ

ναῷ

τῶν

ἑλλήνων

μετὰ

Σισιννίου

τοῦ

Ἐπισκόπου

αὐτοῦ,

κατέστρεψε

τὰ

εἴδωλα.

Καὶ

μαθὼν

τοῦτο

παρὰ

τῶν

εἰδωλολατρῶν

ὁ

τῆς

χώρας

ἄρχων,

ἀπῆλθε

κρατῆσαι

τόν

Ἐπίσκοπον,

καὶ

νοσήσας

ἐκινδύνευσεν.

Εἶτα

ἐμήνυσε

τῳ

Ἐπισκόπῳ

εὔξασθαι

ὑπὲρ

αὐτοῦ,

καὶ,

εἴ

τύχῃ

ὑγείας,

χρυσῆν

εἰκόνα

ἀναστήσειν

αὐτῷ.

Ὑγιάνας

οὖν,

ἀπήρχετο

πρὸς

Καισάρειαν·

καὶ

κατὰ

τὴν

ὁδὸν

εὑρὼν

Ἀρτέμονα,

τὸν

Πρεσβύτερον,

ἐκράτησεν

αὐτὸν·

καὶ

δήσας

ἔσυρε;

καὶ

ἀπαγαγὼν

εἰς

τὴν

πόλιν,

ἀπέκλεισεν

εἰς

φυλακήν.

Εἶτα

ἠνάγκασεν

ἀρνήσασθαι

τὸν

Χριστὸν·

καὶ

μὴ

πείσας,

μέλη

τινὰ

τῶν

σαρκῶν

αὐτοῦ

ἐκτεμὼν,

ὤπτησεν

ἐν

ἐσχάρᾳ.

Καὶ

τότε

ἐκκαέντος

λέβητος

ἐπὶ

τῷ

ἐμβληθῆνῆ

αὐτὸν

καὶ

καιναι,

ἦραν

ἀετοὶ

δύο

τὸν

ἄρχοντα,

καὶ

ἀνέβαλον

εἰς

αὐτὸν·

ὁ

δὲ

Ἅγιος

ὀλίγον

ἐπιβιοὺς,

ἐν

εἰρήνῃ

ἐτελειώθη. And in Latin it has thus.

[6] Artemon, martyr of Christ, in the reign of Diocletian, was a priest of the holy church of Laodicea. of the emperor Basil, One year before he was taken off by martyrdom, together with Sisinnius, his bishop, he entered a shrine of the gentiles and overturned the idols; and when the prefect of the region heard this from the idolaters, he went to seize the prelate, and, seized by illness, was brought into danger of his life. He then sent someone to announce to the bishop that he should pray for him, and that he would erect to him a statue of gold if he became well. Being therefore restored to health, he set out for Caesarea, and, coming upon Artemon the priest on the way, he seized him, and, having led him bound into the city, shut him in prison. Afterwards he compelled him to deny Christ; and when he could not bend him with words, having cut away part of his flesh, he ordered him to be roasted on a gridiron. At last, the pot now boiling, that Artemon might be thrown into it to be burned, two eagles snatched the prefect aloft and cast him headlong into it. But the Saint, having survived a short time, ended his life in peace. The version of Cardinal Annibale Albani renders those words μέλη

τινά

τῶν

σαρκῶν

αὐτοῦ

ἑκτεμὼν,

ὤπτησεν

ἐν

ἐσχάρα thus: He cut out some members from his body, and roasted them on a gridiron: which interpretation indeed renders the words of the Greek text, but not its sense: for it does not appear likely that the prefect wished some members of Artemon, cut off from the rest of the body, to be scorched by fire, which thus would cause no pain to the holy Martyr: but that the Martyr himself was cast upon a burning gridiron the Menaea say at the 8th day of October, as we shall see below. For the rest, this Elogium of Artemon appears quite probable; if, however, you except what is narrated of the two eagles which cast the prefect, lifted into the air, into the boiling cauldron: for this appears as ridiculous as it is fabulous.

[7] Sirmond's manuscript Synaxarion treats more fully of St. Artemon at the 12th day of April. and Sirmond's And first indeed it gives out the name of the prefect or governor by whose order he was subjected to punishments, and says he was called Patricius. And what Artemon did it explains in this manner. Before he was afflicted with Martyrdom, he had overturned the idols in some shrine of the gentiles together with Sisinius: some while after, Patricius hearing this hastened to the church of the Christians, as if to avenge the gods; but, seized by a dangerous illness, he checked his assault; he sent someone to ask the bishop to pour out prayers to God for him, promising first indeed a golden statue, and then also that he would believe in Christ. But after he had obtained health by the prayers of Sisinius, he did not stand by his promises, seized Artemon and ordered him to sacrifice to the gods. Artemon denied that he would do it; since he had already served in the church of the Christians sixteen years as lector, twenty-eight as deacon, and finally twenty-five years as priest. Further, Artemon, having entered the temple of Asclepius (where perhaps Patricius had ordered him to be led for the sake of sacrifice: for otherwise this would not have been free to the captive Artemon), overturned the statue of Asclepius, and did away with dragons of horrendous size, which namely they said (if you care to believe it) had twenty cubits in breadth and eighty in length. A more absurd fable follows this. Patricius, roused with anger, while he orders Artemon, whose flesh he had ordered to be cut, then to be roasted on a gridiron, there comes from Laodicea a hind, which rebuked Patricius with a human voice. He orders the hind to be pierced with weapons by the soldiers; but, the weapon going astray, Patricius's assessor is run through: and Patricius, snatched into the air and driven headlong into the burning pot which he had ordered to be prepared for Artemon, perished miserably: but the holy Martyr, when he had washed many with holy baptism in a fountain raised up by him there, and had wrought very many prodigies, found the end of his martyrdom in a certain place of Asia called Βαλβίνη, and migrated to the Lord.

[8] are presented from the Synaxarion: And these things indeed, but somewhat more diffusely, Sirmond's Synaxarion has of Artemon: and if it be compared with the Menology of the Greeks of the emperor Basil, the one will supply some light to the other. The Menology is wholly silent at what age Artemon was, and under what governor or prefect he suffered: the Synaxarion indicates that he was greatly advanced in age and suffered under Patricius. Whether he suffered at Laodicea or elsewhere the author of the Menology leaves in doubt, using these words: Καὶ

ἀπαγαγὼν

εἰς

τὴν

πόλιν, which might be rendered thus: And brought back into the city (namely Artemon into Laodicea): yet I have translated led away into the city (say Caesarea), both because mention had been made of Caesarea just before, and because the Synaxarion, when it says that a hind came from Laodicea to the place in which Artemon was being tortured, which rebuked the prefect Patricius, sufficiently hints that these things happened not at Laodicea but at Caesarea, which the Menaea too, of which a little after, expressly affirm. Where Artemon was seized and bound by order of Patricius the Synaxarion likewise is silent: but the Menology relates that it happened on the road which leads from Laodicea (of Phrygia Pacatiana, as I judge) to Caesarea. But what Caesarea is this which was the witness and spectator of Artemon's constancy in the faith? Since not one city of this name occurs both in Asia as a whole and in Asia Minor, this is plainly doubtful to me. I find a Caesarea in Phrygia, called Diocaesarea, if indeed it is a different city from Laodicea; another in Cappadocia, Hierocaesarea in Lydia, Neocaesarea in Pontus. I pass over the cities of this name which are in the rest of Asia.

[9] Further, what place of Asia is called Βαλβίνη, unless perhaps it was Βάλβουρα, in what place and by what kind of death he died, I could find nowhere: here Artemon ended his life in peace a little after his contest with the prefect Patricius, according to the Synaxarion, with which the Menology agrees, though silent on the place in which he died: but the Menaea are opposed, which relate that St. Artemon was at last beheaded: for they celebrate Artemon at the 12th day of April with these little verses:

Εὗρε

στεφάνους

ἀντίτμητος * Ἀρτέμων,

Πρέποντας

αὐτοῦ

τῆ

τετμημένη

κάρα.

Artemon, cut in his members, found a crown,

Such as befitted his severed head.

And again they relate the very same at the 24th day of March, in the Elogium of the holy Martyr presently to be given: but since the same Menaea at the 8th day of October, in another Elogium of the holy Martyr, disagree with themselves,

and record that the Saint, after the cutting and roasting of his flesh, rested in the Lord, no mention being made of the cutting off of his head, I think one should rather stand by the Menology of the Greeks, Sirmond's Synaxarion, and the Menaea themselves in the place just cited. But Artemon perished by the sword, if any credence is to be given to the Canticle composed in Greek on St. Artemon, which exists with us transcribed from the Imperial library, from a parchment codex comprising the Canons or Canticles on the Saints of the month of April: and it runs thus at the 13th day of April, and is inscribed to St. Artemon the Hieromartyr. Ὅπλα

εὐσεβείας

περιθέμενος,

μάρτυς

ἔνδοξε,

ἐπολέμησας

τὴν

ἀσέβειαν,

καὶ

ἀθλητικὰ

παρὰ

Χριστοῦ

εἴληφας

βραβεῖα,

ἁοίδιμε.

Ἤρθης,

ἀθλοφόρε,

εἰς

μετέωρον

θείας

γνόσεως,

καὶ

κατώπτασας

τὰ

μυστήρια

Χριστοῦ

τοῦ

Θεοῦ,

καὶ

μύστης

αὐτῶν

γέγονας,

Ἀρτέμων,

ἀνότατος.

Ἄρτιον

φυλάξας

τῆς

πίστεως

τὸ

μυστήριον,

καὶ

ὀλόκληρον

προσενήνοχας

θῦμα

ἑαυτὸν

Χριστῷ

τῷ

Θεῷ

ξίφει,

Ἀρτέμων,

τῆς

ἀθλήσεως. Girt with the arms of piety, glorious Martyr, thou didst war against impiety, and didst obtain from Christ the crown of the champions, renowned one. Raised up, crowned champion, to the summit of divine knowledge, thou didst digest in the bosom of thy mind the secrets of Christ God, and wast made their initiate, Artemon, most high. Thou didst keep whole the mystery of the faith, and didst offer thyself to Christ God a whole sacrifice by the sword of thy contest, Artemon.

[10] Lambeck mentions this codex in book 8 of the Commentaries on the Imperial Library of Vienna, chapter 12, in this manner. it is not sufficiently clear, The twelfth historical manuscript codex is a Greek one of parchment, very old, elegant and of the best mark, in quarto, and consists of two hundred and one leaves, and was formerly acquired at Constantinople by Ogier Busbecq, as he himself testifies by the inscription of his hand, as usual. In it are contained the Canons or sacred Canticles on the Saints of the whole month of April, which Lambeck then reviews in the order of the days. Finally, from the inscription written at the end of the codex, he rightly gathers that its author, or collector, or at least copyist, was Theoctistus: and he conjectures, further, that this was the Theoctistus whom Cyril the monk mentions in the Life of St. Euthymius, who died about the year 473, as an intimate of St. Euthymius: which conjecture of the learned man, if it held good, would assuredly make us, following Theoctistus, say that Artemon consummated his martyrdom by the sword, that is, beheaded. But the learned man is mistaken; for among the Saints whom he enumerates many occur who are far younger than Theoctistus, the companion of St. Euthymius: thus at the 3rd day of April he records St. Nicetas, abbot of the monastery of Medicium in Bithynia, who died in the year 824; at the 6th St. Eutychius, patriarch of Constantinople, in the year 582; at the 7th St. George, archbishop of Mytilene, about the year 816; at the 12th St. Basil, bishop of Parium in Lesser Mysia, in the eighth century under the iconoclasts; whose Canticles therefore Lambeck's Theoctistus, whom Oudin for another reason ties to the twelfth century, could neither compose nor collect nor copy.

[11] [as neither is it clear what Caesarea it is where he is said to have suffered under Diocletian.] For the rest, it can be gathered from what has been said that Artemon does not seem to have suffered at Laodicea; but rather at Caesarea, whatever that may at length have been: and he seems to be announced at Laodicea in the Roman Martyrology (which we too have followed here) only because he spent a great part of his life there, and after death most probably obtained sacred cult there, if anywhere else, which may be gathered from the monuments cited above to have once been spread widely through the East, in some of which he is inscribed with the title of Hieromartyr. Further, since Artemon is said to have overthrown the idols in a shrine of the gentiles together with some Christians, someone will perhaps ask whether he had no companions of martyrdom? That he had them is indeed a thing credible enough in itself; but of them in the Menaea and in the Synaxarion of the emperor Basil there is no mention at all: in a certain Ruthenian manuscript Synaxarion of Father George David, however, at the 13th day of April I read thus: Of St. Artemon the Hieromartyr and those with him. Likewise in the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld at the same day: Of St. Artemon the Hieromartyr and companions. They suffered in the year 301. Whence it may seem doubtful whether Artemon had companions or not. If he had them, they were most probably passed over commonly in the monuments of the Greeks as less noble. In what year at length he underwent martyrdom is not clear; and when the author of the Slavo-Russian Menology, or perhaps he who supplied it to us, Baron Sparwenfeld, tied it to the year 301, he did so perhaps at his own discretion, yet without opposition from the Greek Menologies, Synaxaria and Menaea, which commonly hint that St. Artemon suffered under Diocletian: nor is it clear to me why Baronius writes in the Annals that his martyrdom happened in the year 308 under Maximinus: so that most of the things related of St. Artemon are either uncertain or fabulous; such certainly are the two Elogia of him which follow, of which take the one from the Menaea at the 24th day of March, the other at the 7th day of October.

* ἀρθριτμητος

FABULOUS ELOGIUM OF ST. ARTEMON, M.

From the Menaea at the 24th day of March,

TRANSLATED BY JACQUES BUÉE.

Artemon, priest, M., perhaps at Laodicea in Phrygia. (S.)

ΔΙοκλητιανῦ

βασιλεύοντος

ἐν

Ῥώμη,

ἀπεστάλη

εἰς

τὰ

μέρη

τῆς

Λαοδικείας

κόμης

τίς

Πατρίκιος

ὀνόματι,

καὶ

ἐποίει,

καθὼς

προσετάγη·

Σισίνιος

δὲ

ὁ

τοῦ

τόπου

ἐπίσκοπος

μετὰ

Ἀρτέμονος

πρεσβυτέρου,

καὶ

τινων

ἄλλων

Χριστιανῶν,

εἰσῆλθον

εἰς

τὸν

ναὸν

τῆς

Ἀρτέμιδος

νυκτὸς,

καὶ

τὰ

εἰκεῖσε

εἴδωλα

συνέτριψαν,

καὶ

ἐτέφρωσαν

πυρὶ.

Τοῦτο

μαθῶν

ὁ

κόμης,

θυμοῦ

πλησθεὶς,

καὶ

λαβὼν

πλῆθος

λαοῦ

σὺν

αὐτῷ

ἐξήρχετο

μετὰ

ἵππων

ἔξω

τῆς

πόλεως

πρὸς

τὴν

τῶν

Χριστιανῶν

ἐκκλησίαν,

τοῦ

κατακαῦσαι

πάντας,

καὶ

Σισίνιον

καὶ

Ἀρτέμονα

μεληδὸν

κατατεμεῖν·

ἐγγίζοντος

δὲ

αυτοῦ

τῷ

ναῶ,

φρίκη

συνέπεσεν

αὐτῷ,

καὶ

πυρετῷ

συνεσχέθη

λαύρω·

καὶ

ὑπέστρεψε

τεθεὶς

ἐν

κλινηδίω.

Ἐλθὼν

δὲ

εἰς

ἄκραν

ταλαιπωρίαν,

ἐδήλωσε

τῶ

ἐπίσκοπω,

λέγων,

εὖξαι

τῷ

Θεῶ

σου

ἵνα

κουφισθῶ,

καὶ

ποιήσω

τὴν

στολὴν

σου

χρυσῆν·

ὁ

δὲ

ἐπίσκοπος

ἀνεδήλωσεν,

εἰπὼν

τὸ

χρυσίον

σου

ἔσται

παρὰ

σοὶ·

ἐὰν

δὲ

πιστεύσης

τῷ

Χρίστω

καὶ

Θεῶ

μου

ἰαθήση.

Ὁ

δὲ

ἔγραψεν

οὕτως·

πιστεύω

τῷ

Θεῶ

σου,

μόνον

ἰαθήσομαι·

καὶ

εὐθέως

ἀνέστη

μὴ

ἔχων

λείψανον

νόσου.

[2] Καὶ

ὁδεύων

ἐπὶ

τὴν

Καισαρέων

πόλιν,

ὡς

ἀπὸ

μιλίων

τριῶν

Λαοδικείας,

ὑπήντησε

τῷ

πρεσβυτέρω

Ἀρτέμονι,

ἀκολουθούντων

αυτῷ

ἐλάφων

δύο,

καὶ

ὀνάγρων

ἕξ,

καὶ

λέγει

αὐτῷ.

Πῶς

ταῦτα

ἤγρευσας;

ὁ

δὲ,

Τῷ

λόγω

τοῦ

Θεοῦ,

φησὶν,

ἤγρευσα.

Καὶ

ὁ

κόμης,

Οὐκοῦν

Χριστιανὸς

εἶ

σὺ;

Ὁ

Ἅγιος

εἶπε,

Ναὶ,

ἐκ

νεαρᾶς

ἡλικίας

Χριστιανὸς

εἰμι.

Τότε

δήσας

αὐτὸν

δυσὶν

ἀλύσεσι,

καὶ

παραδοὺς

αὐτὸν

στρατιώταις,

ἐπέστρεψεν

ἀκαλουθεῖν

πρὸς

Καισάρειαν.

Ὁ

δὲ

Ἅγιος

πρὸς

τὰ

ἀκολουθοῦντα

ζῶα

στραφεὶς

ἔφη.

Πορεύεσθε

πρὸς

Σισίνιον

τὸν

ἐπίσκοπον·

τὰ

δὲ

πορευθέντα,

διεμηνύθη

αὐτῷ

διὰ

τοῦ

θυρωροῦ·

ὁ

δὲ

ἔφη

τῷ

θυρωρῶ·

Πόθεν

παραγεγόνασι

τὰ

ζῶα

ταῦτα;

Τότε

προστάξει

Θεοῦ

μία

ἔλαφος,

ἀναλαβοῦσα

φωνὴν

ἀνθρωπίνην,

ἕφη.

Ὁ

δοῦλος

τοῦ

Θεοῦ

Ἀρτέμων,

συλλειφθεὶς

παρὰ

τοῦ

ἀσεβοῦς

κόμητος,

ἄγεται

δέσμιος

ἐν

τῇ

Καισαρέων

πόλει·

καὶ

ἡμῖν

προσέταξεν

ἐλθεῖν

ἐνθάδε.

Ἀκούσας

δὲ

ὁ

ἐπίσκοπος,

ἔξθαμβος

γέγονε,

καὶ

καλέσας

Φολέαν,

τὸν

διάκονον,

ἀπέστειλεν

εἰς

Καισάρειαν,

λέγων·

Ἄπελθε,

καὶ

μάθε,

εἰ

ἀληθές

ἐστι,

ἅπερ

ἀκοῦσαμεν

διὰ

τῆς

ἐλάφου·

καὶ

ἀπελθὼν

εὗρεν

αὐτὸν

ἐν

τῇ

φυλακῆ·

καὶ

ἀσπασάμενοι

ἀλλήλους,

διέστησαν

εἰς

ἐπιταγὴν

τῶν

φυλάκων.

[3] Τῇ

δὲ

ἑξῆς

προκαθίσας

ὁ

κόμης,

παρέστησε

τὸν

μακάριον

Ἀρτέμονα,

καὶ

φησὶ.

Τίμησον

τὸ

γῆρας

σου,

ἄνερ,

καὶ

θύσον

τοῖς

θεοῖς·

καὶ

ὁ

Ἅγιος.

Δέκα

καὶ

ἔξ

χρόνους

διεβίβασα

ὑπαναγινώσκων

τῷ

λαῶ

τὰς

βίβλους

τοῦ

Θεοῦ

ἐν

τῷ

ναῶ·

καὶ

ὀκτὼ

πρὸς

τοῖς

εἴκοσιν

ἐτέλεσα

διάκονος

Χριστοῦ

ὑπαναγινώσκων

τὰ

Εὐαγγέλια·

καὶ

τριάκοντα

καὶ

στεῖς

πληρώσας

πρεσβύτερος,

διδάσκων

τῇ

τοῦ

Θεοῦ

μου

βοηθεία,

καὶ

νῦν

λέγεις

μοι

τῷ

ἀνησθήτω

ὁμοίω

σου

Μαίμονι

ἐπιθῦσαι;

Ταῦτα

ἀκούσας

ὁ

κόμης

ἐταράχθη,

καὶ

πυρώσας

ἐσχάραν

ἥπλωσε

τὸν

Μάρτυρα

ἐν

αὐτῇ.

ἀναβλέψας

δὲ

ὁ

Ἅγιος

εἰς

τὸν

οὐρανὸν,

ἔφη.

Κύριε

Ἰησοῦ

Χριστὲ,

μὴ

συγχωρήσης

τῷ

μιαρῶ

τούτω

κόμητι,

ἐπεγγελάσαι

μοι

τῷ

δούλω

σου,

ἀλλ᾽

εἰδὼς,

ὃτι

διὰ

σὲ

πάσχω

ταῦτα,

δός

μοι

ὑπομονὴν,

ἵνα

τελείως

καταισχυνθῆ.

Ταῦτα

λέγοντος

τοῦ

Ἅγιοῦ,

ἰδοὺ

καὶ

ἡ

ἔλαφος

ἐκ

τοῦ

ἐπισκόπου

ἐλθοῦσα,

προστάξει

Θεοῦ

εἰς

ἔλεγχον

τῶν

ἀπίστων

λέγει

τῷ

κόμητι,

Τί

ἀδυνατεῖ

τῷ

Θεω;

Γνῶθι,

ὅτι

ὁ

Δοῦλος

τοῦ

Θεοῦ

ταχέως

ἐκδικηθήσεται·

δύο

γὰρ

ὄνεις * ἁρπάσουσί

σε,

καὶ

βαλοῦσιν

εἰς

τὸν

παμφλάζοντα

λέβητα,

καὶ

αἱ

σάρκες

σου

διαλυθήσονται,

ὅτι,

ὅν

ὁμολόγησας

Θεον

τοῦ

πιστεῦσαι

ἐξηρνήσω.

[4] Ὡς

οὖν

διηλέχθη

ὑπὸ

τοῦ

ἀγρίου

ζώου,

ἐκέλευσε

τοῖς

στρατιώταις

ἐκκεντῆσαι

τὴν

ἔλαφον·

ἡ

δὲ

ἀποπηδήσασα

πλησίον

τοῦ

συγκαθέδρου

τοῦ

κόμητος

διαδρᾶσα

τὸ

ῥιφὲν

κατὰ

τῆς

ἐλάφου

βέλος,

ἔβαλε

τοῦ

συγκαθέδρου

Καιρίαν

τῆς

καρδίης,

καὶ

ἀπέρῥιψε

τὴν

ψυχὴν.

Λυπηθεὶς

οὖν

ὀ

κόμης

ανεχώρησε·

καὶ

ἔβαλε

τὸν

Ἅγιον

ἐν

τῇ

φυλακῆ·

τῇ

δὲ

ἐξῆς

προσέταξεν

ἐμβληθῆναι

εἰς

λέβητα

πίσσαν·

καὶ

ἐκκαύσας

σφοδρῶς,

ἐν

αὐτῇ

βληθῆναι

τὸν

Ἅγιον

κελεύει,

γενομένου

δὲ

τούτου,

ἰδού

ἐκ

τῆς

τάξεως

παρεγένοντο

πρὸς

τὸν

κόμητα,

τὴν

ἔκκαυσιν

τοῦ

λέβητος

ἀπαγγέλλοντες·

αὐτὸς

δὲ

ἵππω

ἐπιβὰς,

πλησίον

τοῦ

λέβητος

παρεγένετο.

[5] Ἄφνω

δὲ

οὐρανόθεν

κατελθόντες

δύο

ἄγγελοι,

ὡς

ἐν

σχήματι

ἀετῶν,

καὶ

ἀρπάσαντες

αὐτὸν

τοῦ

ἵππου,

τῷ

λέβητι

ἐνέβαλον·

καὶ

οὕτως

ἐχωνεύθη,

ὡς

μηδὲ

ὀστοῦν

ἀπολειφθῆναι·

ὅπερ

ἰδόνται * οἱ

στρατιῶται

καὶ

πᾶς

ὁ

ὅχλος,

ἐξέστησαν

καὶ

ἔφυγον·

ὁ

δὲ

Ἅγιος,

καταλειφθεὶς

μόνος,

ἐδόξασε

τὸν

Θεὸν,

καὶ

διὰ

προσευχῆς

ἐν

τῷ

τόπω

ἐκείνω

ἐξήγαγεν

ὕδωρ

πολὺ.

Τοῦτο

ἲδὼν

Βιτάλιος,

ὀ

ἱερεὺς

τῶν

εἰδώλων,

καὶ

ἄλλοι

πολλοὶ

ἐβαπτίσθησαν·

καὶ

τῇ

νυκτὶ

ἐκείνη

ῆλθε

φωνὴ

πρὸς

τὸν

Ἃγιον

λέγουσα.

Πορεύου

πρὸς

τὴν

Ἀσίαν

ἐν

τοῖς

παραθαλασσίοις,

καὶ

ἔση

πολλοὺς

καθαρίζων

ἀπὸ

ποικίλων

παθῶν,

καὶ

δαίμονας

ἀπελαύνων,

καὶ

πολλοὶ

ὑπὸ

σοῦ

φωτίσθεντες,

δοξάσουσι

τὸν

Θεὸν.

Ὁ

δὲ

Ἅγιος,

ὀνάγρου

ἐπιβὰς,

ἐπορεύετο,

καὶ

ἀρπαγεὶς

ὑπὸ

θείου

ἀγγέλου

εὑρέθη

ἐν

ὦ

ἐχρηματίσθη

τόπω·

πολλὰ

ἐκεῖσε

σημεῖα

πεποιηκὼς,

καὶ

πολλοῦς

φωτίσας,

καὶ

πρὸς

Θεὸν

ὁδηγήσας,

ὕστερον

κρατηθεὶς

ἀπετμήθη

τὴν

κεφαλὴν.

St. Artemon, for having broken the idols When Diocletian was reigning at Rome, a certain count named Patricius was sent toward Laodicea ^a, who carried out what had been commanded him. But Sisinius ^b, the prelate of the place, and Artemon the priest, together with some other Christians, entered the temple of Diana by night, broke the idols there and burned them with fire. When the count learned of the matter, full of wrath, joining a multitude of the people to himself, he went out of the city with cavalry to the church of the Christians, intending to give all to the fire, but Sisinius and Artemon limb by limb

intending to cut to pieces. But when he drew near the church, a sudden horror came upon him, and, seized by a high fever, he returned home placed on a litter. And, reduced to extremity, he sent word to the bishop: Pray to thy God that I may be relieved of the illness, and I will make thee a golden stole ^c. Let thy gold be with thee, answered the bishop: but thou shalt be healed if thou believest in Christ, my God. He wrote back: I believe in thy God, provided I obtain health; and at once he rose up, freed even from the very remnants of the illness.

[2] bound, he is led to Caesarea Having set out for Caesarea ^d, about three miles from Laodicea ^e, he met Artemon the priest, who had in his company two stags and six wild asses ^f. He asks him how he caught those wild beasts. By the word of God, says the Saint. And the count: Thou art a Christian, then? I am indeed, says Artemon, and that from tender years. Then the count ordered him, bound with two chains and handed over to soldiers, to turn his journey and follow him to Caesarea. But the Saint, turning to the beasts following him, said: Go to the bishop Sisinius: they go, and when they had come to his house, the porter announced to Sisinius that they were standing before the doors: Whence, said he, these beasts here? Then by the will of God one of the hinds, assuming a human voice ^g, said: The servant of God Artemon, taken and bound by the impious count, is being led to Caesarea, and he ordered us to come here: the bishop was astounded on hearing this, and, summoning Pholeas the deacon, sent him to Caesarea, saying: Go and see whether the things are true which we have heard from the hind. He, having set out, found Artemon in prison: and when they had embraced one another, they were torn apart from each other by order of the guards.

[3] and is roasted with fire, On the next day the count, sitting before the tribunal, addresses the blessed Artemon, ordered to be set before him, in these words: Reverence, O Man, thy old age and sacrifice to the gods. For sixteen years now, said the Saint, I read the divine books to the people in the church as lector; for twenty-eight years as deacon of Christ I read out the Gospels; and as priest I have completed thirty-three years ^h, in which, God helping, I taught the people, and now dost thou order me to sacrifice to a mindless Bacchus and one like thyself? Struck by these words, the count ordered a gridiron to be made white-hot, and the Martyr to be stretched upon it, who, raising his eyes to heaven, said: Lord Jesus Christ, do not suffer this wicked count to mock me, Thy servant; but since Thou knowest that I suffer these things for Thy cause, grant me patience, that he may be altogether confounded: and while the Saint was saying these things, behold, there comes from the bishop the hind, and by the command of God, to the reproof of the unbelievers, says to the count [i]: Is there anything that God cannot accomplish? Know that the servant of God will very speedily be avenged: for two birds will snatch thee and cast thee into the boiling pot, and thy flesh will be dissolved, because thou hast denied Christ, whom thou didst promise to believe God.

[4] on the next day, about to be cast into the boiling pot, When the beast had said these things, he commanded the soldiers to pierce it with weapons: but as it leapt across to the count's assessor, and avoided the weapon hurled at it, the weapon struck the heart of Cherias, the count's assessor, and took away his life. The count therefore withdrew from the tribunal not without grief, and ordered the Saint to be thrown into prison. And on the following day he orders pitch to be put into the pot, and the Saint to be thrown into it when it was vehemently kindled: which being done, behold, there come, at the count's order, men to announce that the pot was now kindled: and he, having mounted his horse, came near to the pot.

[5] But presently, by two angels, borne from heaven to earth in the form of eagles, he escapes indeed the death prepared, but at length is beheaded elsewhere. the count was dragged from his horse and thrown into the pot ^k, and so boiled away that not even a bone remained: which the soldiers and the whole multitude beholding, struck with fear, fled; but the Saint, left alone, burst out into the praises of God, and by his prayers brought forth an abundant fountain from that very place; seeing which, Vitalius, priest of the idols, and not a few others, were dipped in the sacred wave of baptism. Further, on the same night there came down to Artemon a voice of this kind: Go to the maritime peoples of Asia, where thou shalt cleanse the various diseases of many, shalt drive out demons, and many, enlightened through thee, will give glory to God. And the Saint, having mounted a wild ass, departed, and, snatched up by an angel, was found in the appointed place ^l. When he had wrought many prodigies there, and had brought many to the light of faith and to God, he was at length taken and beheaded ^m.

ANNOTATIONS.

i. Again another fable.

* ὄρνεις

* ἰδόντες

ANOTHER ELOGIUM, LIKEWISE FABULOUS,

From the Menaea at the 8th day of October,

TRANSLATED BY JACQUES BUÉE.

Artemon, priest, M., perhaps at Laodicea in Phrygia. (S.)

Οὗτος

ὑπῆρχεν

ἐπὶ

Διοκλετιανοῦ

τοῦ

βασιλέως,

πρεσβύτερος

τῆς

κατα

Λαοδίκειαν

ἐκκλησίας,

γηραὶος

καὶ

ἤδη

ἐπανθοῦσαν

ἔχων

τὴν

πολιὰν.

Εἰσελθὼν

δὲ

μετὰ

Σισινίου,

τοῦ

ἐπισκόπου,

ἐν

τῷ

τῶν

εἰδώλων

ναῷ,

τὸ

τοῦ

Ἀπώλλωνος

κατέστρεψεν

ἄγαλμα·

ὁμοίως

καὶ

τὸ

τοῦ

Ἀσκληπιοῦ

συνέτριψαι * ξόανον·

καὶ

τοῦς

ἐν

αὐτῷ

δράκοντας

ἠφάνισε.

Φασὶ

γὰρ

αὐτοὺς

εἴκοσι

πήχεις

ἔχειν

τὸ

πλάτος,

καὶ

τὸ

μῆκος

ὀγδοήκοντα.

Διὰ

τοῦτο

κρατηθεὶς,

τὰς

σάρκας

σιδήροις

κατατέμνεται,

καὶ

ἐν

ἐσχάρα

πυρακτωμένη

ὀπτᾶται·

ἐκ

ταύτης

ἀπαθὴς

διανίσταται.

Καὶ

ταῦτα

ἐπῆγον

τῷ

Ἅγιω

οἱ

ἀλιτήριοι,

καὶπερ

δορκάδος

ἐπομένης

αὐτῷ,

καὶ

φωνῆ

ἀνθρωπίνη

ἐλεγχοῦσης

τὴν

τοῦ

παρονόμου

ὡμότητα.

Ὁ

δὲ

Ἅγιος,

ἐν

ῷ

ἦν

ἱστάμενος

τόπῳ,

ἐξαίφνης

πηγῆς

ἀναδοθείσης,

καὶ

τοῦς

παρατυχόντας

βαπτίσας,

αὐτίκα

ἀνεπαύσατο

ἐν

Κυρίῳ.

[St. Artemon, for overturning the statues of the idols, is tortured with iron and fire, and dies shortly after.] He was, under the emperor Diocletian, a priest of the church of Laodicea, aged and comely with flourishing white hair. Having entered a temple of the idols together with Sisinius the bishop, he overturned and broke the statues of Apollo and of Asclepius ^a, and did away with the dragons which were kept in the temple: for these, they say, had twenty cubits in breadth and eighty in length ^b. Taken for that cause, he is cut with iron and, cast upon a white-hot gridiron, is roasted, from which he rises unharmed. And these evils indeed the profane inflicted on the Saint, although a hind followed him and with human voice rebuked the cruelty of impiety. But the Saint, having drawn forth a sudden fountain in the same place where he stood, and baptizing men far and wide, shortly afterwards rested in the Lord. [c]

ANNOTATIONS.

These two verses are set before this Elogium:

Κόσμου

μεταστὰς

καὶ

Θεῷ

προσεγγίσας,

Σός

εἰμι,

καὶ

σῶσον

με,

φησὶν,

Ἄρτέμων.

Drawing near to God, snatched from the earth, Artemon

Says: I am Thine, and do Thou save me, O God.

* συνέτριψε