Anthemius (or Anthemios) was the archbishop of Cyprus in the late 5th century.

As archbishop of Cyprus, Anthemius was the metropolitan bishop over the island with his see at Salamis-Constantia.[1]

Anthemius resisted the efforts of the non-Chalcedonian patriarch of Antioch, Peter the Fuller, to restore his patriarchal authority on Cyprus. In the process, he discovered what he claimed were the relics of Saint Barnabas, buried with a copy of the Gospel of Matthew.[1] This served to prove that the church of Cyprus was of apostolic foundation.[2] According to the Laudatio Barnabae, written around 550, Anthemius saw Barnabas in a dream three nights in a row and the saint told him where he lay buried beneath a carob tree. After discovering the saint's body, Anthemius went to Constantinople.[3] He gave the gospel to the Emperor Zeno, who had the patriarch of Constantinople summon a synod to rule in favour of Cyprus against Antioch.[2]

In 488, Zeno confirmed the Cypriot church's autocephaly and financed the construction of a church to hold Barnabas's relics.[1] Many local notables contributed to the construction, which was begun immediately.[4] This first building was a pilgrimage church and probably served as a stopover for many on the way to Jerusalem.[5] The remains of this building are today a part of the monastery of Saint Barnabas.[6]

As the gospel that Anthemius gave to Zeno was a codex, it could not have been an authentic 1st-century copy.[2] There are, however, different interpretations of the fraud.[7] Michael Metcalf sees Anthemius as the deceiver (and Zeno the dupe) in a game of high politics with the patriarch of Antioch.[2] Glen Bowersock, on the other hand, sees Zeno and Anthemius as working together to resolve a dispute the emperor was equally interested in resolving.[8]

The claim that Zeno granted Anthemius regalian privileges is found in nothing earlier than the 16th-century works of Florio Bustron, who may have invented it.[9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Loverance 2018a.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Metcalf 2009, pp. 308–309.
  3. ↑ Cosby 2021, pp. 95–96.
  4. ↑ Cosby 2021, pp. 98–99.
  5. ↑ Metcalf 2009, p. 310.
  6. ↑ Loverance 2018b.
  7. ↑ Cosby 2021, p. 97.
  8. ↑ Cosby 2021, pp. 97–98.
  9. ↑ Huffman 2015, p. 250.

Bibliography

  • Bowersock, G. W. (2000). The International Role of Late Antique Cyprus. Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
  • Cosby, Michael R. (2021). Creation of History, Second Edition: The Transformation of Barnabas from Peacemaker to Warrior Saint (2nd ed.). Wipf and Stock.
  • Huffman, Joseph P. (2015). "The Donation of Zeno: St. Barnabas and the Origins of the Cypriot Archbishop's Regalia Privileges". Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 66 (2): 1–26. doi:10.1017/S0022046914002073.
  • Loverance, Rowena K. (2018). "Anthemius (5th cent.)". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Volume 1: A–I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-19-881624-9.
  • Loverance, Rowena K. (2018). "Barnabas, Monastery of S.". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Volume 1: A–I. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-19-881624-9.
  • Metcalf, David Michael (2009). Byzantine Cyprus, 491–1191. Cyprus Research Centre.
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