Eumenius

ON ST. EUMENIUS, BISHOP OF GORTYNA, PERHAPS DEAD IN THE THEBAID,

From the Greek and Latin Martyrologies.

Perhaps in the seventh century.

Eumenius, bishop of Gortyna, perhaps dead in the Thebaid. (S.)

BY J. S.

[ ] The Sirletian Menology briefly mentions Eumenius, bishop of Gortyna in Crete, in these words: St. Eumenius the bishop, known in the Greek and Latin calendars, On the same day the birthday of our blessed father Eumenius, bishop of Gortyna. The metrical Calendar of the Greeks agrees, which was published before volume 1 of May, and the rest of their calendars, in which St. Eumenius is announced as a confessor, and in various ones as a wonder-worker also. The said Calendar has this little verse:

Ογδοάτῃ δεκάτῃ θάνε Ευμένιος μεγαλήτωρ.

On the eighteenth died the noble-hearted Eumenius.

Wherefore it seems to have happened by an error that in the illustrated Ephemerides of the Muscovites he is called Eumenius, bishop and martyr. The Latins certainly, with the Greeks, believe Eumenius a confessor; and Molanus in his Additions to Usuard speaks of him thus: On the eighteenth day, of the holy father Eumenius, bishop of Gortyna, wonder-worker. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology has these words about him: At Gortyna in Crete, of saint Eumenius, bishop and confessor. Galesini, praising in his Annotations the Horologion and Menology of the Greeks, inserted from them into his Martyrology such an elogium as this: In Greece, of saint Eumenius the bishop, who, from his infancy an outstanding worshiper of the Christian religion, when he had bestowed his whole patrimony on the poor in alms, and through his whole life had given himself to fasting and prayer and tears, famous for the praise of holy deeds, being made bishop of the church of Gortyna in Crete, so bore himself that he propagated the heavenly kingdom of Christ both by the examples of an evangelical life and by miracles divinely wrought.

[2] famous for virtues and miracles, In the Menology composed by order of the emperor Basil, after the announcement of the memory of St. Eumenius, bishop of Gortyna, wonder-worker, such an elogium as this is given: Eumenius the wonder-worker, a Christian from his youth, worshiped God with the highest piety and fear. And since he was rich, he distributed all his goods to the poor: but he himself spent all the days of his life in fastings and prayers: and, diligently fulfilling that exhortation of the great apostle Paul, he rejoiced with them that rejoice and wept with them that weep, and carried his eyes ever sprinkled with tears. Besides, he took care to lend his ears to detractions against no one, nor himself to condemn anyone. Nay, if he chanced to hear of anyone's sin, he thought that he himself was the one who had sinned. For these right deeds therefore, being chosen by the clergy and people, he was ordained bishop of the city of Gortyna in the island of Crete. And when he had lived many years in that episcopate, and had taught many peoples the things that pertain to the kingdom of heaven, and had received the gift of many miracles, he fell asleep, distinguished by miracles even after death down to the present day. In the Typicon of Sabas the name Eumenius is printed Eugenius, perhaps by the compositor's error.

[3] What is related of St. Eumenius in the printed Menaea he is said to have set out for the Thebaid and to have died there. is much different, although it is not contrary to what has been said. The elogium is expressed in Greek thus:

Οὗτος ὁ Ευμένιος, ἐκ νεότητος πολλαῖς σκληραγωγίαις ἀσκήσεως ἑαυτὸν καθυποβαλὼν, τὴν ἄκραν ταπείνωσιν ἐκτήσατο. Διὸ καὶ τοὺς οἴακας τοὺς κατὰ Γορτύνην ἐκκλησίας πιστεύεται. Οὗτος δεινότατον δράκοντα κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ὀρμήσαντα λαμπάσι κατέφλεξεν. Ἐκεῖθεν δὲ τὴν Ῥώμην καταλαβὼν, οἷά τις πυρσὸς ταῖς θείαις διδαχαῖς κατεφώτισε, σημείοις καὶ τέρασι πολλοὺς καταπλήξας· κἀκεῖθεν τὴν Θηβαΐδα καταλαβὼν, καὶ μὴ βουλόμενος, παῤαύτικα τοῦ αὐχμοῦ τὴν κατήφειαν καταστέλλει. Ἐν βαθυτάτῳ δὲ γήρα πρὸς Κύριον ἐκδημήσαντα *. Οἱ δὲ παῖδες τῶν Θηβαίων τῇ παθρίδι καὶ πύμνῃ τὸ τούτου σκῆνος παραπέμπουσι. Ῥάξος ὄνομα τῷ τόπῳ, ἥτις καὶ Κυρίλλου τὸ σεπτὸν κατέχει σῶμα.

This Eumenius, having from his earliest age subjected himself to harsh exercises of the virtues, obtained an eminent humility. Wherefore the helm of the church of Gortyna was entrusted to him. Hence he burned up with blazing torches a most monstrous dragon that threatened him. Setting out thereafter for Rome, he enlightened it like a torch with divine teachings, striking many with signs and prodigies. Thence he betook himself into the Thebaid, though unwillingly, and there at once relieved the distress of drought. And in extreme old age he departed to the Lord. But the Thebans sent his body back to his own country and his flock. Raxus is the name of the place, which also contains the venerable body of Cyril.

[4] Besides this elogium the praised Menaea celebrate St. Eumenius in many words in the Office which is performed in his honor. What is said about the dragon killed by the Saint seems fabulous. I should not wish general praises, frequently repeated, to be transferred hither in a long discourse: yet it is well to bring forward a few things in summary. He is praised first for the subduing of the affections of his soul, and is said to have been made a house of the Holy Spirit, to have had converse with angels, and to have been made an heir of the Lord's glory, and a patron of those who celebrate him. Then he is said to have shone with virtues and miracles, and is called a citizen of the holy city and fellow-citizen of the angels. Thirdly he is celebrated as bishop of Gortyna, as greatest and most glorious in prodigies, as enlightening the hearts of those who sit in darkness. Fourthly he is praised because from boyhood he loved humility, because he humbled the serpent, that is, overcame the devil, because he was manifestly enriched with the grace of healings. On these things I briefly observe that from this, that he is here said to have conquered the serpent, the killing of the dragon was perhaps drawn by a later Greek who made the elogium given above. Certainly the later Greeks not seldom invented similar fables from some allegorical saying of the older writers.

[5] Fifthly, the discourse being turned to the Saint, it is said: You enlighten Rome, working prodigies, as in the elogium given. He was perhaps banished into the Thebaid: but his body Sixthly he is praised because in the incarnate Son of God he acknowledged two wills and two operations, and preached him as at once man and God. This passage in some measure implies that St. Eumenius lived after the rise not only of the Eutychians but also of the Monothelites, since he is praised as opposed to their heresy. Seventhly he is said to have died in the highest old age. Eighthly he is said to have been sent from Rome into the Thebaid, and there to have driven away drought. And this is so expressed as though he were sent unwilling: for the Greek words are thus: Rome, having enjoyed your good things, sends you unwilling as a longed-for gift to the Thebaid, father Eumenius. Perhaps by Rome is to be understood Constantinople, which the Greeks at first called New Rome, and sometimes Rome. Wherefore the Saint seems to have been banished into the Thebaid by some Monothelite emperor; for no reason is alleged why he should have left his bishopric. Ninthly at last, to pass over other things said generally in his praise, he is said to have been sent back by the Thebans to his own country, and to have been buried in the place called Raxus, which already before contained the venerable body of Cyril, who had gone through many contests. So far the Menaea, from which it is clear that St. Eumenius was held in the greatest honor among the Greeks.

[6] after his death was sent back to Gortyna, and buried beside St. Cyril: Further, the Acts of St. Cyril, beside whom the Saint is said to have been buried, were given on the ninth of July, and in them the place where St. Cyril was crowned with martyrdom and buried is likewise called, at page 686, Raxus. Now it was outside the city, and the feast of St. Cyril is said to have been celebrated there too by the people, so that it does not seem to be doubted that a church was afterwards built at Raxus, and that St. Eumenius was buried in it. Lequien in the Oriens Christianus, volume 2, column 256 and following, wove a catalogue of the bishops of Gortyna, which was the metropolis of Crete, and after St. Cyril, who suffered under Decius, or rather in the persecution of Diocletian, he at once subjoins St. Eumenius, because the burial of St. Eumenius beside St. Cyril intimates, as he thinks, that Eumenius was illustrious a little after the times of Cyril. But he could also have been buried three or four centuries after St. Cyril in the church where the latter was venerated.

[7] he flourished probably in the seventh century. Wherefore I rather believe that St. Eumenius flourished in the seventh century, because his teaching is praised as opposed to the Eutychians and Monothelites, as I observed just now: for the Monothelites arose in the seventh century. I confess

nevertheless that this conjecture too is not certain. About the place where St. Eumenius died, Lequien's observation does not please me either, who understands by the Thebaid the city of Thebes in Boeotia. Boeotian Thebes was indeed a famous city of Greece, but I do not find that a region called the Thebaid was attached to it. Wherefore I should rather believe that the Thebaid of Egypt is designated, to which St. Eumenius came and where he died. Nevertheless, since in the Basilian Menology nothing is read about the journeys of St. Eumenius, there seems in some measure ground for doubt about that journey into the Thebaid, and about the death undergone there, for which I find nothing except the Menaea, and Mark, bishop of Cythera, who agrees with the Menaea. For this cause I have expressed the place of his death only doubtfully.

* read ἐξεδημήσατο