Passio Hermione
Standard abbreviation: Mart. Herm.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 182
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: none
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University ([email protected])
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of Hermione.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-hermione/
Created June, 2023.
1. SUMMARY
This summary is based on the Greek Menaea M. The deacon Philip (sometimes assimilated or confused with the apostle Philip) has four virgin daughters (as stated in Acts 21:9). Two of the four, Hermione and Eutyche, travel to Asia Minor in search of the apostle John. Unfortunately, John has already departed the world but they meet instead Petronius, a disciple of Paul. They become his disciples and Hermione is established as a healer. In the time of Trajan, Hermione is brought before the emperor on the charge of being a Christian. He orders her to be beaten in the face for many hours, but after Jesus appears to Hermione in a vision in the form of Petronius on the judgment seat, she no longer feels the blows. Trajan releases her, so she continues her ministry at an inn. (The Synaxaria mention that Hermione predicted to Trajan that he would overcome the Persians and that Hadrian would succeed him on the throne).
When Hadrian becomes emperor, Hermione is once again brought to trial. She is subjected to a variety of punishments–she is beaten, her feet are pierced with wire, she is placed in a cauldron of fiery tar, sulphur, and lead, and finally thrown naked into a flaming copper vessel. With divine help, Hermione endures all of these tortures. Then she tells Hadrian that while in the vessel, she had a dream of Hercules. Hadrian rejoices and commands her to enter the temple, but there she prayed not to Hercules but to God and the idols smash to the ground. Exasperated, Hadrian orders Hermione to be beheaded. Two executioners, Theodoulos and Theotimos, led her out of the city to the execution site. When they try to rush Hermione, their hands wither. Repentant, they ask Hermione for healing and then beseech her to call upon God to immediately take their souls. The executioners die on the spot, and later Hermione dies there too. Devout Christians take their relics and bury them in Ephesus.
Named historical figures and characters: Candace, Eutyche, Hadrian, Hercules, Hermione, John, Paul, Petronios, Philip, Theodoulos, Theotimos, Trajan.
Geographical locations: Asia Minor, Ephesus.
2. RESOURCES
“Hermione of Ephesus.” Wikipedia.
“Martyr Hermione, daughter of Saint Philip the Deacon.” Orthodox Church in America.
Illustration of Hermione in the Menologion of Basil II, Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1613, p. 12 (10th cent.).
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek
3.1.1.1 Passio (BHG 2171)
Mount Athos, Mone Karakallou, 81 (Lambros 1594), Mon. 45, fols. 1r–14v (15th/16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
3.1.1.2 Menaea (=M) (BHG 2371d)
Andros, Mone Hagias (Zoodochou Peges), 46 (65), fols. 219r–220v (15th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 1032 (1551) ~ Pinakes; Athens
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 1033 (1602) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 1037 (15th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Museio Benaki, ΓΕ 34722 (olim T. A. 1), fols. 8–10 (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Museio Benaki, ΓΕ 34972 (olim T. A. 255), fols. 176v–178r (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Triados 67, fols. 4v–6r (1508) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Triados 69, fols. 2r–3v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Hagia Triados 70, fols. 5r–6v (1367) ~ Pinakes
London, British Library, Add. 10073, fols. 319v–323r (16th cent.)
Paris, Biblothèque nationale de France, gr. 1578 (15th/16th cent.) ~ Pinakes; GALLICA
Paris, Biblothèque nationale de France, gr. 1582, fols. 7v–9r (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; GALLICA
Paris, Biblothèque nationale de France, supp. gr. 54, fols. 5v–6v (15th cent.) ~ Pinakes; GALLICA
Menaea graecae ecclesiae. Vol. 3: September. Venice: Spinellus, 1541 (Greek edition; unpaginated).
Bolland, Jean et al., eds. Acta Sanctorum, Septembris. Vol. 2. Antwerp: P. Jacobs, 1756 (pp. 181–86); 3rd ed. Paris: V. Palmé, 1868 (vol. 2, pp. 181–86) (Latin translation from the Greek Menaea by Matthaeo Radero, pp. 185–86).
3.1.1.3 Synaxarium of Constantinople (=S)
Delehaye, Hippolyte. Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae e códice Sirmondiano, nunc Berolinensi adiectis synaxariis selectis. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1902 (cols. 14–16).
3.1.1.4 Menologion of Basil II
Preliminary translation: (September 4) The struggle of the holy martyr Hermione, daughter of the holy apostle Philip. The holy martyr Hermione, daughter of the apostle Philip, flourished under the emperor Trajan. And she had a sister named Eutyche, with whom she went to Ephesus, that they might worship John the Theologian: but they did not find him, for he had already been translated. At the same time Trajan, the emperor, came to Ephesus for the Persian expedition, and heard that the name of Hermione was so famous and venerable, because she was inspired by a prophetic spirit. When, therefore, she was apprehended and could not be led away from the worship of Christ, he ordered her to be beaten. But the Lord appeared, increasing her courage and strengthening her, so that she might endure the torments bravely. A little later she was released by Trajan, to whom she had predicted would triumph over the Persians. Hadrian, the son-in-law and successor of Trajan, once again forced her to deny Christ and sacrifice to idols. When she refused to do this, he ordered her head to be cut off. But when the executioners’ hands withered, they also believed in Christ, and together with that head they were intertwined.
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1613, p. 12 (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; BAV
Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 117. Paris: Cerf, 1903 (Greek text with facing Latin translation, cols. 29–30).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.3 General Works
Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Lives of the Saints. Vol. 10 (New and revised ed.). London: John C. Nimmo, 1898 (pp. 43–44).
Biagetti, Claudio. “Εἰς Ἔφεσον προσκῦνησαι. Notes on the Martyr Cult of Hermione at Ephesos (and Beyond).” Pages 338-53 in Ritual Movement in Antiquity (and Beyond). Edited by Giorgio Ferri. Brescia: Morcelliana, 2022.
__________. “Social Memory, History and Topography of Christian Ephesus. The Case of the Martyr Cult of Hermione (BHG 2371d).” Pages 307-19 in La Memoria: Forme e finalità del ricordare nel Cristianesimo antico: XLVIII Incontro di Studiosi dell’Antichità Cristiana (Roma, 5-7 maggio 2022). Edited by Laura Faranda et al. Florence: Nerbini, 2023.
Dunbar, Agnes Baillie Cunninghame. A Dictionary of Saintly Women. Vol. 1. London: George Bell & Sons, 1904 (p. 380).
Khoury, Demetri. A Cloud of Witnesses: Saints and Martyrs from the Holy Land. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2008 (pp. 16–17).