Introduction
The Orthodox Church of the First Millennium venerated Emperors as saints. The following is a list of those venerated as are found in first millennium church calendars from the first Millennium.
The Calendars used are as follows:
The Typicon of the Great Church = Juan Mateos, ed. and tr., Le Typicon de la Grande Église, Volume 1 (Rome: 1962). The Typicon shows the church calendar used in the Hagia Sophia at the middle of the tenth century. It relies on two manuscripts:
Codex H (Holy Cross Monastery Codex 40) is dated by Mateos to the years 950-970, with 950-959 being the more probable. Venance Grumel however dates the ms. to the end of the tenth century, and believes it to be an edited copy of an earlier work. [Venance Grumel, 'Le Typicon de la Grande Église d'apres le Manuscrit de Sainte-Croix: Datation et Origine', Analecta Bollandia, 85 (1967), 45-57] Regardless the ms. certainly seems to be from the tenth century. This manuscript covers the entire year, with only a few days at the end of August absent.
Codex P (Patmos Codex 266) is dated from the second half of the ninth century to the first half of the tenth. This manuscript covers the entire year.
The Synaxarium of Constantinople = Hippolyte Delehaye, ed., Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae (Brussels: Bollandist Society, 1902). The Synaxarium was commissioned during the reign of Emperor Constantine VII (944-959). There are several manuscripts that are used in Delehaye's edition, the most important early ones are the following:
Codex F (Codex Saint Mark 267) is dated to 1050. This manuscript covers September to February.
Codex Fa (National Library in Paris Codex 1590) is dated to 1063. This manuscript covers September to February.
Codex N (National Library in Paris Codex 1617) is dated to 1071. This manuscript covers March to August.
The Calendar of John Zosimus = Gérard Garitte, ed. and tr., Le Calendrier du Palestino-Géorgien du Sinaiticus 34 (Xe Siecle) (Brussels: Bollandist Society, 1958). John Zosimus was a Georgian monk and scribe who lived in Palestine in the tenth century, dying sometime around 990. He wrote a church calendar which survives in an autographed copy in Mount Sinai written in Georgian. The Calendar covers the entire year.
Emperors and Empresses
Constantine I & Helena
Le Typicon, p. 297 (May 21) [Codices P & H]; Synaxarium, cols. 697.34─700.37 (Codex N); Le Calendrier, p. 67 (May 21 - Constantine Only; May 22 - Constantine and Helena)
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| 14th Century Icon of Constantine and Helen (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Constantin_and_Helena,_mother_of_Constantine_I_icon,_Syria_(14th_Century).jpg) |
Emperor Theodosius I
Le Typicon, p. 97 (Nov. 9) [Codex H Only] (Nov. 10) [Codex P Only]; Synaxarium, col. 209.39 (Nov. 10) [Codices F & Fa]; Le Calendrier, pp. 45 (Jan. 19), 69 (May 31) & 81 (Jul. 29)
An Illustration of Gregory Nazianzus and Emperor Theodosius I from BnF MS Gr 510 (9th century) (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BnF_MS_Gr510_folio_239_recto_-_detail_-_Gregory_of_Nazianzus_addresses_the_emperor_Theodosius_I.jpg)
Emperor Valentinian
Le Calendrier, pp. 46 (Jan. 26) & 55 (Mar. 17)
Emperor Arcadius
Le Calendrier, p. 86 (Aug. 27)
Emperor Theodosius II and Empress Eudocia
Le Typicon, pp. 355 (Jul. 30 - Theodosius Only) [Codices P & H] & 369 (Aug. 13 - Eudocia Only) [Codex P Only]; Synaxarium, col. 856.12-13 (Jul. 30 - Theodosius Only) [Codex N]; Le Calendrier, pp. 81 (Jul. 31 - Theodosius Only), 72 (Jun. 15 - Eudocia Only), 89 (Sep. 11 - Eudocia Only), & 98 (Oct. 19 - Eudocia Only).
Le Calendrier gives Empress Eudocia on June 15, September 11, and October 19, but could any of these be for Empress Eudocia who was married to Emperor Arcadius? The commemoration of October 19 can safely be attributed to our Eudocia since she reposed on October 20 [J. R. Martindale, ed., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 409]. The other two dates are more than likely to be our Eudocia, considering that she lived and died in Jerusalem whose liturgical year Zosimus recorded.
Emperor Marcian and Empress Pulcheria
Le Typicon, p. 235 (Feb. 17 - Marcian and Pulcheria) [Codex H]; Le Calendrier, pp. 60 (Apr. 15 - Marcian), 61 (Apr. 19 - Marcian); Synaxarium, cols. 871.29─872.3 (Aug. 7 - Empresses Pulcheria and Irene) [Codex N]
Emperor Leo I
Le Typicon, p. 199 (Jan. 15) [Codex P]; Syanaxarium, col. 407.38 (Jan. 20) [Codices F & Fa]
Empress Ariadne
Le Typicon, p. 381 (Aug. 22) [Codices H & P]
Emperor Justinian I and Empress Theodora
Le Typicon, p. 101 (Nov. 14 - Justinian & Theodora) [Codices P & H]; Synaxarium, col. 224.1-3 [Codices F & Fa]; Le Calendrier, pp. 74 (25 & 26 Jun. - Theodora), 82 (3 Aug. - Justinian), 104 (15 & 16 Nov. - Justinian), & 112 (23 Dec. - Comemmoration of the opening of the Hagia Sophia by the "God-loving king Justinian")
Codex H preserves the following troparion for Justinian and Theodora:
After having shown forth works of Orthodoxy, after having extinguished all false doctrine, you have won the trophies of victory. You have enriched the whole of religion, you have greatly embellished the Church, and so you have found, by your merits, Christ God, who has great mercy on the world and on us.
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| A Mosiac of Emperor Justinian I from the Basillica of San Vitale (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosaic_of_Justinianus_I_-_Basilica_San_Vitale_(Ravenna).jpg) |
Le Calendrier, p. 87 (Aug. 28)
Emperor Justinian II
Le Typicon, p. 339 (Jul. 15) [Codex H]; Synaxarium, col. 822.22-24 (Jul. 15) [Codex N]
Empress Irene (787-792)
Le Typicon, pp. 363 (Aug. 7) [Codices P & H] & 365 (Aug. 9) [Codex P]; Synaxarium, cols. 871.29─872.3 (Aug. 7 - Empresses Pulcheria and Irene) [Codex N]
Potential Venerations
Emperor Maurice
In the Typicon there is a commemoration on November 28th for the 'Emperors Constantine and Marcian and their Children.' [Le Typicon, p. 117 {Codex H}], but they could actually be 'Emperors Constantina and Maurice and their children'. This is because on November 27th 602, the Emperor Maurice and his sons were brutally murdered as a result of the usurping Emperor Phocas; later, Constantina and her daughers were executed after being implicated in a plot to overthrow Phocas. It would seem that a scribal error turned Constantina into Constantine and Maurice into Marcian.
Emperor Justin
The Typicon commemorates 'Emperor Justinian the Great' on August 2nd, and Zosimus' calendar commemorates 'the great king Justinian' on August 3rd [Le Typicon, p. 359 (Codex H); Le Calendrier, p. 82]. These titles point towards Emperor Justinian and not Emperor Justin being venerated. However, August 2nd corresponds to the date of death of Emperor Justin, which leads Dagron to believe that it is Justin who is being commemorated on these August dates (Dagron, Emperor and Priest, p. 154, n. 109). On the contrary, Kovalchuk believes that it is indeed Emperor Justinian who is venerated based on the unanimity of manuscripts writing 'Justinian' and not 'Justin' [Kateryna Kovalchuk, 'The Founder as a Saint: The Image of Justinian I in the Great Church of Hagia Sophia', Byzantion, 77 (2007), pp. 205-238 (p. 226)].
Emperor Constantine IV or the Son of Emperor Basil I
The Typicon commemorates 'Emperor Constantine the New' on September 3rd [Le Typicon, p. 15 (Codex H)] as does the Synaxarium [Synaxarium, col. 12.6-7 (Codices F & Fa)] but what Constantine is being venerated?
The French Byzantinist, Gilbert Dagron, believes that the Constantine in question is Constantine IV (668-685), who convened the Sixth Ecumenical Council [Gilbert Dagron, Emperor and Priest, tr. by Jean Birrell (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 153]. Supporting him is Venance Grumel, who also believes the likely candidate to be Constantine IV [Venance Grumel, ‘Quel est l’Empereur Constantin le Nouveau Commémoré dans le Synaxaire au 3 Septembre’, Analecta Bollandiana, 84 (1966), 254-260]. On the other hand, P. Karlin-Hayter instead argues that the Constantine in question is the son of Emperor Basil I (867-886), who Patriarch Photius had declared a saint [P. Karlin Hayter, ‘Quel est l'Empereur Constantin le Nouveau Commémoré dans le Synaxaire au 3 Septembre’, Byzantion, 36.2 (1966), 624-626].
A third explanation, which I uphold, is that the both emperors were venerated. The Constantinopolitan church calendar venerated on September 3 Constantine the son of Emperor Basil I. Outside of the royal city, Constantine IV was venerated. This is shown by the Divine Liturgy of Saint James.
The 9th-10th century MS. [Codex H] of the Divine Liturgy of Saint James as it was used in Damascus asks God to remember "the pious and faithful rulers Constantine, Helen, Theodosius the Great, Marcian, Pulcheria, Justinian, [&] Constantine" [Dom B.─Ch Mercier, ed., La Liturgie de Saint Jacques: Édition Critique du Texte Grec avec Traduction Latine (Paris: 1946), p. 104]. That this Constantine is Constantine IV I believe is shown by several facts.
The first is that all the emperors are linked to the convocation of a council. Constantine and Helen are Nicaea I, Theodosius is Constantinople I, Marcian and Pulcheria are Chalcedon, Justinian is Constantinople II. Logically the Constantine would also needed to have convened an Ecumenical synod, which was certainly done by Constantine IV..
The second is that MS H which records the commemoration of these emperors dates to the late 9th to the early 10th centuries [Gabriel Radle, 'The Liturgy of St James', Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 87.2 (2021), 341─352]. This gives a small time-frame for Constantine the son of Basil to end up liturgically commemorated in Damascus.
Finally, Mercier in his analysis of MS H states that since only the first six ecumenical councils are commemorated that this points towards the MS being a copy of a model written before 787 [Mercier, La Liturgie, p. 20].
These facts point towards Constantine IV being venerated outside of Constantinople, while Constantine the son of Basil I was venerated in Constantinople on September 3.
