19-CHAPTER 19. THE MIRACLE AT KHONAI.

CHAPTER 19. THE MIRACLE AT KHONAI. IN Asia Minor the result of the contest between the unifying principle of the Catholic Church and the tendency towards varieties corresponding to national character, was that the former succeeded in establishing itself as the ruling power. But it could not entirely extirpate the development of varieties. The national idiosyncrasies were too strongly marked, and these Oriental peoples would not accept the centralized and organized Church in its purity, but continued the old struggle of Asiatic against European feeling, which has always marked the course of history in Asia Minor. The national temper, denied expression in open and legitimate form, worked itself out in another way viz., in popular superstitions and local cults, which were added as an excrescence to the forms of the Orthodox Church. A growing carelessness as to these additions, provided that the orthodox forms were strictly complied with, manifested itself in the Church. The local cults grew rapidly in strength; and finally the Orthodox Church in Asia Minor acquiesced in a sort of compromise between local variety and Catholic unity, which showed much analogy with its old enemy, the State religion of the Roman Empire. The latter, so far as it had any reality, was, as we have seen, founded on the principle (which was indeed never fully developed, but which is quite apparent underneath most of the fantastic varieties of the Imperial cultus) that the incarnate God in human form who ruled the State was in each district identified with the deity special to the district. The Orthodox Church acquiesced in the continuance of the old local impersonations of the Divine power in a Christianized form. The giant-slaying Athena of Seleuceia is dimly recognizable beneath the figure of Saint Thekla of Seleuceia; the old Virgin Artemis of the Lakes became the Virgin Mother of the Lakes, whose shrine amid a purely Turkish population is still an object of pilgrimage to the scattered Christians of southern Asia Minor; the god of Colossae was represented as Michael. In one case (unique, so far as my knowledge extends) we find in A.D. 1255 even the Christ of Smyrna, Hist. Geogr., p. 116. The tendency to localize the Divine power and to find a special manifestation of the Divine nature in certain spots can nowhere be better studied than in Asia Minor. A succession of conquering races has swept over the land, coming from every quarter of the compass, by land and by sea, and belonging to diverse branches of the human family. Time after time the language, the government, the society, the manners, the religion of the country have been changed. Amid all changes one thing alone has remained permanent and unchanging the localities to which religion attaches itself. In the same place religious worship continues always to be offered to the Divine power: the ritual changes, and the character attributed to the Divine Being varies, according to the character of the race, but the locality remains constant. The divinity is more really present, more able to hear or to help, in certain spots than he is elsewhere; he assumes a distinct and individualized character in these spots, and takes on himself something of humanity, becoming more personal and more easily conceived and real to the ordinary mind. After a time this law was accepted by the Orthodox Church, and became a strong determining force in its future development. The country was divided and apportioned to various saints, who were not merely respected and venerated, but adored as the bearers and embodiments of the Divine power in their special district. We would gladly know more about the attitude in which the later heresies of Byzantine history, the Iconoclastic movement, Paulicianism, etc., stood towards this tendency of the Orthodox Church. But we must not lose sight of the fact that above all these local differences there was a rather empty, but still very powerful, idea of unity. So strong was this idea that it alone has held together that which is now called the Greek race. The Greeks of to-day have no common blood. They include Cappadocians, Isaurians, Pisidians, Albanians, as well as Greeks by race. They have little common character; they are divided by diversity of language. They are united by nothing except the forms of the Orthodox Church; but in spite of a low standard of education in its priests and no very high standard of morality in its teaching, these have been strong enough to maintain the idea of a united people. For old Rome as its centre was substituted the new Rome of Constantine. The political changes of the present century have even destroyed to appearance the unity of the Church; but still the idea remains, and every Greek looks forward to a future unity of the Church and its adherents, with free Constantinople as its metropolis. To understand the character of this later development of Christianity in Asia Minor, it is best to study it in individual cases, and we shall find a typical instance in the narrative of the miracle wrought at Khonai by the archangel Michael. Our authority is a document, which, in its existing form, is a very late fabrication, probably not earlier than the ninth century. It shows a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance of the localities, and, while purporting to be strongly individualized in its account of persons, it is a tissue of general platitudes and marvels applied to individual names. The author was perhaps a monk of the ninth century. I shall speak of him as the redactor. He was not uneducated, but his knowledge was very inexact and of a low order. He was in some way acquainted with a tale current at Khonai, the town which succeeded the older Colossae, with regard to an apparition of Michael there. This tale was the foundation legend (Ƿ7ερόζ ̳όζ) of one of the most famous churches of Asia Minor, the church of St. Michael of Khonai. The redactor confused this apparition of Michael with another, which he found in the Menologia. It is there mentioned on the 6th day of September that Michael of Khonai was manifested at Khairetopa or Keretapa. The redactor concluded that the apparition at Keretapa was the apparition at Khonai, and that Keretapa was the name of the exact spot beside Khonai where the apparition had occurred. Thus he made out the extant version of the legend.

He also knew that Khonai was situated in the Lycus valley, not far from Laodicea and Hierapolis; and, wrongly supposing Keretapa to be a spot in the territory of Khonai, he fancied that the Lycus flowed towards Lycia. The real Keretapa is not far from the watershed of the Indos valley. About six miles west of Keretapa one reaches the extreme waters of the Indos, which flows towards Lycia.

Having thus arranged the localities for his talc, he begins from the apostle of Hierapolis, Philip, and as a suitable introduction works in the Apostle John and the Echidna, taking his facts from a different set of documents, examples of which are preserved. [Note: Lipsius, Apokryphal Apostelgeschichte, ii., 2, 24. † ἐυA019FFυ̸υσυσιατἠρια.‐According to Batiffol, Stud. Patrist., i., 33, this is perhaps a genuine tradition about the true Archippos. § ίαγιαασρα: so also at Lystra (p. 50 ) and Tymandos,Hist. Geogr., p. 402.] From Hierapolis the two apostles went to Khairetopa and, after working wonders there and predicting the apparition of Michael, they proceeded to other cities. Then there gushed forth a healing spring at Khairetopa. Long before the church was built, a small chapel [Note: ευ +̓κτἡριον, θυσιαστἡριον] existed on the spot. It was the work of a pagan, a native of Laodicea, who became a convert after his dumb daughter was cured and made to speak by the miraculous fountain. The father and daughter are introduced for this one purpose, and remain nameless. Ninety years later the first guardian (πρ+ο+σ+μ+ο+υ+α+ρ+ι+ς) of the holy fountain came to it. His name was Archippos, and he was a child of ten years old, born of pious parents in Hierapolis. The name comes from Col. 4:17, cp. [Note: According to Batiffol, Stud. Patrist., i., 33, this is perhaps a genuine tradition about the true Archippos.] Archippos, a hermit of the strictest austerity, guarded the sanctuary for sixty years; and it required a series of miracles to preserve it from the attacks of the heathen, though during the ninety years pre ceding his arrival it needed no guardian. The heathen natives were determined to pollute the sacred fountain, or Ayasma, by turning into it the water of some other stream. They first tried to mix the river Chryses with the Ayasma, but it parted into two branches, flowing right and left of the sacred water.

After this five thousand heathen collected at Laodicea, and resolved to overwhelm the Ayasma with the united waters of the Lykokapros and the Kouphos. These rivers flow about three miles distant from the Ayasma, and after uniting beside the great mountain flow away into the country of Lycia. To ensure that the rivers should be full, the five thousand began by damming them up for ten days. But when they opened the dams and let the waters run into the new channel which they had cut to divert the rivers into the Ayasma, Michael himself came down to defend the holy fountain. He stood upon a rock beside the sanctuary, and, after bidding the waters stand still until they were as deep as the height of ten men, he caused the rock to open, and leave a path for the united streams to flow through. And the rock split open with a noise like thunder and a shock as of an earthquake; and the waters flow through the cleft to the present day.

There is a curious mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of local accuracy and inaccuracy, in this legend. The name Lykokapros is a mixture of the two rivers Lykos and Kapros, which bounded the territory of Laodicea on the north and west. [Note: Just as one of the western Xω + U0311 of Laodiceia was called Eleinokaprios from the two rivers Eleinos and Kapros, so the north-western Xω + U0311, beside the junction of Lykos and Kapros, may have been called Lykokaprios, and thus have misled the author into the idea that there was a river Lykokapros.] The Kouphos also may be a real river, perhaps one of those which flow from Mount Cadmos northwards into the Lycus. The great mountain of course is Cadmos, which rises from the valley 6,000 feet over Colossae and 7,000 above the sea; it is called the great mountain to distinguish it from the low ridge which impedes the exit of the Lycus from the valley. That the Lycus ever flowed to Lycia is of course absurd; but the legend had to explain what happened to the river before its new course was opened for it by the archangel. Whether from some vague idea that Khairetopa was near a stream that flowed to Lycia or from the mere pseudo-etymological fancy that the names Lycus and Lycia were connected, the explanation suggested itself that the Lycus originally flowed away towards Lycia. Whether this detail was added by the redactor or belonged to the older local legend, no evidence remains. The name Chryses is perhaps a relic of an older form of the legend distinguished by better local knowledge. Names of this form are not uncommon in Asia Minor; and it is quite probable that some branch of the Lycus beside Colossae was called Chryses. The sacred stream at Hierapolis is called on coins the Chrysorrhoas, so that a name of the same stock, at any rate, occurred in the Lycus valley. It is remarkable that two branches issuing from the same source flow on the right and the left of the sacred spring at the present day, as may be seen on the map. The northern one is artificial, but ancient. [Note: In Maspero Recueil de Travaux, xiv., 1891, Hogarth and I have described the irrigation works at Heracleia.-Cybistra, which are probably very ancient.]

Legends of this kind may originate in three ways: (l) Some are mere inventions to explain a name. [Note: One case bears on our subject. The name καιρἐταπα was sometimes misspelt καιρἐταπα and Χσιρἐταπα; a legend arose of the apparition of Michael, saying χαîρε, Τὀπε, and this has found its way into some MSS. of the Miracle at Khonai. A different legend connected with Keretapa and St. Artemon exists, see Expositor, 1889, i., p. 150.] In this way a tale might be made to explain the name Khonai, “funnels" as derived from a channel or funnel through which a neighbouring river flows. (2) In many cases old legends, told originally of some pagan deity, were transferred to a Christian saint. (3) Some legends were founded on historical facts, which occurred in Christian times. The last class is far the most interesting; and it is possible that the miracle at Khonai belongs to it.

Colossae was situated at the lower western end of a narrow glen some ten miles long. On the north and east the broken skirts of the great central plateau hem in the glen. On the south Mount Cadmos rises steep above it. On the west a low rocky ridge about two miles in breadth divides it from the lower Lycus valley. This glen forms a sort of step between the lower Lycus valley, which is an eastern continuation of the long narrow Marauder valley, and the central plateau, to which it affords the easiest approach; and the great highway from the western coast to the Euphrates valley traverses it. The river Lycus flows down through the glen, rising in a series of vast springs at its upper eastern end. The largest set of springs forms a lake now called Kodja Bash (Big Head, or Source). According to popular belief, this lake is a duden (κατáβοθρου), a term which denotes a place where a river either rises out of or disappears into the ground. Such dudens are numerous in Asia Minor. [Note: The Mseander, the Sangarios, and many other rivers rise in dudens, forming small lakes like Kodja Bash.]

East of the Colossian glen, on the upper plateau, is the salt lake Anava. Popular belief sees in the Lycus springs the outlet of this lake; and the Lycus water, though not salt, is bad in taste and not drinkable. Similar connections between rivers and high lakes behind their sources are often traced in Asia Minor, the typical example being between the Marauder and the lake of Bunarbashi, the ancient Aurocreni Fontes. Such dudens are commonly found where a ridge separates two plains at different levels. At the western end of the Colossian glen the Lycus has a good opportunity for another duden, for a ridge separates the glen from a plain three hundred feet lower; but the Lycus traverses the ridge by a narrow open gorge in place of a duden. Now Herodotus says that the Lycus at Colossae enters a rift in the earth within the very city, and reappears at a distance of five stadia. Colossae was situated on the south bank of the river, but the buildings extended to the north bank; and a glance at the map shows that the Lycus enters a rift in the ridge within the circuit once inhabited. The question then arises, did Herodotus describe rather inaccurately the scenery as it at present exists, or has any catastrophe occurred to change a former auden into an open gorge? It must be granted that the phenomena of the legend are strongly suggestive of such a catastrophe: the noise like an earth quake, the inundation caused by the blocking of the passage, and the subsidence of the water when the gorge was cleared, would all be explained by Hamilton’s supposition, that the two cliffs of the gorge were once connected over the stream, and that the crust was subsequently broken by an earthquake. The breaking of the crust would necessarily block the stream till the accumulated waters carried away the fallen debris. If such an event took place it must have been after the time of Strabo and Pliny, otherwise they would have mentioned such a remarkable phenomenon in alluding to Colossae. If it happened at all then, the change happened when a Christian community existed at Colossae. These considerations prompt us to examine the evidence more closely, taking as guides M. Bonnet’s excellent edition of the Greek text of the legend (with his useful essays prefixed), and M. Weber’s careful description of the gorge. [Note: Bonnet, Narratio de Miraculo Chonis, patrato, Paris, 1890; Weber, der unterird. Lauf des Lykos, in Athen. Mittheil., 1891, p. 195.] No clear confirmation of Herodotus statement has come down to us. The chief witness is Strabo, who, unlike Herodotus, had actually seen both Colossae and Apameia: “(the Lycus) flowing for the greater part of its course underground, thereafter appears to view, and joins [Note: The aorist, συνἐπεσεν, is remarkable here, Strab., p. 586.] the other rivers (Maeander, Cadmos, Kapros), proving at once the porous character of the country and its liability to earthquake." The passage has frequently been misunderstood; the words cannot be explained as a reference merely to this duden y for Strabo is a careful writer, and the Lycus has a course of considerably more than twenty miles. Obviously Strabo refers to the connection of the Lycus with Lake Anava; and thus he is correct in saying that most of its course is underground and that after its underground course it appears to view, and flows to join the Maeander. The description is illustrated by Hamilton’s description of the source near Dere Keui. It issues from beneath the rock; and when Hamilton penetrated further up a cavern or “deep chasm in the rock, the sound of a subterranean river rushing along a narrow bed or tumbling over precipices . . . was distinctly heard” (i., p. 507). [Note: I explained what I believed to be Strabo’s meaning in Amer. Four. Arch., 1887, p. 358f, but have failed to convince M. Bonnet.] Now it is probable that Strabo, who certainly knew Herodotus description, would tacitly correct anything in it which he disapproved of; and when he says so emphatically that the river runs underground for many miles, and then emerges to view and joins the Majander, he must be interpreted as expressing dissent from Herodotus. No other passage known to me seems to possess any value as independent evidence about the localities; and especially the words of Scylitzes are obviously a mere report of the legend, connecting it with the derivation of the name Khonai.

Such is the ancient evidence scanty and inconclusive. We are brought face to face with the old question as to Herodotus credibility. Can we accept his evidence unsupported, even supposing that it were not contradicted by Strabo? Is his statement of that strikingly accurate and vivid character, which in many cases leads us to accept a description even against other witnesses?

We turn, then, to the archaeological or topographical evidence. Here scientific training as a practical geologist would be of high value in a witness. Hamilton had training and practical experience, but he saw only the lower and upper ends of the gorge. The engineers of the Ottoman Railway traversed and surveyed it some years ago, and I have talked with them. M. Weber, of Smyrna, has printed in Athen. Mittheil., 1891, p. 197 ff., a clear and accurate account of the gorge; but he did not extend his researches over the whole territory of Colossae, nor attend specially to the points raised by the legend. So far as he goes I agree with him; [Note: I cannot, however, accept his statement, p. 197, "sein Lauf hat sich nie geändert, wie es Hamilton annimmt." Hamilton is quite right; M. Weber has not observed quite carefully.] but only a practical geologist can answer the further questions that arise. The gorge, as a whole, has been an open gap for thousands of years; on that all are agreed who have seen it; and the grave chambers in the north wall of the gorge near its northern end, as M. Weber acutely argues, prove this conclusively. This statement, however, does not imply that the stream was always open to view. It is still in some places half concealed from view, as M. Weber says; and we must admit the possibility that incrustation from the streams that join it, both on north and south, may have at a former period completely over arched it for a little way. But such a bridge would not justify Herodotus, who describes a duden more than half a mile long. His description fails in minute accuracy; and we must, so far as the evidence goes, consider his words as less accurate than Strabo’s, and due to misconception in reporting an account given him by an eye-witness. [Note: An idea, more favourable to Herodotus, occurred to me in 1891 (Athenæum, August, p. 233); but I have been forced by M. Weber’s clear argument to abandon it. Sacrifice of this idea spoils the view with which I planned this chapter; and brings me back to the conclusion I stated in Amer. Four. Arch., 1887, p. 358, that Herodotus confused the duden at the source of the Lycus with the gorge at Colossae. Vast incrustations are made by these streams.] The character of the localities shows that an inundation might readily occur at Colossae; though we must abandon the theory that it was caused by the collapse of Herodotus duden. Deliverance from such an inundation would inevitably be construed as a miracle by the inhabitants. In the Pagan time they would have attributed their safety to the Zeus of Colossae; in the later Christian period they attributed it to one of the angels -a proof how little removed was the later Christianity of Colossae from the old paganism. The worship of angels was strong in Phrygia. Paul warned the Colossians against it in the first century. The Council held at Laodicea on the Lycus, about A.D. 363, stigmatized it as idolatrous. [Colossians 2:18, ἐν θρησκεíα τϖU9+03BD άγγἐλωνConcil. Laod., οὑδεîχριοδτιανον +̉ςἐγκαταλεìπειν τὴσìπειν τὴνἐκκλησìαν του +̑θεου +̑καìάγγἐλους σ +̓νομάζειν καìσυνáγειςποιεÉ + ̯ν,äπερ άπαγοεν +̉εται.εïτìς ον +̉υ εν +̉ρεθῃ+ ̃ταν αν̉̄ὴ
κεκρυμμἐυὴεìδωλολατρεíα σχολáζωυ,ἐστω άυáθεμα,öτι. . . εìδωλολατρεíᾳπροσῃ+ ̃λθευ,Canon 35.] Theodoret, about 420-50 A.D., mentions that this disease long continued to infect Phrygia and Pisidia. [ἔμειυε δἐτου +̑το τòπáθοςἐυ τη +̑ΦρυγíạκαìΠȻ9σιδíạμἐχρι πογγου +̑. . .καìμἐχρι δἐτου +̑νυ +̑ν ευ +̑κτηρια του +̑ áγýου Μιχαὴλ παρἔκαìτοÉ + ̯ὀμἐροιςἐκεýνωνἔστινìδεÉ + ̯ Interpret. Ep. Collos. ii. 16 (Ed. hal., iii., 490).] But that which was once counted idolatry, was afterwards reckoned as piety.

Michael, the leader of the host of angels, was worshipped very widely in Asia Minor. Akroinos-Xikopolis, the scene of the great victory over the Saracens in 739, was dedicated to him; and his worship is implied in an inscription at Gordium-Eudokias in Galatia. [Athen. Mittheil., 1883, p. 144; Bull. Cor. Hell., 1883, p. 23(read [τ]ῳ + ̑′ Αρχιστρατὴγωἐ[αυτòν?]παραδοὑςἐνθáδε κ[εÉ + ̯τòαι?] Σωτὴριχος).] A church of Michael was built by Constantine on the north coast of the Bosphorus; [It replaced the temple of Zeus, erected by the Argonauts, 35 st.] and here Michael was believed to manifest himself, and miraculous cures were to Sozomen’s own knowledge wrought. The origin of Christianity at Isaura, in the legend of Conon, is ascribed to the action of Michael; and his intervention is considered by M. Batiffol a reason for assigning to the "Prayer of Aseneth" an origin in this region (Stud. Patrist., i., 34). As to the legend, we cannot date it in its extant form before the ninth century. This is proved by the local names employed. Colossal was a city of the plain, exposed to sudden attack; though, if carefully fortified and well guarded, it was easily defensible against a regular siege. In the Sassanian and Saracen inroads sudden assaults, and not formal sieges, were the danger; and fortresses on peaks of extraordinary natural strength, safe against raids, though difficult to provision for a long siege, suited the period, Khonai was then built on a steep spur of Mount Cadmos. The castle must be near 3,000 feet above the sea, and the village is situated on a lower shelf, overlooking the rich little glen, and commanding a beautiful view of the Lycus valley. It was founded probably by Justinian, as part of his general defensive scheme of roads and forts; but Colossae, in its convenient position, long continued to be the centre of population. But, after the Arab invasions became a constant dread, the population sought the safer site; and in 787 the bishop resided at Khonai, though bearing the title of Colossae, since the church on the north bank of the Lycus at Colossae continued to be the great sanctuary of the district. But in 868 and later the bishop bore the title of Khonai, the name Colossae had disappeared, and the whole territory, once called Colossae, was now termed Khonai. The great church by the Lycus still existed, till it was burned by the Turks on a raid in the twelfth century; but it was now known as the church of Michael of Khonai. Now in the miracle-legend the church and the whole glen bear the name of Khonai; and it therefore cannot be earlier than the ninth century in the present form. [Note: A similar date may be inferred from the form Khairetopa, which is found in 787 and 879; but in earlier times the name, though corruptly spelt, has not lost the memory of a in the penult (which was probably long). This test admits an eighth century date, but is in consistent with the seventh century, the date favoured by M. Bonnet and by M. Batiffol, Stud. Patrist., i., 33.] That the legend relates to the church at Colossae, and not to a church on the actual site of Khonai, seems indubitable. No one after reading the legend, and looking at the remains of the large and splendid church (whose walls barely projected above the soil in 1881), can doubt that the tale is the foundation legend of the church. But so utterly was the name Colossae lost, that the redactor, through the confusion described, calls the site Khairetopa. The words quoted above from Theodoret prove that there was only a chapel of Michael at Colossae, about A.D. 450. On the other hand, the church at Colossae must have been built before the centre of population was moved to Khonai, about 700. [Note: No reference to the miracle or the church of Khonai occurs before the ninth century, Bonnet, p. xxxix., Act. Sanct., September, vol. viii., p. 40 § 198.] The legend, then, had several centuries to grow before the redactor put it into the extant form; but he evidently had an older form to work on, a genuine local legend, free from the topographical confusion of Keretapa and Khonai.

We have then failed to find evidence to show with certainty which of the three classes enumerated above the legend of Colossae belongs to. It may arise from a real fact of history, an inundation that occurred in Christian times, or it may be an artificial legend, founded on the strange natural cleft through which the Lycus flows, and probably giving in Christian form an older pagan myth.

NOTE 1. A remarkable example of the worship of angels is contained in an inscription of Miletos. In this strange instance of superstition, inscribed (necessarily by public permission) on the wall of the theatre, the seven archangels who preside over the seven planets are invoked to protect the city. The names of the archangels are not given, but each planet is denoted by mysterious symbols, with the same inscription beneath, äγιε, Φν + ̉λα[γ]ον τὴν πóλιν Μιλησíων κ.τ.λ Underneath the seven inscriptions is the single line άρχανγἐλοι [ς]Φυλáσσεται ὴ πóλις Μιλησíωνλησíωνκ.τ.λ C. 1. G., 2895. The words quoted from Theodoret illustrate this curious piece of superstition,πθνϖν προοτασíας ἐνεπιστεὑθησαν, interp. in Dan. c. x.

NOTE 2. The length to which this work has already been carried prevents me from saying more about the Jews in Asia Minor; but one point must be alluded to (p. 46n.). M. Salomon Reinach has inferred from a Smyrnaeans inscription that the archisynagogoi (women as well as men) in Asia Minor were not officials, but merely persons of rank in the community, who exercised, by virtue of their social weight, a certain influence on the religious practices. Codex Bezae confirms his acute conclusions. The inscription which he comments on must be probably older than A.D. 70 (p. 349).

NOTE 3. The British Museum inscription, No. 482, "begins by complaining that the Ephesian Goddess was now being set at nought," about A.D. 161. This document would appear to have an important bearing on Chap. XIV., 3; but I have tried to show in Classical Review, January 1893, that the text is wrongly restored, and that the meaning is different.

NOTE 4.

It resulted from the requiring of a specific accuser, and still more from the rewards given to the accuser out of the property of the accused (p. 336), that a class of lawyers arose, who made a speciality of cases against Christians. Just as delatores in charges of treason arose in numbers from the policy of Tiberius and Domitian, so delatores in Christian cases necessarily sprang from the circumstances of the second and third centuries. Allusions to such advocate often occur (Le Blant, Actes, p. 306).