Symeon Metaphrastes
Encyclopedia
Symeon the Metaphrast was the author of the 10 volume medieval Greek menologion
Synaxarium
Synaxarion, Synexarion, pl. Synaxaria —Latin: Synaxarium, Synexarium—the name given in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches to a compilation of hagiographies corresponding roughly to the martyrology of the Roman Church.There are two kinds of synaxaria:*Simple...

, or collection of saint's lives. He lived in the second half of the 10th century. About his life we know only very few details.

The Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 honours him as a saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...

, with his feast day falling on November 9. An service
Canonical hours
Canonical hours are divisions of time which serve as increments between the prescribed prayers of the daily round. A Book of Hours contains such a set of prayers....

 composed in his honour is found in the Menaion
Menaion
The Menaion refers to the annual fixed cycle of services in the Eastern Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Churches. Commemorations in the Menaion are tied to the day of the calendar year.-Service books:...

. Also numerous prayers which have been attributed to him are found in various Orthodox liturgical books.

Life and works

Metaphrastes was the most renowned of the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 hagiographers. Scholars have been very much divided as to the period in which he lived, dates ranging from the 9th century to the 14th having been suggested; but it is now generally agreed that he flourish
Flourish
Card flourishes is the term for visual displays of skill performed with playing cards designed to show the skill or manual dexterity of a 'Flourisher'. Card flourishes are primarily intended to be visually fascinating and to appear difficult to do....

ed in the second half of the 10th century.

Still greater divergences of opinion have existed as to the lives of saints coming from his pen, and here again the solution of the problem has been attained by studying the composition of the great Greek menologies. The Menalogion of Metaphrastes is a collection of lives of saints for the twelve months of the year, easily recognizable among analogous collections, and consisting of about 150 distinct pieces, some of which are taken from older collections, while others have been added later.

Among other works attributed (though with some uncertainty) to Symeon are a Chronicle, a canonical collection, some letters and poems, and other writings of less importance. Symeon's great popularity is due more particularly to his Menologion.

Authorities

  • Leo Allatius
    Leo Allatius
    Leo Allatius was a Greek scholar, theologian and keeper of the Vatican library....

    , De Symeonum scriptis diatriba (Paris, 1664)
  • F. Hirsch, Byzantinische Studien, pp. 303–355 (Leipzig, 1876)
  • Albert Ehrhard, Die Legendensammlung des Symeon Metaphrastes (Rome, 1897)
  • Römische Quartalschrift (1897), pp. 67205 and 531-553
  • Hippolyte Delehaye
    Hippolyte Delehaye
    Hippolyte Delehaye was a Belgian Jesuit who was a hagiographic scholar and an outstanding member of the Bollandists, who established critical editions of texts relating to the Christian saints and martyrs that were based on applying the critical method of sound archaeological and documentary...

    , "La vie de saint Paul le Jeune et la chronologie de Metaphraste (1893)
  • Analecta Bollandiana, xvi. 312-327 and xvii. 448-452.
  • C. Høgel: Symeon Metaphrastes. Rewriting and Canonization (Copenhagen 2002)

External links

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