ON ST. MELITINA, MARTYR,
AT MARCIANOPOLIS IN MŒSIA.
From the Greek Calendars and the Roman Martyrology.
Second or third century.
CommentaryMelitina, martyr, at Marcianopolis in Mœsia. (S.)
BY J. S.
The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Melitina today with this elogium: At Marcianopolis in Thrace, of St. Melitina the martyr, The Saint commemorated by the Greeks on this and the following day, who under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Antiochus was led once and again to the shrines of the gentiles; and since the idols always fell down, she was hung up and torn, and at last beheaded. Baronius observes in the Annotations that St. Melitina is commemorated by some of the Greeks on this day, by others on the following. And so there is no place for the marginal note of Castellan, who says that she was transferred in the Roman Martyrology from the following day to this. Nor has any force what Castellan adds, that in Sirleto's Menology on the same day mention is made of the finding of the relics of St. Acacius bishop of Melitene, as though he wished to hint that St. Melitina might have taken her origin from that announcement misunderstood. For Melitina is found also in the Basilian Menology, which is much more ancient than Sirleto's, and in which the finding of Acacius of Melitene is not mentioned. Besides, more things are related of St. Melitina than would make it credible that such an error could arise. Further, St. Melitina is announced today in the Basilian Menology, both the printed one and the manuscript we also have. But in Sirleto's, in the printed Menæa, as also in Sirmond's manuscript Synaxary, with which other manuscript Menæa agree, she is referred to the following day.
[2] The elogium from the Basilian Menology I here transfer entire. whose elogium is given: Melitina the martyr, in the reign of Antoninus, Cæsar of the Romans, was of Marcianopolis, a city of Thrace. Now when she preached Christ, she was seized by Antiochus, governor of the same city, and having confessed herself a Christian, she is most grievously beaten. Then, being dragged into the temple of the idols to sacrifice, by pouring out prayers to God she brought it about that the idols fell down and were shattered. From which it came about that many of the Greeks, together with the governor's wife, believed in Christ. Wherefore, being again beaten with scourges, she is thrust into prison; then, being led out and stripped, she is hung up and her sides are scored; and being again led into another shrine of the idols to sacrifice, she prays to God, and at once the idols fall and are shattered into pieces. Wherefore, sentence being passed upon her, her head was cut off with the sword. And a certain Acacius, pious and fearing God, translated her relics and laid them in the island of Lemnos. With these Sirleto's Menology plainly agrees, only adding that Acacius, who is said to have translated the relics, was by nation a Macedonian. The printed Menæa also agree in all that is related down to the martyrdom, except that the emperor under whom the Saint is said to have suffered is called Antonius. But that change of name is slight and frequent. The Menæa also add that they were images of Apollo and Hercules which are asserted to have been shattered by the Saint's prayers.
[3] her body translated to the island of Lemnos: Of the translation of the body more is said in the Menæa, from which I transfer this here, rendered into Latin: When after the cutting off of her head her precious body lay unburied, a certain Acacius, a Macedonian, setting out for his own country, asked for the body. And the governor, suspecting nothing about him, granted it to his request. He therefore, taking the body, and laying it in a coffer, hastened to his own country. But being seized with sickness at sea, he departed this life. The ship meanwhile, being driven to a certain promontory of the island of Lemnos, laid down there the holy body of the Martyr; and near it Acacius, the lover of martyrs, was buried. In these things I find nothing that is unfitting or improbable. For Marcianopolis was a city of Mœsia, situated not far from the Euxine Sea, which some have even placed on the shore of the Pontus. It is not necessary to examine this controversy. Certainly Acacius could not have used a more convenient route for journeying into Macedonia than by sailing through the Euxine Sea, the Bosphorus, the Propontis and the Hellespont; and thus the island of Lemnos had to be sailed past by one making for Macedonia.
[4] The Menæa again bring forward St. Melitina the martyr on the twenty-ninth of October with a shorter elogium, The Saint announced on other days also. which agrees with today's. Of the same both the Menæa and Sirleto's Menology also make very brief mention on the thirtieth of October. I do not doubt, however, that she is plainly the same; but those repetitions raise the suspicion that the Saint's festivals are distinct. As for what is said of her martyrdom under Antoninus, since there were several emperors of that name in the second and third centuries, it does not determine the time more nearly. Lastly, Marcianopolis, which the writers of the Calendars cited place in Thrace, I have located in Mœsia with the more ancient authors. Thus Ammianus in his own time still, book 27, chapter 4, attributes Marcianopolis to Mœsia, and at the same time teaches whence it received its name, writing thus: Then Mysia, where Marcianopolis is, so named from the sister of the prince Trajan. Not badly, however, is it assigned by others to Thrace
it was, because the boundaries of Thrace were afterwards more widely extended by the new division of the provinces, as Cellarius observes in the Geographia antiqua, book 2, chapter 8, page 375.