ATHENOGENES OF SEBASTIA

Saint Athenogenes was a wandering bishop. At the head of a community of ten ascetic missionaries, he preached in the environs of the city of Sebaste, famous for the suffering of the Forty Martyrs. Athenogenes is one of the very few ancient martyrs who was not only praised by one of the greatest Fathers of the Church, Basil of Caesarea, but was also cited by him as a dogmatic authority. Tradition considers Athenogenes to be the author of the hymn “Gladsome Light.” Basil is convinced that Athenogenes was an example of the Orthodox confession of the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

1 In his work “On the Holy Spirit,” Basil the Great (330-379) cites the testimonies of the great fathers of the Church, theologians, and martyrs to defend the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Basil’s aim is to show that even if in ancient dogmatic formulations the Holy Spirit is not directly called God, but the saints confessed the divinity of the Spirit in prayer, in their lives, and in their deaths. Among others, Basil mentions the holy martyr Athenogenes of Sebastia. “And if anyone knows the Hymn of Athenogenes, which, as he was hurrying on to his perfecting by fire, he left as a kind of farewell gift to his friends, he knows the mind of the martyrs as to the Spirit” (On the Holy Spirit, translated by Rev. Blomfield Jackson, XXIX, 73). This treatise was written in 375, addressed to another great theologian and Father of the Church of that time, Saint Amphilochius of Iconium.

2 The name Athenogenes is of pagan origin. It means “born of the goddess Athena” and indicates that its bearer converted to Christianity from the paganism at a conscious age. Saint Athenogenes was a wandering bishop. He headed an ascetic missionary community of ten disciples. During the saint’s stay on the top of a mountain for contemplative prayer, his disciples were arrested. Having learned about this, he decided not to hide, but to follow them to strengthen them in the upcoming testimony of martyrdom.

3 In this act of the saint, the commandment of Jesus in the Gospel of John was revealed: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The saint became the living embodiment of this commandment. It is often interpreted in military terms, but the original meaning of these words is Christological. It refers to Christ himself, who suffered for the life of the world and for his disciples, and to Christ’s disciples who gave their lives so that the world might believe. Christ was not a soldier and did not fight. But he was greatly loved, even among the pagans, in the Roman army. The many ancient martyrs bear witness to this. Thanks to this chain of meaning, in the language of the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), a “fusion of horizons” occurred, so that Christ’s words received a completely new interpretation.

4 The suffering of Saint Athenogenes and his ten disciples occurred at the beginning of the fourth century during the Great Persecution of Diocletian. It took place in Sebaste, in the east of Asia Minor, during a pagan festival. Today it is the Turkish city of Sivas. In the Orthodox churches of the Julian calendar, the memory of the eleven martyrs is celebrated on July 29th. Saint Athenogenes was a popular saint in the Russian Empire. This is evidenced by the common surname “Finogenov”.

5 In the troparion to Saint Athenogenes, which is included in the modern Russian Menaion, it says: “Bishop Athenogenes, you brought the sacred martyrdom of your disciples as a sacrifice to God. Having defeated the pagans hardened in unbelief, you, the shepherd with spiritual sheep, came to the Heavenly Fence. By the prayers of your martyrs, , save your flock from the wolves that destroy it, oh Christ God “. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Russian researcher of liturgical texts, monk and priest Jacob Tsvetkov, published an ancient kontakion to Saint Athenogenes, which was not included in the liturgical books. This text speaks in more detail about the suffering of the martyr. “Ascending the mountain, you preceded your disciples like a light. Descending from there to your common home, you did not find your children and you cried out to the Cross, oh blessed one: “Where are my children, O All-honorable Cross?” Thus, you poured out your sorrow before the Lord, long-suffering Athenogenes. Therefore, pray to the Lord for us.”

6 The Passion of the Holy Martyrs contains a touching detail. As the saint approached the cross, a deer approached him. The saint had once saved this animal from death and fed it. “You have already lost your brothers,” the martyr said of his ten disciples, “but now you are also losing your own father,” speaking of himself. As he thus took his leave, the deer “shed human tears.” The saint blessed the animal “in the name of the eternal God” and prayed that the hunters would spare it and ensure that he had numerous descendants. After the saint’s martyrdom, the deer reappeared every year on his feast day, accompanied by his “children and grandchildren.”

7 Accounts of how ancient ascetics tamed wild animals, usually lions and bears, have been preserved in the lives of the saints. The monks suppressed their passions and emotions, and thus the aggressive wild animals began to regard them as their friends, even as relatives. Martyrs like Athenogenes suffered like Christ, the great Lamb, and thus deer, donkeys, and other animals perceived the saints as their relatives too. What an astonishing “ecological theology” is expressed in the narratives of the martyrs’ passions!

8 In the above-mentioned quotation about Saint Athenogenes, Basil of Caesarea mentions a hymn in which the holy martyr glorified the Holy Spirit on his way to suffering. Basil sought to prove that “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” in doxology is not only equivalent to the formula “Glory to the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit,” but also more accurately conveys the orthodox teaching on the equality and divinity of the persons of the Holy Trinity. However, Basil quotes no specific quotation from this “hymn of St. Athenogenes,” obviously assuming his readers know which text is in question.

9 But there is an ancient tradition that the song left by the martyr Athenogenes to his disciples is the hymn “Gladsome Light”, sung daily in the Orthodox service at Vespers. “Gladsome light of holy glory of the holy, blessed, heavenly, immortal Father, O Jesus Christ: arriving at the hour of sunset and having seen the evening light, we praise the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God. It is worthy for You to be praised at all times with happy voices, O Son of God and Giver of life; and, therefore, the world glorifies You.”

10 There is no consensus on the saints’ end. The Passion narrative suggests that they were beheaded by court order. However, the literal meaning of the above quotation from Basil suggests that they were burned alive. Finally, it is possible that, following the spirit of Scripture, Basil speaks of the martyrdom of the saints as a “baptism of fire” with which Jesus Himself was once baptized. Thus, between the glorification of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the atoning sacrifice of Christ and the martyrdom of the saints, a stunning biblical similarity is created.