Johnson, Scott Fitzgerald. 2006. The Life and Miracles of Thekla: A Literary Study. Hellenic Studies Series 13. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Johnson.The_Life_and_Miracles_of_Thekla.2006.
Appendix 3: Early Byzantine Miracle Collections: A Select Catalogue
The list below comprises a select (alphabetical) catalogue of miracle collections in Greek from early Byzantium, fifth to eighth centuries. [1] While I have included the Miracles of Thekla as part of this catalogue, I would at the same time seek to distinguish the Miracles from these other collections on the basis of three factors. First, I have attempted to show in this study that the LM is written as a narrative whole, and the stories in the Miracles correspond to a unique, authorial vision of Thekla’s spiritual activities laid out at the end of the Life. Second, I believe that the author of the LM is consciously looking back to earlier, classical models for his literary endeavor and is relatively uninterested in the literary products of his own day. Third, the collections listed below mostly come from the seventh century and later and belong to what I would consider to be a different epoch in Greek writing. Nevertheless, to insist upon a complete breach between the LM and the early Byzantine collections would be unwise, especially since no one has yet written a literary study that takes them all into account. [2] I hope in the future to have the opportunity to perform such a study. {239|240}
| Saint: | Author: | Miraculous Content: | Date of Composition: | Location of Activity: | Catalogue Entry: | Edition: |
| Anastasios the Persian (d. 628) | Anonymous | 18 miracles (Flusin: 1.109–153) | 7th century | Asia Minor and Palestine | BHG 89g–90 | Flusin, B. ed. and trans. 1992. Saint Anastase le Perse et l’histoire de la Palestine au début du VII e siècle. 2 vols. Paris. |
| Artemios (4th century) | Anonymous | 45 miracles (Crisafulli and Nesbitt: 76–225) | 7th century | Constantinople, church of St. John the Baptist (the “Forerunner”) | BHG 173 | Crisafulli, V. S. and Nesbitt, J. W., trans. 1997. The Miracles of Saint Artemios: A Collection of Miracle Stories by an Anonymous Author of Seventh-Century Byzantium. Medieval Mediterranean 13. Leiden.Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. I., ed. 1909. Varia graeca sacra. St. Petersburg. |
| Cosmas and Damian (4th century) | Anonymous | 47 miracles (Deubner: 97–208; Rupprecht: 1–82; Festugière: 83–213) | 6th century (with later redactions: see Efthymiadis 1999:197–198) | Constantinople, Kosmidion shrine of the Saints; and elsewhere | BHG 385–391 (Deubner); 373b (Rupprecht) | Deubner, L., ed. 1980 [1907]. Kosmas und Damian: Texte und Einleitung. Aalen. Rupprecht, E., ed. 1935. Cosmae et Damiani sanctorum medicorum vita et miracula e codice londinensi. Neue deutsche Forschungen, Abteilung klassische Philologie 1. Berlin.{240|241} Festugière, A. J., trans. 1971. Collections grecques de Miracles: Sainte Thècle, Saints Côme et Damien, Saints Cyr et Jean (extraits), Saint Georges—traduits et annotés. Paris. |
| Cyrus and John (4th century) | Sophronios “the Sophist” of Jerusalem | 70 miracles (Fernandez Marcos: 241–400; Festugière: 215–256) | Early 7th century | Menouthis, near Canopos in Egypt | BHG 477–479, CPG 3.7646 | Fernández Marcos, N., ed. 1975. Los thaumata de Sofronio: Contribución al estudio de la incubatio christiana. Madrid.Festugière, A. J., trans. 1971. Collections grecques de Miracles: Sainte Thècle, Saints Côme et Damien, Saints Cyr et Jean (extraits), Saint Georges—traduits et annotés. Paris. [partial translation] |
| Demetrios (4th century) | John of Thessalonica and anonymous | 15 miracles by John (Lemerle: 1.47—165)6 miracles by anonymous (Lemerle: 1.167–241) | 7th century | Thessalonica | BHG 499–523, CPG 3.7920 | Lemerle, P. ed. and trans. 1979. Les plus anciens recueils des Miracles de Saint Démétrius. 2 vols. Paris. |
| Menas (4th century) | Timothy of Alexandria (possibly Timothy Aelurus) | 13 miracles (Detorakis: 165–179) | Late 5th century or later | Around Abu Mina, near Lake Mareotis in Egypt | BHG 1256–1269, CPG 2.2527 | Detorakis, T., ed. 1995. Μηνᾶς ὁ Μεγαλομάρτυς ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Μεγάλου Κάστρου: Ἁγιολογικά, Ὑμνολογικά, Ἱστορικά. Herakleion. {241|242} |
| Nikolaos of Myra (4th century) | Anonymous | 6 miracles ex encomio Methodii, incl. Tria Miracula (Anrich: 1.168–197)Miracle de navibus frumentariis (Anrich: 1.288–299)Miracle de arbore (Anrich: 1.333–336)19 miracles (Anrich: 1.339–390)[several more individual miracles and small collections: see BHG] | 6th century and later | Myra | BHG 1348d–1348e, 1350k, 1351–1351s, 1352–1352x, 1353–1360m | Anrich, G., ed. 1913. Hagios Nikolaos: Der heilige Nikolaos in der griechischen Kirche. 2 vols. Leipzig. |
| Patapios the Egyptian (7th century) | Andrew of Crete | 4 miracles (PG) | after 685 | Constantinople | BHG 1426–1427, CPG 3.8189 | PG 97.1221–1233 |
| Symeon Stylites the Younger (521–592) | Anonymous | several mini-collections within the narrative Life (esp. §§ 14, 39–56, 73–77, 79–93, 114–122, 136–156, 166–185, 188–201, 212–232, 234–239, 241–254; Ven: 1–224) | c. 600 | Monastery of the Saint at the Wondrous Mountain near Antioch | BHG 1689, CPG 3.7369 | Ven, P. van den., ed. and trans. 1962–1970. La Vie ancienne de S. Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521–92). Subsidia Hagiographica 32. 2 vols. Brussels. {242|243} |
| Thekla (1st century) | Anonymous | 46 miracles contemporary with the collection (Dagron: 284–412) | c. 470 | Seleukeia and environs | BHG 1718, CPG 3.6675 | Dagron, G., ed. and trans. 1978.Vie et Miracles de Sainte Thècle: Texte grec, traduction, et commentaire. Subsidia Hagiographica 62. Brussels. |
| Theodore Tiro (4th century) | Chrysippos of Jerusalem & anonymous | 12 miracles (Sigalas: 50–79)8 miracles (Delehaye: 194–201) | 5th and 8th century | Euchaita | BHG 1765c, CPG 3.6706 (Sigalas); BHG 1764 (Delahaye) | Sigalas, A., ed. 1921. Des Chrysippos von Jerusalem Enkomion auf den hl. Theodoros Teron. Byzantinisches Archiv 7. Leipzig.Delehaye, H. ed. 1909. Les légendes grecques des Saints militaires. Paris. |
| Therapon | Anonymous (possibly Andrew of Crete) | 15 miracles in 28 narrative sections (Deubner: 120–134) | c. 700 | Constantinople, church of the Theotokos of Elaia | BHG 1797–1798, CPG 3.8196 | Deubner, L., ed. 1900. De incubatione capita quattuor: Accedit Laudatio in miracula sancti hieromartyris Therapontis denuo edita. Leipzig. {243|} |
Footnotes
[ back ] 1. See the catalogue of Efthymiadis 1999 for more comprehensive coverage, including collections up to the end of Byzantium. However, his entry for Thekla’s collection includes a few minor errors: 1) a closing date for its composition before 448 (Dagron 1978:17–19 rightly assigns it to between c. 468 and c. 476); 2) the claim that there are only two MSS of the Miracles (four are extant according to Dagron 1978:140–147); and 3) the suggestion that the miracles belong to the distant past of the 1st century (Mir. preface 12–13 clearly states that the miracle stories are contemporary or near contemporary to the composition of the collection).
[ back ] 2. There is still a very limited amount of scholarship on Greek miracle collections per se. However, interest is beginning to grow: see Déroche 1993, Csepregi 2002, Talbot 2002b, and especially the bibliography collected in Efthymiadis 1999.