The Arian character of the martyrology is shown by the fact that Arius himself is mentioned in it, while none of the adherents of the Nicene faith of that date are included, and the only orthodox bishop whose name appears is James of Nisibis. Since he was orthodox, and since Nisibis belonged to Persia, his name could not have been in the Greek original, which, besides being Arian, was limited to worthies belonging to the Roman Empire, but the insertion of his name is probably due to the orthodox Persian translator.
The compiler drew his information from the works of his predecessors, to which he made additions of his own. One of these sources he names, for he states with regard to the names of eleven personages, that they are taken from the “Number of the Ancient Confessors.” He also used an old list of martyrs, which he does not further describe. To judge by the character of the quotations from this document, it must have dealt with the same part of the Church as the new compilation. Antioch (four times), Synnada, Nicomedia, Pergamus, and Heracleia are named in it, while Alexandria is not mentioned. By the “Ancient Confessors” are to be understood the martyrs before Diocletian, and it is probable that they were taken from the lists of “Depositions” belonging to each city, just as the chronographer has preserved for us those of Rome.[759]
As regards the contents, they resemble those of similar documents of earlier and later date, and are fully described in the superscription, which states that it “contains the names of the Lords, i.e. the saints, confessors, and victors, and the days on which they received their crowns.” One would expect to find the place of their death mentioned as well, but many saints are given without any indication of the locality to which they belonged, perhaps on account of imperfect information on the part of the author. The date of death is on the whole correctly given, a remarkable instance to the contrary being the commemoration of SS. Peter and Paul, which is placed on the 28th December. This cannot throw doubt upon the date observed in Rome itself, for the Greeks were, as a rule, very imperfectly informed concerning ecclesiastical events in the Latin portion of the empire. The sources from which the compiler drew his information cannot have been very full, for there is no mention of the famous Western martyrs, Agnes and Lawrence, and, indeed, beyond the mention on the 1st Ab (August) of Aksitus, Bishop of Rome, by which Xystus II. is probably intended (the day of St Xystus’ death was the 6th and not the 1st August), and of SS. Perpetua and Felicitas, correctly given on the 7th March, no Western saints are commemorated.[760]
Among the bishops of Alexandria there are two mentioned whose names do not occur in the official lists, Artemon on the 3rd September, and Hodion (Orion) on the 16th August. Similarly, among the bishops of Antioch, there are two not mentioned elsewhere, Amphimelus (4th March) and Philippus (27th March). Can these have been Arian prelates?
Besides St Peter and St Paul, the only two apostles commemorated are St John and St James, who held the most important place in the eastern half of the empire; they are placed together on the 27th December, on which day the latter especially was formerly commemorated. St Stephen, also called an apostle (schelico), appears on the day still consecrated to his memory (26th December).
The bishops, priests, and deacons appear with their proper titles; all the others have the designation, confessor (mandaya). This designation implies martyrdom, for in the first three centuries confessor means a martyr whose sufferings stop short of death. It is also worthy of notice that some who appear not to have been martyrs have to be content with a mere commemoration (dukrana = commemoratio), as, for example, St Xystus, James of Nisibis, Eusebius of Cæsarea, etc. The names, again, of others are merely mentioned without any addition or title.
Finally, there are still some peculiarities in this menology which ought to be mentioned. Some of these may be due to oversight, or to the ignorance of the compiler, others seem to be mistakes made in transcribing the document, and ought not to appear in documents of an official character. Thus Marcianus of Tomi appears twice (on the 5th and on the 10th June), Dius once as confessor and once as presbyter (11th and 12th June). Especially remarkable is the circumstance that three individuals, whose names occur in no other calendar, not even in the Menologium of Constantinople, are given three times, namely, Cosconius, Melanippus, and Zeno, sons of Theodota, once for Nicea on the 19th January, once for Asia on the 23rd February, and once for Nicomedia on the 2nd September. As slips of the pen, we may notice Hadriopolis for Hadrianopolis, Pedinthus for Perinthus, Tunjus (10th June) for Tomi, which is elsewhere spelt correctly, Sindus for Synnada, which once (30th June) has the addition, “in Phrygia,” and once (15th June) is without it. The proper names are frequently wrongly spelt, or so confused as to be unrecognisable.
Of the Church festivals, only Epiphany and Easter are marked. The MS. is, unfortunately, imperfect where we should expect to find the 25th of December. On the Friday after Easter the Commemoration of all the Confessors, i.e. Martyrs, is set down.
The relation of the Arian martyrology to Eusebius’ work on the Martyrs of Palestine deserves to be considered. One would expect to find this work often referred to, but it is not so, and the compiler seems to have had no knowledge of it. This is all the more remarkable since Eusebius always gives the dates of the death of the martyrs. The two works have, however, very few points of contact, but they confirm one another in the points where they do coincide. Both place the death of the priest Pamphilus and his eleven companions at Cæsarea on the 16th February; both mention the martyr Romanus at Antioch, Eusebius placing his death on the 17th November, the martyrology on the 18th—a trifling discrepancy which proves their independence of each other. Hermes the Exorcist, Domnion of Salona, James of Nisibis, etc., are given on the dates which they occupy in the calendars of other Churches.
The so-called martyrology of St Jerome has many names in common with this Arian martyrology. St Jerome often assigns to one place and day more martyrs than this Arian Calendar, as, for example, on the 25th March, Dulas, on the 4th, 18th, and 21st April, etc. Sometimes the Arian gives more names than St Jerome, e.g. on the 11th March, the 2nd May, etc., while in some places they are in perfect agreement, e.g. on the 13th March, Modestus and twenty-one companions—the Hieronymianum gives the names of the whole twenty-one, while here only the number is given—on the 16th April, Leonidas and eight companions in Corinth, etc. We cannot infer from this that the compiler of the Hieronymianum incorporated the work of his Arian predecessor in his own, but he certainly was acquainted with it, and made use either of it or of common sources.