E04496: Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History reports that Severus of Antioch (459/465-538) received baptism at the shrine of *Leontios (martyr of Tripolis, Phoenicia, S00216) in Tripolis. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria), 593/594.

Evagrius Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History, 3.33

33. Ἐκβεβλημένου τοίνυν Φλαβιανοῦ, Σευῆρος ἐπὶ τὸν ἱερατικὸν τῆς Ἀντιόχου θρόνον ἄνεισι, χρηματιζούσης τῆς πόλεως ἔτος πρῶτον καὶ ἑξηκοστὸν καὶ πεντακοσιοστόν, ἀνὰ τὸν Δῖον μῆνα, τῆς ἕκτης ἐπινεμήσεως τοῦ τηνικάδε κύκλου, κατὰ τήνδε τὴν γραφὴν χρηματιζούσης πρῶτον τεσσαρακοστὸν καὶ ἑξακοσιοστὸν ἔτος. Ὃς πατρίδα τὴν Σωζοπολιτῶν κληρωσάμενος, ἣ μία τοῦ Πισιδῶν ἐστιν ἔθνους, δικανικοῖς πρώην ἐσχολάκει λόγοις ἀνὰ τὴν Βηρυτίων· ἐκ δὲ τῆς τῶν νόμων ἀσκήσεως εὐθὺ τοῦ ἁγίου μεταλαβὼν βαπτίσματος ἀνὰ τὸ ἱερὸν τέμενος Λεοντίου τοῦ θεσπεσίου μάρτυρος, τοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς Τριπολιτῶν Φοινίκης παράλου τιμωμένου, ἐπὶ τὸν μονήρη βίον μετῆλθεν ἔν τινι φροντιστηρίῳ, ἀνὰ τὸν μέσον χῶρον κειμένῳ Γάζης τοῦ πολίσματος καὶ τοῦ λεγομένου Μαιουμᾶ τοῦ πολιχνίου.

‘33. Now, after Flavianos was deposed, Severus ascended the pontifical throne of Antioch, when the city was spending the 561st year of its era, in the month of Dios, in the sixth indiction of that cycle (at the time of writing it is in its 641st year). He hailed from Sozopolis, one of the cities of Pisidia, and had previously studied law at Berytus. Straight after his legal training, he received holy baptism at the holy shrine of Leontios, the divine martyr who is venerated at Tripolis of coastal Phoenicia, and converted to the monastic life at a monastery which lies midway between the city of Gaza and the town which is called Maiuma.’

Text: Bidez, Parmentier 2011.
Translation: E. Rizos.