Joannes
117. Of THESSALONICA (2), the younger.
Works
A fragment of a discourse which was entitled
Αἱ τοῦ ἀθλοφόρου Δημητρίου ἐν μερικῖ διηγήσει Θαυματουργίαι,
Triumphalis Martyris Demetrü sigillatim nurrata Miracula, or
Υ̓́μνος εἰς Θεὸν καὶ εἰς τὸν πανένδοξον ἀθλοφόρον Δημήτριυν ἐν μερικῆ διηγήσει τῶν αὐτοῦ Δαυμάτων,
Hymnus ad Deum et ad gloriosum Demetrium cum particulari narratione miraculorum ejus,
Combéfis describes this as the work of Joannes, archbishop of Thessalonica, whom he apparently confounds with the subject of the preceding article, and erroneously places in the reign of the emperors Justinian I. and Maurice. Combéfis (whom Cave follows) is, however, manifestly in error, for the extract itself refers to the capture of the city " many years before" by " the children of the handmaid, that is, Hagar," "in the reign of Leo."
This can hardly be any other capture than that by the Saracens of Tripoli, in the reign of Leo VI. (Sapiens or Philosophus) A. D. 904, and consequently the Joannes of Thessalonica from whom the extract is taken could not have lived earlier than the tenth century, and must therefore be a different person from the author of the preceding article.
Editions
Combéfis gives this as the work of
the elder Joannes of Thessalonica in the Paris edition of the Byzantine writers, among the
Scriptores post Theophanem, p. 314, &c.
Gallandius reprints the extract with the works of the preceding (
Bibl. Patrum, vol. xiii. p. 195), but intimates in his
Prolegomena, c. iv., that it can hardly be by the same author.
It is not given in the Bonn reprint of the Byzantine writers.
It is probable that Combéfis, by confounding the work of Joannes with an anonymous account of a deliverance of Thessalonica, through the miraculous interposition of Demetrius, when besieged by barbarians, probably Avars, in the reign of the emperor Maurice, was led into error.
Further Information
Gallandius,
ll. cc.; Cave,
Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 597; Fabric.
Bibl. Gr. vol. vii. p. 683, vol. x. pp. 218, 219; Allatius,
de Symeonum Scriptis, p. 97.
