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

• List of Christian martyrs

References

Citations

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

Bibliography

• Butler, Alban (1799), The Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Martyrs, and other Principal Saints: Compiled from Original Monuments, and other Authentic Records: Illustrated with the Remarks of Judicious Modern Critics and Historians, 3rd ed., Vol. VIII, Edinburgh: J. Moir for J. P. Coghlan
• Charles, Robert H. (2007) [1916]. The Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu: Translated from Zotenberg's Ethiopic Text. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 9781889758879.
• Ferguson, Everett (2009), Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 978-0-8028-2748-7
• Forster, Thomas Ignatius M. (1828), Circle of the Seasons, and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and Almanack; to which is added the Circle of the Hours, and the History of the Days of the Week; being a Compendious Illustration of the History, Antiquities, and Natural Phenomena, of Each Day of the Year, London: J. & C. Adlard for Thomas Hookham
• Whitby, Michael; et al. (1989), Chronicon Paschale 284–628 AD, Translated Texts for Historians, Vol. 7, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press