Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present dayKellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Religion
Heortology : $b A history of the Christian festivals from their origin to the present day
Kellner, K. A. Heinrich (Karl Adam Heinrich)
Church year; Fasts and feasts
The Arian character of the martyrology is shown by the fact that Arius
himself is mentioned in it, while none of the adherents of the Nicene
faith of that date are included, and the only orthodox bishop whose name
appears is James of Nisibis. Since he was orthodox, and since Nisibis
belonged to Persia, his name could not have been in the Greek original,
which, besides being Arian, was limited to worthies belonging to the
Roman Empire, but the insertion of his name is probably due to the
orthodox Persian translator.
The compiler drew his information from the works of his predecessors,
to which he made additions of his own. One of these sources he names,
for he states with regard to the names of eleven personages, that they
are taken from the “Number of the Ancient Confessors.” He also used an
old list of martyrs, which he does not further describe. To judge by
the character of the quotations from this document, it must have dealt
with the same part of the Church as the new compilation. Antioch (four
times), Synnada, Nicomedia, Pergamus, and Heracleia are named in it,
while Alexandria is not mentioned. By the “Ancient Confessors” are to be
understood the martyrs before Diocletian, and it is probable that they
were taken from the lists of “Depositions” belonging to each city, just
as the chronographer has preserved for us those of Rome.[759]
As regards the contents, they resemble those of similar documents of
earlier and later date, and are fully described in the superscription,
which states that it “contains the names of the Lords, _i.e._ the saints,
confessors, and victors, and the days on which they received their
crowns.” One would expect to find the place of their death mentioned as
well, but many saints are given without any indication of the locality
to which they belonged, perhaps on account of imperfect information on
the part of the author. The date of death is on the whole correctly
given, a remarkable instance to the contrary being the commemoration of
SS. Peter and Paul, which is placed on the 28th December. This cannot
throw doubt upon the date observed in Rome itself, for the Greeks were,
as a rule, very imperfectly informed concerning ecclesiastical events
in the Latin portion of the empire. The sources from which the compiler
drew his information cannot have been very full, for there is no mention
of the famous Western martyrs, Agnes and Lawrence, and, indeed, beyond
the mention on the 1st Ab (August) of Aksitus, Bishop of Rome, by which
Xystus II. is probably intended (the day of St Xystus’ death was the 6th
and not the 1st August), and of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, correctly
given on the 7th March, no Western saints are commemorated.[760]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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