ON ST. ANDREW THE TRIBUNE AND HIS FELLOW MARTYRS,
IN CILICIA,
Under Maximian.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Andrew the Tribune, martyr, in Cilicia (St.)
His fellow martyrs in Cilicia
BY J. P.
§ I. Their public veneration, the confusion of St. Andrew's name, the Acts, the number of the Martyrs.
[1] How memorable is the name of this most celebrated Martyr and of his companions, and how greatly it has remained in benediction among later generations, Their memory, verses, the ancient monuments which have been handed down to us concerning them abundantly testify. Let us begin with the Greek calendars. The Typicum, which is cited under the name of St. Sabas, makes mention on this day of the holy martyr Andrew, commander of the soldiers, and his companions, two thousand five hundred and ninety-three. The Menology of Sirleto has it thus: The birthday of the holy martyrs Andrew, commander of the army, and his companions, two thousand five hundred and ninety-three, who, being denounced in the times of the persecutor Maximian before Antiochus, commander of the army, because they were Christians, and persevering in the confession of Christ, were struck with the sword. The same man, with the honorific title of megalomartyr, and likewise the same number of companions, are noted by the great printed Menaea, and they sing to them the following verses:
Ἔστησε τμηθεὶς αἱμάτων λίμνας ὄχλος Σοὶ τῷ παραστήσαντι λίμνας ὑδάτων. Ἐννέα καὶ δεκάτῳ τάμον Ἀνδρέου αὐχένα λαμπρόν.
This throng, being cut down, gave pools of blood for thee, O Christ, who didst give them pools of water. On the nineteenth the sword cut off the illustrious neck of Andrew.
I judge that the poet alludes to the manner of the martyrdom and to the healing spring: concerning which see the Acts, numbers 11, 12, and 13. The said Menaea make a special and solemn memory of St. Andrew in the sacred Office of this day, a Canon also having been composed in honor of the Saint, of which this is the acrostic:
Ὕμνοις κροτῶ σε, Ἀνδρέα, Στρατηλάτα.
I sing your praises, O Commander Andrew.
[2] Further, these our Champions of today are commemorated in various other sacred calendars: a eulogy. for in the Calendar of the Ruthenians in Possevino mention is made of St. Andrew, M.; in the Menaeon of Chifflet, Ἀνδρέου Στρατηλάτου, of Andrew, commander of the soldiers. The Arabic-Egyptian Martyrology and the Turin manuscript make mention both of him and of his companions in general; whose number the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld determines in the same way as the Typicum and the Menology of Sirleto. The Synaxarium from the Menology collected by order of the emperor Basil, after this title, The contest of the holy great-martyr Andrew, Commander of the soldiery, and of his companions, sets down a summary of the Acts, whose Greek text is printed at the end of volume 1 of the month of August, and which in Latin runs thus: This man, in the reign of Maximian, was Commander of the soldiers in the eastern region under Antiochus, who was set over the whole body of the soldiery. And after he had been sent by him, together with other commanders of the soldiery, against the Persians, and had invoked Christ, he put the Persians to flight; and after the unhoped-for victory he drew his companions to the faith of Christ. But being accused before Antiochus, they stood before him as men on trial: and he himself was stretched upon a red-hot iron bed; while the hands of his companions were pierced with nails to squared timbers. Then afterwards, at Antiochus's command, they were driven out from the borders of the region along with a thousand others: whom, when the Saint had instructed them, he brought to the faith of Christ. When Antiochus had learned the matter, and had pursued them together with those over whom he was set, he slew them all with the sword, and last of all Andrew, the illustrious martyr of Christ, and famous in renown among the athletes.
[3] The name of St. Andrew and his Companions is celebrated also As memorable as the name of this our Megalomartyr, or great Martyr, is among the Greeks, so celebrated is it also among the Latins, being inscribed at any rate in the most ancient Martyrologies and those of the first rank. For Usuard on this day reports him thus: The birthday of St. Magnus, or St. Andrew the martyr, with his companions, two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven. On which announcement these things were long since observed by us in our published and illustrated Usuard: Our Latin martyrologists most probably made of Andrew, that most renowned MEGALOMARTYR among the Greeks, a man of two names, "Magnus or Andrew," from the Greek appellation. For so has Bede, as he has been published by us, and from him Rabanus, the Little Roman, Ado, and Usuard, whose words we have already given. They would perhaps have read better, "of the great Andrew"; for I do not think it probable that our martyrologists meant to confound Andrew, tribune of the soldiers, with Magnus, bishop of Anagni. This observation concerning the double name wrongly given to this our Martyr we shall try to confirm below. We have meanwhile from what has been said (for nothing compels us to transcribe all those announcements here in full) that St. Andrew was a martyr of great name in the Latin Church. Of Wandelbert we shall treat afterwards. The modern Roman Martyrology reads thus concerning him and his companions, whose number, however, it does not determine: In Cilicia, the birthday of St. Andrew the tribune, and of his fellow soldiers, who, having obtained by divine aid a victory over the Persians, were converted to the faith of Christ, and being accused on this account, were slain under the emperor Maximian in the narrows of Mount Taurus by the army of the governor Seleucus.
[4] among the Latins. But because certain things must presently be noted concerning the announcement in Galesinius, it has seemed good to set that too down here beforehand. It runs thus: At Caesarea, of the holy martyrs Magnus, Andrew, and their Companions, who, being two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven, when they had beheld a lion raging against men who were strangers to the faith, but lying tame and prostrate at the feet of the blessed martyr Magnus, moved by the wonder of the thing, betook themselves to the faith of Christ. Wherefore by order of the governor Alexander they are beheaded. But Magnus is overwhelmed with stones. This announcement suits St. Magnus, whose martyrdom Peter de Natalibus describes at greater length in book 7, chapter 76; in whom, however, since I find no trace of St. Andrew, it seems strange to me to read his name intruded into the said announcement. But this matter is treated more at length in our work on this day, on which St. Magnus the Cappadocian is discussed, page 717. Now we shall treat of the mistake of the martyrologists indicated above and here to be refuted at greater length; from which the mistake of Galesinius seems to have drawn its origin.
[5] And that mistake is indeed twofold: the one lies in this, that they added to St. Andrew a name not his own, The mistake is corrected. namely that of Magnus; the other, more uncertain than the first, that in some place St. Magnus is perhaps announced otherwise than he ought to be, as I shall presently relate. As to the former, besides those things which we have set forth a little before, I add these for their fuller confirmation. Baronius, in his notes on this XIX day of August on the announcement of the Roman Martyrology concerning Andrew the Tribune and his Companions, says: Of these on this day Usuard and Ado; although they confound Andrew with St. Magnus. Lambeck also censures this error, in his Commentaries on the Imperial Library of Vienna, book 8, page 202, where, on the occasion of the Latin version and the opening of the Acts of St. Andrew and his companions in Surius on this day, The martyrdom of St. Andrew, Commander of the army, and of his companions, by Symeon Metaphrastes. But this Andrew is also called Magnus, etc., he writes thus: This is not to be understood of the proper name of Magnus, which indeed St. Andrew Stratelates did not have; but only of the title Μεγαλομάρτυρος, or GREAT MARTYR, which is attributed to him for honor's sake in the Greek inscription of this narrative. Wrongly, therefore, and absurdly is it read in the Martyrology of Ado, archbishop of Vienne, on the XIX day of August: The birthday of St. Magnus, or St. Andrew, etc. Deservedly therefore were those words, But this Andrew is also called Magnus, omitted in the edition of Surius published at Cologne in the year 1618. So much for that error. Into another Wandelbert perhaps fell, when he seems to have joined to the same band of Martyrs St. Magnus the Cappadocian, to whom we have assigned above another arena of martyrdom. For thus he sings:
Magnus and Andrew shine forth on the fourteenth day: Five hundred and ninety-seven accompany them, Whom likewise twice a thousand Saints together follow.
[6] There are various copies of the Acts. Lambeck, in the place cited, pages 201 and 202, adduces one with this title and beginning: The Acts Τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ. Ἄθλησις τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ ἐνδόξου μεγαλομάρτυρος Ἀνδρέου τοῦ Στρατηλάτου, καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ τελειωθέντων δισχιλίων πεντακοσίων ἐννενήκοντα τριῶν. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῆς τοῦ ἀσεβεστάτου Μαξιμιανοῦ βασιλείας διωγμὸς κατὰ Χριστιανῶν ἐγένετο μέγας, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς μέρεσι τῆς Συρίας· εἶχεν δὲ τότε τῆς ἐκεῖσε στρατηγικῆς τάξεως τὴν ἀρχὴν Ἀντίοχός τις, δεισιδαίμων ἄνθρωπος ὤν, etc. That is: On the same day (the XIX of August), the contest of the holy and glorious great-martyr Andrew, commander of the army, and of the two thousand five hundred and ninety-three slain with him. In the times of the reign of the most impious Maximian a great persecution was stirred up against the Christians, especially in the regions of Syria. And a certain Antiochus, a man addicted to the superstition of the gods, then held command of the military order there, etc. Lambeck observes that this narrative exists in Latin in Laurence Surius, and is there attributed to Symeon Metaphrastes, as has just been indicated. But I find no trace of it in Allatius, in his Diatribe on the Writings of the Symeons, from page 124 onward, where he enumerates the Lives which he marks as properly Metaphrastes's own. Consult what was said in volume 11 of this month, page 719, concerning the Acts of St. Euplius the martyr. We have also a Greek copy in our codex ✠ Ms. 194, at the title of which copy it is noted that the same are found in the Imperial Manuscript 45, page 221. Another Greek copy we keep with this title: Μαρτύριον τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος τοῦ Στρατηλάτου, from the Ambrosian codex N. f. n. 152, as is added in the same copy. It begins: Τὸν θαυμαστὸν Ἀνδρέαν τὸν στρατηλάτην, The wonderful Andrew, commander of the army, etc.
[7] and their Baronius at the year of Christ 301 wove in a historical collection of the Acts: which indeed, he says in the same place, number 5, are known to be genuine. But, with the good leave of that most eminent Cardinal, not a few difficulties occur which tell against them. For first, that they were not written by a contemporary writer is indicated by this, that at the beginning of them these things are said: A certain great persecution was stirred up against the Christians … There was at that time a certain Antiochus … And further on, the most celebrated Martyr is called a Saint. But afterwards there follows: And straightway, just as the holy Martyr had asked in his prayers, the place into which that venerable blood of the Martyrs had flowed down became a certain spring, bringing health for all kinds of sicknesses, which spring TO THIS PRESENT DAY overflows with graces. Do these things suit a contemporary author? Secondly, the prayer of St.
Andrew, in which he says: Lord God … receive the prayers of me, a sinner … and of all who are with me … and to all those who in a time of necessity shall invoke our names, unworthy though we are, grant those petitions which pertain to salvation; and protect those who shall take refuge in this place … and in the place where our humble blood shall have been shed, let there be there a spring of healings, etc. That prayer, I say, is a mere episode, since it could have been heard by no one save the Martyrs themselves alone, who by reason of the time had no opportunity of reporting it to others. Add to this that it does not seem sufficiently consonant with Christian humility, which ought to shine forth in Martyrs.
[8] an examination; Thirdly, it may also seem strange that St. Andrew, having embraced the faith of Christ, exposed himself to one battle — nay, to several, as it appears — before he had sought and obtained baptism. Let the Acts be heard: Among the worshippers of idols he flowered like a rose among thorns … the most faithful servant and martyr of God, Andrew … He … having obtained the help of Jesus Christ, overcame the enemies in the wars that opposed him, and excelled in many notable and vigorous exploits. But when the war against the Persians had been committed to him, having with him only those whom heavenly grace manifestly designated to him, he gave battle to the enemy opposed to him. And when he was about to engage with the enemy, he set before his soldiers their huge multitude as a proof of the divine knowledge: for they had not yet been endowed with the faith of Christ our God: and they carried off an illustrious victory over those very enemies. There follows afterwards St. Andrew's confession, his torture on the red-hot brazen bed, the punishment of his fellow soldiers, etc.; to which at last there is subjoined the baptism both of himself and of the soldiers, which they are said to have received from Peter, bishop of the city of Tarsus, after they had secretly withdrawn thither. We meanwhile conclude from what has been said that in a history of the Acts of this kind there shines forth not so much a genuine narrative as the composition of some petty Greek scribbler, whoever in the end he may have been: which will be confirmed from certain other difficulties which will be set forth below. See the Annotations.
[9] The number of the holy Martyrs is not set down in the same way among the Greeks and among the Latins. The number For the latter record that they were two thousand five hundred and ninety-seven, from what has been set forth above at number 3; the Roman Martyrology does not mark the number: in determining which the Greek calendars cited at number 1 agree almost entirely with the ancient Latin ones. The Acts indeed likewise determine no number; but it must needs have been great, since he vanquished a huge multitude of Persians, and Andrew with his whole brave phalanx chosen by God, as the Acts say, obtained martyrdom; although certain soldiers of those who had been with him … denounced him before Antiochus, because he … confessed and celebrated a God who had been fastened to a cross. But how does so great a number cohere with Eusebius, who in the Ecclesiastical History published by Valesius, book 8, chapter 4, page 296, reports this: After … some commander of the Roman army or other (I understand Maximian Galerius) had undertaken to persecute the Christian soldiers, and had begun to review and examine those who were serving in the army, and had given the Christians free power of choosing, either by obeying the orders of the emperors to retain their rank of honor, or, if they were unwilling to obey, to be stripped of their military honor: very many soldiers of the kingdom of Jesus Christ preferred, without any hesitation, the confession of that name to the worldly glory and prosperity which they enjoyed. Of whom very few (in the Greek it is εἷς που καὶ δεύτερος, that is, one and another) endured to lose not only their rank but even their life for the defense of piety: since he who was laying snares for our religion still dared but sparingly and rarely to shed the blood of any. But when he girded himself more openly for war, it cannot be told how many and how great Martyrs of Christ it was possible to behold everywhere in all places and cities — namely after the notorious edict against the churches published at Nicomedia, of which the same Eusebius makes mention in chapter 5.
[10] If therefore it were permitted to defer the martyrdom of our Champions until that most cruel persecution in which the tyrants raged against every kind of men, the text of Eusebius would create no difficulty; but since it does not seem that it should be deferred so far, at least according to the Acts, that is, as they now stand, we do not see how the words of Eusebius can be answered conveniently enough. We said, at least according to the Acts, etc., which narrate that the slaying of St. Andrew and his fellow soldiers happened after the Persian war: but that circumstance was perhaps added by an insufficiently cautious embellisher of the Acts, which on other grounds are not of any very great authority. Whatever the case may be, we leave that huge number of the companion Martyrs, recorded alike in the Greek and in the Latin calendars, in its ancient possession, yet in such a way that, following the Roman Martyrology, we have not determined it in the title before this our Commentary. Now let us pass from the number of the Martyrs to the time of the martyrdom.
§ II. The time of the martyrdom weighed.
Against the note of time Blessed Andrew, say the Acts, completed the course of his martyrdom with his whole brave phalanx chosen by God on the nineteenth day of the month of August, on the Lord's Day. The letter G, which is here the letter of the XIX day of August, is not found marked as the Dominical letter for our purpose except in the years 294 and 305; whence it follows that, according to the Acts, that martyrdom must be attached to one or other of those years. But if you affix it to the year 305, one must take pains that the said year be made to agree with the manner in which Maximian is said in the Acts to have ordered the Martyrs to be treated, and with the remaining series of those same Acts, matters being there so set forth that it seems hard to say that they happened at the time of the general Diocletianic persecution. Add that they record that the palm of martyrdom happened at the time of that war against the Persians, in which a notable victory was won over them by St. Andrew and his companions: whence it comes about that the time of the martyrdom depends on the time of that war according to the Acts. Baronius at the year of Christ 301, number 1, affirms that the emperor Diocletian with his colleague Maximian then triumphed over the Persians: and in the same place, number 2, he says: Further, there shone forth in the Persian war the exceptional valor of Andrew, tribune of the soldiers, etc.
[11] marked in the Acts But Pagi, at the said year, number 2, affirms that that triumph was celebrated in the year 303, in which Lactantius, in the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors, chapter 17, relates that Diocletian celebrated his Vicennalia at Rome. For since that triumph was displayed at Rome, as Eusebius in the Chronicle, Eutropius, and Cassiodorus testify, and since before the year 303, after the Persian victory, Diocletian was not at Rome, it is clear that this triumph was held in that year. Moreover I have more than once suggested that triumphs were customarily displayed together with the Vicennalia and festivals of that kind, and were often deferred. Wherefore, although peace between the Romans and the Persians had already been ratified from the year 297, nevertheless the triumph over the Persians was held only in the year 303. And, with some matter interposed, at number 2 of the year 301, which I was citing from Baronius, and following, he observes this: Diocletian … promulgated no edict this year concerning the persecution of the Christians, but only raged against the soldiers. Wherefore the Martyrs of whom Baronius speaks did not suffer before the year 303. Those other Martyrs do not concern us here, but St. Andrew with his soldiers, whose martyrdom, from what has already been said in Baronius and his critic, was accomplished in the year 301.
[12] there are opposed But from agreeing with their opinion we are hindered: first, peace between the Romans and the Persians had already been ratified from the year 297, as Pagi just now admitted, the Persians namely having then been conquered by Galerius Caesar, according to the same author at that year, numbers 6 and 7. Why then should the martyrdom of our holy Soldiers be deferred to the year of Christ 301? Why does Pagi, according to his own principles, not place it earlier, since he affixes the persecution of the soldiers to the year 298, saying at that same year, number 2: The persecution against the soldiers was begun this year, as Prosper rightly says in the Chronicle. As therefore the general persecution began in the very Vicennalia of both Augusti (the reference is to Diocletian and Maximian Herculius), so also a certain skirmishing of it in the Quindecennalia of both. Secondly, since the Acts say at number 2: At that time it happened that a certain part of the Persian forces crossed the borders and stirred up war against Antiochus; and since that war was committed to St. Andrew by Antiochus, and so, from what has been said, not after the year 297, in which peace was ratified between the Romans and the Persians — what then compels us to postpone his martyrdom and that of his companions until the year of Christ 301? Thirdly, since finally this year cannot be made to agree with the reckoning of time at which the Acts record the martyrdom to have happened, namely on the nineteenth day of the month of August, on the Lord's Day, as was observed above; it would indeed seem better to us to defend the Acts in this and not to condemn them of error, if we were not compelled to it by some probable argument. And it is this:
[13] Theodoric Ruinart, among the Genuine and Select Acts published by him, page 309 and following of the first edition, difficulties, sets forth the Acts of St. Maximilian the martyr, in which, besides other things urging him in the year of Christ 295, on the fourth Ides of March, to enroll himself in the army, these things are said: Maximilian replied: "My warfare is unto my Lord. I cannot serve the world as a soldier. I have already said, I am a Christian." Dion the proconsul said: "In the sacred retinue of our lords Diocletian and Maximian, Constantius and Maximus, there are Christian soldiers, and they serve." How then, if in the year 295 there were Christian soldiers among the squadrons of Maximian and in his court — how, I say, were our Christian Soldiers persecuted in the year of Christ 294 under Maximian? Add to this that it does not seem probable enough that the tyranny of persecuting the Christians was carried into execution by Maximian alone, except after the victory which was won over the Persians in the year 297, and which puffed up his spirit and raised his crest to dare anything. And indeed the context of the Acts of St. Andrew suggests not obscurely that Maximian was at that time acting in the East: whereas outside the time of the Persian war he seems always to have played his part toward Illyricum, since in Lactantius, in the book On the Deaths of the Persecutors, chapter 18, he says that fifteen years had already flowed by in Illyricum or on the bank of the Danube, in which, banished, he struggled with barbarian nations, while others ruled delicately within broader and quieter lands.
[14] And these are the difficulties which present themselves in fixing the time of the martyrdom. on account of which we place the martyrdom under Maximian. But since it is not ready to my hand to loose this knot, at least by adhering to the Acts, I have thought it better to cut it, and to place the martyrdom of our Champions, with the Acts, under Maximian, under whom also
the Roman Martyrology marks it, without determining the year of that martyrdom. I said, at least by adhering to the Acts: for if the writer of them had before him documents of a better sort, and so transformed them by embellishment and interpolation that the difficulties weighed above are to be referred to that cause, then I do not see why the time of the martyrdom could not be attached to the Diocletianic persecution; why not likewise to the Lord's Day, and thus to the year 305 of the common era, namely after those imperial edicts (see the Acts, numbers 5 and 8) which from the year 303 onward went forth against the Christians; why, finally, it could not be said with the Acts that it happened in the reign of the emperor Maximian — understanding, that is, an emperor in the true and proper sense of the name, who before the said year 305 had been merely Caesar; although with the title of emperor already added from the year 292, as may be read in the recent French author of the History of the Emperors, volume 4, in Diocletian, article 9, page 21. But since I judge it plainly superfluous to translate into Latin one or other of the two Greek copies indicated above which are in my hands, I set forth
THE ACTS
ascribed to Metaphrastes and published in Surius.
Andrew the Tribune, martyr, in Cilicia (St.)
His fellow martyrs in Cilicia
FROM SURIUS.
Chapter I.
In the reign of the emperor Maximian, a man exceedingly impious, a certain great persecution was stirred up against the Christians, but especially in the regions of Syria. St. Andrew, renowned for many warlike deeds There was at that time a certain Antiochus, very much given over to superstition, who governed the military orders under his own command: who, on account of the madness of idols, breathed a fierce fury against pious men. Under that man whom we have said was named Antiochus, many military tribunes were reckoned as sharers in the same error. Among whom, like a rose flowering among thorns, and like some fragrant breath among rank odors, was the most faithful servant and martyr of God, Andrew: who had indeed been hidden before, but afterwards appeared openly. He, on account of his ardent zeal and piety, having obtained the help of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, overcame the enemies in the wars that opposed him, and excelled in many notable and vigorous exploits.
II.
[2] At that time it happened that a certain part of the Persian forces crossed the borders, wages war against the Persians, and stirred up war against Antiochus. Since therefore the sudden incursion of the enemy and their multitude disturbed him not a little, remembering the military skill and vigor of Andrew, then a tribune a, he ordered him to be summoned to his accustomed ranks, exhorting him to be of stout heart, and using these words: "The exploits of your valor against the enemy," he said, "are very well known both to me and to him who holds the sceptres of empire, and are exceedingly manifest: wherefore also you have obtained this rank of dignity. Therefore I commit this great and sudden war b to your valor, that through the occasion of the present contest a greater heap may be added to your former glory." When Andrew, that excellent soldier of Christ, had heard these words, relying not on forces, not on arms or chariots, but on the all-powerful God alone, he emulated the great Gideon, and took a few soldiers only for a battle of this kind. For having with him those alone whom heavenly grace manifestly designated to him, he gave battle to the enemy opposed to him c.
III.
[3] And when he was about to engage with the enemy, he set before his soldiers their huge multitude as a proof of the divine knowledge: and carries off an illustrious victory over them. for they had not yet been endowed with the faith of Christ our God. This therefore he told them: "The present opportunity will be for us the procurer of heavenly and divine knowledge: for straightway you shall know that the gods of the nations are truly demons, and that the true God is he whom I worship, who made heaven and earth. He therefore, since he can do all things, brings help to those who call upon him, and makes them strong in war, and makes the cohorts of the enemy turn their backs. See therefore, as you behold, the enemy themselves are set over against us, innumerable in forces and stronger than we; but come, leaving aside the error of idols, call upon with me the God who is truly God, and straightway you shall see the enemy themselves failing before you like some smoke or dust." These things he said. And the soldiers, believing him, and rushing on with great confidence, put to flight the phalanxes opposed to them, and carried off an illustrious victory over those very enemies. And those soldiers, victors in that battle and witnesses of a wonder beyond all men's expectation, the holy man of God Andrew perfectly confirmed, so far as in him lay, as chosen men of Christ, and brought them to the knowledge of God.
IV.
[4] Do you think that the adversary devil was little disturbed by that matter, He is accused before Antiochus of being a Christian, who reckoned that victory a kind of trophy raised against himself, and judged that the thing was nothing else than the downfall of his own power? For the rest, the great Athlete of God, prepared to go forward to the arena, received from God himself excellent gifts as certain heavenly pledges, since he abounded also in miracles of casting out demons. Many therefore who were troubled by unclean spirits he freed day by day, and thus inflicted a deadly wound upon the devil, and utterly subdued that envious and proud enemy. But when the affairs of the war had gone according to his mind for the holy Man, and he had set up a trophy against the Persians, he came with his soldiers into the city of Antioch. But straightway certain soldiers of those who had been with him, stirred by envy and spite, since they had not chosen that good willingly d, denounced him before Antiochus, because the Commander confessed and celebrated a God who had been fastened to a cross. That matter brought the greatest anger upon Antiochus, and he sent certain men of the military order to learn from him what was true and to make it plain. And when through those who had been sent he had heard for certain that the matter was so, he dealt with him through go-betweens, partly with flatteries, partly with threats, partly with admonitions: and recalling his hatred and bitterness against the Christians, he said to him through those same go-betweens: "Since you know how and with what torments I destroyed Eutychius, son of Polyeuctus e, and many of those who together with him followed the faith of Christ, and how I pursued none of them with mercy — with what purpose now, or with what hope, do you set forth the mention of a man fastened to a cross?"
[5] To this Andrew replied: "By these very words which he speaks Antiochus most greatly strengthens my constancy. and makes before him a noble confession of the faith, For if all those whom he has brought forward by name, being subjected by him to grievous torments, came off victors over him, and stood as crowned athletes before Christ God, why should not I too strive to remain at all times the friend, or rather the servant, of my Lord Jesus Christ, that I may obtain the same rewards as they?" These utterances, spoken by the holy Man, that arrogant Antiochus, who abhorred the piety of God, received through those who swiftly took down what was said and committed it to writing; and he ordered him to be led bound before him, and to be questioned in the hearing of all, and to confess openly whether he would obey the emperor's edict or his own God. But he, in the presence of men, of angels, and of all visible and created nature, distinctly, openly, and confidently confessed Christ. And so that most arrogant governor devised a most bitter punishment against him, and using a certain irony said: "Since Andrew has endured much labor in wars, and has been crowned with not a few victories, we have devised for him a way and manner of remission and rest."
[6] He ordered therefore a brazen bed to be made ready: and when it had been heated exceedingly, he ordered the holy man Andrew to be placed upon it. proved also by fire. But he with ready and eager spirit leapt upon that bed as upon some soft couch, and lay down upon it; and straightway he felt a violent torment, since his whole body was burned and glowed on every side with the heat of the fire. But soon, on account of the exceeding fervor of his faith, he had rest and refreshment, the fire itself being slackened. That wicked judge also brought forward certain of the number of those soldiers who had borne themselves vigorously with him in the war and had truly believed in God, and ordered their hands to be nailed to timbers having a square shape; and laughing, he asked them whether that thing were a pleasure to them. At once they, with a spirit very ready, affirmed that this thing was most delightful to them, adding this: "Would that we might be imitators of Christ, who for our sake was fastened to the wood of the cross!" Then the tyrant, turning his questions to the divine Andrew, made trial whether, having experienced such a torment, he had changed his mind and turned his spirit from the faith of the Christians. But when he had replied that he awaited from God that crown which they obtain who keep patience unto the end, and that he would never depart from what had been rightly and firmly resolved, the tyrant ordered Andrew to be led out from that place and diligently guarded in prison — in word indeed because he wished to give the martyr time, that he might consider his case better and be able to change his mind, but in truth he did this that he himself might learn in the meantime what the emperor's decision was concerning Andrew and the other Christian Soldiers.
VI.
[7] Straightway therefore he sent letters to Maximian and made known that matter. Then for a while he is released with his companions; Maximian, when he had been informed about Andrew and those who were with him by those letters of which we have spoken above, judging that no small disturbance and tumult would come upon him if he ordered so distinguished and famous a Commander of the army, and so many and so great men who were with him, excellent soldiers, to be struck with the sword, wrote back to Antiochus that by some artifice or cunning he should secretly entice the men to accomplish what he wished, and should not give occasion of revolution or sedition to the whole army. These things the emperor wrote, considering that, if, when a judge wishes to inflict punishment upon some obscure men whose crimes are uncertain, very many are inclined to defend their cause, much more would this be done in the case of this Man, who both held a rank of dignity and had endured no common labors attested by the testimony of many men, and was set over no contemptible order of soldiers. Wherefore in his letters to Antiochus he added: "It pleases me that men of this kind be freed from prison, as though pardon for past deeds were granted them; but a little afterwards, unless they repent, that these same men be gravely punished as denounced for some other crime."
VII.
[8] Antiochus therefore, when he had received these letters from Maximian, did what the emperor had ordered, but fraudulently: he goes to Tarsus, and is sought after, and brought forth from their chains the distinguished servant of God, Andrew, and all who were with him, and permitted them to pass their life with a free and untroubled mind. But the holy
servant of God, Andrew, learned that the device of this deception had been disclosed to him from heaven; and having with him those who had labored with him and had been led by his admonitions to the divine knowledge, he betook himself into Cilicia, to the metropolis of Tarsus: for he had long since purposed to be brought to saving baptism by Peter, who at that time religiously and holily presided over the metropolis already named, and excelled in many notable deeds, and was pleasing to God himself. For although he had been from the beginning, as was said above, a most faithful servant of God, and filled with his gifts, he had nevertheless not yet been made partaker of divine baptism. Antiochus, when he had learned of the departure f of Andrew and of those who were with him, kindled with fury, summoned his counsellors and those whom he was accustomed to employ, and communicated to them what Andrew had done, and sent letters to Seleucus, who was his deputy in the administration of Cilicia in what pertained to military business. And those letters ran thus: "I think you have heard of Andrew, who was formerly a commander in the army of the greatest emperors, that he has now not only given himself over to madness, but has also stirred up very many of the soldiers whom he had with him, and driven them to this opinion, that they should oppose the royal and divine edicts. But since we have learned that he has secretly departed hence and is now in the province of the Cilicians, let it please your equity, obedient to the royal will, both to pursue Andrew and those who are with him, and to deliver them, seized and bound, into our hands. But if they resist, or have already begun to flee, dispatch them with the soldiers' swords."
VIII.
[9] Seleucus, when he had received letters of this kind, having with him very many light-armed and most approved soldiers, is baptized, as also his soldiers, with whom he flees whom the Romans call ordinarii g, (for he too was stirred with exceeding fury against the servants of Christ), hastened to the city of the Tarsians, since he had learned that the company of the holy Men was there. But the holy man Andrew, when he had foreknown this, asked of the blessed bishop Peter the most holy baptism. Which he received with great desire and ardor for the contest, together with the most faithful soldiers whom he had with him h. And there was with Bishop Peter also Nonnus, bishop of Beroea. After these things Andrew, using speed, went out to the place which is called Taxanite, doing this not out of fear, but that he might keep the Lord's precept, which thus determines: When they shall persecute you, flee from one city into another. But Seleucus, when he had heard that that divine Man had removed from that city, being affected with anxiety and a certain confusion, and having his countenance changed for sorrow, pursued both him and his companions with an intent course. Further, Andrew, when he had departed also from the place Taxanite, traversed the whole of Mount Taurus as far as the borders of that region which is called Tamalme i. And when he had come to the fortress which is called Orchesus, situated in the province of the Armenians near the illustrious metropolis of Melitene, he came thence to the regions of Chausorium and of the Charavatines. Since Seleucus did not know this, nor could hit upon any means by which he might know by what road that holy Man had journeyed, there came running to him a certain man, Martin by name, who indicated that Andrew had come to Mount Taurus and had passed by it into other places.
IX.
[10] Then that persecutor, when he had learned this, came swiftly to the place to the narrows of Mount Taurus: which is called Capsurius. But the most celebrated martyr, together with those most faithful soldiers who abode with him, hastened to that region which is called Androcaloni, and cast himself into the narrows k of Mount Taurus. But the reason why they are called narrows the shape of that place declares. For two ridges of the mountain, set opposite one another and gradually converging, are almost joined together: but being kept apart by a river l flowing past, they make certain narrows which are almost impassable; and they have between them a sheer chasm, great indeed, and terrible even to those who look upon it. For this cause the situation of that place received such an appellation. The great m and most celebrated martyr therefore, when from a divine prediction he had learned that those places had been foreordained for his martyrdom and that of all who were with him (for it behoved him who was accomplishing the divine course, and walking by the narrow and strait way, to enter into the heavenly kingdom of God), ceased to go further. Then Seleucus came and saw the places in which those Men led by God had halted: and he sent against them the army which he had with him. When the servant of God perceived this, rousing both himself and his companions to prayer, he said: "O friends and fellow soldiers and my sons, now is the acceptable time, now the day of salvation: let us stand fast in the love of God, let us resist with even and brave spirit, as God has commanded us: let us raise our hands, not to avenge ourselves on our persecutors, but to pray to God and give him thanks, that he has granted us to be able to come to this hour, in which we may obtain part and lot with all those who are endowed with holiness. Let us as suppliants ask of him what the most celebrated Stephen, first of martyrs, asked of God when he was overwhelmed with stones, saying we also: 'Lord Jesus Christ, receive the spirits of thy servants, whom we commend into thy hands.'"
[11] And when he had taken his stand in the midst of them, with hands and eyes raised to heaven, where, after he had prayed, he prayed to God, saying this: "Lord God, who art great and almighty, receive the prayers of me, a sinner and thy unworthy servant, and of all those who are with me and have kept thy faith unshaken: and to all those who in a time of necessity shall invoke our names, unworthy though we are, grant those petitions which pertain to salvation: and those who shall take refuge in this place, protect them, and free them from evil and necessity, bestowing on them health of soul and body: and in the place where our humble blood shall have been shed, let there be there a spring of healings, and the confutation of and deliverance from impure spirits, that the glory of thy terrible and holy and blessed name, and of thy only-begotten Son, Christ our most holy God, and of the life-giving Holy Spirit, may be celebrated for ever and ever. Amen n." These prayers being completed, the persecutors, crueller than untamed beasts, were straightway at hand. But they, like simple lambs led to the slaughter, gently and meekly delivered themselves into their hands, imitating the common Lord of all.
XI.
[12] Those profane and wicked persecutors therefore, rushing on fiercely he is slain with his fellow Martyrs, where there is a miraculous spring. and with a certain gnashing (so to speak) and raging of teeth, slew the most blessed Men with drawn swords, and filled the river flowing past with their abundant blood. And straightway, just as the holy Martyr had asked in his prayers, the place into which that venerable blood had flowed down became a certain spring, bringing health for all kinds of sicknesses: which spring to this present day overflows with graces, and bestows on each a healing suited to him. Wherefore not only to those who are near, and in that place and the neighboring region, but even to those who are far off and greatly distant from those places, the fame of this holy Man swiftly came: which brings it about that all, small men as well as middling and highest, set out thither in a great concourse, and gloriously celebrate the miracles which are done there. Blessed Andrew therefore completed the course of his martyrdom with his whole brave phalanx chosen by God on the nineteenth day of the month of August, on the Lord's Day o, at the second hour.
XII.
[13] But Peter, bishop of the city of Tarsus, who had cleansed him with the divine laver of baptism, The burial of the Martyrs. Nonnus, bishop of the Beroeans, Theodulus and Synesius, deacons, Marinus and Nicholas, Eusebius and Lamyrion, lectors, when Andrew himself and those who were with him were about to endure the contest, followed at a distance, desiring to learn their end [p]; which they did learn — their common consummation, I say, in the Lord: whose venerable relics also they laid up, applying fitting veneration. They saw too that venerable spring, worker of many miracles, gushing forth from the flowing blood of the just and great Martyr: which spring, when it first gushed forth, straightway sent out the grace of healings; for at once it cured first of all one of the lectors whom we have named, Lamyrion, who had been troubled by a certain wicked and impure spirit and had not been freed until that day, and who returned whole with the other lectors. Therefore they celebrated God with hymns, who is truly made glorious in his Saints. For the rest, they were unwilling to return any more into Cilicia, since Seleucus was eager to seize Peter, bishop of the city of Tarsus, who had cleansed with baptism the martyr Andrew and his companions, as has been said. They went therefore, led by divine providence, into Isauria [q], praising and blessing together the Lord Jesus Christ: with whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory now and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. The author would please me more if he said, They followed and accompanied the Saint and his companions, that they might confirm them in the faith and prepare them for martyrdom, rather than that they might learn their end. For what good purpose did it serve to follow them at a distance for that reason?
q. Granted that Peter had some reason for going away into Isauria, namely because Seleucus was eager to seize him, if we believe the Acts: but why did Nonnus, bishop of Beroea, and the other clerics do the same, and why did they not rather return to their own homes?