And on that same festival the church was dedicated by him and called Anastasis. And he was buried, as some assert, in the aforementioned Ursiana church, also called Anastasis, which he built, in front of the altar under a porphyry stone, where the bishop stands when he sings the mass.7 Because of this, after a short time his sanctity shone forth, and in mosaic on the upper wall of the apse of blessed Apollinaris his name is written “Holy Ursus,” together with his image.8 He sat twenty-six years, __ months, __ days. CONCERNING HOLY PETER I, C. 431–50 . Peter, the seventeenth bishop, a most saintly man, with a slender body, a tall stature, lean in appearance, with a long beard. From the time of blessed Apollinaris up to this man, all his predecessors were from Syria.1 He was the founder of the Petriana church, building the external walls all around but not completing everything. No church like it in construction was larger, either in length or in height; and it was greatly adorned with precious stones and decorated with multicolored mosaics and greatly endowed with gold and silver and . Gerola, “Il valore della frase ‘ante altare,’” considers the meaning of the phrase “in front of the altar [ante altare] .l.l. where the bishop stands,” and compares it with similar phrases in cc. , , , , . Gerola concludes that ante altare means on the congregation’s side of the altar, while post altare means between the altar and the apse. Thus, in the ninth century, the bishop stood with his back to the congregation when performing the mass. .The image of Ursus still survives in Sant’ Apollinare in Classe, on the apse wall at the level of the windows. z . “From the time .l.l. from Syria” in imitation of the Roman LP, in which the national or regional origin of each pope is given.This Peter is the first bishop of Ravenna with this name; he reigned in the s and s and was the famous sermon-writer and saint who is known as Chrysologus (on the life and works of Peter Chrysologus, see Olivar, Sermones; Olivar, Sancti Petri Chrysologi collectio sermonum; and Benericetti, Il Cristo nei sermoni). Agnellus confuses the chronology of the fifth-century bishops and identifies Peter II (cc. –) as Chrysologus. with holy vessels, which he ordered to be made.They say that there an image of the Savior was depicted over the main door, the like of which no man could see in pictures; it was so very beautiful and lifelike that the Son of God himself in the flesh would not have disliked it, when he preached to the nations.2 . However I want you to know what I heard about the abovementioned holy image of our Lord from individual elders, both ordinary people and priests, just as they had it handed down from their own elders. Not only is it known to me, I who wish to write this book of bishops, but also to others of my fellow disciples and brothers, we who have been raised in the bosom of the holy Ursiana church.3 There was a certain spiritual father in the wilderness, and he daily besought the Lord to show him the form of His incarnation. When after much time in such prayer he grew exhausted in the weariness of his soul, there stood before him by night a man in white garments, wearing an angelic habit, who said to him, “Behold your prayer is answered and I have seen your labor. Rise, go to the city which is called Classe, and seek there the Petriana church; and when you have entered there, look above the doors of that church in the narthex; there you will see me depicted in plaster on the wall, as I was in flesh in the world.” Then the hermit, filled with great joy, happy and rejoicing at hearing the word, left the wilderness, and two lions accompanied him. And rising, after a lengthy journey over land he arrived at the city of Classe, and when he had entered the aforementioned church together with the lions, long wailing and praying he began to search for the holy image on the walls. After he had not found it, he came to the place where it had been revealed to him while . In c. Agnellus tells of the destruction of the Petriana in an earthquake; this picture was therefore destroyed before Agnellus’s day. For...