Ruins of the ancient city of Sebaste near en:Sivaslı, en:Uşak Province, en:Turkey.
Saint Pierre de
Sébaste, évêque
Évêque en Arménie, il
était issu d'une étonnante famille de saints : frère de saint Basile le Grand,
de saint Grégoire de Nysse et de sainte Théosobie, fils de saint Basile
l'ancien et de sainte Emilienne, petit-fils de sainte Macrine. Elevé au siège
de Sébaste, il donna les preuves de la plus ardente charité et d'une grande
fidélité théologique, en particulier lors du concile œcuménique de 381 à
Constantinople. Il mourut à Sébaste vers 391.
Saint
Pierre de Sébaste
Evêque
en Arménie (+ 391)
Évêque en Arménie, issu
d'une étonnante famille de saints: non seulement il était le frère de saint
Basile le Grand et de saint
Grégoire de Nysse, sa sœur fut sainte Théosobie, il était aussi le
fils de saint
Basile l'ancien et de sainte
Emilienne et petit-fils de sainte
Macrine. Élevé au siège de Sébaste, il donna les preuves de la plus
ardente charité et d'une grande fidélité théologique, en particulier lors du
concile œcuménique de 381 à Constantinople.
À
Sébaste en Arménie, vers 391, saint Pierre, évêque, frère cadet de saint Basile
le Grand, qui fut un défenseur de la foi orthodoxe contre les ariens.
Martyrologe
romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/400/Saint-Pierre-de-Sebaste.html
Pierre est
le dernier-né des frères et sœurs de Macrine. Le père de famille meurt à la
naissance de cet enfant. Dès son sevrage, Macrine le prend à sa nourrice et
l’élève elle-même. Elle va le faire accéder à la culture la plus élevée,
l’exerçant dès l’enfance aux sciences sacrées et ne laissant pas à son âme le
loisir de diverses futilités. Macrine se montre, pour Pierre, son père, maître,
pédagogue, mère et conseillère de tous biens.
Pierre, qui a depuis son
enfance une formation exclusivement religieuse, n’a pas à se convertir à
proprement parler. Il est chrétien depuis toujours. Encore adolescent, il prend
son élan, grâce à sa sœur, vers l’idéal sublime de la philosophie. Il est
naturellement doué, habile dans le travail manuel. Il admire sa sœur et se met à
son école. Il la prend pour modèle de tout bien et accomplit ainsi de grands
progrès dans la vertu; des progrès tels qu’il est autant estimé que le
Grand Basile; c’est tout dire! Macrine n’est pas un simple exemple pour son
frère; elle est véritablement le modèle à imiter pour parvenir à la vie
bienheureuse. L’exemple a une très grosse importance dans la tradition; il
suffit présentement d’évoquer les Pères d’Égypte (la référence obligée!)
: Regarde et fais et saint Benoît : Écoute, fais et tu
parviendras.
SOURCE : http://abbaye-veniere.fr/2c-macrine-12.php
9 January on
some calendars
Profile
Youngest of ten children born
to Saint Basil
the Elder and Saint Emmelia;
brother of Saint Basil
the Great, Saint Gregory
of Nyssa, and Saint Macrina
the Younger. His father died when
Peter was an infant,
and he was raised and educated by Saint Macrina. Monk in
a monastery in Armenia on
the Iris River, a house that had been founded by his parents and was headed by
his brother Basil. Abbot of
the house in 362.
Worked to help people suffering in a famine in
Pontus and Cappadocia. Ordained in 370. Bishop of Sebaste, Armenia in 380.
Fought fiercely against Arianism in
his see.
Attended the General
Council of Constantinople in 381.
Born
c.340 in Caesarea, Cappadocia
c.391 in
Sebaste, Armenia (in
modern Turkey) of natural causes
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Catholic
Encyclopedia, by J P Kirsch
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives
of the Saints, by Sabine Baring-Gould
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
and of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
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strani v slovenšcini
MLA
Citation
“Saint Peter of
Sebaste“. CatholicSaints.Info. 20 September 2021. Web. 14 January 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-of-sebaste/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-of-sebaste/
St.
Peter of Sebaste
Bishop, b. about 340; d.
391. He belonged to the richly blest family of Basil and Emmelia of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, from which also sprang St.
Macrina the Younger and the two great Cappadocian doctors, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory
of Nyssa. He was the youngest of a large family,
and Macrina, his eldest sister, exercised a great influence over
his religious training, acting as his instructress in the
way of Christian
perfection, and directing him toward
the spiritual and ascetic life. Renouncing the
study of the profane sciences,
he devoted himself to meditation on Holy
Writ and the cultivation of the religious
life. Shortly after his brother's elevation to the episcopal See
of Caesarea, Peter received from him priestly ordination,
but subsequently, withdrawing from active affairs, resumed
the life of a solitary ascetic. He assisted his sister toward
the attainment of her life's object, and aided her and her mother in
their monastic establishment after his father's death
(Gregory
of Nyssa, "Vita s. Macrinae"). About 380-81 he was elevated to
the See
of Sebaste in Armenia and,
without displaying any literary activity, took his stand beside his
brothers Basil and Gregory in
their fight against the Arian
heresy (Theodoret,
"H.E.", IV, xxvii). In his life
and episcopal administration he displayed the same splendid
characteristics as Basil. Linked together in the closest manner
with his brothers, he followed their writings with the greatest interest.
At his advice Gregory
of Nyssa wrote his great work "Against Eunomius", in defense
of Basil's similarly named book answering the polemical work of Eunomius.
It was also at his desire that Gregory wrote
the "Treatise on the Work of the Six Days", to
defend Basil's similar treatise against false interpretations
and to complete it. Another work of Gregory's,
"On the endowment of Man", was also written at Peter's
suggestion, and sent to the latter with an appropriate preface as an Easter gift in
397. We have no detailed information concerning his activity as a bishop,
except that he was present at the Ecumenical Council of
Constantinople in 381. After his death in 391 he was venerated as
a saint. His feast falls on 8-9 January.
Sources
Acta
SS.,
I Jan, 588-590; BUTLER, Lives of the
Saints, I, 9 Jan; see bibliography under BASIL THE GREAT and GREGORY
OF NYSSA.
Kirsch, Johann Peter.
"St. Peter of Sebaste." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 26 Mar. 2015
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11773c.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Marcia L. Bellafiore.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11773c.htm
St.
Peter of Sebaste
Born c. 340, St.
Peter was the youngest child of Sts. Basil (the Elder) and Emiliana
(Emilia); he may have been a posthumous child. Some say that he was born after
his father's death, and others say that the elder Basil died while Peter was an
infant. Macrina, his oldest sister, raised him, and he, like his brothers, gave
up the study of rhetoric. He became a monk at
Basil the Great's monastery on the Iris River; when Basil became bishop in
370, Peter succeeded him as abbot. Basil ordained Peter to the priesthood.
During a famine in the Pontus and
Cappadocia, Peter did much to alleviate its effects. Peter was named bishop of Sebaste in
380, and he attended the second Council of Nicaea the
following year. At the
request of his brother, Gregory of Nyssa, Peter completed Basil's Hexemeron. Peter,
who helped to eliminate Arianism in
his diocese, died c. 391
SOURCE : http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=885
St.
Peter of Sebaste
January
9
Peter's family was well
known to the Christians of the 4th century. We met his brother Basil on the 2nd
of this month and will meet his brother Gregory of Nyssa on March 10th. His
parents, sister Macrina and his grandmother Macrina the Elder are also saints
and were prominent in the Christian community of their day.
Peter was the youngest of
the ten children. His father died when he was very young and his sister Macrina
took over his education. She raised him to love God with all his heart and
Peter, who was a very quiet and gentle boy, grew to be a very pious and strongly
committed young man. Peter's mother had founded two monasteries. The one for
men was under the guidance of his older brother Basil and it was there that he
decided to consecrate his entire life to God.
In 362 Basil had to give
up the guidance of the monastery because of other responsibilities, so he
appointed Peter to replace him. Peter became well known and loved for his
charity, gentleness and concern for all in need. He sometimes frightened the
members of his community by his generosity, for example, during a time of
famine, he took from the monastery food supplies to give to the poor of the
countryside.
In 370 Peter was ordained
to the priesthood. After the death of Basil and Macrina, Peter was consecrated
to the bishopric in 380. His main focus became the refutation of Arianism.
Although not formally educated in rhetoric and other subjects, be proved to be
a very eloquent defender of the faith. In 381 he attended the general council
of Constantinople. He died in the summer of 391.
Peter was not as eloquent
and influential as his brother Basil, but his life bears witness to the
greatness a soul can achieve by making love of God, humility and self-denial the
central focus of one's life.
© 1998 The Monastery of
Christ in the Desert
SOURCE : http://christdesert.org/cgi-bin/martyrology.dynamic.5.cgi?name=peter_of_sebaste
St.
Peter of Sebaste, Bishop and Confessor
From
the life of his sister St. Macrina, composed by their brother St. Gregory of
Nyssa; and from St. Gregory Naz. Or. 20. See also Theodoret. Hist. Eccl. l. 4.
c. 30. Ruffin, l. 2. c. 9. and the judicious compilation of Tillemont, in his
life of St. Gregory of Nyssa, art. 6. t. 9. p. 572.
About
the year 387.
THE FAMILY of which St.
Peter descended, was very ancient and illustrious; St. Gregory Nazianzen tells
us, that his pedigree was made up of a list of celebrated heroes; but their
names are long since buried in oblivion, whilst those of the saints which it gave
to the church, and who despised the world and its honours, are immortal in the
records of the church, and are written in the book of life; for the light of
faith, and the grace of the Almighty, extinguishing in their breasts the sparks
of worldly ambition, inspired them with a most vehement ardour to attain the
perfection of Christian virtue, and changed their family into a house of
saints; three brothers were at the same time eminently holy bishops, St. Basil,
St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Peter of Sebaste; and their eldest sister, St.
Macrina, was the spiritual mother of many saints and excellent doctors; their
father and mother, St. Basil the Elder, and St. Emelia, were banished for their
faith in the reign of the Emperor Galerius Maximian, and fled into the deserts
of Pontus; they are recorded together in the Roman Martyrology, on the 30th of
May: the grandmother of our pious and fruitful family of saints, was the
celebrated St. Macrina the Elder, who was instructed in the science of
salvation by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus. St. Peter of Sebaste was the youngest of
ten children, and lost his father in his cradle, some think before he was born;
and his eldest sister, Macrina, took care of his education, in which it was her
only aim to instruct him in the maxims of religion, and form him to perfect
piety; profane studies she thought of little use to one, who designed to make
salvation the sole end of all his inquiries and pursuits, nor did he ever make
them any part of his employment, confining his views to a monastic state. His
mother had founded two monasteries, one for men, the other for women; the
former she put under the direction of her son Basil, the latter under that of
her daughter Macrina. Peter, whose thoughts were wholly bent on cultivating the
seeds of piety that had been sown in him, retired into the house governed by
his brother, situated on the bank of the river Iris; when St. Basil was obliged
to quit that post, in 362, he left the abbacy in the hands of St. Peter, who
discharged this office for several years with great prudence and virtue. When
the provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia were visited by a severe famine, he gave
a remarkable proof of his charity; human prudence would have advised him to be
frugal in the relief of others, till his own family should be secured against
that calamity; but Peter had studied the principles of Christian charity in
another school, and liberally disposed of all that belonged to his monastery,
and whatever he could raise, to supply with necessaries the numerous crowds
that daily resorted to him, in that time of distress. Soon after Saint Basil
was made bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, in 370, he promoted.his brother Peter
to the priesthood; the holy abbot looked on the holy orders he had received as
a fresh engagement to perfection. His brother St. Basil, died on the 1st of
January, in 3T9, and his sister Macrina in November, the same year. Eustathius,
bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, a violent Arian, and a furious persecutor of St.
Basil, seems to have died soon after them; for St. Peter was consecrated bishop
of Sebaste, in 380, to root out the Arian heresy in that diocess, where it had
taken deep root; the zeal of a saint was necessary, nor can we doubt that God
placed our saint in that dignity for this purpose. A letter which St. Peter
wrote, and which is prefixed to St. Gregory of Nyssa’s books against Eunomius,
has entitled him to a rank among the ecclesiastical writers, and is a standing
proof, that though he had confined himself to sacred studies, yet by good
conversation and reading, and by the dint of genius, and an excellent
understanding, he was inferior to none but his incomparable brother Basil, and
his colleague Nazianzen, in solid eloquence. In 381, he attended the general
council held at Constantinople, and joined the other bishops in condemning the
Macedonian heretics. Not only his brother St. Gregory; but also Theodoret, and
all antiquity, bear testimony to his extraordinary sanctity, prudence, and
zeal. His death happened in summer, about the year 387, and his brother of
Nyssa mentions, that his memory was honoured at Sebaste (probably the very year
after his death) by an anniversary solemnity, with several martyrs of that
city. 1 His
name occurs in the Roman Martyrology, on the 9th of January
We admire to see a whole
family of saints! This prodigy of grace, under God, was owing to the example,
prayers, and exhortations of the elder St. Macrina, which had this wonderful
influence and effect; from her they learned most heartily and deeply to imbibe
the true spirit of self-denial and humility, which all Christians confess to be
the fundamental maxim of the gospel; but this they generally acknowledge in
speculation only, whereas it is in the heart that this foundation is to be
laid; we must entertain no attachment, says St. Gregory of Nyssa, 2 to
any thing, especially where there is most danger of passion, by some sensual
pleasure annexed, and we must begin by being upon our guard against sensuality
in eating, which is the most ancient enemy, and the father of vice: we must
observe in our whole life the most exact rule of temperance, never making the
pleasure of sense our end, but only the necessity of the use we make of things,
even those in which a pleasure is taken. In another treatise he says, 3 he
who despises the world, must also renounce himself, so as never to follow his
own will, but purely to seek in all things the will of God; we are his in
justice, his will must be the law and rule of our whole life. This precept of
dying to ourselves, that Christ may live in us, and all our affections and
actions governed by his spirit, is excellently inculcated by St. Basil the
Great. 4
Note
1. St. Gr. Nyss. ep. ad Flav. t. 3. p. 645.
Note
2. St. Gr. Nyss, de Virg. c. 9.
Note
3. Id. de perfectâ Christi forma.
Note
4. St. Basil, in Ps. 34. de Bapt. l. 1. et Interr. 237.
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume I: January. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/1/091.html
San Pietro
I di Sebaste Vescovo
†
391 circa
Martirologio
Romano: A Sivas nell’antica Armenia, san Pietro, vescovo, che, fratello
minore di san Basilio Magno, fu insigne difensore della retta fede contro
l’eresia ariana.
P. Devos, dopo aver ripreso in esame le diverse ipotesi formulate a proposito del Pietro di Sebaste d’Armenia nominato nella lettera Contro Helladium, ha definitivamente stabilito che, in base alla restituzione di questa lettera a Gregorio di Nazianzo (e non a Gregorio di Nissa) operata da E. Honigmann, si deve trattare di Pietro I, e non di Pietro II, fratello di san Basilio e di san Gregorio di Nissa. La lettera, infatti, fu redatta verso il 383, in un’epoca in cui Pietro II era appena giunto alla sede di Sebaste.
L’interesse di questo scritto risiede per noi precisamente nel fatto che Gregorio di Nazianzo vi narra come, in occasione di un primo viaggio a Sebaste, egli aveva assistito alla prima commemorazione di Pietro, associata a quella dei Quaranta Martiri di cui il vescovo era stato contemporaneo.
Gregorio non precisa la data di questa commemorazione, ma avendo avuto cura di notare che si svolgeva in un periodo di grandi calure, se ne è concluso che non si poteva trattare del 9 marzo, giorno tradizionale della festa dei Quaranta Martiri. Ma poiché, d’altra parte, il Martirologio Geronimiano indica anche al 27 agosto una commemorazione di questi martiri, è stata emessa l’ipotesi che la testimonianza di Gregorio potesse riferirsi implicitamente a questa data. Tuttavia Pietro non è menzionato in questo giorno in alcun altro luogo.
Senza poter neanche affermare con certezza che vi si tratti proprio di Pietro, non si rileva su di lui nessun’altra menzione, ad eccezione di quella del Geronimiano al 26 marzo «in Sebastia Petti episcopi». Questa data d’altra parte non si adatta per nulla alla precisazione di Gregorio circa il tempo che faceva il giorno in cui aveva assistito alla commemorazione di Pietro.
Non è il caso di soffermarsi sulla data del 9 gennaio scelta da C. Baronio per venerare Pietro di Sebaste, poiché si tratta di una scelta assolutamente arbitraria e la sua testimonianza, secondo la quale avrebbe trovato tale data nei libri liturgici bizantini, è del tutto fantastica. E poiché, d’altra parte, per lo stesso Baronio il Pietro di Sebaste menzionato nella lettera Contra Helladium non era altri che il fratello di Gregorio di Nissa, è assai probabile che la scelta del 9 gennaio sia il risultato di un’attrazione esercitata dalla commemorazione di quest’ultimo al giorno successivo, 10 gennaio, nei calendari bizantini. Oltre all’attestazione del Nazianzeno a proposito della relazione esistente tra Pietro e i Quaranta Martiri, ve ne è un’altra, precisamente alla fine della passio di costoro. In essa si narra, infatti, che, dopo che i resti dei martiri erano stati gettati nel fiume, Pietro ebbe in sogno un’apparizione nella quale gli si chiedeva di andare sulla riva del fiume per raccoglierne le reliquie. Il vescovo eseguì l’ordine e si recò nel luogo indicato dove trovò i corpi e, con l’aiuto del suo clero, li depose nelle casse.
Come ha rilevato G. Garitte, anche una recensione greca della Vita di san Gregorio l’Illuminatore conosce l’esistenza di Pietro. Di lui non si sa nient’altro se non che fu probabilmente successore di san Biagio, martirizzato verosimilmente sotto Licinio, durante la cui persecuzione morirono i Quaranta Martiri.
Autore: Joseph-Marie Sauget
