Babylas of Antioch

Babylas ( † about 253 in Antioch ) was bishop of Antioch as the successor of Zebinus. He died as a martyr during the persecution of Christians of Decius or one of the following emperors. The most important source for his life and martyrdom is the Historia ecclesiastica of Eusebius of Caesarea. The beginning of his term of office is usually dated to the year 240 ( according to other sources: 237). His martyrdom is due according to the legend that he had prevented the emperor from entering a Christian church, as long as it had done no penance for his actions. This did leave the next day Babylas and his pupils Urban, Prilidian and Eppolonias who were still in childhood, and arrest and mistreat their mother Christodoula. Babylas insisted, to be buried in his chains; he died before his execution to the injuries sustained. This report of John Chrysostom and the Acts of the Martyrs but it is considered not credible. The motive that a bishop refused to grant access to the church an emperor, already encountered in Eusebius, who relates it in Historia ecclesiastica 34, VI to Philip the Arabian. Certain is the fact of martyrdom itself Even if this has already taken place under Decius, ie by 250/51, or later in the year 253, remains uncertain. Bishops Babylas was succeeded by Fabius of Antioch.

Babylas is venerated as a saint. His feast day in the Catholic Church January 24, in the Orthodox Church of the 4th of September. He became the main patron of the city of Antioch. His grave site soon became a popular place of pilgrimage. The Christian Emperor Constantius Gallus then let the bones of Babylas to Daphne, a suburb of Antioch spend and he built a church there. His brother, the Emperor Julian is said to have prayed in the temple of Apollo adjacent to the pagan god, the proximity of the holy Babylas have, however, prevented an answer, whereupon Julian spent the bones of the man back to its original location. In the Middle Ages they came as relics to Cremona in Italy, where they are revered to this day. One arm was part of the treasure relics of the Brunswick Cathedral, 1467 for an arm reliquary was made, which later became part of the Guelph Treasure, and is now home to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Pictures of Babylas of Antioch

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