155 Representations of travel motivation inspired the commission of the text.524 Panegyreis denoted celebrations of a particular saint, but could equally denote events that included many other activities, such as banquets, dances, rhetorical competitions and markets. In other words, they were events that brought together various people from a region for devotional, social and commercial reasons.525 Evidence of larger multifaceted panegyreis in the middle-Byzantine period exist mainly for cities, such as at Ephesus, Trebizond, Myra, Nikomedeia, Chalcedon, Athens, and the largest at Thessaloniki.526 Apart from the reference to the panegyris in the Life, I have not come across other mentions of a panegyris in honour of Elias the Younger. This might be an indication that it would not have been a very large or long-lasting affair – and perhaps here merely (or mostly) refers to a devotional event.527 The hagiographical text would have been intended to be performed at the place where Elias’ tomb was located, as the author indicated that the saint ‘now lies before us’.528 The panegyris in honour of Elias would therefore most likely have been held at the Calabrian monastery founded by the saint, to which his relics were translated after his death in Thessaloniki.529 If indeed, as is likely, the Life was composed for festivities at the saint’s commemoration day (17 August) held at the monastery in Calabria, the audience would consist of monks of that monastic community, many of whom might have known Elias. Additionally, the audience would most likely have included other layers of society beyond the monastery, at least this was the ambition of the author. In the following passage, the author addresses them: 524 The opening of the Life is as follows: Τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθλητῶν καὶ τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγωνιστῶν τοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τὰ κατορθώματα ἀγαθὸν καὶ δίκαιον καὶ πρέπον καὶ ταῖς διὰ λόγων γεραίρειν καὶ δημοσιεύειν τιμαῖς καὶ θεοπρεπέσι καὶ πανδήμοις πανηγύρεσι μακαρίζειν. (‘It is good and just and befitting also with honours to honour through words and make known publicly the struggles and achievements of the athletes of virtue and of the champions of piety, and to pronounce blessed [their struggles and achievements] with god-befitting and public panegyreis’.), Life of Elias the Younger 1, lines 1-5. See also Rossi Taibbi’s note in Rossi Taibbi (1962), p. 5, note 3. Elias’ feast day is on 17th of August. The Life of Elias Speleotes, probably written in the second half of the tenth century, mentions a celebration of Elias the Younger’s feast day in 960, when Elias Speleotes went to the monastery at Salinas to pray at the saint’s grave. See entry for Elias der Jüngere in Lilie et al. (2013d) (= PmBZ 21639). See also a chapter on panegyreis, in which Max Ritter provides evidence for the occurrence of speeches being held at these festivals in addition to markets and other elements that could be part of such celebrations in honour of saints (these events potentially mixed economical, social and spiritual aspects, although not necessarily all panegyreis would encompass all these elements): Ritter (2019a), pp. 139–152. 525 Ritter (2019a), pp. 139–152. 526 On the instigation of Patriarch John IX Agapetos (1111-1134) a ‘panegyrical market’ in honour of Justinian was held at Constantinople, but it is not clear if this was a recurrent affair at the capital. For references to sources on panegyreis at these cites, see Ibid., p. 142. 527 Although markets etc. possibly accompanied panegyreis, this was not necessarily the case. Ibid., p. 139. 528 Ἐπὶ τὴν διήγησιν ἥκω, φέρων ὑμῖν καρποὺς ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ὑπὸ θαυμαστοῦ γεωργοῦ, ἄνω βλέποντος καὶ τὸν Καρποδότην ἐπικαλουμένου· λέγω δὴ τοῦ νῦν ἡμῖν εἰς εὐφημίαν προκειμένου εὐεργετοῦντος πνευμα-τικοῦ πατρός. (‘I have arrived to the narrative, bringing for your benefit the fruits of good labour by the astounding garderner, who looks upwards and who invokes the Yielder of Fruit: I mean the good-doing inspired father who now lies before us to be praised [by us]’.) Life of Elias the Younger 1, lines 26-30. 529 For Elias’ death in Thessaloniki, initial burial and rituals surrounding his funeral at St George in Thessaloniki, the translation of the relics to the Calabrian monastery, people visiting his tomb and experiencing post-humous miracles, and imperial donations to the monastery, see Life of Elias the Younger 70-75. 3
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