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The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: Malchus buying bread
Glencairn Museum
Bryn Athyn, United States
This panel from the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus window of the nave aisle of Rouen Cathedral portrays a single episode from the legend. Malchus, after miraculously sleeping for almost two centuries in a cave with other Christian converts, is seized as he attempts to buy bread from a baker with an antique coin. Another panel from this window is in the collection of Glencairn Museum (03.SG.51). (See External Link.)
Sources:
- Michael W. Cothren, “Seven Sleepers and Seven Kneelers: Three Thirteenth-Century Stained-Glass Panels from Rouen,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 3, 2019.
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Details
- Title: The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: Malchus buying bread
- Location Created: Rouen Cathedral, France
- Physical Dimensions: Height: 63.5 cm. (25 in.); width, 59.7 cm. (23 1/2 in.)
- External Link: https://glencairnmuseum.org/newsletter/2019/4/23/seven-sleepers-and-seven-kneelers-three-thirteenth-century-stained-glass-panels-from-rouen
- Medium: Stained glass
- Further Information: “The story of the Seven Sleepers takes place during a turbulent period of Christian persecution under the Roman emperor Decius, when seven nobles in his court were converted to Christianity while the emperor was in Ephesus. To escape the emperor’s retribution, these new converts sought refuge in a cave outside the city. One of them, Malchus, was chosen to sneak regularly into Ephesus to buy food and listen for news of Decius’s persecutions. Later, when the Imperial court returned to Ephesus and learned of the continuing Christian piety of the seven, they prayed to God for protection. Their prayer was answered when they were put into a deep sleep, just as Decius’s soldiers closed the opening to their cave with huge stones to seal their fate as martyrs. As the years passed, the existence of the cave was forgotten, and the seven continued their sleep uninterrupted for almost two centuries. One day during the reign of the Christian emperor Theodosius II, a shepherd, seeking building stones, unknowingly uncovered the mouth of the cave, awakening the Seven Sleepers. Malchus, as if getting up from a single night’s slumber, departed for his daily search for provisions and food. Ephesus, now a Christian city, was much transformed. When he tried to buy food with what was then an antique coin minted under Decius, Malchus was led before the bishop and proconsul because the Ephesian merchant was suspicious. Upon hearing his story, both sacred and secular authorities followed Malchus to the cave to witness the survival of his six companions, and the astonished bishop and proconsul sent messengers to inform the emperor of what had transpired. Theodosius traveled to Ephesus to venerate the Seven, who, after talking to him, fell once more into sleep.” (Michael W. Cothren, “Seven Sleepers and Seven Kneelers: Three Thirteenth-Century Stained-Glass Panels from Rouen,” _Glencairn Museum News_, Number 3, 2019.)
- Date: Circa 1200-1203
- Collection: Medieval
- Accession Number: 03.SG.49
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