The Passion of St. Domnius: the Tradition of Apostolic Succession in Dalmatia
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Vadim B. Prozorov Moscow THE PASSION OF ST. DOMNIUS: THE TRADITION OF APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION IN DALMATIA St. Domnius (Lat. Domnius, Domnio, Ital. Doimo, Croat Dujam, Duje) was, in fact still is, the holy protector of the metropolis of Salona-Spalato. Late antique Salona, the capital city of the Roman province of Dalmatia was a very important Christian centre in the Mediterranean region without any exaggeration comparable with Ravenna and Aquileia in Italy.1 Spalato (Croat Split) originated very close to ancient Salona and indeed was her successor in respect to ecclesiastical authority when Salona perished in the seventh century. The early history of the Church of Salona is mainly known due two me- dieval Histories — the History of Archbishops of Salona and Spalato written in the mid-thirteenth century by Archdeacon Thomas of Spalato and the anony- mous History of Archbishops of Salona whose earliest manuscript dates back to the early sixteenth century. The latter finishes its narrative in 1185 while the former continues to the middle of the thirteenth century. Both texts are almost identical except some vital interpolations added to the History of Arch- bishops of Salona. Both Histories, the common text as well as supplementary documents, glorified the Church of Spalato and enhanced its apostolic foundation and old metropolitan status. Who else but a bishop-saint, a bishop-martyr could be a more positive proof of the apostolicity of this Church! And indeed the Histories appeal to this figure of a saintly and apostolic founder — St. Dom- 1 See an overview of early Christian antiquities in Salona in E. DYGGVE, History of Salonitan Christianity (Oslo, 1951) (Instituttet for sammenlignende Kulturforskning. Serie A: Forelesninger 21). Besides, there are following useful reports: Forschungen in Salona, veröffentlicht vom Österreichischen Archäologischen Institute. 3 vols. (Vien- na, 1917–1939); Recherches à Salone, publié aux frais de la Fondation Rask-Ørsted. 2 vols. (Copenhague, 1928–33); E. CECI, I Monumenti cristiani di Salona (Milan, 1963); Excavations at Salona, Yugoslavia, 1969–1972 / Conducted for the Depart- ment of Classics, Douglass College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, by Ch. W. CLAIRMONT, with the collaboration of S. HANDLER AUTH, V. VON GONZENBACH (Park Ridge, N. J., c1975); Salona Christiana (Arheološki muzej — Split, 25.9– 31.10.1994) / Ed. E. MARIN (Split, 1994); Salona: recherches archéologiques franco- croates à Salone / Conduites par le Centre A. Merlin (C.N.R.S., Paris — Sorbonne) et le Musée archéologique de Split, dirigées par N. Duval et E. Marin. 3 vols. (Rome— Split, 1994–2000). Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:33:37AM via free access 220 Scrinium II (2006). Universum Hagiographicum nius. Thomas of Spalato reported only basic facts about Salona’s patron saint.2 His more elaborate Passion was inserted among the supplementary docu- ments in the History of Archbishops of Salona (see appendix).3 According to the Passion, Domnius, a native Syrian from Antioch, was sent to Salona by St. Peter the Apostle immediately after St. Titus had been there. The latter’s mission is mentioned in St. Paul’s Second Letter to Ti- mothy (4.11). At the same time as Domnius Pancratius was dispatched to Sicily, Apollinaris went to Ravenna and Marcus — to Aquileia. Domnius successfully preached in Dalmatia and erected here the first church which he dedicated to genetrix Dei (Mother of God). Disturbed by his progress pagan priests accused Domnius before prefectus urbis Maurilius, lamenting that he was seducing people to overthrow cults of pagan gods. The prefect had him imprisoned and tortured. As all his strict measures failed to make Domnius reject the Christian faith Maurilius tried to bribe him, but the saint was ada- mant and determined to be a martyr. Meanwhile Salonitan Christians support- ing the holy prisoner raised a revolt and many of them were executed by the order of the prefect. At this point the Passion turns to St. Domnius’s miracu- lous power and reports that the prefect along with some prominent citizens of Salona had to approach Domnius asking him to raise from the dead a son of a certain noble widow. Condemning Maurilius’s hypocrisy Domnius worked this miracle. Consequently the number of converts into Christianity increas- ed further. Annoyed pagan priests bribed Maurilius and even threatened him to be punished according to the Roman legislation. Finally, as the Passion goes, Maurilius promulgated the law that sentenced Domnius to death, and the saintly bishop was beheaded. The story of St. Domnius is very simple and recognizable but the back- ground of the Passion is very dim. It caused many questions. First, when did the martyrdom actually take place? Second, when was the Passion compil- ed? And third, when was the cult of St. Domnius tied with St. Peter, i. e. to what time the tradition of apostolic foundation can be ascribed? If the first question can be easily answered, the second and the third ones are more comp- licated since we do not have any positive indication of when the Passion was compiled and when the apostolic legend emerged, and can only suggest some moments in history when the compilation and further development of the legend were most possible. The ancient tradition attributed St. Domnius’s mission to the second half of the first century, and his martyrdom to the time of Emperor Trajan (to be 2 THOMAS ARCHIDIACONUS, Historia Salonitana / Ed. F. RAÈKI (Zagreb, 1894) (Mo- numenta spectantia historiam slavorum meridionalium 26) 89. 3 Historia Salonitana maior / Ed. N. KLAIÆ (Belgrade, 1967) 73–75. In fact, seve- ral later versions of the Passion are extant. In general they demonstrate a close simi- larity. D. FARLATI, Illyricum sacrum (Venice, 1751) Vol. 1. 412–427. Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:33:37AM via free access V. B. Prozorov 221 more precise his death was fixed in 107).4 But if all the information available to us is deployed it is obvious that Domnius was martyred sometime under Emperor Diocletian. The grounds for this certainly were found in the text of his Passion. While some names here perhaps have symbolic meanings5 the others can be ascrib- ed to real persons. The strongest argument in favour of the martyrdom of the holy protector of Salona in the fourth century is the fact that so-called Prefect Maurilius of Rome who ordered to execute the saint was found in the list of the governors (presides) of Salona under Emperor Diocletian (between 299– 304). His real name was Ì. Aurelius Iulius and thus he can be easily identi- fied as Domnius’s prosecutor Maurilius.6 4 FARLATI, Illyricum sacrum... Vol. 1. 432. 5 Domnius’s mother’s name is Migdonia which is probably connected with Ma- cedonia, since she is said to be Greek by birth and Mygdonia was a region to the north of modern Thessaloniki (J. ZEILLER, Les origines chrétiénnes dans les provinces romaine de Dalmatie (Paris, 1906) (Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études. Scien- ces historiques et philologiques 155) 28) or with a region around Antioch (Nisibis) which was named after Greek Mygdonia under Alexander the Great (Der Neue Pauly Enzyklopädie der Antike (Stuttgart—Weimar, 2000) Vol. 8. Col. 569). Domnius is said to have been born in Syria and some names of immigrants from Nisibis were discovered on the funeral tombs in Salona (A. CARAMANEO-MATIASSEVICH, Riflessioni sopra l’istoria di S. Dojmo primo vescovo di Salona e martire // Supplemento al Bullettino di arheologia e storia dalmata (hereafter BASD) 23/12 (1900) 5; DYGGVE, History of Salonitan Christianity… 25–30, 81–82, 100, 134; G. ALFÖLDI, Bevölke- rung und Gesellschaft der römischen Provinz Dalmatien. Mit einem Beitrag von Andras Moscy (Budapest, 1965) 83, 113; J. NIKOLAJEVIÆ, O poreklu orijentalnih uticaja u ranokræanskoj umetnosti u Dalmaciji [On Roots of Oriental Influences on Early Christian Art in Dalmatia] // Çáîðíèê ðàäîâà ôèëîñîôñêîã ôàêóëòåòà 12 (1974) 125–126). The name of a pagan philosopher Pyrgus who had disputes with Domnius can be derived from the Greek word ¿ ðýñãïò (a tower, a dice-box). The name of a late Roman patrician Diginanus (Dignatius in a later version) whose child was raised from the dead by Domnius could come from the Latin word dignitas and indicate his noble status, although the family of Dignatii was known in Rome. His widow’s name Febronia can be associated with the Latin word febris (fever) and symbolize the ill- ness and death of her child (I. BABIÆ, Splitske uspomene na salonitanske kršcanske starine [Spalato’s Memories of Christian Salonitan Antiquities] // Vjesnik za arheo- logiju i historiju dalmatinsku (hereafter VAHD) 85 (1992) 50). The name of Theodo- sius, Domnius’s father, can also have a symbolic significance, at the same time it is a real name although almost unknown in the first century. 6 F. BULIÆ, M. Aurelius Julus. Praeses provinciae Dalmatiae // BASD 38 (1914) 118–119. The confusing reading Julus suggested by Bulic was corrected into Julius (see Cambi’s conclusion in F. BULIÆ, Izabrani spisi [Collected Papers] / Ed. N. CAMBI (Split, 1984) 633). A. JAGENTEUFEL, Die Statthalter der römischen Provinz Dalmatia von Augustus bis Diokletian (Vienna, 1958) (Österreichische Akademie der Wissen- schaften. Schriften der Balkankommission. Antiquarische Abteilung 12) 105, 107, Downloaded from Brill.com09/29/2021 02:33:37AM via free access 222 Scrinium II (2006). Universum Hagiographicum Further in the Prologi Paschae ad Vitalem Anni CCCXCV, whose earliest manuscript (Ms. Köln) dates from 798–805, St. Domnius was mentioned as a martyr of the late third century. It says: «In the seventh year of the consul- ship of Diocletian and in the sixth year of the consulship of Maximian (that is 299. — V. P .) Christians suffered the sixth persecution.