ON ST. ELEUTHERIUS, MARTYR,
AT TARSIA IN BITHYNIA,
Under Maximian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The Saint's cult; relics; churches; Acts, and the time of his martyrdom.
Eleutherius, Martyr, at Tarsia (St.)
P. B.
This holy martyr Eleutherius, whom the Greeks surname the Chamberlain from his office, The Saint's more recent cult among the Latins, was altogether unknown to the Latins until the reform of the Roman Martyrology: for he is far different from all the other Martyrs of the same name whom the ancient Calendars of the Western Church celebrate through the course of the year; as from the Acts, or the placing, of each
or from other marks of this kind, shines forth. And so on this day, toward the end of the sixteenth century, this announcement of him first began to be heard among us: At Constantinople, of St. Eleutherius, martyr, of the senatorial order, who for Christ was slain by the sword in the persecution of Maximian. In this we do not sufficiently grasp why Constantinople is assigned as the arena of his contest. This certainly is not read in the Sirletian Menology, which alone the annotations of Baronius cite here: but in the Annals, where at the year 311, number 19, the same Most Eminent author affirms it, he produces no witness. And yet the Greeks hand down that Eleutherius was made both a Christian and a martyr elsewhere; as will soon be seen. Hence we too have thought that another place should be assigned to him in the title of this Commentary.
[2] Much longer is this same fourth day of August found consecrated in the Greek church to the memory of this Martyr: than among the Greeks for he is reported on this day not only in the Menæa printed at Venice in the year 1607, but also in far more ancient Manuscripts: from these, however, the Menæa differ in that they announce twice the same Eleutherius, elsewhere commemorated only once, and that today: namely on the fourth day of August, and on the fifteenth of December; perhaps because their author did not know that it was the same man. In the former place they have thus: "On the same day, holy Eleutherius the chamberlain is perfected by the sword": On the same day (the IV of August) St. Eleutherius the chamberlain is consummated by the sword. Then they subjoin only these two little verses:
"Eleutherius did not cower before the sword; but he kept a mind free of all fear."
That is:
Not fearful did Eleutherius bear the edge of the steel, But showed a soul free from all dread.
The allusion is plain between the kindred names Eleutherios and eleutheros, as if in Latin you should say: Liberius showed a free soul, etc. But in the latter place, that is, on the XV of December, the announcement is similar: "On the same day, of the holy martyr Eleutherius, the chamberlain"; and a similar allusion to the name:
"Eleutherius, freed from the world, found a freedom above the world":
as if you should read:
Liberius, liberated from the world, Found a liberty higher than the world.
Then follows his eulogy, extended to a column and a half, which we here omit; because, if you regard the substance, it does not differ much from our Acts; although it disagrees very much in phrasing and in brevity.
[3] For the rest, that that eulogy and this second commemoration of Eleutherius have been placed in the printed Menæa on a day not his own, on this same day. we gather from the more ancient Manuscript Menæa of the Ambrosian Library and the Sirmondian ones, which on the day XV of December do not treat of this Martyr; but only on the day IV of August, on which they also recite an epitome of his Martyrdom, abridged from our Acts, their phrasing being generally retained, under this title: "The contest of the holy martyr Eleutherius the chamberlain." On this day alone likewise is he reported in the Sirletian Menology (as may be seen in Canisius), and in the Basilian one of Grottaferrata, whose Greek text, given at the end of this Volume, we thus render into Latin: In the same month, on the day IV, the contest of the holy martyr Eleutherius, chamberlain. The holy martyr of Christ Eleutherius had been born in the city of Byzantium; under the reign of Maximian he was at once a senator and a eunuch and an intimate of the emperor. But since he pleased God by the observance of his commandments, and yet had not been initiated by divine baptism; desiring to obtain this, he asked the emperor that he might be permitted to go out to a suburban villa which he had. Having gained his wish, he went to an estate near the river Sangarius; where, having built a clandestine church underground, he was baptized by a priest brought to it; and, that he might escape the emperor, he pretended illness. But Maximian, learning of these things, came to the place; and beholding with his own eyes the church and the adornment of the altar, he blazed up; then, having seized him and first tortured him enough, he at last ordered his head to be cut off.
[4] His tomb, in Bithynia But as we think our Acts to be older than all these, so we have thus far found nothing equally serviceable for illustrating the cult of our Martyr: for these not only indicate his anniversary feast in the very title, which is such: "In the month of August, on the 4th, the martyrdom of the holy martyr Eleutherius, who was martyred under the emperor Maximian" — In the month of August, on the day IV, the martyrdom of the holy martyr Eleutherius, who, under the reign of Maximian, met death for the faith; but they also hand down concerning his tomb and relics those things which, unless I am mistaken, no one has found consigned to writing anywhere else. And first indeed they teach that the Saint was buried on that same estate of his on which he had been killed (as see chapter 2, number 14); namely in Bithynia by the river Sangarius, not very far from Nicomedia; according to chapter 1, number 7.
[5] near Tarsia, with a majestic church and distinguished by miracles. Next they hand down, in the same chapter 2, number 14, that after peace was restored to the Church, a sacred building, and one indeed of altogether admirable workmanship, was erected by pious men devoted to God, consecrated not only to his name, but also to his tomb, as can be gathered from number 15; doubtless because that sepulcher had even then become famous for prodigies. But because they make no mention of any translation either of his tomb or of his relics, they hint not obscurely that that church was built there where the tomb had been from the beginning; and thus by the river Sangarius; and this, according to number 14, in the territory of the town of Tarsia, to which that same tomb is said to have been in place of ramparts and walls: whence it seems to follow that Tarsus, or Tarsia of Bithynia, of which Stephanus of Byzantium and others make mention, and which Nicetas Choniates in his Isaac Angelus, book 3, number 2, says was near Nicomedia, was situated toward the Sangarius; and thus cannot be confounded with Drepanum, as the most learned Justus Lipsius once thought, On Roman Greatness, book 4, chapter 11. Moreover with how illustrious miracles that church and tomb shone even in his own time, the writer of those same Acts narrates in that same number 14.
[6] The church of St. Eleutherius at Constantinople is not this Saint's, There was also another church of a certain Eleutherius, martyr, at Constantinople, and indeed only one; as may be seen in Du Cange in his Christian Constantinople, book 4, page 123, and in the Anonymous of Banduri, Eastern Empire, volume 1, page 52; and since from the Anonymous's work a map was drawn by Banduri which represents two churches of St. Eleutherius in the same city, indeed in the same quarter of the city, nearly adjoining, an error must be judged to have crept into it: for of a second neither the Anonymous nor Banduri himself anywhere makes mention in his annotations in volume 2, which see at page 713. The question now is, of which Eleutherius the martyr that church was: of this one of ours, or of the other, who was at once martyr and bishop, and is celebrated by the Greeks on the day XV of December, but by the Latins on the XVIII of April. Janning made it ours in his treatment of St. Metrophanes, June volume 1, page 395; following what had long before been said in the Passed-over at the day XX of February. Toward the same opinion Tillemont inclines in the Diocletianic Persecution, volume 5, article 9, page 25, and in St. Gennadius, volume 16, page 70. Janning's arguments are these: 1. That Callistus and others call that Eleutherius, of whose Constantinopolitan church they write, only a martyr, not a bishop-martyr. 2. That the Synaxaries, in the cited Du Cange, ascribe that church to our Eleutherius. 3. That the memory of this our Saint was celebrated at Constantinople, inasmuch as he had adorned his origin drawn from that city with a most ample dignity under Maximian, and had thus deserved a church among his fellow citizens, who had erected so many others even to foreign Martyrs.
[7] Papebroch, on the contrary, at the day XVIII of April, page 528, but of the other, whom we gave on the 18th of April. did not hesitate to claim the aforesaid church for Eleutherius the bishop and martyr; and, in my judgment at least, rightly; since the Menæa, printed for the use especially of the church of Constantinople, assert this most expressly in the eulogy of St. Eleutherius the bishop, which they conclude in these words on the day XV of December: "And his synaxis is celebrated in his own martyrium, near the Xerolophus": But his solemnity is celebrated in his own church near the Xerolophus. To Janning's first argument I reply that Saints are not always called by all their titles, especially by historians, among whom, I think, St. Stephen more frequently occurs named absolutely than with the epithets levite and protomartyr, which nevertheless no one is thought to derogate from him by omitting. Those who do not express the title of bishop do not deny that that Eleutherius was a bishop; just as the Anonymous of Banduri, in the place assigned, does not deny that the same Eleutherius was a martyr, where he simply calls him "the holy Eleutherius." To the second I reply that I have seen no Synaxary, and that none is produced by Du Cange or others, which assigns the church to our Martyr: the words which Du Cange produces are those very ones which we have just recited from the eulogy of St. Eleutherius, bishop and martyr, in the printed Menæa, which Du Cange accordingly named Synaxaries. To the third I reply that that Eleutherius the bishop was and is much more celebrated at Constantinople than ours: for he has there an exceedingly solemn Office, as is plain in the Menæa; but ours has none, only a commemoration. Nor does it matter that this one is said to have been born at Byzantium, and not the other: for that fact, if it were true, ought no less to have impelled the Byzantines to honor him with a peculiar Office than with a church. If it were true, I say: for how uncertain that is, the Acts will indicate at number 3.
[8] But those Acts, although they may have been composed perhaps several centuries after the Saint's martyrdom, nevertheless seem earlier than all his eulogies, whether printed or written by hand: His Acts since the author cites no writing in his support, but only an ancient report, spread without writings even to his own times; as see number 3. Hence therefore we believe the compendia of the martyrdom which now exist in the Menæa and Synaxaries to be derived, and on this to depend all their authority; which, although in our author too it is not very great, at least in the description of his life and martyrdom, ought nevertheless to be held greater than that of the rest, not only because he is older than they, but also because he certainly seems to have written his work in that place of Bithynia where, along with the Saint's relics and a singular veneration, a report of his deeds also more illustrious than elsewhere, and more constant, had settled among the common people. There is added also that he delivered this history of his openly from the pulpit in the very church of this Martyr, so far as we can make out, and at his tomb in it, before the monks of that same church, as he hints at number 17; to whom assuredly he would not have dared to peddle it as supported by an old and received popular tradition, unless such a tradition had in fact then flourished there.
[9] how much credit they deserve; and whence received, I have said, however, that his authority in the description of the life and martyrdom is not absolutely great: for it rests upon popular report alone, and that indeed an old one.
But who does not know that a report which wanders about the promiscuous common people without writings is for the most part not wholly faithful in all the circumstances of things? Next, we know that he who writes is an orator; nor are we ignorant that greater license is granted to rhetoric than to history in the handling and adorning of matters, provided only that it keep their chief and best-known points intact. But what this writer has concerning the Saint's church, tomb, and miracles — since he saw these himself — deserve without doubt the greatest credit. Moreover Janning transcribed these Acts, along with a good many others, from that codex of the imperial library of Vienna, concerning which Lambeck writes thus, book 8, page 100: The fourteenth Greek historical manuscript codex is on parchment, very ancient, elegant and of the best quality, in folio; but through the injury of time mutilated by some leaves at the end; and it now consists of three hundred and thirteen leaves, divided page by page into two columns, and was once procured at Constantinople by Augier de Busbecq, as he himself attests by the usual inscription of his own hand. In it is contained the month of August of the great Menology of the Greeks. He gives the beginning of our Acts in the same place, page 103; to whose Greek text we append a Latin translation.
[10] The time of his martyrdom. Tillemont assigns the time of this martyrdom, in the Persecution of Diocletian, article 9, to the year of Christ 303 and the beginnings of the persecution; because he believes that this could have been that Eleutherius who in Ado and other Latin Martyrologists is celebrated on the 2nd day of October, and who on the occasion of the fire at Nicomedia (concerning which Eusebius, book 8, chapter 6) is said to have perished with very many other Christians. But the Acts of our Eleutherius and of that one, even cursorily inspected, overthrow this opinion. Baronius attaches it to the year of Christ 311, as may be seen there at number 19. Neither can this be admitted: since St. Eleutherius seems to have been killed on the day IV of July, while Maximian was alive and in vigor, as the Acts signify, and not even then remitting anything of his fury against the Christians. But Galerius Maximian perished in the year of Christ 311 in the month of May, after having some little time before quieted the persecution by an edict publicly posted at Nicomedia, and having fallen for more than a whole year into a disease at once intolerable and incurable, both to himself and to others, by its pain and stench. We judge therefore that a certain year cannot indeed be defined; that it nevertheless seems to have happened before the year of Christ 310, for the reason already proposed; and after the division of the empire in the year of Christ 305, and the assignment to Maximian, with the Augustan dignity, of Illyricum, Thrace, and Asia Minor; from which time the ordinary seat of Maximian was at Nicomedia, and his rule in those parts supreme without a partner; both of which the context of our Acts manifestly requires more than once. Here it is, the title being cut away, which we have already given above at number 4.
ACTS
By an anonymous author, from a distinguished Manuscript codex of the Imperial Library of Vienna.
Eleutherius, Martyr, at Tarsia (St.)
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER I.
The Saint's birthplace, his office at court, his virtues, conversion, and Baptism.
The glory and renown of the martyrs' contests transcends all things that are seen; wherefore also the encomiums of these surpass all praise. For even if praise is owed from us to all of them, as to friends and witnesses of God the Word, yet such an undertaking is by no means to be dared by all; since to look the sun in the face is desirable indeed, but harmful: for he who forces himself to do this will undergo a flood of blinding brightness. And to measure out the circuit of the earth with a hand's span is at once ill-advised and impossible, as is also to grasp and measure the waves of the sea. But if the praise of these men befits those alone whose life and speech has been purified so far as possible by long and laborious practice and self-restraint, then we, who are widowed of both, how shall we with unwashed hands and face narrate the struggles of the holy Martyrs or their achievements? For through purity a kinship with the Saints naturally comes to be in all; and thence, as to kinsmen, the illumination supplied by God through them furnishes to these grace and power both to say and to utter what is fitting concerning them; without which everything done among men is at once vain and unprofitable.
[2] Since therefore these things are so, as has been said, by the grace from above we also — unlearned, and more voiceless than voiceless fishes — having fixed the anchors of hope, and trusting in the prayers of him who commanded [it], that we may not utterly fail of what is fitting, shall try here with God to make our discourse, so far as is attainable by us; asking first for freedom from the passions, since we are about to record the venerable contests of Eleutherius, that with free conscience and free mouth, God granting, we may declare his affairs to those who have called upon us. But do you also, most sacred and most rational assembly, be present with me by your prayers, and labor together with me as I labor over the discourse, lest I incur ridicule and carry off the reproach of my own folly, as one presuming beyond his worth, and laying hold of things beyond his own power, and belittling with little words the great contests of the Athlete. But since even a small drop, drawn from a great sea, vouches for the whole quality of the water, and from the hem the fabric is shown, and from the claws, they say, one may take the measure of the lion, let us hold to the matters before us.
[3] This man, O men, Eleutherius, named after the freedom which is in Christ, as we have it perhaps from a long-standing report coming down to us: of what parents he was born has escaped notice; but it must altogether be said that he is known, by the abundance of his virtues, as a child of Byzantium, now the great city of Constantine, or rather of the risings of the sun; and he is proclaimed as being one of the senatorial council of those who held distinguished place in the bedchambers of the emperors; and having obtained much and great freedom of speech with the emperor, he stands recorded, perhaps, through a long unwritten report; and he was declared a friend and intimate and most trusted, and almost equal to the emperor's own children, and he lodged continually in the royal houses, and gloried in the honors and gifts bestowed by the emperors. And thence he was beloved by all, and conspicuous and distinguished, like a star shining on high in the night.
[4] In this manner, then, being made intimate with the emperor Maximian, as has been said, the blessed Eleutherius was far more closely joined through faith to Christ the King of all, who by nature reigns forever with the Father and the Spirit; and by his unalloyed manner of life and conduct he was known to be his servant, and by God's foreknowledge appeared to be one of those who are saved; even though these things escaped the notice of the then ruler and of all the attendants and household about him. Yet it was not possible for him to escape notice altogether and to be hidden for long — as neither a lamp burning and set upon a most lofty lampstand, nor a city raised aloft upon a mountain, according to the divine sentence of the Master. And so this great servant of God and renowned man Eleutherius was distinguished in these fairest and good excellences, bearing not ignobly, but very vigorously and nobly, the things that befell him.
[5] But he was as yet unconsecrated and uninitiated in the divine baptism, even though before this he displayed its marks to those able to discern them; for the holy Eleutherius was ever and always a doer of good, gentle, kindly, not only toward his fellow-officers and equals in rank, but also toward his own household servants and subordinates; being always and continually peaceable, free from love of money, shown to be truly a dwelling-place of the meek and unwrathful spirit; just and at once blameless, truthful and brother-loving, God-fearing and guileless; setting rules and measures upon his tongue; never at any time allowing his eye to wander; not enslaved to fillings of the belly; not enduring to give heed to bribes; carrying a wholly well-ordered gait; not stolen away by deceitful flatteries; but rather bestowing lavishly what he had upon the needy and those in want. He was ever bound in fellow-feeling with those in chains, and hastened to stand up for those who were wronged.
[6] As then he continued daily in these things, the Blessed one could no longer contain the flame of the spirit smoldering within and heating his breast, but hastened to add what was lacking, and made haste to gird on the crown of good things, and undertook to put on over himself the full armor of the spirit, that he might remain unwounded by the plots and wiles of the serpent; and to be clothed round with the holy water that is able to quench the fiery darts of the adversary; and to receive in addition the Holy Spirit, which is able to dissolve mountains — so that he might not only be thought to be an athlete, but might be shown to be doing this lawfully. And consider the wisdom and resourcefulness of the Spirit which makes all things wise: for with great boldness he lays before him who then directed the empire a plan of this kind, at once excellent and most prudent and having much plausibility. And this was that Maximian who has also been mentioned by us above, the same Maximian being a burning enemy of the pious commonwealth of the Christians. Now what was proposed to him was this: to make the purchase of an estate for the sake of a change, for the breathing of pure and healthful air — a removal toward the vigor of the soul, say I rather, than of the body, as that man then alleged, most excellently outwitting the emperor and tyrant.
[7] These things he said, and straightway persuaded him, and was permitted to do everything he wished according to his mind; for he knew that by virtue one may be reverenced even by enemies, and that it makes even wild beasts stand in awe of it and draw back. And indeed what seemed good to him was accomplished with great diligence; and having bought a certain place beyond the river called Sangarius, he built for himself a tent and a house at this river, and in that very house he constructed a hidden underground sacred temple; and having set every comeliness about the temple, he adorned it exceedingly, and made silvered receptacles for light and vessels of every kind, taking great care over them. And so, having consecrated there an altar to God by the hands of honorable priests dedicated to God, the blessed martyr of Christ Eleutherius is made resplendent by the laver of regeneration, and is sealed with the precious chrism in the figure of the precious blood of the true lamb, and becomes a partaker and sharer of the undefiled and life-giving mysteries of the grace of Christ our God.
[8] And having become wholly light-formed, so to speak, and truly unapproachable to the hostile powers of the destroyer, he returns back to the emperor and the palace, still trying to escape notice; and this was contrived by the Martyr himself, not often, but seldom, and in such a way that it should not seem to be what it was. Thereafter, then, he assigned all his leisure the more to prayer and to the worship of God. But O soul noble and God-loving, and not enduring to be defiled by the stains of this present life, and to be polluted and befouled by the tumults in the midst of the world, but choosing to cleave to God alone
with its whole longing! O pious purpose, that has chosen to live piously, and accounts all the delights of this present life as truly dung, that it may gain Christ alone! Truly nothing knows how to conquer a pure soul or turn it aside — nothing accounted delightful, nothing accounted painful.
Prologue The contests of the Martyrs excel in glory and renown all other things that are seen: whence also their praises are above all commendation. For although praise is owed by us to all of them, as to friends and witnesses of the Word of God, yet the matter is by no means such that just anyone may be permitted to dare it: for to gaze upon the sun delights indeed, but harms; for whoever is compelled to do this must needs bear an outpouring of splendor. To measure the compass of the earth with a hand's span is at once foolish and equally difficult as if you should wish to embrace and measure out the waves of the sea. For if in truth the praise of Martyrs befits those, and indeed those alone, whose life and speech have been purged as far as possible by long and laborious meditation and continence; how shall we, destitute of both, narrate with unwashed hands and face the struggles or the illustrious deeds of the holy Martyrs? For familiarity with the Saints is wont to arise in all through purity, and thence the illumination granted from God through them, as to familiars, supplies grace and strength for thinking and uttering fitting things about them; without which grace, whatever is in men is vain and useless.
[2] of the author to his hearers. Since therefore these things are as has been said, we also, unlettered and more mute than mute fishes, having fixed the anchors of hope in heavenly help and in the prayers of him whose command we obey — that we may nowhere stray from a fitting narration — will now attempt, so far as we shall be able, with God's help, to set our discourse in order; asking first of all that we may be freed from depraved affections before we describe the sacred contests of Eleutherius; that we may recount his deeds to those who have invited us to this, with free conscience and free mouth, so far as God shall grant. But do you also, O most sacred and learned assembly a, accompany me with your prayers, and come to my aid as I labor in this discourse; lest, worthy of laughter, I bring back the reproach of my own folly, as one who does not fear to attempt things above both my merits and my strength, and to diminish by meager eloquence the vast labors of this Athlete. But since even a small drop, drawn from a great sea, makes known the quality of all the rest of the water; and from the border the whole web is known; and from the claws, as they say, the lion is sufficiently estimated; let us begin the matter proposed.
[3] Eleutherius, chamberlain to Maximian, This Eleutherius, O men, who obtained his name from Christian liberty b, according to an ancient report spread abroad even down to us (Of what parents he was born is unknown; yet it is altogether fitting to say that he was born either in the great city of Byzantium, which is now called Constantine's, or rather in the East c), is celebrated for the abundance of his virtues, and is handed down to have been one of the order of those who are held distinguished by the prefecture of the royal bedchambers d; having moreover obtained much and great favor with the emperor, as an ancient report without writings has commonly related; and he was held dear to him, and familiar, and most faithful, and reckoned in almost equal place with his sons; dwelling perpetually in the palace itself e, heaped with royal honors and gifts alike. Hence he was pleasing to all, illustrious, distinguished; like a star shining from on high through the night.
[4] While in this manner blessed Eleutherius, as has been said, inclined toward the Christian religion, enjoyed the familiarity of the emperor Maximian f, he was joined by faith not a little more closely to Christ the King of kings, reigning eternally with the Father and the Spirit; and already by a most upright manner of living and acting he professed himself his servant, and one of the number of those whose salvation God foresaw; although this was hidden both from Maximian who then reigned, and from his ministers and household. But indeed he could no more lie hid altogether, or be long concealed, than either a lighted lamp upon a most lofty candlestick, or a city set on a mountaintop, according to the divine sentence of the Lord. And while this great servant of God and most illustrious man Eleutherius was eminent in these most beautiful and honorable beginnings, he bore whatever adversity befell him by no means slothfully, but very strenuously and bravely.
[5] Meanwhile he had not yet been initiated by Baptism; although even then he furnished sufficiently open indications of it to those who observed him carefully: he applies himself wholly to virtue, for holy Eleutherius was always beneficent, mild, kindly, not only toward those equal to him in office and in honor, but also toward his own servants and subjects; always and in all things a lover of peace, a hater of avarice, he truly showed himself to be the dwelling-place of a meek, not an irascible, spirit; just and at the same time blameless, sincere and fraternally benevolent, reverent of God and free from malice; prescribing certain laws and limits to his tongue, never allowing his eye to wander, never serving his belly by filling it, never suffering himself to be swayed by gifts; grave and modest in his gait, and never indulging deceitful flatteries; pouring out his own goods most liberally upon the poor and needy: those detained in chains he always attended with singular affection, and hastened to defend the cause of the unjustly oppressed.
[6] Since therefore he persisted in these things daily, the Saint could no longer conceal the flame of the Spirit burning within and feeding upon his very vitals; until, having outwitted Maximian, but he was urged to add what was lacking to him and to hasten the crown of his good works, and to be clothed with the armor of the spirit, by which he might stand unharmed against the snares and arts of the serpent; then to be washed with that sacred water which can extinguish the fiery darts of the wicked one; and finally to receive the Holy Spirit, who can dissolve mountains. But lest he be thought only to have undertaken the warfare and not also to have waged it lawfully, behold the wisdom and industry of the Spirit that teaches all things: for he most confidently proposes a plan of this sort, at once excellent and most wise and easy of persuasion, to the prince then reigning (and he was Maximian, mentioned by us also above, and the same a most hostile enemy of the pious institute of the Christians), pretending that for the sake of a change he had procured for himself a place for breathing pure and healthful air: nay, I interpret it as a retreat rather for the health of the soul than of the body; as he then said, cleverly indeed eluding the emperor and tyrant g.
[7] When he said these things, he so persuaded him without delay that he even exhorted the Saint having been secretly initiated by Baptism, freely to carry out what had pleased him: for he knew how by virtue to move even enemies, and so to strike wild beasts themselves with it that they submitted to him. And indeed what he had resolved he fulfilled not sluggishly, and, having bought up an estate across the river which they call the Sangarius h, he built for himself at that same river a lodging and a house; and in that house he formed a subterranean hiding-place into a sacred church, which he wondrously adorned with every ornament added; he made also silver lamps and vessels of every kind, most skillfully wrought. Therefore after he had seen to it that an altar was consecrated there to God by the hands of venerable priests dedicated to God, the blessed martyr of Christ Eleutherius was illumined by the laver of regeneration, and was signed with the sacred ointment, representing the precious blood of the true Lamb, and was made a possessor and partaker of the undefiled and life-giving mysteries of the grace of Christ our God.
[8] he returned to the court, secretly a Christian. Thus wholly shining, so to speak, and inaccessible to the hostile powers of the destroyer, he returns to the emperor and to the court, striving even then to lie hid: which same thing the Martyr did at other times not often, but rarely; and that, lest he should seem to be what he had become. Again therefore all the leisure that he afterward obtained he spent in prayers and in the worship of God. O generous soul, and loving God; as one that in no way suffers itself to be infected and befouled with the stains of this life amid its tumults, but desires solely to cleave to God! O pious mind, which prefers the pursuit of piety to all things, and reckons whatever pleasures there are here altogether as dung, that it may gain Christ alone! For indeed nothing can conquer a pure soul, nothing move it from its purpose, however pleasant or however deadly it may appear.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
His constancy when betrayed by a servant, his martyrdom, his tomb made illustrious by miracles.
Seeing him, then, conducting himself in this way, and wishing to spend almost the whole of his time out of doors, and assigning all his leisure to that place, and withdrawing himself from his friendship and companionship, and sharing neither drink nor conversation with him, the ruler now falls into a certain suspicion, and wished continually to pry into and learn his affairs; and at length he inquired of that man himself concerning his long absence, saying: What is the reason, O Eleutherius, thus most dear to me and greatly longed for by my soul, on account of which, tearing yourself away from the company of your comrades, you have wished to run far off, as though forgetful of our friendship? Tell us, Eleutherius, said he, what has been able to furnish you greater gain — our imperial power and magnanimity, or the revenues that accrue to you from that place? Which will the more be able to procure honor and glory for you: the palace and the intercourse and converse with emperors, or the countryside, and the common life and gathering with the cheap and middling dwellers in it? Tell me, Eleutherius: does it not seem to you a great thing, and sufficient of itself as a ground of glory and of every delight, to converse and live with the emperor rather than to consort with rustics? Or do you crave and prefer the obeisance of those men to the renown and glory and honor that come from us?
[10] Then said the Renowned one: Not so, O king; God forbid: but the natural sickliness of my body, and the tumult of the city, and the sooty and smoky exhalation in this city, force me to go there; and at the same time the most healthful and temperate condition of that place. Then the emperor, again feigning a certain ironical and pretended inquiry, said: And why will you not take us along with you to that place, to enjoy together with you the breathing of the pure and, as you said, pleasant air there? And holy Eleutherius answered the emperor, saying: As your Might commands, so do.
[11] But a certain one of those who served this holy Eleutherius, when he learned these things, the sovereign making inquiry of him, bearing his mind full of much rage, and belching forth murder rather (so to speak), goes to the emperor to denounce the things done and performed by his master: for having sickened with the avarice of Judas, or rather with his blood-guiltiness, the wretch, having at once a venomous tongue and a venomous purpose, just as that man betrayed his own teacher and lord, in the very same manner does this man betray his master. And, he says, he has forsworn your faith, and goes over to the Crucified as to God. O the ingratitude, and the great inhumanity! Truly evil men dare all things evilly. Having learned these things, then, the tyrant and thrice-hateful emperor Maximian, calling the great Eleutherius there again, questioned him, saying: Let us go, if you will, Eleutherius, to view along with you the beauties there of the field and of the place. And holy Eleutherius says to the emperor: As seems good to you, O emperor, so do. Having said these things, he arrived there quickly, and looking round about at the things within, he examined them carefully, according to the report of the wicked servant who had spoken.
[12] While then he was engaged in this, turning his eye frequently this way and that, he sees a certain round underground opening, covered with a small slab, and he asked what this might be. And this Just man said that it was a waterless well for him. And Maximian, supposing that the place of prayer of which he had heard was there, ordered it to be uncovered quickly and that he should go down into it; and immediately this was done. Having gone down there, then, Maximian, and having beheld the comeliness of the sanctuary, and the multitude of lamps, and the beauty of the altar, was straightway filled with rage and much fury; and turning his eye upon the Blessed one somewhat more savagely, he said: Tell me quickly, Eleutherius, are you a Christian, and have you become a stranger to the good will of the gods? And the Saint said: Yes truly, I am a Christian, and Christ is my God, and the Trinity my object of worship, and the cross my helper: but since a law has been given us by Christ our God not to leap upon dangers, out of forbearance toward you who persecute us, that we may not be the cause to you of eternal punishment and unquenchable fire — for this reason I have been careful to escape notice until now.
[13] The emperor said to him: Do not set at nought my love toward you, O Eleutherius, lest you carry off a bitter end of your life. Not fearful to me, said the Athlete, is the death of the tabernacle; for I shall receive it back whole from my Creator: but separation from the living God is established for me as eternal death. And how is that? said the emperor. Because the one has a small and temporary pain, said the Athlete, but the other a long and abiding punishment. But the emperor again, the crafty man, contrived to unnerve him with flatteries and promises of gifts; but he wearied himself laboring in vain, being convicted of powerlessness by the faith of the Man. Whence the tyrant, renouncing his purpose, gives against him the sentence of the sword; and forthwith those appointed to this accomplished what was commanded them with great speed. But the Saint went off rejoicing, as though called to the bridal chamber of a king. And when he had been beheaded, and his renowned and blessed soul had already run up to the Lord, they left his sacred and greatly honored body — truly reverend even to the angels — to lie out under the open sky as food for birds and dogs, in the place where he had been perfected; which body he who had been entrusted with the priesthood of the place of prayer there took, and with much myrrh and spices laid it there, in that same house in which the oratory had been built.
[14] But very many years afterward, when piety had become clear, and the idols had been silenced, and the proclamation of the truth had spread everywhere, devout men dedicated to God raised a venerable and altogether wondrous house in his name, and consecrated it to the glory of our good God and Savior, and to the unforgettable memory of the holy Martyr: for the just shall be in everlasting remembrance. And what could be more just or more blessed than one who has poured out his blood for Christ? Whose memory is blessed not only among those on earth, but also among the heavenly ones, and before the just Judge. And now his coffin exists, pouring forth myrrh upon all, and driving out every disease from those who draw near to it in faith, chasing away wicked spirits, and setting upright the palsied most swiftly; it puts an end to sorcery and heals every infirmity, in Christ himself our true God; and to Tarsia it serves as a rampart and a trench and a surrounding wall, and a security of peace, and a bond of perfection.
[15] He both dwells with the angels for us in the highest, and is invisibly present with us, beholding the things here as in a mirror, and stands immediately before God, offering to him supplications on our behalf: for he lives to God and intercedes on every occasion, as the most sacred oracle says, that all who have lived according to God live to God. He also from above watches over those who attend in his venerable shrine, and below he sits daily by his healing-bearing coffin, and fulfills the requests of those who approach in faith, having his power from God: for concerning him and those like him the almighty Lord said through Isaiah: Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry and fruitless tree; for I say to my chosen eunuchs, that I will give you in my house and within my walls a place better than of sons and daughters, and so forth.
[16] And I have gone through these things not undertaking to utter any encomium; for that is beyond me, as has been said; nor have I supposed myself competent to do this: for these things, as I said, befit others rather than such as I, who walk upon the ground and know nothing more than what is at their feet. Nor was it that I might seem to utter marvels, but that I might do what was according to the mind of him who commanded me, and, with God's help, what is blameless for myself; and that I might fittingly keep festival with the great Herald of the truth, and offer to God such thanksgiving as I am able, to him who by his grace, and by the intercessions of the Saint here declared, has shown a deaf and doubly deaf mouth to be most eloquent.
[17] But O Eleutherius, fair both in deed and in name among the martyrs of Christ our God: using your martyr's boldness toward God, grant us to walk in freedom, and not to be mastered by the passions of the flesh, but to master them on every occasion; that with free voice and tongue and mouth we may share in your commemorations, and through you may offer praise to Christ our common Master. And you, fathers, who are truly the friends of God, and unwedded, and living for him alone and loving him, pray that pardon for this undertaking may be given me, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and might both now and unto the unending ages of ages. Amen.
The emperor, therefore, noticing him acting thus, and pursuing almost perpetual delays out of doors, wearing away all his time there, To the emperor complaining of his absence and shunning his friendship and society, and sharing with him neither drinking nor conversation, now began to suspect something, and determined to observe and learn all his doings more curiously; and at length he demanded from the man himself the reason for so long an absence, and said: What is the cause, O Eleutherius, so dear to me and so greatly longed for by my heart, why, tearing yourself from the throng of your friends, you have wished to run off far away, as if forgetful of our love toward you? Tell us, Eleutherius, said he, whence could greater profit come to you: from our royal power and liberality, or from the revenues of that estate of yours? Can anything bring you more honor and glory: the palace, and the use and converse of princes, or a country villa and the fellowship and intimacy of its cheap and poor tenants? Come now, Eleutherius; does it not seem to you rather conducive to glory, and of itself sufficient as material for every pleasure, if you deal and live familiarly with the emperor, rather than if you consort thus with rustics? Or are you so enamored of the veneration shown you by these men, that you prefer it to the renown, glory, and honors obtained for you through us?
[10] To this the greatest Man said: Not so, O emperor; the Saint replies, inviting him to his estate; far be it indeed: but the natural sickness of my body, and the din of the city, and its vapors, smelling of smoke and soot, drive me there; as also the most healthful and at the same time temperate constitution of that place. Then the emperor once more [put] an ironic and feigned question
feigning, said: But why do you not admit us also along with you, that we may enjoy with you the breathing of that same place's air, so purified, as you say, and mild? But holy Eleutherius replied to him, saying: If it shall so seem good to your majesty, let it be done.
[11] But one of the servants of St. Eleutherius, when he had heard these things, who, when Eleutherius was betrayed by a servant, the emperor questioning him, bearing a mind full of much fury, nay rather, as I should say, belching forth murder, approaches the emperor to reveal what his Master had done and was doing: for the wretch, seething with the avarice of Judas, nay with the greed for blood, and carrying poisons in tongue and mind, just as that man betrayed his Teacher and Lord, so this man too betrays his Master; And he has abjured your faith, said he, and worships the Crucified as God a. O the perfidy! O the monstrous cruelty! Truly the impious impiously dare all things! Maximian therefore, the tyrant and most hostile emperor, now knowing these things, summons the great Eleutherius to himself again, and asks, saying: Let us go, if it please you, Eleutherius; and let us contemplate together with you the pleasantness of your field and estate. Holy Eleutherius answered him: Let it be, emperor, as it pleases you. This being said, he betook himself there at once; and looking round about at the things which were there, he searched them out curiously, according to the report made to him by the criminal servant.
[12] While then he meanwhile turns his eyes this way and that continually, he observes a certain subterranean opening, round, and stopped up with a small board, and asks what this might be. there detected him to be a Christian, The just Man answers him that it is a well empty of water b. But Maximian, suspecting that the church of which he had heard was there, ordered the vent to be opened, and that he should descend into it; which was done on the spot. Having himself also entered there, and marveling at the ornament of the temple, the multitude of lamps, the elegance of the altar, he immediately swells with anger and immoderate fury, and with his countenance fixed more fiercely upon the Blessed one, says: Tell me without delay, Eleutherius; are you a Christian, and have you professed yourself an enemy of the gods? Altogether, says the Saint; I am a Christian; Christ is my God; the Trinity, my deity; the Cross, my defense: but since a law has been given us by Christ our God that we should not of our own accord leap upon dangers, out of compassion toward you who persecute us, lest perchance we should draw down upon you everlasting punishment and unquenchable fire, we have tried to lie hidden until this day.
[13] and orders him to be killed by the sword: who was soon buried in the same place. Then the emperor: O Eleutherius, do not spurn the love with which I attend you, lest you bring back for yourself a sad end of life. It is not sad to me, says the Athlete, the destruction of this tabernacle; for I shall receive it back safe from my Creator: but if I be sundered from the living God, that at last will be for me an eternal destruction. How so? says the emperor. Namely, says the Champion, that destruction brings a slight and brief pain; but this, long and perpetual torments. But the emperor thereupon, crafty, assails him again with blandishments and lavish promises; but with vain effort, the constancy of the holy Man convicting him of weakness. And so the tyrant, casting away all hope of success, sentence being passed, orders him to be struck with the sword: which those to whom this had been commanded carried out at once with great speed. But the Saint, as though invited to a royal wedding, went away exulting. And after his head had been cut off, and his glorious and happy soul had already flown away to the Lord, they left his sacred and precious body, venerable truly to the very angels, unburied in the place where he had fallen, as food for birds and dogs; until the priest set over the church of that place, taking it up, laid it with many ointments and spices in the same house in which the church had been hidden.
[14] A church, afterward set over his tomb, Then after very many years, when, the true religion having been made manifest, the idols had fallen silent, and the preaching of the truth was now frequent everywhere, pious men devoted to God c built to his name a sacred and altogether admirable edifice, and consecrated it to the glory of God most good and of our Savior, and to the everlasting memory of the holy Martyr. For the just shall be in eternal memory. And indeed what is more just, what more blessed, than he who has poured out his blood for Christ? The memory of such men is in benediction not only here among men, but also among those Above, and before the just Judge. Now indeed his tomb pours forth ointments upon all, and drives out any disease whatever from those who approach it with confidence; it puts to flight malignant spirits; it raises up the weak most swiftly; it takes away the powers of sorcery; it heals in fine every sickness through the same Christ, our true God; nay rather it is to Tarsia d both an enclosure, and a rampart, and a wall, and the security of peace, and the bond of perfection.
[15] and in its miracles the people of Tarsia in Bithynia rejoice. He both dwells among the angels in the highest, that he may take thought for us; and he is invisibly present with us here, beholding what is done here; and he stands immediately before God, offering prayers to him for us: for he lives to God, and continually intercedes with him; as the most holy oracle testifies, that all who have lived according to God live to God. The same also looks down from heaven upon those who diligently frequent his sacred edifice, and here he sits daily by his salutary coffin, and fulfills the vows of those who approach it with faith, having this power divinely given: for concerning him and such as he the almighty Lord said through Isaiah: Let not the eunuch say: I am a dry tree and without fruit: for I say to my chosen eunuchs, that I will give you in my house and within my wall a place better than sons and daughters, and what follows e.
[16] But I have discoursed of these things, not having promised to deliver any eulogy (for this, as I have said, exceeds my powers; The author's epilogue nor did I reckon myself fit to attempt it: for such things befit others, as I have warned, rather than men like me, that is, those who walk upon the ground and see nothing except what is before their feet), nor yet that I might seem to speak marvels; but that, with God's help, I might do what should both be pleasing to him who commanded me, and render me free of blame f; and then that I might proclaim things befitting the great Herald of truth, and give thanks to God according to my strength, who by his own kindness, and by the prayers of the Saint already mentioned, has made a mouth more mute than a mute one most eloquent.
[17] But O Eleutherius, illustrious among the Martyrs of Christ our God both in deed and in name, with an apostrophe to the Saint and to his hearers. use with God that liberty gained for you by martyrdom, and grant us that we may henceforth live freely, and not be subjected to the desires of the flesh, but constantly rule over them; and that, made partakers of your exhortations with free voice, tongue, and mouth, we may offer praise through you to Christ, our common Lord. But you, Fathers g, truly friends of God, free from marriage, living for him alone and loving him alone, pray that the rashness of this undertaking of mine may be pardoned me, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power both now and through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.