ON SS. TIMOTHY, THECLA, AND AGAPIUS, MARTYRS OF PALESTINE,
In the years 304 and 306.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Their cult from the Greek calendars and the Roman Martyrology; the arena and time of the martyrdom; the sacred church of St. Timothy.
Timothy, M., of Palestine (St.)
Thecla, M., of Palestine (St.)
Agapius, M., of Palestine (St.)
BY J. P.
This excellent trio of Martyrs is marked in the Greek as well as in the Latin registers as to be honored with yearly honors. Their memory among the Greeks For their names are reported on this day by the Menology of Sirleto, the Menaeon of Chifflet, our Turin copy, the Slavo-Russian Menology of Sparwenfeld; add the great printed Menaea, in which are found the following verses, slightly corrected by us, and thus turned into Latin:
Πυρεῖον ἡ κάμινος ἐν μέσῳ φέρων Βρώματι Τιμόθεον εὔοσμος μάλα. Ἀγάπιος τὸ δῆγμα τοῦ θηρὸς φέρει Καὶ ψυχοδήκτην δάκνεται θὴρ καρδίαν. Ἔμοιγε κλῆσις Θέκλα, πατρὶς Βυζίη, Γάζης τόπος θέατρον, ἆθλος θὴρ διώκων.
The flame, devouring Timothy through the midst of the fires, Breathes fragrance like incense of sweet-smelling odor. Agapius, enduring the bite of the greedy beast, Rends with his bite the beast that devours souls. Thecla is my name, Byzia my country, the place Of my arena is Gaza, my battle the pursuing beast.
The allusion is to the martyrdom of the Saints, of which we shall presently speak.
[2] The Roman Martyrology announces them thus: In Palestine, of St. Timothy the martyr, and among the Latins who in the persecution of Diocletian, under the governor Urban, after overcoming many torments, was burned with a slow fire. There suffered there also Thecla and Agapius: she, exposed to wild beasts and torn by their teeth, passed to her Bridegroom; but Agapius, after enduring very many torments, was reserved for greater contests. Galesinius records rather more: In Palestine, of the holy martyrs Timothy, Agapius, and Thecla. Timothy was noble by birth, and so eminent in the religion of his life and in the praise of his speech that he was a great teacher and master of piety. Wherefore, being seized, he is brought to trial before the governor Urban: by whom, being questioned about the mysteries of our faith, he answered divinely. And so, first beaten in a dreadful manner, then tortured with divers punishments, at last he is set in the fire and is signally crowned. Agapius likewise and Thecla, both grievously afflicted with torments, fighting manfully for the faith of Christ, are exposed to wild beasts: and, dispatched by their blows, they bore off the palm of martyrdom. What is said in this eulogy, and is not found in Eusebius in the Acts of our Martyrs, which we shall reprint below, we leave to the credit of Galesinius, who perhaps took it from the great printed Menaea, in which similar things are found. Yet from what the same Menaea have concerning Timothy, εἷλκε τὸ γένος ἐκ Παλαιστίνης, that is, he drew his race or origin from Palestine, it does not follow that he was born of a noble family.
[3] In the announcement of the Roman Martyrology I also miss something, according to the same Acts. is celebrated. For Agapius indeed is there related to have been torn by a she-bear, but not then slain, but on the following day drowned in the sea; while Thecla was condemned to the beasts; but whether and in what place that punishment of hers was carried into execution, and whether she died by that death or another, the Acts do not expressly record: from which I assign the arena of Agapius to Caesarea, but that of Timothy to Gaza. Hence gather that the announcement of the Sirletian Menology reports what is false, when, confounding the place and the manner of the martyrdom, and reporting the same things concerning all and each, it relates this: On the same day (the XIX of August), the commemoration of the holy martyrs Timothy, Agapius, and Thecla: who, having professed the Christian faith at Gaza under the governor Urban, and being exposed to scourges and other kinds of torments and to the teeth of wild beasts, received the palm of martyrdom. The great Menaea record that SS. Agapius and Thecla, cast to wild beasts, obtained the laurel of martyrdom at Gaza; not rightly: for as to her, the place of the arena and the manner of death are not sufficiently certain; while as to him, we have already set down Caesarea. But on what foundation it is said in the same Menaea that St. Thecla was ἡ Βυζιῆτις, or, as occurred above in the verse, πατρὶς Βυζίη, that is, of Byzia as her native country, I forbear to inquire. That place is in Thrace; concerning which one may see what we said on the XIII day of this month in the Annotations to chapter 5 of the Life of St. Maximus, letter b.
[4] The time of the martyrdom: But lest from the above-mentioned announcements, both Greek and Latin, because they report those three Martyrs together, occasion be given for confounding the times at which they suffered, it is helpful to note the following from Eusebius, the author of their Martyrdom. First, he attaches the death of St. Timothy to the second year of the persecution of Diocletian, which was begun in the year 303 of the common era, and so that death happened in the year 304, in which also our two other Saints were condemned to the beasts, though not then slain. Secondly, in the fourth year of the same persecution St. Agapius offered himself to be devoured by a wild beast on the twentieth day of the month Dius, which is the twelfth day before the Kalends of December, that is, the XX day of November, on a Friday, and on the following day … was drowned in the midst of the sea. He died therefore then, in the year 306. Of St. Thecla we have treated above. Hence the most eminent Baronius must be brought back into the way, who in his Annals inserts the martyrdom of St. Timothy at the year 303, but that of SS. Agapius and Thecla at the year 305.
[5] The sacred church of St. Timothy among the people of Gaza. We indicate here in a word that the martyrium, or holy place, of St. Timothy (whether of this one or of another of the same name, who is inscribed in the Roman Martyrology on the XIX day of December?) was honored among the people of Gaza in Palestine at the close of the fourth century, as we have it from the author of the Life of St. Porphyry, bishop of Gaza, which is found in our work in volume III of February, page 648. I said, whether of this one or of another of the same name. For in the same place, page 649, in the Annotations, this seemed to be the Timothy, a deacon in Mauritania, who for the faith of Christ was cast into the fire after dreadful torments, and to whom on the said XIX day of December there are joined in the Roman Martyrology SS. Meuris and Thea, who suffered at Gaza: which the context (as it pleased us to say there, though the matter was not then sufficiently ripe) of this passage confirms. But that Timothy who was at that time honored among the people of Gaza does not seem to be fetched from Mauritania, since we have our present Saint, who was crowned with a notable martyrdom among those same people of Gaza. For why should not he have been honored with public veneration among them — with great longing for him, as is probable, left behind after his death — but rather another? One may also consult the note which Castellanus on the XIX day of December appends to the announcement of St. Timothy in his Universal Martyrology. The Acts which we subjoin compensate for their brevity by their faithful narrative.
THE MARTYRDOM
From Eusebius, On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapters 3 and 6, pages 321 and 326 of the Valesian edition.
Timothy, M., of Palestine (St.)
Thecla, M., of Palestine (St.)
Agapius, M., of Palestine (St.)
St. Timothy consumed by fire; the two other Martyrs condemned to the beasts. In the second year thereafter a, when the fury of the persecution against us had grown hotter with more violence, Urban then governing the province, letters were first sent from the emperor, in which it was ordered by a general precept that all men, in every place and among every nation, should publicly offer sacrifices and libations to the idols. At which time Timothy, at Gaza, a city of Palestine, having endured countless torments, was at last consumed with a thin and slow fire; and, having given a most brilliant proof of sincere piety toward God, by his constant endurance in all things he carried off the crown of martyrdom. Agapius too and Thecla, namesake of that ancient one b, having shown, together with the above-mentioned Timothy, great constancy of soul, were condemned to the beasts c. But the things which followed afterwards — who indeed has not marvelled when he saw them, or has not been struck with astonishment when he received them by hearing? For when the heathen were celebrating a public solemnity and their accustomed spectacles, there was a great rumor among all that, besides the others whom they pursued with the greatest favor, those Christians also who had lately been condemned would fight with wild beasts. Thus far there. But concerning Agapius and Thecla the following follows in chapter 6.
[2] But in the fourth year of the persecution d stirred up against us, St. Agapius, on the occasion of the spectacles on the twentieth day of the month Dius, which is the twelfth day before the Kalends of December, on a Friday, at the city of Caesarea a martyrdom altogether memorable was accomplished, the tyrant Maximinus himself being present and exhibiting spectacles to the people on account of his birthday. Since it was an old custom that, when the emperors were present, magnificent spectacles, if ever at any time, should afford the spectators greater pleasure than usual, new and unwonted wonders being sought out from every side — partly of wild beasts, which, brought from India or Ethiopia or elsewhere, were introduced into the amphitheatre; partly of men, who, their bodies having been trained beforehand, exhibited astonishing specimens of their art and delighted the spectators with wonderful pleasure — then too, the emperor
himself providing the spectacles, there had by all means to be in the apparatus of the games something more magnificent and more admirable than usual. But what was it? A Martyr of our religion was brought into the midst, to fight for the true and only piety, by name Agapius, whom we have related to have been condemned to the beasts, together with Thecla, in the second year of the persecution.
[3] is preferred after a robber, He therefore, having already thrice before been brought out of prison, and often paraded in the stadium with malefactors in solemn procession, the judge after various threats putting him off again and again to other contests, whether because he was taken with pity for him, or because he hoped that he could be drawn away from his purpose — then at last he was brought forward in the emperor's presence, as though of set purpose reserved to that time, that in him might be fulfilled that word which our Savior by divine foreknowledge had foretold to his disciples, that they should be brought before kings for the confession of his name. He is dragged therefore into the midst of the stadium together with a certain criminal who was said to have killed his master. After this, he indeed who had killed his master, being cast to the beasts, obtained the emperor's pardon and clemency, in almost the same way as that Barabbas who lived in the times of our Savior. For which cause the whole amphitheatre suddenly began to resound with acclamations and praises, because forsooth the emperor had most kindly spared a bloody murderer and had bestowed on him honor and liberty.
[4] and is torn by a she-bear. But that Athlete of the divine religion was first indeed summoned by the emperor: then, when it was demanded of him that he should abjure the purpose of his faith, liberty being promised him if he should do it, he professed with strained voice that he would undergo whatever punishments should be inflicted on him — not for any crime, but for piety toward God, the maker of all — not only with eager and brave spirit, but even with pleasure. Having spoken these words, joining deeds to words at the same time, he ran with swift course to meet the she-bear which had been let loose against him, and most gladly offered himself to be devoured by the beast. After being mangled by her, still breathing, he is carried back to prison: where, when he had survived for the space of a day, on the following day, with stones hung to his feet, he was drowned in the midst of the sea. Such was the martyrdom of Agapius.