E03602: A narrative of the discovery of the head of *John the Baptist (S00020) at Jerusalem and its translation to Emesa (Syria), is included in the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes, written in Latin in Constantinople, 518/534.
Creators: name: Dlambert
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2017
Subjects: History

description: Marcellinus Comes, Chronicle<br><br>VI. Vincomali et Opilionis<br>Iohannes praecursor domini et baptista caput suum, quod olim Herodias impia nefandaque postulatione ab umeris amputatum et in disco positum accepit proculque a truncato eius corpore sepelivit, duobus Orientalibus monachis ob adorandam apud Hierosolymam Christi domini resurrectionem introeuntibus revelavit, ut ad Herodis quondam regis habitaculum accedentes ammoniti requirerent fideliter humo extollerent. hoc ergo caput fide repertum suaque hispida in mantica conditum dum ad propria remeantes habitacula pervehunt, quidam Emetzenae figulus civitatis diutinam imminentemque sibi fugiens paupertatem sese his exhibuit comitem: quique dum nescius peram sibi creditam cum sacro capite portat, ab eo cuius caput vehebat noctu ammonitus utrumque comitem fugiens dereliquit, statimque Emetzenam urbem cum sancto levique onere introgressus est, ibique dum advixit, praecursoris Christi veneratus est caput moriensque sorori suae rerum nesciae signatum in vasculo tradidit recolendum. illa vero successori suo repositum signatumque ut erat dereliquit. porro Eustochius quidam occultus Arrianae fidei presbyter talem tantumque thesaurum indignus optinuit gratiamque, quam Christus dominus per Iohannem Baptistam infirmo populo tribuebat, is eam ac si suam dumtaxat in vulgo disseminabat. hinc pravitate sua detectus Emetzena civitate expulsus est. hoc deinde antrum, in quo beatissimi Iohannis caput in urnam missum sub terraque reconditum erat, quidam monachi pro habitaculo habere coeperunt. Marcellus demum presbyter totiusque monasterii praesul dum in eodem specu vita inreprehensibili habitat, idem beatus Iohannes Christi praecursor sese eidem suumque ostendit caput, ibidemque sepultum multis praefulgens virtutibus patefecit. hoc igitur venerabile caput sub Uranio memoratae episcopo civitatis per Marcellum praefatum presbyterum constat inventum Vincomalo et Opilione consulibus mense Februario die vicensimo quarto media ieiuniorum paschalium septimana, imperatoribus vero Valentiniano et Marciano regnantibus. <br><br>'6th indiction, consulship of Vincomalus and Opilio [= 453]<br>John, the herald of the Lord and his baptizer, revealed his head, which at an unspeakably horrible demand, Herodias had once accepted after it had been cut from his shoulders and placed on a dish, and buried far from his headless body; he revealed his head to two eastern monks entering Jerusalem to celebrate the resurrection of Christ the Lord, so that when they reached the place where the former king Herod lived they were advised to search around and dig the ground up faithfully. So while they were journeying back to their own places, carrying in their rough saddle-bag the head they had discovered by faith, a certain potter from the city of Emesa, fleeing the poverty which threatened him daily, showed himself to them as a companion. While, in ignorance, he was carrying the sack entrusted to him with the sacred head, he was admonished in the night by him whose head he was carrying, and fleeing both his companions he made off. He entered the city of Emesa immediately with his holy and light burden, and as long as he lived there, he venerated the head of Christ's herald. At his death, he handed it over in a jar to his sister, who was ignorant of the matter. She in fact left it to her heir, put away and sealed just as it was. Next a certain Eustochius, who was secretly a priest of the Arian faith, unworthily obtained this great treasure and dispensed to the rabble, as if it were purely his own, the grace which Christ the Lord bestows on his inconstant people through John the Baptist. When his wickedness was detected he was driven out of the city of Emesa. Afterwards this cave, in which the head of the most blessed John was set in an urn and reburied underground, became the abode of certain monks. Finally, when the priest and head of the monastery, Marcellus, was living a faultless life in that cave, blessed John, the herald of Christ, revealed himself and his head to Marcellus and showed that it was buried here, conspicuous by its many miracles. It is agreed therefore that this venerable head was found by the foresaid priest Marcellus while Uranius was bishop of the city mentioned. This was on the twenty-fourth day of February in the consulship of Vincomalus and Opilio, in the middle week of Lent, and the ruling emperors were in fact Valentinian and Marcian.'<br><br>Text: Mommsen 1894. Translation: Croke 1995.