Philotheus

ON ST. PHILOTHEUS, PRESBYTER,

IN THE VILLAGE OF MYRMEX IN ASIA MINOR.

In the tenth century or earlier.

COLLECTION.

From the Menologies and other Fasti, chiefly of the Greeks.

Philotheus, presbyter, in the village of Myrmex in Asia Minor (St.)

BY J. S.

Almost all the Fasti of the Greeks, both published and unpublished and in manuscript among us, This Saint is commemorated in the Fasti of the Greeks, announce today with great consent St. Philotheus, presbyter, and renowned for remarkable miracles. The Greeks were followed by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue, and most recently by Castellanus in the Universal Martyrology. Yet the most eminent Baronius did not insert Philotheus in the Roman Martyrology, although he was generally accustomed to adopt many others from the Menology of the Greeks, which Sirleto rendered into Latin. A prudent reason, so far as I conjecture, deterred Baronius from adding Philotheus to the Latin Fasti, because his age is not established from the said Menology nor from the Menæa, so that he could not be sufficiently certain whether Philotheus lived before the schism of the Greeks or in the time of that schism. The same fear would deter me, were Philotheus not contained in the Menology which was collected in the tenth century by order of the emperor Basil. For before that time the Greeks had not been schismatics, except now and again for a few years, especially under Photius, generally called the author of the schism. Yet the successors of Photius in the ninth and tenth centuries were not schismatics, as has been shown elsewhere; but about the middle of the eleventh century Michael Cerularius renewed the schism of Photius. And so, since I have hitherto found no schismatics in that Menology, I judge that Philotheus, surnamed the wonderworker from his miracles, is by no means to be passed over: for I do not judge that miracles asserted by so great a consent are to be held for fictions without any reason.

[2] he was born in a province of Asia Minor, The Basilian Menology at the XV of September has it thus: On the same day, the commemoration of our holy father Philotheus the wonderworker. There follows the eulogy: but this was rendered into Latin erroneously, since the translator, not understanding what the Greeks of the middle age designated by the word θέμα, took the proper name of a region for the proper name of a man. Wherefore I here transfer the very Greek words by which the Saint's country is indicated: Φιλόθεος ὁ θαυματουργὸς ὑπῆρχε μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ θέματος Ὀψικίου. Which I express word for word thus: Philotheus the wonderworker was from the theme of Obsequium. Now by theme is designated a broad region, comprising several provinces, over which one man presided. For in the tenth century, in which the Menology was composed, the Eastern empire was divided into themes, as the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus teaches, who composed two books On the Themes, published by Anselmo Banduri in the Imperium Orientale, volume 1. Among the seventeen themes which he reviews in book 1, the fourth is called Ὀψίκιον, Obsequium, over which a count presided. And that theme, which we may call by a more Latin name a prefecture or province, was in that part of Asia Minor which is nearest to Constantinople. For on page 9 he enumerates the peoples in the theme of Obsequium in these words: The nations and peoples which constitute Obsequium are these: the Bithynians, the Mysians, the Phrygians, the Dardanians, who are also called Trojans. Then he enumerates also the chief cities, and puts first Nicæa, which is the metropolis.

[3] From these things, therefore, we have it that Philotheus was born in Asia Minor, and in the village of Myrmex: and indeed in one of its four most Western provinces, which extend along the Bosphorus, the Propontis and the Hellespont, that is, either in Bithynia, or in Mysia, or in lesser Phrygia, or in the Troad. In the Menology of Sirleto he is said to have been from the region Myrmica; but it ought to have been rendered, I think, from the village, or from the town of Myrmica. Certainly in the manuscript Synaxary which our Predecessors called the Sirmondian, it is thus stated: ὅς ὥρμητο θέματος μέν Ὀψικίου, κώμης δὲ καλουμένης Μυρμικος· who was sprung indeed from the theme of Obsequium, but from a village called Myrmex. With this agree the printed Menæa, in which concerning the birthplace of St. Philotheus it is thus stated: Οὗτος ὑπῆρχέν ἀπὸ χορίου Μύρμηκος καλουμένου, θέματος Ὀψικίου. He was from a place called Myrmex, of the theme of Obsequium. And so Myrmica, or more probably Myrmex, as it is called in Maximus of Cythera, was not a region; but a village or town in the Western part of Asia Minor, where St. Philotheus was born, and where he seems also to have died.

[4] These things concerning his birthplace being observed, I subjoin the whole eulogy from the Basilian Menology, from the last edition made at Urbino, a eulogy of his virtues and miracles: having however corrected the translator's error, by which he is wrongly called a follower of Opsicius, and substituted, according to the Greek, his native province. Philotheus the wonderworker, born in the theme or province of Obsequium, was a presbyter, and from his youth a great worshipper of God: inasmuch as he gave himself assiduously to fastings, vigils, and prayers; distributed his riches to the poor; and passed his days in mourning and weeping, reflecting within himself upon the most grievous punishments of sins in the other world, the gehenna of fire and the ever-watchful worm. When therefore he was confirming many, and helping them by his doctrine; and was offering the Liturgy [] to God blamelessly, he received the gift of miracles, namely that he should cast out demons, cure the sick, cleanse lepers, and bring rains in the greatest drought: for God does the will of them that fear him, and hears their prayers. Performing these admirable works, and granting the requests of those who came to him, he departed in peace. And from his precious bones, laid in the tomb, there flows in a wondrous manner a salutary oil down to this day.* Things plainly conformable to these concerning the virtues and miracles of the Saint are read in the Menology of Sirleto, omitting however those things which are here asserted concerning the oil gushing from the Saint's tomb. But those things are likewise read in the manuscript Synaxary already praised, and in the printed Menæa.

[5] he was married, then a presbyter, and renowned for miracles: Further, in these monuments certain other things are added which are passed over in both Menologies. For first, his mother is said to have been called Theophila, concerning whom nothing more is added. Secondly, Philotheus himself is said to have contracted marriage and begotten offspring, and afterwards to have been promoted to the presbyterate. Some prodigies are also added, which I transfer hither from the Synaxary. Ὅθεν καὶ θαυμάτων μεγίστων, ἠξιώθη, διὰ μόνης προσευχῆς ἐξ ἀπόρων ταμιείων τοῖς πένησι ἅρτον παράσχων· ἀλλὰ καὶ ποτάμιον ὕδωρ εἰς οἶνον μετέβαλε, καὶ λίθον μέγιστον λόγῳ μόνῳ μέτετέτηκεν. Καὶ μετὰ ἐνιαυτὸν τῆς κοιμήσεως αὐτοῦ μετατιθεμένου ἐν ἑτέρῳ τοπῳ, τὰς χεῖρας ὡσεὶ ζῶν ἐκτείνας, καὶ τῶν ὤμων δραξάμενος τῶν δύο ἱερέων, τῶν βουλομένων αὖτον μεταθῆναι, ἀνέστη· καὶ τρεῖς βάσεις βηματὶσας, κατετέθη εν ᾦ τόπῳ κεῖται. Whence also he obtained the grace of the greatest miracles, by prayer alone furnishing bread to the poor out of empty storerooms: but he also changed river water into wine, and by a word alone moved a very great stone; and one year after his death, when he was being moved to another place, stretching out his hands as though alive, and grasping the shoulders of the two priests who wished to translate him, he arose, and having measured three paces, was laid down in the place where he now lies. Thus far both the Synaxary and the Menæa, in which there is a difference of only one word, omitted in the Menæa. Maximus of Cythera also has like things, generally following the Menæa. Yet these latter things are less certain and less probable, both because they are not read in the Basilian Menology, which is older than the rest, and because they savour of the fables familiar to the Greeks.

[6] The little work of Philotheus on the commandments of the Lord, Further, it may deservedly be doubted whether our Philotheus ought not to be numbered among the ecclesiastical writers. He is certainly said in the Menology to have helped many by his doctrine, nor yet does he seem to have held the office of preaching, so that in his eulogy there is nothing to prevent our believing that some ascetic works were composed by him, if this be made probable from elsewhere. Pierre Poussines of our Society in the year 1683 published at Toulouse various little works of Greek writers, and called that collection the Thesaurus asceticus. The XVth little work has this title: A sermon of St. Philotheus on the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some more recent writers attributed the aforesaid little work to Philotheus, patriarch of Constantinople, who flourished about the middle of the fourteenth century, as was said today in the Prætermissi, where I treated of that Philotheus, because he is commemorated by the Muscovites in the more recent Fasti.

[7] which is denied to Philotheus of Constantinople, But Poussines in the Prolegomena does not acquiesce in their opinion, and refutes it by these reasons. First, Philotheus in the title of the little work is called Saint: which does not suit Philotheus of Constantinople. Secondly, Philotheus in the title is called neither patriarch nor bishop, although he was first bishop of Heraclea, and afterwards patriarch of Constantinople. Thirdly, from the age of his codex he reasons thus: Since a writer of the fourteenth century cannot be believed the author of a Work transcribed in a codex whose hand and paper display, as I said above, an age of five hundred years; especially since after it there are placed there other works of manifestly older age. Therefore some man much more ancient and more holy, out of the very many monks distinguished in every age by the name of Philotheus, must have written this Sermon. We argue in vain indeed, if these arguments do not suffice to take away the aforesaid little work from Philotheus of Constantinople.

[8] Yet Johann Albert Fabricius in the Bibliotheca

Græca, book 5, volume 10, page 471, attributes that very little work to Philotheus of Constantinople, and is not rightly claimed for him by others, and says that it was without reason taken from him by Poussines. But he brings forward no word to answer the arguments of Poussines, nor does he use any argument in favour of his Philotheus of Constantinople. I see, however, that Fabricius followed the opinion of Peter Lambeck, who in book 5 of the Commentaries on the Imperial Library, mentioning on page 99 another little work which is said to be of our holy father Philotheus, and which consists of fragments of certain ascetic sermons, observes concerning Philotheus that in another codex, reviewed in book 4, he is called a monk of Sinai. Then he adds: He seems to be the same as that Philotheus who, devoted almost from boyhood to the monastic life, became so renowned for erudition and holiness of life that he was first indeed made provost or abbot of a monastery on Mount Athos, and afterwards bishop of Heraclea in Thrace, and at last was elected patriarch of Constantinople. All these things Fabricius adopted more assertively, who says on page 469: Philotheus, first a monk of Sinai, then provost of the monks on Mount Athos, finally from bishop of Heraclea patriarch. But both Lambeck and Fabricius considered too little by how improbable a conjecture they fetch a monk out of Arabia in the fourteenth century, in order to make him provost of monks in Macedonia — which is asserted from conjecture alone: for Cantacuzenus, whom Lambeck cites, testifies indeed in book 4, chapter 16, that Philotheus of Constantinople was provost on Mount Athos, but concerning his monastic life on Mount Sinai keeps deep silence. Wherefore I cannot doubt that Fabricius has ascribed to one man the little works of at least two Philotheuses, following the improbable conjecture of Lambeck.

[9] it does not seem to be attributed to this Philotheus either. Nevertheless, since that St. Philotheus of whom we treat does not seem to have been a monk of Mount Sinai, while the little work published by Poussines is in Lambeck, book 5, page 69, attributed to Philotheus the monk of Sinai, together with another mentioned in the same place, I should not venture to ascribe the said little works to our St. Philotheus. The title of Saint found in the codex of Poussines favours him indeed; but the same title can easily suit the other Philotheus, the monk of Sinai, although I find him no more in the Greek Fasti than Philotheus of Constantinople. For the rest, in what century Philotheus the wonderworker flourished I nowhere find. This is certain from the Basilian Menology, that he lived either in the tenth century or earlier, since that Menology was compiled in the tenth century.

* the sacrifice of the Mass