ON ST. PETER THE GALATIAN, MONK AND CONFESSOR, AT CONSTANTINOPLE,
NINTH CENTURY.
SYLLOGE.
Peter the Galatian, monk, conf., at Constantinople. (S.)
BY I. H.
He whom the father of our Work, John Bolland, The Saint, whose memory today in the sacred Fasti, in volume 1 of February, page 94, in the Life of another Peter, likewise a Galatian, had long ago designated in these words: Another Peter, both by race a Galatian and by profession a monk, is venerated on the 9th of October: on this day, on which he is read inscribed in the sacred Fasti, St. Peter, called the Galatian from his place of birth, claims a place of his own among our lucubrations. Scarcely anything is known of this Saint, whose memory at this day is more frequent among the Greeks, from elsewhere than from the monuments of the Greeks, Chastelain alone, so far as I know, among the martyrologists of the Latin Church announcing him thus in his Universal Martyrology: Among the Greeks, St. Peter, monk of Galatia, little notes being added on either side of the page: 866; and: Different from St. Peter the Galatian, of whom above. And of these notes only the former will recur below to be discussed; for doubt about the truth of the latter can occur to no one except one ignorant that this Peter the Galatian flourished four centuries before our Saint, as is to be seen in the volume of our Work cited above.
[2] Besides what the great printed Menaea of the Greeks exhibit to us, especially among the Greeks, we have almost bare announcements about St. Peter: for thus mention is made of him in the Menaea of the Ambrosian library marked O 148: Of Peter, under the emperor Theophilus. And in those which belong to the Dominican Fathers of the convent of St. Mark at Florence there is read: Peter under Theophilus: then the Synaxarion of the Ruthenians proper to the diocese of Kiev, which George David, often praised in our Work, translated into Latin and transmitted to our Predecessors, has this at this day: And of the venerable Peter, Abraham and Maximus: lastly Sirleto in the Menology writes the following: On the same day (the 9th of October), of our holy Father Peter, who lived under the emperor Theophilus, from the province of the Galatians. And these things indeed, although committed to writing rather jejunely about our Saint, demonstrate not obscurely that his memory and veneration were celebrated among the Greeks. I now subjoin the things which are drawn from the great printed Menaea.
[3] his deeds are known from the Menaea alone, Two verses being set first, which indicate the Saint's virtues compendiously,
Εἰς ὓψος ἀρθεὶς ἀρετῶν θεῖος Πέτρος, Τὸν χοῦν ἀπεκδὺς ὓψος οὐρανοῦ φθάνει:
which I here render in Latin,
The divine Peter, raised to the height of the virtues, Having left the earth, holds the height of heaven:
there is subjoined the following elogium, which I exhibit in Latin from Rader's version. This blessed Man, setting out from Galatia in the reign of Theophilus, was the offspring of the noble Theophilus and Eudocia, notable for the dignity, size and strength of his body, so that for that reason he was invested by the emperors with the insignia of count; having spent a long enough time in the army, at length, despising all things, he embraced the solitary life, was tonsured a monk in the monastery of Daphne, and was surnamed Peter instead of Leo. Then he climbed mount Olympus; thence he made a pilgrimage to the holy places, from these he went to Laodicea, and crossed over to Attalia, and endured every hardship of journeys and the unruly arrogance of the Ishmaelites, and returned to Olympus. And after the excellence of his life and virtue became known even to the emperors, the emperor Basil persuaded him to betake himself to the monastery of St. Phocas, in which he underwent great contests of the divine virtues, and at last rendered his soul to God.
[4] to which From these things it becomes manifest to those skilled in the histories of the Greek Emperors that St. Peter acquired an illustrious name for himself under three emperors of the Greeks, both in profane and in sacred warfare; but it is altogether hidden under whose rule, having bid farewell to secular arms, he began to serve as a soldier to Christ. On which matter, if I may lay down anything by conjecture, following Rader's version, it appears more probable that this happened under Michael, the son and successor of Theophilus. For he is said, having already set out from Galatia in the reign of Theophilus and been chosen among the counts, having spent a long enough time in the army, at length to have embraced the solitary life. Now Theophilus, a most bitter hater of icons, and so of the monks venerating them, held the empire for 12 years. Suppose then that Peter came to Constantinople from Galatia perhaps in one of the later years of that emperor: will he rightly be said to have followed military service for a long enough time and at length to have driven his mind to the norm of a holier life, unless it be laid down that this happened under some successor of Theophilus? But, you will say, Rader wrongly rendered χρόνον οὐχὶ συχνὸν, as is read in Greek in the Menaea, by a long enough time, when it ought to be translated not much time. But not even for this cause do I renounce my opinion: for since Theophilus, on the testimony of Cedrenus in the Compendium of Histories, page 514 of the Paris edition of the year 1647, was given to the impure heresy of the image-destroyers, and harassed the pious with evil deeds ALL THE TIME OF HIS REIGN, allowing them no quiet; and since, as is narrated in the same place, page 518, he had decreed … that monks should not be permitted to enter any city, with what probability will our Saint be said to have been received into the monastery of Daphne and tonsured a monk there under so hostile an enemy of the monks? But since, when Theophilus had been snatched from among the living and Michael had obtained the empire, the due cult was restored to the sacred images, quiet to the monks, and tranquillity to the whole Church, it is easy to judge that the Saint, without doubt weary of the tumult of war, resolved then to carry out the purpose he had conceived of a better life, and hid himself among the monks.
[5] and a few other things are observed. It remains that we discuss for a while Chastelain's note to his Martyrology, of which at number 1, 866, by which he indicates after his custom the year of our Saint's death. From the things which both the Menaea and volume 1 of February of our Work allege, it is clear that this year 866 was by no means the last for St. Peter, since in both places it is signified that he lived under the rule of Basil the Macedonian: and Michael, the son of Theophilus, presided over the empire through all that year 866, which was not transferred to Basil before the twenty-fourth day of September of the following year, on which he fell slain by the swords of traitors. This is further proved more luminously by what is read toward the end of the elogium cited from the Menaea, where the emperor Basil is said to have persuaded Peter to betake himself to the monastery of St. Phocas, already built before by him (Basil), as is plain from Banduri's Commentaries on the Antiquities of Constantinople, book 3, in which also he persevered in leading a life illustrious for various virtues until his last breath.