ON THE HOLY MARTYRS TIGRIUS THE PRIEST AND EUTROPIUS THE LECTOR.
Under the Emperor Arcadius. Beginning of the Fifth Century.
PrefaceTigrius the Priest, Martyr at Constantinople (St.) Eutropius the Lector, Martyr at Constantinople (St.)
[1] Baronius, volume 5 of the Annals of the Church, at the year of Christ 404, no. 53, writes that the feast day of St. Eutropius the Lector, when peace was restored to the Church, was celebrated in annual commemoration not only by the Church of Constantinople but by the whole Christian world, and was recorded in the public registers of the Church, Their names in the sacred Calendar. together with Tigrius the Priest, who was crowned with martyrdom at the same time. In the Greek Menaea, Menologia, and other Calendars in our possession, their names are not found. Among the Latins, Molanus lists them in his Additions to Usuard published in the year of Christ 1568, from a certain Martyrology which he does not name; Galesinius and the German Martyrology say: "Of the Holy Martyrs Eutropius the Lector, and Tigrius the Priest, and the holy matron Olympia, of whom the Tripartite History speaks, book 10, chapter 21." Of St. Olympia, or Olympias, we shall treat on the 17th of December, with the Roman Martyrology, in which the other two are recorded on this day in these words: "At Constantinople,
Page 726 Sts. Tigrius the Priest and Eutropius the Lector, who suffered in the time of the Emperor Arcadius."
[2] "You will surely marvel, reader," says Baronius in the year cited, no. 52, "that under a Christian and Catholic Emperor the ancient persecutions against the pious were revived." He indicates a twofold cause in his Notes on the Martyrology: that after St. John Chrysostom was driven into exile, The occasion of the martyrdom. they had refused to communicate with the intruded Arsacius, and had suffered the calumny of being accused of setting fire to the basilica. Socrates wished to pass over these events in silence, book 6, History of the Church, chapter 16, where after recounting the fire he writes thus: "What injuries Optatus, the Prefect of the city of Constantinople, a pagan by religious profession and therefore hostile to Christians, inflicted upon the friends of John, and what severe punishments he imposed upon very many of them, I think should be passed over in silence." "A man," says Baronius, "although divided from us by the error of the Novatian sect, plainly shuddered to recount the cruelties inflicted upon the Catholics by the magistrates." Sozomen recounts these things briefly, book 8, History of the Church, chapter 24, The Acts are described. a passage which Baronius did not read carefully enough, since at the year 404, no. 52, he writes that Sozomen mentions only Eutropius, when in fact he also recounts the torments of the matron Olympias and the priest Tigrius. Palladius also commemorates these things in his Dialogue, and George of Alexandria in his Life of St. John Chrysostom, which we shall give on the 27th of January. In this place we present only what Nicephorus Callistus collected from various sources, History of the Church, book 13, chapters 21, 22, and 23.
[3] St. John Chrysostom indicates the goodwill with which he regarded St. Tigrius in letter 12, written to St. Olympias: "We have written to you very often about our affairs," he says, "but you (for which I have also previously reproached you) do this rarely. And so that you may understand that this is to be attributed to your negligence and not to a shortage of letter-carriers: my lord, the brother of the blessed Bishop Maximus, came the day before yesterday, The friendship of St. Tigrius with St. John Chrysostom. and when I asked him for letters, he said that you had not been willing to give him any. And even Tigrius the Priest, when he also asked him whether he wished to write anything to me, likewise refused to do so. Therefore I would like you to reproach him for this, and our sincere and ardent admirer, and all the others who have acquaintance with Bishop Cyriacus." So writes St. Chrysostom from Caesarea. The same Tigrius was summoned by the pseudo-synod that assembled at Chalcedon in the suburb of Rufinus, at the place called Drys (the Oak), to present himself together with St. Chrysostom, by a letter inscribed in the Dialogue of Palladius as follows: "The Holy Synod assembled at the Oak, to John. We have received accusations against you containing innumerable evils. Come therefore, bringing with you the priests Serapion and Tigris, for they are needed." George of Alexandria says the same, calling him Trigion the Priest, a eunuch, and Tigrion; the translation of Tilmann calls him Tigris.
LIFE FROM NICEPHORUS CALLISTUS, book 13.
Tigrius the Priest, Martyr at Constantinople (St.) Eutropius the Lector, Martyr at Constantinople (St.)
From Nicephorus.
[1] Ch. 21. When St. Chrysostom was banished, a fire at Constantinople. On the day when that great luminary of the Church, John Chrysostom, departed into exile as if setting, a fire, cast by no one, suddenly broke out from the middle of the throne where that light of doctrine had sat and shone, crept upward through the sacred chains to the heights, and consumed the church on every side, running through it entirely. Then, having consumed the roof as well, it turned to the rear of the sacred buildings and, caught up by a strong and violent wind, it attacked the nearby Senate house to the south, though it was quite far distant.
[2] One could behold a thing almost divine and truly wonderful. For the flame, as though it were alive, Certain buildings and sacred vessels miraculously preserved. leaped over the buildings that were in between, so that no one would think this was done by human agency, since it did not consume the nearest buildings first. In three hours a work that had stood for a long time, built of the most precious materials and of the most beautiful design, was reduced to destruction by conflagration. Furthermore, as this fire spread and consumed all the surrounding buildings, it refrained from that one small chamber where the sacred vessels were kept. And I think this too was not without divine providence, lest it give the slanderers an occasion to fabricate a monstrous false accusation from the loss of sacred objects and to reproach the holy man. The fire, which had begun to rage around twilight, continued until dawn and beyond, consuming and burning whatever material remained.
[3] Ch. 22. The supporters of St. Chrysostom are on this account cruelly harassed. But perverse men, when they ought to have drawn the right inference and understanding from this, instead seized upon another occasion and accused the supporters of John, and severely punished them as though they had committed the arson and set the fire. They arrested many bishops, and not a few priests, clerics, and others who were on John's side and had left the city with him, and immediately threw them into prison at Chalcedon. Others, moreover, roaming through the city, if anyone was pointed out to them as a partisan of John, seized him without delay, committed him to custody, and compelled him to pronounce an anathema against the holy man. Still others, to whom the assembly of the wicked was hateful, they separated by exile, confiscation of goods, death, and various torments. These included bishops, priests, and followers of the monastic life. For when the good shepherd was delivered into the hands of the wicked, it was necessary that the sheep also be scattered and become sharers in their master's sufferings.
[4] And so some filled the nearby prisons; others, sent to the farther continent, Many were infamously and barbarously exiled. had to cross the vast sea to inhabit islands, after first being subjected to many torments. What words could describe the adversities they suffered on the journey? For they were committed to fierce and most wicked men, and were treated cruelly and inhumanely by them, and they were spared in nothing. Some indeed were treated on the road beyond all compassion. Some, without a cloak, were thrown onto bare mules like pack-saddles, carried headlong and upside down like sacrificial victims. As for the contempt, insults, mockery, grievous jeers, and derisions which penetrate the soul more sharply, and the blows and alternating lashes which made death seem preferable -- what words could sufficiently express these?
[5] And because these men took delight in their disgrace and infamy, they lodged them in brothels and other most foul dwellings, Many led to dishonorable places. not in respectable houses, and confined them in other suitable locations -- these men full of execration. Yet these things the sufferers regarded as entirely trivial and worthless compared with allowing themselves to be separated from the party of John. Others went voluntarily into exile. And if some of them managed to flee, they nonetheless imposed punishment upon themselves, condemning themselves to solitary and trackless places and the farthest shores. For they preferred to dwell with wild beasts rather than with men so savage and cruel.
[6] Ch. 23. The inquiry into the fire. At that time a great commotion was raised, since it was established that the quiet populace would not hereafter cause any sedition. The City Prefect Optatus publicly held an inquiry from the tribunal concerning this fire and the Senate house that had been burned, and under this pretext severely tortured many. For since he professed the Greek superstition, taking delight as it were in our misfortunes and mocking the calamities of the Church, he was pleased by the incident, and he seized a certain priest named Tigrius. Stripping him of his garments, he inflicted blows with scourges on his bare back, and tortured the man to such a degree Tigrius is tortured. that his joints were dislocated. For he was tightly bound hand and foot and stretched out as much as was possible.
[7] Now this Tigrius was a barbarian by birth and a eunuch, though not from birth. And because he had served as he ought in his master's household, he won greater praise than was usual for a slave. His condition and virtues. Wherefore he was granted his freedom, and on account of the gentleness and modesty of his character, after a long interval of time, he was raised to the dignity of the priesthood. For he was very moderate and distinguished by the evenness of his life, and toward the needy, as much as anyone, very generous, and kind to strangers who lodged with him.
[8] Then Eutropius the Lector was also brought forward, having been accused through informers as an incendiary. Eutropius is cruelly tortured. And first he was tortured many times on the rack with shackles, and then his bones were crushed with clubs and nails. Then his limbs, sides, and jaws were torn with iron claws. Finally he received a lit flame applied to the lower parts of his body. And when he confessed nothing, after the torments that have been described, He dies in prison. he was thrown into prison, though he was young and of a very tender body. There, with his limbs seized by putrefaction, he shortly ended his life.
[9] But I shall not find it burdensome to weave into this account also a dream that occurred concerning him. For to Bishop Sisinius while sleeping, there appeared a man of distinguished form and stature, wearing dignified and solemn attire, standing at the holier altar of sacrifice in the church dedicated to Stephen the Protomartyr. He appeared to be greatly distressed in mind His virtue declared by a memorable dream. because he had not found good men, on account of which he had wandered through the entire city; and that in such a scarcity of upright men, Eutropius alone was outstanding. Sisinius, reduced to astonishment by this vision on account of its strangeness, quickly rose and related the dream to a certain priest who was under him, and ordered him to go about the city and inquire whether any Eutropius was to be found anywhere. And the priest, led by conjecture, immediately said that it was the one who had recently been reported to have bravely endured the torments inflicted upon him in a prolonged interrogation by the Prefect. And in the prison itself he diligently inquired whether anyone named Eutropius was there. When he found him, he conversed with him, and after recounting the dream of Sisinius, weeping he asked that Eutropius pray for him. So much for Tigrius and Eutropius.
Annotationsa "There survive to this day," says Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology, "two impious edicts of Arcadius, of which one compelled the faithful to communicate with Arsacius, and the other ordered an inquiry against those who had set fire to the basilica."
b We shall treat elsewhere, and often, of the various persons bound, exiled, and otherwise harassed, especially in connection with the Life of St. John Chrysostom. To the bishops and priests thrown into prison, he wrote letter 118.
c These details about St. Tigrius are drawn from Sozomen, whose words are in book 8, chapter 24: "On the same occasion Tigrius the Priest was also stripped of his garments, beaten with scourges on the back, bound hand and foot and stretched out, and his limbs were dislocated. He was a barbarian by birth and a eunuch, but not from birth. Having served in the household of a powerful man, he was approved by his master and obtained his freedom. Then, raised to the dignity of the priesthood, in the course of time he appeared to be of a gentle and mild disposition, and toward the poor and strangers most benevolent, as much as anyone." He did not die from this torture, since the following is read about him in the Dialogue of Palladius: "The rest of those in communion with John partly communicated with Atticus, compelled by necessity, and were transferred to other churches of Thrace; partly we do not know where they are. They say Anatolius went to Gaul. The priests, however, were exiled to Arabia and Palestine. Tigrius was banished to Mesopotamia," etc. George of Alexandria says nearly the same: "Tigrius," he says, "banished to Mesopotamia, remained there." Atticus, with whom those confessors were forced to communicate, was made Bishop of Constantinople in the year of Christ 406, in the month of March, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus VI and Probus, as was stated in his Life on the 8th of January, no. 8.
d Sozomen narrates these events as follows in the passage cited: "At the same time a certain Eutropius the Lector was also brought forward, to reveal those who had set fire to the church. Although his sides and cheeks were torn with thongs, clubs, and iron claws, and although he endured burning torches applied to his body, and though he was a young man of tender skin, he nevertheless confessed that he knew nothing. After these torments he was enclosed in prison, where he died not long afterward." In the Dialogue of Palladius his death is described thus: "The most blessed Eutropius, a pure virgin, a singer, was beaten, and his sides and forehead were so deeply cut that even his eyebrows were torn out. Finally, with lamps applied to both sides of his body, the bones now stripped bare, he died on the wooden rack, and was buried in the middle of the night by those men of priestly order who had done this. God bore worthy testimony to his death, because he had imitated the passion of the Redeemer. For the sound of angels singing in heaven was heard, revealing angelic guardianship." George of Alexandria explains this somewhat further: "The truly blessed Eutropius, who had never touched a woman, himself also a singer, was savagely beaten, and his sides together with his eyebrows and the middle of his forehead were torn away by excessive scraping. At last lamps soaked in overflowing oil were fashioned for torture and applied to both his sides, so that the bare bones appeared, until he expired in wooden fetters. He was buried in the dead of night, by the efforts of those who performed the priestly office; God bearing testimony to his death, through angelic song, because he had imitated the passion of the Redeemer."
e Sozomen writes that this Sisinius (whom he calls Sisinnius) was a bishop of the Novatians.