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E05737: John Malalas in his Chronographia reports that in 528, a cleric of the shrine of *John (the Baptist, S00020) in Alexandria was elected as bishop of the newly christianised kingdom of ‘India’ in Africa. Written in Greek at Antioch (Syria) or Constantinople, in the mid-6th c.

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posted on 2018-06-15, 00:00 authored by erizos
John Malalas, Chronographia, 18.15

(……) Καὶ μετὰ τὴν νίκην ἔπεμψε συγκλητικοὺς αὐτοῦ δύο καὶ μετ’ αὐτῶν διακοσίους ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, δεόμενος τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰουστινιανοῦ, ὥστε λαβεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ κληρικοὺς καὶ κατηχηθῆναι καὶ διδαχθῆναι τὰ χριστιανῶν μυστήρια καὶ φωτισθῆναι καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν Ἰνδικὴν χώραν ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους γενέσθαι. καὶ ἐμηνύθη τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἰουστινιανῷ πάντα διὰ Λικινίου, αὐγουσταλίου Ἀλεξανδρείας· καὶ ἐθέσπισεν ὁ αὐτὸς βασιλεὺς ὅντινα βούλονται ἐπίσκοπον λαβεῖν αὐτούς. καὶ ἐπελέξαντο οἱ αὐτοὶ πρεσβευταὶ Ἰνδοὶ τὸν παραμονάριον τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, ἄνδρα εὐλαβῆ, παρθένον, ὀνόματι Ἰωάννην, ὄντα ἐνιαυτῶν ὡς ἑξήκοντα δύο. καὶ λαβόντες τὸν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ τοὺς κληρικούς, οὓς αὐτὸς ἐπελέξατο, ἀπήγαγον εἰς τὴν Ἰνδικὴν χώραν πρὸς Ἄνδαν τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν.

‘After the victory he sent two of his senators and with them 200 men to Alexandria, asking the emperor Justinian that he might receive a bishop and clergy, be introduced to and taught the Christian mysteries and be baptized, and that all the land of India pass under the Romans. All this news was brought to the emperor Justinian by Licinius, the augustalis of Alexandria. The emperor decreed that they should take whomever they wanted as bishop. The Indian ambassadors chose the paramonarios of Saint John's in Alexandria, a devout and celibate man named John, 62 years of age. Taking the bishop and the clergy whom John himself had chosen, they brought them back to the land of India to Andas their emperor.’

Text: Thurn 2000. Translation: Jeffreys, Jeffreys, and Scott 1986.

History

Evidence ID

E05737

Saint Name

John the Baptist : S00020

Saint Name in Source

Ἰωάννης

Related Saint Records

Type of Evidence

Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)

Language

  • Greek

Evidence not before

520

Evidence not after

570

Activity not before

528

Activity not after

528

Place of Evidence - Region

Syria with Phoenicia Constantinople and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Antioch on the Orontes Constantinople

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Antioch on the Orontes Thabbora Thabbora Constantinople Constantinople Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoupolis Constantinopolis Constantinople Istanbul

Major author/Major anonymous work

John Malalas

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - unspecified

Source

The Chronographia of John Malalas (c. 490–c. 570) is a Christian chronicle of universal history, from Adam to the death of Justinian I (565). It appears to have been composed in two parts, the earlier of which focuses on the history of Antioch and the East, ending in c. 528 or 532. The second part focuses on the urban history of Constantinople up to the death of Justinian. Malalas is likely to have pursued a career in the imperial administration at both Antioch and Constantinople, writing the two parts of his chronicle while living in these two cities. Malalas was widely used as a source by Byzantine chroniclers and historians, including John of Ephesus, John of Antioch, Evagrius Scholasticus, the Paschal Chronicle, John of Nikiu, John of Damascus, Theophanes, George the Monk, pseudo-Symeon, Kedrenos, Zonaras, Theodore Skoutariotes, and Nikephoros Kallistou Xanthopoulos. The text of the chronicle is preserved in a very fragmentary form, based on quotations in other sources (notably the Paschal Chronicle and Theophanes), and on a Slavonic translation which follows a more extensive version of the original text. It is believed that we now have about 90% of the text. On the composition and manuscript tradition of the text, see Thurn 2000, and: http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/1298/

Discussion

The shrine of John the Baptist in Alexandria appears to have been an important church of the Egyptian metropolis. It is sporadically mentioned in other sources, e.g. E04495.

Bibliography

Text: Dindorf, L., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae; Bonn, 1831). Thurn, J., Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 35; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2000). Translation: Jeffreys, E., Jeffreys, M., and Scott, R., The Chronicle of John Malalas: A Translation (Sydney, 1986). On Malalas: Carrara, L., Meier, M., and Radtki-Jansen, C. (eds.), Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas. Quellenfragen (Malalas-Studien 2; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2017). Jeffreys, E., Croke, B., and Scott, R. (eds.), Studies in John Malalas (Sydney, 1990). Meier, M., Radtki-Jansen, C., and Schulz, F. (eds.), Die Weltchronik des Johannes Malalas: Autor, Werk, Überlieferung (Malalas-Studien 1; Göttingen: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2016). Treadgold, W.T. The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), 235-256.

Usage metrics

    Evidence - The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

    Categories

    Keywords

    S00020History

    Licence

    CC0

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