Nicephorus

ON ST. NICEPHORUS, MARTYR AT ANTIOCH IN SYRIA.

AROUND THE YEAR 258.

Preliminary Commentary.

Nicephorus, Martyr at Antioch in Syria (St.)

G. H.

[1] Among the savage persecutions inflicted upon Christians by the Roman Emperors in the first centuries, the eighth is reckoned from Valerian, ruling with his son Gallienus, in the fourth year of their reign, the year of Christ 257: St. Nicephorus, Martyr under Valerian, in which persecution the more illustrious Martyrs who fell were SS. Stephen and Sixtus, Popes, and Lawrence the Archdeacon at Rome; St. Cyprian at Carthage; in the East, St. Nicephorus, whom we treat here, and others elsewhere.

[2] We have obtained two sets of Acts of this Martyr from ^a Greek manuscript codex of the King of France — very ancient Acts, in manuscripts interpolated by Metaphrastes; very ancient and written long before the time of Metaphrastes: the first, by an unknown author, which Metaphrastes published with some interpolations, and which Gentian Hervet translated into Latin and Lipomanus and Surius published. We give the same, but what is absent in the Greek manuscript, or appears to have been added later, we distinguish by different type and generally explain in the notes. The Greek title of these is: The Contest of the holy great Martyr Nicephorus, and against the bearing of grudges.

[3] The other Acts have as their author John, Bishop of Sardis, of whom we have read nothing elsewhere up to now. Sardis is the principal city of Lydia in Asia, others by John, Bishop of Sardis; one of the seven cities that first received the faith of Christ, to whose bishops St. John wrote an admonition by divine command in chapter 3 of the Apocalypse. Our Simon Wangnereck, in the Prolegomena to his booklet on the Marian Piety of the Greeks, learnedly inquires about the authors of the Greek Divine Offices from which we so often cite the Menaea or Menologia of the Saints. While examining his judgment, it occurred to us that the Archbishop John, whom he conjectures in number 27 to be St. Chrysostom, should perhaps rather be called John, Archbishop of Sardis. But in so obscure ^a matter we are reluctant to conjecture: others may, by comparing this little work with the encomia attributed to the same author, investigate the truth at greater leisure. The title prefixed to these Acts is of this kind: Exposition of the Martyrdom of St. Nicephorus, written by John, Bishop of Sardis. And indeed the earlier Acts are adorned by him with notable amplifications, which we present here translated into Latin by our Alexander Barvoetius, so that he might relieve us of that labor.

[4] The Greeks celebrate St. Nicephorus the Martyr on February 9 with an ecclesiastical office, Feast day February 9 among the Greeks, as their Menologia, Horologia, Anthologia, and Menaea indicate. In the Menologion of Cardinal Sirleto, published by Canisius, the following is read: St. Nicephorus the Martyr, who suffered martyrdom under the Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. From the several encomia that are found in the Menaea, we present this one, by the author John the Monk, taken from Vespers: You have clearly shown to all, O unconquered Nicephorus, that he who does not love his neighbor cannot love the Lord either. Therefore, because you embraced your fellow servant Sapricius with sincere love, you were joyfully taken up to divine love, and you gave your life for the faith and confession of Christ. But the wretched Sapricius, because he held irreconcilable hatred against you, also denied Christ God.

[5] Among the Latins, Molanus included him in the Supplement to Usuard's Martyrology: On the ninth day, the holy Martyr Nicephorus. The Roman Martyrology: and among the Latins. At Antioch, St. Nicephorus the Martyr, who was beheaded under the Emperor Valerian and received the crown of martyrdom. Both Greek Acts, the Menaea, and the Menologia are silent about the place of martyrdom; Metaphrastes specified it, and after him the Roman Martyrology.

EPITOME OF THE LIFE

From the Menaea and Anthologion of the Greeks.

Nicephorus, Martyr at Antioch in Syria (St.)

Commemoration of St. Nicephorus the Martyr.

In the reign of Valerian and Gallienus, this Nicephorus lived, an uneducated man, content with ^a private life. He had ^a certain Christian friend, ^a priest of the Church, named Sapricius, who by the devil's impulse hated St. Nicephorus and never put aside the memory of their enmity. When Sapricius had been seized by the worshippers of idols and had endured many torments, St. Nicephorus, through messengers sent to him, begged his pardon, but Sapricius refused to hear them. When St. Nicephorus saw Sapricius being led away to be beheaded, he ran up and, casting himself at his feet, sought forgiveness for the offense, and recited the law of Christ about reconciliation; yet he accomplished nothing with him. Matthew 5:23 Therefore, after enduring and overcoming various tortures, when he was about to receive the reward and laurel crown of martyrdom, being on the very point of being struck by the axe, and yet had not forgiven Nicephorus, he was suddenly stripped of all divine aid and said to the executioners: Release me, and I will sacrifice to the gods. When Nicephorus saw this, he voluntarily offered himself to the executioners, and having professed Christ with great boldness, by order of the tyrant he was beheaded, swiftly obtaining the rewards of the love which he had hastened to fulfill for the sake of Christ, the giver of love and charity.

LIFE BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

from the manuscript of the Most Christian King, collated with Metaphrastes.

Nicephorus, Martyr at Antioch in Syria (St.)

By an anonymous author, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

From the closest friendship between St. Nicephorus and Sapricius arose the most bitter hatred.

[1] In that time there was ^a certain priest in the great city of Antioch in Syria, named Sapricius. There was also another man called Nicephorus, who was ^a layman, St. Nicephorus falls into the hatred of the priest Sapricius, his friend, and ^a very close friend of this same priest. They loved each other so mutually that they were thought to be blood brothers, born from one womb, so extraordinary was their mutual love. But after they had lived ^a long time in this affection, the enemy of the human race, hostile to what is good and honorable, and most wicked, envying them, generated such dissension between them that they did not even wish to meet each other in the street, on account of the demonic hatred they had conceived against one another.

[2] After they had been in this state for quite ^a long time,

Nicephorus came to his senses and, recognizing the hatred to be diabolical, asked some friends to go to the priest Sapricius and beg him on behalf of Nicephorus to pardon him and, moved by repentance, to receive him for the Lord's sake. But Sapricius refused to pardon him. he is unable, through the mediation of others, to restore the former friendship; Nicephorus again sent other friends to seek reconciliation with him. But the priest Sapricius would not even bear to listen to them when they pleaded. Again, therefore, Nicephorus asked some other friends and sent them to him, that he might deign to grant forgiveness for his offense, so that, in accordance with the divine word, every matter might be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 19:17 But since Sapricius was hard of heart and implacable and had forgotten our Lord Jesus Christ, who says: Forgive, and you will be forgiven; Matthew 18:16 and again: Luke 6:37 If you bring your gift to the altar and remember that you have something against your brother, leave it and go be reconciled to your brother; Matthew 5:23 and 6:15 and again: Unless you forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses — despite all who asked and petitioned, he did not pardon his brother and friend. For he did not have charity and mercy in him, and therefore he was justly deprived of the kingdom of heaven.

[3] But above all, the pious and faithful Nicephorus, when he saw that Sapricius had spurned the mutual friends even when prostrate at his feet he is rejected who, pleading on his behalf, had not obtained pardon, himself ran to the house of Sapricius and cast himself at his feet, saying: Pardon me, Father, for the Lord's sake. But Sapricius refused to be reconciled to him as ^a friend, and especially when he was being asked — and especially when he ought to have accepted him at the very first apology, even if he had not been asked, as ^a Christian and ^a priest, one who had professed to serve the Lord.

CHAPTER II.

Sapricius, refusing to lay aside his hatred, forfeits martyrdom.

[4] While these things were happening, suddenly there arose ^a persecution and great affliction in the city of Antioch,

where both of them lived. After Sapricius was seized for the faith, Sapricius was arrested as ^a Christian and handed over to the governor. He stood before him, and the governor said to him: What is your name? He replied: I am called Sapricius. The governor said: Of what family are you? Sapricius said: I am ^a Christian. The governor said: Are you ^a cleric? Sapricius said: I hold the rank of priest. The governor said: Our Emperors and Lords of this region and of the Roman dominions, Valerian and Gallus, and when he had steadfastly confessed the faith, have commanded that those who call themselves Christians must sacrifice to the immortal gods. If anyone, however, scorning this edict, refuses it, let him know that he is to be punished with various torments and tortures, and thus to be condemned to ^a most grievous death. Sapricius, standing firm, said to the governor: We Christians, O governor, have Christ God as our King, for he alone is the true God and creator of heaven and earth and the sea and all things that are in them. But all the gods of the nations are demons, and let them perish from the face of the whole earth, who cannot help anyone, or harm or hinder anyone, since they are the works of human hands.

[5] tortured on the rack, Then the governor, enraged, ordered him to be thrown onto the rack, commanding it to be violently turned. While he was being tortured so bitterly and inhumanely, Sapricius said to the governor: You have power over my flesh; but over my soul you have no power, only the Lord Jesus Christ, who created it. After being tortured for ^a long time, he endured the torments. When the wicked and malicious judge saw that he could not be persuaded, he pronounced sentence against him, and when he was condemned to death, saying: Sapricius the priest, who despises the edicts of the Emperors and has not obeyed, and has refused to sacrifice to the immortal gods, since he could not be made to abandon the hope of Christians, we command to be delivered to capital punishment.

[6] When therefore he had gone out, having received the sentence of martyrdom, and was hastening to the heavenly crown, [and as he was hastening to execution, Nicephorus cannot be received into his favor;] St. Nicephorus heard of it, and running, came to meet him and cast himself at his feet, saying: O Martyr of Christ, forgive me, for I have sinned against you. But Sapricius gave him no answer, for his heart had been blinded by the evil demon. St. Nicephorus again went ahead of him by another road, and met him before he had gone out of the city, and begged him, saying: O Martyr of Christ, pardon me the wrongs I have committed against you as ^a man. For behold, henceforth the crown has been given to you by Christ, whom you have not denied, but have confessed his holy name before many witnesses. But he, hard and implacable, his heart blinded by hatred, neither granted him pardon nor deigned to answer him ^a single word, to such ^a degree that the executioners themselves said to St. Nicephorus: We have never seen so foolish ^a man. He goes to his execution, and how can you seek pardon from one who is about to die? St. Nicephorus said to them: You do not know what I ask of the confessor of Christ; but God knows.

[7] And when they had come to the place where Sapricius was to be put to death, Nicephorus said to him again: I beg you, O Martyr of Christ, forgive me if I have sinned in any way, as ^a man. Matthew 7:7 For it is written: Ask, and it shall be given to you. But while he was saying these things and others like them, indeed he is spurned by one about to be killed, the fierce and hard friend would not listen. The most harsh companion was not moved; the wholly inflexible man was not softened. For he did not heed the commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself; but he closed the ears of his heart and of his body, like ^a deaf and lame asp that does not hear the voice of enchanters. Matthew 22:37 Therefore the Lord, who does not show partiality and is truthful, said: If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. Matthew 6:15 And: With what measure you measure to your brother, it shall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:2

[8] The Lord, seeing that he was touched by no mercy toward his neighbor, justly deprived him of his heavenly kingdom; or rather, he himself alienated himself from heavenly grace and from the eternal goods of God, on account of remembering the injury received from ^a brother, For this reason he was deprived of the grace of perseverance, and especially because he had been cruel, savage, and irreconcilable in spirit toward ^a close and long-standing friend. Then the executioners said to Sapricius: Bend your knees, that your head may be cut off. Sapricius said to them: Why? The executioners said to him: Because you refused to sacrifice to the gods and despised the Emperor's edict for the sake of the man called Christ. When the wretched Sapricius heard this, he answered the executioners with this wretched and sorrowful cry, saying: Do not strike me. For I will do what the Emperors have commanded, and I will sacrifice to the gods. and having denied Christ, being willing to sacrifice to the gods, So thoroughly did hatred blind him and drive away God's grace from him. For he who through such torments had not denied our Lord Jesus Christ, when he had come to the very end of death and was about to receive the reward and crown of glory and hope, denied eternal life and became an apostate.

CHAPTER III.

The Martyrdom of St. Nicephorus.

[9] When St. Nicephorus heard these things, he begged Sapricius with tears, saying: Do not, O brother,

do not transgress and deny our Lord Jesus Christ. Do not, I beg you, fall away from him at all, St. Nicephorus exhorts him in vain; and lose the heavenly crown which you have won through many torments and afflictions. But he would not listen to him at all, and pressed on to go to destruction and the darkness of final death and to the fire that cannot be extinguished. He who lost the glory of so great ^a prize in the space of one hour's stroke of the sword was truly wretched, blinded by hatred.

[10] For he did not heed our Lord Jesus Christ, who says in the holy Gospel: If you bring your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23 And again, to Peter, the chief of the Apostles, when he had asked the Lord: How often, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Seven times? The Lord answered: I do not say to you, seven times, but seventy times seven. Matthew 18 But that wretched man would not even once forgive his brother, while that one, hardened in hatred, perished, especially when he was asking pardon and pleading. And indeed our Lord and God commanded that one should forgive everyone from the heart, and, leaving behind the gift that is to be offered to God, should hasten to reconciliation. But he did not pardon even with the tips of his lips the one who was repenting, nor could he bring himself to forgive him when he asked; but he closed his heart against his brother, and therefore the doors of the kingdom of heaven were closed to him, and the grace of the divine and life-giving Spirit departed from him, and he lost the great, precious, and glorious crown of martyrdom. Therefore, O beloved, let us too diligently guard ourselves against this diabolical work — that is, hatred and the remembrance of injury received — so that the remission of our sins also may be given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ, in accordance with the words: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Matthew 6 For he who has promised is faithful.

[11] But when the blessed Nicephorus saw that Sapricius had transgressed, he said in ^a loud voice to the executioners: I am ^a Christian, he offers himself to death for Christ; and I believe in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom this man has denied. Strike me, then, in his place. But the executioners did not dare to strike him without the governor's order; and all marveled that he had thus delivered himself to death. For he said boldly: I am ^a Christian, and I will not sacrifice to your gods. One of the executioners, running, reported to the governor, saying: Sapricius indeed promises to sacrifice to the gods; but there is another man there who wants to die for the one called Christ, shouting and saying boldly: I am ^a Christian, and I will not sacrifice to your gods, nor will I obey the edicts of the Emperors.

[12] When the governor heard this, he pronounced sentence against him, saying: If he does not sacrifice to the immortal gods as the Emperors have commanded, beheaded, I order him to die by the sword. But let Sapricius go. Then they took St. Nicephorus and beheaded him, as the governor had commanded, on the ninth day of the month of February; and thus the holy Martyr of Christ Nicephorus was perfected in Christ, and ascended into heaven, crowned through faith in Christ, and through charity and humility. For because he was inclined to charity and humility, he was therefore adorned with the crown of martyrdom and deemed worthy to be numbered among the Martyrs, to the praise and glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power now and forever and unto the ages of ages. he becomes ^a Martyr. Amen.

ANOTHER LIFE

by John, Bishop of Sardis, translated by Alexander Barvoetius, S.I.

Nicephorus, Martyr at Antioch in Syria (St.)

By John, Bishop; translated by Alexander Barvoetius.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] Since our lowly and abject nature is subject to many perturbations of the soul Reason as the master of perturbations ever since the first man corrupted the beauty of creation itself, it also stands in great need of help to be raised and lifted up from this abjection. For it would not be so great ^a thing that we, having been created, should be condemned, as it were, to perturbations of the soul alien to reason, if after the fall we had swiftly endeavored to rise from the fall. For there is in us ^a faculty of reason that governs the perturbations of the soul, which arrests naked malice itself and shows, through the impulse of ^a better choice, what nature it possesses. And if some evil thought presents itself to us, and the memory of God, who in no way desires the death of our soul, easily enables us to know ourselves — namely, what we have become and what the sacred Scriptures say we are, and into what confusion and ignominy we have cast ourselves. But in truth we carry our mind so far astray, we so violate its reason and splendor, that by persisting in worse things wrapped in darkness we do not even perceive what makes us such, truly walking in darkness, in no way turned toward the illuminating light of good works because of mental sloth and negligence. For the solicitous and most wise ruler of our life, God, has not so turned away from us as to have closed off to us the way that leads to what is right; but rather, by every means, he has determined to free our soul from the perturbations that afflict it, applying many and varied remedies. the sacred Scripture illuminates; For if we frequently plunge our mind into perturbations and refuse to look to that most splendid light that would wipe away this darkness from us, we nevertheless have the exhortations of the sacred writings, by which we are restrained from falling, subjecting to our senses, as it were, those things by which we may be recalled from evils. We have the teaching of the sacred Gospels, showing us ^a concise and by no means laborious way of salvation. The chorus of the Prophets rouses us to such self-control.

[2] The contests of the Martyrs have been set before us, drawing us away from these fleeting and transitory things and kindling our souls with the flames of divine love, the contests of the Martyrs, and suppressing every swelling within us. For whenever someone sees ^a certain perturbation of the soul agitating him, blinding the eyes of his mind and injuring the image of him in whose likeness he was created, he shakes it off and repels it, preparing and stretching himself wholly toward the imitation of those glorious contests. He considers with what pleasure and what greatness of love they endured those punishments from which human nature shrinks set forth for imitation and which it is unable to bear. For it is impossible for anyone to direct his mind to their glorious deeds without deriving from them ^a singular benefit and fruit. For here we do not so much attend to the judge who presides, or the various kinds of torments that the hands of executioners devise, with which the bodies of the Martyrs are tortured, as we weigh each of these things within ourselves and consider what profit we may derive from them. And when we turn over in our mind the cruelty of judges, we soften the ferocity of our own mind, so that even in this we may seem to detest their savagery. they calm fierce impulses, But perceiving the manifest and intolerable torments, we restrain the wicked impulses of the soul that are aroused and rise up, which afflict our wretched bodies and overthrow the ruling part of the soul. Moreover, when we form in our mind the image of the executioners' hands,

we blunt the thoughts that wage perpetual war upon the human race. And the noble constancy of the Martyrs and the firmness of their unshaken mind, depicted in our soul, teach us loftiness of mind and persuade us to look upon and contemplate and lift the mind to God; those things that are most fitting for its substance, which bears the image of God, and not to allow itself to be thus drawn or ruled by the body that is subject to it.

[3] Such and so great is the benefit that flows to us from the contests of the Martyrs; such is the treasure of the soul stored up in them. This too is the fruit that comes to us from the present celebration; this is what their solemnity seeks. For the Church is adorned by their contests, and calls all as if to ^a banquet, proclaiming aloud their glorious end, therefore the feast days of Martyrs are celebrated, and suffers no one to be present at this spiritual banquet without being refreshed. Let us not, therefore, since we can bring so much profit to our souls, allow this gathering to come to nothing. For on this day the memory of the great Martyr Nicephorus is celebrated, as that of St. Nicephorus, which sets before us as on ^a stage his virtues for our contemplation, and shows above all his candid and unfeigned character, and then his fervent love for God and neighbor. For although the narration of his martyrdom does not encompass such varied torments and the fury of raging tyrants, in which charity shines forth, it nonetheless opens for us the treasures of virtue — namely charity, in which, as in their source, the whole law is contained, and by the observance of which all the commandments are observed. Furthermore, in this Saint, the constancy of his mind and purpose is set before us, and his voluntary surrender of himself into the hands of the executioners. and self-offering. Moreover, this written narrative inspires in our souls ^a great endurance of evils. For he delivered his body, as far as it was in his power, to grievous and bitter torments, even though at that time it was in the governor's power whether to show clemency or pride: it was enough that the Martyr's head be cut off by the sword. Let the narrative, therefore, be brought back to its beginning, and let it set forth to the ears of those eager to hear the deeds of the Martyrs the subject of the entire contest.

CHAPTER I.

The friendship of St. Nicephorus with Sapricius; the latter's most bitter hatred.

[4] St. Nicephorus and Sapricius the priest, from close friends, There was ^a certain Sapricius (for so he had been named by his parents) who had attained the rank of the priesthood. He formed ^a great friendship with St. Nicephorus. The latter was not enrolled among the clergy and was reckoned among the number of laymen, yet he strove to observe the divine laws and to exercise his mind in them. So great ^a bond of friendship existed between them that they were thought by many to be brothers born of the same mother. And this great affection between them lasted no short time, the bonds of their love being by no means broken, until envy cast its hostile eye upon them — envy which our enemy the devil stirred up from the very beginnings of life, and by which he divided this union of theirs. For what else does he contrive but that such thoughts should abound in us? He therefore stirred up between them such hatred that, taking its origin from him, it so alienated their souls from one another become bitter enemies; that they could not bear to meet each other in the street, but immediately turned from one street into another, so powerfully did the snares laid for them by the devil drive them apart.

[5] Yet it was fitting that the priest of God, whose duty it is to reconcile even the estranged minds of friends according to the divine commandments, with Sapricius being obstinate, before he offered the sacred rites at the altar, since he knew whence the discord had arisen, should remove such dissension, and should exhort his friend, even if he had seen him commit some offense, and restore the lost peace. But so far was he from doing this that he even persisted in anger against his friend for ^a long time, neither heeding that domestic witness, conscience, nor admitting any memory of their former intimacy, nor lending his ear to those who daily urged upon him the divine precepts, of which, nevertheless, he was both an initiate and ^a teacher. But the soul that has once allowed itself to be carried away by anger, since sin conceals its purity and its freedom from all matter, refuses to recognize its own dignity. But what did the magnanimous and most pious Nicephorus do? When he perceived what had happened, St. Nicephorus desires to be reconciled; remembering their former friendship and calling to mind the enmities that were difficult to heal, and reflecting that those whom not even the interval of ^a single hour had previously separated were now divided by many sunsets, and suspecting that this had not happened without the malice and work of the devil, he hastened as quickly as possible to remove this dissension.

[6] Not daring to exhort his friend to this in person, lest he incur the charge of some suspicion or impudence, he instead urged others to do the same thing. the innocent one takes the blame upon himself; Nor did the sincere and guileless Nicephorus attempt to clear himself of charge and blame through their testimony; but he wished it to be reported to the other that he acknowledged himself guilty and at fault, and he urged him to pardon his offenses. he sends others to him in vain; But Sapricius sent away the advocates of virtue without any effect, without any shame or embarrassment allowing himself to be entirely carried away by the perturbation of anger. Not even so did Nicephorus, who was most inclined to every virtue, desist from his well-begun efforts; but he sent others again to plead with him. But Sapricius persisted in the same hardness. A third time, too, he received the messengers with ^a mind by no means moved. For this holy man did not consider it importunate or troublesome to engage friends more often in such business; for he well knew that for them, as peacemakers, the reward for this work was stored up, as the divine voice promised. And he himself tried once more to win back the friend from whom even the smallest space of time had separated him, since he had thought he had entered into an indissoluble friendship with him. Matthew 9:94 (sic) But nothing was found that could placate him — not the constant prayers of friends, not the fact that Nicephorus attributed all the blame to himself, not that sacred promise, "Forgive and it will be forgiven you," not the sentence pronounced by the heavenly Father that those who do not pardon the sins of others will by no means obtain pardon for their own offenses. Luke 6:37

[7] When he saw, therefore, that Sapricius could in no way be moved to grant pardon unless he himself approached him privately, he casts himself at his feet and is rejected, thinking perhaps that from seeing him Sapricius might return to the old familiarity of friendship, and finding ^a suitable time for this, he cast himself at his feet and begged pardon if he had done anything wrong. But not even so was his spirit moved in any way; rather, like Pharaoh, his heart hardened all the more. So far was he from being bent in any way toward forgiveness that he did not even deign to give ^a word to one who supplicated with ^a thousand entreaties and prayers, deaf and immovable to all. For he preferred to endure the violation of the divine laws and precepts rather than abate anything of his spirit's anger, which rose up against reason.

CHAPTER II.

Sapricius, deprived of the palm of martyrdom, refuses to return to grace with Nicephorus.

[8] While he therefore persisted for ^a long time in this most wicked perturbation, and the other devoted himself entirely to begging pardon for the offense, the war which had subsided for ^a brief time In the persecution of the Emperor Valerian broke out again against the Christians under Valerian, Emperor of the Romans, whose letters disturbed all the cities, in order to provoke everyone to his impiety and to inflict death through various punishments on those who believed the contrary. This tumult also invaded the city

in which Sapricius and St. Nicephorus lived. And first Sapricius, being distinguished by the honor of his rank, Sapricius is captured, was seized by the governor presiding there, as one who refused to renounce the faith of the Christians. Asked what his name was, he gave it; commanded to state what rank he held, he professes the faith; he replied that he had been initiated into the Christian mysteries. Asked what order he belonged to, Sapricius said he was ^a priest. When the interrogator had heard his name, rank, and order, he produced the imperial letters full of threats, which pronounced death upon those who did not worship their gods, and attempted to terrify him. But we, said Sapricius, adhering to the divine Scriptures that teach the true and genuine faith, worship one God — distinguished indeed by three properties of persons but subsisting in one Godhead — the creator of heaven, earth, the sea, and all things that are seen here. Him alone we know; to him alone we pay the worship of adoration; his piety of religion has been sufficiently heard and witnessed; his handed-down worship all observe and venerate. But your sacrifices, when they are offered, defile the air, and when they are heard of, provoke laughter. Psalm 67:3 Let your gods therefore perish from the face of the earth, as our Prophet said, calling them demons — gods fashioned from the madness of the human mind, whose worship and adoration have been procured by men devoted to magic.

[9] When therefore the promoter and master of perdition saw that his words had no effect upon Sapricius, he is thrown onto the rack; he turned to punishments that declared the ferocity of his soul. And immediately he ordered Sapricius, who still persisted in scorning him, to be thrown onto the rack, and commanded it to be turned more violently, so that his soul might more quickly be torn from his body. But Sapricius endured the torments and did not relent at all in the nobility of his spirit, despite the device of the rack that continually threatened him with death and revolved around him. When the judge concluded that nothing could persuade Sapricius, condemned to death, he pronounced sentence that he should end his life by the sword.

[10] When Nicephorus therefore heard that Sapricius was hastening to death, thinking that nothing more could stand in the way of reconciliation now that his mind was already drawn from these earthly things to heavenly beauty entreated by St. Nicephorus as ^a suppliant and was renouncing all human concerns, he ran up and cast himself at his feet, beseeching him as ^a suppliant by his blood that was about to be shed, not to proceed thus unreconciled and as an enemy to the heavenly dwelling. But (O execrable and truly diabolical mind!) he would not even turn to look at the one who had cast himself at his feet, nor attend to what he was saying. Nicephorus, therefore, anxious and wholly overcome with grief, fearing that Sapricius might carry these indissoluble bonds of enmity even as he departed for the heavenly dwelling, tried to move him with similar words, following the prisoner in sight of the executioners and attempting in every way to stir his hardness to gentleness and compassion. What did he not devise? What did he not do he cannot be restored to favor; that would have rendered even the spirits of barbarians tame and gentle from fierce? But this man was more implacable than all barbarians, transforming himself, as it were, into another form that was utterly foreign to human nature. For since he did not yield to divine promises, he showed no reverence for the dignity of the priesthood; he was not moved to forgive by the admonitions of friends; he was not softened by long-continued entreaties; he could not be brought to wisdom and ^a better mind by the terror of divine judgment; under the appearance of ^a mild and gentle animal, he had put on, as it were, ^a wild and inhuman nature, to such ^a degree had he banished all shame and courtesy of manners from his soul.

[11] Therefore, attending to those things that draw the mind away from the illustrious sight of heavenly goods and allure it with the beauty of these earthly things, he fell from the confession of martyrdom. For an evil example could not be left for us who are inclined of our own accord toward worse things. For we who, if we see something rare or common, are accustomed to conform our ways to the pattern of the model, imitating even those things that bring us to confusion. But see where anger of spirit led him in the end. For he seems to have followed the ferocity of the asp, which is accustomed to close its ears lest it perceive the song; he falls from martyrdom; and he himself, closing his ear to those things that could somehow soften by their singing the hardness of his mind, like ^a frenzied and demented man, driven to madness by the perturbation of his soul, about to receive the reward of his labors, with the executioners already about to cut off his head (O stupor! O the immense efforts of the common enemy of the human race!), he forbade them to do so, he accepts the worship of the gods, declaring himself one of those who would worship the gods with impious worship. Thus, he whom the allurements of words could not entice, whom the wounds of the rack threatening death had not bent — ^a single word turned him who was already prepared to depart and enter heaven away from all piety, and persuaded him to plunge himself entirely into the mire of impiety. Thus the force of anger had blinded the eyes of the soul, that is, reason; and we see clearly fulfilled in him what Solomon says: The ways of one who remembers injuries lead to death — namely, of the soul. But if he had been willing to subject the lower part to the higher part of his soul, in how many ways would this benefit not have been open to him? For he had the oracles contained in the divine Scriptures, raising the mind and suppressing perturbations: here commanding that the gift should not be offered while the memory of ^a brother's injury occurred; and that the offering should not be made until enmities had been removed through mutual reconciliation; and elsewhere, the question of Peter, the chief of the Apostles, who, when asking whether one should forgive up to seven times, was told how often one must forgive, and the goodness of God himself, and the mutual love among us. Matthew 5:23 Matthew 18:22 But so far was he from giving heed to those divine teachings (which every day, it seems, he was uttering verbally with his tongue, but whose force and efficacy he was entirely unwilling to receive) that, having also repulsed those who tried to persuade him, he admitted nothing at all that would serve for the prescribed consolation of his friend, closing his heart indeed to his brother, but to himself the gate of the heavenly kingdom.

CHAPTER III.

The Martyrdom of St. Nicephorus.

[12] When that man had been thus carried off into the abyss of perdition, another emotion seized St. Nicephorus. For he began to be consumed with fire within, St. Nicephorus exhorts Sapricius to steadfastness in vain, and he tried to extricate Sapricius from these snares, and said: Do not, O brother, reject the martyrdom offered to you before men; do not grieve Christ the Lord and our God and his holy Angels, who have written your name in the book of life; do not let the brief space of one hour take away the crown which you have placed upon your head through so many torments and punishments steadfastly endured. But all these words were in vain. For how could one who had fallen into such madness admit any words of wisdom or salvation? Therefore the most gentle Nicephorus abandoned that wretched and unfortunate man, and scorning all earthly things, voluntarily delivered himself to the executioners, he delivers himself to the executioners as ^a Christian; crying out that they should inflict death upon him by this execution, repeating the name of Christian and the invocation of the one and triune God, always to be praised, to achieve this desired end. All who saw the greatness of his spirit were stunned.

[13] But the authority of the governor checked the rush of the executioners, since he was not yet aware of this spectacle. But when Nicephorus made his piety manifest to many and voluntarily provoked the worshippers of idols to the death that was sweet to him,

one of those present, going to the governor, set forth the shameless denial of piety by the other and the voluntary offering of the most excellent Martyr Nicephorus, hastening of his own accord to death, adding the divine words that he had spoken with such confidence about his faith. condemned to death by the governor, When the impious attendant and defender of error heard this, he pronounced ^a sentence of condemnation against the holy Martyr, ascribing as ^a crime the violation of the laws that commanded worship to be given to idols. And when he had handed the written sentence to those who were prepared to kill him, he ordered what had been commanded to be carried out. And so the glorious Martyr of Christ, the son of compassion and obedience, offered his neck. He endured the stroke of the sword, he is beheaded; exchanging the shedding of ^a little blood for the kingdom of heaven, choosing to establish his eternal abode there, not to linger among these perishable and fleeting things, not to deal with the impious, but to attain the incorruptibility of the soul when the corruptible prison of the body had been stripped away. This incorruptibility we too, still subject to perturbations and desiring tranquility of soul, beg of you, holy Martyrs, who have preserved it unharmed. For if anything of the material of the flesh clung to you, the shedding of your blood washed it away. Therefore it has also been given to you after death to be able to offer our prayers to him who rejoices that something is asked of you, and who seeks every occasion to prevent the work of his hands from suffering any injury or harm.

[14] You yourself know, you who have obtained the name related to victory, Nicephorus, invoked by the author, how great are the waves by which the soul is tossed, continually agitated by the domestic war of the flesh, which the parent of enmities does not cease to stir up, waging against us ^a continual and unending war. Avert this by your prayers to God, and render us safe and secure from his deadly weapons. Also obtain from God the sweetest peace for the Church; banish and repel from it every scandal; bestow upon us an indissoluble harmony with one another, binding and preserving our mutual union, which contains the supreme perfection of the virtues, building upon its unshaken foundations the remaining virtues, by which you attained to such sublimity, with slight labor obtaining delights free from all toil and an imperishable dwelling. For with such gifts God rewards and with such glory he crowns those who love him, to whom glory is given by every spirit now and unto the ages of ages. Amen.