Cyril of Scythopolis, Life of Sabas 56.149.27-56.151.7
created: This entry is taken from Life of Sabas 56.149.27-56.151.7 written by Cyril of Sc
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/498

Καισαρέα

,

Καισαρέων

, and

Caesarea

are directly attested at Cyril of Scythopolis, Life of Sabas 56.149.27-56.151.7. This passage was written ca. ca. 544-558 CE possibly in Palestine. Cyril from Scythopolis (ca. 525-559 C.E.) was a monk who wrote detailed hagiographies of seven roughly contemporary monks. His works are essential historical sources for Palestinian monasticism, theology, and political relationships during roughly the first half of the 6th century. He wrote one of his two major works about the Cappadocian Saint Sabas, at whose lavra he served from 555 C.E. until his death. In this important passage, Cyril recounts the mass gathering of monks in 516 C.E. at Jerusalem amid grave tension between the emperor Anastasius I and supporters of Alexandrian miaphysitism, including the newly installed Patriarch of Antioch, Severus, a Eutychian, and staunch defenders of Chalcedonian dyophysitism, including St. Sabas and Elias I, archbishop and patriarch of Jerusalem. Imperial forces led by the duces Olympus and later Anastasius went from Caesarea to Jerusalem to exile Elias and replace him with John III, who unexpectedly worked in support of Chalcedon. Here Caesarea as the provincial capital and premier port is again depicted as a base of Imperial authority and thus implicated in the delicate negotiation between Church and State as regards policy and belief.

τὸν τοιοῦτον τοίνυν ψυχοφθόρον καὶ λυμεῶνα ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀναστάσιος ἠνάγκαζεν τὸν ἀρχιεπίσκοπον Ἡλίαν κοινωνικὸν εἰσδέξασθαι· τοῦ δὲ μὴ θέλοντος μηδὲ ὅλως τοῦτο πρᾶξαι ὑπερζέσας τῶι θυμῶι ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλεν Ὄλυμπόν τινα Καισαρέα τὸ δουκάτον ἔχοντα Παλαιστίνης συναποστείλας αὐτῶι τὴν ἀπὸ Σιδόνος γραφεῖσαν οἰκονομικὴν ἐπιστολὴν καθομολογοῦσαν μὴ προσίεσθαι τὴν ἐν Χαλκηδόνι σύνοδον πρὸς τὸ πᾶσιν τρόποις τὸν Ἡλίαν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἐξεῶσαι. ὅστις Ὄλυμπος μετὰ δυνάμεως βασιλικῆς παραγενόμενος καὶ πολλοῖς τρόποις καὶ μηχανήμασιν χρησάμενος καὶ τὴν εἰρημένην ἐπιστολὴν ἐμφανίσας Ἡλίαν μὲν τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἐξέωσεν καὶ εἰς τὸν Ἀιλᾶν περιώρισεν, Ἰωάννην δὲ τὸν Μαρκιανοῦ υἱὸν συνθέμενον τόν τε Σευῆρον κοινωνικὸν εἰσδέξασθαι καὶ τὴν σύνοδον Χαλκηδόνος ἀναθεματίσαι ἐπίσκοπον Ἱεροσολύμων πεποίηκεν τῆι πρώτηι τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς ἀρχῆι τῆς δεκάτης ἰνδικτιόνος. γνοὺς δὲ ὁ ἡγιασμένος Σάβας καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ τῆς ἐρήμου πατέρες ταῦτα συνθέμενον τὸν Ἰωάννην συναχθέντες διεμαρτύραντο αὐτὸν Σευῆρον εἰς κοινωνίαν μὴ δέξασθαι, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐν Χαλκηδόνι συνόδου προκινδυνεύειν ἔχοντα πάντας συμμαχοῦντας. καὶ οὕτως ὁ Ἰωάννης ὅσα ὑπέσχετο τῶι δουκὶ ποιεῖν, παρέβη τοὺς πατέρας ὑφορώμενος· Ἀναστάσιος δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς γνοὺς τὸν Ἰωάννην τὰς συνθήκας ἠθετηκότα καὶ ἀπομανεὶς τοῦ Ὀλύμπου ἐκποδὼν γεγονότος ἀποστέλλει Ἀναστάσιον τὸν Παμφίλου τὸ δουκάτον ἔχοντα Παλαιστίνης ἐπὶ τὸ παρασκευάσαι τὸν Ἰωάννην Σευῆρον εἰς κοινωνίαν δέξασθαι καὶ τὴν σύνοδον Χαλκηδόνος ἀναθεματίσαι ἢ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς αὐτὸν ἐξεῶσαι· ὅστις ἐλθὼν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα αἰφνιδιάζει τὸν ἀρχιεπίσκοπον καὶ βάλλει αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν δημοσίαν φυλακήν. πάντες δὲ οἱ τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως οἰκήτορες ἐπεχάρησαν διὰ τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτὸν ἐπίβουλον καὶ προδότην τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου Ἡλία. Ζαχαρίας δέ τις τὴν Καισαρέων ἀρχὴν διέπων λαθραίως εἰς τὴν φρουρὰν εἰσελθὼν συμβουλεύει τῶι Ἰωάννηι λέγων· εἰ θέλεις καλῶς πρᾶξαι καὶ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς μὴ στερηθῆναι, μηδείς σε πείσηι Σευῆρον εἰς κοινωνίαν δέξασθαι, ἀλλὰ δόξον συντίθεσθαι τῶι δουκὶ καὶ λέγειν ὡς ὅτι καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν τὰ προτεινόμενα ποιεῖν οὐκ ἀναβάλλομαι, ἀλλ’ ἵνα μὴ λέγωσίν τινες κατὰ ἀνάγκην καὶ βίαν πεπραχέναι με, ἀπολυθῶ ἐντεῦθεν καὶ μετὰ δύο ἡμέρας κυριακῆς οὔσης πράξω προθύμως τὰ παρ’ ὑμῶν κελευόμενα. καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις λόγοις πιστωθεὶς ὁ δοὺξ ἀποκαθίστησιν αὐτὸν τῆι ἐκκλησίαι.

[Ed. Schwatrz 1939]

Accordingly the emperor Anastasius was pressing the archbishop Elias [I of Jerusalem] to receive this ruiner of souls and corrupter [Severus of Antioch] into communion. When he will unwilling to do this in any way at all, the emperor boiled over with rage and sent one Olympus of Caesarea, dux of Palestine, with the diplomatic letter written from Sidon which professed disapproval of the Council of Chalcedon, in order by any and every means to oust Elias from his see. Olympus arrived with an Imperial force and, by utilizing many methods and strategems and displaying the aforementioned letter, ousted Elias from the episcopal see and banished him to Aila. And (in his place Olympus) made John the son of Marcianus, who had agreed to accept Severus into communion and to anathematize the Council of Chalcedon, the bishop of Jerusalem on September 1 at the start of the tenth indiction [=516 C.E.] The sanctified Sabas and the other Desert Fathers, when they learned that John had made this agreement, gathered together and adjured him not to receive Severus into communion but to bear the brunt of the battle on behalf of the Council of Chalcedon, with all of them as allies. And so John went against all the things he had promised the duces out of respect for the Fathers. The emperor Anastasius, furious at learning that John had cancelled his compact, sent Anastasius the son of Pamphilus and dux of Palestine—Olympus was now out of the way—to make John receive Severus into communion and anathematize the Council of Chalcedon, or to oust him from the episcopal see. Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Anastasius descended suddenly on the archbishop and threw him into the public jail. All the residents of the Holy City rejoiced because [John] had plotted against Elias and betrayed him. But a certain Zacharias, the governor from Caesarea, secretly entered the Fortress and gave advice to John, “If you want to act well and not be deprived of your see, let noone persuade you to receive Severus in communion, but pretend to make a compact with the dux in these words: ‘I shall not now postpone fulfilling my offer but, lest some claim that I acted under forceful constraint, please release me from here, and in two days’ time, on Sunday, I shall readily carry out your orders.’” Convinced by these words, the dux (Anastasius) restored (John) to his church.

[Revised from Price and Binns 1990]

Works Cited

[...] 56 149.27-151.7
[...] 159-160

[* Cyril of Scythopolis, Life of Sabas 56.151.7-56.152.12]

[Chalcedon

Jerusalem

Sidon]

[Anastasius I, emperor

Anastasius son of Pamphilus, dux

Elias I, Patriarch of Jerusalem

John III, Patriarch of Jerusalem

Olympus, dux

Severus, Patriarch of Antioch

St. Sabas

Zacharias, governor of Palestine II]

[Byzantine History

Christianity

Government and Law

Military

Theology]