On the "Vita" of St John of Gotthia Huxley, George Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Jan 1, 1978; 19, 2; ProQuest pg. 161 On the Vita of St John of Gotthia George Huxley THE Life of St John of the Crimean Goths has many merits.l It helps to illuminate the history of the first Iconoclasm; it pro­ vides evidence for the growth of Chazar power; and like many other {3tOL of saints, it gives an insight into society remote from the capital of the empire, thus being a precious supplement to the Constantinopolitan chroniclers.2 Details in the Life have drawn the attention of several scholars; here the work of the anonymous hagi­ ographer is examined as a whole for its historical worth and chrono­ logical consistency. In chapter 1.1 (167F-168A) the origins and parentage of the saint are briefly described: the extant Vita throughout shows signs of being an epitome of a longer text, but the factual character of the narrative encourages trust. John, we are told, was bishop of Gotthia in the time of the emperors Constantine (V) and Leo (IV). His place of birth was Parthenitai, a harbour-mart in territory subject to the (Crimean) Goths in the land of the Tauroskythians across the Euxine, EK rije 7T€paTLKijc TWV TavpocKvOWV "Iije. The hagiographer, then, was not writing in the northern coastlands of the Black Sea; he later states (1.6) that the body of the saint crossed by ship (aVT€7TEpaa:v) from Amastris for burial at Parthenitai (on the southern coast of the Crimea), but it does not follow that he was writing in Amastris. He was at work on the Life after 815 and before the restoration of Ortho­ doxy in 843, since he prayed to the saint for protection against the 1 AA.SS. June VII (1867), June 26, 162-72, ed. with Latin trans!' and Greek text from Cod. Vat. 655 (s. XVI) ff.378-81. Another MS.: Vat. 1667, ff.257v-261 r (s. X, according to F. Halkin, "Le Synaxaire grec de Christ Church a Oxford," Ana/Boll 66 [1948] 58-90, at 82 n.l). MS. Ath.Philotheou 8 (s. XI) gives the Vita at 22 June (Halkin, loc.cit.). 2 P. Peeters, "Les Khazars dans la Passion de S. Abo de Tiflis," AnalBoll 52 (1934) 21-56, esp. 39-43. A. A. Vasiliev, The Goths in the Crimea (Cambridge [Mass.] 1936) 89-96.1. ~evcenko, "Hagiography in the Iconoclast Period," 115 and n.14 (bibliography), in Iconoclasm, edd. Anthony Bryer and Judith Herrin (Birmingham 1977). Gy. Moravcsik, Byzantinoturcica rz (Berlin 1958) "Quellen" 565-66. F. Halkin. op.cit. (supra n.l) 80-83. Chr. Loparev, VizVrem 18 (1911) 15. 161 162 THE VITA OF ST JOHN OF GOTTHIA harmful company of iconoclasts (2.10, 171c):3 thus the biographer, like the bishop, was a firm iconodule. The parents of holy John were Leon and Photeine. Leon's father came from a place on the coast ofPontus Polemoniacus call Boon (€K A \ I B A A \, il \ I A il' I TOV I\€Y0J1,€VOV OWVOC TOV KCXTCX TO OI\€J1,0VtOV TOV OVTOV KfEtJ1,€VOV tJ1rfjpx€, 168A)4; he had been an ensign (f3cxv80c/>6poc)5 in thema Armeni­ ak. The regimental antecedents befitted a saint who distinguished himself in battle against the Chazars (1.5). John, having been born in consequence of the prayer of Photeine, was destined to the re­ ligious life. An earlier bishop ofGotthia, who had attended the synod of Hie rei a in 754, had afterwards been rewarded by the emperor Constantine V for his support of Iconoclasm with appointment as metropolitan of Herakleia in Thrace. The Orthodox people of Gotthia, however, rejected the findings of the synod (1.2), and being now without a shepherd, they promoted the holy John to be their pastor. To obtain consecration John could not go to the Iconoclast patriarch in Constan­ tinople. He went first to Jerusalem to visit the holy places; he would also have conferred with Melkite dignitaries there. John stayed in the Holy Land for three years; so he returned thence about 758. Next the people of Gotthia sent him to the throne of the Iberian katholikos, who ordained him bishop (1.2, 168B).6 The consecration took place at Mtskheta, as we learn from the Georgian Life ofSt George the Hagior­ ite, who took pride in the fact that in the age of imperial Iconoclasm the Iberians had remained Orthodox.' Determined to foster resistance to Iconoclasm outside the Empire and no doubt encouraged by iconodule exiles in Gotthia, John sent his deacon and disciple Longinus with a letter to Jerusalem urging the patriarch, whose name is not given in the Vita, to convene a synod a See Sevcenko, op.cit. (supra n.2) 115. t The printed text in AA.SS has BOVOCTOiJ. The correction is due to W. Tomaschek, Die Goten in Taurien (Vienna 1881) 22. Bowv, an aKpCJJT~PLOV Kal XCJJp{ov, lay between Polemonion and Kotyoros: PeripI.Pont.Eux. 30-32 (GGM I 409). For the district see A. A. M. Bryer, DOPapers 29 (1975) 131. 5 Correct Kav8rxfJ6poc in the printed text at 168A. The rank {3av8rxfJ6poc is found in the arithmos and the hikanatoi in addition to thema Armeniak: see N. Oikonomides, Les Listes de preseance byzantines des IXe et Xe siecles (Paris 1972) 331-32. 8 See also Synaxarium ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae p.772, 32 [Propylaeum ad AA.SS. Nov.], ed. H. Delehaye (Brussels 1902). 7 Para. 51, transl. P. Peeters, AnalBoll 36/37 (1917-19) 117. GEORGE HUXLEY 163 and asking for a definition of faith to be sent to him in Gotthia. In answer to John's request the opoc contained excerpts from the Old and New Testaments and testimonies of the Fathers concerning holy images, venerable relics and the intercession of saints. The hagiog­ rapher contrives to suggest not only that the synod assembled at the prolllpting of John his hero but also that the definition of faith was sent specially to the bishop of Gotthia. In fact this synodikon was widely distributed: a copy directed to Pope Paul I had reached Rome by 12 August 767, and a Latin and a Greek version of it were sent on to the king of the Franks, Pippin, by the usurping Pope Constantine II during the debate in the West concerning Holy Images.s The opoc 7TtCT"£WC had been sent out by Theodore the patriarch of Jerusalem with the approval of the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch and many eastern metropolitans and bishops. Not only did the Easterners defend the veneration of images, they also expressed approval of relics and the intercession of saints, in opposition to the more rigorous ecclesiastical policies the emperor Constantine V enforced during the 760'S.9 John later sent a copy oftheT XOT~~pWV. y'. 0 14cT7p .. 0'. 0 Xov&ATJc. €'. 0 ·Ovoyovpwv. 5". 0 ·P€'Tiy. S'. 0 O{)VVWV. 'T}" <> TVfLaTapxa. The bishops in the second, fifth and seventh places are those of ;OV'T}, Chazars, Onogours and 'Huns'. A note added at the end of the list explains that )J.CT~A is a river and fort of Chazaria (p.534, 821). Rheteg is unidentified. The fort of Tymatarcha (Tama­ tarcha) lay in the Taman peninsula opposite to Bosporos.l4 The name XovaA7J resembles the old Russian name of the Caspian Sea, Khavili­ skoye, so Chouale may have been situated on the Chazarian coast of the Caspian.16 The note at the end of the "Ikonoklastennotiz" also • X r' , "" '\ \ - X ' , ~ \ I \ states 0 OT~tPWV CVV€YYVC 'VOVI\WV Kat TOV apactOV €V cp I\€Y€Tat TO fL&.f3pov vatpwv. XOT(~pWV in the list and XOT(tpwv in the note mean Chazars-by whom St John of Gotthia was kept prisoner at Phoullai (2.9, 171B). When the note was composed, they had not yet taken Phoullai but perhaps had advanced close to the place. T6 fLa{1pov vatpwv 'Black Water' is a translation of Xap aclo v, a rendering ofTurkic Kara Suo The position of Phoullai has not been identified, and it is doubtful that Doros was regularly the seat of a metropolitan in the eighth century. It has been suggested that because Constantine the Philosopher converted the people of Phoullai to Christianity in 861 or 862, the list of bishoprics in the Gothic eparchy in Paris.gr. 1555A was not com­ pleted before that date.16 The argument is not cogent, because the Life of St John of Gotthia (1.5) shows that Christians had fled to the chagan of the Chazars ca 785, and John himself bore witness to the faith at Phoullai (2.9). Missionary activity at Phoullai in the 860's does not exclude the presence of Christians there, and elsewhere in Chazaria, late in the eighth century. The Passio of St Abo of Tiflis, who died in 786, states that when the saint visited Chazaria there were U Const.Porph. De admin.imp. 42.92 Moravcsik/lenkins. 15 VasUiev, op.cit. (supra n.2) 99. 18 G. Vernadsky, BYZantion 15 (1940/41) 69-70. For Constantine's visit to Phoullai and the pagan worship of an oak tree there, see F. Dvornik, Byzantine Missions among the Slavs, SS. Constantine-Cyril and Methodius (New Brunswick [N.J.] 1970) 69. 166 THE VITA OF ST JOHN OF GOTTHIA many towns and villages in which men lived in safety according to the law of Christ.!' Paris.gr. 1555A, then, provides evidence of an intention to create bishoprics for the Christians in Chazaria under a metropolitan at Doros; the holy John naturally objected to the Chazars' occupation of the metropolis. In the 780's, however, the evangelizing of Chazaria was less urgent than the need to defend Christian territory in Gotthia. So the bishop took a leading part in the resistance. The bishops of Cherson, Sougdaia(i) (Surozh) and Bosporos are all listed as autocephalous within the eparchy of Zechia in the so­ called "Ikonoklastennotiz" (p.522, 85-87). The metropolitan ofDoros, in contrast, is said to be subject to Constantinople (p.521, 44). John's episcopal neighbours were not subject to him; we do not know how their attitudes to the Chazars' growing power differed from his, though an iconodule exile in Cherson in the time of the emperor Constantine V is said to have become a bishop in Chazaria;18 nor are we informed why the treacherous villagers betrayed John. Another obstacle to the understanding of local Crimean politics of the 780's is the story that the bishop himself was held responsible for the loss of TO KaCTpOJl TfjC rOT8lac. that is Doros, to the Chazars (Vita 2.9, 171B); the impious accuser is said to have fallen at once to his death from his horse, but the accusation is another sign that the saint had his critics in Gotthia. The Vita of St John (2.4) mentions the Council of Nicaea II in 787. rhe saint, however, did not attend it, and his absence is to be explained by his detention amongst the Chazars at phoullai.19 The imprisoned cleric had been replaced in the bishopric of Gotthia by a certain Niketas, whose representative at the Council was a monk Cyril,2O 17 Peeters. op.cit. (supra n.2) 25. 18 See MenoIcgium Basilii. PG 117. 181; and GRBS 18 (1977) 100-01 n.14. 18 Peeters. op.cit. (supra n.2) 41. 90 Mansi, Concilia XII 994c. Kvplllov p.ovaxoO Kal Tell' T61TOV l1TEXOVTOC N'K~Ta lmCK61Tov rOT8lac. See also 1154A and XIII 3660. 384B. At 1095A in the Greek text Cyril is incorrectly called bishop of Gotthia. but the Latin version has Cyrillus ex persona sanctissimi episcopi Gothiae. At 994B the bishop of Sougdaia is said to be Theophanes. but elsewhere in the acts of the Council he is called Stephanos (1096B. XIII 137B. 3660. 384B). This Stephanos is not likely to be the famous St Stephen ofSurozh, for according to the Slavonic Vita ofSt Stephen he was first appointed to the Crimean bishopric by the patriarch Germanos (ch.12 pp. 87-88, ed. Vassilievskij, op.cit. [infra n.22]). Germanos ceased to be patriarch in 730, some 57 years before the Council of Nicaea 11. There was also present from the Crimea Euthy­ mios, deacon and monk, notary of the bishop of Gotthia (Mansi XIII 21B). J. Darrouzes has studied the names in the lists of signatories at the Council of 787 (REByz: 33 [1975] 5-76). GEORGE HUXLEY 167 The appointment of a successor is the reason why John, having es­ caped from Phoullai, did not return to Gotthia but instead crossed to Amastris. On the fortieth day after news of the chagan's death had come to Amastris, John gave up his spirit to God (1.6, 169D). The corpse, having been placed in a sarcophagus, was conducted to the ship by George, bishop of Amastris, and the citizens. The saint died on 26 June; on 27 June the ship sailed; and the sarcophagus reached the monastery of the Holy Apostles at Parthenitai during the all-night vigil on 29 June. John, the founder of the monastery at his birthplace, had given it fine buildings, holy vessels and numerous books; and he had installed there many monks (1.6, l69E). Excavations of the Petropavlovsky monastyr at Parthenit were con­ ducted in 1871: the earliest remains were alleged to date from the eighth century, and a Greek inscription of 1427 found in the excava­ tions mentioned that John, "archbishop of the city Theodoro and all Gotthia," had erected the Church of the Apostles Peter and Pau1.21 The date of John's death cannot be earlier than the appointment of George to the bishopric of Amastris. The appointment can hardly be placed earlier than ca 790.22 The stay of John in Amastris lasted some four years and forty days until his death; and since he was in captivity about 787 at Phoullai, his death cannot well be set earlier than 791. The second part of the Vita of St John is concerned with miracles. Here too there are details having historical significance. The deacon and pupil of John, Longinus, on his way back from Jerusalem was about to be crucified by the Saracens, but the saint appeared before his eyes (0cP()aA/L0cPavwc), and in no time at all the protonotary of the emir paid five hundred milliaresia and had him freed (the protonotary could have been a Melkite) (2.7, 170F); afterwards the deacon was imprisoned, but he had only to pray to the saint for the irons to fall from him. Later, when some of his disciples were about to be put to death by the chagan, the holy man, then at Amastris, ensured­ through prayer so intense that he was lifted a cubit above the ground -that the chagan recognized the innocence of the prisoners and freed them (171A). In the church at the emporium Kourasaitoi the saint was seen to converse with the dead in their tombs (2.8, 171A). On another 21 For D. M. Strukov's excavations, see Vasiliev, op.at. (supra n.2) 93-94. al So M. Vassilievskij, Zitija svv. Georgija Amastriaskago i Stefana Surozskago (St Petersburg 1893) xx-xxvi, followed by Peeters, op.at. (supra n.2) 40-41. (Sevcenko, art. at. [supra n.2], argues that Ignatios was the author of the Vita of George.) 168 THE VITA OF ST JOHN OF GOTTHIA occasion, when he was a prisoner of the Chazars at Phoullai, he cured the diseased child of the lord of Phoullai (2.9, 171B).23 These stories show that the saint even during his lifetime enjoyed a great repute in Gotthia and elsewhere for potent holiness. The Vita illustrates the truth that the Byzantines (including Orthodox people living beyond the imperial frontiers) lived in a world where miracles could happen and did happen; it shows, too, that "belief in miracles is a fact of history which the student ignores at his peril."24 Writing in the age of Iconoclasm, St John's biographer brings us as close to the spiritual as to the political life of a provincial Orthodox society; thus both parts of his work amply reward historians. It remains only to set out the consistent chronology provided by the Vita: ca 700-725 ca 755 ca 756-758 ca 760 ca 766 Between 780 and 784 ca 785 787 Leon and Photeine at Parthenitai. Bishop of Gotthia appointed metropolitan of Herakleia. Three-year visit of John to the Holy Land. Consecration of John by Iberian katholikos. Mission of Longinus to Jerusalem. Horos sent to John by Theodore, patriarch of Jerusalem. Horos of Theodore sent by John to patriarch Paul at Constantinople. Visit of John to Con­ stantinople. War against Chazars. Recapture of Doros. John betrayed to Chazars. Second Council ofNicaea. Cyril, representative of bishop Niketas, present Qohn in captivity at Phoullai); Gregory bishop of Amastris pres­ ent.25 II His title would have been TovSouvoc. Compare TovSouvov TOV apxovTa X£pcwvoc cfx: 'IC TTPOCrfJ1TOV TOU Xa,,&vov &vTa (Theoph. 1.378, 3-5 de Boor). Tomaschek, op.cit. (supra n.4) 20, refers to Etym.Magn. s.v. To6Sovvo,. ot TOTTOTTJPTJTal TTapa. TOVPKO£C [p.763, 24 GaisfordJ. uN. H. Baynes, Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (London 1955) 248. 16 Mansi, Goncilia xn 997 A. Note that Amastris did not become the seat of a metropolitan until the emperor Nikephoros I promoted his friend the bishop George (Vita S. Georgii Amastreni 6 (21) [AA.SS. Feb. III 277]): before that the bishopriC had been subject to the metropolis in Gangra; there had been difficulties between George and his metropolitan. Consistently the "Ikonoklastennotiz" (de Boor, art. cit. [supra n.13] 526, nos. 343 and 345) has 0 )1/L&CTp£SOC under r&""pa /LTJTp(mOAK in the eparchy of Paphlagonia. ca 787 ca 790 ca 791 GEORGE HUXLEY Escape of John to Amastris. George appointed bishop of Amastris. Body of John sent to Parthenitai for burial in Church of Holy Apostles. THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST October, 1977 169