ON SS. ARTEMIDORUS AND COMPANIONS: ARTEMIDORUS, BASIL, GLYCON, AND LEPTINA, MARTYRS OF THE EASTERN CHURCH,
AT AN UNCERTAIN TIME.
COLLECTION.
From the Menaea of the Greeks and other calendars of Constantinople, Jerusalem and the Slavs.
Artemidorus, martyr of the Eastern Church. (S.)
Basil, martyr of the Eastern Church. (S.)
Glycon, martyr of the Eastern Church. (S.)
Leptina, martyr of the Eastern Church. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
[1] In these our Acts of the saints there has been brief discussion from the sacred Greek calendars, at the 9th day of September, of St. Artemidorus, SS. Artemidorus and Basil, slain together by the sword, who completed his martyrdom by fire Acta SS., vol. III of September, p. 366., and at the 20th of the same month of SS. Artemidorus and Thalelaeus, or Thalus, who were slain by the sword because they would not adore Diana Ibid., vol. VI of September, pp. 148 and 149.. Different from these is St. Artemidorus who is celebrated today in the calendars of the patriarchate of Constantinople; since he was slain not by fire as the first, but by the sword; nor had he, like the second, St. Thalelaeus as a companion, but St. Basil: to which is added that their birthdays are more than a whole month distant from each other. Further, in the printed Menaea of the Greeks there is read at this day: Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ οἱ ἅγιοι μάρτυρες Ἀρτεμίδωρος καὶ Βασίλειος ξίφει τελειοῦνται. Στίχ. Ἀρτεμίδωρος, ᾧ τέλους ψῆφος ξίφος / Σύναθλον εἶχε Βασίλειον πρὸς ξίφος. That is: On the same day the holy martyrs Artemidorus and Basil are perfected by the sword. And the following little verses Siber translates thus Martyrologium metricum ecclesiæ græcæ, p. 349.:
The cutting of the steel slays Artemidorus: He has gained Basil as his comrade in arms.
The same two are reported in the Slavic Ostromir codex of the 11th century and in the manuscript Menaea of Mazarin; but also in the Milan Menaea of the Ambrosian library, marked O. n. 148 and T. n. 346, there are associated with them SS. Glycon and Nestor, in these words: Ἄθλησις τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων Βασιλείου, Ἀρτεμιδώρου, καὶ Γλύκωνος, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Νέστορος; that is: The passion of the holy martyrs Basil, Artemidorus and Glycon and of the holy martyr Nestor. The same words are read in the Sirmond Menaea, except that Nestor is absent. Moreover in the Greek Nani codex CLXVI, which Mingarelli reviewed Græci codices mss. apud Nanios Venetiis, p. 369., and in the Jerusalem Menologion of the 10th century, which Scholz edited De menologiis duorum codicum græcorum, p. 8., on the next day, the 27th of October, there occurs the memorial τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος Νέστορος καὶ Ἀρτεμιδώρου; both of which saints, but separated by SS. Capitolina and Erotheis interposed, occur also in the manuscript Greek Menaea of the monastery of St. Mark of the Fathers Preachers at Florence. Of Nestor, whom I have already mentioned among those passed over at the present day, there is nothing that I should say.
[2] Nor does St. Glycon belong to the fellowship of SS. Artemidorus and Basil, but he is a martyr by himself, who in the Menaea of the Greeks is honoured with a distich of his own: [and St. Glycon, with his head cut off, and St. Leptina, dragged along the ground, are venerated on this day by the Orientals.]
Στίχ. Ξίφει προτείνας μάρτυς αὐχένα Γλύκων, / Σπονδὴν γλυκεῖαν αἶμα σου Χριστῷ γέεις.
These little verses the same Siber translates into Latin thus Martyrologium metricum, p. 349.:
Gladly you give your head to be cut by the steel, Glycon: The poured blood is a libation pleasing to God.
This St. Glycon can be confused with no other, since indeed no other of the same name occurs in the synaxaria or menaea. To whom it is fitting to add St. Leptina, who has met us only in the printed Menaea of the Greeks, with this praise, that on the same day the holy martyr Leptina, dragged along the ground, ended her life: τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμερᾳ ἡ ἀγία μάρτυρ Λεπτίνα κατὰ γῆς συρομένη τελειοῦται; with this distich, translated into Latin by Siber Ibid., p. cited.:
Στίχ. Ἐν γῇ συρεῖσα χερσὶ δυσσεφρόνων / Ἀφῆκεν εἰς γῆν Λεπτίνα σάρκος πάχος.
She is dragged on the ground by impious arms, Leptina leaving on the earth the bulk of her body.
These indeed, like most other things, have little salt; but yet they avail to this, that we may know by what kind of death the holy woman completed her martyrdom: which is to be observed also of SS. Artemidorus, Basil and Glycon. But in what place or at what time each one fell as a victim to Christ is so far hidden; but since new Eastern books come forth daily, not all hope has vanished that we may at some time arrive at a knowledge of the deeds of several of the heavenly ones who at first were not venerated at Constantinople, but from the 9th century gradually came in from outside, obtaining a name in the sacred calendars of the royal city.