Babylas of Antioch

About Babylas of Antioch

Babylas led the Christian community of Antioch before dying in prison during the persecution under Emperor Decius. Eusebius records that he succeeded Zebinus as bishop and maintained his confession of faith in captivity. His account names Fabius as the next bishop, preserving a small but important outline of Babylas's place in the community.

Much of the story told about Babylas concerns a confrontation at a church door. John Chrysostom remembers him standing firmly against an emperor, but does not name that ruler. Eusebius separately reports that an unnamed church leader required Emperor Philip to join the penitents before entering the Easter gathering. The identification of that leader with Babylas belongs to the later reconstruction of his story, not to Eusebius's wording.

The Orthodox Church in America's received life gives the confrontation a different setting, naming Decius. It also remembers Babylas with three boys whom he had taught, Urban, Prilidian, and Epolonius, and their mother Christodoula. That account ends in execution, whereas the earlier history describes death in prison. These traditions express the community's remembrance of faithful resistance; they do not supply a secure childhood or an exact death date.

Babylas's remembrance continued long after his death. Chrysostom describes the removal of his relics from Daphne under Julian and the crowds who welcomed them back with joy. He pictures people of different ages gathering along the road as though receiving a father home again. The same homily attributes the failure of Apollo's oracle and the burning of its sanctuary to divine intervention. Those are the preacher's religious interpretation of the episode. The gathering around Babylas's remains shows how a bishop whose surviving life story is brief could remain a cherished presence in Antioch's worship.

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Prayers for Babylas of Antioch