(BEGINNING OF 5TH CENT.)
[Commemorated in the Latin Martyrologies on this day, but by the
Greeks on Jan. 4th. Her life, written by one who lived at the same
time, is given by Metaphrastes. This life represents her as
daughter of Anthemius, the Emperor. Metaphrastes concludes, but
wrongly, that she was daughter of Anthemius, who was appointed
Emperor of the West by Leo I. But it appears more probable that she
was the daughter of Anthemius, consular prefect of the city, who
acted as regent after the death of Arcadius, during the minority of
Theodosius the younger. This Anthemius was grandfather of the
Emperor Anthemius. It is quite possible that the regent may have
received imperial honours. The narrative in one place, speaking of
the expedition of Apollinaris to the Holy Land, says, "A few days
after, when we had found companions, we went on to the Holy City.
And when, at a certain place, we turned aside, on account of our
burdens, and the slaves and serving maids who were with us, we
rested awhile." This is the only allusion to himself made by the
writer, and it is so casual, that it is difficult not to regard it
as an evidence of the authenticity of the piece. The story is,
however, so much like a romance, and is open to so many critical
objections, that it is difficult to accept it exactly as it is.]
Saint Apollinaris, called from her high rank Syncletica, was the
daughter of Anthemius. She had a sister of a different spirit from
herself. The parents of Apollinaris desired to unite her in marriage, at
an early age, to some wealthy noble, but she manifested such a fixed
resolution to remain single, that they yielded to her wish. In her heart
she desired to retire completely from the world; having heard of the
wondrous lives of the recluses in Egypt, she longed greatly to see and
imitate them. Her parents having consented to her making a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, she visited the holy places, and in Jerusalem she liberated
all the slaves who had been sent to bear her company, and dismissed them
with liberal gifts, retaining in her service only an eunuch and an old
man to prepare her tent. In Jerusalem, she bribed an aged woman to
procure for her, secretly, the habit of a recluse, and this she kept by
her for a proper moment. On her way back she visited the tomb of S.
Meria, on the Egyptian coast; and after prayer retired to her sleeping
tent, when she assumed the monastic habit, and cast aside her worldly
dress, with all its ornaments. Then, in the night, when the two men were
asleep without, she stole from her tent, and fled into the desert, and
took refuge in a morass. Next morning the servants were filled with
consternation, and sought her everywhere in vain. Then they appeared
before the governor of the city Lemna (?) where they were; and he
assisted in the search, but all was in vain; so the governor sent a
letter to the parents of Apollinaris, with her clothes and baggage,
narrating the circumstances. Anthemius and his wife wept when they heard
of the loss of their daughter, but consoled themselves with the belief
that she had entered some community of religious women.
However, S. Apollinaris made her way into the desert of Scété, where
lived S. Macarius of Alexandria, at the head of a large monastery of
recluses in cells and caves. Apollinaris, having cut off her hair, and
being much tanned by exposure to the sun, and wasted with hunger in the
marsh, where she had lived on a few dates, passed as a man, and was
supposed, from being beardless, to be an eunuch. She spent many years
there under the name of Dorotheus. Now it fell out that her sister,
being grievously tormented with a devil, Anthemius bethought himself on
sending her to Macarius to be healed, for the fame of his miracles had
spread far and wide. But when the young girl was brought to Macarius,
the aged abbot, moved by some interior impulse, conducted her to
Dorotheus, and bade him heal the possessed by prayer. Then S.
Apollinaris earnestly, and with many tears, besought Macarius not to
tempt her thus, for God had not given to her the gift of performing
miracles. Nevertheless he persisted; then the possessed woman was shut
into the cell of Dorotheus for several days, that he might, by prayer
and fasting, cast the demon forth. And when, after a while, the virgin
seemed to be healed, she was restored to the attendants, who conducted
her to her parents with great joy.
Some months after, the maiden suffered from an attack of dropsy, and the
parents, in shame and grief, supposing her to be pregnant, questioned
her closely thereabout. But she could not account for her size, and when
they pressed her more vehemently, moved by the evil spirit, she declared
that Dorotheus, the hermit, had seduced her. On hearing this, Anthemius
sent to Scété, that Dorotheus should be brought before him. The holy
congregation was filled with horror and dismay on hearing the charge,
and they went with one accord and cried to God to put away from them so
grievous a reproach. Then said Dorotheus, "Be of good courage, my
brethren, the Lord will reveal my innocence." And when she was brought
before Anthemius, she said, "I am your daughter, Apollinaris." Then they
fell on her neck and wept, and she prayed to God, and kissed her sister,
and the Lord heard her cry, and healed the damsel of her disease. And
after having tarried with them a few days, she returned to the desert
once more.