Gregory of Dekapolis

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Gregory of Dekapolis
Irenopolis
(modern-day İkizçınar, Turkey)
Died20 November 842 or earlier
Constantinople
(modern-day Istanbul, Turkey)
Venerated in
FeastNovember 20[1][2]

Saint Gregory of Dekapolis or Gregory Dekapolites (

Roman Catholic Church[3] is on November 20.[1][2]

Life

Gregory was born in the late 8th century at

According to his hagiography, he began his elementary schooling at age eight, but fled his home to the mountains when his parents wanted to marry him (ca. 815/6). There he encountered the former bishop of Irenopolis, who had been forced to abandon his see due to his opposition to the renewed adoption of Iconoclasm. After receiving his blessing, and on the advice of his mother, he entered the monastery where his brother was already a monk. Soon, however, he fell out with his pro-iconoclast abbot, and abandoned the monastery for that of his maternal uncle, Symeon.[4][5] He remained at his uncle's monastery for 14 years, after which he asked permission to retire to a cave as a hermit (ca. 830). There he reportedly experienced a vision of the Tabor light, as well as an appearance by a woman who miraculously cured him of sexual desire by means of some sort of operation, a possible allusion to Gregory being a eunuch.[5]

In ca. 832/3, after receiving a "divine command", he began his wanderings across the Byzantine world. He went first to

Rhegion and Naples. Gregory remained in a cell in Rome for three months, before continuing his journey to Syracuse in Sicily, where he again spent time in isolated contemplation in a tower in the harbour. From Sicily he returned to Thessalonica via Otranto, where he was mistaken for an Arab spy and mistreated (ca. 834). At Thessalonica he taught several pupils, including Joseph the Hymnographer.[4][6]

A few years later, possibly ca. 836/7, he went on—accompanied by Joseph, according to the latter's hagiography—to

Hagiography and veneration

The hagiography describing his life is attributed to the contemporary monk and writer

iconophile view, Gregory was not persecuted. As a saint, he was chiefly remembered as a miracle-worker, whence his surname νέος θαυματουργός, "the New Miracle-Worker".[4][6] The only extant writing of Gregory himself is a sermon regarding the—likely historical—conversion of a Muslim to Christianity.[9]

As a historical work, his hagiography is a poor source about contemporary events, but "provides much evidence on administrative and legal practice" in contemporary Byzantium.[4] Images of Gregory are rare, and he is depicted "as a monk with a trim round white beard".[4] His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is on November 20.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Great Synaxaristes: Ὁ Ὅσιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Δεκαπολίτης. 20 Νοεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  2. ^ a b Venerable Gregory Decapolite. OCA - Lives of the Saints. Retrieved: 17 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Roman Martyrology November, in English".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Kazhdan & Ševčenko 1991, p. 880.
  5. ^ a b c d Winkelmann et al. 2000, p. 96.
  6. ^ a b Winkelmann et al. 2000, pp. 96–97.
  7. ^ a b Winkelmann et al. 2000, p. 97.
  8. ^ Winkelmann et al. 2000, pp. 97–98.
  9. ^ Sahas 2009, pp. 614–616.
  10. ^ Winkelmann et al. 2000, p. 98.

Sources

Further reading