Zosimos of Apollonia-Sozopolis

Year 2021, Volume: 21, 107 - 133, 15.05.2021

Peter Talloen , Maya Prodanova

https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.858063

Abstract

Saint Zosimos of Apollonia-Sozopolis, a soldier who was reputedly martyred in the ancient region of Pisidia (SW Turkey) during the reign of the emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) after resigning from the Roman army to become a Christian, is a relatively unknown saint celebrated by the Greek Orthodox Church on the 19th of June. In modern scholarship, he is discussed as a soldier who originated from ancient Apollonia Pontica - Sozopolis in the Roman province of Thracia on the western Black Sea coast, and resigned from the Roman army in Pisidia, where he was martyred. This characterisation of Zosimos as a Thracian soldier is a case of mixed identities, or better, of mixed origins. It is the aim of this article to demonstrate that the Apollonia/Sozopolis referred to in the sources concerning the saint is not the Bulgarian city of Sozopol where the saint is still worshipped today but the homonymous city located in the northwestern part of ancient Pisidia in modern Turkey. A textual analysis of the Passio of Zosimos will offer several indications for this. The article also looks for the origins of the Passio of Zosimos: several elements mentioned in the text demonstrate that the account of the saint’s martyrdom was most probably a late antique construct, part of the abundance of hagiographical texts produced in late antiquity. It may have been composed to emphasize the position of Apollonia-Sozopolis as a major centre of early Christianity within the province of Pisidia during the 5th and early 6th centuries. There is subsequent evidence for the veneration of Zosimos at Gračanica in Kosovo and at Sozopol in Bulgaria, and the paper will try to establish why the cult of this Pisidian saint eventually came to be centred at Sozopol in Bulgaria, where he is still the object of veneration today.

Keywords

Saint Zosimos, Apollonia / Sozopolis, Hagiography

Thanks

The authors would like to thank professors Cilliers Breytenbach and Stephen Mitchell, as well as Philipp Pilhofer, for the organisation of a workshop at the Humboldt University in Berlin in June 2018 which made this article possible. It has especially benefitted from the comments and improvements by Stephen Mitchell. Any remaining errors are their own.

Apollonia-Sozopolisli Zosimos

Abstract

Hıristiyan olmak için Roma ordusundan ayrıldıktan sonra imparator Traianus Dönemi’nde (İ.S. 97-118) antik Pisidia ve Phrygia sınır bölgesinde (güneybatı Türkiye) şehit olduğu iddia edilen asker Aziz Apollonia-Sozopolisli Zosimos Rum Ortodoks Kilisesi tarafından Haziran ayının 19’unda bayramı kutlanan nispeten ismi pek bilinmeyen bir azizdir. Modern araştırmalarda Batı Karadeniz kıyısındaki Roma eyaleti Thrakia'da Apollonia Pontica - Sozopolis kökenli bir asker olduğu ve şehit olduğu Pisidia’daki Roma ordusundan istifa ettiği tartışılmaktadır. Thrakialı bir asker olarak Zosimos'un bu karakterizasyonu karışık kimlikler ya da daha ziyade karışık kökenlerden oluşan bir durumdur. Bu makalenin amacı ise azizle ilgili kaynaklarda adı geçen Apollonia/Sozopolis’in azize bugün hala ibadet edilen Bulgaristan'ın Sozopol (Süzebolu) kenti değil, aksine modern Türkiye’deki antik Pisidia’nın kuzeyindeki bölümde bulunan aynı isme sahip bir kent olduğunu kanıtlamaktadır. ‘Zosimos’un Çilesi’nin metin analizi bunun için birkaç bulgu sunacaktır. Makale ayrıca ‘Zosimos’un Çilesi’nin kökenini de araştırmaktadır: metinde bahsi geçen bir takım unsurlar azizin şehitlik anlatısının büyük olasılıkla Geç Antik Dönem’de yazılmış azizlerle ilgili metin bolluğunun bir parçası olan geç antik bir kurgu olduğunu göstermektedir. Apollonia-Sozopolis'in 5. ve 6. yüzyılları boyunca Pisidia eyaleti içindeki erken Hıristiyanlığın önemli bir merkezi olarak konumunu vurgulamak için oluşturulmuş olabilir. Kosova'daki Graçaniça’da ve Bulgaristan'daki Süzebolu’da Zosimos'a saygı duyulduğuna dair müteakip kanıtlar vardır ve makale, bu Pisidialı azizin kültünün bugün bile hala ona saygı beslenen Bulgaristan’daki Süzebolu’da neden merkezîleştiğini saptamaya çalışacaktır.

Keywords

Aziz Zosimos, Apollonia / Sozopolis, Pisidia, Hagiografi, Geç Antik Çağ

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