ON SS. PAUL, JULIANA, AND LIKEWISE STRATONICUS, QUADRATUS, AND ACACIUS, MARTYRS,
AT PTOLEMAÏS,
Under Aurelian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Their cultus, the arena, the Acts.
Paul, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Juliana, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Stratonicus, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Quadratus, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Acacius, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
BY J. P.
As the cultus of the first three of these martyrs is ancient among the Greeks, Concerning the cultus so afterwards from their calendars their yearly memory flowed down to the Latins, who read of them in the Roman Martyrology on this day. The great Menæa announce only the first two: The memory of the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana his sister. The same is done in the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld, in the Menæum of Chifflet, and elsewhere in our transcripts. But the three are noted in them thus: Ἄθλησις τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαρτύρων Παυλου καὶ Ἰουλιανῆς, τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ Σρατονίκου ἐν Πτολεμαΐδι. The contest of the holy martyrs of Christ Paul and Juliana his sister, and Stratonicus, at Ptolemaïs. The Menology of Sirletus has this: On the same day (XVII of August) the contest of the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana his sister, and Stratonicus, at Ptolemaïs, who under the emperor Aurelian at Ptolemaïs, for the confession of the Christian faith (for they were brethren no less in faith than in the tie of flesh), having overcome prison, stripes, fire, poison, and many other and various torments, exchanged death for life for the Christian confession. Elsewhere they are set down otherwise. For our Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology marks The contest of St. Paul and Juliana his sister, and of their companions. The Menology of the emperor Basil adds companions also to them, whose names are expressed in the eulogy which is subjoined to the announcement, and which, rendered by me from the Greek, runs thus according to the text which we printed at the end of vol. 1 of this month:
[2] Of the martyrs These were living, in the reign of Aurelian, in the city of Ptolemaïs. And they were brethren according to the flesh. But Paul, exercising himself in the divinely inspired Scriptures, refuted the Jews and the Gentiles when they spoke. And when the emperor had come to the city, though he had hidden himself, he presents himself to him, and having confessed Christ, after he had been hung up he is torn. Whom his sister, beholding and crying out against the tyrant, is herself also seized, and hung up and torn; and both are cast into a cauldron of boiling pitch. Then, being unharmed, they are stretched upon a bed of red-hot iron, and are beaten upon the loins from above. Afterwards, being cast into prison and refreshed with angelic nourishment, they recovered. Then, being brought out, they are cut down. But Stratonicus and Quadratus and Acacius, the lictors who had spared the Saints, were beheaded together with them. And since the names of Quadratus and Acacius are expressed both chiefly here and also below in the Acts which we shall reprint, we have therefore judged that they must be joined above to the other three.
[3] But SS. Paul and Juliana have this peculiar, among the Greeks. that the said great Menæa announce them again on the IV day of March, with these verses, whose sense I render thus into Latin:
Ὁ κείμενος μὲν Παῦλος, ἥδε κειμένη Ἰουλιανὴ σύγγονοι τετμημένοι. Παῦλον Ἰουλιανήντε τετάρτῃ ἔκτανεν ἄορ.
While Juliana fell, and Paul falls, Brother and sister lie beheaded. The fourth day slew Paul with the sword, and his sister his companion.
Add that, as Du Cange notes in Constantinopolis Christiana, book 4, page 149, the Greeks keep the memory of St. Juliana the martyr πλησίον τοῦ Στροβύλου (that is, in the district of Strobylus) on the XVIII of August. The Menæa: in which I find her on that day: whence it is established that the name of this our Saint, and also that of her brother, was held among the Greeks in a certain special veneration, since they are marked on different days. You have now the cultus shown to the martyrs in the Greek Church; now receive the Latin calendars in which they are read as inscribed.
[4] The Roman Martyrology on this day has thus: At Ptolemaïs in Palestine, the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana his sister, SS. Paul and Juliana are honored also among the Latins. who suffered under Valerian. Molanus also announces both in his additions. Galesinius too has not passed them over, saying: At Ptolemaïs, the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana his sister. These, under the emperor Valerian, after many torments which the torturers had grievously inflicted, at last underwent capital punishment for Christ with souls most closely joined. These things concerning the public veneration of our martyrs being premised, we set forth certain points concerning the place of the contest, the time of their death, and their Acts.
[5] The place of the contest is said above to have been Ptolemaïs: Baronius added in Palestine. Where they suffered But the Acts at the beginning signify the city of Ptolemaïs in Isauria. But I find no city of this name in Isauria. In our Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides before vol. 1 of May, page XVIII, on occasion of the death of SS. Paul and his sister, which is there reported on the IV day of March, they are noted by us as having suffered at Ptolemaïs in Phœnicia. That city of the same name Ferrarius likewise assigns to Palestine, in his New Topography to the Roman Martyrology, and describes it thus: Ptolemaïs … a most ancient episcopal city of Palestine, on the border of Phœnicia, upon the coast, midway between Joppa and Tripoli, sixty miles distant from each, which is about as far as it lies northward from Jerusalem; bordering upon Tyre, Cæsarea Philippi, Nazareth, and Dora, at about 20 miles, being more or less distant from them. A city, after Tripoli, more entire, and the most populous of the whole coast. Besides this I find a city of the same name in Egypt on the river Nile; and in Cyrenaica likewise a Ptolemaïs, which was formerly called Barce, is set down in Cellarius, Notitia orbis antiqui, part 1, book 4, chapter 2, page 72; as also in book 3, chapter 6, page 133, another in Pamphylia. Ortelius also may be consulted concerning them.
[6] is not sufficiently established; Which then of so many Ptolemaïses of the same name is to be given to our martyrs? The great Greek Menæa on the IV day of March, and on today in their eulogy or narrative of the contest, set down simply Ptolemaïs, as we saw done above also in the Martyrology of Sirletus and elsewhere. What cause Baronius had for determining that place to be in Palestine escapes us. Certainly in his notes to the Roman Martyrology he cites the Greeks in the Menology (of Sirletus, as I suspect) and the Acts in Lipomanus and Surius, which thrust upon us a Ptolemaïs that does not exist in the nature of things. The praised Baronius, in his Annals at the year of Christ 275, assigns to SS. Paul and Juliana (to whom he there adds Stratonicus from their Acts) a persecution in Palestine and at Ptolemaïs, the emperor Valerian, under whom he reported them in his Martyrology, being changed to Aurelian; but of this matter we shall treat presently. Since these things are so, let it stand as a problem
which Ptolemaïs fell as the arena to the holy martyrs.
[7] nor do the Greeks and the Latins place them under the same emperor. The reckoning and determination of the time at which their martyrdom befell depends upon the emperor under whom it is placed. But here again, as the saying is, the water sticks. For the Greek calendars alleged above, and the great Menæa on both the days just mentioned, write Aurelian, as the Acts also write; but Baronius writes now that same emperor, now Valerian, as we just noted. And concerning Aurelian indeed he records this at the year of Christ 275: The same persecution (of Aurelian) raged in Palestine also: for among others it is established that Paul and his sister Juliana suffered at Ptolemaïs … From these martyrs, therefore, whom we have recounted as suffering at various times while the persecution of Aurelian pressed, one may make conjecture concerning the rest who were put to death in other provinces: so that it plainly appears that Aurelian did not (as many think) merely attempt to persecute the Christians and was divinely called back, or (as others add) undertook to persecute the Christians in the very last period of his reign and was straightway taken out of this life by the avenging Deity: for that that persecution lasted a long while sufficiently appears from what has been said. Thus he. If any one, therefore, will follow the Greeks, he will place the contest of our martyrs under Aurelian; if the Roman Martyrology, under Valerian. We meanwhile, although not daring sufficiently to trust their Acts, which are of small value, yet because elsewhere also among the Greeks they are marked as having suffered under that emperor, have judged it lawful for us to place them under the same, and to speak with the Greeks — and not with one authority only — rather than under Valerian, and to think with the Roman Martyrology and Galesinius; especially since our athletes belong to the Greeks, and since it is not sufficiently clear to us what moved the Latins to turn aside here from the Greeks. It follows from what has been said that no support at all is to be given to the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld, in which St. Paul and Juliana are said to have suffered under Julian. Led therefore by the foregoing reasons, we have placed our champions at the beginning of this Commentary under Aurelian, who according to exact chronologists began to reign in the year 270 of the common era, and ceased in the year 275. Concerning the day of the martyrdom something will be said below in the Annotations to chapter 3, letter b.
[8] Certain observations are given It remains that we observe a few things concerning their Acts. They are extant in Surius under this title: The martyrdom of SS. Paul and Juliana, who underwent it at the city of Ptolemaïs, by Simeon Metaphrastes. Among the Lives which Leo Allatius, in his Diatriba on the writings of the Simeons, from page 124, adjudges to Metaphrastes as properly his, we do not find the said Martyrdom. But whether it was composed by him or fathered upon him by another, we have indeed no ground on which deservedly to praise its author, whoever he be, since his purpose was not so much to narrate things true and sincere as to heap up things marvelous and far-fetched; so that it deserves the same censure which we have branded upon so many Greek Acts and so often in our work — brought to light, namely, from the same forge from which this our Martyrdom came, or from one of like genius.
[9] And indeed the scene of the emperor Aurelian, which is repeatedly represented from the beginning of the Martyrdom to the end, concerning the martyrs' Acts, how it can rightly cohere with Lactantius we do not sufficiently perceive. For that author, in his book On the Deaths of the Persecutors, writes this of Aurelian: But it was not permitted him even to accomplish what he had planned; rather he was straightway extinguished at the very beginning of his fury. His bloody writings had not yet reached the further provinces, and already at Cœnophrurium, which is a place in Thrace (between Byzantium and Heraclea, according to Eutropius, book 9) he himself lay bloody upon the ground, slain by his own friends through a certain false suspicion. How, then, do these words of our martyr-writer agree with these: The emperor Aurelian set forth throughout the whole world an edict against the Christians, that all should sacrifice to idols; but that those who would not do so should be most wretchedly deprived of life. He therefore, when he had come into Isauria, &c.? How with Eusebius, who in book 7, chapter 30, of his Ecclesiastical History, page 283 of the Valesian edition, records thus concerning the persecution meditated by Aurelian against the Christians? But in course of time, thinking otherwise of us, he began to be impelled by the counsels of certain men to stir up a persecution against our people … But when he was now prepared, and, so to speak, was subscribing the edicts drawn up against us, the divine justice avenged us, checking his attempt as though with a firm elbow. How, finally, with Sulpicius Severus? He, in book 2 of the Sacred History, chapter 28 and following, enumerates indeed the persecutions of the emperors against the Christians; but I find none among them designated as under Aurelian.
[10] The Greek copy which we have in our manuscript codex ✠ 194 and their copies, and the Menæa, agrees with the said Latin Martyrdom at the beginning and at the end; and elsewhere too we have noted such a conformity of the two copies that we judge it to have issued from one and the same workshop. Since therefore no Martyrdom of better stamp is at hand, that we may not give none at all, we shall give that which, translated into Latin, is extant in Lipomanus, vol. 7, and in Surius on this XVII day of August. Observe briefly, on this occasion, that St. Paul was not only exercised in the divine Scriptures, as was reported above at number 2 from the Menology of the emperor Basil, but also, if we believe the great Menæa, discharged the office of lector. For we have on this day, from their narrative concerning our Saints, that Aurelian, after he had come to Ptolemaïs, summoned him as he was at that time reading aloud (so we render the Greek ὑπαναγινώσκοντα) to the people the Scriptures inspired by God. Behold now, reader, we give the Acts of our athletes, such as they are, content to have added a few notes here and there to them; for they are neither worthy of more, nor can more be made of good profit from them.
THE MARTYRDOM
From the text published in Surius on the XVII day of August.
Paul, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Juliana, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Stratonicus, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Quadratus, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
Acacius, M., at Ptolemaïs (St.)
From the edition in Surius.
CHAPTER I.
SS. Paul and Juliana are tormented with various torments for the faith.
Aurelian, having issued an edict against the Christians The emperor Aurelian set forth throughout the whole world an edict a against the Christians, that all should sacrifice to idols; but that those who would not do so should be most wretchedly deprived of life. He therefore, when he had come into Isauria, betook himself to the city of Ptolemaïs b, that he might compel all the Christians to perform sacred rites to the idols. But when the most blessed Paul, together with his sister Juliana, had seen the emperor entering the city, he marked his forehead with the sign of Christ, and turning to his sister said: Be of good courage, my sister, and fear not: for I tell thee that a certain great trial hangs over the Christians.
[2] rebukes Paul for signing himself with the sign of the cross Aurelian saw when Paul marked his forehead with the sign of Christ, and sent men to seize him. And when he had ordered him to stand in the midst of the crowd, he said: Most wretched man, what hast thou purposed to thyself, that, as I was entering the city, thou shouldst dare to sign thy forehead? Art thou ignorant of the edict set forth against the Christians? Paul answered: I have indeed heard thy edict, but no one will ever be able to strike so great a fear into us that we should deny Christ, the true God: for thy torments are brief, and cannot harm those who fear God. But the torments of God are everlasting. In the same way the pleasure and glory which God bestows upon the race of Christians is eternal. Who then is so mad as to forsake the living God and to be willing to worship those deaf and dumb idols of yours, when the very author of our salvation, Jesus Christ, has said: Whosoever shall deny Me before men, I also will deny him before My Father who is in heaven?
[3] and orders him to be sharply tortured, Dost thou see, said Aurelian, how long I have suffered and borne with thy trifling? Come now and sacrifice to the gods, that thou be not destroyed by the worst kind of death. But Paul: I have known no other God save the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I have always worshiped even from my fathers, with pure heart and mind. Then Aurelian said: Hang up this man, and torture him sharply, until his Lord come and deliver him. The executioners therefore hung him up and began to afflict him with torments. And while he was being afflicted, calling upon God with a loud voice, he said: Lord Jesus Christ, true offspring of the true God and Father, whose generation no one can comprehend — not angels, not archangels, not Thrones, not Dominations, not Principalities, not Powers, not Virtues, not Cherubim or Seraphim, but the Father alone — do Thou, I say, bring help to me Thy lowly and abject servant, and free me from the hands of Aurelian. And God straightway made those torments so light that blessed Paul felt nothing.
[4] But the holy spouse of Christ, Juliana, when she had seen her brother thus tormented, ran to the tribunal, and crying with a loud voice, and Juliana also to be struck: said: Aurelian, thou tyrant, why dost thou thus cruelly torment my innocent brother? Then Aurelian: Uncover at once this woman's head, and strike her cheeks vehemently, that she speak not thus rashly: but torment this wicked man steadily, because he says that he has the patronage and help of that Christ of whom he speaks. Juliana laughed and said: I marvel how, being emperor, thou art out of thy wits and dost not know the power of Christ — how, namely, He makes torments lighter for those men who call upon Him. Aurelian, turning to his people, said: This little woman has been greatly puffed up by my clemency. And so, looking upon her grimly, he said: Come forward and sacrifice to the gods: for thou must not trust that thou shalt escape my hands. To this Juliana: I neither dread thy torments nor think thy threats concern me: for there is a God in heaven who will be able to snatch us from thy wicked hands. Whatever instruments of torture, therefore, thou hast, apply them to me, that from these very things thou mayest know that the help of God and of the Savior Jesus Christ is present with me.
[5] These things Juliana said. To whom Aurelian: I see, he said, who laughs at his blandishments and, hung up, is tormented, that thy beauty is such that, taking account of it, I am unwilling to destroy thee. I exhort thee therefore to sacrifice to the gods, that I may be able to choose thee as my lawful wife, and that thou mayest reign together with me, enjoying my empire at all times. Nay more, I will make amends to thy brother for the injury, and will cause him to hold a most ample rank of dignity with me. Juliana lifted her eyes to heaven, and when she had marked her forehead with the sign of the cross, she laughed. To whom Aurelian: Why, Juliana, he said, hast thou laughed, despising my great kindness? — I have not, she said, despised thy kindness; but I laugh, rejoicing that my heavenly Bridegroom, who wills all men to be saved, sits upon His holy throne, and the beauty of His divinity
I contemplate: who also exhorts me to endure gladly these very contests, but to despise thee, a trifling and futile man: since thou, while thou causest thyself to be called emperor, adorest both wood and stones. Hearing this, Aurelian, stirred with bile, said: Hang up this woman, and torment her steadily, that she may understand that she stands before the emperor's tribunal.
[6] The executioners had already begun to torment her, when Paul her brother, looking upon her, said: but she nobly despises the torments. Fear not, sister, the tyrant's torments, nor dread his threats. Let us endure a little while, that we may be able to rest for ever. — Inflict upon her, said Aurelian, unceasing torments, and drive it into her not to blurt out proud and foolish words. Hearing this, Juliana laughed again and said: Aurelian, thou tyrant and wicked man, the Lord Jesus Christ brings it about that I feel neither these labors nor these torments. Then Aurelian: Though thou pour out many trifles, and feign that thou feelest not the torments, yet I will bring it about that thou be tormented the longer and succumb to the pains. — Christ Himself, said she, will not suffer me ever to be overcome by thee. It is He who brings help to me, and both now and always to the very end will aid me, that thou mayest be able to know His power and our Christian patience. But thee my God Himself shall punish with eternal fire: for He will exact from thee the souls which thou hast destroyed.
[7] At these words Aurelian burned the more, and ordered a cauldron to be brought and pitch to be cast into it, and a great fire to be kindled beneath the cauldron, so that no one could draw near. And he ordered Paul and Juliana to be cast into it. And when they had been cast in, lifting their eyes to heaven and praying as with one and the same mouth, they said this: Lord God of our fathers, Both are put into boiling pitch, which is turned into cold water, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who didst descend into the furnace of fire to Sidrach, Misach, and Abdenago in the land of Babylon, and didst not suffer them to be harmed by the fire; Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, that measureless light, the mystery and glory of the Father, and the right hand of God most high, who being made man for our sins didst dwell among men: give salvation to the souls which the enemy the devil, having most wretchedly deceived and corrupted them, strives to thrust down even to the lowest gulf of the seat of Tartarus — as this Aurelian, the disciple of that same devil, now does. When they had said this in prayer, the boiling pitch was turned into cold water, so that those who were present marveled at the power of God.
[8] Valerian ascribing the power of God to magic arts. Nevertheless Aurelian, oppressed by his own fury, did not render glory to God, but thought that these things were done by magic arts. Afterwards he ordered them to be drawn out of the cauldron; upon whom there was not even any smell of pitch: nay more, neither in the cauldron itself was any pitch found, but only cold water. Then Aurelian said: Do ye think that those who are present are circumvented and led by you to think that help has been brought you by your God, and that these things were not rather done by magic arts? Not so, by the gods themselves, shall the matter stand: for I shall bring it about that, being afflicted with torments, ye be consumed by fire, unless ye offer victims to the gods themselves. To this Paul answered: By no means can we forsake the living Lord God, the creator of heaven and earth, who snatched us out of darkness and freed us from thy hands. Never, therefore, O emperor Aurelian, wilt thou be able to persuade us to render worship to your stones and statues, which lack voice, hearing, and soul. Therefore henceforth apply to us whatever torments thou wilt, that thou mayest know the power of our God.
[9] Then they are set upon red-hot seats: Aurelian ordered two iron seats to be brought thither, and coals to be heaped from the public baths, and those seats to be strongly heated; and the martyrs themselves, smeared with pig's fat, to be set upon the glowing seats. And when this had presently been done, Aurelian said: Now that all your arts are overcome, ye can learn who the emperor Aurelian is. Let your Christ come now, if He can, and bring help to you in your suffering. Juliana answered Aurelian at once: Christ is with us in this place; He brings us help, and does not suffer us to be touched by the fire. But thou dost not see Him, since thou art unworthy of the sight of Him. I warn thee, Aurelian, to lay aside this madness and to come to Christ: for if thou wilt believe in Him, He will embrace thee returning to thy senses, since He is kind and merciful and pardons the sins of men. But if thou wilt not believe, thou shalt be punished with eternal fire.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
Their lictors put to martyrdom; other torments of both; food supplied to them from heaven; the chastity of St. Juliana preserved.
the lictors are punished and are converted to Christ. Aurelian grew more angry, and ordered the executioners to be beheaded, as though they had received money from the Christians to spare them. But when the executioners were being led to death, Paul exhorted them with these words: Fear not: for ye shall not die for ever, but shall be partakers with the Saints and heirs of the heavenly kingdom. When the executioners had heard this, they stood still, praying to God thus: Lord Jesus Christ, whom Paul and Juliana preach, be present with us, and make us perfect in Thy confession: since we have done no evil, and yet we die. When they had said this, they were beheaded. One of them was called Quadratus, the other Acacius.
[11] These, therefore, having consummated their martyrdom, Aurelian ordered other executioners to bring fire The martyrs are again tormented and to sprinkle salt upon the coals, that the fire itself might blaze vehemently. Then Juliana said: Aurelian, thou tyrant and wicked man, why dost thou torment thyself? For I see thee tortured and afflicted, held fast by fury in every way, and at last, like some hissing serpent, pouring out venom against us: yet thou shalt profit nothing, since God Himself strengthens us, that we may be able to bear thy depraved devices. And so, when thou shalt have been able to accomplish nothing against us, thou shalt the more blush and shalt keep away from us. Aurelian ordered them to be loosed and thrust into prison, and certain logs of the greatest weight to be laid upon their necks, their feet also to be bound with fetters, their hands to be tied with chains, and iron nails to be strewn that they might be pierced by them, and that none of the Christians should be permitted to go in to them, lest food should be brought. The executioners therefore led them into prison and did to them what had been ordered by Aurelian. But when at midnight the martyrs were praying to God, a certain great light shone in the prison, and an angel stood before them and said to them: Paul and Juliana, servants of God most high, arise and pray to God.
[12] This the angel said, and drew near to them; and straightway he touched the instruments and food is set before them by divine power. with which their necks had been bound, and immediately both these and the other iron and wooden bonds, being broken, fell away from the bodies of the just martyrs. And two seats spread with cloths, and a table full of dishes of every kind, were at once set before them; and the angel said to them: Come, rest, and take the food which Jesus Christ has sent you. Paul and Juliana, rejoicing at this, reclined. And when they had taken the bread itself into their hands and had lifted their eyes to heaven, they gave thanks to God and partook of the food. The keepers of the prison saw that great light; and when they had suddenly entered in to them, they learned what had happened, and moreover saw them eating and made cheerful. And so, reclining with them, they too ate, and gave praise and glory to God, who had conferred such grace upon the sons of men; so that very many of them believed in God and became Christians.
[13] New torments, On the third day after, Aurelian, when he had sat upon the tribunal, ordered the holy martyrs Paul and Juliana to be led thither, and said to them: Have the torments not yet taught you to depart from this your madness, and, coming to the gods, to offer victims to them? — May this folly, said Paul, be mine, and that of all who love God Himself. For what is foolish of God is wiser than men; and the wisdom of men is folly with God. I should indeed be senseless and mad if, falling away from God Himself, I should worship your demons. Again Aurelian, stirred with bile, ordered them to be hung upon wood and tormented. But they, praying to God, said this: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, light of Christians, and faith which can neither be shaken nor conquered nor dissolved by adversaries; show Thy face and bring us help, and forsake us not, for Thy holy name's sake. When therefore the executioners tormented them a long while, and Christ lightened their torments, the martyrs felt those torments not at all.
[14] the conversion of Stratonicus the executioner But one of the executioners, named Stratonicus, when he stood at Juliana's left side and was inflicting torments upon her, being captivated by her beauty, held back his hands from her. And when the blessed and holy Juliana perceived his thought and mind, she stretched out her left foot and, striking him with her heel, said: Stratonicus, do what thou hast been commanded by the tyrant Aurelian, and hold not back thy hands from me in sparing me: for I have my King, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God and the healer of my soul, who relieves me of bodily labors, and so I do not feel the present torments. When Stratonicus had heard this, he straightway cast away the sword which he held in his hand; and running to Aurelian's tribunal, he cried out and said: Aurelian, thou tyrant and reckless man, why dost thou dare to commit these crimes against the Christians? What have men who serve God committed, that thou shouldst so cruelly and monstrously torment them? Is it because they venerate Christ, the ruler of all? When Aurelian heard this, he was so astounded that he remained mute for a whole hour.
[15] who is beheaded. At length answering, he said: Hast thou too, Stratonicus, become a partaker of their folly and madness? Has Juliana's beauty deceived thee, and hast thou been enticed by her pleasant words? Stratonicus, when he had lifted his eyes to heaven and then looked about at Paul and Juliana hanging on the wood, being fortified with the sign of the cross, saw their countenances such as the faces of the angels of God are wont to be. Presently he runs up and tramples the altar of the gods with his heels, and overturning it, says: Behold, I too am a Christian: do what thou wilt. Kindled with fury, Aurelian ordered his head to be cut off. And when the emperor had pronounced sentence, he came to that place in which he was to undergo martyrdom; where, when he had bent his knees, he prayed thus: Lord Jesus Christ, whom Paul and Juliana, confessing, remain unconquered, being preserved by Thy divinity and confounding the tyranny of Aurelian: do Thou, I pray, receive my soul also into the heavenly kingdom
of Thine; my soul, I say, who for the space of a very brief hour have confessed Thy name in the presence of the tyrant Aurelian. Having said this, he stretched out his head and was beheaded by the executioner. And the Christians came and gathered up his remains.
[16] But Paul and Juliana bravely endured the torments. Then Aurelian, addressing Juliana, said: O wicked SS. Juliana and Paul are condemned to the wild beasts, and impious little woman, how, being in torments, hast thou been able to deceive the executioner and to bring upon him the cause of death? — I did not, said Juliana, deceive him or bring the cause of death upon him; but He who took me up, Jesus Christ, He Himself both made him worthy and called him: for unless he had been worthy, he could never have come to the palm of martyrdom. Him, therefore, thou shalt behold resting in the kingdom of heaven; but thou shalt feel thyself punished in the flame of Gehenna. Then indeed thou shalt beat thy unhappy breast, when thou shalt see a man lower than thyself more excellent with Christ; and, seized with grief, thou shalt cry out, imploring the mercy of God, which nevertheless thou shalt not be able to obtain. After this Aurelian ordered them to be taken down from the wood and shut up in the inner prison, and all the sorcerers and jugglers to be called, that they might bring all the most savage beasts they had — that is, vipers, asps, cerastes a, and dragons — that they might be shut up in the prison together with Paul and Juliana. When therefore they had brought the beasts, as they had been ordered by the tyrant, they shut them in together with Paul and Juliana. But those creatures crept about and settled at the feet of the blessed martyrs, gazing indeed with intent eyes upon their faces, yet doing them no harm. And Paul and Juliana sat singing psalms and praising God.
[17] And those serpents remained shut up with the martyrs three days and three nights. but they are not harmed But on the third day Aurelian sent, about the time of night, to learn whether they had been devoured by the serpents. Those who had been sent came to that place; and when they had drawn near to the door, they heard them singing psalms and praising God. But when they wished to know more exactly how the matter stood, they went up into a certain upper place. Whence, looking through a window, they saw Paul sitting together with his sister Juliana, and an angel of God standing in the sight of the beasts, and not permitting the beasts to approach. They ran, therefore, and announced to Aurelian all that they had seen. Aurelian rose at daybreak and sat upon the tribunal, and ordered the sorcerers to call their beasts out from thence, and the martyrs to be led to the tribunal. The sorcerers came to the door and began to call the beasts in the way they were wont. But when the beasts themselves did not obey them, they opened the door, and the beasts all went out in one rush, and whatever unbelieving men they found near the door they straightway killed, and fled away to desert places.
[18] But the keepers of the prison led Paul and Juliana to Aurelian's tribunal. the tyrant attributing it to the beasts. The tyrant therefore, looking upon them and laughing, said: I count myself blessed today, that I enjoy your company: for perhaps I shall gain something great from you; and by the gods themselves, if indeed ye tell me the truth, ye shall receive many and great gifts from me, and the power of my kingdom shall be in your hands. Did ye not see the god Apollo present and helping you, as I have heard from certain watchers? — We, said Paul, have known no Apollo: for we are of the number of those to whom God has given salvation. But thy soul is lost even unto death: for thou hast no wisdom, nor art thou willing to come to thy senses; nay rather, the great fury of thy tyranny turns thee to blasphemy; since thou sayest — such is thy arrogance and rashness — that the angel whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent to stop the mouths of the serpents was Apollo. Then Aurelian, angered, ordered Paul's jaws to be beaten with leaden balls, and that it be said to him: Speak not so foolishly and arrogantly, since thou knowest that thou standest before the emperor.
[19] His blandishments and guile. Afterwards he ordered Paul to be led away from the tribunal, and Juliana his sister to be set before him, whom he assailed with these words: I beg thee, Juliana, mistress of my soul, I beg thee, I say, and exhort thee, not to imitate thy brother's madness. I see thee a most prudent maiden, filled with much wisdom. Obey my counsels, and I will set up golden columns throughout the whole world inscribed with thy name. Then Juliana said to him: By no means shalt thou deceive me, Aurelian, thou tyrant and impious man. Thou shalt not circumvent the handmaid of God most high. Do not urge upon me eternal death. Dost thou wish to deprive me of the glory of God and of the heavenly kingdom, of which thou art unworthy and a stranger? Aurelian ordered Juliana to be removed and Paul to be brought back; to whom he said: Behold, Paul, thy sister has promised me that she will sacrifice to the gods: who therefore shall be my wife and mistress of my whole kingdom. Do thou therefore also what I say, and suffer thyself to be persuaded to sacrifice to the gods. To this Paul: Truly, he said, thou hast lied, and that to thine own hurt: yet thou hast done nothing foreign to the discipline of thy father the devil, since thou doest what he is wont to do: for ye cannot steal away any one save by fabricating lies. But thou laborest in vain: for thou shalt not deceive us, not even if thou shouldst promise us the empire of the whole world; by no means, I say, shalt thou be able to circumvent us.
[20] Paul's other torments; Juliana's chastity How long, at last, said Aurelian, wilt thou do us injury? Art thou not ashamed, thou trifler and fool? By the gods themselves! I will afflict you with torments of every kind, and no one shall be able to take you out of my hands. He ordered therefore fire to be brought, and fourteen iron rods, and these to be cast into the fire and made very hot; then Paul's hands and feet to be bound, and an iron bar to be thrust between his hands and feet and fixed into the ground, and Paul thus to be beaten with the fiery rods, two at a time by turns; but Juliana he ordered to be placed in a brothel. And so many of that crowd which stood about, wicked and abominable men, strove in rivalry as to who should go in to her first. For they were like neighing horses, roused by that maiden's beauty. But when she had been placed in that spot where Aurelian had ordered, straightway an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and said: Fear not, Juliana: for the Lord Jesus Christ, whom thou worshipest, has sent me to protect thee and to make His holy name known to all who fear Him. And when many drew near to the virgin and wished to enjoy her beauty, the angel shook the dust from his feet and cast it into their eyes, so that he blinded them. Wherefore they no longer discerned where they were or whither they went, nor could they draw near to her.
[21] preserved by the Lord, and the blind given light. When the crowds had seen this, which had been wonderfully done, they cried with one mind: Great is the God of Paul and Juliana, who everywhere preserves and protects those who fear Him. But those who had been blinded, on bended knees, as suppliants implored her help, saying: Juliana, handmaid of God most high, we have indeed sinned against thee, since we have borne ourselves foolishly and senselessly: but do thou, we pray, grant us pardon, as the handmaid of God; and pray thy Christ to restore our sight to us. Juliana, moved with pity for them, took a little water; and when she had raised her eyes to heaven, she called upon God, saying thus: Lord Jesus Christ, author of the salvation of all, hear me, and now also show the miracles and prodigies which Thou workest for us the sons of men. Restore to these men the power of seeing, that Thy holy and glorious name may be celebrated. When she had said this, she poured the water upon those crowds, and all who had been blinded received their sight. Then they, prostrate on the ground, gave thanks to God, doing penance. And when they had confessed their sins, they became Christians.
[22] But Paul, of whom we were speaking, while he was being tormented by the executioners, [Paul, though absent, knows that Juliana's chastity was not violated by the shameless] having long been beaten with those iron rods, cried out, saying this: Aurelian, thou tyrant and wicked man, what evil have I committed that thou shouldst thus cruelly and impiously torment me? But me indeed my Lord Jesus Christ relieves of the torments: but for thee there awaits the inheritance of that eternal fire which is prepared for thee and for the devil, who suggests these things against us. — And where, said Aurelian, Paul, is Juliana thy sister, whom thou sayest to be temperate and a virgin? Behold, she has been led to the brothel. Dost thou think she is still a virgin? To this Paul: I know, he said, that that same God who has ever freed me from thy depraved devices has been my sister's champion also, and has kept her untouched by any stain. For He sent His angel from heaven to guard her. Behold how without spot, and having her virginity pure, she returns to see my bonds. For Aurelian had sent that Juliana should be brought. And when she had come to the tribunal, and Paul had seen her, filled with much joy he laughed. But Aurelian said: Have thy lovers, Juliana, been sated with thy beauty? But she said: My beauty, my ornament, and my glory is Christ, who sent His angel and protected me, His abject and lowly handmaid: since I have my faith and hope fixed in Him. Wherefore I give Him thanks and praise His holy name, because He it is who alone does wondrous things, and there is no other God beside Him.
ANNOTATION.
CHAPTER III.
The constancy of the martyrs tried by other punishments; their death and burial.
Both are cast into a burning pit: the heathen are converted: Aurelian next ordered Paul to be loosed, and a certain pit to be dug, as long as the height of three men; then wood and fire to be brought and kindled in that pit. The executioners did what had been ordered very diligently: for they at once dug the pit and vehemently kindled the fire. And so Aurelian
ordered Paul and Juliana to be cast into that fire. But the holy martyrs, praising God, called upon the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ to bring them help. And when they had come to that place, they fortified their limbs with the sign of the cross of Christ and cast themselves of their own accord into the fire. And they were in that fire praising God and proclaiming His glory. But behold, an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and shook out the smoke together with the fire, and did not permit the holy martyrs to be troubled in the least by the fire. And so they stood in that pit with bodies upright, uttering the divine praises to this effect: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God, King of the ages, who hast been mindful of our lowliness, and by Thy presence hast quenched the flame of the fire, for Thy goodness, which brings it to pass that Thou rememberest not our sins. Thou hast snatched us unworthy, safe and unharmed, from the devices of the tyrant Aurelian, who so swells with his own rule as though he were to be immortal. When the martyrs prayed thus, many of the Greeks a, beholding the power of God, being pricked in mind, fell away from the superstition of idols and followed the faith of Christ; many of the executioners also, who had beaten them, when they had seen such great benefits of God conferred upon them, changing their purpose, embraced the faith of Christ.
[24] heavenly threats to Aurelian; the constancy of the martyrs: But all these things were reported to Aurelian, who ordered them, just as they were, to be overwhelmed with stones in the pit. But, behold, suddenly the sound of thunder with many lightnings, and clouds driven hither and thither and full of fire, came even into Aurelian's sight and poured out that fire upon the earth; and this voice was sent down from heaven to him: Aurelian, enter into the abyss of the fire of Gehenna, prepared for thee and for thy father the devil. When these things had been done, Aurelian sent and ordered the athletes and martyrs of Christ to be drawn out of that pit and cast into prison. And so the holy martyrs praised the glory of God in all these things which God Himself had wondrously done for their sake. Afterwards, on the seventh day, at dawn Aurelian sat upon the tribunal and ordered the priests to bring as many idols as they had made of silver and gold and adorned with precious stones. Which the priests presently set in Aurelian's sight, having spread the royal purple beneath his feet. Then Aurelian said: Call Paul and Juliana. And when he had seen them standing before the tribunal, threatening them with mind and countenance greatly angered, he said: Go now and sacrifice to the gods: for I would not have you think that ye shall escape my hands. Paul smiled and said: Never, tyrant, will we forsake our God, who made heaven and earth. Think no more that we shall render worship to thy idols. Then Aurelian: Thou art worthy of a violent death. Do these seem idols to thee? And dost thou not understand what power is in them?
[25] St. Paul sets forth the foulness of the gods, To this Paul: That Jupiter, whom thou sayest to be a god, was a certain man, the son of runaway slaves, who had been well taught in the magic art; and since beyond other men he was most incontinent and utterly given to lust, and had fallen in love with the most beautiful wives and daughters of certain men, he could not restrain himself from consorting with them. He, changed now into a bull, now made like a bird — namely an eagle and a swan — circumvented several of the women just mentioned, and, driving them out of their minds, forced them into such wretchedness that they worshiped him as a god. Besides these he deceived other women also by change of shape and by illusions, being turned into gold. And not to relate his other lustful crimes in this place (I know thou art being roused to anger: but though thou be angry, I will nevertheless speak, fearing nothing) — that one who is set near Jupiter and is called Apollo, was he not begotten in adultery from a certain woman who was called Latona, and who bore him between two trees; and did not he too commit wicked deeds, imitating his father Jupiter? In the same way that Dionysus of yours also, that god, was he not himself begotten in adultery from Semele the daughter of Cadmus? — Trifler, said Aurelian, and wicked man, was not Bacchus begotten of Juno, the mother of the gods? Paul laughed and said: Is he a god who, being begotten of a woman, begins to be a god, or who has a wife? Then Aurelian said: How long, pouring out many trifles, wilt thou curse the gods? Was not your Christ also, whom you Christians say to be the heavenly God, begotten of a woman? Paul answered: Thou art not worthy to hear the mystery of God. But lest by thy speech thou circumvent many of those who are present, it is necessary to disclose what thou askest.
[26] In the beginning God Himself, when He had made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things and also the mystery that are in them, fashioned man to His own image and likeness: for God created him pure from malice, innocent, just, endowed with piety, and set him in a paradise full of delights. But your father the devil, not bearing so great a happiness of man, seduced Eve, and through her drove Adam to the transgression of the divine command. Whereby it came to pass both that Adam himself was expelled from paradise as a transgressor, and that the whole human race became subject to death and to the penalty of sin. Wherefore the heavenly Father and almighty God, moved with mercy, willing to succor the human race, sent His Son that He might take human flesh and might loose Adam and those who were held by the unjust one. He therefore, God, the Word of God and the Son of the Father, is before all ages His wisdom and His power and His right hand: who was announced through the archangel Gabriel to that holy Virgin, pure and most honorable, deriving her origin from a prophetic and royal race: in whose womb God Himself, that is, the heavenly Word, which is not discerned by bodily eyes, dwelling, took a body, when Gabriel had thus addressed Mary herself: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; and a little after: The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: and therefore the Holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. God, therefore, and the heavenly Word was begotten through the Virgin, most pure of every stain, clothed with a body as with a garment, for the dispensation of human salvation.
[27] For no one could see the true God present as He is, of the Incarnation, since God Himself is a consuming fire, nor could any living man see the face of God. For the sake, therefore, of this dispensation, our God, as regards the flesh, was begotten, and was nourished with milk as an infant, though He was perfect in divinity. Moreover He became a boy and a youth, and dwelt among men as a man for thirty-three years, passing through the cities, regions, and towns of the world, and doing good to all, and freeing those who were vexed by the devil. Afterwards He was fastened upon the wood of the cross, that He might give salvation to a world which had perished by the violence and deceit of the devil. He died in body. And when He had descended to the lower regions together with that holy soul of His, He crushed the gates of bronze and broke the bars of iron, and entering into the dark inner places of the lower world, He snatched away those who were held in bonds, and led them out of the prison of the devil into the region above. All of which is credited to His own kindness. And when He had thus risen from the dead after three days, He appeared to His disciples and Apostles, and to many others who had truly believed in Him; and when He had several times eaten and drunk with the Apostles through forty days, He was thus afterwards taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father with that body which God the Word joined to Himself. Now, therefore, the devil is afflicted with grief: for Christ Himself has caused him to be trodden underfoot by the Christians, who through His holy name enter into the kingdom of heaven: from which kingdom thou art a stranger; for thou hast thy lot and portion, the eternal Gehenna of fire, receiving the inheritance of the devil thy father.
[28] the tyrant raging Having heard this, Aurelian's countenance was changed with fury, and he began to gnash his teeth, blazing up against him; to whom answering he said: I have suffered thee pouring out many trifles just now, keeping patience with thee, thou trifler and wicked man, in hearing thee. But how long wilt thou go on despising me and cursing the gods? Now therefore, unless ye sacrifice to the gods, I will destroy you in the worst ways, so that no one shall be able to snatch you from my hands. Then Paul and Juliana with one accord, crying with a loud voice, said: We are Christians, and we have our hopes set in Christ Himself; we do not adore demons, we do not serve thy idols, we do not fear thy torments. Devise therefore whatever torments thou wilt: for we have faith in God that thou shalt be overcome by us, even as thy father the devil was overcome by Christ, who also makes us strong and vanquishes thy depraved arts. When Aurelian heard this, he ordered a certain great piece of wood to be brought; and when it had been brought, he had Paul bound upon it. And the executioners bound his hands. Then Aurelian ordered lighted torches to be brought and thrust into his face, a herald crying out thus: Be not insolent toward the lords of the world, nor hurl curses against the gods themselves.
[29] and condemning the martyrs to other punishments. Juliana, when she saw her brother being burned with fire, cried out with the loudest voice: O tyrant and wicked man, what evil has my brother committed, that thou shouldst so cruelly torment him? Aurelian ordered Juliana also to be bound upon wood, and lighted brands to be applied to her mouth and to her whole body; and he said to her: Most shameless woman, blush, as befits women. Then Juliana, laughing, said: Truly, Aurelian, I take thy admonition kindly, in that thou hast said: Since thou art a woman, blush. For I do reverence and blush before Christ, the Son of the living God, who is before my face, nor can I forsake Him and worship demons. Aurelian was kindled with fury when he saw himself mocked by them. And so he ordered the executioners to carry the fire over their whole bodies. And when they had presently done this, the whole city, which was present at the spectacle of the holy martyrs, cried with a loud voice: Emperor Aurelian, thou judgest unjustly, thou tormentest them unjustly. If they will not sacrifice to the gods, pronounce sentence against them. Then Aurelian, fearing lest the people should stir up sedition against him, pronounced sentence that their heads be struck off and their bodies be cast to dogs and wild beasts and the birds of heaven.
[30] Their death And so on the seventeenth day of the month of August b they went forth together rejoicing, and singing this verse of the psalm: Thou hast saved us, O Lord, from them that afflict us, and hast put to shame them that hate us. When
they had come to the place of martyrdom outside the city, Paul asked the executioner that he would strike Juliana with the axe before himself. And Juliana, when she had fortified her face with the sign of Christ, most joyfully stretched out her neck, and the headsman struck her with the axe. Paul therefore, when he had seen his sister accomplish the martyrdom of Christ, lifted his eyes to heaven and gave thanks to God, and fortifying himself likewise with the sign of the cross, stretched out his own neck; whom also the headsman presently beheaded.
[31] Their bodies were lying outside the city, since the Christians were forbidden to take them from that place. and burial. For soldiers, as Aurelian had ordered, kept watch that no one should carry away those remains. But wolves, dogs, and birds came to that place, and, sitting about the bodies of the holy martyrs, guarded them; and when they saw flies and creatures of that kind settling upon those bodies, the birds themselves drove them off with their wings, not permitting them to alight upon those holy bodies. And so for seven days and seven nights wild beasts and the birds of heaven sat about the remains of the martyrs. Moreover all these things were reported by the soldiers to Aurelian. Who, when he had heard them, said: O the worst madness of these Christians, whom not even dead have we been able to overcome! He sent therefore and withdrew the soldiers from thence by night: for he did not wish to remove them thence by day, lest they should be mocked by the Christians. But when day had dawned, the Christians went out, and, caring for the bodies of the martyrs, laid them away sumptuously in peace, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning: with whom to the Father together and to the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, and dominion now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.