Gelasinus

Gelasinus

Gelasinus

Christian martyr and saint

Gelasinus (Greek: Γελασινος, Gelasinos; d. AD 297) was a reputed Christian martyr and saint. His feast day is observed on August 26.[1][2]

Gelasinus was said to have been a Roman "second mime"[3] from Mariamme near Damascus.[4] He converted in the middle of a theatrical contest at Heliopolis (the modern Baalbek, Lebanon).[3] During a group skit lampooning the sacrament of baptism, he was thrown into a vat of warm water from the bathhouse and emerged refusing to continue the routine, saying "I am a Christian for I saw an awesome glory in the tub and I will die a Christian".[5] Heliopolis was a center of zealous Roman and Canaanite paganism and the audience became enraged, taking him outside and stoning him. His kin and other Christians took his body and erected a chapel in his honor in their village.[4][3] His story is attested by the 7th-century Easter Chronicle in a hagiography of doubtful historicity, although it may preserve an authentic tradition.[3]

See also

References

Citations

  1. [1]
    Forster (1828), p. 239.
  2. [2]
    Butler (1799), p. 402.
  3. [3]
    Ferguson (2009), p. 465.
  4. [4]
    Charles 2007, p. 209.
  5. [5]
    Whitby & al. (1989), p. 3.

Bibliography
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