THE IDEA OF APOSTOLI CITY IN BYZANTIUM AND THE LEGEND OF THE APOSTLE ANDREW b y FRANCIS DVORNIK Professor of Byzantine History, Dumbarton Oaks, and Member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, Massachusetts 1958 All Rights reserved by the Trustees for Harvard University The Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection Washington, D.C. γ /&Ή50 Printed in G ermany at J. J. A ugustin* G lückstadt G 8 / 12359 Foreword The tradition concerning the missionary activity of the Apostle Andrew in Achaea and his death at Patras is regarded as legendary by the majority of modern scholars. The account of the Apostle's residence at Byzantium, where he is said to have ordained his disciple Stachys as the first bishop of that city, has likewise been shown to have little foundation in fact. But even if they are fictitious, these traditions played an important role in the religious history of the Middle Ages. The purpose of this study is not, therefore, to re-examine the apocryphal literature in which these traditions are contained/with a view to ascertaining the true facts about the Apostle Andrew (which, in all probability, will never be fully known), but to determine when these traditions arose, what use was made of them, and what prompted the Byzantines to regard the Apostle Andrew as the founder of their Church. These problems are intimately connected with a larger issue, namely, the importance attached, both in the West and in the East, to the apostolic origin of a bishopric. Thus we are led to examine the role which the idea of apostolicity played in the relations between Rome and Byzantium, and more specifically the use made in Greek polemical literature of the supposed apostolic origin of the bishopric of Constantinople. These questions, in turn, cannot be answered without reference to the over-all development of Church organization in the Later Roman Empire. It is now generally admitted that accommodation to the administrative division of the Empire was a guiding principle in the structure of the Early Church. Yet it remains to be determined to what extent this principle continued to dominate the outlook of the Eastern Church, and how it clashed with the idea of apostolicity which was adopted by Western Christianity at a relatively early period. Such are the main topics presented in this Study, and it is hoped that their discussion may contribute to a better understanding of Byzantine history and of Eastern Christianity. FOREWORD I should like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues at Dumbarton Oaks with whom I have had frequent occasion to discuss the problems raised by this study and who have given me their help in my research. I should also like to thank members of the staff of Dumbarton Oaks for their assistance in preparing my manuscript for the press, and for reading the proof. It is a matter of great regret to me that Professor A. M. Friend, Jr. did not live to see this work completed. As Director of Studies at Dumbarton Oaks he first invited me to investigate the transfer of the relics of the Apostle Andrew to the church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, and encouraged me to extend my research to the various problems connected with the legendary tradition of Andrew. It is on his initative that this work was undertaken, and I wish to offer it in reverent respect of his memory. Dumbarton Oaks Washington, D. C. F rancis Dvornik June, 1958 CONTENTS Foreword I The Guiding Principle in the Evolution of 3 Church Organization The practice of the Apostles — The Council of Nicaea sanctions the adaptation of the ecclesiastical organization to the administrative division of the Empire — The bishop of Alexandria as supra-metropolitan? — Position of Antioch — The rights of the bishops of Antioch compared with those of Rome and Alexandria — Ephesus, Caesarea, Heraclea as supra-metropolitan cities? — The canons of the Council of Constantinople {381) compared with the Nicene decrees -— The see of Jerusalem — Jerome s testimony — Adaptation to the divisions of the Empire in the West: Rome, Italy, Illyricum — Africa and Spain — Gaul and Arles. II The Idea of Apostolicity in the West and in the East before the Council of Chalcedon 39 Rome the only apostolic see in the West — Apostolic sees in the East — Canon three of the Council of Constantinople (381) viewed in a new light — Reaction in the West — The views of the Council of 382 on apostolicity — St. Basil and the idea of apostolicity — John Chrysostom — Struggle between Alexandria and Constantinople — The principle of apostolicity at the Council of Ephesus — St. Cyril, Dioscorus of Alexandria, and Domnus of Antioch — Leo Fs success in stressing the apostolicity of his see in the East — The idea of apostolicity at Chalcedon — Leo I and the so-called twenty-eighth canon — Attitude of the legates — Omission of apostolicity in the canon — Reasons for Leo's negative attitude — Leo's apparent success a disguised compromise. vii CONTENTS III Growth of the Idea of Apostolicity during the Acacian Schism 106 Acacius and Pope Simplicius — Gelasius' claims derived from Petrine tradition — Eastern and western reaction to Gelasius' claims — Increasing concern with apostolicity in the East — Libellus Hormisdae — Apostolic character of the Roman see in imperial and patriarchal letters — Currency of the idea of apostolicity in the East and its possible consequences for Constantinople. IV The Birth of the Andrew Tradition Concerning Byzantium 138 The transfer of Andrew's relics and its meaning — No trace of the Andrew tradition in Chrysostom's writings — St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Theodoret and Basil of Seleitcia on Andrew — Western writers on Andrew — The Andrew Legend unknown in the sixth century — The see of Constantinople called “apostolic" from the seventh century onward — This usage not originated by Andrew Legend — The defenders of image- worship promote the idea of apostolicity in Constantinople — The Narratio key to the dating of writings containing the Andrew and Stachys Legend? — First codification of the Andrew Legend in Pseudo-Epiphanius' List of Disciples — Origin of List of Apostles and Disciples; dating of Pseudo-Epiphanius' List — Pseudo-Dorotheas' List later than Pseudo-Epiphanius' List and the Narratio. V The Legendary Elements in the Andrew Tra­ dition 181 The lost apocryphal Acts of Andrew as the ultimate source of the Constantinopj)litan tradition — Gregory of Tours on Andrew's stay in Byzantium — The apocryphal Acts of Andrew known in the East and West from the fifth to the viii CONTENTS ninth centuries — Date of the composition of the apocryphal Acts of Andrew — Scythia, not Achaea, as Andrew's missionary field — Did Andrew preach in Asia Minor? — The legend of the maneaters as a reflection of the old tradition of Andrew's preaching in Scythia — Later tra­ dition identifying the city of the maneaters with Sinope — The “ Scythian tradition" reflected in the original Acts and in the Legends of Andrew's preaching in Colchis and in Georgia — Legendary traits in the “Achaean tradition" — Oldest traditions quote Luke as missionary of Achaea — Spread of the new “Achaean tradition" — Legendary accounts of Argyropolis and Zeuxippus — Probable origin of the “Achaean tradition" — Conclusion. VI The Growth of the Andrew Legend 223 Ninth-century writings propagating the Andrew and Stachys Legend — The Laudatio, the Passio Artemii, and their connection with the Andrew Legend — The Laudatio echoes some ideas of the Patriarch Photius — Nicetas the Paphlagonian and Ignatius the Deacon on Andrew and Stachys — Theophanes' critical altitude toward the Andrew Legend — Another source of Byzantium's apostolic character: Constantinople heir of Ephesus and of the Apostle John. Ignatius' and Photius' testimony — John's connection with Constantinople in Armenian and Nestorian tradition — The Patriarch Photius and the Andrew Legend ■— The Andrew tradition, one of the principal arguments in the opuscule against Roman primacy, falsely attributed to Photius — The ninth-century Typicon of Constantinople on Andrew, Stachys, and Metrophanes — Spread of the Andrew and Stachys Legend in the tenth century — Its acceptance by the Syrians and Georgians — The Andrew story in the Russian Primary Chronicle — Pseudo-Symeon's and Cedrenns' catalogue of Byzantine bishops. IX CONTENTS VII The Idea of Apostolicity and the Andrew Legend in the Controversies between Con­ stantinople and Rome 265 The idea of apostolicity as the basis of the pentarchic order —■ The pentarchic idea at the Ignatian Council of 86g-8yo — The definition of the duties of emperors and patriarchs in the Epanagoge reflects a new spirit created by the growth of apostolicity— Possibilities of a rapprochement on this new basis — The argument of apostolicity in the controversies of the tenth and eleventh centuries — The position of the see of Constantinople in Church organization and the Western canonists of the eleventh century — Eastern writers of the eleventh and twelfth centuries — The Andrew Legend and the controversies during the thirteenth century — How the character of universal teachers attributed to the apostles by Greek polemists diminished the value of the Andrew tradition for the Greeks — The Andrew Legend in the fourteenth century in Byzantium — The Councils of Lyons and Florence on the see of Constantinople — Acceptance of the Andrew Legend by the Latin West. List of Abbreviations 300 List of Manuscripts Quoted 301 Bibliography: 303 Primary Sources 303 Secondary