Unknown, Easter Chronicle 504.7-505.6
created: This entry is taken from Easter Chronicle 504.7-505.6 written by Unknown in ca.
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/249

Καισαρείᾳ τῆς Παλαιστίνης

, and

Caesarea Palestina

are directly attested at Unknown, Easter Chronicle 504.7-505.6. This passage was written ca. ca. 630 C.E. possibly in Constantinople. The so-called Easter Chronicle (Chronicon paschale) is a universal history from the Creation down to the later reign of Heraclius, when it was composed, based on an amalgam of biblical, Christian, and secular sources. While the work shows a particular interest in the dating of religious festivals, it contains a wealth of historical and geographic information. Like other chronographic works in the Byzantine tradition—John Malalas before and Theophanes the Confessor and George Syncellus after—the Easter Chronicle is organized annalistically with successive entries by year. In this passage the author records the persecutions of Decius and ends with death of Decius and his son at Abirtus (250/1 C.E.), noting in particular the martyrdoms of Pionius at Smyrna and Alexander of Jerusalem at Caesarea.

Καὶ ἐν Σμύρνῃ τῆς Ἀσίας Πιόνιος σὺν ἄλλοις πολλοῖς ἐμαρτύρησεν, ἀνὴρ λόγιος καὶ τῶν ἐν μαθήμασιν τοῦ χριστιανῶν λόγου διαπρεπόντων γνωριζόμενος, ἐπὶ Πρόκλου Κυϊντιλλιανοῦ ἀνθυπάτου τῆς Ἀσίας πρὸ δʹ ἰδῶν μαρτίων, ὅ ἐστι κατὰ Ἀσιανοὺς μηνὶ ἕκτῳ ιβʹ, σαββάτου ὥρᾳ δακάτῃ. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὁ τῆς Ἱεροσολύμων ἐκκλησίας ἐπίσκοπος Ἀλέξανδρος ἐν Καισαρείᾳ τῆς Παλαιστίνης ἡγεμονικοῖς παραστὰς δικαστηρίοις καὶ ἐπὶ δευτέρᾳ διαπρέψας ὁμολογίᾳ, λιπαρῷ γήρει καὶ σεμνῇ πολιτεία ἐτελειώθη τῷ τοῦ μαρτυρίου δρόμῳ. Ὁ αὐτὸς Δέκιος βασιλεὺς ἤγαγεν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀφρικῆς λέοντας φοβεροὺς καὶ λεαίνας, καὶ ἀπέλυσεν εἰς τὸ λίμιτον ἀνατολῆς, ἀπὸ Ἀραβίας καὶ Παλαιστίνης ἕως τοῦ Κιρκησίου κάστρου, πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαι γενεάν, διὰ τοὺς βαρβάρους Σαρακηνούς. ὁμοίως δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ξηρᾶς Λιβύης ἤγαγεν ἑρπετὰ ἰοβόλα καὶ φοβερὰ ἀῤῥενοθήλεα, καὶ ἀπέλυσεν εἰς τὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου λίμιτον διὰ τοὺς Νομάδας καὶ Βλεμμύας Βαρβάρους· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γράφουσιν αὐτὸν ἑστῶτα μεταξὺ λεόντων καὶ ἀσπίδων.

[Ed. Dindorf 1832]

And in Smyrna in Asia, Pionius along with many others died as a martyr, a man of the Word and one recognized among those distinguished in the Christian teachings of the Word, under Proclus Quintillianus, proconsul of Asia, on the fourth day before the Ides of March, i.e., according to the Asian reckoning, on the twelfth day in the sixth month on the twelfth hour of the sabbath [March 11, 250 C.E.]. Likewise also the bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, Alexander, after standing before the governor’s lawcourts in Caesarea Palestina and shining brightly in his second confession, reached the end of the race to martyrdom with glistening old age and pious constitution. The same emperor Decius brought from Africa terrifying lions and lionesses, and he released them to the eastern frontier, from Arabia and Palestine to the fort at Kirkesios, to make offspring, because of the barbarian Saracens. Similarly also from Libya Inferior he brought venomous snakes, terrifying, both males and females, and he released them to the Egyptian frontier because of the barbarian Nomads and Blemmyes. And for this reason they portray him standing between lions and asps. [Trans. J. L. Rife]

Works Cited

[...] 504.7-505.6

[Eusebius, Church History 6.39.3-4

Jerome, Chronicle 218c-h

Jerome, Illustrious Men 54.9]

[Africa

Arabia Palestine

Asia Minor

Circesius, Castrum

Egypt

Jerusalem

Libya Inferior (or Libya Sicca)

Smyrna]

[Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem

Decius, Emperor

Pionius, martyr

Proclus Quintillianus, proconsul of Asia]

[Christianity

Death and Burial

Education (sectarian)

Geography

Government and Law

Martyrdom

Natural Environment

Roman History]