The last of the Panegyrical Homilies (XXIII.) is
on Saint Mamas, commemorated on September 2 by the Greeks, and on
August 17 by the Latins. He is said to have been a shepherd
martyred at Cæsarea in 274 in the persecution of Aurelian.
Sozomen (v. 2) relates that when the young princes Julian and Gallus
were at the castle of Macellum cf. p.
xv., n. they were
engaged in building a church in the martyr’s honour, and that
Julian’s share in the work never prospered. cf.
Greg. Naz., Or. iv. § 25. The homily narrates no details
concerning the saint, and none seem to be known. It does
contain a more direct mention of a practice of invocation.
There is a charge to all who have enjoyed the martyr in dreams to
remember him; to all who have met with him in the church, and have
found him a helper in their prayers; to all those whom he has aided
in their doings, when called on by name. ὅσοις,
ὀνόματι,
κληθεὶς, ἐπι
τῶν ἔργων
παρέστη. On
the reverence for relics cf. Letters cxcvii., cclii.,
and cclvii. The conclusion contains a summary of
the Catholic doctrine concerning the Son. “You have been
told before, and now you are being told again, ‘In the
beginning was the Word,’ John i. 1. to prevent
your supposing that the Son was a being generated after the manner
of men, γέννημα
ἀνθρώπινον. from His having
come forth out of the non-existent. ‘Word’ is said
to you, because of His impassibility. ‘Was’ is
said because of His being beyond time. He says
‘beginning’ to conjoin the Begotten with His
Father. You have seen how the obedient sheep hears a
master’s voice. ‘In the beginning,’ and
‘was,’ and ‘Word.’ Do not go on to
say, ‘How was
He?’ and ‘If He was, He was not begotten;’ and
‘If He was begotten, He was not.’ It is not a
sheep who says these things. The skin is a sheep’s; but
the speaker within is a wolf. Let him be recognised as an
enemy. ‘My sheep hear my voice.’ cf.
John x. 16. You have heard the Son.
Understand His likeness to His Father. I say likeness
because of the weakness of the stronger bodies: In truth, and
I am not afraid of approaching the truth, I am no ready
deceiver: I say identity, always preserving the
distinct existence of Son and Father. In the hypostasis of Son
understand the Father’s Form, that you may hold the exact
doctrine of this Image,—that you may understand consistently
with true religion the words, ‘I am in the Father and the
Father in me.’ John xiv. 10. cf. De Sp. Scto.
§ 45, p. 28. Understand
not confusion of essences, but identity of
characters.”