ON THE HOLY SISTERS, AGAPE, CHIONIA, AND IRENE, Virgins and Martyrs of Thessalonica.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Agape, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint) Chionia, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint) Irene, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint)
BY G. H.
§ I. Ancient Latin Acts of the martyrdom, and Greek Acts by Metaphrastes. Sacred cult in the Latin and Greek calendars.
The cult of Saints Chrysogonus and Anastasia, once famous, Among the more ancient Martyrs, there were, while they lived, united by the greatest bond of charity, Saints Chrysogonus and Anastasia; who, stirred up also by mutual letters, remained constant in the faith of Christ amid the most grievous persecutions of Diocletian: and when Saint Chrysogonus was summoned from the Roman prison by the said Emperor to Aquileia, Saint Anastasia followed, and there long afterward, after his martyrdom, she remained. Both were afterwards honored with an eminent veneration, and were inscribed in all the ancient sacred calendars, Greek as well as Latin; indeed, what has happened to few Saints, both are inserted in the Canon of the Mass, and their sacred memory is daily renewed by all Priests. Also among the more ancient churches of the city of Rome, to which titles were once attached, the second was that of Saint Chrysogonus beyond the Tiber, and the fourth that of Saint Anastasia below the Palatine. This so ancient and so solemn veneration of these Saints had either its origin, or at least its growth, from a most certain knowledge of their virtues and martyrdom, which was drawn from the Acts, and ancient Acts, which were at that time in the hands of all. We have them in very many manuscript codices with this beginning: "We read that Anastasia, daughter of Praetextatus, a distinguished man, was educated by Chrysogonus, a most Christian man." Inserted in these Acts are the deeds and martyrdoms of the holy Virgin sisters Agape, with the martyrdom of these Virgins, Chionia, and Irene, of whom we are now to treat; and of Saint Theodota and her three sons,
whose birthday falls on August 11.
[2] In subsequent ages these were very widely scattered through the Christian world, and from those parts which concern Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene, in the year of Christ 692 Saint Aldhelm, afterwards Bishop of Sherborne, transcribed an excellent elogium, also described by Saint Aldhelm. and inserted it in his little work On the Praise of Virgins, chapter XI; and afterward rendered it in verse, in book 2 likewise On the Praise of Virgins, chapter 43. At the same time the Venerable Bede flourished in England, somewhat younger than Saint Aldhelm; who in his Martyrology, which we published as genuine from eight ancient MSS at the beginning of the second volume of March, elogia drawn from them by Bede: formed illustrious elogia from the Acts already mentioned. Of these the first may be reckoned what he composed on December 25 concerning Saint Anastasia. In the other, which is found concerning Saint Chrysogonus on November 24, these words are read at the end: "Written in the passion of Saint Anastasia." Anastasia, Chrysogonus, Theodota, The third, which is read on the 2nd day of August, is of this sort: "On the same day, the birth into heaven of Saint Theodota with her three sons, in the province of Bithynia, in the city of Nicaea, in the time of Diocletian, under Count Leocadius: who sent her, bound in iron with her sons, to Nicetius, Consular of Bithynia. But he first caused Euodius, her firstborn son, who boldly confessed Christ, to be beaten with clubs; then her with all her sons to be consumed by fire. Written in the passion of Saint Anastasia."
[3] Thus far concerning others, whose elogia are drawn from the said Acts: now let us come to the holy Virgins. Two of them are adorned by Bede with this encomium: Agape and Chionia, "On the Kalends of April: At Thessalonica, the birth into heaven of Agape and Chionia, under Diocletian: who, first tormented in prison, afterwards were cast into the fire; but untouched by the flames, after pouring out a prayer to God, they gave up their souls." Then the third is celebrated in these words: "On the Nones of April. At Thessalonica, the birth into heaven of Irene, who after enduring prison and interrogations, and Saint Irene, was pierced with an arrow by Sisinnius the Count: under whom also her sisters Agape and Chionia were martyred." Thus far the genuine Martyrology of Bede; with which, on the Kalends of April concerning the two Sisters, Rabanus and Ado agree, Rabanus, Ado, Usuard agree, in the Morinian and Liège MSS of Saint Laurence. Likewise two MSS of Christina, Queen of Sweden, and two of Trier—of Saint Martin and Saint Maximin—and the Utrecht MS of Saint Mary, and various others; and on this third day of April, Usuard, Ado as printed by Mosander and Rosweyd, Notker, Notker, and others. Bellinus, and others. The same, with a few additions, is read thus in the present-day Roman Martyrology: "At Thessalonica, the passion of the holy Virgins Agape and Chionia, under the Emperor Diocletian: who, when they refused to deny Christ, were first tormented in prison, afterwards cast into the fire, but, untouched by the flames, there, having poured forth a prayer to the Lord, gave up their souls." and they call the three sisters Virgins, Thus they are called Virgins in very many ancient MSS on April 1 and 3; before whom Saint Jerome went before in his Martyrology on April 5, where these words are read: "At Thessalonica, the birth into heaven of the holy Virgins Chionia, Herena, and Agapa." For the rest, what we have given from Bede concerning Saint Irene, the same things are handed down by Usuard, Ado, Bellinus, and everywhere in the MS calendars. Rabanus, with a few additions, has these words: "On the Nones: At Thessalonica, the birth into heaven of Irene, who after enduring prison, amid prayers, was pierced with an arrow by Sisinnius the Count, under whom also her sisters Agape and Chionia were martyred: who by the aforesaid Prefect, although they were cast into the fire, yet unharmed by it, entreating the Lord, gave up the spirit." Notker adds very many things from the Acts, which are reported below in number 3, concerning Dulcitius shut up among the pots and blackened.
[4] We omit to bring forward the other Martyrologies that agree with these; since from those already reported the sincere antiquity of that history is splendidly confirmed, later writers follow: which is found concerning the Martyrdom of Saint Anastasia and the Martyrs hitherto mentioned, and which, abbreviated here and there, Vincent of Beauvais in book 12 of the Speculum historiale, chapter 58 and the eight following; Saint Antoninus in part I of the Histories, title 6, chapter 1, §14; Peter de Natalibus in book 1 chapter 11, book 4 chapters 27 and 32, book 7 chapter 14, and book 10 chapter 11, and more recent writers generally, have published. We have the same Acts from very ancient codices: the Fulda, the Trier MS of Saint Martin, those of the monasteries of Bonifons, Budec, and Rouge-Val; likewise the one of the Most Serene Christina of Sweden, and other of ours; Acts from MSS. but nowhere have we found Anastasius the Librarian set forth as their author in the title, as Baronius indicated in his Notes on December 25, asserting that he has the same Acts in an ancient manuscript codex and that they are extant in Mombritius, and Mombritius. with which we also have compared the same. Molanus in the additions to Usuard admits that the same Acts are found with some preface of Anastasius the Librarian. But that Prologue is general for absolutely all the Lives of Saints occurring throughout the year; which, because the ancients used to begin on December 25, the first Acts after the said preface were the already mentioned ones of Saint Anastasia. This is the beginning of the Preface. A general Preface prefixed before all the Acts. "All things which have been or are being done by the Saints, if anyone wishes diligently to search them out, he presents to himself and to very many the fruit of edification… We write as we have found in the deeds, what the Saints did, what they spoke, what they suffered." Whether then the said preface was by Anastasius the Librarian, whose name we have nowhere found placed there, or by another, and perhaps some ages later, we gather from it nothing else than that a collection of ancient Acts was faithfully made in the Legendaries, once written for the use of Churches and preserved up to the present. And let these things concerning the Latin Acts and the cult of these Virgins, expressed also in the Latin calendars, suffice.
[5] The Greek Acts by Metaphrastes nearly agree, Among the Greeks there are extant the same Acts of all these Martyrs, which we have already shown existed among the Latins almost from the very time of the martyrdom. This is their beginning in Greek: Ἀναστασία γυναικῶν ἡ καλλίστη, Ῥώμης τῆς περιδόξου φυτὸν, γένους δὲ περιφανείᾳ. Which words Leo Allatius cites in his Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons, page 124, and judges these Acts marked with the proper style of Metaphrastes. They are rendered into Latin by Gentian Hervet, and published by Lipomanus in volume 5 on December 22, with this beginning: "Anastasia, most beautiful of women, was born in renowned Rome, and in splendor of lineage," etc. They are extant, transcribed by Surius on December 25; and they are the same that were long ago recited in the Latin Church. The portions in them which concern these three Virgins, as they are named by Metaphrastes, we have compared with the Latin, and make some observations in the Notes. The Greeks in the printed and MS Menaia, likewise in Maximus of Cythera and the new Anthology, and an extract in the Menaia, celebrate with solemn veneration Saint Anastasia on the said December 22, and with her Saint Chrysogonus and Saint Theodota with her sons. But between Chrysogonus and Theodota, in the Menology of the Emperor Basil, the contest of the holy women is placed in these words, and the Menology of Emperor Basil. "Of Irene, Agape, and Chionia. Chrysogonus, having had his head cut off for the name of Christ, after his martyrdom appeared in sleep to a certain Zoilus, a servant of God; and foretold him that Irene, Agape, and Chionia, the sisters, who inhabited the same pool as himself, within nine days would go down into the noble contest together with Anastasia. When Saint Anastasia had heard these things, following Chrysogonus, she met those sisters, and served them. Diocletian therefore, when they had been apprehended, handed them over to the Prefect of the region to torture. And again another Prefect, named Sisinnius, having tortured Agape and Chionia, consumed them with fire; but Irene he finished with the sword" (in Greek μετὰ σπαθίου). Saint Irene dies pierced by an arrow. Thus there, as they are published by Ughelli at the end of volume six of Italia Sacra; the same things are read in the Greek Menaia, the Anthology, and in Maximus of Cythera on April 16, and at the end these things are more accurately set forth: τὴν δὲ ἁγίαν Εἰρήνην, εἷς τῶν στρατιωτῶν, τὸ τόξον αὐτοῦ τείνας, καὶ βέλος πέμψας κατ᾿ αὐτῆς, τῷ τέλει παρέδωκε. "And the holy Irene—one of the soldiers, having drawn his bow and sent an arrow against her—delivered over to death." In the Clermont and Mazarin MSS the same things are found on the preceding day, the 15th. In the added Odes they are chiefly praised for their virginity, and are called Παρθένοι νεανίδες, Younger Virgins; and the holy Agape and Chionia are celebrated as Martyrs made by fire: Εἰρήνη τε πρὸς οὐρανοὺς διὰ βέλους τρωθεῖσα ἀνέδραμεν. "And Irene, pierced with an arrow, ran up into the heavens"; which same things are set forth in an adjoined distich:
Βέλος σε πέμπει πρὸς τὸν εἰρήνης τόπον Ἀφ᾿ αἱμάτων σῶν ἐκμεθυσθὲν Εἰρήνη.
An arrow sends thee to the place of peace, Inebriated, Irene, with thine own blood.
§ II. The Greek Acts of a later writer examined. Errors of others detected.
[6] We have thus far deduced these things widely from the ancient Latin and Greek Acts, The Greek Acts found at Grottaferrata, Martyrologies, and Menaia, before proceeding to other Acts, afterwards composed in Greek: which, found in the monastery of Grottaferrata in the territory of Tusculum, and rendered into Latin by William Sirleto, are extant in Lipomanus, volume 7, part 2, and Surius on the Kalends of April. Baronius in his Notes on April 3, and in the Annals at the year 304, number XL, judged them to be sincere and pure, as written word for word by the Notaries who took them down, praised by Baronius, where he calls them "Proconsular Acts" and "worthy to be inserted word for word into the Annals"; after reporting them, he adds in number 48, "That these Acts are genuine, the prudent reader will easily judge." We confess that we greatly value his judgment, yet cannot everywhere agree; being led to the contrary by arguments of no small weight: especially since everything said in commendation of these Acts agrees rather with the others praised above. For the rest, Baronius ascribes those Acts of his to Metaphrastes by the common error, by which absolutely all Greek Acts of Saints, especially if their author is unknown, wrongly attributed to Metaphrastes: are usually ascribed to him; against which error Leo Allatius inveighs at length in the above-cited Diatribe on the writings of the Simeons, where, on page 76, he has these words: "Men well deserving of ecclesiastical antiquity have claimed for Simeon (not without the mark of error and ignorance) all the Lives of Saints which do not bear an author inscribed upon them, which are truly not of Simeon." And on page 124 he brings forward a table in which some Lives composed by Metaphrastes himself, about which indeed no one has doubted, are arranged in order: and among
those he reckons the Acts of Saint Anastasia, into which the martyrdom of Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene is inserted; but their own proper Acts, such as we have said were published from the Grottaferrata codex, he does not admit among the Lives composed by Metaphrastes; nor could he admit them among them, since they are plainly discrepant from those which the same Metaphrastes wrote in the Acts of Saint Anastasia, and from the truth itself.
[7] The Judge who condemned these Virgins to martyrdom is Count Sisinnius, the successor to the deposed Governor Dulcitius under Diocletian. In them the Judge Sisinnius is omitted, But of Sisinnius, mentioned with the greatest consensus by Metaphrastes and in the Latin Acts, Martyrologies, and Menaia, no mention is made in the Acts of Grottaferrata, but everything is attributed to the same Dulcitius or Dulcetius by the hasty compiler of those Acts: by whom they are said to have taken their origin from the city of Thessalonica; whereas the Latin Acts and Metaphrastes hand down that they had their dwelling near Aquileia with the Presbyter Zoilus, the Aquileian dwelling and captivity, and that they were assisted there by Saint Anastasia while they were shut up in prison; from there afterwards they were taken away into Macedonia, and at Thessalonica were crowned with martyrdom. All these things were neglected by the writer of Grottaferrata, who also hands down that Irene threw herself into the fire, although by the consent of all others it is clear the martyrdom is wrongly indicated: that she was pierced with an arrow, without any mention of fire or pyre. Nor is the martyrdom of Saints Agape and Chionia rightly described, who, unharmed by the fire, poured out a prayer to God and gave up the spirit; whereas the writer of Grottaferrata has them consumed by fire. We judge that some centuries after Metaphrastes, These Acts are not here published he composed his history of these Martyrs from ill-patched Acts, and perhaps Latin ones. We therefore give the ancient Latin Acts, omitting these Greek ones, which may be read in Lipomanus, Surius, and Baronius; and we leave our judgment to the discretion of the readers. Saint Irene is venerated separately on April 5, and by Bede, Usuard, Ado, and the others—as Baronius observes in the Notes to that day—she is said to have been "pierced by an arrow by Sisinnius the Count, under whom also her sisters Agape and Chionia were martyred." Meanwhile such an elogium is formed in the modern Roman Martyrology: "At Thessalonica, of Saint Irene, Virgin, who, when she had concealed the sacred books against the edict of Diocletian, after enduring prison was pierced with an arrow and burned with fire, by order of Dulcetius the Governor, under whom also her sisters Agape and Chionia had suffered before together." Thus there. The inquiry concerning the books is said below in the Acts, number 5, to have been made by Sisinnius the Count, not before Saint Irene, but before her sisters Agape and Chionia; and seems better omitted by all the other Martyrologists. Concerning the stroke of the arrow, the later Acts of Grottaferrata are silent, as are the ancient Greek and Latin Acts concerning the fire; whether these have been rightly combined now by Baronius, let others judge.
[8] Galesinius wrongly writes that they suffered at Rome: Galesinius, following the tables of the Cathedral basilica of Bergamo, published this elogium, not without errors, on April 3: "At Rome, of the holy Virgins and Martyrs Agape, Chionia, and Irenia, who, under the Emperor Diocletian, first almost consumed in chains by wasting, afterward cast into the flame, and in no way harmed by the force of fire, having made prayers to God, passed over into heaven." The occasion for the error was given by Peter de Natalibus, book 4, chapter 27, with this beginning: "Agape, Chionia, and Irene suffered in the city in the time of Diocletian under Count Sisinnius." But since the rest in that chapter and then chapter 32 are abridged from the Acts to be given shortly, we suspect that he wrote or meant to write, "in the city of Thessalonica." Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy celebrates these three sisters on April 5, and with a new error hands down that they were put to death and buried at Aquileia, citing before the rest the Menology of the Greeks compiled by Sirleto, in which these things are found on April 16: "Of the holy women, Irene, Agape, and Chionia, who under the Emperor Diocletian suffered for the confession of Christ: and Ferrarius at Aquileia: at which time Chrysogonus the Martyr was struck with the sword by the same Emperor." Thus there, without any mention of the city of Aquileia, in which Saint Chrysogonus died a Martyr, and afterwards these Virgins were indeed arrested, but then taken away into Macedonia and crowned with martyrdom at Thessalonica. The same Ferrarius in his Notes opines that other Virgins of the same name suffered at Aquileia, others at Thessalonica, and thus gave occasion to some to ascribe the birthday of these Virgins to Spain, in the recently fabricated fragments of Eutrandus or Luitprand, and printed at Madrid in 1635; in which, in number 177, these words are inserted: as others from Spain by origin. "The Virgin Irene brought from Spain to Thessalonica a great multitude of sacred books (for she was, as is believed, of Illiberis), and hid them; in the year 304 she suffered at Thessalonica on April 5." Hence Tamayo Salazar inscribed in the Hispanic Martyrology Saints Agape and Chionia on April 3, and Saint Irene on April 5 of the same month; and he strives by many arguments to prove that three other sisters of this name suffered at Aquileia, and others, who had been of Illiberis, died martyrs at Thessalonica. But in refuting these things neither time nor labor ought to be spent, and things built without foundation of themselves collapse.
[9] Churches of Saint Irene at Constantinople. Baronius, in the Notes on the elogium of Saint Irene, observes that in honor of Saint Irene the Martyr a famous church was raised at Constantinople. George Codinus, On the Origins of Constantinople, page 38 in the Louvre edition, asserts that Constantine the Great built the old church of Saint Irene, in Greek Ἀνήγειρε τὴν ἁγίαν Εἰρήνην τὴν παλαιάν; and on page 45 he hands down that the Emperor Marcian founded and completed the church of Saint Irene at the ferry, since it had before been a temple of idols. But the Emperor Justinian built the church of Irene the Martyr, situated at the very mouth of the Gulf, most spacious, so that at Byzantium, except for the church of Sophia, it yielded to no other in size, as Procopius hands down in book 1 On his Buildings, chapters 2 and 7. Which church, again consumed by fire, Manuel Comnenus undertook to restore, These seem to be of the Saint Irene venerated on May 5. as Nicetas Choniates attests in book 7 of his Annals, chapter 2. Peter Gyllius in the Topography of Constantinople adds a third church of Saint Irene. But since no mention is made of her sisters Agape and Chionia, we judge that it is of the Μεγαλομάρτυρα Εἰρήνην, whom the Greeks pursue with most solemn veneration on the fifth day of May; and on the same day at Aletinum in the Hydruntine province of the Kingdom of Naples, they venerate her as the chief Patroness of their city, as will then be more fully said. That the sacred bodies of these Virgins are preserved at Rome in the church of Saint Anastasia, Are the bodies of these at Rome, and relics of Saint Irene at Bologna? Octavius Pancirolus, in the Hidden Treasure of the City, region 9, church 35, hints is believed by some. At Bologna in the church of Saint James Major, on this day Saint Irene is held in some veneration, because some relics of hers are preserved there, as Masini hands down in Bononia perlustrata. We fear these relics may be of some Martyr recently brought out from the Roman crypts, not of her of whom we are speaking.
§ III. The year and day of the martyrdom of these three Virgins.
[10] There still remains another controversy concerning the time of the martyrdom of these Virgins, which the writer of the Acts of Grottaferrata thus indicates: "Saint Irene was consummated in the ninth consulship of Diocletian Augustus, and the eighth of Maximian Augustus, on the Kalends of April," that is, on the very day and year in which they laid aside the purple, Diocletian at Nicomedia and Maximian at Milan; these Virgins suffered, not in the year 304, whereas in the preceding year they had begun a cruel persecution, when Diocletian, as Eusebius attests in book 8, chapter 5, was likewise at Nicomedia, and that he remained there that year we gather from the oration of Constantine the Great to the assembly of the Saints, chapter 25, where it is said that after that persecution began, the palace of Nicomedia, in which he was dwelling, burned down; and indeed that he was somewhat deprived of his right mind, so that the writer of the Acts of Grottaferrata seems, by a common error, to have had in view that cruel persecution begun in the year 303, as if before that year no Martyrs had been crowned under Diocletian. But just as it is certain by the testimony of all the Latins that Saint Irene was killed not on the Kalends, but on the Nones of April, so with the same we assert that these Virgins were crowned with martyrdom in the third consulship of Maximian but in the year 290 and the fourth of Diocletian, or in the year of Christ 290. Diocletian assumed the Empire in the year 284, when the Era of Martyrs begins, who from its beginning were killed in various places, devised for this purpose by the Christians, that the name of so cruel a tyrant might be utterly abolished.
[11] We gave on January 20 the Acts of Saint Sebastian, published by Saint Ambrose from the writings of the Notaries, in which, chapter 18, after the killing of the Emperor Carinus, which took place in the year 285, then in the consulship of Maximus and Aquilinus, or in the following year, [after the killing of Saint Chrysogonus at Aquileia in 289, Diocletian being present there,] such a persecution is said to have been made that no one bought or sold anything unless, with little statues set up, he had offered the burning of incense. So below in the Acts of these Virgins, number 2, "at Aquileia no Christian was permitted either to own anything, or to practice any art, or to conduct any business." This last we refer especially to the year 289, when Diocletian had been stationed in the region of Aquileia, and by his command ordered Saint Chrysogonus to be brought there and beheaded, which was carried out on November 24. After his execution, thirty days having elapsed, Zoilus the Presbyter died; and after another nine days, and he having set out for Thessalonica, these Virgins were arrested, brought to Diocletian and shut up in prison, and thence taken to Thessalonica, whither the Emperor had departed; then, after their martyrdom, where Saints Agape and Chionia on the third day before the Nones of April, and Saint Irene on the Nones of April itself, completed their martyrdom, Maximian being Consul for the third time, as is read in nearly all the manuscript codices cited above, and likewise in Mombritius. But when Diocletian the Emperor returned from Macedonia, having departed to Sirmium, where Saints Theodota and Anastasia were taken. at Sirmium Theodota with her three sons was offered to him, and afterwards Blessed Anastasia was arrested and brought to the forum, where Probus, the Prefect of Illyricum, sitting, heard the causes of various persons. Of these, Saint Theodota was taken with her three sons to Nicaea, a city of Bithynia, and there suffered on the fourth day before the Nones of August; and Saint Anastasia was led far away thence to the sea, and with one hundred and twenty prisoners whom she had brought forth for Christ, was carried by ship to the island of Palmaria near Latium, and with them completed her martyrdom on the eighth day before the Kalends of January. Which things in no way can fit, from what has been said above, with the year of Christ 303 and the following.
[12] In place of whom others are wrongly obtruded. Nicephorus Callistus also, book 7 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14, joins together the martyrdoms of Saint Anastasia and the said three Sisters.
"Anastasia," he says, "was mutilated in her limbs at Rome, and another of the same name was consumed by fire after other tortures. Moreover, the most noble martyrdoms of Agape, Irene, and Chionia must not be passed over in silence." But we have so far found no mention of those who are found in the Acts of Grottaferrata, who are Agatho, Casia, Philippa, and Eutychia: in place of whom we prefer to retain Saints Chrysogonus, Anastasia, and Theodota with her three sons. The one named at Sirmium in these Acts, Probus, Prefect of Illyricum—under him in the persecution of Diocletian suffered Saint Irenaeus, Bishop of Sirmium, whose Acts we gave on March 25.
ACTS OF THE MARTYRDOM
By an ancient author in the Life of Saint Anastasia,
From very many MSS and Mombritius.
Agape, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint) Chionia, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint) Irene, Virgin Sister, Martyr of Thessalonica (Saint)
BHL Number: 0118, 1795
FROM MSS
CHAPTER I.
The dwelling of these Virgins at Aquileia, and their captivity there.
[1] At that time when Diocletian, stationed in the region of Aquileia, Near Aquileia, was killing Christians, a report ran forth concerning the Christians of the City Prefecture. Then the King replied in writing that all of them ought to be put to death, but that Chrysogonus alone was to be sent to him. Him therefore Saint Anastasia followed; and although she was a noble woman and of most delicate body, she so manfully behaved that near Aquileia she rendered better services to the Saints than she had done at Rome. Meanwhile the most wicked Diocletian commanded the most renowned Chrysogonus to be presented to himself… and a to be led to the "Gradatan waters" and there beheaded. His body, cast into the sea, after a little while was thrown upon the shore, and was found near an estate called "Adsaltus," where dwelt Saints Agape, Chionia, and Irene. in which three most Christian sisters were dwelling, Agape, Chionia, and Irene, with Saint Zoilus, an old Presbyter. This Presbyter, gathering the body of Saint Chrysogonus, laid it with all diligence in a small wooden chest, and placed it in his house in an underground chamber… And Saint Zoilus himself, on the thirtieth day after taking it up, passed over to the Lord in this manner. He related that Saint Chrysogonus had appeared to him in a vision, they are warned from heaven of the imminent martyrdom: saying: "The most wicked Diocletian will cause Agape, Chionia, and Irene to be arrested within nine days; whom, until the Lord causes them to come to their crown, he will let have the consolation of His handmaid Anastasia. You, however, because you have pleased the Lord, elder, come joyfully, and rest with the Saints." Therefore while Saint Zoilus was relating these things, behold, Anastasia also b steadfastly entered the house, in which she had never been, they are visited by Saint Anastasia: and said: "Where are my sisters, whom my lord Chrysogonus commended to me?" And seeing one another, they rejoiced in Christ, and showing the place where the Martyr of Christ Chrysogonus was laid, they begged her to stay with them a little. But she, having spent one night with them, went again to the city of Aquileia, anxious enough for those who were held in chains. And as she went, Saint Zoilus went forth to the Lord…
[2] When Diocletian had also learned by rumor of the holy Agape, Chionia, and Irene, they are presented before Diocletian, he ordered them to be brought into his sight. And when the King had seen them, he said: "What folly commands you to follow a vain and superfluous superstition, and in contempt of the true religion to execrate the divine powers? Therefore, because I have learned that you are generous and of noble stock, I will give you husbands from my palace, through whom you may be made illustrious, if you deny that your God is Christ, and offer libations to the gods." Then Agape replied: "c Most sacred Emperor, firm in the faith the care of the nations rests upon you, the care of the republic, the care of the army: and do you speak to the injury of the living God, whose aid is necessary to you, whose kindness spares you?" Diocletian said: "This one is mad; bring in another." And when Saint Chionia was brought in, she said: "My sister is not mad, but with just judgment rebukes unjust admonitions." Likewise ordering her also to be removed, he commanded the third and younger to be brought, by name Irene, to whom he also said: "Because your sisters are full of vanity, do you at least, who are known to be younger, bow your neck to the gods, that your sisters also may be freed by your example."
[3] Saint Irene replied: "Let those bend their necks to their own idols, with whom God is angry: for there is no worse indignity than for someone to adore this thing, which was bargained for from the artificer d before it was made. For unless you have first bargained with the artificer whether he should make it standing, they mock the idols, or seated, or laughing, or weeping, or dancing, or lying down, you do not give the price to those who file, hew, and cast. And after he has made from the metal the image which you bargained for beforehand, to that you bow your neck, and you believe your God to be your servant, whom you yourself, before it was made of metal, bargained for: and you refused a badly made one, and bought one nicely filed down." Diocletian said: "These words must be removed by torments, if perhaps you refuse to obey peaceful admonitions." Chionia said: "Do not say 'perhaps': for we know for certain they are shut up in prison, helped by Saint Anastasia. that we shall never in any way give consent to your commands." Then Diocletian ordered them to be handed over to the keepers of the prison; whom Anastasia did not desert day or night. e For all the Christians gathered to Anastasia, men and women in need, because the Christians at this time were enduring extreme want: for no Christian was permitted either to own anything, or to practice any art, or to conduct any business. But Anastasia daily asked this of the Lord, that she might not go forth from the body until she had spent all the price which she had received from the sale of her patrimony.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
The journey of Diocletian and the holy Virgins to Thessalonica. Acts before Dulcitius the Governor, divinely punished.
[4] Diocletian therefore setting out for Macedonia, all the Christians who were in chains were taken away into Macedonia were led with him by the guards, among whom were a Agape, Chionia, and Irene together. When then report had been made to the Emperor concerning those who were held in confinement, he ordered Dulcitius the Governor to afflict with various kinds of tortures all who refused to sacrifice to the gods; but he decreed that those who consented should be exalted with riches and honors. But because it is tedious to record the deeds of the many Martyrs of God, we mention the three sisters presented to the sight of Dulcitius the Governor. Dulcitius, seeing them, b being bound by the seizing of his eyes, was driven by a most base spirit; they are preserved from the lust of the Governor, and caused them to be handed over to such an officer for keeping, who should promise them liberty if they would give their consent to his captive soul. Therefore, when neither by mad promises nor by terrors they changed their mind, the most unworthy Governor himself dared in the silence of night to go forth and enter the chamber where they were passing the night wakeful for Christ in prayers. But in the place where they were shut up, all the utensils of the kitchen had been stored. When therefore he had entered, and wished to go where the voice of the Psalms drew him with its triple c sounds, his mind being turned to alienation, he began to embrace the pots and kiss the frying pans. Playing with these for a long while, until he was made wholly black and d sooty, he began to be in his garments and face who instead of them embraced the pots such as he was possessed by the devil in his mind.
[5] When at last he came out to his men, who were waiting for him with a lamp before the doors, they all fled, seeing him all sooty, and torn, and no part at all in his garments not stained and torn. But while the handmaids of God were standing and singing, the devil could bring no hindrance at all through him. Seeing therefore himself despised and abandoned by his Officer, not knowing what had become of him, he did not return to his house, but began to go at a rapid pace to the palace, he becomes a laughingstock, saying: "I will throw myself before the most invincible Princes, and will tell them that I have been held in mockery by my Officer, and abandoned with derision and outcries." And when at daybreak the palace of the Emperor had been opened, and he, all sooty and torn, appeared before the royal hall, and wished to enter within, some struck him with rods, some with fists, others blew in his face and shoved him; and some laughing, some being angry, drove him away.
[6] At length his servants were scarcely able to bring him back to his house, and he is held as insane. saying to him, "Restrain yourself." For the devil had closed his eyes, and he could not see himself: for it seemed to him that the whole world as it went was clothed in snow-white garments. And all his household, both wife and handmaids, came with disheveled hair to meet him: for he was said to have been deluded by a demon, to be not in his right mind. But he was without his mind only so long as he had been embracing the pots and frying pans inside: for the rest, at the time when he was being abandoned by his Officer, and despised by all, and lamented by his own, his mind in him was sound, and only his eyes were held by Satan; which that wretch had incurred when he had looked with a foul endeavor of mind upon the Martyrs of God. and when he had commanded them to be stripped, Meanwhile he is recalled by the devil to fury, and thinking that these things had befallen him by the sorceries of the handmaids of Christ, he commanded a tribunal to be prepared for him publicly. And when they had been brought, praying and singing, he ordered them to be stripped, so that he might gaze upon their naked bodies. But when hands had been put forth to strip them, their garments were so fixed to the flesh that the garments themselves were thought to be the very hide of their bodies. Persevering more intently in this endeavor, Governor Dulcitius is seized with sleep. fell asleep sitting before the tribunal; and was so sleeping and snoring that he could not even be roused by those who struck him. Taken up from there in his chair sleeping, he was awakened only when he had been brought into his House.
NOTES.
CHAPTER III.
Acts before Sisinnius the Governor. The Martyrdom of the Holy Virgins.
[7] And so the Emperor, hearing all that had happened, gave Count Sisinnius to hear them. When they had been presented to him, They are examined by Sisinnius he called one to himself, and said: "a What is your name?" She replied, "I am called Irene." Sisinnius said: "Do you consent to the royal command?" Irene said: "I do not consent, for I am a Christian, and a handmaid of God Almighty." Then Sisinnius ordered her to be put back in prison, and Chionia and Agape having been brought, he said to them: "Irene, as it appears, is younger than you, and deceived by your example and teaching she despises the divine commands; therefore I have put her off, that, terrified by your deaths, she may be absolved. Therefore offer libations to the gods, as also do we, who are devoted to the Kings." Agape replied: and Agape and Chionia, constantly professing the faith "Insuperable is our faith." Sisinnius replied: "And you, what do you say?" Chionia replied: "Our faith remains unchangeable." Sisinnius said: "Are there any books of the Christians with you?" The handmaids of God replied: "There are books, but hidden in our minds, whence they can never be taken away by the enemies of Christ." Sisinnius said: "Who gave you counsel to come to this calamity?" The handmaids of God said: "This calamity indeed is temporal; but from the very calamity eternal glory is born." Sisinnius said: "Fulfill the command of the King and sacrifice." Agape and Chionia replied: "We offer to God the sacrifice of our praise, but to the devil we never sacrifice at all. Do not therefore persuade yourself that you can tear us away from the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ: for foolish is the judgment which does not consider that we cannot deviate from the faith of Christ. Therefore fulfill what has been commanded you; that as we keep the precepts of our King, so you, keeping the precepts of your Emperor, may be able to find his favor."
[8] Then Sisinnius gave the sentence, saying: "Agape and Chionia, who even at the threat of the tribunal have been unwilling to fulfill the commands of the Princes, I order to be burned alive." cast alive into the fire, they are unharmed: When they heard these things, Chionia and Agape were filled with joy, saying with a clear voice: "We give thanks to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, who hast deigned to give us perseverance in the confession of thy name; into thy hands, Lord, receive our souls." And when they had said these things, b the soldiers cast them into the fire. In which fire, when not even their garments were burning, they were praying the Lord, crying out and saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, do not suffer us from this hour even to speak with those who deny thee, the true God." And with these things said, having prostrated themselves in prayer and untouched by the fire, they went forth to the Lord. praying they expire. But that the Lord might show to the unbelieving that the fire did not kill them by burning, but that they by their prayers obtained their departure for themselves, they are buried by Saint Anastasia. they were found with unblemished bodies, untouched hair, and whole garments, after the fire had died down. Whose bodies, by men secretly sent by d Anastasia, were furtively taken away and by night brought to her hospices. Which she, embalming with spices, buried with all joy and honor in a new sarcophagus, praying the Lord that she might deserve to be made a partaker with them.
[9] On another day Sisinnius ordered the third to be brought to him, Saint Irene nobly scorns the torments, to whom he said: "Irene, sacrifice to the gods, lest you perish in a like conflagration." But she replied: "I do not sacrifice, but hasten to become a partaker with my sisters, lest, while my sisters stand in the sight of God, I be found an alien." Sisinnius said: "Persuade yourself, lest you incur greater tortures than they whom you say were your sisters incurred." Irene replied: "I hasten, by not denying the truth, to reach life through death, and through fire to come to refreshment." also threats of exposure in a brothel: Sisinnius said: "Do you think you will suffer as your sisters have suffered? I order you to be handed over naked to harlots, that there, placed for base uses, you may die." Irene replied: "Let my flesh be handed over to beasts and fires and blows and all punishments—whatever it may suffer, it may be handed over, I shall not sacrifice. My flesh endures the fornicator like a dog, like a bear, like a serpent; and it is better for me that my flesh be handed over to whatever punishments you devise, than that my soul be defiled in idols. For defilements to which the soul does not consent do not incur guilt. Never have the Saints of God, who perseveringly before confessed the name of God, and unwillingly received in their mouths of the blood of your sacrifice, been thereby defiled." Sisinnius said: "Therefore those who tasted of the blood of the sacrifices were not defiled?" Irene replied: "Not only were they not defiled, but they were even crowned: for pleasure has punishment, and necessity prepares a crown. You commanded them to be laid on their backs, and to swallow blood of the sacrifices mixed with water, against their will; and with mouths opened, as if they were horses, you poured it in with a horn. But if they had swallowed that blood with consent, they would have lost their soul: yet, not by consenting to it but by enduring force, tasting it, they were not only not defiled, but even cleansed. So also I, who have handed over my flesh to Christ, whether to filth, trusting that she will be preserved by God: or to blows, or to fires you hand it over—I shall not consent, and shall not fear whatever I may suffer for the confession of the name of my God; yet God is powerful, who will not permit you to do what you have thought."
[10] Then he called the soldiers to him and handed her over to them, saying: "Go and place her in a foul place where a harlot stays, that there she may be a mockery to all peoples." she is led away to a mountain, Then, as Irene was being led away, two e soldiers appeared before those who were leading her, saying: "Count Sisinnius has sent us after you, that where we shall show you, there you shall place her." And the soldiers began to follow them, until they ascended to the top of a mountain, and sat down; and the soldiers said to them: "Go, announce to Sisinnius, saying that, as you commanded, we have made her stand on the summit of the mountain." Then Sisinnius, seeing himself deluded, and that this had been done which he himself had not commanded, mounting his horse, himself in person set out, running to the mountain, on which the handmaid of God Irene was praying: and beholding her, he could see her and went around the mountain from morning to evening, and did not reach her. He, seeing himself mocked, groaned. pierced with an arrow, she dies: One of those who had come with him, drawing his bow, shot her with an arrow; and she uttered a voice saying: "I mock you, wretched man, because as a strong man in war you attack, so you wished to subdue a woman. Behold, clean I go to the Lord, my Jesus Christ, who has now restored me to my sisters, because they could not bear to be without me"; and with these things said, she gave up her spirit. Whence her body was taken up by the men of Saint Anastasia, and placed with her sisters. Now Agape and Chionia suffered on the third day before the Nones of April; and on the Nones themselves, Irene, at Thessalonica, Maximian being Consul for the third time, f our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God forever and ever. Amen.