E06577: The Greek Martyrdom of *Therinos (martyr of Bouthroton, S00395) is written probably in Bouthroton/Buthrotum (Epirus, western Balkans), and probably at some point from the 5th to the 8th century.

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posted on 2018-09-21, 00:00 authored by Nikolaos

Martyrdom of Therinos (BHG 1798z)

Very brief summary:

In the reign of Dekios, old provincial governors are replaced by new, more brutal ones, with the intent of persecuting Christians. In the ‘province of the land of Thesprotia’, in the city of Bouthroton [in the text Botrotos or Botroton], the new governor Philippos reads the imperial decree and is confronted by a local Christian, Therinos, who professes his faith. The governor is in the process of torturing Therinos in various ways when the text of the manuscript breaks off.

According to the ending, found in the Latin version of the Martyrdom, the saint’s miraculous salvation from all the tortures inflicted on him causes the governor Philippos to convert. Therinos then lives for another three-and-a-half years and is buried in the city called ‘Bosrena’.

Text: Aubineau 1982, 63-78.
Summary: N. Kälviäinen.

History

Evidence ID

E06577

Saint Name

Therinos, soldier and martyr of Bouthroton : S00395

Saint Name in Source

Θερῖνος

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/Therinos_martyr_of_Bouthroton/13730209

Type of Evidence

Literary - Hagiographical - Accounts of martyrdom

Language

Greek

Evidence not before

400

Evidence not after

800

Activity not before

253

Activity not after

254

Place of Evidence - Region

Balkans including Greece

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Bouthroton

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

Bouthroton Drizypera Δριζύπερα Drizypera Büyük Karıştıran

Cult activities - Places

Burial site of a saint - unspecified

Cult Activities - Miracles

Miracle at martyrdom and death Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather) Miracle with animals and plants Miracles experienced by the saint

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Pagans Officials Animals Torturers/Executioners

Source

The Martyrdom is currently known to be preserved in a single 15th century manuscript, Athos Koutloumousiou 189, from which the end of the text is missing: http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/cote/26218/ The contents of the lost ending can be partly recovered from a Latin translation published by Mombritius, which according to the editor Aubineau abridges the Greek text somewhat but in general follows it quite closely. This text is an early Greek martyrdom account bearing some or all of the hallmarks of the 'epic' sub-genre (Martyrdoms characterised by a relative detachment from historical reality and often including extravagant, even fantastical, elements; see H. Delehaye, Les Passions des martyres et les genres littéraires, Bruxelles, 1966 (2nd ed.), 171-226). Without any specific grounds for a more concrete dating, this and many other similar texts can only generally be attributed to somewhere around the 5th to 8th centuries.

Discussion

As noted by the editor, Bouthroton is situated in the province of Epirus Vetus, the reference to Thesprotia being a more archaic usage (Aubineau 1982, 66-67). The ‘civitas Bosrena’, mentioned in the Latin version as the site of the saint’s burial, is in all probability simply a corrupt form deriving from the Greek Botrotos (Bouthroton); a far less likely identification, which has also been proposed, is with Bostra the capital of the province of Arabia (Aubineau 1982, 77-78).

Bibliography

Text: Aubineau, M., ”La Passion grecque inédite de saint Thérinos, martyrisé a Buthrote en Épire (BHG 1798z),” Analecta Bollandiana 100 (1982), 63-78.