Saint Gregory of Dekapolis or Gregory Dekapolites ( el, Όσιος Γρηγόριος ο Δεκαπολίτης; before 797 – 20 November 842 or earlier) was a 9th-century
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
monk, notable for his miracle-working and his travels across the Byzantine world. He is known as "the New Miracle-Worker" (ο νέος θαυματουργός, ''ho neos thaumatourgos''), and his feast day in the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
and
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
is on
November 20
Events Pre-1600
* 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor.
* 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels.
* 1194 – Palermo is conquered by Henry ...
.
[
]
Life
Gregory was born in the late 8th century at Irenopolis in the Isaurian Dekapolis, whence his sobriquet. Francis Dvornik
Francis Dvornik (14 August 1893, Chomýž – 4 November 1975, Chomýž), in Czech František Dvorník, was a Catholic priest and academic. He is considered one of the leading twentieth-century experts on Slavic and Byzantine history, and on rela ...
placed his birth between 780 and 790, while Cyril Mango
Cyril Alexander Mango (14 April 1928 – 8 February 2021) was a British scholar of the history, art, and architecture of the Byzantine Empire. He is celebrated as one of the leading Byzantinists of the 20th century.
Mango was Koraes Professor ...
regarded the year 797 as a ''terminus ante quem
''Terminus post quem'' ("limit after which", sometimes abbreviated to TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ("limit before which", abbreviated to TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items..
A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest da ...
'' for his birth. His parents were Sergios and Maria, and he had at least one brother, whose name is not known. A later relative of the family was the early 10th-century Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
, Euthymius
Euthymius the Great (377 – 20 January 473) was an abbot in Palestine. He is venerated in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
Euthymius' ''vita'' was written by Cyril of Skythopolis, who describes him as the founder of several ...
.
According to his hagiography
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
, 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
Iconoclasm (from Ancient Greek, Greek: grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, wikt:κλάω, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, wikt:εἰκών, εἰκών + wi ...
. 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. 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
In Eastern Orthodox Christian theology, the Tabor Light ( grc, Φῶς τοῦ Θαβώρ "Light of Tabor", or "Uncreated Light", "Divine Light"; russian: Фаворский свет "Taboric Light"; Georgian: თაბორის ნათე ...
, 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.
In ca. 832/3, after receiving a "divine command", he began his wanderings across the Byzantine world. He went first to Ephesus
Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...
, whence he took ship for Prokonnesos
Marmara Island ( ) is a Turkish island in the Sea of Marmara. With an area of it is the largest island in the Sea of Marmara and is the second largest island of Turkey after Gökçeada (older name in Turkish: ; el, Ίμβρος, links=no ''I ...
, Ainos and Christoupolis. From there he journeyed overland to Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
and Corinth
Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...
. From Corinth he took again ship to Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
via Rhegion
Reggio di Calabria ( scn, label= Southern Calabrian, Riggiu; el, label=Calabrian Greek, Ρήγι, Rìji), usually referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the largest city in Calabria. It has an estimated popula ...
and Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. Gregory remained in a cell in Rome for three months, before continuing his journey to Syracuse in Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, where he again spent time in isolated contemplation in a tower in the harbour. From Sicily he returned to Thessalonica via Otranto
Otranto (, , ; scn, label= Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label=Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertil ...
, where he was mistaken for an Arab spy and mistreated (ca. 834). At Thessalonica he taught several pupils, including Joseph the Hymnographer
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer ( el, Όσιος Ιωσήφ ο Υμνογράφος) was a Greek monk of the ninth century. He is one of the greatest liturgical poets and hymnography, hymnographers of the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is also known for ...
.
A few years later, possibly ca. 836/7, he went on—accompanied by Joseph, according to the latter's hagiography—to Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, where he stayed at the Antypas Church or the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, and visited the monastic community of Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...
in Bithynia
Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...
. His last years were marked by illness, first epilepsy
Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...
and then from hydropsy. He died on a 20 November in the year 842 or, according to different interpretations, 841 or perhaps earlier still. In ca. 850, his remains were transferred to a monastery founded by Joseph the Hymnographer near the grave of John Chrysostomos in the Church of the Holy Apostles
The Church of the Holy Apostles ( el, , ''Agioi Apostoloi''; tr, Havariyyun Kilisesi), also known as the ''Imperial Polyándreion'' (imperial cemetery), was a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox church in Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman E ...
.
Hagiography and veneration
The hagiography describing his life is attributed to the contemporary monk and writer Ignatios the Deacon Ignatios the Deacon ( el, Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Διάκονος, 780/790 – after 845) was a Byzantine cleric and writer. Left an orphan as a child, he was educated under the auspices of Patriarch Tarasios of Constantinople, and rose in the church ...
, but the authorship is disputed. Although he lived through the second period of the Byzantine Iconoclasm, and is recorded as an advocate of the iconophile
Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from el, ε ...
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". The only extant writing of Gregory himself is a sermon regarding the—likely historical—conversion of a Muslim to Christianity.
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. Images of Gregory are rare, and he is depicted "as a monk with a trim round white beard". His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
is on November 20
Events Pre-1600
* 284 – Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor.
* 762 – During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels.
* 1194 – Palermo is conquered by Henry ...
.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
Venerable Gregory Decapolite
'' OCA - Lives of the Saints. Retrieved: 17 September 2014.
* Great Synaxaristes:
Ὁ Ὅσιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Δεκαπολίτης
'' 20 Νοεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
Further reading
*
*
*
{{authority control
8th-century births
840s deaths
9th-century Byzantine monks
9th-century Christian saints
Byzantine saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Byzantine Anatolians
Byzantine Iconoclasm
Miracle workers
Year of birth unknown
Year of death uncertain