Babylas of Antioch

d. 253 · Bishop of Antioch · Martyr of the Decian persecution · Antioch

The Ante-Nicene Church

Who Babylas of Antioch was

Bishop of Antioch who died in prison for the faith in the Decian persecution — and around whom grew one of the age’s most famous stories: that he had once barred an emperor (Philip the Arab, by the tradition) from entering the church at Easter until he did penance for a crime, the first recorded instance of a bishop disciplining a sovereign. A century later his relics, moved to the pagan shrine at Daphne, were said to have silenced the oracle of Apollo, prompting the emperor Julian to have them removed. In life a martyr-bishop of the great Syrian see; in death a symbol of the church’s moral authority over kings.

Also listed in the bishops of Antioch and martyrs.

Common questions

When did Babylas die?

Babylas of Antioch is dated d. 253 in the archive, which places Babylas in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313).

Which early sources mention Babylas?

Babylas of Antioch is named in 3 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Eusebius of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Sozomen. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Babylas from?

The archive associates Babylas of Antioch with Antioch.

Who were Babylas’ contemporaries?

The archive links Babylas of Antioch to 6 other figures, including Asclepiades of Antioch, Emperor Decius, Demetrianus of Antioch and Zebinnus of Antioch. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (3)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Ecclesiastical History VI.39

c. AD 325

At this time Babylas, after Zebinnus, presided over the church of Antioch; and having made a notable confession, he died in prison.

Eusebius of Caesarea · VI.39 · source text

John Chrysostom, On St Babylas (the Daphne oracle silenced; against Julian)

c. AD 382

[Chrysostom tells how the oracle at Daphne fell silent once Babylas’s relics were laid beside it, and how Julian had them moved.]

John Chrysostom · On Saint Babylas

One of John Chrysostom's occasional homilies for the feasts of the martyrs, preached at Antioch or Constantinople between c. AD 386 and 400. These are not in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers. Greek: Migne, Patrologia Graeca 50. English translations by Wendy Mayer and Bronwen Neil, St John Chrysostom: The Cult of the Saints (St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2006); no public-domain English exists.