apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

IGNATIUS THE MARTYR. 47
Church' of Antioch', which had been built by
Constantine on
the site of the 'Old Church,' the primitive place of assembly
in this
early home of Gentile Christianity, and of which Eusebius has left a
brief description". But the thrice-repeated invitation to 'come hither^'
seems to show that in this case the orator was speaking in the presence
of the real or supposed reliques of the saint, and therefore in the
inartyriuiii built over the grave in the cemetery near the Daphnitic
gate.
But in the next generation the saint was transferred to a more
honourable resting-place than this humble martyr's chapel outside
the walls.
Successive princes had vied with each other in the erection
of splendid buildings at Antioch— Syrian kings, Roman emperors,
even foreign sovereigns like Herod the Great. In this long roll of
benefactors the younger Theodosius held a conspicuous place. Under
this emperor successive governors of Syria and great officers of state
contributed to the adornment of this metropohs'— 'eastern Memnonius,
Zoilus, Callistus, Anatolius, Nymphidius. The empress Eudocia
herself claimed kindred with the Antiochenes and bore her part in
labour of love\ In this work of renovation the primitive bishop and
martyr of the Church was not forgotten. 'The good God put
it into
the heart of Theodosius,' writes the historian, 'to honour the Godbearer
with greater honours ^' The genius of the city, the Fortune of
Antioch*, was represented by a gilt-bronze statue, a master-piece of
Eutychides of Sicyon, the pupil of Lysippus. A queenly figure,
crowned with a diadem of towers, rested on a rock, doubtless intended
for the mountain Silpius which formed the lofty background
of Antioch, while from beneath her feet emerged the bust and arms
of a youth, the symbol of the river-god Orontes. In her hand she
bore a bundle of wheat-sheaves, the emblem of plenty. In the fourth
century of the Christian era we find this statue, which was coeval
with the building of the city, enshrined in a house of her own, which
bore her name, the Tychgeum or Temple of Fortune'. To this
ancient shrine the remains of Ignatius were borne aloft on a car with
this
p. Evagr. H. E. i. i6. The passage is
1
C. O. Miiller de Antiq. Antioch.
^
103 sq. quoted at length below, 11. p. 387, note.
and her statue see
2 Euseb. Vit. Const, iii.
50 ; comp. ^
For this deity
L. C. ix. § 15. Miiller p. 35 sq.
3
Op. II. p. 601 euravda irapayLviffdu,
evravda irapayiveffOai, e\0(hv iv-
^
Ammian. xxiii. i 'gradile Genii templum,'
Julian i^wo/. p. 546 (Spanheim) t6
ravda. ttjs Tvxrjs rifievos, Libanius I^ro Tempi.
* Miiller II. p. 201 (Reiske); see Miiller p. 40.
p. 115.