E02993: The Greek Life and Martyrdom of *Athenogenes (martyr of Pedachthoe, S00065), of the 4th/5th c., recounts the miracles and martyrdom of a bishop of the village of Pedachthoe (northern Asia Minor), reportedly based on an earlier document, reworked by a certain Anysios; it includes an account of several other martyrdoms. Written at Pedachthoe. Overview entry
Creators: name: Bryan
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2017
Subjects: History

description: Anysios, Life and Martyrdom of Athenogenes (BHG 197b)<br><br>Prologue<br><br>1. τοῦ βίου καὶ τῆς ἀθλήσεως τοῦ τρισμακαρίου μάρτυρος Ἀθηνογένους παρὰ πολλῶν ἐπιζητούμενον μόλις εὑρὼν ἐν παλαιοτάτῳ βιβλίῳ παρά τινι ἰδιωτικῷ λόγῳ συγγεγραμμένῳ καί, φιλαληθῶς εἰπεῖν, οὔτε κατὰ τάξιν οὔτε δὲ ἀκολούθως συγγεγραμμένῳ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καὶ ἐλλειπῶς· ἀναγνοῦς δὲ τὸ βιβλίον, ἀναγκαῖον ἠγησάμην μᾶλλον ἀκολούθως τοῦτο συγγράψασθαι, ὥστε καὶ τοὺς ἀκροωμένους πληροφορεῖσθαι.<br><br>‘The Account of the Life and Combat of the thrice-blessed martyr Athenogenes, which many had been looking for, I found with great difficulty in a very old book, written in simple style and, to say the truth, written without order or sequence, but even with gaps. When I read the book, I found it necessary to write it in an orderly manner, so that the audience may make sense of it.’<br><br><br>Summary of the Life and Martyrdom<br><br>Origin<br>2. Athenogenes was born in a Christian family at the village of Epiklesa/Epiklesoi, in the district of Sadopine under the city of Sebastopolis. He was married and had a son, Patrophilos. He lived a holy life and was ordained priest and chorepiskopos (superintendent of a rural district) by the bishop of the time.<br><br>Miracle 1: Captives and Miracle with a dragon<br>3-7. During an invasion of Goths, numerous people are taken captive. Athenogenes collects money and travels to the barbarian lands in order to ransom them. On his way, he finds a child bound by a lake, offered by the locals as a sacrifice to a dragon. He frees the boy and kills the monster, hitting it three times on the head with his stick. The local bishop ordains him to the episcopate. Athenogenes ransoms the captives and returns them to their families. He settles at his village of Pedachthoe, where he lives together with his son, Patrophilos – the latter later became a chorepiskopos and confessor. He keeps his episcopal ordination secret, so as not to distress the bishop of Sebastopolis. <br><br>Miracle 2: Fire in the church<br>8. Gothic invaders set fire to the church the saint had built. Athenogenes prays and the fire is put out by a miraculous wind.<br><br>Miracle 3: the mares of Goloe<br>9-10. Athenogenes administers justice with wisdom among the locals. At the nearby village of Goloe, a dispute about mares breaks out. At Athenogenes’ prayers, all the mares of the village die and no mares can be raised or owned by that community ever since. <br><br>The martyrs Theophrastos, Maximinos, Hesychios, Theophilos, and Kleonikos, and the shrine built for them ($E02996).<br>11-13. Under Diocletian and Maximian, a persecution breaks out, while the provincial governor was a certain Agrikolaos. The martyrs Theophrastos, Maximinos, Hesychios, Theophilos, and Kleonikos are arrested. Athenogenes visits them in prison and strengthens them with a letter, the text of which is quoted (12). After their martyrdom, he builds for them an octagonal shrine and tomb at Pedachthoe where later Athenogenes himself is buried.<br><br>Miracle 4: Water in the mountain<br>14-15. Athenogenes retires to a mountain, where he causes a spring of water to flow from the rock.<br><br>Premonitions of martyrdom<br>16. Athenogenes returns from the mountain and holds a feast (synodos) at the village of Kimouasos, near Pedachthoe. On his way back to Pedachthoe, he stops with his associates near a swamp to rest. There, they see a star flashing during the day, which Athenogenes interprets as a premonition of trials. He has a dream of eating sacrificial meat, and they are attacked by a multitude of ants while sleeping.<br><br>Arrest<br>17-18. A garrison comes from Sebasteia seeking Athenogenes. He initially pretends not to know who the man is, and sends them to Pedachthoe. Yet he soon changes his mind, invites the soldiers to lodge at his house and there he hands himself over to them.<br><br>Farewell to the community<br>19-21. On their way to Sebasteia, Athenogenes and the guards arrive at the village of Sadopa. There he bids farewell to the clergy and people. He reveals to them his episcopal ordination, and ordains two priests, lest he dies without making use of his episcopal grace. He writes a letter to the bishop of Sebasteia.<br><br>The story of Ariston and Severianos<br>22. The author explains why the governor Agrikolaos was after Athenogenes. Two followers of Athenogenes, the reader Ariston and the singer Severianos, sought martyrdom without the approval of Athenogenes. They appeared in Sebasteia, carrying a pamphlet which offended the emperors. Agrikolaos held Athenogenes responsible.<br><br>23-26. [This section contains the dialogue between Agrikolaos, Ariston, and Severianos – probably based on trial acts.] Ariston confesses having burned down temples, but he does not know the names of the shrines. Agrikolaos asks Severianos about the motives of these arson attacks, but the latter only replies that there were others involved in the act. At the threat of tortures, Severianos reports that Athenogenes had sent them to become martyrs, and was the author of the offensive document. Agrikolaos condemns Ariston to be burned alive.<br><br>The martyrdom of Rheginos in Neokaisareia ($E02997)<br>27. The author points out that many confuse Ariston’s martyrdom with that of a certain Rheginos who actually died at Neokaisareia/Neocaesarea. He had been a disciple of Athenogenes, and the latter revered him as his personal patron, after his martyrdom.<br><br>The doe ($E02999)<br>28. While being transferred to Sebasteia, Athenogenes meets a female deer which he had raised. He blesses the animal and promises that her offspring will never be caught by hunters, but will be offered and consumed in his memory.<br><br>The wife of Agrikolaos<br>29-30. At the village of Daora, they stop to rest and Athenogenes is met by the wife of the governor Agrikolaos. She beseeches him to free her daughter from an evil spirit, promising to intercede with her husband for his release. Athenogenes grants the healing, but asks her not to impede his martyrdom, lest seven spirits possess her daughter.<br><br>Interrogation and condemnation<br>31-36. [This is a long dialogue section between Agrikolaos, Athenogenes and Severianos, probably also based on an earlier document.] Athenogenes denies knowing Ariston and Severianos and having written the offensive document. Severianos, in a partly incoherent way, reiterates his claim that the bishop has given him and his companions the pamphlet, with instructions that they be martyred. As Severianos sticks to his accusation, both under torture and without it, Agrikolaos asks Athenogenes to apostatise in order to save his life, which Athenogenes refuses to do. The governor condemns both Severianos and Athenogenes to death by fire.<br><br>The site of martyrdom in Sebasteia and the martyred bishop Petros. ($E02998)<br>37. The pyre is prepared at a place called agalma (‘statue’) in Sebasteia, where there is now a church. On the same site, an earlier bishop of Sebasteia, Petros, had been burned alive, much earlier than Athenogenes. He now rests at Bizaza. Shortly before the execution, a noble and rich woman called Eusebia meets the martyr and requests his intercession for the forgiveness of her sins. He asks her to collect and bury his body at the shrine he has built at Pedachthoe.<br><br>Final prayer, martyrdom and burial<br>38-39. Athenogenes prays that all those who celebrate his memory be granted forgiveness and anything they may ask for. Christ grants the request. Eusebia and her servants collect the body and transfer it on a cart to Pedachthoe. They bury it at the shrine the saint had built with perfumes and wrapped in a precious cloth.<br><br>Posthumous miracles ($E02999)<br>40-41. Every year on the saint’s feast day in July, miracles take place. A deer brings its fawn to be consumed in memory of the martyrs. No flies fly in the butcheries. Meat bought on the day is miraculously preserved for a very long time. Water is miraculously provided to those assisting in the festival. Athenogenes can be invoked, in order to avert the fulfilment of a bad dream.<br><br>Subscripts<br><br>42. Ἰλάριος δὲ ὁ τηνικαῦτα πρῶτος τοῦ βουλευτηρίου, ἐπικαλούμενος Πυρραχάς, πατὴρ ὑπάρχων Ἰλαρίου τοῦ ἀπὸ κυαιστόρων.<br><br>Ἀνύσιος γὰρ εὑρὼν τὸ μαρτύριον τῆς ἀθλήσεως τοῦ τρισμακαρίου μάρτυρος Ἀθηνογένους ἀτάκτως καὶ ἐλλειπῶς ἕχον συναγαγὼν συνέθηκα.<br><br>Ἐτελειώθη δὲ ὁ ἅγιος μάρτυς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ὲπίσκοπος Ἀθηνογένης μηνὶ ἰουλίῳ ιζ’ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ Διοκλητιανοῦ καὶ Μαξιμιανοῦ τῶν ἀσεβεστάτων, κατὰ δὲ ἡμᾶς βασιλεύοντος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αὶώνων· ἁμήν.<br><br>‘42. At that time, the president of the council was Hilarios, the so-called Pyrrachas, who was father of Hilarios, ex quaestor.<br><br>I, Anysios, having found the account of the martyrdom of the thrice-blessed martyr Athenogenes in a disorderly and incomplete form, have collected and assembled it.<br><br>Christ’s holy martyr and bishop, Athenogenes, was put to death in the month of July on the seventeenth, during the reign of the most impious Diocletian and Maximian. Over us reigned our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power to the ages of ages. Amen.’<br><br><br>Text: Maraval 1990. Summary and translation: E. Rizos.