Primary source · Greek
Homilies of Asterius of Amasea
Asterius of Amasea · c. AD 400
What this text is
The festival sermons of the bishop of Amasea — on Phocas the gardener-martyr of Sinope, and the celebrated description of the painting of Euphemia's martyrdom, a founding text of Christian art criticism.
Public-domain translations
Working translation (from the Greek)
Phocas dwelt by the gate of Sinope, tilled a garden, and from it fed himself and every stranger... The sailors of the Euxine sing of him at their oars. · There stands the maiden in her dark mantle... thou wouldst say the drops of blood fell indeed from her lips; and so he sent me away in tears, for art had mingled grief into the colors.
Manuscript witnesses
Byzantine homiliary tradition
10th c. onwardThe homilies preserved in liturgical collections; the Euphemia ekphrasis was read at the Second Council of Nicaea (787).
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 40 (Migne)
1858Standard pre-critical text.
Provenance
Amasea, Pontus
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Asterius of Amasea: Homilies I–XIVCornelis Datema, 1970The critical edition of the Greek.
- 'Let Us Die That We May Live': Greek Homilies on Christian MartyrsJohan Leemans et al., 2003English translations of the martyr homilies with introductions.