Святі Сергій та Вакх (ікона). Музей
Ханенків, Київ
Saints Sergius and Bacchus. 7th Century
icon. Khanenko Museum, Kyiv
I
santi Sergio e Bacco. Museo
Chanenko, Kyiv
Saint Serge
Martyr en Syrie, avec son
compagnon Bacchus (+ v. 300)
On vénérait leur tombe à Rosafa, 200 kms à l'est d'Alep en Syrie, dès la fin du 3ème ou du début du 4ème siècle. Serge aurait été un officier supérieur romain, commandant avec son collègue Bacchus une troupe d'élite composée de Barbares, appelée la Schola Gentilium. Ils furent tous deux dénoncés comme chrétiens et confessèrent courageusement leur foi. Bacchus meurt sous la flagellation; Serge, après divers tourments dont il sort indemne, est finalement décapité. Il ne reste que quelques ruines de ce qui fut un centre de pèlerinage d'une richesse inouïe. Au 6ème siècle, on bâtit même une muraille de trois mètres d'épaisseur entourant un rectangle de 500 mètres sur 100 mètres pour protéger des voleurs les dons que faisaient les pèlerins.
L'église des Ukrainiens à Rome, place de la Madonna dei Monti, leur est dédiée(Parrocchia Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, en italien)
À Rosafa en Euphratésie de Syrie, au IIIe ou IVe siècle, les saints Serge et
Bacchus, martyrs.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1980/Saint-Serge.html
.jpg)
Константинополь.
985 г. Миниатюра Минология Василия II. Ватиканская библиотека. Рим. 985
Martyrs
Saints Sergius and Bacchus
http://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.gr.1613/0117?sid=a7590df9b8aca22111c8359533716419&zoomlevel=4
Saint Bacchus
Martyr en Syrie, avec son
compagnon Serge (+ v. 300)
On vénérait leur tombe à 200 kms à l'est d'Alep en Syrie, dès la fin du IIIe ou du début du IVe siècle. Serge aurait été un officier supérieur romain, commandant avec son collègue Bacchus une troupe d'élite composée de Barbares, appelée la Schola Gentilium. Ils furent tous deux dénoncés comme chrétiens et confessèrent courageusement leur foi. Bacchus meurt sous la flagellation; Serge, après divers tourments dont il sort indemne, est finalement décapité. Il ne reste que quelques ruines de ce qui fut un centre de pèlerinage d'une richesse inouïe. Au VIe siècle, on bâtit même une muraille de trois mètres d'épaisseur entourant un rectangle de 500 mètres sur 100 mètres pour protéger des voleurs les dons que faisaient les pèlerins.
L'église des Ukrainiens à Rome, place de la Madonna dei Monti, leur est dédiée(Parrocchia Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, en italien)
À Rosafa en Euphratésie de Syrie, au IIIe ou IVe siècle, les saints Serge et
Bacchus, martyrs.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/582/Saint-Bacchus.html
Saints
Serge et Bacchus Sainte Justine de Padoue Michael Damaskino. Tempera à l'oeuf
sur bois représentants des saints fêtés le 7 octobre, jour commémoratif de la
victoire navale de Lépante (Naupacte) sur les Ottomans. Musée byzantin
Antivouniotissa de Corfou
Saints
Sergius and Bacchus as the guardians of Saint Justina of Padua by Michael DamaskinosTempera with egg on wood
representatives of the saints celebrated on October 7, the commemorative day of
the naval victory of Lepanto (Naupacte) over the Ottomans.
Saints Serge et
Bacchus (+300)
Fêté le 07 octobre
Martyrs. On vénérait leur
tombe à 200 kilomètres à l’est d’Alep en Syrie, dès la fin du 3ème ou au début
du 4ème siècle. Serge aurait été un officier supérieur romain, commandant, avec
son collègue Bacchus, une troupe d’élite composée de Barbares, appelée la
Schola Gentilium. Ils furent tous deux dénoncés comme chrétiens et confessèrent
courageusement leur foi. Bacchus meurt sous la flagellation ; Serge, après
divers tourments dont il sort indemne, est finalement décapité. Il ne reste que
quelques ruines de ce qui fut un centre de pèlerinage d’une richesse inouïe. Au
6ème siècle, on bâtit même une muraille de trois mètres d’épaisseur entourant
un rectangle de 500 mètres sur 100 mètres pour protéger des voleurs les dons
que faisaient les pèlerins.
Aurais-tu peur de la mort ? – Non, car la mort, c’est la vie qui s’ouvre enfin, en toute vérité, dans la lumière divine et pour toujours.
(Actes des martyrs)
SOURCE : http://www.eglise.catholique.fr/saint-du-jour/07/10/saints-serge-et-bacchus/
Église de Pourrain (Yonne, France), dédiée à Serge et Bacchus de Rasafa.
Photographie de François GOGLINS
Frise qui représente le martyre de Bacchus, flagellé, et de Serge, conduit à la décapitation, Église de Porrain, Yonne, France.
Photographie
de François GOGLINS
Église
de Pourrain (Yonne, France), dédiée à Serge et Bacchus de Rasafa.
Photographie de François GOGLINS
Église
de Pourrain (Yonne, France), dédiée à Serge et Bacchus de Rasafa.
Photographie de François GOGLINS
Saint Serge et Saint
Bacque ou Bacchus
7 octobre
Ils étaient tous deux
chevaliers romains vers le 4ème siècle. En même temps, ils étaient secrétaires
d’État de l’empereur Maximien.
Un jour, Maximien était
en Syrie et voulait sacrifier aux idoles dans la ville d’Augusta. Il avait
ordonné à tous ses soldats d’assister à la cérémonie mais il n’y vit ni Serge
ni Bacque. Voulant savoir pourquoi ils étaient absents, il les fit chercher et
ceux-ci lui dirent qu’ils n’avaient pas participé au sacrifice parce qu’ils
étaient chrétiens. D’autres disent que ce sont des collègues qui les auraient
dénoncés.
Maximien les dégrada sur
le champ. Puis il les fit revêtir d’habits de femme et charger de colliers de
fer. Il les fit promener ainsi dans la ville pour être la risée de tous.
Ensuite, ils furent
ramenés vers l’empereur qui les exhorta à renoncer à leur foi. Mais comme il
n’arrivait pas à ses fins, il les envoya au préfet de l’Orient : Antiochus, qui
passait pour être un homme cruel.
Il espérait que Serge et
Bacque changeraient d’avis à la suite des fatigues de la route, des affronts
qu’ils recevraient, à l’idée même d’être livrés à un si cruel Préfet. De plus,
l’humiliation était à son comble, sachant qu’ils étaient livrés à un homme qu'ils
avaient autrefois commandé.
Mais ils ne changèrent
pas d’avis.
Arrivés sur les lieux,
Antiochus essaya de les persuader de sacrifier aux idoles. Comme il n’y
parvenait pas, il condamna Bacque à être fouetté par quatre bourreaux. Cela fut
si terrible que Bacque mourut pendant qu’on le fouettait.
La nuit suivante, il
apparut à Serge pour l’encourager à endurer les supplices qu’on allait lui
infliger de manière à ce qu’ils soient ensemble pour le même triomphe.
Antiochus étant obligé
d’aller dans une ville non loin d’Augusta, il fit chausser Serge avec des
chaussures dont les semelles étaient garnies de clous en dedans. Il le
contraignit de courir devant son chariot jusqu’à la ville voisine. (15 km
jusqu’à Tetrapyrgya, aujourd’hui Qseyras-Sêlé)
Le lendemain matin, Serge
fut guéri de ses blessures grâce à un ange qui lui apparut. Le Préfet croyant
qu’il s’agissait là de magie, lui fit endurer une seconde fois le supplice.
Puis, désespérant de
pouvoir lui faire changer d’avis, il le condamna à être décapité à Rosafa. (qui
devint Sergiopolis)
Ce fut le 7 octobre de
l’an 300.
Serge fut le premier
Saint à qui on dédia une Basilique dans un lieu qui ne fut pas son tombeau. (Eïta
en Syrie en 354) Puis la Syrie se couvrit d’églises sous le vocable de Saint
Serge. Bacque ou Bacchus ne jouira pas de la même popularité, sans doute à
cause de son nom qui rappelle un dieu païen.
Justinien construisit une
église Saint Serge et Saint Bacchus à Constantinople. Elle est, aujourd’hui
transformée en mosquée.
Le culte de Saints Serge
et Bacque parvint en Gaule vers le 7ème siècle.
Grégoire de Tours raconte
que deux hommes avaient volé des poulets réservés à l’église Saint Serge à Rosafa.
Il les firent cuire, mais quand les invités arrivèrent, les poulets étaient
aussi durs que la pierre.
Des reliques ont été
apportées à Saint Martin de Tours, Chartres et Angers.
SOURCE : http://carmina-carmina.com/carmina/Mytholosaints/serge.htm
_-_Bacchus.jpg)
Saint
Bacchus Hosios Loukas Monastery, Boeotia, Greece. (south west chapel, north
wall) Chatzidakis. Byzantine Art in Greece
Profile
An officer (secundarius)
in the army of
Emperor Maximian
Herculeus. Held in high esteem by the emperor until he admitted being a Christian. Martyr.
Titular saint of
a church in Rome, Italy.
beaten to
death during an interrogation c.303 at
Arabissus, Cappadocia
soldier with
the palm of martyrdom
with Saint Sergius
the Martyr
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
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MLA
Citation
“Saint Bacchus“. CatholicSaints.Info.
30 November 2023. Web. 7 September 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bacchus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bacchus/
Book of Saints –
Sergius and Bacchus
(Saints) Martyrs (October
7) (2nd
century) Romans by birth and officers in
the Imperial army,
who were put to death by
order of Diocletian or
of one of his colleagues, towards the end of the third
century. The prolix accounts written in the early Middle Ages of their
glorious deaths for
Christ seem of too late date to be really reliable. But the extension of
their cultus throughout
the Church was
so rapid as to indicate distinctive features in their Passion.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Sergius and Bacchus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
5 October 2016. Web. 7 September 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-sergius-and-bacchus/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-sergius-and-bacchus/
Sergius and Bacchus
Martyrs, d. in the Diocletian persecution in
Coele-Syria about 303. Their martyrdom is
well authenticated by the earliest martyrologies and
by the early veneration paid them, as well as by such historians as Theodoret.
They were officers of troops on the frontier, Sergius being primicerius,
and Bacchus secundarius. According to the legend, there were high in
esteem of the Caesar
Maximianus on account of their bravery,
but this favour was turned into hate when they acknowledged their Christian
faith. When examined under torture they were beaten so severely with thongs
that Bacchus died under the blows. Sergius, though, had much more suffering to
endure; among other tortures, as the legend relates, he had to run eighteen
miles in shoes which were covered on the soles with sharp-pointed nails that
pierced through the foot. He was finally beheaded. The burial-place of Sergius
and Bacchus was pointed out in the city of Resaph; in honour of
Sergius the Emperor Justinian also built churches in honour of
Sergius at Constantinople and Acre; the one at Constantinople, now a mosque, is
a great work of Byzantine art. In the East, Sergius and Bacchus were
universally honoured.
Since the seventh century they have a celebrated church in Rome. Christian
art represents the two saints as
soldiers in military garb with branches of palm in their hands. Their feast is
observed on 7 October. The Church calendar
gives the two saints Marcellus
and Apuleius on the same day as Sergius and Bacchus. They are said to have been converted to Christianity by
the miracles of
St. Peter. According to the "Martyrologium Romanum" they
suffered martyrdom soon
after the deaths of Sts. Peter and Paul and were buried near Rome.
Their existing Acts are not genuine and agree to a great extent with those of
Sts. Nereus and Achilleus. The veneration of the two saints is
very old. A mass is assigned to them in the "Sacramentarium" of Pope
Gelasius.
Sources
Analecta Bollandiana, XIV
(1895), 373-395; Acta SS., October, III, 833-83; Bibliotheca
hagiographica latina (Brussels, 1898-1900), 1102; Bibliotheca
hagiographica graeca (2nd ed., Brussels, 1909), 229-30; cf. for Marcellus
and Apuleius: Acta SS., October, III, 826-32; Bibliotheca hagiogr.
lat., 780.
Löffler,
Klemens. "Sergius and Bacchus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
13. New York: Robert Appleton Company,1912. 7 Oct.
2019 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13728a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Ferruccio Germani.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13728a.htm
Assyrian Church of the East of Mar
Sarkis (Saint Sergius), Tehran
October 7
SS. Sergius and Bacchus,
Martyrs
THESE two glorious
martyrs are mentioned with great distinction by Theodoret, John Mosch in the
Spiritual Meadow, Evagrius, St. Gregory of Tours, Bede, and other ancient
Martyrologists. They were illustrious officers in the army, and suffered with
great constancy cruel torments and a glorious death under Maximian: the theatre
of their triumph was Rasaphe in Syria, in the diocess of Hierapolis. Their tomb
at Rasaphe was famous for miracles in the year 431, 1 when
Alexander, bishop of Hierapolis, built there a stately church in their honour.
Out of respect for their relics, Justinian caused this town to be fortified,
called it Sergiopolis, and made it the metropolis of the province. He also
built many churches in their honour in several provinces of the East. They are
the titular saints of a church in Rome, which has been famous at least ever
since the seventh century, as appears from Anastasius; nevertheless no
authentic acts of their martyrdom have reached us. Two other churches in Rome
bear their name: one called ad montes belongs to the Russian college,
and possesses a portion of their relics brought from Syria in the crusades: as
does the cathedral of St. Vitus at Prague, by the gift of the Emperor Charles
IV., in 1354. See Tillemont, t. 5, p. 491.
Note 1. See Lupus in
Conc. Ephes. pp. 232, 279, 299. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler
(1711–73). Volume X: October. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/lives-of-the-saints/volume-x-october/ss-sergius-and-bacchus-martyrs
Saints Sergius and Bacchus, Mar Sarkis monastery
أيقونة
القديسين سرجيوس وباخوس في صيدنايا - سوريا
The Passion of SS. Serge
and Bacchus
Translated by John
Boswell from the Greek "Passio antiquior SS. Sergii et Bacchi Graece
nunc primum edita," AB 14 (Brussels, 1895), 373-395. This text is
apparently the Greek original of the Latin passion beginning "Imperante
Maximiano tyranne, multus error hominum genus possederat," printed in the
Acta sanctorum, October 7, 865-79, and is more ancient than the more common
account of "Metaphrastes."
Under the rule of the
emperor Maximian gross superstition held sway over the human race, for people
worshiped and made sacrifices to stones and wood, the devices of human beings,
and they consumed obscene offerings. Those unwilling to sacrifice were
subjected to torture and harsh punishment and compelled to serve the demons. A
decree [to this effect] with severe threats was posted in the markets of every
city. The purity of the air was defiled with the diabolical smell from the
altars and the darkness of idolatrous error was reckoned a matter of state.
It was then that Serge
and Bacchus, like stars shining joyously over the earth, radiating the light of
confession of and faith in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, began to grace the
palace, honored by the emperor Maximian. The blessed Serge was the primicerius
of the school of the Gentiles, a friend of the emperor and who had great
familiarity with him, so that Maximian promptly acceded to his requests. Thus
the blessed Serge, having a certain friend Antiochus, was able to arrange for
him to become the governor of the province of Augusto-Euphrates.
The blessed Bacchus
himself happened to be the secundarius of the school of the Gentiles. Being as
one in their love for Christ, they were also undivided from each other in the
army of the world, united not by the way of nature, but in the manner of faith,
always singing and saying, "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity!" They were adept and excellent
soldiers of Christ, cultivating assiduously the inspired writings to combat
diabolical error, and fighting vigorously in battle to defeat the enemy.
But the malicious and
evil spirit afflicted with envy some of those who had been brought to the
school of the Gentiles, and they, seeing [the saints] so honorably received in
the imperial chambers, so advanced in military rank, and on such familiar terms
with the emperor, and being unable to bring any other instrument of malice
against them, accused them to the emperor of being Christians.
Waiting for a moment when
the saints would not be standing near the emperor, and finding him alone, they
said to him, "Such zeal for the cult of the holiest and greatest gods has
your immortal majesty that in those holy rescripts of yours which are everywhere
disseminated you have commanded that all unwilling to honor and worship them,
and in submission to your righteous doctrine, should perish in great torment.
How is it then that Serge and Bacchus, the directors of our school, enjoy such
familiarity with your eternal power, when they worship Christ, whom those
called Jews executed, crucifying him as a criminal; and by persuading many
others they draw them away from the worship of the gods?"
When he heard this the
emperor refused to believe it and said, "I do not think you speak the
truth that Serge and Bacchus are not devoted to the veneration and worship of
the gods, since I have such a pure affection for them, and they would hardly be
worthy of it it they were not truly faithful in their piety toward the gods.
But if, as you say, they belong to that unholy religion, they shall now be
exposed. Once I have summoned them without their knowing of the charges that
have been brought against them, I will go with them into the temple of mighty
Zeus, and if they sacrifice and eat of the holy offerings, you yourselves shall
bear the risk of the slander of which you are guilty. If they refuse to
sacrifice, they shall incur the penalty appropriate for their impiety. For the
gods would not have the shield-bearers of my empire be impious and
ungrateful."
"We, O
Emperor," replied the accusers, "moved by zeal and affection for the
gods, have brought before your undying majesty what we have heard regarding
them. It is for your unfailing wisdom to discover their impiety."
Straightaway the emperor
sent for them. They entered with the customary retinue of guards and imperial
pomp. The emperor received them and went in their company to the temple of
Zeus. Once he had entered, Maximian offered libations with the whole army, partook
of the sacrificial offerings, and looked around. He did not see the blessed
Serge and Bacchus. They had not gone into the temple, because they thought it
impious and unholy to see them offering and consuming unclean sacrifices. They
stood outside and prayed as with one mouth, saying, "King of Kings and
Lord of lords, who alone possess immortality and inhabit unapproachable light,
shed light on the eyes of their minds, because they walk in the darkness of
their unknowing; they have exchanged your glory, uncorruptible God, for the
likeness of corruptible men and birds and beasts and snakes; and they worship
the created rather than you, the creator. Turn them to knowledge of you, that
they may know you, the one true God, and your only-begotten Son, our Lord ]esus
Christ, who for us and for our salvation suffered and rose from the dead, that
he might free us from the bonds of the law and rescue us from the folly of vain
idols. Preserve us, God, pure and spotless in the path of your martyrs, walking
in your commandments."
While this prayer was yet
in their mouths, the emperor sent some of the guard standing near him and
commanded them to be brought into the temple. When they had entered, the
emperor said to them, "It appears that, counting on my great friendship
and kindnessÑfor which the gods have been your defenders and advocates Ñ you
have seen fit to disdain imperial law and to become deserters and enemies of
the gods. But I will not spare you if indeed those things spoken of you prove
to be true. Go, then, to the altar of mighty Zeus, make sacrifice and consume,
like everyone else, the mystical offerings."
In reply the noble
soldiers of Christ, the martyrs Serge and Bacchus, answered: "We, O
Emperor, are obliged to render to you earthly service of this corporal body;
but we have a true and eternal king in heaven, Jesus the Son of God, who is the
commander of our souls, our hope and our refuge of salvation. To him every day
we offer a holy, living sacrifice, our thoughtful worship. We do not sacrifice to
stones or wood, nor do we bow to them. Your gods have ears, but they do not
hear the prayers of humans; just as they have noses but do not smell the
sacrifice brought them, have mouths but do not speak, hands but do not feel,
feet but do not walk. 'They that make them,' as the Scripture says, 'are like
unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them because Thou are with us.'''
The emperor's countenance
was transformed with anger; immediately he ordered their belts cut off, their
tunics and all other military garb removed, the gold torcs taken from around
their necks, and women's clothing placed on them; thus they were to be paraded
through the middle of the city to the palace, bearing heavy chains around their
necks. But when they were led into the middle of the marketplace the saints
sang and chanted together, "Yea, though we walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, we will fear no evil, Lord"; and this apostolic saying:
"Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and putting off the form of the old
man, naked in faith we rejoice in you, Lord, because you have clothed us with
the garment of salvation, and have covered us with the robe of righteousness;
as brides you have decked us with women's gowns and joined us together for you
[or: "joined us to you"] through our confession. You, Lord, commanded
us, saying, 'Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake.... But
when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it
shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.' Rise, Lord, help
us and rescue us for your name's sake; strengthen our souls that we may not be
separated from you and the impious may not say, 'Where is their God?' "
When they reached the
palace Maximian summoned them and said, "Most wicked of all men, so much
for the friendship which I had bestowed on you, thinking you to have proper
respect for the gods, and which you, confident of my openness and affection, have
despised, brazenly offering me in return that which is against the law of
obedience and subjection. But why should you blaspheme the gods as well,
through whom the human race enjoys such abundant peace? Do you not realize that
the Christ whom you worship was the son of a carpenter, born out of wedlock of
an adulterous mother, whom those called Jews executed by crucifixion, because
he had become the cause of dissensions and numerous troubles among them,
leading them into error with magic and claiming to be a god? The very great
race of our gods were all born of legal marriage, of the most high Zeus, who is
thought to be the most holy, giving birth through his marriage and union with
the blessed Hera. I imagine that you will have also heard that the heroic and
twelve greatest labors were worthy of a god, those of heavenly Hercules, born
of Zeus."
The noble soldiers of
Christ answered, "Your majesty is mistaken. These are myths that ring in
the ears of the simpler men and lead them to destruction. He whom you say to
have been born of adultery as the son of a carpenter, he is God, the son of the
True God, with and through whom was all made. He established the heavens, he
made the earth, the abyss and the great sea he bounded with sand, he adorned
the heavens with the multitude of stars, the sun he invented for the
illumination of the day and as a torch in the night he devised the moon. He
divided the darkness from the light, he imposed measure on the day and limits
on the night, in wisdom he brought forth all things from nonbeing to being. In
these last days he was born upon the earth for the salvation of humankind, not
from the desire of a man, nor the desire of the flesh, but from the Holy Spirit
and an ever-virgin girl, and living among humans he taught us to turn from the
error of vain idols and to know him and his father. He is true God of true God,
and in accord with an unknowable plan he died for the salvation of the human
race, but he plundered hell and rose on the third day in the power of his
divinity, and he established incorruptibility and the resurrection of the dead
to eternal life."
Beside himself with rage
on hearing these things, the emperor ordered that their accusers be enrolled in
their positions in the army and said to them, "I am sending you to Duke
Antiochus, thrice-cursed ones Ñ the very man you were able to promote to such
rank because of the friendship and familiarity you had with me Ñ so that you
will realize how great is the honor you have lost by speaking against the gods
and how trivial a court you merit for the worst punishments, since the
greatness of the gods has apprehended and brought your blasphemy to the
judgment seat for justice."
Immediately he sent them
to Duke Antiochus, ordering that their entire bodies be bound with heavy
chains, and that they be sent thus to Eastern parts through a succession of
officials. He also wrote a letter along these lines: "From Maximian,
eternal emperor and triumphant ruler of all, greetings to Duke Antiochus. The
wisdom of the greatest gods is unwilling that any men should be impious and
hostile to their worship, especially shield and spear-bearers of our empire.
Wherefore I commend to your severity the vile Serge and Bacchus, convicted with
apposite proof of belonging to the unholy sect of the Christians and plainly
deserving of the worst punishment, whom I consider unworthy of the
administration of imperial justice. If they should be persuaded by you to
change their minds and sacrifice to the gods, then treat them with their own
innate humanity, free them from the prescribed torments and punishments, assure
them of our forgiving kindness and that they will receive back immediately
their appropriate military rank and be better off now than they were before.
But if they will not be persuaded and persist in their unholy religion, subject
them to the severest penalties of the law and remove from them hope of long
life with the penalty of the sword. Farewell."
The same day the
offficials took them out of the city as far as the twelfth mark, and when
evening overtook them they stopped at an inn. About midnight an angel of the
Lord appeared and said to [the saints], "Take courage and fight against
the devil and his evil spirits, as noble soldiers and athletes of Christ, and
once you have thrown the enemy put him under your feet so that when you appear
before the king of glory we, the host of the army of angels, may come to greet
you singing the hymn of victory, conferring on you the trophies of triumph and
the crowns of perfect faith and unity.
When morning came they
rose and took the road with great joy and alacrity. There were also some of
their household servants with them, united with them in longing for the love of
Christ, and in true love for their corporal masters, on account of which they would
not leave them when they were in such straits. They heard them discussing with
each other the appearance of the angel in the night.
Taking the road, the two
chanted psalms together and prayed as if with one mouth, thus, "We have
rejoiced in the way of martyrdom, as much as in all riches. We will meditate in
thy precepts and search out thy ways. We will delight ourselves in thy
statutes: we will not forget thy word. Deal bountifully with thy servants, that
we may live and keep thy word."
As the emperor had
commanded, the soldiers of Christ were sent from city to city through a
succession of changing officials with great security along the road of
martyrdom laid down for them, until they were brought to the eparchy of
Augusto-Euphrates, which was on the borders next to the people of the Saracens,
to a certain fortress called Barbalisus where Duke Antiochus had his seat.
Appearing promptly before
him around the ninth hour, their custodians handed over the emperor's letter
and also the holy martyrs Serge and Bacchus. Antiochus rose from his dais and
accepted the emperor's rescript in his purple general's cloak; when he had read
it he summoned privately the official in charge and told him, "Take the
prisoners and secure them in the military prison, seeing that apart from the
usual constraints they do not suffer anything, and do not place their feet in
full manacles of wood. Bring them to the bench of my justice tomorrow, so that
I can hear them at the prescribed time, according to the law." The
official took them and bound them as the duke had commanded him. When it was
evening, they sang together and prayed, as with one mouth, speaking thus:
"Thou, Lord, brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters; thou didst
cleave the fountain and the flood; thou hast set all the borders of the earth.
Cast thine eye upon us, O Lord, for the enemy hath reproached us, and the
foolish people have blasphemed thy holy name. Deliver not the souls of those
confessing thee to men more savage than beasts, forget not the congregation of
thy poor forever. Have respect unto thy covenant: for the dark places of the
earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Let us not be returned humbled,
ashamed: so that we, thy humble servants, may praise thy name. Forget not the
voice of thine enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually
against us, thy servants, and in vain have the people hated us. But do thou, O
Lord, rescue us and free us for thy name's sake."
Then, while they slept
for a while, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and said, "Take heart,
stand fast and unmovable in your faith and love. It is God who aids and watches
over you."
Rising from their sleep
and reporting to their household the apparition of the angel, they were
encouraged and began to chant again: "ln my distress I cried unto the
Lord, and he heard me from his holy mountain. I laid me down and slept; for the
Lord sustained me. We will not be afraid of thou sands of people, that have set
themselves against us round about. Arise, Lord, and save us, O our God: for
salvation belongeth unto the Lord: thy blessing is upon thy people."
On the following day,
when the duke was seated on the bench of justice in the praetorium, he summoned
the commentarius and said, "Bring in the prisoners." The latter
responded, "They are at hand before the righteous bench of your
authority." When the saints appeared, he commanded the emperor's letter to
be read. Once this was done, Duke Antiochus, prompted by his associate,
announced, "It is incumbent on you to obey the orders of the glorious
emperor, our lord, and to sacrifice to the gods and become worthy of their
benevolence. Since you were unwilling to do this, you have forfeited great
glory, and having made yourselves unworthy, were discharged from the military
and deprived of all your former wealth. Nonetheless, if you will now obey me
and sacrifice to the gods to earn their goodwill, you could earn even greater
honor and glory than before, and receive back your military rank and more
besides.
"This was prescribed
in the letter sent to me, as you yourselves have heard. Being humane, the most
holy emperor has disposed that if you repent of those things you have rashly
done, and now sacrifice to the gods, you may yet enjoy his favor. Wherefore I,
feeling compassion for you, and mindful of your friendship and
kindness especially yours, my Lord Serge, for I myself have benefited from your
generosityÑadvise you that if you will not do this, you force me to obey our
lord the emperor and to see that his orders concerning you are strictly
observed."
In reply the saints
declared, "We have left all and followed Christ, so that heedless of earthly
and temporal honor, we may become rivals of the angels in heaven, and ignoring
terrestrial and corruptible wealth, we may heap up treasure in heaven. What
profit would it be if we gained the whole world, but lost our souls? Do not,
therefore, so advise us, Antiochus. For your tongue is forked, and the poison
of adders is under your lips. You will hardly be able to change our minds while
God himself encourages us. Do, therefore, what you will; we will not sacrifice
to wood, nor worship stones. We serve Christ, the son of God, the eternal
ruler, before whom 'every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on
earth, and things under the earth,' and whom every tongue should confess. Your
gods are man-made idols: if they were divine, they themselves would command
humans, and would not [need to] be avenged through human design on those who
decline to serve and worship them."
The duke rejoined,
"We do not avenge the gods. It is through their disposition that all the
powers of our enemies have been subjected to us. But we call you to justice
because of your accursed and unholy superstition."
To which the saints
responded, "It is you who are accursed and unholy, and all those persuaded
by you to sacrifice to demons and worship insensate stones and wood. All of
them will soon be cast eternally into flames, and you also will be punished
with them."
In a great rage the duke
commandel that the blessed Serge be taken from the praetorium and returned to
prison; the blessed Bacchus he ordered held for flogging. The henchmen went at
this until they collapsed exhausted and near dead on the floor. When they could
go on no longer, he directed that [Bacchus] be turned over on his stomach to be
beaten with four whips of rawhide, saying to him, "Let's see if your Christ
will free you from my hands." From the first hour until evening they wore
away his flesh; blood flowed everywhere; both his stomach and liver were
ruptured.
The blessed Bacchus said
to Antiochus: "The devil's servants, your torturers have failed; your
impudence is overthrown; the tyrant Maximian is conquered; your father the
devil has been put to shame. The more the man without is ravaged by your blows,
the more the man within is renewed in preparation for the eternal life to
come."
After he said this, there
was a great voice from heaven: "Come, rest henceforth in the kingdom
prepared for you, my noble athlete and soldier, Bacchus." Those standing
by hearing the voice were stupefied and struck dumb. He himself, having borne
the blows so long, gave up his spirit to the angels.
The duke, frustrated by
his defeat, ordered that his remains not be buried, but thrown out and exposed
as meat to the dogs, beasts, and birds outside the camp. Then he rose and left.
When the body was tossed some distance from the camp, a crowd of animals
gathered around it. The birds flying above would not allow the bloodthirsty
beasts to touch it, and kept guard through out the night.
In the morning, some of
the monks who lived nearby in caves came and liked up the body the animals Ñ as
if they were rational human beings Ñ had been mourning. They buried him in one
of their caves.
Meanwhile the blessed
Serge, deeply depressed and heartsick over the loss of Bacchus, wept and cried
out, "No longer, brother and fellow soldier, will we chant together,
'Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!' You have been unyoked from me and gone up to heaven, leaving me alone
on earth, bereft [literally, "made single"], without comfort."
After he uttered these things, the same night the blessed Bacchus suddenly
appeared to him with a face as radiant as an angel's, wearing an officer's
uniform, and spoke to him. "Why do you grieve and mourn, brother? If I
have been taken from you in body, I am still with you in the bond of union,
chanting and reciting, 'I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou hast
enlarged my heart.' Hurry then, yourself, brother, through beautiful and
perfect confession to pursue and obtain me, when finishing the course. For the crown
of justice for me is with you.'' At daybreak when he rose he related to those
who were with him how he had seen the blessed Bacchus in the night and in what
sort of garb.
The next day the duke
planned to go out of the fortress of Barbalisus to that of Souros, and
commanded that the blessed Serge follow. He enjoined him to sacrifice, but the
latter, with noble judgment, refused his blandishments. When they reached the
castle of Souros, Antiochus took his seat in the praetorium, summoned the
blessed Serge, and told him, "The most sacrilegious Bacchus refused to
sacrifice to the gods and chose to die violently; he got the death he deserved.
But you, my lord Serge, why give yourself over to such misery by following that
deceptive and impious cult. Mindful of your kindness to me I am disposed to
mercy; and it embarrasses me that you were the cause of my having obtained this
authority, since now you stand in the dock as the accused, and I sit on the
bench as the prosecutor."
To this Christ's witness
answered, "Antiochus, this very suffering and present disgrace will stand
as a patron for me of great eloquence and eternal glory with the king of heaven
and of earth and of every living thing, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If only
you would now heed me and recognize my God and king, Christ, and be as
circumspect in regard to the heavenly ruler, Christ, as you are in dealing with
earthly kings, you would provide yourself with power unending and perpetual
glory. For earthly rulers pass quickly, as the psalm says: 'Ye shall die like
men, and fall like one of the princes.' And again, 'I have seen the wicked
highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus. And I passed by, and
lo, he was not: and I sought him and his place was not found.' "
The duke replied,
"Spare us this idiocy and ignorant foolishness; sacrifice to the gods in
obedience to the holy command of our ruler, the emperor Maximian. If you will
not, know that you force me to forget all that has come to me through you and
to subject you to the most rigorous punishment decreed by law."
Serge answered, "Do
as you will. I have Christ to preserve me, who said, 'Fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.' The body is subject to you: torture and
punish it if you wish. But bear in mind that even if you kill my body, you can
not dominate my soul Ñeither you nor your father, Satan."
The duke responded
angrily: "It appears that my patience has served only to prod you along
the path of willfulness." He summoned the official in charge and told him,
"Fasten long nails in his boots, sticking straight up, and then put them on
him." Once the boots were on, Antiochus sat in his carriage, directed that
the animals be driven fiercely all the way to Tetrapyrgium, and ordered the
blessed one to run in front of him. Tetrapyrgium is nine miles from Syrum.
While he ran, the blessed one sang, "I waited patiently for the Lord, and
he inclined unto me. He brought me up also out of a horrible pagan pit, out of
the miry clay of idolatry, and set my feet upon a rock, and establishes my
goings."
When they reached the
castle of Tetrapyrgium the duke said, "It amazes me, Serge, that having
first been kept in such confinement you can now sustain these bitter
torments." The most holy martyr answered, "These tortures are not
bitter to me, but sweeter than honey." The duke got out of the chariot and
went in to breakfast, indicating that [Serge] should be retained in the
soldiers' custody.
In the evening [Serge]
sang psalms. "Those who did eat of my bread hath lifted up their heels
against me, and with the cords of hideous torture they have laid a net for my feet,
hoping to trip me up. But rise, Lord, outrun them and cause them to stumble,
and rescue my soul from the wicked." About midnight an angel of the Lord
came to him and healed him, restoring his feet completely. In the morning,
mounting the bench, the duke ordered him brought in, thinking he would be
unable to walk and would have to be carried, on account of his feet. When he
saw him coming, walking a considerable distance and not limping at all, he was
astounded, and exclaimed, "The man is a sorcerer. This must be how he
managed to enjoy such familiarity with the emperor: he accomplished it through
sorcery. What I am seeing is the proof of what they said about him. I would
have thought it wholly impossible for him to walk on his feet after having been
disabled by the torture inflicted on him yesterday. By the gods I am confounded
at seeing him now walk as if nothing had happened!"
When the blessed Serge
stood before the bench Antiochus addressed him. "Come to your senses even
now, sacrifice to the gods, and you will avoid further torture. I will spare
you out of respect for your kindness. If you will not, know that the witchcraft
with which you devised to heal yourself will not avail you."
To which the blessed
Serge replied, "If only you could escape the intoxication of diabolical
error. I am in my senses in the Lord who has trampled the weapons of your
father the devil under the feet of his humble servant, and has given me victory
over you, and sent his angel to heal me. It is you who are the magician, and
those who worship demons. It is the cult of your nameless idols that invented
every sorcery, that is the beginning and cause and conclusion of all
evil."
Antiochus sat down on his
carriage even angrier, and commanded [Serge] to run before him wearing the same
boots as far as the castle of Rosafae, another nine miles from Tetrapyrgium.
When they came to the castle of Rosafae, the duke said to the blessed Serge,
"Has the agony of the nails untied the knot of your idiocy?' Are you
prepared now to sacrifice to the gods, or will you persist in this insane
obsession?"
The noblest martyr
rejoined, "Know this, Antiochus: with this foolishness I will dissolve and
undo your malicious and wicked strength. Do what you will: I will not worship
demons, nor sacrifice to idols. Blameless in this, I strive to offer sacrifice
only to my Lord."
Seeing that he remained
steadfast and immovable in his faith and confession of Christ, the duke
pronounced sentence against him: "You have rendered yourself unworthy of
the favor of the gods, Serge, and become a member of the unholy sect called
Christians, injuring the great good of our ruler, the emperor Maximian, by
refusing to comply with his holy decree and sacrifice to the gods. For this the
law requires that you suffer the penalty of the sword." A number of those
present shouted out that the sentence issued against him was just. The guards
came immediately and gagged his holy lips, took him out of the courtroom, and
led him away to be executed.
A great crowd of men,
women, and children followed, to see the blessed one meet his end. Seeing the
beauty blooming in his face, and the grandeur and nobility of his youth, they
wept bitterly over him and bemoaned him. The beasts of the region left their
lairs and gathered together with the people, doing no injury to the humans, and
bewailed with inarticulate sounds the passing of the holy martyr.
When they reached the
place where the holy martyr of Christ was to meet his end, he called on the
guards to allow him a little time to pray. Extending his hands to heaven, he
said, "The beasts of the field and the birds of the sky, recognizing your
dominion and rule, Lord, have gathered together for the glory of your holy
name, so that you will incline and wish of your goodness to turn through their
unreason the reason of humans to knowledge of you. For you wish all to be saved
and to come to knowledge of the truth. When you lay death upon them, accept
their repentance, Lord, and do not remember the sin of ignorance which they
have perpetrated against us for your sake. Enlighten the eyes of their minds
and lead them to the knowledge of you. Receive, Lord, my spirit, and give it
rest in the heavenly tents with all the others whom you have found acceptable.
To you do I commend my soul, which you have rescued from the snares of the
devil."
Saying this and signing
himself, he knelt and was beheaded, giving up his spirit to the angels. A voice
from heaven said, "Come, also, Serge, soldier and victor, to the kingdom
prepared for you. The hosts of angels, the ranks of patriarchs, the choirs of
apostles and prophets, the souls of the just all await your coming to share
with them the wonderful things in store for you there."
The place that received
the holy martyr's blood became a great chasm; God arranged this so that those
who wallow like pigs in the mire of paganism, terrified when they saw the
abyss, would not dare to approach or trample in this spot the blood of the holy
martyr. That was the reason this great chasm came into existence, and the spot
has remained so up to the present day, bearing the signs of great antiquity at
the command of God, to establish the miracle visually for unbelievers, so that
they may build on it a firm foundation of faith.
Some of those who had
come to witness the death of the holy martyr, seeing that they shared a common
nature [with him], gathered up his remains and buried them handsomely where the
holy one had died. After a great while some religious men from the castle of
Souros, prompted by zeal for the service of Christ, but pious in a somewhat
piratical way, tried to steal the body from the spot, as if it were some
precious treasure. The saint would not suffer his body, which had been dragged
around, whipped, and triumphed so publicly in the faith of Christ, to be moved
in secret, so he asked of God that a fire be set in the spot, not to seek
revenge on those attempting the theft or to burn them, but so that by
lightening the gloom of night he would reveal the robbery to those in the
castle of Rosafae, which is just what happened. Once the fire was burning in
the place where the saint lay, some of the soldiers living there saw the flames
reaching to the sky, and thought that the great blaze had been set by some
enemy, so they came out armed and pursued those attempting to steal the saint's
body. They prevailed on them to remain there a few days and to build from
stones and clay a tomb where he lay. Once they had honorably covered the body of
the saint, they went away.
After a time, when the
religion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Chrisr had begun to flourish, some very
holy bishops Ñ fifteen in number Ñ gathered together and constructed near the
castle of Rosafae a shrine worthy of [Serge's] confession, and moved his
remains there, installing them in the shrine on the very day he was martyred:
the seventh of October.
Many miracles and cures
were effected wherever his holy relics were, especially in the tomb where he
had first lain. For it is a quality of the place of his death that the saint is
able to prevail upon God to heal all those who come there with any sort of
disease, and to cure those possessed of unclean spirits, and to render savage
beasts completely tame. The animals, in fact, observe the day of his death
every year as if it were a law, coming in from the surrounding desert and
mingling with the humans without doing them any harm, nor do their savage
impulses move them to any violence against the humans who come there. Rather, they
come to the place in gentleness out of reverence for the holy martyr, at the
command of God, to whom be glory, honor, and power, now and for ever.
Amen.
SOURCE : https://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/ftp/wpaf2mc/serge.html
Basilica
de Saint Sergius, Rasafa, Syria
Troparia and kontakia for
October 7
Martyrs Sergius and
Bacchus in Syria
Troparion — Tone 4
Your holy martyrs Sergius
and Bacchus, O Lord, / through their sufferings have received incorruptible
crowns from You, our God. / For having Your strength, they laid low their
adversaries, / and shattered the powerless boldness of demons. / Through their
intercessions, save our souls!
Kontakion — Tone 2
Podoben: “Seeking the
highest...” / Having courageously confronted the enemy, / you brought an end to
his guiles, and received from on high the crown of victory. / Illustrious
martyrs, Sergius and Bacchus, / with one heart you cry aloud: / “How good and
pleasant it is to dwell with God.”
Troparion — Tone 4
All burdened with sins, /
let us fall down before her wonderworking Icon of Tenderness, / kissing it and
crying aloud with tears: / “O Lady, accept the prayer of your unworthy
servants, / and to us who ask, grant your great mercy.”
Kontakion — Tone 6
We have no other help, we
have no other hope but you, O Lady. / Help us, for in you do we hope, / and of
you do we boast, for we are your servants. / Let us not be put to shame.
SOURCE : https://www.oca.org/saints/troparia
Church of Agioi Sergios and Vakchos - Koita / Kitta, Commune of Kita,
Lakonia, Itylo Municipal Unit, Municipality of East Mani, Laconia Regional
Unit, Peloponnese Region, Decentralized
Administration of Peloponnese, Western Greece and the Ionian Islands, Greece
SS. SERGIUS & BACCHUS AND THEIR ICON IN GAY CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
by Giacomo Sanfilippo
3
Comments December 16, 2019 The Editors
The following essay is a
condensed and slightly revised version of a paper written in December 2013 for
Dr. Jaroslav Skira’s Eastern Christian Icons course at Regis College,
University of Toronto.
A trend has developed
over the past two or three decades in the field of gay Christian
apologetics—taking its cue from the late Dr. John Boswell of Yale University
[see Boswell’s seminal Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality:
Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth
Century and Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe]—which posits the
early 4th-century soldier martyrs, Sergius and Bacchus, as the archetypal gay
Christian couple. This idea spread as far afield as an American law review, of
all places, where one author, writing in defense of the legalization of
same-sex marriage immediately after Boswell’s second book appeared, states
unequivocally that “Sergius and Bacchus…were male lovers” [William N. Eskridge,
Jr., “A History of Same-Sex Marriage,” Virginia Law Review 79 (1993):
1420]. An article published many years later in another journal, purporting to
“reclaim the heritage” of SS. Sergius and Bacchus [Ronald E. Long, “Reclaiming
the Heritage of Saints Serge and Bacchus: Towards a Quixotic Gay-Affirmative,
Pro-Animal, Vegetarian Christianity,” Theology & Sexuality 17.1
(2011): 101-131], devotes all of one page of a 31-page treatise to the sainted
“homosexual lovers” and their “homoerotic bonding” [Ibid., 103-104], and moves
with astonishing ease from an account of their martyrdom to a discussion of
AIDS, barebacking, S&M, exchange of bodily fluids, animal rights,
vegetarianism, and a Trinity that makes love with Itself.
The basis for this
tenuous line of rhetoric rests as much upon a contrived interpretation of the
martyrs’ icon as upon that of the hagiographical record. The following pages offer
a critical response to what betrays a simplistic, wishful, and possibly wilful
reading of the life of SS. Sergius and Bacchus on the part of Boswell and
company. To this end, I consider the icon of the two martyrs not only in the
details of the composition itself, but just as importantly, within the wider
context of the early development of their cult, their hagiography, the
liturgical texts penned in their honour, and the fundamentally ascetical ethos
of Orthodox Christianity in general and of Orthodox iconography in particular.
At the same time, I do not wish to foreclose the possibility of a more nuanced
contemplation of the bond of intimacy uniting Sergius and Bacchus—whatever its
precise nature, however expressed between themselves, and in whatever ways
conceived in the minds of the faithful from one era to another—than might
satisfy most partisans of both the “pro-gay” and “anti-gay” camps in
contemporary Christian sexual polemics.
John Boswell
Boswell premises his
interpretation of the above icon (reproduced on the cover of his book) on his
argument that Sergius and Bacchus, “the quintessential ‘paired’ military
saints” [John Boswell, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe (New York:
Vintage Books, 1995), 153], were understood in the consciousness of the
Church to be a “couple” [Ibid., 160]. He writes that “coupled saints like Peter
and Paul may have been overinterpreted as romantic pairs [overinterpreted by
whom, one wonders!], while Serge [all direct quotations from Boswell use the
form Serge instead of Sergius] and Bacchus were probably
correctly so understood” [Ibid., 219]. Thus he explains the arrangement of the
figures in the icon, and particularly that of Christ, as follows:
Seventh-century icon of
Saints Serge and Bacchus, wearing gold torques traditionally associated with
them and joined by Christ depicted in the traditional Roman position of pronuba/-us (“matron
of honor” or “best man,” often a deity) overseeing the wedding of a husband and
wife. [Ibid., caption under Figure 5, unpaginated.]
Either ignoring or
unaware of the iconographic convention that placing a cross in the hand of a
figure draws the primary attention of the viewer to the saint’s death by
martyrdom, and that the divine presence in a scene is commonly conveyed in a
manner similar to that of Christ in this icon—not to mention the more
elemental question of why Christ would serve as a mere “best man,” rather than
as the “officiant”—Boswell stands apart from actual iconologists in choosing to
see here a symbolic depiction of a gay wedding ceremony. Yet his book has
resurrected our icon from the ashes of obscurity and firmly enshrined it
through endless iteration in the popular gay imaginary of the late 20th and
early 21st centuries, until finally reinterpreted
pictorially in the pseudo-iconography of Robert Lentz.
The Icon
Originally from
Constantinople [Kurt Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount
Sinai, the Icons, Vol. 1, From the Sixth to the Tenth Century (Princeton,
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976), 30], and until the 19th century
housed at St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai, our icon currently resides
in the Porphyry Uspensky Collection at the Bohdan and Barbara Khanenko Museum
of the Arts (Музей мистецтв імені Богдана та Варвари Ханенків), formerly known
as the Kyiv Museum of Western and Eastern Art (Київський музей західного та
східного мистецтва), in Kyiv, Ukraine. Uspensky (1804-1885), the Russian
archimandrite and later bishop who founded the first permanent Russian
Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem in 1842, can perhaps be forgiven the sticky
fingers with which he roamed about Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, for the
incalculable significance of his early contributions to the study of Christian
antiquity endures to the present day [“The Codex Sinaiticus and the Manuscripts
of Mt Sinai in the Collections of the National Library of Russia,” The National
Library of Russia. http://www.nlr.ru/eng/exib/CodexSinaiticus/porf.html accessed
October 5, 2013].
[I have speculated
elsewhere that the icon may have been commissioned for Justinian’s Church of
SS. Sergius and Bacchus, also known as the Little Hagia Sophia.]
A pre-iconoclasm wood
panel dating from the 6th or 7th century, painted in encaustic over a
thin layer of gesso [Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint Catherine, 28], the
icon measures 28.4 cm by 42.5 cm (approximately 11” by 17”), and 5 to 6 cm
(approximately 2”) thick. Sergius and Bacchus each hold a typical martyr’s
cross in their right hand, and wear a jeweled torc (μανιάκιον; pl. μανιάκια)
around their neck. A bearded face of Christ appears in a small circular
medallion between, and above, the heads of Sergius and Bacchus. All three
figures have a nimbus about the head. Christ’s medallion does double duty
as his nimbus [“Index of Christian Art,” Princeton University. http://ica1.princeton.edu accessed
October 5, 2013]. Additionally, each of the two saints
…is dressed in a brown
chiton with a dense striation of rather thick gold lines, by means of which the
artist wanted to suggest a solid gold garment. It is adorned with a carmine
clavus and a border of the same color around the sleeve, which, however, is
visible only in the case of Sergius. Both wear a white chlamys, that of Sergius
having pink and that of Bacchus grey blue folds; over the right shoulder it is
fastened with a golden clasp made of three balls. The upper edges of a
tablion are visible above the hands, that of Sergius being carmine and that of
Bacchus a grey that suggests a blueish purple…. Each maniakion is decorated
with three great cabochon stones, two rectangular
and the central one oblong; they are blueish in
color and painted to look transparent…. [T]he crosses of martyrdom [are] painted
brown with golden highlights but surely meant to be massive gold. The youthful
faces are whitish with some subtle pink on the cheeks and olive green used for
shadows, giving them the overall effect of pallor. Their wide- open,
almond-shaped eyes…gaze at the beholder without emotion. [Weitzmann, The
Monastery of Saint Catherine, 28-29.]
The background colour
fades gradually, from bottom to top, from darker to lighter and finally to very
pale blue, “suggesting, in the tradition of classical painting, the atmosphere
of the sky” [Ibid., 29]. This seems to commend an early provenance for the
normative inclusion of the sky in all icons.
On a number of counts the
icon has not reached us entirely in its original state. Among other things, a
horizontal breakage occurred, at some unknown point in time, which runs through
the eyes of Sergius and below those of Bacchus. The icon is held together by
two pieces of wood screwed to the back, and the damaged colours along the crack
have been repaired in modern times with oil paint. The names СΕΡΓΙΟ[С] and
ΒΑΧΟС, etched in black ink at an undetermined later date with no apparent
attempt at artistry, appear in the upper corners [Ibid., 28; partly cut off in
our photo]. To my eyes, the characters look more Slavic than Greek; in fact,
Bacchus’ name seems to begin with a modern Ukrainian or Russian Б rather than a
Greek Β, all the more curious because his name is Вакх, and not Бакх, in the
various Slavic languages. Another interesting detail is the apparent
misspelling, unremarked by Weitzmann, of Βάκχος by the inscriber, for in Greek
as well as in Slavonic a κ precedes the χ, whence the c-ch in the Latin form of
the name.
A peculiarity in the
composition of the icon seems potentially suggestive within the overall thematic
context of this essay. Without speculating on its possible implication for our
understanding of the relationship between Sergius and Bacchus, Weitzmann
remarks that
…the two saints are not
composed on strict geometrical axes, but that they turn slightly towards each
other, Sergius rather more than Bacchus. Moreover, in spite of an intentional
similarity between the two, there are subtle psychological differences: Sergius
has a slightly more emaciated and thus more ascetic face than Bacchus, whose
face is somewhat fleshier. There are differences in the eyelids and the design
of the mouths which can be interpreted along the same line and reveal the
artist’s capacity for characterization within the self-imposed limits of an
hieratic style. [Weitzmann., 29.]
Equally provocative for
our theme, Weitzmann notes that Sergius and Bacchus “are always depicted as a
pair,” and that the “pale color [of their flesh]…is not merely an abstract
convention but an indication of the tender age of adolescence” [Ibid.] The slight
turn towards each other, the “intentional similarity between the two,” their
virtually invariable depiction as a pair (despite the fact that they were
neither martyred nor buried together), “the tender age of adolescence,” from
these we can infer unquestionably that our iconographer drew upon an earlier
tradition for his inspiration, for in October 514 Severus of Antioch stated in
an Encomium delivered in their joint honour,
…[I]n our discourse we
must not separate those whom the crown of martyrdom has joined together. They
were alike in build, in physiognomy, in grandeur. They were young in body and
even younger in spirit. They were in agreement in the same spirit of piety. [Christopher
Walter, The Warrior Saints in Byzantine Art and Tradition (Burlington
VT: Ashgate Publishing Company), 149.]
The single most salient
component of the icon which identifies the figures indisputably as Sergius and
Bacchus, even without the inscription of their names, is the afore-mentioned
μανιάκιον worn by each of them. The maniakion, or torc, remains almost
without exception a fixed feature of icons of Sergius and Bacchus throughout
the following centuries [Walter, The Warrior Saints, 28, 29]. Scholars
agree that the torc made its way gradually into Greco-Roman and later Byzantine
culture from the outside, namely, from the respective worlds of the Persians
and the Gauls. (Note, for instance, the torc on the famous sculpture of The
Dying Gaul.) Consequently its use and meaning varied, according to time and
place, either “as a privilege of office, a sign of rank, a reward for valour or
a personal ornament, before it came into official use in Byzantine
society…. Even so, its significance is not always clear” [Christopher
Walter, “The Maniakion or Torc in Byzantine Tradition,” Revue des Études
Byzantines 59 (2001): 181]. In the case of Sergius and Bacchus, the torc
seems to have been a sign of imperial favour, identifying “the two martyrs as
high court officials. Sergius held the office of πριμικήριος τῶν Κεντηλίων σχολῆς
and Bacchus that of σεκουνδουκήριος” [Weitzmann, The Monastery of Saint
Catherine, 29] (primicerius and secundocerius, respectively, of
the schola gentilium [David Woods, “The Emperor Julian and the
Passion of Sergius and Bacchus,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 5.3
(1997): 337]). The account of their martyrdom depicts their “degradation”
in “being stripped of their military insignia and their μανιάκιον was removed”
[Walter, “The Maniakion or Torc,” 184]. With few exceptions, Byzantine
iconographers portrayed the torcs of Sergius and Bacchus with three jewels
hanging from them [Ibid., 185], harking to an earlier description of torcs by
one Pseudo-Codinus [Ibid., 183, 185].
Not a one of my sources
remarks on the significance of Christ’s presence in the icon in any kind of
“Boswellian” sense.
[The original version of
this essay goes on to examine the content and historical difficulties of the
original martyrology or Passio (they are thought to have died between
305 and 311), the origins of the cult, and some of the liturgical texts, for
SS. Sergius and Bacchus. For a condensed version see my MA thesis (2015), “A
Bed Undefiled: Foundations for an Orthodox Theology and Spirituality of
Same-Sex Love” (pp. 56-61), which can be downloaded free of charge as a PDF
at TSpace.
The following paragraphs are taken from the thesis.]
The liturgical texts for
[SS. Sergius and Bacchus’] annual commemoration [“Μνήμη τῶν Ἁγίων Μαρτύρων
Σεργίου καὶ Βάκχου (Commemoration of the Holy Martyrs Sergius and
Bacchus).” Μηναίον τοῦ Οκτωβρίου (Menaion for October). Venice, 1845.
Pp. 37-40. (PDF received May 4, 2015 by email from Maria Pantelia, Project
Director at Thesaurus Linguae Graecae®: A Digital Library of Greek
Literature, http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/.)
The Menaia (sing. Menaion) are the twelve volumes (one for each
month of the year) that contain the full text of the “propers” of the fixed
feasts for every day of the year.] show evidence of composition in the late 8th or
early 9th century [Ibid., 38. I have a strong hunch that the notation
Ποίημα Θεοφάνους, at the head of the acrostic Ode 1 of the Matins canon, refers
to St. Theophanes the Hymnographer (775-845), known for his acrostic hymns.].
St. Symeon Metaphrastes revised the 5th-century Passio for liturgical
reading in the 10th century [Symeon Metaphrastes, “Martyrium SS. Sergii et
Bacchi,” in Patrologia Graeca, Vol. 115, Symeonis Logothetæ,
cognomento Metaphrastæ, Opera Omnia, Tome 2. J-P Migne, ed. (Paris: Imprimerie
Catholique, 1864): 1005-32]; in fact, a very small pericope appears in the
Menaion during Matins [“Μνήμη,” 40].
Metaphrastes’ version
recounts one of the most touching scenes in Christian hagiography:
Ὁ σύναθλος δέ Σέργιος ἀπολειφθεὶς
λύπῃ τε διὰ τὸν χωρισμὸν καὶ ἡδονῇ πάλιν διὰ τὰ προσδοκώμενα ἐμερίζετο. Ἀλλ’οὺ
περιεῖδεν αὐτὸν τῷ χωρισμῷ κάμνοντα ὁ γλυκὺς ἑταῖρος καὶ ἐραστής: ἀλλὰ φαιδρᾷ τῇ
ὄψει ὁ θεῖος Βάκχος καὶ συνήθει τῷ τῆς στρατείας σχήματι νυκτὸς ἐπιφανεὶς
καὶ διαλεχθεὶς τῷ φίλῷ καὶ θάρσους ἐμπλήσας, τὸ σκυθρωπὸν τε τῆς ἀθυμίας
διέλυσε, καὶ ἀσφαλέστερον ἅμα καὶ γενναιότερον πρὸς τὰς μελλούσας τιμωρίας
διέθηκεν. [Metaphrastes, 1024.]
But the fellow athlete
Sergius, having been left behind, was divided between pain on account of the
separation and again pleasure on account of the things looked forward to.
But his sweet companion and lover [emphasis mine] did not leave him alone
[overlook him] being wearied by the separation. But rather, the divine Bacchus
appeared to him by night with shining face and in the usual fashion of dress of
the army and spoke with his friend and filled him with valour [boldness], and
dissolved the gloom of his despondency, and disposed him to be steadier and
nobler with respect to the punishments to come. [This translation, deliberately
literal at my request, was generously provided by Nada Conic of Toronto.]
Thus strengthened by the
sight and voice of Bacchus, Sergius submits to gruesome torture and finally to
beheading some days after Bacchus’ death [Boswell, Same-Sex Unions, 388].
That Metaphrastes wrote a
liturgical book for public reading at divine services makes his portrayal of
Bacchus as ὁ γλυκὺς ἑταῖρος καὶ ἐραστής of Sergius all the more remarkable.
While etairos not often bears an erotic connotation, erastes unambiguously
signifies an erotic lover: it has a long history opposite eromenos (ἐρώμενος)
to designate respectively the older and younger male lover in the institution
of same-sex relationships in Plato’s time [K.J. Dover, Greek Homosexuality (New
York: Vintage Books, 1978), 16]. Metaphrastes’ conflation of etairos and erastes,
and their juxtaposition with philos (φίλος, friend), to describe
Sergius and Bacchus’ love for each other, anticipates that love which, for
Father Pavel Florensky writing in 1914, “combines the aspects of philia, erōs,
and agapē” [Father Pavel Florensky, The Pillar and Ground of the
Truth: An Essay in Orthodox Theodicy in Twelve Letters, trans. Boris Jakim
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), 289]; that friendship which,
as “the preeminent repository of erōs,” opens itself to spiritualization
in the sacramental life of the Church [bid. 295]. Metaphrastes’ narrative
weaves into the very texture of the Church’s liturgical life the eternal memory
of these two young Christian men, saints, co-lovers of Christ and co-martyrs
for Christ, deeply in love with each other in Christ.
Conclusion
[From the original essay,
not the thesis]
With my primary interest
in the intersection of Orthodox theology and postmodern questions surrounding
sexuality, gender, identity, and personhood, I am not unsympathetic to
Boswell’s project of discerning the presence and possible range of meanings of
paradigms of same-sex pairing in the early Church. In revisiting as a graduate
student the two works through which he principally made a name for himself, I
feel now, no less than before, that Boswell’s academic rigour fell by the wayside
in his eagerness—no matter how arguably well-intentioned—to unearth a
“justification” for homosexuality in the faith and praxis of an earlier
Christian era. In short, he went too far. He foisted upon his unwary reader, to
repeat from the opening paragraphs of this essay, a “simplistic, wishful, and
possibly wilful reading of the life of SS. Sergius and Bacchus” in particular
and of the record of Eastern Christianity in general.
This is not to deny,
however, the presence of a powerful mystery—achingly beautiful, and fairly
radiating alike from the pages of the Passio as from the luminous
faces in our icon—in the way the Church has preserved and handed down the
memory of Sergius and Bacchus, inseparable in heaven as on earth in their holy
love for each. Here we come to a critical juncture in our understanding,
namely, that the strict historical veracity of hagiography and its corollary
iconography ultimately bears for the Church the same definitive relevance—no
more, no less—than that of the Gospel. An icon transmits, not a superficial
photographic likeness, but meaning; the Gospel, or a hagiography, not a
journalist’s eyewitness report or a historian’s account, but something more
profoundly existential. What the Church in her inner life would recall to our
remembrance has less to do with “facts,” as the world understands facts, and
much more to do with imparting a life transfigured in mystical union with Him
who assumed by nature all that is properly human so that we might assume by
grace all that is properly divine. Through her iconography, her sacred texts,
her divine worship, her holy mysteries, the Church bids us to ponder in our
hearts “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if
there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil 4:8).
Within the transformative
dynamic of the ekklesia we thus receive as a gift of grace the
mystery, τὸ μυστήριον—not that which remains undiscoverably hidden, but
that which reveals itself by degrees to the pure in heart—of the two holy
youths, Sergius and Bacchus, and of the love they bore uniquely for each other
above all others. To obsess over how they might or might not have enacted
their love betrays the voyeuristic spirit of the present age, unworthy of
persons of prayer, of ascesis, of metanoia.
I went into this project
supposing I had on my hands a “primitive” icon, one lacking the refinement of
the icons of later centuries. I come away from it awestruck by the genius
and the unquestionable sanctity of the iconographer.
See the extensive Sexuality
and Gender section in our Archives,
especially From
the Fathers: The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like…Two Men in Bed Together?
Giacomo Sanfilippo is an
Orthodox Christian, former priest, father of five, grandfather of two, founding
editor of Orthodoxy in Dialogue, and PhD student in Theological Studies at
Trinity College in the University of Toronto. He holds a BA in Sexuality
Studies from York University and an MA in Theology from Regis College/St.
Michael’s College, is an alumnus of the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual
Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto, and completed the course
requirements for the MDiv earlier in life at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological
Seminary. Follow him on Twitter @GiacoSanfilippo.
Orthodoxy in Dialogue
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Little Hagia Sophia (Église des Saints Sergius et Bacchus), Istanbul, Turkey
Martyrs Sergius and
Bacchus in Syria
Commemorated on October 7
The emperor, wanting to convince himself of the truth of the accusation,
ordered Sergius and Bacchus to offer sacrifice to the idols, but they replied
that they honored the One God and worshiped only Him.The Martyrs Sergius and
Bacchus in Syria were appointed to high positions in the army by the emperor
Maximian (284-305), who did not know that they were Christians. Envious people
informed Maximian that his two trusted counsellors did not honor the pagan
gods. This was considered to be a crime against the state.
Maximian commanded that
the martyrs be stripped of the insignia of military rank (their belts, gold
pendants, and rings), and then dressed them in feminine clothing. They were led
through the city with an iron chains around their necks, and the people mocked
them. Then he summoned Sergius and Bacchus to him again and in a friendly
manner advised them not to be swayed by Christian fables, but to return to the
Roman gods. The saints refuted the emperor’s words, and demonstrated the folly
of worshiping the pagan gods.
The emperor commanded
that they be sent to the governor of the eastern part of Syria, Antiochus, a
fierce hater of Christians. Antiochus had received his position with the help
of Sergius and Bacchus. “My fathers and benefactors!” he said. “Have pity on
yourselves, and also on me. I do not want to condemn my benefactors to cruel
tortures.” The holy martyrs replied, “For us life is Christ, and to die is
gain.” The enraged Antiochus ordered Bacchus to be mercilessly beaten, and the
holy martyr surrendered his soul to the Lord. They shod Sergius with iron
sandals with nails in their soles and sent him to another city, where he was
beheaded with the sword.
SOURCE : https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2015/10/07/102888-martyrs-sergius-and-bacchus-in-syria
Sergius and Bacchus, Roman martyrs and
early Christian saints, 1753, Mar Sarkis
Saint
Sergius et Saint Bacchus, icône, 1753, Mar Sarkis.
Icones
arabes : Art chrétien du Levant, Exposition présentée à l'Institut du
Monde Arabe du 6 mai au 17 août 2003, France:
Méolans-Revel: Grégoriennes, pp. A 30 ISBN: 2914338074. OCLC: 55001015
Santi Sergio e Bacco Martiri
in Siria
Barbalisso e Rosapha in
Siria, † 310 ca.
Martirologio Romano:
Nella regione di Rusafah in Siria presso il fiume Eufrate, santi Sergio e
Bacco, martiri.
Santi SERGIO e BACCO,
martiri in Siria
Questi due santi martiri
orientali, ebbero nell’antichità una grande venerazione sia in Oriente che in
Occidente, benché le notizie che li riguardano hanno scarso valore storico, ad
ogni modo di esse rimangono redazioni in diverse lingue.
Sergio e Bacco erano
soldati delle Legioni di confine, ed occupavano un alto grado nel palazzo di
Massimino Daia († 313), divenuto Cesare nel 305 con il governo dell’Oriente;
accusati come cristiani da nemici invidiosi, furono condotti al tempio di Giove
ed invitati a sacrificare, ma essi rifiutarono, venendo così degradati e fatti
girare per dileggio per le vie della città, vestiti da donna.
Lo stesso imperatore fece
invano un tentativo di farli apostatare, essi poi furono inviati da Antioco,
prefetto della Provincia Siro-Eufratese, perché fossero uccisi.
Nel ‘castrum’ di
Barbalisso, Bacco fu sottoposto ad una cruenta flagellazione, tanto spietata
che sotto i colpi morì; il suo corpo fu lasciato insepolto, ma di notte i
cristiani lo raccolsero seppellendolo in una grotta vicina.
Sergio invece fu
costretto a camminare con dei chiodi conficcati nei piedi, attraverso i
‘castra’ di Saura, Tetrapirgio e Rosapha, finché in quest’ultima città
fortificata venne decapitato.
Venne sepolto nello
stesso luogo del martirio e sulla sua tomba venne eretta una piccola chiesa;
quando finite le persecuzioni, tornò la pace anche per i cristiani, accanto al
‘castrum’ di Rosapha, fu costruita una grande chiesa, in cui venne trasferito
il corpo del martire, nel giorno anniversario della sua morte, il 7 ottobre.
Il culto per Sergio fu
certamente più diffuso, lasciando talvolta in ombra quello di Bacco; a
testimonianza che essi furono uccisi a pochi giorni l’uno dall’altro, in Siria
venivano celebrati il 1° ottobre (Bacco) e il 7 ottobre (Sergio) ma poi la
celebrazione venne unificata al 7 ottobre, sia in Oriente che in Occidente.
Ad aumentare il culto per
s. Sergio, contribuì senz’altro la costruzione della grandiosa basilica nella
Frigia, nel secolo V, da parte del vescovo Alessandro di Gerapoli; attorno al
tempio divenuto meta di pellegrinaggi e al quale accorrevano anche le tribù
nomadi a sud dell’Eufrate, si formò un villaggio che Giustiniano imperatore,
chiamò Sergiopoli, arricchendolo di molte opere come acquedotti e fortezze.
I miracoli avvenuti a
Sergiopoli, diffusero il culto anche in Occidente, mentre in tutti gli Stati
Medio-Orientali, sorsero tante chiese dedicate a s. Sergio; le reliquie proprio
per questa diffusione, erano sparse dappertutto. Chiese in loro onore esistevano
anche a Roma e Ravenna; nel periodo bizantino Sergio e Bacco furono invocati
come protettori delle milizie e nei secoli dal VI all’XI sono stati sempre
effigiati come ufficiali con la collana d’oro dei dignitari di corte.
La città di Trieste ha
nel suo stemma, la punta di un’alabarda in campo rosso, essa è detta “alabarda
di san Sergio”, perché si racconta che il tribuno Sergio della XV Legione
Apollinare, si stanza a Trieste, qui si convertì al cristianesimo.
Quando fu scoperto, venne
richiamato alla corte imperiale ed egli congedandosi dai compagni di fede
cristiana triestini, promise loro un segno annunciante la sua morte, che
prevedeva imminente.
Quando fu decapitato a
Rosapha in Siria, secondo la tradizione, un’alabarda cadde dal cielo sereno,
nel Foro cittadino. L’arma è conservata nel tesoro della cattedrale di Trieste;
gli Statuti comunali del 1350 la chiamavano più appropriatamente “lancia di s.
Sergio”.
Autore: Antonio
Borrelli
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/91356
Église Santi Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, Piazza Madonna dei Monti, Rione de Monti, Rome
Église Santi Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, Piazza Madonna dei Monti, Rione de Monti, Rome
Église Santi Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, Piazza Madonna dei Monti, Rione de Monti, Rome
Église Santi Sergio e Bacco degli Ucraini, Piazza Madonna dei Monti, Rione de Monti, Rome.
Maître-autel
De hellige Sergius og
Bacchus ( -~303)
Minnedag: 7.
oktober
De hellige Sergius og
Bacchus var etter tradisjonen høye offiserer i den romerske hæren som voktet
imperiets grenser i Syria. Sergius hadde høyest rang, primicerius, mens
Bacchus var secundarius. De var kristne, men likevel venner av keiser
Diokletians (284-305) medregent, keiser Maximian Herkules (286-305), som æret
dem for deres tapperhet.
Men en gang da de nektet
å gå inn i et Jupiter-tempel sammen med Maximus, ga han dem ordre om å bli med
inn, og de lystret. Da han også ga dem ordre om å ofre til Jupiter, nektet de
igjen. Dermed var deres skjebne beseglet. Først ble de ydmyket ved å bli
utkledd i kvinneklær og ført gjennom gatene i Arabissus, og deretter ble de
sendt til Resafa (Rosafa) sør for elva Eufrat i Mesopotamia (Syria). Der ble de
pisket så grusomt at Bacchus døde av torturen. En uke senere ble Sergius
torturert videre og så halshogd. Dette skjedde rundt 303 (305?).
Hvor Bacchus ble
gravlagt, er ikke sikkert, men Sergius ble i alle fall gravlagt i Resafa, som
ble omdøpt til Sergiopolis, og det ble et av de største valfartsmålene i øst.
Mange kirker var viet til Sergius (noen ganger sammen med Bacchus), og hans
kult var svært utbredt og populær. Keiser Justinian bygde kirker til Sergius'
ære i Konstantinopel og Acre. På 600-tallet ble kirken Santi Sergio e Bacco bygd
i Roma. Nomadene i ørkenen så på Sergius som sin spesielle skytshelgen.
Sergius' og Bacchus'
minnedag er 7. oktober (8. oktober nevnes også). Deres kult ble stanset av Den
hellige Stol ved kalenderrevisjonen i 1969. De blir avbildet som soldater i
militær uniform med palmegreiner i hendene.
En annen versjon sier at
Sergius og Bacchus led martyrdøden sammen med de hellige Marcellus og
Apuleius, som har minnedag samme dag. De fire skal ha vært disipler av
Simon Magus, den romerske trollmannen som prøvde å konfrontere den
hellige Peter og
bekjempe kristendommen. Det heter at Peter omvendte de fire. De skal ha lidd
martyrdøden kort etter Peter og blir æret som martyrer i Capua.
Se en side med bilder fra Resafa (Sergiopolis).
Kilder:
Attwater/John, Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson, Schauber/Schindler, CE, CSO,
Infocatho, Heiligenlexikon - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 2004-04-09 11:28
SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/bacchus
Walter Christopher, « Elizabeth
Key-Fowden, The Barbarian Plain. Saint Sergius between Rome and Iran.» [compte-rendu],
Revue des études byzantines Année
2001 59 pp.
279-280 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_2001_num_59_1_2249_t1_0279_0000_2
Voir aussi : David
Woods, The Origin of the Cult of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, April
2000, https://www.ucc.ie/archive/milmart/sergorig.html
