ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 discusses several Byzantine manuscripts and versions, where the Martyrdom of Irenaeus of Sirmium was transformed to corroborate contemporary political and religious situations. The martyrdom text was employed as a “usable past.” The chapter delves into what it looked like when medieval communities and individuals shaped the transformations of hagiographical texts. Sometimes, the general aim of the collections influenced the transformation of single texts. The Imperial Menologia, discussed in this chapter, were used by society’s highest echelons. They promoted the martyrdom past in the political and religious contexts of eleventh-century Byzantium. Other subplots of the narrative were developed at other times, such as when Irenaeus suffered martyrdom with two other saints or when his posthumous relics performed healing miracles.
