Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John · Isaac Newton
CHAP. XIV.
_Gregory Nyssen_, another eminent Monk and Bishop, in the life of _Ephræm Syrus_, tells how a certain man returning from a far country, was in great danger, by reason all the ways were intercepted by the armies of barbarous nations; but upon invoking _Ephræm_ by name, and saying, _Holy _Ephræm_ assist me_, he escaped the danger, neglected the fear of death, and beyond his hope got safe home. In the end of this Oration _Gregory_ calls upon _Ephræm_ after the following manner: _But thou, O Ephræm, assisting now at the divine altar, and sacrificing to the Prince of life, and to the most holy Trinity, together with the Angels; remember us all, and obtain for us pardon of our sins, that we may enjoy the eternal happiness of the kingdom of heaven._ The same _Gregory_, in his Oration on the Martyr _Theodorus_ written A.C. 381, thus describes the power of that Martyr, and the practice of the people. _This Martyr_, saith he, _the last year quieted the barbarous tempest, and put a stop to the horrid war of the fierce and cruel _Scythians_.--If any one is permitted to carry away the dust with which the tomb is covered, wherein the body of the Martyr rests; the dust is accepted as a gift, and gathered to be laid up as a thing of great price. For to touch the reliques themselves, if any such prosperous fortune shall at any time happen; how great a favour that is, and not to be obtained without the most earnest prayers, they know well who have obtained it.
For as a living and florid body, they who behold it embrace it, applying to it the eyes, mouth, ears, and all the organs of sense; and then with affection pouring tears upon the Martyr, as if he was whole and appeared to them: they offer prayers with supplication, that he would intercede for them as an advocate, praying to him as an Officer attending upon God, and invoking him as receiving gifts whenever he will._ At length _Gregory_ concludes the Oration with this prayer: _O Theodorus, we want many blessings; intercede and beseech for thy country before the common King and Lord: for the country of the Martyr is the place of his passion, and they are his citizens, brethren and kindred, who have him, defend, adorn and honour him. We fear afflictions, we expect dangers: the wicked _Scythians_ are not far off, ready to make war against us. As a soldier fight for us, as a Martyr use liberty of speech for thy fellow-servants. Pray for peace, that these publick meetings may not cease, that the furious and wicked barbarian may not rage against the temples and altars, that the profane and impious may not trample upon the holy things.
We acknowledge it a benefit received from thee, that we are preserved safe and entire, we pray for freedom from danger in time to come: and if there shall be need of greater intercession and deprecation, call together the choir of thy brethren the Martyrs, and in conjunction with them all intercede for us. Let the prayers of many just ones attone for the sins of the multitudes and the people; exhort _Peter_, excite _Paul_, and also _John_ the divine and beloved disciple, that they may be sollicitous for the Churches which they have erected, for which they have been in chains, for which they have undergone dangers and deaths; that the worship of idols may not lift up its head against us, that heresies may not spring up like thorns in the vineyard, that tares grown up may not choak the wheat, that no rock void of the fatness of true dew may be against us, and render the fruitful power of the word void of a root; but by the power of the prayers of thyself and thy companions, O admirable man and eminent among the Martyrs, the commonwealth of _Christians_ may become a field of corn_.
The same _Gregory Nyssen_, in his sermon upon the death of _Meletius_ Bishop of _Antioch_, preached at _Constantinople_ the same year, A.C. 381, before the Bishops of all the _East_ assembled in the second general Council, spake thus of _Meletius_. _The Bridegroom_, saith he, _is not taken from us: he stands in the midst of us, tho we do not see him: he is a Priest in the most inward places, and face to face intercedes before God for us and the sins of the people_. This was no oratorical flourish, but _Gregory_'s real opinion, as may be understood by what we have cited out of him concerning _Ephræm_ and _Theodorus_: and as _Gregory_ preached this before the Council of _Constantinople_, you may thence know, saith [6] _Baronius_, that he professed what the whole Council, and therewith the whole Church of those parts believed, namely, that the Saints in heaven offer prayers for us before God.
_Ephræm Syrus_, another eminent Monk, who was contemporary with _Basil_, and died the same year; in the end of his Encomium or Oration upon _Basil_ then newly dead, invokes him after this manner: _Intercede for me, a very miserable man; and recal me by thy intercessions, O father; thou who art strong, pray for me who am weak; thou who art diligent, for me who am negligent; thou who art chearful, for me who am heavy; thou who art wise, for me who am foolish. Thou who hast treasured up a treasure of all virtues, be a guide to me who am empty of every good work_. In the beginning of his Encomium upon the forty Martyrs, written at the same time, he thus invokes them: _Help me therefore, O ye Saints, with your intercession; and O ye beloved, with your holy prayers, that _Christ_ by his grace may direct my tongue to speak_, &c. and afterwards mentioning the mother of one of these forty Martyrs, he concludes the Oration with this prayer: _I entreat thee, O holy, faithful, and blessed woman, pray for me to the Saints, saying; Intercede ye that triumph in _Christ_, for the most little and miserable _Ephræm_, that he may find mercy, and by the grace of _Christ_ may be saved_.
Again, in his second Sermon or Oration on the praises of the holy Martyrs of _Christ_, he thus addresses them: _We entreat you most holy Martyrs, to intercede with the Lord for us miserable sinners, beset with the filthiness of negligence, that he would infuse his divine grace into us_: and afterwards, near the end of the same discourse; _Now ye most holy men and glorious Martyrs of God, help me a miserable sinner with your prayers, that in that dreadful hour I may obtain mercy, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest. I am to day become to you, most holy Martyrs of _Christ_, as it were an unprofitable and unskilful cup-bearer: for I have delivered to the sons and brothers of your faith, a cup of the excellent wine of your warfare, with the excellent table of your victory, replenished with all sorts of dainties. I have endeavoured, with the whole affection and desire of my mind, to recreate your fathers and brothers, kindred and relations, who daily frequent the table.
For behold they sing, and with exultation and jubilee glorify God, who has crown'd your virtues, by setting on your most sacred heads incorruptible and celestial crowns; they with excessive joy stand about the sacred reliques of your martyrdoms, wishing for a blessing, and desiring to bear away holy medicines both for the body and the mind. As good disciples and faithful ministers of our benign Lord and Saviour, bestow therefore a blessing on them all: and on me also, tho weak and feeble, who having received strength by your merits and intercessions, have with the whole devotion of my mind, sung a hymn to your praise and glory before your holy reliques. Wherefore I beseech you stand before the throne of the divine Majesty for me _Ephræm_, a vile and miserable sinner, that by your prayers I may deserve to obtain salvation, and with you enjoy eternal felicity by the grace and benignity and mercy of our Lord and Saviour _Jesus Christ_, to whom with the Father and Holy Ghost be praise, honour and glory for ever and ever_. Amen.
By what has been cited out of _Basil_, the two _Gregories_ and _Ephræm_, we may understand that Saint-worship was established among the Monks and their admirers in _Egypt_, _Phoenicia_, _Syria_ and _Cappadocia_, before the year 378, this being the year in which _Basil_ and _Ephræm_ died. _Chrysostom_ was not much later; he preached at _Antioch_ almost all the time of _Theodosius_ the great, and in his Sermons are many exhortations to this sort of superstition, as may be seen in the end of his Orations on S. _Julia_, on St. _Pelagia_, on the Martyr _Ignatius_, on the _Egyptian_ Martyrs, on Fate and Providence, on the Martyrs in general, on St. _Berenice_ and St. _Prosdoce_, on _Juventinus_ and _Maximus_, on the name of _Coemetery_, &c. Thus in his Sermon on _Berenice_ and _Prosdoce_: _Perhaps_, saith he, _you are inflamed with no small love towards these Martyrs; therefore with this ardour let us fall down before their reliques, let us embrace their coffins. For the coffins of the Martyrs have great virtue, even as the bones of the Martyrs have great power. Nor let us only on the day of this festival, but also on other days apply to them, invoke them, and beseech them to be our patrons: for they have great power and efficacy, not only whilst alive, but also after death; and much more after death than before. For now they bear the marks or brands of _Christ_; and when they shew these marks, they can obtain all things of the King. Seeing therefore they abound with such efficacy, and have so much friendship with him; we also, when by continual attendance and perpetual visitation of them we have insinuated ourselves into their familiarity, may by their assistance obtain the mercy of God_.
_Constantinople_ was free from these superstitions till _Gregory Nazianzen_ came thither A.D. 379; but in a few years it was also inflamed with it. _Ruffinus_ [7] tells us, that when the Emperor _Theodosius_ was setting out against the tyrant _Eugenius_, which was in the year 394, he went about with the Priests and people to all the places of prayer; lay prostrate in haircloth before the shrines of the Martyrs and Apostles, and pray'd for assistance by the intercession of the Saints. _Sozomen_ [8] adds, that when the Emperor was marched seven miles from _Constantinople_ against _Eugenius_, he went into a Church which he had built to _John_ the Baptist, _and invoked the Baptist for his assistance. Chrysostom_ [9] says: _He that is clothed in purple, approaches to embrace these sepulchres; and laying aside his dignity, stands supplicating the Saints to intercede for him with God: and he who goes crowned with a diadem, offers his prayers to the tent-maker and the fisher-man as his Protestors._ And in [10] another place: _The cities run together to the sepulchres of the Martyrs, and the people are inflamed with the love of them_.
This practice of sending reliques from place to place for working miracles, and thereby inflaming the devotion of the nations towards the dead Saints and their reliques, and setting up the religion of invoking their souls, lasted only till the middle of the reign of the Emperor _Theodosius_ the great; for he then prohibited it by the following Edict. _Humatum corpus, nemo ad alterum locum transferat; nemo Martyrem distrahat, nemo mercetur: Habeant verò in potestate, si quolibet in loco sanctorum est aliquis conditus, pro ejus veneratione, quod _Martyrium_ vocandum sit, addant quod voluerint fabricarum. Dat. _iv._ Kal. Mart. Constantinopoli, Honorio nob. puero & Euodio Coss._ A.C. 386. After this they filled the fields and high-ways with altars erected to Martyrs, which they pretended to discover by dreams and revelations: and this occasioned the making the fourteenth Canon of the fifth Council of _Carthage_, A.C. 398. _Item placuit, ut altaria, quæ passim per agros aut vias, tanquam memoriæ Martyrum constituuntur, in quibus nullum corpus aut reliquiæ Martyrum conditæ probantur, ab Episcopis, qui illis locis præsunt, si fieri potest, evertantur. Si autem hoc propter tumultus populares non sinitur, plebes tamen admoneantur, ne illa loca frequentent, ut qui rectè sapiunt, nullâ ibi superstitione devincti teneantur. Et omnino nulla memoria Martyrum probabiliter acceptetur, nisi aut ibi corpus aut aliquæ certæ reliquiæ sint, aut ubi origo alicujus habitationis, vel possessionis, vel passionis fidelissima origine traditur. Nam quæ per somnia, & per inanes quasi revelationes quorumlibet hominum ubique constituuntur altaria, omnimodè reprobentur._ These altars were for invoking the Saints or Martyrs buried or pretended to be buried under them. First they filled the Churches in all places with the reliques or pretended reliques of the Martyrs, for invoking them in the Churches; and then they filled the fields and high-ways with altars, for invoking them every where: and this new religion was set up by the Monks in all the _Greek_ Empire before the expedition of the Emperor _Theodosius_ against _Eugenius_, and I think before his above-mentioned Edict, A.C. 386.
Ideas discussed in this chapter
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.