Primary source · Greek
Panegyrics on the Martyrs
Gregory of Nyssa · c. AD 379–383
What this text is
Gregory's festival orations on Theodore the Recruit and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste — preached at the shrines, within living memory's reach, with his own family among the relic-keepers.
Public-domain translations
Working translation (from the Greek)
This noble man came up from the east, a recruit with his legion wintering in Pontus... Asked his fatherland, he answered that his city was the Jerusalem above: 'I am a soldier of Christ.' (On Theodore) · These forty were one soul in separate bodies — one in their confession, one in their endurance, one in the crown. (On the Forty)
Manuscript witnesses
Byzantine homiliary tradition
10th c. onwardThe panegyrics in the liturgical collections for the feasts of Theodore (Feb.) and the Forty (March).
Gregorii Nysseni Opera X.1 (Heil et al.)
1990The modern critical edition of the sermones pars I.
Provenance
Cappadocia and Pontus — Euchaita, Sebaste, and the family shrine at Annisa
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- 'Let Us Die That We May Live'Johan Leemans et al., 2003English translation of the Theodore and Forty Martyrs orations.
- Gregory of Nyssa: The Letters and the Cappadocian shrinesAnna Silvas, 2007Context of Annisa and the family cult of the Forty.