Xynoris

Saint Xynoris is a fictional Christian saint who was created through a mistranslation.^[1][2] The saint was inadvertently fabricated by Caesar Baronius when he mistranslated the notes of John Chrysostom while chronicling the oppression of Christians under Roman Emperor Julian.^[3][4]

Mistranslation and creation

In his writings on the martyrdom of Saint Juventinus and Saint Maximinus, Cardinal Caesar Baronius described a "couple" of martyrs in Antioch, which he derived from the works of Saint Chrysostom, who used the Greek word Ζεύγος (couple or pair) to describe the two.^[3][1] This word (which is in fact an apellative noun) was incorrectly translated by Baronius into the name new name Xynoris, leading the Cardinal to declare that a female Christian had been martyred in Antioch alongside the two men.^[5][6] 25 January was the feast date assigned to the saint.^[7]

Baronius' error was later discovered and corrected, but the mistake was recorded as an example of mistranslation in books such as Henry B. Wheatley's History of Human Error.^[5][7]