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Response to David Woods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

James C. Skedros
James C. Skedros
Affiliation:
Greek Orthodox School of Theology
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Extract

The origins of the cult of St. Demetrios are indeed obscure. The earliest indisputable evidence for the existence of the cult of St. Demetrios at Thessaloniki is the large five-aisle basilica built in honor of the martyr and located in the center of this important port city. Based upon archaeological and art historical evidence, the basilica can be dated to the last quarter of the fifth century. However, the written tradition of the cult of St. Demetrios, as preserved in various martyrdom accounts (whose dates remain problematic), places the saint's martyrdom at Thessaloniki during the persecution of Diocletian, that is, during the first decade of the fourth century, some one-hundred and seventy five years before the erection of the saint's basilica. To complicate matters even more, in the earliest surviving martyrologies dating from the fourth and fifth centuries, there is no mention of a martyr Demetrios who was martyred or venerated at Thessaloniki. Given such lack of historical evidence, most scholars, including David Woods, whose article appears in the pages of this journal, have argued that St. Demetrios of Thessaloniki is a fictitious saint and that the origin of his veneration at Thessaloniki is not to be found in a historical individual who was martyred under Diocletian at Thessaloniki, but rather must be sought elsewhere.

Type
Research Articles
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , July 2000 , pp. 235 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2000

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References

1 Skedros, James Constantine, Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki: Civic Patron and Divine Protector 4th–7th Centuries CE (HTS 47; Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1999) 29–39.Google Scholar

2 An apsidal structure has been found underneath the five-aisle basilica and dated to the fourth century It is possible that this structure represents an earlier three-aisle basilica to the memory of the martyr Demetrios; see Popovic, Vladislav, “Sirmium: Ville impériale,” in Akten des VII. Internationalen Kongesses fur christliche Archäologie (2 vols.; Rome: Pontificio Istituto di archeologia cristiana, 1969) 1. 671.Google Scholar

3 Thermos was commemorated at Constantinople along with St Demetios on May 6 and with St. George on April 23. For the Greek Passio see Analecta Bollandiana 100 (1982) 63–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Woods states that the names of fifteen martyrs have survived from the mosaics of the Rotunda However, of these fifteen martyrs only thirteen of the accompanying inscriptions are currently identifiable, a fourteenth has been sufficiently reconstructed, while the fifteenth (the martyr paired with Ananios) cannot securely be identified; see, Feissel, Denis, Recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de Macédoine du IIIe au Vie siècle (Athens: École Française d Athènes, 1983) 103–10Google Scholar.

5 Hom Jul 2., PG 31. 237-61.

6 March 2, Gordianos; May 29, Cyril; July 12, Dios; July 13, Dios the Presbyter; November 3, Germanos, Theophilos and Cyril; and November 23, Veronikios.

7 Skedros, , Saint Demetrios of Thessaloniki, 60 n. 66.Google Scholar

8 For a detailed discussion of the Passions, see ibid., 60-70

9 Ibid., 66 I have argued extensively for this in explaining the addition of the Sirmium subplot to the Passio altera, see esp. pp. 22-29.

10 Ibid., 105-32