Pionius

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St. Pionius
Pionius
Pionius
Deceased March 12, 250 (Smyrna (Izmir))
Holiday
Protestant: March 11th
Roman Catholic: March 11th
Orthodox: March 11th
Armenian: March 12th

Pionius , Greek form Pionios (Πιόνιος) († March 12, 250 ) is venerated in many Christian denominations as a saint or regarded as a memorable witness of faith. He was martyred in Smyrna during the reign of Emperor Decius .

Legend

Pionius was arrested along with Sabina , Asklepiades , Makedonia and Limnos on February 23, the day of commemoration of the martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna .

They had spent the previous night in fasting and prayer . Aware of his imminent arrest, Pionius put ropes around his neck and those of his companions to indicate that they had already been sentenced. Those who had seen them unbound would have assumed that, like many other Christians in Smyrna, including the bishop , they were ready to sacrifice .

Two manifestations of Nemesis , more related to Aphrodite than to Artemis , were worshiped in Smyrna . It is believed that she embodied two aspects of the goddess, the kind and the relentless, or the goddesses of the old town and the new town, which was re-established by Alexander the Great . The Pionius Acts , relating to the Decian persecution of 250 , mention an apostate Smyrnian Christian who intended to sacrifice on the altar of these two nemesis'.

Early in the morning, after having consumed some of the sacred bread and water , Pionios and his companions were led to the forum . The square was crowded with Greeks and Jews as it was a major Jewish and general holiday in the city - an indication of the heavy influence of the Jews in Smyrna. Pionius preached to the crowd. He reminded the Greeks that Homer had said that the corpse of an enemy should not be mocked. He was trying to prevent them from mocking the Christians who had apostatized. Then he turned to the Jews and quoted Moses and Solomon with the same aim.

He concluded his speech with a rigorous refusal to make a sacrifice. Then followed the usual interrogations and threats, after which Pionius and his companions were taken to prison to await the arrival of the proconsul . Here they found other confessors, including a Montanist .

Many pagans visited them, and Christians who had sacrificed repented of their apostasy . The latter exhorted Pionius to repent . Before the proconsul arrived, another attempt was made to seduce Pionius and his companions into an act of apostasy. They were taken to a temple where every effort was made to induce a sacrifice.

On March 12, Pionius was brought before the proconsul, who first tried persuasion and then torture . Both failed, and Pionius was sentenced to be burned alive . He suffered together with Metrodorus , a Marcionite priest.

March 12th as the date of his martyrdom is confirmed by the records. Eusebius of Caesarea ( Church history , IV, xv; Chronicle , p. 17, ed. Schoene) allows the martyrdom to take place during the reign of Antoninus Pius . This could be due to the fact that he had found the martyrdom of Pionius in a manuscript of the martyrs' files, in which the chronological note of the current edition was missing.

Remembrance day

  • Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox: March 11 (February 1 in the Martyrologium Romanum of 1956)
  • Armenian: March 12th (celebrated on the Monday after the first pre-fasting Sunday)

See also

swell

(The article was originally translated from the English Wikipedia, whose sources on this :)

literature

  • H. Musurillo: The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, Oxford, 1972
  • Louis Robert : Le Martyre de Pionios, pretre de Smyrne. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington 1994, ISBN 0-88402-217-X .
  • O. Zwierlein, The original versions of Martyria Polycarpi et Pionii and the Corpus Polycarpianum , De Gruyter, Berlin, 2014

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pionius in the ecumenical dictionary of saints
personal data
SURNAME Pionius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Πιόνιος (Greek); Pionios (Greek in Latin script)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Christian martyr and saint
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 250
Place of death Izmir