Ten thousand martyrs

10,000 martyrs of Mount Ararat by Vittore Carpaccio.

The ten thousand martyrs of Mount Ararat were, according to a medieval legend, Roman soldiers who, led by Saint Acacius, converted to Christianity and were crucified on Mount Ararat in Armenia by order of the Roman emperor. The story is attributed to the ninth century scholar Anastasius Bibliothecarius.

In the Roman Catholic Church the martyrs are commemorated on March 18[note 1] and June 22,[note 2] according to entries in the Roman Martyrology.

In the Greek Orthodox Church the Great Synaxaristes has a reference on June 1 for the "The Holy Ten Thousand Martyrs" in Antiochia, under the Roman Emperor Decius.[4]

Despite its questionable veracity, the event was extremely popular in Renaissance art, as seen for example in the painting 10,000 martyrs of Mount Ararat by the Venetian artist Vittore Carpaccio, or in the Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand by the German artist Albrecht Dürer.

Notes

  1. ↑ "At Nicomedia, ten thousand holy martyrs, who were put to the sword for the confession of Christ."[1] Similarly, there is also a reference in the Greek Synaxarion for March 18th, for the "Myriads of Holy Martyrs, by the sword, at Nicomedia".[2]
  2. ↑ "On Mt. Ararat, the martyrdom of ten thousand holy martyrs, who were crucified."[3]

References

  1. ↑ March 18. The Roman Martyrology.
  2. ↑ Great Synaxaristes: (Greek) Οἱ Ἅγιοι μύριοι Μάρτυρες. 18 ΜΑΡΤΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
  3. ↑ June 22. The Roman Martyrology.
  4. ↑ Great Synaxaristes: (Greek) Οἱ Ἅγιοι δέκα χιλιάδες Μάρτυρες. 1 Ιουνίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.

External links