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
Among the bishops of Alexandria there are two mentioned whose names do
not occur in the official lists, Artemon on the 3rd September, and Hodion
(Orion) on the 16th August. Similarly, among the bishops of Antioch,
there are two not mentioned elsewhere, Amphimelus (4th March) and
Philippus (27th March). Can these have been Arian prelates?
Besides St Peter and St Paul, the only two apostles commemorated are St
John and St James, who held the most important place in the eastern half
of the empire; they are placed together on the 27th December, on which
day the latter especially was formerly commemorated. St Stephen, also
called an apostle (schelico), appears on the day still consecrated to
his memory (26th December).
The bishops, priests, and deacons appear with their proper titles; all
the others have the designation, confessor (mandaya). This designation
implies martyrdom, for in the first three centuries _confessor_ means a
martyr whose sufferings stop short of death. It is also worthy of notice
that some who appear not to have been martyrs have to be content with
a mere commemoration (dukrana = _commemoratio_), as, for example, St
Xystus, James of Nisibis, Eusebius of Cæsarea, etc. The names, again, of
others are merely mentioned without any addition or title.
Finally, there are still some peculiarities in this menology which
ought to be mentioned. Some of these may be due to oversight, or to
the ignorance of the compiler, others seem to be mistakes made in
transcribing the document, and ought not to appear in documents of an
official character. Thus Marcianus of Tomi appears twice (on the 5th and
on the 10th June), Dius once as confessor and once as presbyter (11th
and 12th June). Especially remarkable is the circumstance that three
individuals, whose names occur in no other calendar, not even in the
_Menologium_ of Constantinople, are given three times, namely, Cosconius,
Melanippus, and Zeno, sons of Theodota, once for Nicea on the 19th
January, once for Asia on the 23rd February, and once for Nicomedia on
the 2nd September. As slips of the pen, we may notice Hadriopolis for
Hadrianopolis, Pedinthus for Perinthus, Tunjus (10th June) for Tomi,
which is elsewhere spelt correctly, Sindus for Synnada, which once (30th
June) has the addition, “in Phrygia,” and once (15th June) is without it.
The proper names are frequently wrongly spelt, or so confused as to be
unrecognisable.
Of the Church festivals, only Epiphany and Easter are marked. The MS.
is, unfortunately, imperfect where we should expect to find the 25th
of December. On the Friday after Easter the Commemoration of all the
Confessors, _i.e._ Martyrs, is set down.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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