ON SS. THEODORE AND PHILIPPA AND SOCRATES AND DIONYSIUS, HIS MOTHER AND COMPANIONS, MARTYRS,
AT PERGA IN PAMPHYLIA.
About 220, as is reported.
A Sylloge chiefly from the sacred calendars of the Greeks.
Theodore, martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. (S.)
Philippa, his mother, martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. (S.)
Socrates, martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. (S.)
Dionysius, martyr, at Perga in Pamphylia. (S.)
BY J. S.
These four Martyrs, whom the Menæa and Menologies of the Greeks record together on various days, Galesinius first, and then Baronius, referred to different days in the Roman Martyrology. These four Martyrs, separated by Baronius, At this day Baronius has it thus: At Perga in Pamphylia, of the holy Theodore and Philippa his mother, and of their Companions, martyrs, under the emperor Antoninus. The two Companions, whom he does not here name, he gave at the 19th of April, the place of the martyrdom being omitted, in the following words: On the same day, of the holy martyrs Socrates and Dionysius, who were pierced with lances. Sirlet's Menologium brought it about that Galesinius and Baronius did not sufficiently perceive that those four Martyrs are found joined together among the Greeks, as having suffered together. For in the said Menologium at the 19th of April all indeed are announced, but with different elogia, as though the two latter had nothing in common with the former. Of Theodore first this is read: On the same day the commemoration of the holy martyr Theodore at Perga of Pamphylia, who, under the emperor Antoninus and the governor Theodotus, being fastened to a wood and hung up, lived three days and afterwards passed to the Lord: whose holy relics certain religious men tended with unguents and cloths and laid in a distinguished place. Then follows: On the same day the holy martyr Philippa, mother of holy Theodore, is consummated by the sword. And presently of the others: On the same day the holy martyrs Socrates and Dionysius, wounded with lances, accomplished their martyrdom. In the same manner first Theodore with a long elogium, then briefly Philippa, and then Socrates and Dionysius with the same brevity, are commemorated separately in the printed Menæa at the 19th of April. To each too are added, as is customary, verses, which about the manner of the martyrdom agree with the words of the Menologium already given, and with the elogium of the Menæa to be recited below. But from this elogium it is understood that not only Philippa but also Socrates and Dionysius suffered on Theodore's occasion.
[2] The same is gathered from the Basilian Menologium, in which at the 21st of September Theodore alone is announced in these words: are joined in one elogium in the Basilian Menologium: The contest of the holy martyr Theodore, who suffered martyrdom in Perga, a city of Pamphylia. But the elogium, which from the Greek-Latin edition I transfer hither only in Latin, contains the martyrdom of all, set forth in these words: Theodore the martyr was famous under Antoninus, Cæsar of the Romans, seventy-six years before St. Theodore, who underwent martyrdom at Amasea. And he too served in the legion of recruits, because he was flourishing in age, and tall in stature, and comely in form of face. But when he was compelled to sacrifice to the idols, despising the earthly soldiery and an emperor subject to corruption, "I," said he, "serve as a soldier for the heavenly king Christ, from the time when I was baptized: but the earthly one I refuse to serve." Wherefore, being seized by the governor and beaten, he is cast into a furnace. But when he came out thence, having suffered not even the least harm, that event drew to the faith of Christ two soldiers, Socrates and Dionysius, astounded by the greatness of the miracle: and they were at once condemned to be beheaded together with Philippa, the mother of holy Theodore, who had come a little before out of a desire to see her Son. But Theodore, being first tortured with various kinds of torments, was at last put upon a cross, and flew joyfully to the heavens. Thus far that Menologium. But these things do not agree in all points with the fuller elogium of the Menæa, nor with the briefer elogium which is found at the 21st of September in the manuscript Constantinopolitan Synaxary which was Sirmond's.
[3] Besides, I doubt whether the Latin interpretation at the beginning of the elogium given is fitting. This Theodore is said to have suffered 76 years before Theodore of Amasea. And so I bring the Greek words hither: Θεόδωρος ὁ μάρτυς ὑπῆρχεν ἐπὶ Ἀντωνίνου καίσαρος Ῥωμαίων, προγενέστερος τυγχάνων τοῦ ἁγίου Θεοδώρου, τοῦ ἐν Αμασείᾳ μαρτυρήσαντος, ἔτη ἑβδομηκονταέξ. Which seem to me to be thus rendered in Latin: Theodore the martyr was famous under Antoninus, Cæsar of the Romans, seventy-six years earlier than St. Theodore, who was crowned with martyrdom at Amasea. The age of each Theodore is also compared in the Synaxary just praised, in which this is read: Οὗτος ὑπῆρχεν ἐπὶ Αντωνίνου,… προγενέστερος τοῦ ἁγίου Θεοδώρου τοῦ ἐν Αμασίᾳ καὶ Ευχαίτων, μαρτυρήσας πρὸ ἔτων ἑβρομήκοντα. He was famous under Antoninus, … earlier than St. Theodore, who is of Amasea
and of Euchaita, having obtained the crown of martyrdom seventy years before. But if anything is to be attributed to these, it will be necessary to fix Theodore's martyrdom under the last Antoninus, or under him whom some surname Heliogabalus, others Alagabalus, others Elagabalus. For Pagi begins his rule from the year 218, and carries it down to the year 222. And so, if he suffered about the year 220, it will perhaps be true that Theodore of Perga was crowned with martyrdom only seventy-six years before St. Theodore of Amasea. I see indeed that the martyrdom of St. Theodore of Amasea is fixed by some in the year 306; but I have not found that that epoch is so well established that it cannot be further examined whether perchance he did not suffer some years before the general persecution. But that examination I remit to the 9th of November, on which Theodore of Amasea is venerated; and since the authority of the Menologium, or even of the Synaxary, is not so great that it can be made certain from it that this Theodore is seventy-six years, or only seventy, earlier than the other, I have only doubtfully fixed today's Martyrs under Antoninus Elagabalus. For that comparison of the age of the two is not read in the Menæa.
[4] The elogium of St. Theodore from the Menæa, But certain other things also are there reported in a different manner. Wherefore I faithfully turn the whole elogium into Latin and subjoin it, such as it is read there at the 19th of April: Under the rule of Antoninus, and while Theodotus held the prefecture of Perga in Pamphylia, many elegant and comely youths were chosen into the order of recruits. Then with several others this blessed Theodore also was brought to the prefect. When therefore, like the rest, he had been clothed with the garment and with the seal, he broke this, saying: I have been sealed from my mother's womb by my emperor Christ; to another emperor I do not serve as a soldier. But the prefect said: And to what emperor hast thou served? The Saint said: To him who made heaven and earth. The prefect said: And dost thou not sacrifice to our gods? The Saint said: To unclean demons I have never sacrificed. Then he ordered him to be beaten with blows; and, being vehemently beaten, he was set for the interrogation. And the prefect says: Hast thou now learned to answer prudently? The Saint replied: Would that thou thyself mightest know thy Creator, as I do, and adore him! Then, being stretched out on a burning gridiron, they sprinkled him with sulphur, pitch, and endless wax. And they indeed did so. But God showed something great and astonishing to the blinded. For a huge noise being made, and the earth being split in two where the fire and the gridiron were set, boiling water (O prodigy!) extinguished the gridiron and all the burning. But the Saint, rising up wholly sound, says to the prefect: What thou hast seen, proconsul, is not the work of my power, but of Christ, and of my God, whom I serve. If therefore thou wilt know the power of thy gods, kindle another pyre, and let one of thy soldiers be stretched upon the gridiron in their name: and then thou shalt know the unconquerable power of my God.
[5] Dioscorus, priest of the idols, is converted and suffers, But the soldiers, presently catching up his words, said: Do not so, lord: but rather set the priest of the gods on the gridiron. Him surely they will hear as their priest, and he shall remain unharmed. Hearing this, the prefect said: Let the priest be brought. And when they had set the priest before him, the prefect says to him: What is thy name? And he said, Dioscorus. Then the prefect: Tell me, Dioscorus, what magic do the Christians use against fire, since Theodore has remained unharmed? Dioscorus said: The Christians are not magicians, far be it; but where the name of Christ has been uttered, all illusions and incantations are dissolved, and the demons tremble. And the prefect: Is Christ more powerful than Jove? Dioscorus said: Jupiter and the rest are deaf idols and destitute of sense. Wherefore I beg thee not to compel me to set myself upon the gridiron. But if thou wilt learn Jove's power, set him on the gridiron of the pyre. Then the prefect: And who would dare to do this? Dioscorus said: I will do it at thy command: and if he take vengeance on me, I shall believe him powerful. And the prefect: Art thou not a priest until now — why utterest thou such things? Dioscorus said: In poverty of mind I was a priest: but seeing that blessed Theodore could not be overcome by thee, I have been confirmed; and now I desire to become his fellow-soldier. And the prefect: Since thou speakest thus, said he, mount the pyre. Then Dioscorus, falling at the Saint's feet, said: Pray for me, Servant of God. And as the Saint prayed, Dioscorus was spread out upon the pyre of the gridiron, giving thanks and crying with a loud voice: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, God of Theodore! And: Receive my spirit in peace. Saying these things, he delivered his soul to Christ.
[6] Straightway the Saint, being seized, is cast into prison. Socrates and Dionysius converted: On the next day he was bound by his feet to untamed horses and tied to a chariot. But the horses, running without order, slipped into a precipice and perished. But the Saint, by a divine power in no way perceived by the eyes, being loosed from his bonds and preserved wholly unharmed, made all astonished. Of these, Socrates and Dionysius, who had bound the Saint to the chariot of the horses, affirmed that, when the horses were driven on, they had seen an unwonted and dreadful spectacle which struck both understanding and mind. For they related that they had beheld as it were a fiery chariot, and it as it were descending from heaven, which loosed the Saint bound with chains, and took him up, and carried him unharmed from on high to the prætorium; but the horses, as though driven by force by someone, it thrust into the precipice. Those who, standing by, heard and believed these things, cried out: Great is the God of the Christians! But the prefect shut them and the Saint in prison: and orders a furnace to be kindled. This being done, and the Saint with the soldiers being cast into the furnace, dew brought down from above cooled them, and they began to converse. And their talk brought back to memory the mother of St. Theodore. For since she had been taken captive three years before and carried off with many others to a foreign land, he, narrating the manner of the captivity, desired to see her. And he cried out: Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of wonders, show me my Mother in what ways thou knowest (there is nothing thou canst not do), that all may know thy great wonders. This indeed was the matter of their conversation.
[7] But when, the flame being extinguished, they were seized by sleep, to the other three there comes Philippa, Theodore's mother: an angel standing by the Saint said: Fear not, Theodore: for thy Mother is here. And he, awakening, narrated what he had seen to the Soldiers. But before that narration was brought to an end, there stood in the midst of the furnace the Saint's mother Philippa, so named. And she, beholding her Son whom she desired to see, exulted and greeted him and the Soldiers his companions. Then the Saint, being taught by his Mother whence she came, with hands raised to heaven gave due thanks to God. The night being over, when he had risen in the morning, the prefect said: I suppose that not even a bone has been left in the furnace into which Theodore with his Companions was cast. While he was saying this, someone came from the furnace announcing such things to the prefect: While Theodore implored Jesus, the flame was extinguished; and his Mother, suddenly coming from a foreign land, entered into the furnace: and sitting there as in a chamber, they converse about their God. Hearing these things, the prefect was terrified, and coming to the furnace he called the Saint's Mother and said to her: Art thou the mother of Theodore? She answered: I am indeed. Then the prefect: Persuade thy Son to sacrifice to the gods, lest he perish miserably and thou be left childless. Philippa replied: My Son, put upon the cross by thee, will offer to his God a true sacrifice, namely to my Lord Jesus Christ, the true God.
[8] And the prefect: If therefore thou hast found the death of thy Son, all four are killed in different ways. this shall by all means come to pass. And presently the prefect ordered holy Theodore to be hung upon a cross, and the Soldiers to be pierced with lances in the midst of the furnace, and the head of the Saint's Mother to be cut off with the sword. In this manner they obtained the crown of martyrdom. But holy Theodore, fastened with nails, hung alive three days: and then, still hanging, he passed over to the Lord. Then some of the faithful laid the bodies of the Saints, anointed with unguents and wrapped in linens, in an honorable place. Thus far the Menæa, with which the manuscript Synaxary of Sirmond agrees in the chief heads of the matter, but not in the various circumstances, which in truth are not probable. The torments inflicted on St. Theodore are there recounted most briefly, but in the same order and number; namely, first that he was vehemently beaten with blows, secondly set upon a burning gridiron, thirdly bound to untamed horses, fourthly cast into a burning furnace together with Socrates and Dionysius, and fifthly at length fastened to a cross, and on it dying after three days. The two Companions also, Socrates and Dionysius, are asserted to have been pierced with lances in the furnace. Philippa is likewise said in the Synaxary to have been beheaded; but the occasion of her martyrdom is there set forth far more probably thus, after the death of Theodore has been related: Ὂν
θεασαμένη
ἡ
μητὴρ
Φιλίππα
θεαρέστως
ἐκπεπνευκότα,
καὶ
τὸν
Χριστὸν
ἀνακηρύξασα
Θεὸν
ἀληθινὸν,
τῇ
διὰ
ξίφους
τομῇ
συνετελείωθη. Quem
videns mater Philippa morte Deo placita exspirasse,
& Christum prædicans verum Deum, sectione
gladii una vitam finivit. Hæc mors certe probabilis
est, uti & mortis occasio, quæ eodem fere
modo refertur in Menologio Basiliano, ubi dicitur
venisse ad videndum Filium.
[9] Nonnulla in dato elogio fabulosa, Verum non nisi pro fabulis habere possum,
quæ supra ex Menæis dicuntur de ejus captivitate,
de ejus subita adductione & ingressu in caminum,
uti & de oratione Theodori, ejusque cum aliis colloquio.
Mors Socratis & Dionysii, qui ubique lanceis
transfixi dicuntur, præterquam in Menologio
Basiliano, ubi magis innuitur, capite minutos fuisse,
utcumque dubia videri potest. At magis credo,
lanceis fuisse confossos, cum Menologium huic mortis
generi aperte non contradicat. Verumtamen non
æque certum credo, id factum esse in camino: nam
ipsa Theodori in caminum injectio utcumque suspecta
est, & minime certa, cum S. Theodorus Amasenus
tali supplicio vitam finiverit, & satis verisimile
fiat, ab illo ad Theodorum nostrum Pergensem
illud fuisse cum adjunctis fabellis translatum.
Nihilo minus suspecta mihi sunt, quæ asseruntur
de Theodoro craticulæ imposito, & deinde
equis indomitis alligato. Certe potius scenica videntur
figmenta, quam facta historica, omnia illa, quæ
post craticulæ supplicium num. 5 subjiciuntur, maxime
de Dioscoro idolorum sacerdote, qui revera
nullibi hodiernis Martyribus annumeratur. Non
minus fabulosa videtur tota visio Socratis & Dionysii,
relata num. 6, quæ alteri supplicio subjungitur.
His de causis totum istud Menæorum elogium,
utpote majori ex parte fabulosum, facile omisissem,
nisi Papebrochius noster alicubi dixisset, illud
a nobis dandum, si Acta alia non inveniremus.
[10] occasio martyrii aliaque exposita. Sola occasio martyrii probabilius exposita
it seems in the Menæa than in the other calendars. For there he is said to have refused military service, as not a few other martyrs did, and for that cause to have professed himself a Christian. But in others he is said to have served in the legion of recruits. But it is rightly doubted whether there ever was a legion which had the name of recruits. On the contrary it rather seems that the name of recruit was given to this Theodore of ours because he was being enrolled among the recruits. Moreover the seal of the soldiery which Theodore is said to have broken was a piece of lead hung about the neck, as is clear from the genuine Acts of St. Maximilian the martyr in Ruinart, page 301, where Maximilian, refusing military service, says: I do not receive the seal of the world: and if thou seal me, I break it … It is not lawful for me to carry lead about my neck, etc. Whether certain signs of idolatry were carved on that lead, or whether the Christians shrank from military service because of the frequent perils of idolatry to which soldiers were exposed, I do not here inquire. But it is certain that many Christians shrank from the soldiery as perilous, or even unlawful, under the gentiles. That Theodore died on a cross all the calendars agree; nor do I think that punishment is to be doubted, although it does not seem equally certain that he hung alive for three days. For the rest, no one would rightly doubt whether this Theodore is not the same as Theodore of Amasea because both were recruits. For those two are abundantly distinguished, since this one was crowned with martyrdom at Perga in Pamphylia, the other at Amasea in Pontus, and they suffered at times much different and under different tyrants. There are added the three Companions who are joined to today's saint; not so to the one of Amasea. For the rest, Juan Tamayo in the Spanish Martyrology announces SS. Theodore and Philippa as born at Huesca in Bætic Spain; but he confesses that they suffered at Perga in Pamphylia. But these are inventions of certain fable-makers, whom the learned Spaniards themselves have long since exploded. Among the other thefts of these men, which today are more numerous than usual, Nicolás Antonio also aimed at this one and refuted it at length in his posthumous writings. And indeed the fiction is clearer than to deserve to be refuted at greater length.