Nestor

ON ST. NESTOR, MARTYR AT THESSALONICA,

ABOUT THE YEAR 306.

SYLLOGE.

Nestor, martyr at Thessalonica and companion of St. Demetrius. (S.)

BY V. D. B

§ Single. The orders of martyrs among the Greeks. Whether St. Nestor is a great-martyr. How his single combat with a gladiator is to be excused. Whence his deeds are to be drawn.

The Greeks distinguished the most holy martyrs of Christ into certain orders, each with its own proper name. The different orders of martyrs among the Greeks: Namely they have called and still call πρωτομαρτυρας, not only Abel, who was the first slain for piety, and Christ, the head and pattern of the holy martyrs, but those also who at the beginning of the church shed their blood for Christ, such as St. Stephen, St. Thecla and others; νεομαρτυρας, on the other hand, those who after peace was granted to the church, for example in the times of the iconoclast emperors, underwent martyrdom, and also those who now from time to time are slain by the Turks. Μεγαλομαρτυρας then they have said and say of those who were honoured with some civil or military dignity or born of a more noble race, such as SS. Theodore, Eustathius, George, Arethas, Sergius, Demetrius etc.; on the contrary ἁγιομαρτυρας or bare μαρτυρας are as it were the common people of the martyrs. Besides this they called ἱερομορτυρας those who were devoted to God by episcopal or priestly consecration: but ὁσιομαρτυρας the holy monks, a number of whom fell in defence of the holy images. Then come the καλλιμαρτυρες; which name we find given mostly to women, such as SS. Anthusa, Barbara, Euphemia, Bassa and others; but we find St. Mocius also called καλλιμαρτυρα. Further συμμαρτυρες, or companions of a more principal martyr, occur quite often; but not as a title, but as an indication of the thing done [Compare on this whole subject Sagittarius, de Martyrum cruciatibus, page 19; Acta SS. volume VIII of October, page 124; Thesaurus Græcus of H. Estienne, Didot edition, under ἁγιομαρτυς, ἱερομαρτυς, καλλιμαρτυς, μαρτυς, μεγαλομαρτυς, νεομαρτυς, ὁσιομαρτυς, συμμαρτυς; Suicerus, Thesaurus ecclesiasticus, under μαρτυς.]. And in these notes or marks, as in every similar class of things, error is sometimes made or one departs from common usage; but too rarely for these distinctions of classes to be neglected.

[2] St. Nestor is not a great-martyr, being a plebeian youth Not without consideration, therefore, or as if by chance, is St. Nestor to be called a great-martyr, whose memory is kept today among the Orientals. Papebroch did in fact call him a great-martyr Acta SS. volume I of May, page XLIX. in the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides; and Byeus Ibid. volume IV of October, page 62., deceived by the authority of his predecessor, believed that he was honoured by the Greeks with the title of great-martyr. But it is not so. The name of St. Nestor comes in the eastern synaxaries at three days: namely at the 25th of October, on which his memory is made both in the Slavonic Menology of Assemani, in the common Menaea of Moscow and in the calendar of Sisatovac of the year 1324, and in the Greek Medicean Menology; then at the following day, on which in all the Slavonic and Greek lists the birthday of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica is celebrated, and that of St. Nestor in the Menologies of Basil, Sirmond and the other Medicean; and finally at the present day, because in almost all the Greek and Slavonic Fasti the festival of St. Nestor is kept; but in these he has nowhere met me with the title of great-martyr, which in the same places is everywhere attributed to St. Demetrius, a man of consular rank, of whom he was as it were the companion. Nor in the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides themselves, by occasion of which Papebroch fell into this error, was there any reason why St. Nestor should be called a great-martyr. It is true that, no differently from St. Demetrius, he is there painted in military dress; but in common dress, not ducal or ornate, in which St. Demetrius is shown. Nor was St. Nestor ever raised to be duke, or prince, or governor, or to any other function or office; but he was a bold and handsome youth, of plebeian race, destitute of all renown, except that he was a Christian.

[3] Having conquered a pagan gladiator, he is ordered by Maximian to be beheaded; Here now is how his memory is celebrated in the Menology of Basil: Nestor the martyr was from the city of Thessalonica in the times of the emperor Maximian. Being a Christian, he used to go to St. Demetrius, wherever he was staying, and was more accurately instructed by him in the word of truth. And when Maximian was staying at Thessalonica, he ordered circus games to be held; in which he brought forward a pagan gladiator *, by name Lyaeus, a man of portentous height and strength of body, who had already killed many of his adversaries. Seeing him St. Nestor was inflamed with divine zeal; and when he heard Maximian saying: "If anyone wishes, let him join battle with Lyaeus and conquer him;" he ran to St. Demetrius and took him as counsellor in the matter. Strengthened therefore by the blessed man and enlarged by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, he destroyed Lyaeus by the sword. For which reason the emperor, violently moved, ordered Nestor to be beheaded. And thus the martyr of Christ was consummated, triumphing over the devil and Lyaeus together.

[4] does this narrative lack authority? Tillemont indignantly rejects this narrative Mémoires ecclésiastiques, volume V, page 639., both because these things rest only on the authority of Simeon Metaphrastes, and because the contest ascribed to St. Nestor plainly conflicts with the divine law: that some Nestor indeed fought with Lyaeus, but a gentile; whom the Christians imprudently changed into a martyr and companion of St. Demetrius. But in truth this narrative is far more ancient than Metaphrastes. For Byeus produced a Greek copy of the Passion, which seems to have been written in the 6th century; from which it appears that St. Nestor, who fought with Lyaeus, was a Christian, and did not go down into the arena without first communicating the matter with St. Demetrius, who was being kept not far from there; and that he was condemned to death by Maximian because, asked whether he had used magic art against Lyaeus, he answered: By magic art, God forbid, he did not fall, nor was he slain by any incantation, but the God of Demetrius, the God of the Christians, sent his angel, and slew the wicked and proud man by my hand. The emperor, therefore, in anger commanded that he, as a Christian, should be led away to the western parts of the city, to the place to which the name of the Golden Gate is given; and there be killed by his own sword by Menutianus the protector, and so he gained the crown of martyrdom. It does no good, then, in this place to invoke the name of Metaphrastes in order to explode what displeases: for what Metaphrastes wrote about St. Nestor he had found in older books.

[5] does anything stand in the way of St. Nestor's being held among the blessed? Tillemont's former argument, then, could not be approved by Byeus; but the second, namely that St. Nestor's fight with Lyaeus is plainly foreign to the divine law, was admitted by him with both arms. For this reason Byeus's opinion stands thus, that either a man plainly unworthy of ecclesiastical cult was honoured by the Greeks, or that the deeds of Nestor the gladiator were fastened on some honest St. Nestor, martyr. But no way of arguing is worse than that which rests on this: "It ought not to have been done; therefore it was not done." Certainly it is lawful for no private person to kill another, except for the sake of just defence; but this fight was not so nakedly and simply put before the mind of SS. Nestor and Demetrius. As appears from all the Acts, they wished to repress the boastfulness of the pagan Lyaeus and of the emperor, who was pursuing the Christians: by which without doubt the pride of the gentiles would be broken, as soon as it was heard that the victor was a Christian; as though paganism had been conquered by Christianity. These things cannot be understood, unless one has a thorough knowledge of the parties and factions of the circus, and also of the zeal of the Christians, who at that time no less than at the present cried to God from the heart: That thou wouldst deign to humble the enemies of holy church, we beseech thee, hear us. SS. Nestor and Demetrius could therefore easily have thought that this contest was lawful for so distinguished a cause. Besides, what those learned men do not seem to notice, certainly at that time the Christians did not have so much science of morals as presbyters now. What of the fact that then even several bishops and presbyters thought suicide lawful for Christian virgins, by which they might keep their chastity unblemished [Compare Nicephorus Callistus, Hist. eccl. book VIII, chapter 13, volume I, page 455; St. Jerome, Comment. on Jonah, chapter I, verse 12, in Migne, Patrology, volume XXIV, column 1129; St. John Chrysostom, Works volume II, homily XL, number 11, page 585; Eusebius, Hist. eccles. book VIII, chapter 12, page 305.]? It was more recently, namely, that the divine prompting was invented by which these suicides might be excused.

[6] [The remaining matters of St. Nestor are to be sought in the Commentary on St. Demetrius.] Since therefore this is my opinion, I had to give faith to the words of Byeus; who among those passed over at the 8th day of October, having reported that the name of St. Nestor, no differently from St. Demetrius, was set down at that day in the Roman Martyrology, but in his judgement wrongly, on account of the reasons of Tillemont, to be set out in the Commentary on St. Demetrius, goes on thus: But if those reasons should not please afterwards, and it should nonetheless seem good in our work to count Nestor among the holy martyrs, that can be done at the day on which the Greeks hold their principal office of him, occurring in the printed Menaea, the 27th of October. Nevertheless in this place I should not wish to do what has been done. For whatever can be gathered and debated about St. Nestor is to be found in the distinguished Commentary of Byeus on St. Demetrius; which Theophilus Tafel himself, lecturer in the university of Tübingen, who has spent as it were his life in clearing out the antiquities of Thessalonica, has greatly praised Historia Thessalonicæ, page 30 and following.

[7] With Byeus and Tafel Although in the Passion SS. Demetrius and Nestor are read to have been slain by order of Maximian Herculius, this martyrdom seems to have taken place in the year 306. Byeus nevertheless judged that this was done by order of Maximian Galerius. Tafel twice examined this knot, and twice went over to the opinion of Byeus: For Maximian, surnamed Herculius, cannot duly be admitted; because the Goths, namely, or Sarmatians or Scythians, as the Acts will have it, were never conquered by that emperor, but by Maximian Galerius, who reigned in Illyricum from the year 303

to 311 Ibid. page 30.. And elsewhere he carries on the same argument thus De Thessalonica ejusque agro, page 114.: The passion of St. Demetrius (and of St. Nestor) could scarcely fall in the year 311 for this reason, that in that very year the emperor Galerius revoked his decree on the Christians, promulgated by him and Diocletian in the year 303, on the 24th day of February Manso, Leben Constantinus des Grossen, pages 354 and 359.. Then the persecutor of the Christians was not Maximian Herculius, but Diocletian and C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus Armentarius, to use the full name of the Augustus. In fixing the time of the Demetrian passion, however, that year above all must be chosen in which Galerius was not absent from his imperial seat of Thessalonica; which will be about the year 306. This year seems to me even now the most probable. So far so good: but less good that Tafel thought De Thessalonica, page 152. that the memory of St. Nestor was made on the 26th day of October in the Menology of Basil to be the beginning of the feast of St. Demetrius. On the contrary in this Menology, no differently from other books, the birthdays of SS. Demetrius and Nestor are joined; but in the Greek liturgical codices the festivals frequently vary by one day, as is everywhere observed in the Greco-Slavic Ecclesiastical Year of Martinov.

* by nation a Vandal