ST THEOPHANES THE CHRONOGRAPHER - 12 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 12th of March

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST THEOPHANES THE CHRONOGRAPHER 

(Saint Theophanes the Confessor) He was born at Constantinople, about 758; he died in Samothracia, probably March 12, 817, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. 

He was the son of Isaac, imperial governor of the islands of the White Sea, and of Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. 

THEY EMBRACED THE RELIGIOUS STATE

After the early death of his parents he came to the Court of Constantine Copronymus. He was married at the age of twelve, but induced his wife to lead a life of virginity, and in 799, after the death of his father-in-law, they separated with mutual consent to embrace the religious state, she choosing a convent on an island near Constantinople, while he entered the monastery called Polychronius in the district of Sigriano near Cyzicus. 

HE BUILT A MONASTERY

Later he built a monastery on his own lands on the island of Calonymus (now Calomio). After six years he returned to Sigriano, founded an abbey known by the name “of the great acre”, and governed it as abbot.

HE WAS PRESENT AT THE SECOND GENERAL COUNCIL OF NICAEA

As such he was present at the second General Council of Nicaea, 787, and signed its decrees in defence of the sacred images. When the emperor Leo the Armenian again began his iconoclastic warfare, he ordered Theophanes to be brought to Constantinople and tried in vain to induce him to condemn what had been sanctioned by the council. Theophanes was cast into prison and for two years suffered cruel treatment; he was then banished to Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he lived only seventeen days and wrought many miracles after death.

THE CHRONICLE

At the urgent request of his friend George Syncellus (died 810), Theophanes undertook the continuation of his chronicle, during the years 810-815. He treated of the time from the year 284-813, and made use of material already prepared by Syncellus, probably also the extracts from the works of Socrates, Sozomenus, and Theodoret, made by Theodore Lector, and the city chronicle of Constantinople. 

The work consists of two parts, the first giving the history, arranged according to years, the other containing chronological tables, full of inaccuracies, and therefore of little value. It seems that Theophanes had only prepared the tables, leaving vacant spaces for the proper dates, but that these had been filled out by someone else. The first part, though lacking in historical precision and criticism, which could scarcely be expected from a man of such ascetical disposition, greatly surpasses the majority of Byzantine chronicles. The chronicle was edited at Paris in 1655 by Goar; again at Venice in 1729 with annotations and corrections by Combefis. A Latin version was made by Anastasius Bibliothecarius, and both were ably edited by de Boor.

(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)

HIS ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:

"At Constantinople, Saint Theophanes, who gave up great wealth to embrace poverty in the monastic state. By Leo the Armenian he was kept in prison two years for the veneration of holy images, then exiled in Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he breathed his last and wrought many miracles."