Martyrs Clement the Bishop and Agathangelus

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS CLEMENT THE BISHOP AND AGATHANGELUS, CHRISTOPHER AND CHARITON THE DEACONS, AND SEVERAL BOYS, AT ANCYRA; PHENGON AND EUCARPIUS THE SOLDIERS, AT AMISUS; AND ALSO MEN, WOMEN, AND BOYS, AT ROME.

Beginning of the fourth century.

Clement, Bishop, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Agathangelus, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Christopher, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Chariton, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Several boys, Martyrs at Ancyra Phengon, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Eucarpius, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Very many men, women, and boys, Martyrs at Rome

From various sources.

Section I. The time of S. Clement's martyrdom, and his companions.

[1] The Galatians, an Asiatic people bordering on Bithynia, who came forth from Gaul, as their very name testifies, and their language; for as S. Jerome attests in the proem to book 2 of his commentary on the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galatians, besides the Greek tongue which the entire East spoke, Clement, Bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, they had their own language, nearly the same as the Treviri -- that is to say, Teutonic, which was formerly common to all the Gauls, now to part of the Belgians, the Germans, and other northern peoples, though so altered by various dialects that they scarcely, if at all, understand one another. The metropolis of the Galatians was Ancyra, whose bishops are afterwards called "Most Honored Princes of all Galatia" in the Exposition of Andronicus Palaeologus the Elder.

[2] To the episcopal throne of this city, S. Clement was once elevated, who became the leader of a glorious troop of Martyrs, when he had completed only his twentieth year of age. He was born in the consulship of Valerian, when he was born, in the twelfth year of the reign of Valerian, in the year of Christ 250. It was the custom of certain Greeks (as we have noted elsewhere) to begin the Christian era eight years later than the Latins commonly do. Therefore, if Clement was born in the year of Christ 250 according to their reckoning, that year was 258 or 257 of the common era, in its latter part, for they began the year in September. The consul at that time was Valerian for the fourth time and Gallienus for the third: but that was only the fifth year of their reign; nor did Valerian reach the twelfth, having been captured in the year of Christ 260 by Sapor, King of the Persians, and most cruelly killed. But if one prefers to retain the twelfth year from the assumption of imperial power, during which Gallienus, having received the empire jointly with his father, still administered it, that would be the year of Christ 265, in which Valerian the Younger, brother of Gallienus, was consul for the second time, with L. Caesonius Lucillus Macer Rufinianus. And Metaphrastes favors this, who writes that Clement was born in the consulship of Valerian and Lucian. Perhaps "Lucian" was written for "Lucillus." But the Greeks who followed the epoch established above did not reckon that year as Christ 250 but as 257, unless it was so written and "seventh" was omitted by scribal negligence.

[3] Then, after his twentieth year of age had elapsed, in the year of Christ 277, under the Emperor Probus; or rather 284, in which year Diocletian also seized the empire on the fifteenth before the Kalends of October, when he became Bishop, Clement was made Bishop: and when the persecution was soon stirred up, perhaps toward the end of the following year, he was cast into chains; after various fierce contests of many years, while Diocletian and Maximian still reigned, he ended his labors with a glorious death on 23 January, a Sunday, when he was killed, that is, in the leap year 304, in which on those very Kalends of April both Emperors abdicated the empire. And yet the years during which Clement fought will amount not to 28 but only to 18 and some months. Or certainly it will be necessary to admit that he was killed in the year 309, under Galerius Maximianus; for in that year too, 23 January fell on a Sunday. And Nicephorus, whom we shall cite below, seems to imply this when he says that he accomplished his martyrdom in the same year as S. Pantaleon. But we shall inquire into this on 27 July.

[4] So much for the age of S. Clement: now concerning his companions in contest and triumph. The foremost was Agathangelus, His companion S. Agathangelus, who was crowned two months and eighteen days before him, on 5 November; on which day the Greeks in their Menaia sing the following of him: On the same day, holy Agathangelus was perfected by the sword.

A benign angel sent some decree to Agathangelus; the decree of death was by the sword.

On the same day S. Agathangelus ended his life by the sword.

But with solemn worship both are venerated on this day, 23 January, especially in their own church dedicated to them at Constantinople, beyond the quarter of Eudoxius across from Anaplum, and in the most holy church of S. Irene, both old and new; as the Menaia and Maximus of Cythera report.

[5] Concerning both, the Menologium edited by Canisius says on this very day: The birthday of S. Clement of Ancyra in Galatia, who, born of a pagan father the name of both in the sacred calendars, but of a Christian mother named Euphrosyne, who predicted that he would be a Martyr of Christ, endured martyrdom under Diocletian and Maximian: on which day also S. Agathangelus suffered at Ancyra under the Governor Lucius. Rather, he suffered on 5 November. The other Menologia of the Greeks, the Horologia, etc., commemorate both, which Molanus follows in his additions to Usuard: On the twenty-third, of the holy Hieromartyr Clement of Ancyra and the holy Martyr Agathangelus. The Roman Martyrology also: At Ancyra in Galatia, of S. Clement the Bishop, who, having been tortured repeatedly, at last consummated his martyrdom under Diocletian. In the same place, of S. Agathangelus, who suffered on the same day under the Governor Lucius. Galesinius says of Clement: At Ancyra, of S. Clement, Bishop and Martyr, who under the Emperor Diocletian, having been racked with unheard-of punishments, many and various, at last, since he persisted constantly in the faith, received the crown of martyrdom by beheading.

[6] In his Notes, Galesinius mentions Christopher and Chariton, companions of Clement in undergoing martyrdom. The Menaia, other companions of theirs, the Menologium of Canisius, and Cytheraeus report on 9 September that S. Chariton was killed by the sword. But because Christopher was not joined to him as a companion, and these two died on 23 January, we believe him to be a different person. There were also several men named Eucarpius. But no Phengon is joined to any of them. Nor have we found their names inscribed on 7 September, on which they were killed, in any Martyrologies. Their contests, and those of other Ancyrans as well as Romans, are contained in the Acts of S. Clement, who had begotten them for Christ, and all are celebrated by very many on this day; and John Basil Santorius prefixes most of the names to the Acts.

Section II. The Acts of S. Clement and his companions.

[7] The deeds nobly and bravely performed by Clement and Agathangelus were composed with his usual eloquence by Metaphrastes, drawn from ancient records. Their Acts, That commentary of Metaphrastes, translated into Latin by Gentian Hervet, was published by Lipomanus and Surius; and in abridged form by Lippeloos, Ribadeneira, Santorius, Gabriel Flamma, Marchantius, Rosweyde, and others. Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology writes that many things in these Acts displease him: not approved by Baronius; but what those things are, he does not specify. The hyperbolic amplification of the tortures might seem excessive, unless we consider both the fury of the devil and his minions, and the power of God strengthening His Martyrs. Nor should one suppose that all the punishments narrated were inflicted on the Saints continuously; but over the entire space of 18 years, with a respite of perhaps many months often granted, yet credible; while the Governors were occupied with other affairs of state; although this seems to be denied in the Anthologion and the Menaia. And if the individual torments are considered, scarcely any was not inflicted on many Martyrs under the same Diocletian and Maximian, in the same cities of Asia: and most of them are surpassed by the modern cruelty of the Japanese against Christians. Besides the cited testimonies of the Martyrologies, there exists an excellent epitome of the Acts in the Anthologion of the Greeks approved by Clement VIII, also in the Menaia and in the Lives by Maximus of Cythera.

[8] Nicephorus Callistus also celebrated them with this illustrious encomium, book 7 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14: In this very year also, Clement, Bishop of Ancyra, together with Agathangelus, began his most noble martyrdom. For he completed his most splendid course for Christ in twenty-eight years. confirmed by the testimony of Nicephorus: Indeed, of all who since the foundation of the world have undergone the contest for Christ by fire, sword, stones, and wood; or who have fought with beasts and been afflicted with long imprisonments; moreover, who have struggled with punishments in various ways on land, in the air, in the waters; and then those who were consumed either by extreme cold or heat, or who lost their lives by any other penalties and torments whatsoever; all of these, in my judgment at least, that holy Clement, and Agathangelus with him, far surpassed: first at Rome, then at Nicomedia; when torturers excelling others in ferocity and cruelty, taking turns in succession to torture them, were already at a loss for every kind of torment: at last, however, being struck by the sword, they exchanged this life for the immortal one.

[9] We shall first present other, older Acts from a very ancient handwritten Greek codex, whence published here, rendered into Latin by John Scapelinck, a priest of our Society, a learned man. Then we shall subjoin the same, most eloquently written by Metaphrastes, both agreeing indeed in the truth of the history, at least in most points; but the former expressed more concisely and forcefully, the latter set forth more clearly and elegantly.

Section III. Epitome of the Acts, from the Anthologion of the Greeks, approved by Clement VIII.

[10] The entire life of this blessed and divine Clement was scarcely anything other than a martyrdom. For twenty-eight years he waged a perpetual contest with tyrants, the battle never interrupted, The prolonged martyrdom of Clement, never was peace given or rest granted under a truce of specified days, as is customary in war, when both sides periodically cease by a certain rule and agreement so that, having renewed their strength, they may afterwards engage more readily and ardently; but the fight was continuous, perpetual, and most fierce: so that one may marvel no less at the duration of the time during which he bore all things most patiently, as if in another's body, than at the bitterness and variety of the torments; but rather both are equally most worthy of admiration. For passing through every kind of torture, he became a spectacle to the tyrants who then administered the state, to the Emperors, and to nearly the entire world, even the Angels themselves admiring his endurance, and he bore away a splendid crown of glory. He was born in the city of Ancyra in Galatia, of a Greek father, and a mother named Sophia, a pious Christian woman. At twelve years of age he embraced the solitary life; at twenty he accepted the Archbishopric. He suffered under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian.

[11] The blessed Agathangelus was Roman by birth. When those who were held in chains with Clement at Rome were taken away (among whom was Agathangelus, who had first come to Clement, Agathangelus follows him, and had been washed by him in baptism), at the very time when his prison companions were about to be put to death, he fled. But when S. Clement was being led away by the servants of Maximian and placed on a ship to be carried to Nicomedia, Agathangelus finally boarded the ship and waited for S. Clement: who, after he had come aboard, Agathangelus threw himself as a suppliant at his feet. Clement, delighted and overjoyed at seeing him return and repent, thought he was enjoying the presence of a good Angel. And so he remained with him as a companion of his patience and his contest until they arrived at Ancyra. Where they were brought before Lucius, and Agathangelus, by his command, together with other men, women, and boys who had consecrated themselves to Christ, was beheaded and flew to the abodes of the heavenly dwellers.

[12] The kinds of torments which these heroes endured were as follows. The blessed Clement in particular suffered these: He is hung on the wood and scraped with iron; his mouth and cheeks are battered with stones; he is thrust into prison; the torments proper to each, he is tied to a wheel; he is beaten with clubs; he is lacerated with knives; his mouth is pierced with iron styles; his jaws are broken; his teeth are knocked out; he is bound with iron shackles and again thrown into a dungeon. These things Clement endured as his own. Moreover, he and Agathangelus together and those common to both, are beaten with raw ox-sinews; they are hung from a beam; their sides are burned with blazing torches; they are thrown to wild beasts; red-hot awls are driven through the middle of their fingers; they are covered with quickite and left in it for two days; strips of leather are torn from the skin of their bodies from the shoulders down; they are again beaten with clubs; they are thrown onto iron beds glowing with fire; they are cast into a burning furnace and tormented there for a day and a night; their loins are torn with iron; they are thrown upon iron spikes fixed upright in the ground with their sharp points protruding and are pierced, being most grievously wounded and injured by them. Agathangelus alone, however, is drenched from the head with molten lead. Millstones are hung from both their necks, and dragged through the city they are pelted with stones. Separately again, to Clement alone, burning clasps are thrust through his ears; he is again brought near to torches; bound to a great rock, his mouth and head are battered with rods, and he daily endures the blows of fifty lashes. At last both are beheaded at Ancyra in Galatia.

ACTS

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,

rendered into Latin from an ancient Greek manuscript

BY JOHN SCAPELINCK, S.J.

Clement, Bishop, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Agathangelus, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Christopher, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Chariton, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Several boys, Martyrs at Ancyra Phengon, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Eucarpius, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Very many men, women, and boys, Martyrs at Rome

By an anonymous author, from a Greek manuscript.

PROEM.

The deeds of S. Clement up to his captivity.

[1] In the two hundred and fiftieth year of the assumed flesh of our King and God and Savior Jesus Christ, and about the twelfth year of the reign of Valerian, S. Clement is born at Ancyra, in the consulship of Valerian, in the regions of Galatia, at Ancyra which is the metropolis of the first province of the Galatians, there was a certain woman named Euphrosyne, born of noble and Christian parents, just as one may know the tree from its fruit. This excellent Christian woman, who testified by her own conduct to the piety of her parents, of a pagan father, was given in marriage, unwilling and against her wish, to a pagan husband; who often attempted to call her away from the worship of Christ and to lead her to the veneration of idols. But she, endowed with manly strength, bravely pulled her husband in the opposite direction, entreating Christ night and day to be present to this amicable yoke; that those who were joined in flesh might also be joined in spirit. But he, persisting in impiety, departed this life, leaving her a little child still nursing, and a Christian mother, whom she nourished more with piety than with milk. Therefore, as if she had borne this infant alone without a husband, she offered him to Christ, a workman not needing to be ashamed and an unconquered fighter, whom, as a prophetess and one with foreknowledge and divination, she fittingly called Clement -- as a branch of Christ the true vine, who would bear the fruit of many souls and be adorned with innumerable grapes, namely the souls of those who were to be saved through him: which branch, indeed, the tyrants, like unskilled farmers, cut off; but from the truth they could by no means sever him.

[2] animated by his dying mother toward martyrdom, When he had now reached the tenth year of his age, his holy mother, foreseeing that the boundary of her mortal life was approaching, called the boy to her, embraced him, appointed him heir of her piety and sharer of the heavenly kingdom, saying: I, my son, bore you for the brief life that is lived in this world; but Christ has regenerated you for eternal life: nor is there salvation in any other. For whoever has believed in the Lord Christ, who came from the heavens and overthrew the error of idols, will escape all the snares of the devil and his deception, being superior to serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy. Since therefore, O my son, the time is evil and mankind is assailed by impiety, an occasion of fight and contest presents itself. The struggle is not about just anything, with the hope of glory set before him, the race is not trifling, nor is the war about temporal things, but about the kingdom of heaven and the crown of justice and of incorruptible and infinite life. Wherefore I greatly exhort and beg you, my son, to establish yourself in your steps by grace and to strengthen yourself in the confession of Christ, so that according to His promise you may be led before Kings and Governors for His name's sake. Matt. 10:18. I hope through Christ that the bud of my stock will bloom in you with the crown of martyrdom, for my glory and for the salvation of many souls. Prepare therefore your soul for temptation. For trial is profitable: the punishment is temporary, the reward eternal; the affliction passes, the pleasure endures; the disgrace is small, the glory before God perpetual. The threats and beatings of Governors and temporal Kings last but a day; their wrath is mocked, their glory withers, their fire is extinguished, their sword gathers rust, their power perishes. Let none of these things, therefore, separate you from Christ, but strive toward heaven, and expect from Him the precious, splendid, perpetual reward: revere His throne, dread His tribunal, tremble at His presence. For those who have denied Him, their fire is not extinguished, their worm does not die: but those who have known Him and His true glory, ineffable joy and exultation and delight await them, together with the Saints who have confessed Him.

[3] Let this, my son, be the reward of the pains I have endured on your account, that a Confessor of the Lord may have come forth from my womb, and that I may be called the mother of a Martyr. Hasten therefore to suffer for Him who suffered for you; and the consolation of his mother: that you may enjoy great gifts, and I may become a sharer and coheir of the Saints through you, deemed worthy of that good inheritance. For behold, my son, I already stand at the doors of death, and this visible light will not dawn for me on the morrow. But you are my light in Christ, you my life in the Lord. I beseech you therefore, my child, that I may not be driven from the hope which I have conceived of you. One Hebrew woman once offered seven sons as Martyrs of piety, and tortured in a single soul through seven bodies, she was not defeated. 2 Macc. 7. You alone will suffice for my glory, if you fight constantly for the faith. Behold, I go before and depart today, as far as the body is concerned; for my soul hangs upon yours forever, so that I may with confidence deserve to throw myself before the tribunal of Christ with you, glorying in your labors, crowned by your contest. For the root hidden beneath the ground is also watered by the drops of the branch that stands above the ground. So, embracing him the entire day and kissing his eyes, his mouth, his hands, and the rest of his limbs, she said: O happy am I today, who kiss the limbs of a Martyr! Having exhorted him with these words at great length, shortly afterward, leaning upon him, she breathed forth her soul and rested in peace.

[4] S. Clement was the only child of his mother, who, having honorably buried her, as one prudent and mature, was not hindered by his youthful age from applying himself to virtue with all his might. For when he was twelve years old, he appeared to those who beheld him as a venerable old man of mature years. after her death he lives as a solitary: He then embraced the solitary life after the death of his most blessed mother Euphrosyne. And being an orphan, bereft of his mother, he obtained God as an immortal Father, who gave him a worthy mother anew. For a certain Sophia, of the stock of the Anicii, a pious and devout woman, he is adopted by Sophia, a pious matron: intent upon prayers and supplications day and night, abounding in wealth and possessions, but lacking children, whom she most earnestly desired, obtained this wish also without sin. For she adopted the most holy young orphan Clement as her son, becoming in a certain way the heir of his pious mother and a second mother, with a most indulgent affection of compassion: so that she would not allow him to shed a tear on account of his bereavement. Sophia therefore, fittingly indeed for her name, instructed him in divine wisdom. The boy surpassed in intelligence all his peers, as many as were in that province.

[5] Afterwards, when a scarcity of food arose, he himself took in children orphaned of their parents -- the children of impious pagans he educates poor boys and instructs them in the faith: and of other poor people, or those otherwise abandoned and wandering -- and nourished them, imbued together with himself in the wisdom of the faith, and refreshed with suitable clothing and food. On account of the teaching of Clement, the other boys together with him devoted themselves to piety and prudence. Thus Sophia, who lacked children, abounded in them, as if building a populous city of Christians from young men and providing for their advancement and salvation. Clement, moreover, fed mainly on vegetables, mindful of those three youths who, having used such fare, excelled the rest in intelligence and distinction. Dan. 1.

[6] Since therefore there were very few Christians in those parts, Clement appeared to those who belonged to the Church as a kind of luminary about to shed the light of divine knowledge on many. Whence by the grace and providence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the votes of the people, he was made a sacred herald of the Church: then shortly afterwards a Deacon: and after a brief interval a Priest. he becomes Bishop. Finally, two years later, he was deemed worthy of the episcopal throne, when he was only twenty years old; still increasing the number of orphan boys and assiduously laboring and striving to raise up a new people for God. He imbued those boys with baptism along with instruction in letters, promising higher ranks to those who were qualified. And it came to pass that from all neighboring regions they brought boys to the Martyr, whom he received as sons; teaching them to acknowledge one God, having cast aside all error of idols. As they grew, they advanced in the religion of the faith of Christ and in the teaching of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. And so much for the birth, education, and training of S. Clement.

INTERROGATION I. In Galatia.

[7] When Diocletian had assumed the Roman empire, and in that very first year applied himself with incredible zeal to the worship of the gods, When Diocletian stirred up persecution, and imposed compulsion and death throughout the whole world for the destruction of the Christians; and not without ostentation lavished worship and devotion on those whom he thought to be gods; and by his rescripts to them commanded the Prefects, Commanders, Vicars, and Proconsuls of the cities to carry out the slaughter and punishment of Christians; the impious began to rage through cities and provinces at the Emperor's pleasure, and to search diligently whether they might discover any Christian whose name they could report. Then the zealous ministers of impiety who dwelt among the Galatian people, having learned what was being done by the holy Martyr of Christ, Clement, accused him before a certain Domitianus, a Vicar who was then in the regions of Galatia, Clement is accused before the Vicar Domitianus; informing him that a great number of boys was being attracted by him and offered to him who is called Christ, and that thus the worship of the great gods was being overthrown: for he was joining very many to himself and declaring publicly that He is the living God, but that the great gods Mars and Diana are to be accounted as nothing. Thus, they said, he instructs our children and leads them to the Nazarene. Hearing this, Domitianus ordered him to be detained in what is called the Lithosignion, in the house of one of those who lived there intent on betraying the Saints.

[8] he is brought before him: The Saint, having been arrested, was brought before the Vicar. When he stood before him, Domitianus addressed him thus: What I see, as I judge, differs greatly from what has been reported to us about you. For your appearance and the composure of your manners display prudence and moderation; but what was brought here concerning you savored of a certain childish ignorance. We shall more easily learn the truth from you yourself. Accommodate yourself therefore to us, he laughs at his blandishments and threats; and set forth your opinion to us. The blessed Martyr answered and said: Our wisdom and prudence is Christ, the Son of God, who, being both the Word and the Wisdom of the Father, is manifested by the works of the universe. To this the Vicar replied: You have grieved me by beginning to talk nonsense. Cease therefore to speak foolishly, and approach the gods who are blessed forever, reflecting upon the punishments of those who despise them, but turning over in your mind the honors of those who venerate them. For we too have been advanced to such great power through this. For which reason we adorn with dignity and honor those who reward the gods by worshipping them. That magnanimous man laughed when he heard these words and said: But we have been taught to despise the things you consider good, as well as the death threatened by you. Do not think, therefore, that you will lead us away from the Truth by either riches or threats. For I do not dread the death you threaten, but rather embrace it as the mediator of eternal life. I do not seek wealth, which it will be absolutely necessary to leave to others; I do not pursue office or imperial power, for which an end is shortly imminent. I seek only the heavenly kingdom, which will be bounded by no end.

[9] Then Domitianus said: I shall make you more intractable, having approached you not imperiously but gently. For since you deal with boys and persuade them of these things, as your speech also demonstrates, it follows that you are endowed with a similar mind. when reproached for his instruction of boys, he glories in it: If therefore you do not soon worship the gods with libations and honor us with consular dignity, you will be the cause of your own punishment and death. Here S. Clement said: I have tried to instill in boys a mind which among you even the mature do not know, and which those wise men of yours are not worthy to learn. For the true wisdom of God has hidden it from your wise and prudent men and has revealed it to children. For those who make gods of inanimate and irrational materials are endowed with a prudence similar to them. I wish therefore to offer rational libations to God, not the smoke and fumes of irrational victims. I owe Him my own blood, because He Himself redeemed me with His precious blood.

[10] To this Domitianus said: If you will not obey me when I counsel what is sound, you will obey under compulsion when I punish. Before we therefore proceed to torments, lest you afterwards become a laughingstock to the spectators, as one who was led not by blandishments but by punishment, deny Christ. S. Clement said: I hope that Christ will be present with me: nor will I ever repent of that hope. Do not therefore delay the tortures; for I shall find Christ ready to heal, for whose sake I endure the torments that will procure for me everlasting goods. he despises the torments: Domitianus said: Do not suppose that a swift death is prepared for you, nor that you will be given over to execution shortly: I shall drive you through every torment, so that by your example I may teach those who think the same as you not to spurn the imperial commands. S. Clement said: I have been taught to forgive all their debts; nor do I despise anyone but revere them: for I was not accused before you on a charge of wickedness. Wherefore I do not depart from Christ, the only true Son of God. The Vicar said: Hang him up and scrape him with iron combs, impressing upon him, according to the imperial decrees, not to snarl such things. The holy Martyr, long torn with hooks, he endures the tearing of his body, so that even his bones were laid bare, bore all things most nobly, even his adversaries admiring his constancy, for he had neither changed his countenance nor uttered a cry indicative of pain. But on the contrary, looking toward heaven with a cheerful face, he said: Glory to You, O Christ, my light and life, my breath and my joy. I give You thanks, O giver of life, that You have deemed me worthy of this salvation. Now my soul exults in the way of Your testimonies. All labor is sweet to me through desire for You. Glory to You, that You have strengthened me with patience: for You have stretched out Your mighty hand to me, the least and a sinner, and have freed me from the wrath of the Governor and from the hands of the executioners, for You alone are the refuge of those who are afflicted with every tribulation. When the illustrious Martyr had prayed these things, those who were torturing him collapsed. The Vicar, supposing that they had failed through weariness and weakness, thus addressed the Martyr: Do you suppose that your endurance has already defeated me, because the space of an hour has wearied the lictors? S. Clement said: I do not indeed suppose that; but I have believed and I hope that Christ who is in me has Himself conquered, conquers, and will conquer. For no incorporeal being endured such torture, when it was resumed again, at the sight of which men shudder. The Vicar ordered other executioners to attend and him to be torn anew, so that not even his bones covered with flesh should remain. But they likewise desisted, as if dead.

[11] At last, the Tyrant, ashamed at the cheerfulness of the Martyr and the weakness of the lictors, and perceiving clearly enough that those who were beating him were being tortured more cruelly than he, ordered him to be taken down from the wood. His body was in such a condition that even the executioners were afraid to touch him, so bathed was he in his own blood, with which alone his bones were covered. The Tyrant said to him: From good fortune arises envy, and from nature the desire to conquer: whence the former strives to destroy you and prepares to plunge you into grievous sufferings and to deprive you of the very many and very great gifts which you would otherwise have obtained if you had obeyed our counsels. Spare at last your wretched body; and do not, as if seeking empty praise from excessive endurance, bring death upon yourself by that obstinacy. S. Clement said: I am preparing for my body incorruption, and for my soul immortality, through the corruption and death which you inflict upon me. The Vicar said: he responds nobly to the Governor: You have learned this madness, that leaving this light which the gods have granted men to enjoy, and moreover this most splendid sun, you terminate a dark and ignoble life with a bitter end. For if you cling to your former obstinacy, you will obtain from us a brief respite while your shattered flesh is repaired and you are able to receive an increase of punishments, of which you will have sensation until death. S. Clement said: You sustain my expectation and my prayers, as it seems, only by threatening, supposing that by this means you will perhaps bring it about that I fall away from my hope, which rests on God alone. But now that you understand what I think, do what you consider sufficient for your malice toward me.

[12] Domitianus, moved by what was said by the Martyr, said: By the gods, man is a creature greedy for victory. Beat therefore his mouth and cheeks. For that is absolutely the only part of his body that has hitherto escaped punishment, and therefore it grows insolent. Let it too be defiled, so that it may be consonant with the rest of the body. Those lictors, therefore, who were moved either by compassion or certainly feared that the same thing would happen to them he is beaten with blows and stones; as had happened to those who had earlier scraped the Martyr's body, struck him only with their hands; but those who were incited by the frenzy of malice used stones; some of them, however, held him up, because he was utterly broken by his previous wounds. But the Martyr, exulting in spirit, said: You have honored me more than tortured me. For my Lord Christ also had His face struck: and exulting in that torment, and I, unworthy, have been called to the same. Stephen the Protomartyr was killed with stones: and I have been adorned with them. The imitation of His passion lightens my labor: the sharing of honor with my betters soothes my pains. And lifting his eyes to heaven, he prayed thus: Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ, that You have deigned to make me a sharer in the portion of Your sufferings and those of Your holy Protomartyr. The Vicar, struck with astonishment as he beheld the man's constancy, ordered him to be supported on both sides by several men, since he could not walk because of the severity of his wounds, he is led back to prison: and to be taken back to prison and to rest for a time until he recovered. But he, repelling those who seemed to be propping him up, walked of his own accord, chanting psalms and saying: Let not the oil of the sinner fatten my head.

[13] The Vicar, watching him as he departed, said to those sitting near him: Amazing! What patience and constancy he displays! he is sent to Rome: Such ought to be the soldiers of the Emperors, who could bring terror to the enemy. It is not fitting that he should be heard again before my tribunal. I shall send him to the Emperor Diocletian. He alone will be able to overcome him; for he has always been a contriver of instruments of punishment and always devises such slaughters that the entire city trembles at his edicts. Let what has been done to him here by my order, which will be conveyed along with him, be presented there. Those who were so commanded therefore took him and led him out of Ancyra. When the blessed Clement was leaving Ancyra, he prays well for the city of Ancyra: he gave himself to prayer, saying: O God and King of things heavenly, earthly, and infernal, who alone fill all things and are absent from no place, into Your hands I commit this city. Guard it and the souls of those who dwell in it believing in You. Preserve its Church inviolate. Let not dogs and wolves scatter Your little flock. Do not destroy it nor diminish it; rather increase and multiply it, for the glory of Your name. And do not entirely estrange us from this city, but be present with us on the way and in the contest, and bring us back here again, You who brought Jacob back to his father's house and freed him from the hand of his brother Esau; and commanded Your people to carry the bones of Joseph out of Egypt and to place them in the tomb of his fathers; wherefore You are to be glorified forever and ever.

INTERROGATION II. At Rome.

[14] Those who had been ordered therefore brought the most blessed Clement to Rome (for Diocletian was then residing there) and reported to the Emperor concerning him, he is brought before Diocletian: and delivered to him the proceedings conducted by the Vicar Domitianus and the entire account of the case. The Emperor ordered him to be brought forward, and looking upon his face, which was gracious and not broken by suffering, he doubted whether he had truly endured what the attendants had reported: so full and vigorous was his countenance. And he said to him: You are Clement, celebrated for invincible constancy? his blandishments, But I wish you were not deceived by perversity and an erroneous sect. For since the gods are humane and benign toward all, it is fitting that they should both confirm the rebellious, receiving them unto knowledge when they have been taught better things, lest they die irreligious; and should reserve the obstinate for greater punishments to endure, so that pious men may become wiser. And since we owe all worship to the gods, having been deemed worthy of much providence from them, and of the royal throne and the empire of the world, we also freely and willingly bestow upon those who venerate them the goods bestowed upon us by them. And he ordered there to be brought forward before him a great quantity of gold and silver, patents of office and government, precious and splendid garments, and whatever things men desirous of adornment are accustomed to seek: and on the other side the instruments of punishment -- iron hands, scrapers, iron beds, frying pans, coals, cauldrons, helmets, awls, wheels, heavy chains, and other instruments of punishment and pain, various in kind and nearly infinite in number. Then, looking at the Martyr sternly and harshly, extending his hand toward the proffered wealth, he said: The gods offer you these, if you acknowledge and worship them. The Martyr turned his face away, as from things vile, foul, and unworthy of sight, and said with a groan: Let those things be with them unto perdition. Then Diocletian, looking at the penal devices and pointing them out to the Martyr, said: These are for those who do not believe. his threats, But the noble Martyr of Christ answered him: If your torments, as you suppose, are terrible, of what sort do you think those will be which that heavenly One, who alone is God, will inflict? And if your largesses seem splendid and admirable to those who are earthly-minded, how much greater will those good things be which the eternal and immortal God has prepared for those who love Him, which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man? Gold and silver are barren earth, his gifts, he scorns; which is fashioned by men for elegance, transmuted by fire and iron, consumed by rust and wear. Splendid garments are the work of worms, the food of moths, or wool violently torn from irrational animals, or deposited in useless shells of the sea. Those who make these things are more to be admired by you; for by a certain art they transform material for the better. And the artisans themselves are despised as base; but those who are clothed in these things boast and preen themselves, having borrowed glory from base animals. But the goods of our most excellent God are genuine and immutable and subsist by His will, not by human industry, which neither time alters, nor moth corrupts, nor will eternity ever be able to consume by age.

[15] Diocletian said: You speak correctly indeed, but think perversely; wherefore I strive to recall you to the veneration of the immortal gods, and for that reason I speak so kindly with you, lest you place your hopes in a mortal man. For the Christ you worship suffered grievous things from the Jews and was at last killed. But our gods always possess immortality, having never suffered anything painful. S. Clement answered: As to their immortality and freedom from suffering, you speak truly, O Emperor. He mocks the gods: For how can those die who never lived? Or how can those feel pain who are devoid of sense? And that they received their existence through blows and beatings, you are not unaware, O Emperor. For all of them that were made of stone received blows from the mallet and iron of the craftsmen who worked upon them: and those that were carved, stamped, or cast from gold, silver, or bronze were burned with a hot fire, and having suffered the same as the rest, they likewise remained without sensation. They are therefore immortal, inasmuch as they do not live; but they are worn away as though they had never been. But my Lord and God Jesus Christ willed to die according to the flesh in order to save the world and to overthrow death itself: and having done so, He rose on the third day and gave us life, which is Himself.

[16] Diocletian, offended by the Martyr's frankness, ordered him to be bound to a wheel and, when it was turned, to be beaten with clubs. The wheel, revolving and unfolding of itself, raised the Saint aloft and exposed him to the blows of the lictors, bound to a wheel he is crushed, and then, taking him up again, loosened and broke his bones, not without noise and cracking. Dragged about for many hours and thus tortured, he said: Lord Jesus Christ, help me; make this device lighter for me, and the pain it brings. For trusting in You I have given myself over to these punishments. Be present with me as with Paul; and behold my body, afflicted with many pains. I desire to be made whole for the glory and confession of Your holy name, that I may endure more tortures, to the reproach and shame of the impious. In Your name confirm me; for in You I have hoped, O God, the giver of life. When the Saint had prayed these things, the wheel stood still, those who were driving it having collapsed. The Saint, moreover, before anyone released him, he is divinely healed, was freed from his bonds, and his bones and all his limbs were made whole. Very many of the Romans who had flocked to this spectacle, marveling at this contest, said to one another: No one else has endured such sufferings, even if he had summoned all the gods to his aid. the people astonished: But this man, relying solely on the name of Christ and invoking Him, has despised such dire necessity. The God of the Christians is, as it appears, a great God. But S. Clement, the precious branch of Christ, knowing in spirit that rational clusters of grapes would accrue to God from his labors, stood praying with a cry and saying: I give thanks to You, O God, that You have granted me this, that in this great and magnificent city I should suffer while proclaiming Your Son our Lord, whose faith Peter delivered, Paul preached, and my namesake Clement clearly taught and profitably confessed: for whom even they, more dead than alive, draw all men, are adored by all, are exalted in glory above all Kings, and will not long after be venerated even by pious Emperors. For all the nations You have made shall come and shall fall down before You, O Lord. Hearing this, Diocletian, seized with heavy anger, as though the Martyr were delivering a public oration before the innumerable multitude standing by, ordered his mouth to be beaten with iron nails. his mouth is battered: And when he had been beaten for a long time, and his teeth flew out and his jaws were crushed, and yet he still did not cease speaking, the lictors kept pressing: Be silent now at last. But he would not comply: rather, like a bronze statue, which the harder it is struck, the louder the sound it produces, so he used an ever more vehement voice.

[17] The Emperor ordered him to be shut up in the public prison, bound and covered over his entire body with iron chains, and to be locked in thus. But those who had been present at the contest and were astonished at the miracle of his constancy -- men and women alike who had confessed the God of the Christians to be great -- all of one mind and one accord, gathering together after the supper hour, entered the prison and, throwing themselves at the Saint's feet, said: We beseech you, servant of God, he baptizes many Romans who have been converted, give us the knowledge of the faith, so that, rescued from our sins, we may be made partakers of your hope in Christ. And the holy Martyr of Christ, following his custom, stood and prayed to God and gave thanks that even in the midst of persecutions and afflictions, the number of those confessing Him was being increased and multiplied. And when he had taught them the mysteries of the faith, he proceeded to impart baptism. Now there was a great deal of water in the prison, and he baptized them all, even infants, and sang with them: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered; and very many other things. In the middle of the night a great light shone forth, and gazing into it, they beheld a man of fair countenance, clad in a shining garment, borne aloft on great wings, approaching the Martyr and giving him bread and a cup, and then suddenly withdrawn from the sight of all. All stood struck with amazement. and refreshes them with the holy Eucharist: Taking these, the blessed Clement, having used the fitting prayer, communicated the precious mystery of the body and blood to all the baptized who had witnessed what had been done. Afterwards, coming to him regularly, they brought others, and the multitude grew daily, so that even the prison was filled. Certain guards, however, reported to the Emperor what was happening. When Diocletian learned this, he ordered those who had gathered there to be arrested, examined individually by night, and killed. The soldiers therefore laid hands on them, who were then killed for Christ, and leading them out of the City that very night, after examining them all with the same interrogation -- whether they wished to abjure the Christian religion -- when they answered that they would by no means do so, they slew them all at once, since they willingly gave themselves over like sheep together with their infants, only one of them having escaped by flight, or rather having been reserved for greater contests.

[18] After some time, the holy Martyr Clement came to Diocletian's mind, and he ordered him to be brought forward; and in the manner of a flatterer, he seemed to wish to persuade him to sacrifice to the gods. But the holy Martyr of God cried out in a loud voice, saying: I venerate the God of heaven and earth and confess His Son Jesus Christ. A certain man named Amphion, second in rank to the Emperor, said to the Emperor: Remove that most wicked man from here. For he stirs up the Roman populace, because he preaches the God of Paul and Peter. Have you forgotten how great a crowd was slaughtered in prison on his account? And the Emperor ordered him, seized by many, to be beaten with raw ox-sinews until the joints of his body should be dislocated. When he had been beaten for a long time, Clement is beaten with ox-sinews, and the ground was already swimming with his blood, while he himself bore it as if someone else were being beaten, Diocletian said to him: You hold your body in contempt, but you have a contentious and obstinate spirit. I will not allow you, however, to resist the Emperors so shamelessly: I will make trial with iron hooks. Perhaps you are made of iron or are insensible: now therefore I will rouse you, for you sleep deeply. And the Martyr said: You speak most aptly, O Emperor. For I always sleep amid the punishments I endure for Christ: so do those hopes in my God lull me to sleep amid labors, but awaken me to confession. The Emperor ordered the lictors to cease the ox-sinew beating for a time: and to hang him on the wood and scrape him long with hooks, he is scraped with iron hooks, until his bones should be stripped bare of flesh and blood. Then, looking at himself and turning to the Emperor, the Martyr said: This is not my body that you are now tearing. I am certain, O Emperor, that I must suffer as much as is needful. For already once elsewhere, when I was so torn apart that it could not hold together, Christ again joined it and covered it, so that I myself do not understand the framework of bones that now appears: so did He clothe me as with a second skin and new flesh. Therefore He will do the same again. For He is able, and the potter has clay enough. he is scorched with lamps: When he had finally fallen silent after saying many things, the Emperor ordered lamps to be applied to his sides. But the Martyr rested quietly, bearing it kindly and, as it were with pleasure, admitting the lamps.

[19] The Emperor, marveling at his endurance and firmness of mind, said to those standing by: I have taken punishment of very many wretched Christians, but I have never seen either so rigid and inflexible a mind or so unkillable a body. Wherefore I shall send him as something great and almost incredible to the Emperor Maximian at Nicomedia, that he too may marvel: for I think he has never found a man of such tough flesh. And he ordered him to be bound and transported by sea to Nicomedia as soon as possible, to undergo the judgment of the Emperor Maximian there; he is sent to Nicomedia: and he wrote to him everything that he had endured at his hands, signifying along with it that if he could bend him, he should send him back; but if he persisted in his opinion, he should either throw him to the beasts or, having worn him out with the utmost tortures, remove him from the number of the living by whatever means. The holy Martyr of Christ was led out of Rome, with many escorting him and weeping. Having prayed well for the City, he prays well for the city of Rome, he said: May God increase in you the Christian religion and establish in you Emperors who acknowledge Him: may you obtain the primacy of all cities, and may Christ grant you to complete the course of the contest without confusion, in the endurance of sufferings and the edification of the faithful: may He end the persecution of His servants and make illustrious His holy religion with restored liberty, that His name may be glorified forever and ever, Amen.

INTERROGATION III. At Nicomedia, and the narrative of the voyage.

[20] When Clement was placed on a ship bound for Nicomedia, the soldiers set sail from the Roman port. A certain man from among those Roman citizens who had been initiated into the faith in prison, named Agathangelus, who had secretly withdrawn when the others were being slaughtered, having prudently inquired on which vessel Clement was to be carried and having spoken with the sailors, went ahead and hid himself on the ship. He had been the first of all those who were converted and killed there Agathangelus accompanies him, to obtain the grace of baptism. When the ship had now withdrawn about two hundred stadia from land, seeing the most blessed Clement continually celebrating the glory of God with praises and prayers while the soldiers were variously occupied among themselves, he secretly approached the Martyr and threw himself at his feet, and explained to him both his flight from the place of execution and the salvation granted him by God. The Martyr recognized Agathangelus, embraced and kissed him, and giving thanks to God said: I give thanks to You, my consolation and defense, that neither on land nor on sea have You left me alone; but on every road You have met me, reaching me before I arrived, and preparing refreshment and rest for Your servant, O Lord. For behold, even on the sea You have been recognized by me in a good Angel, in this faithful and spiritual brother, who even by his very name gives me assurance of Your future help. Grant him also therefore Your good will, praying together, and make him glorious in Your confession. And so they spent day and night in prayer, but they had no food: nor was this a concern to S. Clement, for he said: I, bearing bread in my heart, shall not hunger; and having living water, I shall not thirst forever. When the soldiers noticed that they themselves were eating but the others had not done so even once, and considering their need and pitying them, they offered them food. They welcomed their kind intention but did not accept the food, saying: We receive nourishment from our heavenly and life-giving God and Savior Jesus Christ: for He Himself feeds us and provides food for all flesh. they receive food from an Angel: And as was their custom, about the third hour of the night, food was brought to the righteous ones through an Angel, and they were strengthened.

[21] After a voyage of many days, they approached the island of Rhodes and put in there. they put in at Rhodes: Many of the sailors therefore disembarked to buy provisions. And the Saints asked those who remained on the ship to show them a church; for they had a desire to receive the body and blood of Christ; and it was Sunday, and all who were Christians in that place had assembled -- a few indeed, living at that time in that place. They had a small church which, being constant in the praises of God, they filled. But the most God-loving Bishop of Rhodes, named Photinus, having heard of the arrival of the Saints and their zeal toward God and how much they had endured for His confession, accompanied by Christians and having learned the place where they had landed, entreated those who were in charge of their custody, they are allowed to go to the church of the Christians: and brought it about that the Saints were released from their bonds: and they led them with the chanting of divine praises to the church. Consequently, when the sacred Scriptures were then set forth, the voice of the venerable Gospels heard through the reader showed that those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul are not to be feared. Matt. 10:28. At these words the Saints looked up to heaven with a groan. But the rest of the Christian company, looking upon them, filled the church with many tears. Then the Saints, praying, were an edification to those present, so that all wished to be made worthy of their sufferings.

[22] The Bishop then urged the Martyr Clement to celebrate the mysteries of the holy and immaculate oblation: when these were completed, all applied their minds to compunction; and while he was praying at length, S. Clement celebrates Mass, not without miracles: certain of the clerics and laymen standing by saw on the sacred altar a coal of light, most resplendent and very large, and in the air a multitude of those clothed in white. Those who had seen this therefore fell prostrate on the ground and did not dare to cast their eyes upon it. And after the oblation, Bishop Photinus, together with his clergy and the entire people, provided a splendid banquet, they are entertained at a feast by the Bishop: exulting with the holy Martyrs and eating in the sacred house and giving thanks to God with them. But the champion of Christ, Clement, instructed them, saying: Keep the faith of the Lord, and hope, and charity, and patience, and the confession of Christ; and He Himself will protect you from every evil and will save you into His heavenly kingdom. And many pagans from that city believed in Christ and were baptized with their wives and children, when they saw the very many miracles that were wrought by them. For all who were afflicted with diseases or incurable maladies prostrated themselves at their feet, and by their prayers and the laying on of hands they were healed: the blind received sight, they heal the sick: the lame learned to run; so that a great multitude came running to them from neighboring places and brought the sick: and they, having prayed, restored them whole to their families.

[23] But the soldiers, seeing the concourse of the people and fearing that the Saint might be taken from them, placed him in chains and led him back to the ship. Agathangelus, however, ran ahead and boarded the ship. But all the Christians, both the newly converted and the rest, escorted them with weeping and spiritual joy, blessing God. Then, with a favorable wind blowing, they arrived at Nicomedia, they put in at Nicomedia: and word was brought to Maximian, and the letters of Diocletian were delivered. But he, gathering from the letters the magnanimity of the man, and as if occupied with other affairs of empire and war, did not wish the inquiry to be held before him; he referred it to Agrippinus, the Prefect of the city. Agrippinus therefore ordered him to be brought before him. When he stood before him, Agrippinus, looking at him, said: You are Clement? The Martyr answered: I am a servant of Christ. Angered, he ordered the soldiers to strike him on the face with slaps and to press upon him: Clement is struck with slaps: Say whether you are a servant of the Emperors. The Martyr said: The Emperors too ought to be servants of my Christ, so that their throne might be established in peace and tranquility, and all nations might be subject to them. Agrippinus, turning his ear from him and gnashing his teeth within himself, turned his face to Agathangelus and said: Who are you? For no mention of you is made in the report. Agathangelus, looking up to heaven and turning to the Martyr, said: I too am a Christian; having been deemed worthy of that appellation through the servant of God, Clement. Agrippinus said to him: So this man has been the cause of your error and bitter death. And he ordered S. Clement to be hung up and cut with swords; both are cruelly tortured: and Agathangelus to be beaten by the lictors with ox-sinews. Clement, hung from the wood and long cut with swords, raised his eyes to heaven and said: Lord Jesus Christ Almighty, who immediately showed to the faithful thief hung with You the delight of Your kingdom, who called tax collectors and sinners to salvation; give me patience, and grant strength to Your servant Agathangelus, whom You have made worthy to ascend the steps of confession; that the enemy may not glory, nor the devil prevail over him. Make us worthy to attain Your kingdom with all Your Saints.

[24] Hearing this, Agrippinus ordered Clement to be taken down from the wood and cast into prison together with Agathangelus, and that a supply of various wild beasts be prepared by the soldiers for the next day in the theater. The Saints remained in prison, praying and blessing God. All who were detained in prison for various reasons they are refreshed in prison by Angels: saw their intent prayer to God and the consolation brought to them by Angels from God; and they deserved to hear from them what pertains to Christ and the knowledge of Him; and conversing with them and instructing them until midnight, they so strengthened their hearts that they fell to the ground and with many tears besought them to confer baptism upon them. they convert the prisoners, The blessed Clement therefore baptized them and taught them all the mysteries, and giving thanks to God said: Glory to You, Christ God, who in our chains loose the bound. Glory to You, Christ, who in our labors heal the sick. Glory to You, Christ, who in our exile recognize Your sheep and seal them, that no wolf may snatch any of them, that no stranger may deceive; but preserve them even unto the fold of Your kingdom. and send them out of the prison, divinely opened: While they were praying, the prison was opened, and the Blessed ones dismissed them all, saying: Depart, children, and be saved; the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. All answered Amen and went out of the prison: the Saints alone remained, praying.

[25] Agrippinus, hearing what had been done, ordered the Saints to be dragged at dawn into the theater, and gnashing his teeth more savagely than the very lions that were present, thrown to the beasts, they are not harmed: he commanded the wild beasts to be let loose upon them. But they, coming forth, rolled at the feet of the Martyrs, and like a gentle puppy with its master, joyfully leaping about, they licked their footprints and fawned upon them, so that the Martyrs stood praying to God and said: Glory to You, O Christ, through whom even savage beasts become gentle toward us. You have shown in us, most worthless of men, that the things written about Your prophet Daniel are credible. Dan. 6 and 14. For behold, the lions are tame; and the other beasts that were set upon us; but You, the God of Daniel, are with us. Seeing that he was accomplishing nothing, and that the crowd was growing restive, Prefect Agrippinus blazed with anger against them, and ordered red-hot awls to be brought and driven between the fingers of their hands up to the elbows. they are pierced with red-hot awls: The awls, extinguished by the flesh and blood, giving off smoke and a hissing that could be heard, did not allow any of the spectators to watch the enormity of such cruelty, but averting their faces they cried out: Release them. And when the crowd had been shouting this for several hours, Agrippinus, driven to fury, ordered other red-hot awls to be thrust through from the armpits to the shoulders. The awls, even with sparks of fire falling from them, penetrated the flesh; but extinguished by the blood, when drawn out they displayed a purple color. Then the people, indignant at such barbarity, began to throw stones, crying out and saying: Great is the God of the Christians. When a very great tumult had arisen, and the Prefect himself had taken flight, a tumult arises and they are freed: the holy Martyrs went out alone, no one daring to lay a hand on them, and withdrew to a mountain called Pyramis, on which the pagans made libations; and there they hid in a temple of the idols.

[26] The Prefect, however, inflamed with savage rage against them, having conducted a search for several days through the cohort under his command, found the Saints in the place where they were. He ordered all who were going to perform the rites of idol worship to assemble on the mountain the following day. And sitting on that mountain he ordered the Saints to be brought forward and said to them: Why do you disturb all the people with your sorceries to the subversion and blasphemy of the greatest gods? The Saints answered: We have not disturbed the people: but their Lord has been recognized by them, and they proclaim Him God. If therefore you have anything to do to us as Christians, do it quickly. For Christ is powerful to show us superior to all your butchery and to deliver us from your hands. they are found and beaten with clubs: Then that wicked man ordered them to be stretched out on the rock that was on that mountain and beaten with rough wooden staves; and when they were broken by the blows, to be sewn into sacks with stones added and rolled down from the summit of the mountain into the sea. When they were hurled down and were carried with great force to the depths, the crowd thought they would certainly be destroyed. When they reached the sea they are sewn in sacks and cast into the sea, and were even plunged into the deep, certain prudent men remained there in hopes of obtaining some small particle of relics, men who had received holy baptism. After they had waited there a long time, they caught sight of the sacks on the surface of the water, and boarding boats they approached them and drew them into the boats, they emerge unharmed by angelic aid: and finding them entirely uninjured, they glorified God together. In the middle of the night a heavenly light shone around them, and Angels were seen leading them as if by the hand to the shore, and they also refreshed them with food. The Saints then went into the middle of the city and recounted the mighty works of God to the ignorant and unbelieving; and raising their hands to heaven they prayed, saying: We give thanks to You, Lord Jesus Christ, that You have not forsaken those who seek You, but have rescued them from dire tortures, nor allowed our enemies to triumph over us for Your name's sake.

[27] In the portico near that place there lay two lame men, and another with a withered and completely paralyzed hand. When the Saints saw them and had pity on them, they laid hands on them and they were healed. they heal the sick: A multitude therefore gathered to them: and they cured many others oppressed by various ailments; they also freed those possessed by demons. they convert many: Through these miracles God called many pagans to Himself, men and women, who believed in the Lord Christ. When the Prefect learned of this, he reported to Maximian what had been done and that they were natives of the province of Galatia, from the metropolis Ancyra. Maximian said: they are sent to Ancyra. I deem it fitting that the land which bore them should nourish them, keep them, and punish them. And immediately he sent them to a certain Curicius, the military commander of the city of Ancyra, that he might hold an inquiry concerning them. The attendants promptly led them out of Nicomedia to be dragged to Ancyra.

INTERROGATION IV. At Ancyra.

[28] When the holy Martyr of Christ, Clement, had arrived at Ancyra, exulting with joy and greeting his homeland as it were, with extraordinary cheerfulness of countenance, pouring forth prayers together with S. Agathangelus, he said: Glory to You, O God, who everywhere hear my lowliness. Glory to You, O Christ, because I have seen the land that bore me; because You have restored me to my native ancestral tomb; because with an addition You present me to my mother's bones together with Your servant Agathangelus. Those to whose custody he had been entrusted brought him until they presented him to the Commander. Curicius, sitting in the place called the Cryptus, in which there was a small church, tried to persuade them, saying: I have learned about you, how much of the earth you have traversed, how much you have suffered from thirst, what dangers you have undergone, how many deaths you have escaped, and I pity you. Wherefore I counsel you, since you are natives of this place. For you refused to be bent elsewhere in all the world precisely so that you might venerate the gods in your native city. What would therefore be glorious for this city they scorn the blandishments of the Commander Curicius, and magnificent for me -- come, and sacrifice to the gods, that the city may celebrate a festive assembly. The Saints answered and said: We are not to be pitied; by no means at all. We rejoice in such afflictions, and the heavenly Angels congratulate us when we suffer them. But you are worthy of compassion, because you do not wish to acknowledge the one and only God.

[29] Curicius said: Since you are of an ill-fated disposition and accustomed to punishments, I will comply with your wishes. And he ordered the executioners to place red-hot iron plates, they are cruelly tortured; sparking from the flames, under S. Clement's armpits, and to bind his elbows to his sides, then to fix a stake in the ground equal to the height of his body and to bind him to it. To Agathangelus, hung up, his sides and calves were to be scraped with hooks; and he kept asking them: How did you conceive this notion of fighting against the gods? Why do you insensibly consume the flower of your age amid pains? S. Clement said: Our outward man indeed is being corrupted; and if not in this way, he certainly had to be corrupted in some other way; but the inward man is renewed. Then he ordered again that a helmet heated red-hot be placed on the head of the holy Martyr Clement. Clement with a burning helmet: When this was done, copious smoke issued from his nostrils and ears. While the Martyr of Christ was enduring these unspeakable pains, he groaned deeply and, calling upon his Lord, said: O inexhaustible fountain, life-giving water, rain of salvation, heal me with that dew of Yours, for the impious burn with glowing irons the tabernacle of my soul. And while he was saying these things, they are miraculously freed: immediately the red-hot instruments cooled, and those who were tearing S. Agathangelus grew faint. When Curicius saw this, beside himself and trembling in his whole body, he ordered them to be led away to prison.

[30] But the nurse of Clement, truly a lover of Martyrs and a caretaker of the Saints, Sophia, overflowing with tears on one hand and joy on the other, they are visited by Sophia, because she had long ago received this son given to her by God without sin, came to the prison by night, wiping the blood and gore of their wounds with a cloth, kissing the hands of the Martyrs and pressing them to her eyes: and she fed S. Clement with his accustomed vegetables, and refreshed with food: in which he had delighted to eat from boyhood; and to S. Agathangelus she brought more delicate foods. And while they were detained in prison for a long time, the faithful Sophia delighted in serving them; and many were converted to the Lord. Curicius, however, reported these things to Maximian, who immediately ordered the Saints to be led in chains to Amisus, to the Vicar Domitius. they are sent to Amisus.

[31] When the faithful handmaid of Christ, Sophia, learned this, she accompanied them with exultation, together with the boys who had been educated in her care. All was known to Maximian: accompanied by the boys; he therefore ordered that the boys, if they would cease to follow and renounce Clement and his teaching, should be sent home unharmed; but if they refused to obey, they should be killed by the sword. When the soldiers therefore tried to lead them away, they threw themselves on the ground and clasped the feet of the Saints, who were crowned with martyrdom, so that they could not advance, until they were separated by swords, weeping and torn as from the embrace of parents. And the holy Martyrs, likewise moved in their inmost hearts, prayed with tears saying: Receive, O Christ, this new people; and lead this little flock into Paradise, and place these little Martyrs with Your mature Confessors, and repay Your handmaid Sophia the worthy reward for their upbringing. And so the little boys, torn from there by the soldiers, achieved a blessed end by the sword, in the place called the Campus. But the God-loving Sophia approached the Saints and said: I hope to receive you again. they are buried by Sophia. She then tenderly buried the little bodies of the boys and returned with joy to her estate, which was called Lycion.

INTERROGATION V. At Amisus.

[32] When the Martyrs Clement and Agathangelus had arrived at the city of Amisus, they were brought by the soldiers before the Vicar Domitius. It was the fifth day. And they found him holding hearings about Christians and decreeing punishments against them. The Saints are brought before the Vicar Domitius at Amisus; Here the Saints, exulting in spirit, said: Glory to You, O Christ, who call all men through the confession of Your name. And kneeling for two hours, they sprinkled the place with tears. When the prayer was finished, they were presented to the Vicar, along with the Emperor's decree and an account of what had been done to them thus far. Domitius ordered them to be brought before him the next day, for utterly different and more grievous punishments. The Saints were present, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, which they began to show to the Vicar as well, urging him to turn away from the error of vain idols and adhere to the Christian truth, saying that in the heavens there is hope of immortality and a kingdom, they exhort him to better things: for which they themselves cheerfully endured such tortures. The blessed Clement admonished Domitius with many words, while S. Agathangelus, drawing immense joy of soul from his speech and teaching, fell prostrate at his feet on his knees. The blessed Clement took hold of him and raised him up, and they rushed into each other's embrace. Seeing this, the Vicar ordered them to be separated from one another and said: Impostors and adversaries of the gods, the design of your magical art will not succeed with you. I have already learned from the report sent to me all your affairs: although you escaped before, that will not happen with me. Rather, either willingly give yourselves over to better counsels and worship the gods: or if you do not obey, a method will be devised by which you will be torn from this life. S. Clement said: We do not use vain and trifling words; for we strive to attain the heavenly and eternal dwelling places.

[33] The angry Vicar ordered them to be cast into quicklime, and soldiers to keep watch around it: Let no one, he said, remove them from there by night. They were cast into the quicklime on the Day of Preparation, at the second hour, they are plunged into lime, and are not harmed, and they praised and blessed God: and a light was seen around them all night. Two of the soldiers, therefore, who were guarding them, observing that nocturnal flash of light, themselves also leaped into the quicklime. The next day, that is, Saturday, at the third hour, the Vicar ordered the Martyrs to be pulled out of the quicklime, SS. Phengon and Eucarpius, converted, are crucified, supposing them dead. The soldiers came and found them sound, their faces even untouched, engaged in prayer. Drawing them out of the pit, they led them completely unharmed, together with the soldiers. When the Vicar heard that even the soldiers believed in Christ, he ordered them to be crucified. And thus both completed the end of their confession. Their names were Phengon and Eucarpius. They died on Saturday, the seventh of September.

[34] The Vicar then ordered others to be brought before him and promised them honors. The most blessed Clement said: We count all things that are in the world as loss, strips of leather torn from their skin, that we may gain Christ. The Vicar, inflamed with anger, ordered strips to be cut, two from each one's shoulders, and then for them to be beaten with clubs. they are beaten with clubs: Having been beaten for a very long time, so that even their bones were battered, they bore the pains with a brave and unconquered spirit. The Martyr of Christ, Clement, cried out and said: O Creator of every spirit, who are extolled in glory and honor by the army of Angels, fill with exultation the shattered bones of Your servants; which, when they did not exist, You created, and when shattered repeatedly, You healed. For You are, O unconquered King, the one who fights in us and strengthens us in these afflictions that we suffer, so that when the body of our lowliness shall have overcome such torments, Your power may shine forth in our weakness. The Vicar again ordered iron beds to be heated red-hot, placed on red-hot iron beds and drenched with oil, pitch, and sulfur, and the Saints to be placed on them separately; fire to be kindled briskly beneath, and oil to be poured on top, and sulfur and pitch to be sprinkled. When therefore smoke and sparks were rising into the air, the surrounding multitude, supposing them already suffocated, cried out to the Vicar. He too, exulting that they had at last been killed by him, ordered the lictors to cease and the bodies to be thrown into the river. But the Saints, seized by a most sweet sleep, animated by Christ, both saw the same thing: namely, Christ coming to them with an army of Angels and saying to them: Do not fear; I am with you. And waking, they told each other what they had seen -- that they had beheld the Lord; and they rejoiced and were strengthened all the more. The Vicar therefore ordered them to be led to prison, where they remained for a long time. But when the Vicar heard that Maximian had come to Ancyra (for that rumor had spread; but he was then at Tarsus), he sent the prisoners once more to him. they are sent back to Ancyra: His attendants therefore led them from Amisus to Ancyra.

INTERROGATION VI. At Tarsus.

[35] The most holy Martyrs Clement and Agathangelus, setting out from Amisus to Ancyra with a strong military escort but also with a large company of Christians, exhausted by toil, heat, and thirst together with their companions on the journey, came to a certain plain which, being entirely lacking in water and moreover greatly increasing thirst by its very length, left them spent. When the holy Martyrs saw that their companions were already failing, they knelt on the ground, watering the earth with their tears, and thus prayed to God with a cry: O God, Maker of all nature, look upon the need of Your servants: for although this place is deserted and lacks water, nothing that is asked of You is difficult for You. For at Your will both the wave of the sea hardened like stone, and the sheer rock was cleft to pour forth water. For You call all things out of nothing. by their prayers they obtain water divinely: Give us now, Your servants, relief from thirst; for our soul has thirsted for You, and we run in thirst and heat through a waterless land. When they had risen and looked up to heaven, a spring of water was found in that same place, as from a fountain, from which all drank and were refreshed; so much so that the fame of this event was carried to the neighboring inhabitants, and a great number of men and women came running to them, they heal the sick: bringing with them those who were ill, all of whom they restored to health by pouring forth prayers to God. After this, the most blessed Martyr Clement prayed again and said: Lord Jesus Christ, King of the ages, grant me, a sinner, to suffer for You until the end of my life, and to endure troubles and labors for Your name, they learn from heaven that they will yet suffer much: that we may still bring You the fruit of many souls and may receive our reward with Your elect forever and ever. Amen. And a voice came to him saying: What you have asked has been granted you. Be strong and take courage; and complete the remaining time of your life: the course of the contest, together with the years already past, will be twenty-eight years in all, as you have asked.

[36] When the soldiers arrived at Ancyra and learned that the Emperor Maximian was at Tarsus, they are led to Tarsus: they brought the Saints there and presented them to him; who, looking at them with disdain, said: The reason you seem to have remained unconquered before those to whom you have been sent hitherto is that you might come to us; for the majesty of the empire often changes even the most perverse disposition of mind. Behold, therefore, I have deemed you worthy even of my presence. But you will also experience my humanity and benevolence, if you confess the gods. But they answered and said: We pray, O Emperor, that you too may be made worthy of the presence of Christ, and may enjoy His humanity and benevolence. For He is the King of Kings, and He Himself will rule over all nations through your Roman empire, which is called the Rod of Iron, as it is written: You shall rule them with a rod of iron. And after you, pious Princes will take up the empire. Maximian said to them: What prophetic books have you read, you who are worthy of death? S. Clement said: Not prophetic in the sense of soothsaying; God forbid. But prophetic in the true sense, in which it is said: they predict that future Emperors will be Christians: God will raise up in the last days pious Kings. Ps. 2:9. Maximian said: They are certainly speaking about us. For we exercise such devotion toward the gods that we punish seriously and severely those who do not obey them. S. Clement said: If any change has been made in impiety from the time that prophecy was uttered until now, there could seem to be some reason for asserting it: but if the same superstition toward idols prevailed both then and now, there will certainly be another time for devout Princes.

[37] they are cast into a furnace, unharmed: The Emperor, boiling with bile, ordered a furnace to be kindled with an immense fire and the Saints to be thrown into it. For the space of a day and a night they were in it: and meanwhile a most pleasant singing was heard and a most sweet fragrance breathed forth. These things were reported to Maximian, who ordered the furnace to be opened; and the Martyrs were found alive, with their hands spread out and raised to heaven, blessing God. Calling them to him, Maximian said: Grant me this, and tell me by what incantations fire is restrained. The holy Martyrs said: Fire is not restrained by any incantations, they are dragged through the city: but by the promises of Him who said: Even if you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you. Again he ordered them to be dragged publicly through the city. When this was done, the entire city saw the unjust torment and their immovable resolve; and many through them were joined to Christ. When they had been dragged as far as the Palace, the Emperor ordered them to be cast into prison, they are detained in prison for four years: loaded as they were with chains, and to be left there shut up for four years; saying: Perhaps the length of time will soften that contentious rigidity.

[38] When the prescribed time had elapsed, Maximian, remembering them and learning that they were still alive and persisting in their former resolve, was greatly amazed and asked, saying: To whom, then, should they be sent? For it is not fitting that profane and base men should be examined before the tribunal of a Caesar. At that time, commanders and prefects from various provinces had come to the Emperor for various reasons. A certain commander, therefore, named Sacerdon, had assumed the administration of Galatia a few years before and was then present there, and was publicly reputed to be exceedingly zealous in the worship of the gods, a man who had slaughtered many Christians with various tortures. To him, therefore, Maximian directed they are variously tested by the Prefect Sacerdon: that he should hold an inquiry concerning the holy Martyrs Clement and Agathangelus. He, as if for the display of his impiety, sat attentively and diligently on the tribunal and ordered the Saints to be brought forward, whom he supposed he could call away from piety with many speeches and promises of gifts. And now with blandishments, now with harsh words, he strove to overthrow their divine wisdom: Yield to Sacerdon, he said, whom no Christian dwelling in Pontus or Galatia has escaped, who have reconciled many of them to the gods and delivered many of the more contumacious to death. Obey me therefore and sacrifice, that you may be heaped with praise and honors, since you have been miserably tortured for a long time on account of these things. The Saints said: He who will defend and honor us is Christ, who abounds in such a wealth of gifts that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be conferred on us by Him. Hearing this, he ordered their shoulders to be scraped until the bones were laid bare. they are cruelly tortured; When he observed that they were not at all moved in spirit, he ordered them to be scraped and torn along the back for a long time, until even the very framework of the bones was visible to the eyes and the joints of the vertebrae in the spine could be counted. Then Sacerdon, struck with horror and almost lifeless, signaled when Sacerdon was punished from heaven: that they should be taken down from the frames and thrust back into prison. And he himself was scarcely carried away by his attendants, at the point of death. The holy Martyrs went along, a dreadful spectacle to those who looked upon them; for their flesh fell away together with blood, which the faithful reverently gathered up with the dust.

[39] Maximian, hearing what had been done and laughing shamelessly, said: This is that Sacerdon celebrated in the speech of all. A certain man among those standing by, himself also a Commander, named Maximus, said: I beseech Your Majesty to allow me to make trial of these men. For I trust by the omnipotent gods that I will either bend them or remove them from among the living. The Emperor assented. But Maximus, deferring the matter for some time, as though not yet applying force but taking counsel, remained quiet. Then after some days, summoning them as if by chance and consoling them as friends, he lavished many praises upon them. But after a long time, when Maximus saw that he was held to be wicked they scorn the blandishments of the Prefect Maximus, and that they were more firmly established in their resolve, he summoned them and said: Greetings, men who are the concern of the unconquered gods. For they have often appeared to me both through oracles and through dreams, and have called me back from putting you to death, knowing well the time of the resolution you have voluntarily undertaken. Now therefore your conversion to them is near; as the great Dionysus revealed to me last night, saying: Bring the men to me. Behold, the altars are proper and the libations prepared. they laugh at his dreams and his gods: Come therefore and perform these sacred rites. The Saints answered and said to him: You have lied well. For your gods say the same things by night as by day. What sort of Dionysus, then, said these things -- one of stone or one of bronze? If of stone, he will vanish, broken up for building; or if burned, he will be reduced to lime: if of bronze, he will be melted down into slavish vessels.

[40] Hearing this, he ordered pointed stakes a foot long to be fixed in the ground, with the sharp points protruding upward; and the blessed Clement to be placed face up on those spikes and beaten with hard wooden staves. Beaten, he was pierced from behind by the stakes: and some penetrated from the shoulders to the heart and chest; they are most cruelly tortured: others from the spine and shoulders to the belly; others from the buttocks to the thighs and the private parts of the body; and on Agathangelus, molten lead was poured over his head. Since, however, they breathed and spoke nothing but Christ, he ordered Clement to be removed from those spikes, with those trying to pull him away scarcely able to do so, for he was like a torn garment: and Maximus stood transfixed with astonishment. The Martyr said to him: Do you recognize now at last that it is not our body that fights, but He who retains the soul -- which has long desired to flee the body -- in it until now? And we ourselves also marvel at the power of Christ in us. He then ordered them to be taken to prison, supported by others. Learning of this, Maximian commanded them to be left in chains until they expired of their own accord.

[41] After some time, however, a certain Aphrodisius, a Persian by race, himself also a deviser of many interrogations and torments against Christians, having learned what had been done to them, requested them from the Emperor for himself. When he obtained them, he prepared a splendid feast in his house, a rich and sumptuous banquet, and invited them to eat with him. But the holy Martyrs of Christ, maintaining their customary abstinence and taking no other food except the body and blood of the Lord on Sundays and a little vegetables, touched nothing of the foods set before them. When the Prefect therefore tried to compel them to eat with him, they spurn the foods offered by the Persian Aphrodisius: they said to him: We are nourished by heavenly food, which whoever eats will not hunger but will live forever. There a supper is prepared for us, which will be the more splendid the longer we linger here amid tortures. The Prefect, in a rage, ordered them to be taken back to prison, and said: That supper of yours will surely be a bitter death; which I will make you taste tomorrow. In the morning, he ordered two millstones to be brought forth, they are cruelly dragged through the city and stoned: and tied to their necks; and so they were to be dragged through the middle of the city and stoned by the people, and meanwhile this was to be proclaimed: Whoever does not obey the Emperors and does not sacrifice to the gods shall undergo such punishments. Having been dragged in this manner for a long time, they continually confessed Christ, and from that point they appeared as if immortal to those who watched, because they recovered their body and strength from God with the greatest speed.

[42] By their faith and patience, in this interrogation, a great number of pagans believed in Christ. These things too were reported to Maximian, they are long wasted in prison: who, greatly offended by this news, and as if yielding, ordered them to be left again in prison, until of course the entire time of their confession should elapse according to the Savior's promise. While they were long detained in prison, and many other Martyrs who entered the contest later nevertheless completed it first, the attendants warned Maximian, saying: What do you wish to do with those ill-fated, or rather immortal, men? For so they called them, they are sent back to Ancyra, as men who had suffered very much. But he, blaspheming by his gods, said: Where are they from? Do you know? They said: From their former Acts we find that they are natives of the province of Galatia, from the city of Ancyra. Hearing this, he immediately ordered them to be brought there to the Commander Lucius, who then presided over that province. When they understood this, the holy Martyrs were filled with extraordinary delight, glorifying God and saying: Glory to You, O God, who have not disappointed us in our hope, who although You showed us in many cities, have not exiled us from our homeland; but send us, having suffered much, to the home of our rest. And so, glorifying God, they were led from Tarsus.

INTERROGATION VII. At Ancyra.

[43] The Martyrs of Christ, Clement and Agathangelus, being again brought to Ancyra, were presented to the Commander Lucius. He ordered them to be carried off to the Cuspus and tied to a great stone, so that they could not even move. Agathangelus spurns the blandishments of the Prefect Lucius: The next day he ordered S. Agathangelus alone to be brought forward and said to him: I have understood that you, being of an easy disposition, were deceived by Clement. For he knows how a wicked association, confirmed over time, takes on the force of nature, as a certain wise man says: Water frequently dripping perforates a stone. You have therefore come to us as a good messenger, bringing us your conversion. For you will see Clement too displaying himself gloriously in his homeland and venerating the gods there. S. Agathangelus said: Christ called me through His servant Clement, and I was not led into error but drawn back from error, he is cruelly tortured: from which I desire to be free until the end of my life, and so to depart to Christ. Lucius therefore ordered red-hot iron needles to be inserted into his ears and lamps to be applied to his sides. When he felt great pains in his brain from the heat and burning, and his breathing constricted, he cried out, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, do not deprive me of Your good things and the enjoyment of the enlightened life; but give me patience and victory, and make me worthy to complete perfectly the course of confession, joining me to Your servant Clement and to all who have fought nobly for You; and grant that I may now come to You, for my body fails, but my soul has hoped in You. When the Commander saw that he was accomplishing nothing, he ordered him to be put to death by the sword. The executioners took him and led him to the place called the Cryptus and cut off his head. he is beheaded: The holy Martyr of Christ, Agathangelus, was killed on the fifth day of the month of November. The devout woman Sophia received his holy relics and is buried by Sophia, and wrapped them in linen with a sweet fragrance of perfumes, and deposited them in the same place called the Cryptus, in the steps by which there is an entrance to the small church, in a very deep tomb. S. Agathangelus completed his martyrdom under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, under the Governors Agrippinus, Curicius, Domitius, Sacerdon, Maximus, Aphrodisius, Lucius.

[44] When the athlete of Christ, Clement, heard that the blessed Agathangelus had completed his contest, he prostrated himself face down, still bound to the stone, and prayed to God in these words: Holy Father, I give You thanks. Righteous Lord, S. Clement rejoices: I celebrate Your glory, because You have deemed Your servant Agathangelus worthy to be made a coheir of those who have confessed You. I give You thanks, O Christ, because You have not despised my supplication. Glory be to You, because You gave him the strength of patience and power from on high, that he might trample upon the error of the devil; and when You have also confounded the devil through us lowly ones and led him in triumph, then fill all things with peace. Then Lucius ordered the head and face of the Martyr Clement, still tied to the stone, to be beaten with clubs, he is beaten daily; with one hundred and fifty blows inflicted daily. A great deal of blood flowed, so that not only the stone but all the ground around it was soaked. he is healed by Angels: But surrounded by heavenly light during the night, Angels tended him.

[45] When the holy Martyr had endured bonds, the stone in prison, and beatings in this manner for a long time, at last the sacred solemnity of the Theophany arrived. All the Christians who were in that place, on the feast of Epiphany he is led out by the Christians to their church: as well as the Martyr-loving Sophia, having assembled a throng of servants and of orphans of both sexes who had been raised in her care, went to the prison, and all entering together freed the blessed Clement from his chains and led him out of the prison; and Sophia clothed him in a white garment and wrapped him in an episcopal vestment and handed him the holy Gospel: and the Christians, taking him in their midst with perfumes and incense and many lights, brought him to their small church.

[46] As they were walking along the road, the chosen Bishop and Martyr of Christ, Clement, raising his right hand to heaven, prayed in a loud voice, he prays for Sophia and the others: saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who on the night of Your resurrection appeared to the holy women and through them signified to Your disciples that You had been raised; who are adored by every angelic power; who magnified the glorious and holy Virgin and Mother of God Mary and declared in her the incomprehensible mystery; hear me at this hour, and after my death bestow abundant mercy upon Your flock, pardoning it again and again all its sins: grant what makes for salvation to this Your handmaid Sophia who asks it, and give her the eternal exultation of Your salvation, joining her to the five virgins. For behold, for Your holy name she has endured much labor and hardship from her youth on my account and on account of those boys who were slaughtered for You. Grant a good reward to the nurse and caretaker of Martyrs: and to all who come with similar zeal to the honor and deposition of my body, and who will imitate the kindness she has shown us and will transmit it to posterity. For I know that her work will not perish. Indeed, us too, although dead, You will bring forth again not long after and display us as if alive under pious Emperors and Governors. For as now in this life You have delivered us to the most impious Princes, that Your power might be shown in our mortal flesh; so after our death You will present our relics to Christian and devout Emperors and Governors, so that whatever they ask of You through our shattered bones, You may bestow upon them, and show that all who have died for You truly live. And upon whomever my relics shall rest, and whoever shall have bestowed any good thing upon me, repay him a hundredfold, as You have promised; and into whatever city or house or kingdom we shall enter, let Your peace rest upon it sevenfold: and if anyone, in honor of me who was afflicted with reproaches and insults for You, shall build an oratory for the preservation of my relics, heap upon him a manifold reward; that however much he has contributed in zeal for the glory of my body, which was exercised with many pains for You and died, so much reward may he obtain from You: and if anyone asks of You anything at my tomb that is just and useful, grant it immediately: bestow Your rich gifts upon all who shall celebrate my memory for Your name's sake. Come, O Lord of all, end the persecution of Your servants: drive the wolves from Your flock: make Christianity illustrious through Your chosen ones, that in freedom they may worship You alone, venerate You alone; that those who glorify You may be glorified: for to You belongs glory forever, Amen.

[47] And the Martyr-loving Sophia, walking on the left side of the Martyr, supported him with her own hands, she herself also adorned with white garments. Having entered the church with all who were present, they closed the doors to ward off any onslaught of the impious, he celebrates Mass: and they were there all night chanting the angelic psalmody. When morning came, they performed the liturgy of the feast with great joy and ceremony. When the divine sacrifice and the rest had been completed in order, the most blessed Clement sat down and addressed the doorkeepers, who were watching lest any of the pagans might suddenly come upon them, he himself as if taught by the Holy Spirit and foreseeing that his time was at hand, saying: Do not fear, brothers; not one of you will perish. No wolf will attack anyone, no one will be seized. I, as a hireling, will go out for you: your supreme shepherd laid down his life for his rational sheep, and it is fitting therefore that we too lay down our life for Him and for His flock. Do not therefore be afraid. Impiety has prevailed; he predicts the end of the persecution, it is now tottering. So will the wicked Emperors now cease, and their violent fury will be extinguished. Shortly Christ will grant peace to His flock, raising up another Rome for Himself, and the first Rome also will receive His word. Every city and region will be filled with the knowledge of Him, and He will reign together with Kings; and the Churches will be filled with freedom, and those that are now closed will be opened; and the temples of the pagans will be shut, and those who now sacrifice in them will flee; and the fear they now inspire in you, they themselves will feel. Upon us the fury of the impious will be broken. Some of you will see the downfall of those who terrify you.

[48] While he was saying these things, the Christ-loving Sophia asked all who had assembled -- rich and poor, widows and orphans -- to recline on the ground to take food, all distributed into dining groups, Sophia provides a banquet for the Saints for twelve days, ten in each. And she herself with her servants set out bread, dishes, and wine; and she rejoiced in the banquet provided for twelve days and celebrated festively with the widows and orphans, providing everything from her own means, in honor of the holy Martyr Clement. When therefore the blessed end at last called the Martyr and the appointed time set by Christ arrived, on a Sunday, during the time of the holy sacrifice, while S. Clement was standing and taking care that all things should be properly performed and all the faithful should partake of the mysteries, with the divine gifts still placed on the sacred altar, a certain Prefect S. Clement is killed at the altar, named Alexander, entering with a troop of soldiers, having received authority from the Emperor, ordered one of the soldiers to cut off the head of the holy Bishop and Martyr as he was bowing his head over the sacred altar, and to cast the immaculate offering publicly before the soldiers. But those who were present departed not without tears. Two deacons, however, who were ministering at the immaculate sacrifice, together with SS. Christopher and Chariton the Deacons, whose names were Christopher and Chariton, stood at the sacred altar, themselves also desiring the happiness of eternal life and weeping at what had been done. The Prefect ordered them too to be killed and the altar to be overturned.

[49] But the faithful Sophia, together with others, taking the venerable body of the holy Bishop and Martyr, honored so many times with victory, clothed it fittingly and, wrapping it in clean linen with perfumes, hymns, and lights, Sophia buries them, deposited it in the church that was called "in the Cryptus." And the wise and Martyr-loving Sophia at last addressed them thus: I have deposited you in the Cryptus, that is, in a hidden place: but Christ, for whose sake you have endured many torments, will place you in the open and in public, as if raising you again by translation and restoring you once more, having built a house worthy of you. For your mother, nurse, and foster-mother will not abandon you to the end, my lord and son -- not only in secret but serving with freedom, honored under Christian Kings and Governors: happy myself that I shall become a sharer in your glory in the world. For what remains, old age now calls me to you. For I have been preserved alive until now so that I might tend and bury your bodies. But pray that I may merit that rest with you.

[50] and honors their memory. And having said these things, she watered the sepulchre with her tears, in which the holy Martyr Agathangelus had previously been laid. For she had already begun to build an enclosure at the entrance and had fortified the place. S. Clement also had there, while he lived, a cell in which he frequently dwelt, near the same stairs. The most holy Sophia also placed the relics of the Deacons near the bodies of the first two. The contest of the most noble and valiant Bishop and Martyr Clement was completed on the twenty-third day of January. He began his confession and fought under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, under the Governors Domitianus, Agrippinus, Curicius, Domitius, Sacerdon, Maximus, Aphrodisius, Lucius, Alexander; for twenty-eight years he accomplished his noble contest, to the glory and praise of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for infinite ages of ages, Amen.

THE SAME ACTS

BY SIMEON METAPHRASTES,

TRANSLATED BY GENTIAN HERVET, A FRENCHMAN,

Clement, Bishop, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Agathangelus, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Christopher, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Chariton, Deacon, Martyr at Ancyra (S.) Several boys, Martyrs at Ancyra Phengon, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Eucarpius, soldier, Martyr at Amisus (S.) Very many men, women, and boys, Martyrs at Rome

By Simeon Metaphrastes.

CHAPTER I.

The birth and education of S. Clement. The death of his parents.

[1] After the two hundred and fiftieth year of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the twelfth year of the Emperor Valerian, in the consulship of Valerian himself and Lucian, that truly great and admirable Clement, S. Clement is born at Ancyra, at Ancyra, the metropolis of the first province of the Galatians, was like a certain excellent branch, full on every side of the many clusters of a good spirit. For since that city produced him and also sent him to many other cities as a splendid example of martyrdom, it also gathered the beautiful fruits of his consummation.

[2] He was of distinguished birth, descended from noble and lofty blood. For he had a father and mother, the latter indeed from both parents illustrious and faithful; of a pagan father: the former, however, greatly differing in religion from the faithful Sophia, and devoted to pagan folly. For although he had her as the companion of his life and dwelling, always saying and doing many things, he tried to make her a companion of his religion. But since she surpassed her husband in greatness of soul, she strove with all the more effort, if by any means it could be accomplished, to lead him to true piety. But he, sleeping in the deep shadows of error, was evil of his own will and refused to look upon the great light of truth. Wherefore thus wretchedly he dies a double death, when he died, namely of flesh and soul. This admirable Clement alone is left to his wife as a son from him, still an infant, whom his mother held in her arms and nourished at her breast.

[3] he is piously instructed by his Christian mother: When the mother was thus widowed of her husband, and her hope concerning the boy still wavered, she devoted such care to him and attended to him so diligently that she was everything to him -- father, tutor, and mother. For first she nourished him studiously and did what is fitting for a mother to do for a son. But when he had arrived at that age at which boys are capable of learning, she, being of right mind, suggested to him the right way of piety, having rightly named him Clement, or rather prophetically and as befitted his end. For she knew that he would be like a certain branch of the true vine of Christ, and would produce for Him the fruit of many souls; even though many rulers, like unskilled farmers, would often shear him with many punishments, as the narrative proceeding hereafter will declare.

[4] his dying mother consoles her son: While Clement was in this state and was being so beautifully nourished and raised by his kind mother, she, sensing her death approaching, kindly and lovingly embraced the boy, who had not yet completed his twelfth year, and tried to make him heir not so much of her possessions as of the treasure that is in heaven, commending these things to him with most tender embraces: My son, my dearest son, my child, who saw bereavement before you saw your father, but have been enriched with the wealth of God the Father, and have turned bereavement into happiness; I indeed produced you in body, but Christ regenerated you through the Spirit. Know your Father; see that the title of His son may not be falsely applied to you. Serve Christ alone; place your trust in Christ. He truly is immortality, He is salvation, He who descended from heaven for our sake and also raised us up with Himself on high and made us His children and gods. Whoever therefore obeys this Lord will overcome whatever things are difficult, not only casting down and overthrowing the tyrants and kings who honor images, but also putting to shame the demons who are honored by them and their leader and chief the devil.

[5] she predicts future temptations: Then, in the midst of speaking, her eyes suffused with tears and filled by grace with divine contemplation, she also pursued the things that were to befall Clement, most prophetically; and said: I beg you, dearest son, I beg you to give me one favor in return for everything. Since a difficult time is at hand and the persecution of impiety blows violently, and you yourself also, as our Lord says, are to be led before Kings and Governors for His sake, grant me this honor, my son: that you stand strong and valiant for Him and preserve for me a firm and stable confession: and I trust in my Christ, O my child, I trust that soon on your head too the crown of martyrdom will bloom. Matt. 10:18. Prepare therefore yourself and rouse your soul to the virtue of great courage, she exhorts him to constancy, lest the contests find you unprepared. For the fight is not against contemptible enemies, nor about trifling things. But the adversaries are the Evil One himself and his ministers and satellites: and what is at stake is eternal life and honor, or again disgrace that never ends and punishment. Let either the good things encourage you or the grievous things deter you. It is shameful, O my son, that soldiers should willingly meet death for a fellow servant and mortal King, but that we should not be willing similarly to undergo the same for the immortal King. with the reward of Martyrs set before him, Although they themselves receive nothing from him that corresponds to the merits of such great benevolence. For what gift is of such great worth as life? Or what sensation after death is there of things that are given? But if you die for Christ, the common Lord of all, in place of the life that is temporary you will have the immortal; in place of pleasures, glory, and ever-flowing riches, you will enjoy eternal blessedness. And what if we do not die now? Shall we not shortly die altogether and pay the common debt of all? And besides, the death that is undertaken for Christ's sake will not even rightly be considered death. For its sensation is always taken away by the better hope of things to come.

[6] But above all, O my son, these things must be considered: how the very maker of all created nature and the artificer of our race became man for our sake; and by the example of Christ who suffered for us; and having come to earth, lived among men. Why should I not mention what is greatest -- that for us too, ungrateful servants, the Lord was condemned to death, spat upon, struck with blows, and finally died? And He suffered all these things for us and our salvation, that the tyranny of sin might be dissolved, that the former condemnation might be removed, that the gates of heaven might be opened to us again. How therefore shall we not be unworthy of pardon, O my son, if He Himself indeed suffered such things for us who have committed the most grievous sins, and He being the Lord; and we should not endure even a little for His sake? Consider these things, O my son, and let nothing separate you from the love of Christ: not the threats of Governors, not torments and punishments, not the fear of Kings who are for a time, whose wrath quickly falls with their arrogance, and whose fire is extinguished and whose sword is covered with rust: but rather let the good things that are prepared for Martyrs console you, and heaven itself, which is set before you as the reward of martyrdom.

[7] These things his mother suggested to him daily, as one who had the spirit of Him who is true Wisdom speaking through her, since the boy was already gray with prudence even before his years and had need of deeper admonition. At the end, however, she also added this: Repay me, your mother, for your nurture with these things, O my son: let this be the reward of my pains in bearing you, O most delightful son, that I too as a mother may, according to Paul's teaching, be saved through the bearing of children, she predicts her own death: and be glorified in the limbs of my son. 1 Tim. 2:15. For behold, O my son, I am now departing (for she had perceived herself dying, by the power of grace), and this visible light will not dawn for me tomorrow. 2 Macc. 7. But you are my light and life in Christ, and I beg you, my child, that I may not be disappointed in the hope I have conceived of you. One Hebrew woman once produced seven Martyrs and herself fought in their seven bodies. But you alone will suffice for my glory, and blessed shall I be among mothers, because through you I shall be distinguished. Behold, I go before you, O my son, and henceforth indeed in body I am separated today from your most sweet eyes; but my soul, after I have departed, consider, O my son, that it ever hangs upon yours, with which I shall confidently worship at the tribunal of Christ, glorying in your labors, looking magnificently about me at your marks and stigmata borne for His sake, and destined to share in those magnificent rewards and joys.

[8] she dies. These things the mother said to her son, and at the same time she was kissing all his limbs, saying again: Happy am I, that I kiss the limbs of a Martyr, limbs to be offered to Christ as a sacrifice. Thus embracing him and discoursing most sweetly, she rested in truly blessed repose, commending her spirit indeed to God, but her body to the sweetest hands of her son. He, as one who had always been a dutiful son to his kind mother, buried her body splendidly and magnificently. Clement lives as a solitary. He himself then took up the solitary life, granting this first of all to his mother's commands: that he should withdraw from the world for Christ's sake, who afterwards was also to withdraw from life itself for His sake.

CHAPTER II.

The youth of S. Clement. His episcopate.

[9] When Clement was thus bereft of his mother (for he had God as his Father), God in turn brought him another mother, who differed neither in name nor in character from the former: He is adopted by Sophia, an excellent matron. she was herself distinguished in birth and wealthy, who was likewise called Sophia, and day and night was always engaged in prayer. Although she was, if any woman was, most fond of children, she was entirely without them. But divine Providence, which administered their affairs from on high, not suffering the tender age of Clement to be deserted by a mother and wishing again to fulfill the desire of Sophia, wisely bringing Clement to her, caused her to adopt him. Since Sophia was truly wise, she herself instructed him in the wisdom that is from God: and just as if she herself had borne him, she was devoted to Clement and took the greatest care of him. Nor did Clement show less than was fitting the love toward a mother that he bore toward her: but he maintained a pure and sincere reverence and affection for her. He also very soon rendered a great deal of fruit to his teachers, like some good and rich soil which never causes the farmer trouble by its scarcity, but rather, through the abundance of what it produces, provokes him to cast additional seeds: sharing what he had with those of his peers who were in need, instructing them in the wisdom of his tongue, and leading them to the knowledge of truth.

[10] [he takes in poor boys during a time of famine, raises and instructs them in the faith:] When famine had at one time invaded Galatia and was bringing destruction upon all men and animals alike, he himself, taking up the infants of the pagans -- all who had been left orphaned of their parents and all who had been cast into the road on account of poverty and lacked both clothing to cover their bodies and necessary nourishment -- fed, clothed, instructed them, and, what was far greater than these, brought them to God: gladly supplying from the wealth of the faithful Sophia the things pertaining to the body; but bringing forth from home the things pertaining to the teaching of piety, the adornment of character, and the benefit of the soul, from the wisdom of the Spirit. Since they both lived with him and were rightly formed by him and were constantly with him, sharing his roof and his salt and his continual discourse, and were daily watered by his teaching, he gradually accustomed them to virtue, and as time went on their spirit was aroused, so that they might fight alongside the admirable Clement himself. Wherefore Sophia, who had formerly lacked children, not only had many sons but good and well-educated ones, building as it were a city from these young men, surrounded on all sides by God, who is the most secure wall by far.

[11] he himself uses a humbler diet. For Clement, along with his other labors of virtue, vegetables alone were also his food. For he abstained entirely from animal food, ever mindful of those three youths, whose bodies, sharpened by fasting, could not be conquered by the fire of vices, nor melted by the flame of a physical furnace. Dan. 1 and 3.

[12] He is ordained Deacon, Priest. But it was necessary that the lamp be placed on the lampstand, and the city set on a hill be seen, and that Clement, who shone with such light of virtue, should obtain the priesthood, so that in this way too he might become a path of salvation for many. Therefore, by the suffrage of God from on high and by the common vote of all who were in Galatia, he was first created sacred herald of the sacred court, then shortly afterwards a Deacon, and a Priest. When two years had then passed, he was advanced also to the Episcopal See -- another Daniel who had arisen here too among the Priests -- since although he was young, Bishop, he had nevertheless surpassed by his virtue all the maturity of a priest, and had shown that old age is not of such a kind as to make men absolutely certain possessors of good things: but that sometimes well-trained youth is also a not contemptible guardian of virtue: for he had now reached his twentieth year.

[13] When the office had been entrusted to him, he took greater care of the orphans, first teaching them the sacred Scriptures and then also deeming them worthy of divine baptism, and advancing them to the grades that were fitting -- not all of them, he takes the greatest care of orphans, but those who were worthy. Hence it came about that from neighboring places all flocked together, bringing their sons to him with their whole heart. Receiving them as his own sons, he raised and instructed them in the same manner. But these are indeed the first fruits of the virtue of the good Clement, and such are the rewards of his priesthood.

CHAPTER III.

The captivity of S. Clement. His constancy against blandishments and threats.

[14] From this point, however, his mother's predictions begin to reach their end, and the divine crown of martyrdom begins to be woven: but the narrative must be led back a little further. When Diocletian had assumed the Roman empire when Diocletian raged, and was in its first year, new kinds of torments had been devised against the Christians, and threats of new kinds of death had been aimed at them; and letters were sent throughout all the land that was subject to the Romans, which signified to the Magistrates and Governors, Vicars and Proconsuls, punishments and unjust slaughters against the pious, and threatened equal danger to those who were negligent in these matters, but promised wealth, gifts, and to be among the Emperor's chief friends, and to surpass all in honor, to whoever should be superior in zeal in these affairs. Those impious Governors, therefore, who were in the cities and regions, taking from their obsequiousness toward the Prince the fuel for their madness, agreed to tear apart those who lived in piety and so to destroy and remove them all, that none who feared the Lord should escape. he is reported to the Vicar Domitianus: And so they also reported to Domitianus, who held the office of Vicar and was in the regions of Galatia, concerning this great and admirable Clement: that having drawn away a great multitude of children, he was leading them to the one called Christ and was preventing, as far as he could, the worship of the great gods; and that he was persuading many to give him their attention and was preaching Him alone as the living God.

[15] As soon as Domitianus had heard these things, he ordered him to be brought. he rejects his blandishments and confesses Christ: When shortly afterwards he stood before him, he tried to draw him to his side with smooth and insidious words, saying: What I see does not at all agree or correspond with the accusations brought against you. For your countenance and liberal appearance, and the gentleness and moderation of your manners, seem to me entirely those of a prudent and noble mind. But what has been said about you by some belongs rather to childish ignorance and a petty and quite illiberal spirit. The matter itself will show. For we shall learn the truth more easily from you, if you give a few words of your prudence. But the Martyr said: Our prudence and understanding is Christ, who is truly Wisdom, who is the Son and Word of God the Father; by whose Word all things were produced, from whom we have our very speaking and understanding.

[16] The Vicar answered and said: By the gods, you have caused me annoyance, since you have begun, contrary to all expectation, to speak such nonsense right from the start. But if you will take my advice, bidding these long follies farewell, come and sacrifice to the propitious gods; reflecting on the punishments of those who despise and deny them, and in turn on the honors of those who venerate and worship them. Of the things that are said, we ourselves are an example to you, who through them have attained this magistracy and repay them the gratitude of our favor by honoring he laughs at what the other offers and praises: those who worship them and punishing those who refuse to obey. When the Martyr had laughed at these things, as is natural, since he recalled the gifts with which he was being plied and the disgraceful honors, and his ready zeal of spirit seemed to dissolve these things, he said: But we, O Governor, think the opposite of these things, and consider your gifts a loss, your honor a disgrace, and your magistracy to be servitude; but insults, punishments, and threats we consider pleasure and delight and, what is greater than these, union with God. Since you know these things, do not suppose that either by promises and honors or again by threats and punishments you can lead us away from piety.

[17] These words were gradually stirring the spirit of Domitianus, nor is he terrified by threats: and looking more sharply at the Saint, he said: I have clearly made you more arrogant by having dealt with you so mildly. It is not surprising, however, that since you perpetually spend your life with boys, you have a disposition not unlike theirs. But unless you appease the gods with sacrifices and thereby gain our good will, know that you must undergo the penalty of death, and not one that is brought quickly and swiftly, as you perhaps suppose; but after being afflicted first with many and varied punishments, you must then also endure the most grievous form of death, so that you yourself, evil as you are, may be wickedly destroyed, and by your example you may chastise the arrogance of many.

[18] But the admirable Clement said: when reproached with the instruction of boys, he glories in it. Since you cast boys in my face -- I, he said, have endeavored to instill in boys that prudence which those who are men among you do not know, including even those who are your elders and wiser men. For that which is truly the wisdom of God has hidden itself from the wise and prudent and has revealed itself to children. I glory indeed and proclaim that I offer sacrifices, but to my God, rational sacrifices: not, as you do, torrents of blood and smoke and fumes with which you worship those whom you call gods, entirely contrary to reason. But if I sacrifice my own blood for Him, He Himself will also be present to me, so that I may repay my Lord in return, if not equally, at least in some part. For You, O Christ my King, have Yourself redeemed me with Your precious blood.

CHAPTER IV. Fierce torments endured at Ancyra.

[19] When the Martyr had said these things with great confidence, the Governor cast off the mask and brought into the open the madness he had long been nurturing against him: He is cruelly torn, and when those who were present had immediately raised the athlete aloft upon the wood, as he had ordered, they tore his sides and cried out that he should not despise the commands of the Emperor. Deep furrows were therefore cut in his flesh and a great part of it was removed, and bears it most constantly: and the form of his inner organs was laid open, so that it was a spectacle not tolerable even to the eyes of men. But he was not moved in spirit, did not change his expression, did not utter a word of distress, did not emit the groan of one tortured with pain: but just as if he were more secure than those who were present and watching, and felt less than those who were doing the beating, he gave thanks to God, the Master of the Games, with a great spirit.

[20] When much time had been consumed in his punishment, and the hands of the lictors had gone slack while the Martyr displayed the same brave and noble spirit, the Governor, wishing to break the strength of his courageous mind, said: Do not suppose, O you, that you will overcome me in fortitude: but even though the long time has caused the right hands of those who beat you to be somewhat wearied, I will in turn put others in their place, fresh ones, who will not cease beating you he is again torn to the bones by other lictors: until they have left your bones bare of flesh. And immediately lictors in succession again surrounded the Martyr and did similar things to him as the former ones, until their hands too were similarly weakened and wearied. That foolish Governor, therefore, on the one hand admired the Martyr's constancy, on the other was ashamed at the weakness of his lictors, and ordered him to be taken down from the wood. But he was in such a state as neither the eyes of the lictors could bear to look upon, nor their hands to touch, for he was entirely stripped of flesh and divested of it as of a garment: only because the bones held together did he appear to be a man; and these too were smeared with blood, a certain new and strange spectacle, one that could of itself cause the eyes to grow dim.

[21] Wherefore, when the Governor had despaired of being able to use force against him and punish him, since it seemed to him useless, he resorted again to persuasion and gentleness with him: and said, Two things, O Clement, have been the causes of such great evils for you, he is again assailed with blandishments: envy and contentiousness: but envy has come to you from fortune, which, being entirely envious of you, does not allow things to succeed according to your wish. The contentiousness is yours by nature: for that, inciting you in turn to untimely strife, prevents you from obeying us; and therefore it has cast you into extreme evils and deprived you of the great gifts that you would have obtained had you been willing to yield to the Emperor's command. Or rather fortune has cast contentiousness into you as well, wishing to be opposed to you in every respect and always to undermine your affairs. But spare your wretched body at least for some brief moment of time, and do not, while wishing to display exceptional steadfastness of soul in a vain matter, undergo an untimely and violent death.

[22] To these words the admirable Clement, not caring in the least for his nonsense, replied only this: The death that is to be brought upon me by you, O Judge, brings both freedom from corruption to my body and immortality to my soul. And this, said the Vicar, is entirely characteristic of your folly -- to be so ignorant of and indifferent to what is good that you lose both this sweet light and that kind and joyful star, he laughs at the Judge's new threats: namely the sun, which the gods have given us to enjoy and delight us, in the hope of some other uncertain life. For if you again persist in the same disobedience, you will indeed receive some brief delay from torments, lest your body be exhausted by such violent punishments; but this respite will shortly be for you the cause of greater evils; and when you have recovered for a little time, you will again be handed over to great and varied punishments, of which, as it seems to me, even your soul, departing from the body, will have the keenest sensation. But the Martyr said: By threats alone, as it appears, and by mere words, you promise to fulfill what I desire. But since you know what my opinion is, do not stop at words only, but let all your actions be carried through, and refrain from nothing that is harsh and difficult.

[23] Then that fierce and cruel man was seized by his customary anger, His face and cheeks are beaten: and having said, This man is clearly a contentious animal, he ordered his cheeks and mouth to be beaten. For since, he said, this is the only part of the body that has remained unaffected by punishment, he uses the liberty of speech. Let this part too suffer in the same way as the other parts of the body. And immediately, among the lictors, those who were somewhat more humane struck him only with their hands; others also held him up, since he was already broken by the lacerations and was flowing to the ground; but those who were bolder and more cruel also used stones against him and struck that truthful mouth of the Martyr with them. But the Martyr said: You have honored me with a great honor, O Tyrant; with a great honor, he glories in these punishments, I say, not a punishment. For how is it not an honor for a servant to be deemed worthy to suffer the same things as his Lord and the first companions of His passion and Martyrs? The face of my Lord was also struck with blows, and Stephen was killed with stones. These things now also bring me great glory and distinction. The imitation of the passion lightens my labor. Equality in honor with those who are better than I calms my pain. These things he said, and frequently raising his eyes to his Master of the Games, he gave thanks with fervent zeal.

[24] Domitianus, having completely lost heart, sent him back to prison. Supposing that he could no longer use his feet to walk, because his body had been ruined by the prior punishments, he ordered him to be carried on both sides: but He who strengthens all who fall and raises up those who are afflicted and cast down did not allow him to need a hand he is led back to prison, to support his steps; but repelling those who approached from among the pagans and softly chanting that verse, "Let not the oil of sinners fatten my head," he made that journey on his own feet. When the Vicar observed him departing thus, he greatly admired his fortitude, and turning to those who stood around, the Governor marveling at his fortitude: he said: Amazing! What great endurance! Such soldiers the Emperors would truly need, to be superior to every danger and to maintain so constant a spirit and so great a courage in harsh circumstances. But this man will no longer be brought before my tribunal: I will send him to the Emperor Diocletian. For he alone will have been able to overcome him.

[25] He spoke, and having immediately signified by letter how matters stood, he is sent to Rome, he ordered him to be led to Rome as soon as possible. When the Martyr was therefore outside the city, with both heart and hands raised to heaven, he said: Lord God, who make and provide all things for the entire human race, and fortify for us many paths of salvation; preserve this Your city and the souls of those who have believed in it, lest they be entangled in the snare of the devil and caught by the wiles of tyrants. But do not allow us either to be forever estranged from the city that bore us: but You who turned Jacob back to his father's house and freed him from the hand of Esau; who also carried the bones of Joseph together with the people out of Egypt and restored them to the sepulchres of their fathers; may it also please Your will to bring me back, and to return me as a kind of debt to the homeland that bore and nourished me and raised me to this age. Having sought these things from God in prayer, he made the journey cheerfully.

CHAPTER V. The scorned promises of Diocletian.

[26] After they arrived at Rome, He is brought before Diocletian: where Diocletian was then also residing, those who had been sent delivered the letters to him and, when he had so ordered, brought the admirable Clement into his presence. When he stood before him, Diocletian, seeing his pleasant, cheerful, and noble appearance, he is tempted with blandishments: first, concealing what he had in mind, marveled to himself whether he had really endured all those things that the letters signified to him. Then, gazing at him intently and examining him from head to foot, he said: Are you that famous Clement, whose name is great on account of his brave and noble spirit? But your noble and great spirit ought by all means to have some pious and just cause, and not this impious and unjust one, which is the manifest ruin of both soul and flesh. For now, the greater it is, the worse it is, and it provokes us more to anger and incites the gods to vengeance. But change your mind to the contrary, and show this firm and constant spirit for devotion to the gods, so that in this way too you may rather obtain fitting rewards. For they, as I think, on one side riches and honors, on the other torments displayed, pitying you on account of this brave and lofty spirit, have therefore brought it about that you have withstood so many and such great punishments and have not allowed you to perish miserably long ago, being snatched away -- entirely expecting your recognition and conversion. Thus he spoke; and immediately placed before the Saint's eyes, on one side gold and silver and imperial letters granting him the honor of the Patriciate, and then also the insignia of other offices and dignities, and besides these, splendid and magnificent garments and whatever else attracts the eyes of those who covet beautiful things: on the other side, however, instruments of torture -- iron hands, beds (themselves also of iron), wheels, combs, gridirons, cauldrons, stakes, frying pans, heavy chains, and a great multitude of other instruments, diverse in appearance indeed, terrible to behold, but having an experience even graver than their very spectacle. Then, looking gently at the Martyr and extending his hand toward the money, he said: With these we will reward you, if you prove pious toward the gods and holy toward us.

[27] But when the Saint had turned his eyes from them and, as it were, scoffed at them, and groaned deeply on account of what had been said, saying: he despises both: May they perish, and your gods with them -- then, looking sharply and sternly at the brave Clement and at the same time turning his eyes toward the kinds of torments, he said: You see; these are for those who do not obey and are impious. But the Martyr said: If your punishments, as you think, are terrible and intolerable to experience, and your gifts in turn are splendid, magnificent, and worthy of being judged blessed; what do you suppose are those of the heavenly and only God? What are the immortal punishments and inexorable pains? What are the rivers of fire, which are not tolerable even to look upon? And what good things, in turn, will those who have loved Him obtain? For it is written that they are such as can neither be grasped by the mind, nor seen by the eyes, nor the pleasure derived from them at all conjectured. 1 Cor. 2:9. For the things that are present -- this silver and gold -- are merely dust and clay, a vile and barren material, which is ignobly born from the earth and more ignobly transferred into the appearance that is seen through iron and fire, subject to robbers and thieves, and if not to these, at least to diminution and rust, since it is consumed and wastes away. And purple and splendid garments are the threads of worms and the inventions of barbarous men. Wherefore, if these things make us honored, by your reasoning a man is more worthless than a worm. But if men too must be admired on account of these things, I would much more admire those who fashion them than those who glory in the garments made from them and look about themselves grandly. For the former by the ingenuity of art transform nature into something better, deceive the senses, and set sweet baits before eyes that love adornment; but the latter, clad in them, are pleased with themselves and look about grandly, bearing testimony to the frivolity of their own minds: and when they ought to be ashamed of their error, they rather swell and raise their eyebrows, honored by the works of others, if indeed such things should rightly be called honors at all. But your things are of such a kind and of such a condition. But the things that come from our good God are good, and the opposite obtains. For they have immortal pleasure and perpetual splendor. For they do not fear the change that comes from time. They do not suspect alteration, they know no aging, but they always bloom, remaining in equal beauty, and are stable and immovable forever.

[28] To this Diocletian said: He mocks the gods. You seem to me, O Clement, to speak beautifully indeed, but to think very badly. For with your tongue you speak of immortality, but you always place your hope in a mortal -- your Christ, I mean, whom they say suffered innumerable evils from the Jews and at last endured death on the cross. But our gods are always immortal and suffer nothing grievous or troublesome. The Martyr answered: Concerning their immortality and freedom from pain, you speak very nearly the truth, O Emperor. For how will they die who have not even lived at all? Or how will they feel pain who plainly lack even sensation itself? But although they do not feel pain, they are nevertheless subjected to innumerable blows and insults. For those that were made of stone received blows from the hand that carved them, were smoothed and polished with iron, and so, with great but vain labor, were made into likenesses and statues of the human form. And those whose material is gold, or bronze, or silver -- they too, melted by the most vehement fire, similarly to the others stand entirely devoid of sense: who are so far from bringing aid to others that they themselves cannot prevent these things from happening to them. They do not at all die, therefore, since they have not even lived at all, as I said before: but they dissolve and are worn away, receiving from time both their being and their not-being. Our things, therefore, are not of this kind; but the very true Lord and maker of all things, my God, who is both timeless and immortal, for my sake also later became man, so that I might for His sake become a god; and willingly He was affixed to the cross and buried, and on the third day He rose again and ascended again into heaven whence He had descended: having also made us rise with Him and having restored us to the former sovereignty from which we fell wretchedly through disobedience.

CHAPTER VI. Various tortures endured at Rome. Many converted and crowned with martyrdom.

[29] On account of these things the Emperor was roused to anger; Bound to a wheel he is beaten and crushed: and defeated by words, he turned to punishments, not knowing, foolish man, that he would be more defeated through them: since it is a clear indication that the one who punishes is defeated when the one who is punished yields nothing at all to the torments. He therefore ordered the Martyr to be bound to a wheel, and the wheel to be turned with great force, and the Martyr to be beaten with most cruel rods. And immediately the Martyr had been bound, and the wheel was turned swiftly. When the wheel raised the Martyr aloft, he was given over to those who were beating him; but when the wheel carried him beneath it, his body was cruelly torn and his bones were crushed. And while being thus lacerated, he said: My Lord Jesus Christ, come to my aid and lift me from this weight of punishment: for the sorrows of death have surrounded me, the perils of hell have found me. Look upon me and have mercy on me and rescue me from my necessities. Be present to me, as once to the paralytic, for Your glory, for the confession of Your name, for the disgrace and shame of the enemy, for the endurance of greater sufferings for Your sake.

[30] When the Saint had said these things, immediately both the wheel stopped its motion he is divinely freed from that torment, and those who were beating ceased from inflicting blows: and the Martyr was at once freed from all -- from the wheel and from those bonds of his own accord, and restored to his former health; but a paralysis of the limbs came upon the lictors. And many of the Romans who had flocked to that spectacle came to their senses, and cried out in a loud voice: Great is the God of the Christians. Many are converted. And the great Clement, who was truly a branch of Christ, having as it were offered his own limbs to God as certain beautiful fruits, said: I give You thanks, O God, that You have willed me to suffer in this greatest and most populous city for Your only-begotten Son, who Himself also suffered for us and poured out His blood as the price of our captivity and servitude. Then he also added in order the succession of Saints who had been at Rome. He whom Peter, he said, taught to worship, and Paul preached, and he of the same name as mine, that wise Clement, decreed should be adored; and the divine Onesimus afterwards confessed. For whose sake they too, having suffered, have the greatest power of free speech among them and are adored by the faithful, and not long after will be adored also by faithful Emperors. And this he said, predicting that impiety was soon to be destroyed.

[31] These things more sharply inflamed the spirit of Diocletian: and he ordered the illustrious mouth of the Martyr to be battered and broken with iron styles. By which it came about His mouth is battered, that his teeth were soon loosened and his jaws were crushed. Yet his voice was not repressed, nor was even the slightest abatement given to his prolific freedom of speech: but even when the lictors commanded him to be silent, he was the same and did not relent even a little; on the contrary, he used an even louder voice, not otherwise than a certain bronze statue, which when struck more violently produces a louder sound. Wherefore, when the Emperor himself too had grown weary, imposing chains and the affliction and misery arising from them upon the whole Martyr, he handed him over to prison.

[32] But the multitude of those who had believed at the miracle of the wheel -- men and whatever women were endowed with prudence -- having made an agreement among themselves, entered the prison. Then, touching his feet, they very earnestly begged to obtain divine baptism. The converts are baptized by him in prison; When he himself also had most eagerly assented to such fervent prayers, he undertook the task at once. Since there was an abundance of water in the prison, he himself offered the prayers that were fitting, and together with their children deemed all worthy of sacred baptism. In the middle of the night a certain divine vision appeared to them -- namely, a light that can neither be expressed in words nor admitted by human sight, illuminating the entire prison at once like lightning. Receiving the Eucharist brought by an Angel: In the midst of the light was a certain man, very cheerful in appearance, clad in a splendid garment, who was himself entirely light, distinguished with very thick wings. He, having approached the admirable Clement, placed into his hands bread and a cup. Then he vanished; and they too were left speechless, struck with amazement at the admirable spectacle. But the most holy Clement, immediately recognizing these to be the tokens of the Lord's body and blood, both received them most devoutly and, having said the customary prayers, communicated them to those who had already been baptized.

[33] When therefore many came to him from all sides and were making the prison into a church, and the number of Christians was growing, the prison guards reported these things to the Emperor. He ordered them to be arrested by night and, unless they renounced the faith, all to be killed without any mercy. But those arrested by the Emperor's command were found not ignorant of choosing what was good and useful; rather, they preferred to depart from this temporal life than to fall away from Christ, who formed us, loved us, and died for us. they are killed for Christ. Wherefore, before the city, they offered themselves and their children to the Lord like certain sacred victims, since no one at that time had the heart to stay behind except one, whose spirit was somewhat more youthful: for he had not stayed behind to flee the contest, but rather to struggle with greater evils, and that these might be for him the occasion of greater crowns. He was the admirable Agathangelus, about whom more will be said hereafter more openly.

[34] When Diocletian shortly after remembered the great Clement, he again brought him forth, and at first, as though drawn back by repentance, he had cast off his former madness, and gradually approached him with praises, trying by that method to overcome his noble and lofty spirit. Clement is beaten with ox-sinews: But when he saw that he was dealing with a sensible man who could no more yield to the assault of evils through fortitude of spirit than succumb to smooth and eloquent words through prudence, he immediately cast off the mask and that feigned gentleness, and suddenly appeared as what he was: and again devised some new punishment, a certain Amphion, who held the first place among his courtiers, especially inciting him to this. The punishment was that the Martyr should be stretched out by so great a multitude that the very joints of his limbs should be dislocated, while four lictors standing around him should beat him long and cruelly with dried ox-sinews.

[35] After he had also bravely withstood this punishment, and remained impassible and immovable as if another were suffering, Diocletian said: I know, O Clement, that you are of a very contentious spirit, but that your body can serve it. But I will not yield even thus; rather I will attack you with iron hooks: for you are perhaps made of iron and numb, and endowed with scarcely any sense; let me see whether I may perhaps rouse you with these, whom so deep a sleep has overcome. But the Martyr said: You have spoken rightly, O Emperor. For I sleep as in a sweet dream, my Christ lulling me to sleep with the hope of future things for the labors undertaken for Him: but making me in turn he is torn with iron hooks: sober and watchful when it is time to preach Him and to speak freely for His confession. This he said; and the Emperor immediately ordered the lictors to cease from the beating, but to raise him aloft on the wood and to tear him with iron hooks until his flesh was entirely consumed, his blood drained, and only his bones remained. When therefore the lictors again applied great diligence to this, being incited to it even by a hidden lictor, namely the executioner himself; the Martyr, first looking at himself and then gazing at the tyrant, said: The body that is present, with which I am indeed clothed, is not my own, and you are now tearing it, O Emperor. For I am not at all affected with pain as I ought to be while being torn: but what had been given me by nature was gradually consumed by the preceding punishments, and not even a small part of it was left to me. But the flesh that now grows upon my bones and holds together the framework of my limbs -- my Christ has clothed me with it as with a certain garment, for whose sake I was stripped of the former; and when this is scraped away, He will again clothe me with other flesh. For the potter will not lack clay. he is scorched with torches. When he had said these things and more and then fell silent, Diocletian ordered firebrands to be applied to him. But those too were a pleasure to him, as being like a light that did not have the force of fire.

CHAPTER VII. Events during the voyage to Nicomedia, and especially at Rhodes.

[36] From this point the Emperor was astounded, and turning to those who stood around, he said: I have indeed punished many of the wretched Christians and even put many to death: but I have not yet seen a man endowed with so great and lofty a spirit, nor indeed anyone's body so strong and robust and to which it was harder to bring death. Diocletian marveling at his constancy, I shall therefore send him to Nicomedia, a prodigy that will, as is likely, be incredible to Maximian. For I do not think he has ever encountered a man of so firm and constant a spirit. Having said these things in astonishment to those present, he decreed that Clement should be sent bound across the sea to Nicomedia, to be examined by Maximian, writing to him about what he had suffered, both previously under Domitianus and then again under himself, things that surpass all expectation and all human nature: and signifying this besides, that if he could overcome him (which was quite hopeless) he is sent to Maximian, and bring him over to another opinion, he should send him back, as a thing that would be pleasing to him and a proof of his supreme prudence and ingenuity of mind: but if not, he should hand him over to beasts, or even take his life with other cruel punishments. For, he said, if he survives any longer, he will cause great harm to both Christians and Greeks, corrupting and attracting the latter, and making the Christians difficult to dislodge, fortifying and strengthening them.

[37] The Saint was therefore led out of Rome, The Roman Christians grieve at his departure, with many escorting him and many also following with tears, by which they consoled their separation from him. For who could describe in words the things the faithful then said and in turn did on his account? For some touched his feet and embraced his hands; others, clasping his neck, kissed him and shed bitter tears on account of the separation: some anointed themselves with his blood, handled his wounds, could not be torn from his garments, saying: O illustrious and brave man, valiant fighter, who is stronger than iron. Those who were leading him away, overcome by the weeping and themselves too affected in their spirits, stood still for a long time, yielding to the emotion and the pitiable spectacle. But when the time now called for the Martyr to board the ship, torn away with force and with difficulty at last from those who held him, and severed as a common member from all, having prayed for the city what was fitting and for himself, he boarded the ship and began to sail. But what does the wise Governor of all things, God, provide by His counsel on the ship?

[38] He who had previously alone escaped martyrdom out of those Agathangelus departs with him, who had believed under Clement in prison, about whom we promised a little before to speak, since he was Roman by birth but Agathangelus by name, sails together with the Martyr. For when he had come to the ship on which he was to sail from Rome and had spoken briefly with the sailors, he easily persuaded them, and having gradually climbed aboard, he hid in some part of the ship. It was God who both showed the ship to Agathangelus and made the sailors compliant and quickly persuaded by him. After the Martyr himself also arrived with the soldiers and they boarded the ship, and they were about two hundred stadia from land, Agathangelus, seeing that the soldiers were occupied both among themselves and about the ship, while the sacred Clement alone was praying to God apart, approached him unseen and unnoticed by anyone: and seizing his feet, he recalled to his memory the confession made in prison and the baptism given. Then he also narrated how he had escaped the slaughter, how he had learned of the ship beforehand, how he had boarded it, and how he had hidden in it.

[39] The Martyr (for how must he have been affected when he recognized Agathangelus? Clement rejoices and prays for him. for he was the first of those who had then been baptized by him) greeted him, embraced him, spoke to him kindly, openly showing that his heart was refreshed with joy. Then he also began to pray more fervently, partly giving thanks for Agathangelus and offering words that signified the joy of his spirit; partly also invoking God to bring him aid and asking that he might be his companion in confession. I give You thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, he said, who are my sole and only consolation and help; that neither on land nor at sea do You leave me deserted of Your aid, but have defended and guided me throughout the entire way, and have refreshed my spirit, wearied with toil, in the manner You know, becoming its consoler. For behold, now also on the sea You have been recognized by me in Agathangelus, my good brother, who even by his very name pledges to me Your aid, since he both is and is called Agathangelus, that is, a bearer of good tidings. But grant to him also, O Christ my King, that he may carry out Your will to the end, and glorify him in Your confession, that You too may in turn be glorified in him.

[40] He therefore prayed thus day and night with Agathangelus, Both praying continually, they receive food from heaven, taking no food, for there was not even the slightest amount of food available to them anywhere, since Clement had taken absolutely no thought for it: but having living bread in their hearts and that living water, by which they were secretly nourished and given drink. The soldiers, therefore, having pity on their prolonged fasting, as it seemed, and being moved in spirit and kindly and humanely disposed toward them, wished to share their food with them. But they praised the good disposition of the soldiers, yet did not accept the food, saying that they received it from above, from God. And what they said, God fulfilled: and about the first watch of the night, heavenly nourishment was supplied to the righteous, and mortals were fed with the bread of Angels.

[41] Many days were spent by them in sailing: they put in at Rhodes: and when they had put in at Rhodes, all the others disembarked from the ship to seek provisions; but they themselves earnestly pressed and begged those who had been left to guard the Saints, that they might be allowed to go to the church of the Christians and to partake of the inviolate sacraments. And then indeed a Sunday was being celebrated, and all the Christians who were on the island, though they were few, were running together to the temple. When a certain one of them had carefully learned how matters stood with the Saints, he reported everything to the Bishop of Rhodes: the Bishop's name was Photinus. He, delaying no further, immediately taking many of the Christians who were present, came to the shore where the ship in which the Saints were had landed, and earnestly begged the guards that the Martyrs be released from their bonds and be permitted to come to the church.

[42] When the guards had yielded to their entreaties, they are escorted to the church, the Martyrs were led to the church with many hymns of thanksgiving to God; and consequently, when the sacred book was set forth, the voice of the Gospels declared wonderfully and beyond expectation those words that were fitting for the time and suited to the Saints. Matt. 10:28. And what were they? Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. This instilled as it were a certain divine sweetness into the souls of the Saints, and raising their eyes and hands to heaven at the same time, they prayed with tears of joy. And the event was an edification in the faith for those who were present, and all who looked upon them likewise openly shed tears.

[43] Clement offers the sacrifice of the Mass. Then that pious and God-loving Bishop asked the most holy Clement to perform the mysteries of the holy oblation. When these were being performed by him in the customary manner, and all were attending to them with contrite hearts, as with naked and open souls, many of those present -- namely, all who were worthy to behold such things -- saw an astounding and wonderful spectacle, O Lord: A luminous coal appears on the altar, and Angels in the air, a very great coal of light placed upon the inviolate and mystical table, and a multitude of those clothed in white hovering above in the air. And they, unable to bear the vision and having cast themselves prone upon the ground, lay there, since they could not at all look upon the splendor that proceeded from them. When the fame had shortly pervaded the whole city, many even of the unbelievers came running publicly; Many miracles are wrought through the Saints, and especially those who had any sons, relatives, or household members suffering from incurable diseases came in great numbers, bringing the sick with them, and casting some at the feet of the Martyrs and bringing others to the touch of their blessed hands, they immediately saw them cleansed of their diseases. The souls of many pagans too were healed, and led by the miracle of their healing they were brought to the truth. These things astonished the soldiers, and when they saw the city's great desire for Clement and feared that some change might be made against them and the Martyr might escape from their hands, they again put chains upon him and led him away to the ship, taking occasion for ill-treatment from his outstanding virtue. But Agathangelus went ahead and boarded the ship first, as the one who was first to enter upon the path of martyrdom.

CHAPTER VIII. Torments inflicted on the Saints at Nicomedia.

[44] When a favorable wind had attended them, they crossed the Aegean Sea; and having put in at Nicomedia, they were immediately brought before Maximian. When he had received the Emperor's letters and had learned many things even from the men themselves, and saw these things to agree with the letters -- namely, an appearance that preserved the virtue it professed, a noble countenance, freedom of character; nothing servile, low, or abject, nor anything that could easily be brought over to a different opinion -- At Nicomedia they are brought before the Governor Agrippinus: when Maximian saw these things, since he was a man of great judgment, he immediately forbade himself from examining him, and alleging certain military occupations, he committed the trial of Clement to the City Prefect Agrippinus. He, having immediately caused him to be brought before him, asked before all else Clement is struck with blows: whether he was that Clement who was so commonly talked about. When he answered that he was and further added that he was a servant of Christ, Agrippinus, moved with anger, ordered the soldiers to strike him on the face with a blow, telling him to call himself a servant of the Emperors, not of Christ. But the Martyr said: Would that your lords and Emperors had been called servants of Christ, and that all other nations too served and obeyed them, and that impiety did not rather rule over them wickedly, and that they did not foolishly try to conquer us!

[45] These words fell like a flame upon the spirit of Agrippinus, both are tortured: and kindled the furnace of his madness all the more; and to Clement he said nothing in reply, as one who wished to show that the anger conceived against him was greater than threats could express. But looking at Agathangelus, he said: And who are you? For you are not included in the letters of Diocletian. He, dividing his gaze and raising his eyes at once to heaven and to Clement (for he expected help to come from both directions), said: I too am a Christian, having obtained this blessed appellation through the servant of Christ, Clement. Then Agrippinus ordered Clement to be raised aloft and beaten and mutilated; and Agathangelus to be most cruelly beaten with ox-sinews by the lictors. Since the great Clement bore this kind of torment with so great and lofty a spirit and was so far from taking even the slightest account of the blows that he prayed continually both for himself and for Agathangelus, the Prefect, judging these to be small things that did not reach the soul -- in which this resolve had been so firmly and immovably fixed that it could not be brought over to the contrary opinion -- released both from their punishment and handed them over to prison: but the following day he ordered the theater to be prepared and beasts, both many in number, diverse in kind, and distinguished for their cruelty.

[46] And the Saints, left in prison, they are refreshed by Angels: keeping vigil more fervently and intensely, devoted themselves to prayer: and Angels, flying down to them from above, prepared and strengthened them for martyrdom. All the others who were in the prison for various other reasons, they convert their fellow prisoners: when they had seen their intense prayer and then also perceived the arrival of the Angels and were struck with amazement at that admirable consolation, their spirits being kindled by a certain divine ardor, fell at the feet of the Saints and asked that they too might come to the knowledge of Christ and not be deemed unworthy Clement opens the prison for them by prayer alone, of confessing Him. They, discoursing with them until midnight, persuading, admonishing, teaching, did not cease until they had instructed them in the true faith and sealed them with divine baptism. Then, when the great Clement had opened the entire door of the prison for them by prayer alone, he dismissed them joyfully, joyful themselves: but he himself remained alone with Agathangelus in prison.

[47] This stirred Agrippinus to very great fury, and having brought them into the theater, They are thrown to the beasts, unharmed, and having himself first roared at the Saints in the manner of a lion, he then ordered lions and many other beasts to be let loose upon them. But they, when let loose, did nothing evil to the Saints at all; rather, they looked upon them with gentle and kindly eyes, and now indeed cheerfully licked their feet, and now also gently leaped upon them, not acting differently from what dogs often do to their masters who return after a long time. And to the Saints the beasts did no harm; but they greatly struck the spirit of Agrippinus, who was wonderfully perplexed and uncertain about the whole matter, and, as the saying goes, was attempting what could not be accomplished: although the thick darkness of error held him so fast that he did not understand even when he saw these things, nor did he at least reverence the supernatural change of nature in the beasts. But for the Saints this was a cause of glorifying God, and praying they said: Glory to You, O Christ, that even the wild beasts have reverenced us wonderfully and beyond expectation, and You have confirmed what was spoken through Your prophet Daniel. For behold, lions and many savage beasts have been let loose upon us, but You have been entirely with us, who are also the God of Daniel. Dan. 6 and 14.

[48] Then the truly savage Agrippinus, since nothing had changed, as we said before, Their arms are pierced with burning awls; but he had attributed the gentleness of the beasts to their disposition, which had acted wonderfully and contrary to expectation, ordered burning-hot awls to be driven through the middle of the fingers of both their hands, all the way to their elbows. And those awls, driven into the athletes as he had commanded, presented a bitter spectacle to the theater, so that many could not even look freely, but because of the sorrow of what was being seen, they closed their humane and merciful eyes. For when the iron first touched the flesh, the wounds indeed emitted a certain first heavy hissing; then a certain purple fat descending from there with blood seemed to extinguish the force of the fire, and filled the air with steam and smoke. And those who were present, bearing with difficulty the bitterness of what was happening, openly showed their disturbance of mind and cried out for the men to be released. then under the armpits: But Agrippinus, more inflamed and beside himself with fury, ordered other awls, these too violently heated, to be driven under their armpits to the shoulders: which indeed increased their pain all the more and sent them a far sharper sensation.

[49] a tumult arises and they withdraw to the mountain: The people, therefore, not bearing so inhuman a spectacle, but partly being indignant at the cruelty of the magistrate and partly judging it admirable how the Martyrs had withstood such assaults and had not immediately given up their souls along with their bodies, threw stones from all sides at the Magistrate; and they cried out in the loudest voice they could: Great is the God of the Christians. When therefore, as is natural, a great tumult had arisen, and the Prefect had consulted his own safety by flight, the Martyrs freely and safely ascended the mountain called Pyramis, on which sacrifices were made by the pagans and the images of their notable gods were hidden.

[50] But not even so did Agrippinus cease to be angry: having searched diligently for them through his satellites for many days, he at last found the Saints with difficulty; and having ordered by herald that all who were initiated to the gods and demons should assemble on the mountain the following day, he himself also presided there on a lofty tribunal; and having brought the Saints into the open, he said: Why have you stirred up sedition among the people with your tricks and incantations, there they are found, and why have you persuaded them to raise their hands against us and to proceed to deny and revile the gods? The Martyrs said: Nothing has been done by us, O Prefect, to move or rouse the people to sedition: but even while we were silent, the true Lord was recognized by them from the truth itself, and with a great voice, as you yourself know, they proclaimed the living God alone. But if you wish to inflict any further punishment upon us for His sake, inflict it without delay; for He is able to deliver us even from this and to snatch us from your hands.

[51] Thus shamefully defeated by the soul and resolution of the Martyrs, Agrippinus at least endeavored to overcome their bodies: [long beaten with clubs, sewn in sacks, they are rolled from the mountain into the sea:] and having stretched them out on the rock that was at the summit of the mountain and broken their bones with very thick wooden staves and, alas, torn their flesh, he then cast them into sacks and, tying very large stones to them, hurled them with the greatest violence down the sides of the mountain. And of those who were present, there was no one who was not convinced that the Martyrs would immediately die, torn apart and destroyed by that most violent impact. But as they were carried so swiftly, they did not even stop at the bottom of the mountain's side: rather, having fallen even from the shore itself, they plunged into the depths of the sea.

[52] There, therefore, stood some of the faithful, waiting to catch the relics of the Martyrs, they emerge unharmed, by angelic aid, in case anything should be cast up by the sea. When they had remained there for a sufficiently long time, they saw the sacks returned from the deep, gradually floating on the surface. When they had therefore boarded a boat and come near the sacks, they received the Martyrs alive (O Your power, Christ the King!), no longer bearing even the slightest trace of those wounds upon themselves. In the middle of the night also a great light from heaven shone around the Saints; and Angels openly lent them a hand, and having led them to land, imparted to them heavenly nourishment and restored their strength, which had been cast down by continual afflictions.

[53] Then, when the Saints had thus entered the middle of the city, [they heal two blind men, a man with paralyzed hand, and a paralytic, by their touch,] they told others the great works of God, and they themselves, raising their hands to heaven, gave Him thanks most fervently. And their arrival in the city brought an addition in their passing: there were two blind men standing in a certain portico, and another whose hands were torpid, and another again whose body was afflicted with paralysis, who from the mere touch of those blessed hands, without labor and without fee, found healing. Many others also, who were suffering from various diseases, having flocked to him and bringing the same faith as those, obtained the same healing.

CHAPTER IX. Torments again endured at Ancyra. The boys, his foster children, as Martyrs.

[54] When the Prefect had also learned these things and had come to know from experience itself that he was not only making no progress by punishing the Martyrs but was rather injuring his own religion, since he saw many of the pagans, moved by the miracles they worked beyond expectation, deserting to the faith; They are sent back to Ancyra: he did not dare to take up the contest himself any further, but reported concerning them to the Emperor Maximian, who was at a distance from Nicomedia with his entire army; and having reported other things one by one, and the fact that they were born in the region of the Galatians, and were natives of Ancyra; when Maximian received these letters and read their contents, he in turn feared to examine them, wishing to avoid the matter on this pretext. For since the letters indicated that they were born at Ancyra, he sent the Saints there to a certain Commander, named Curicius, saying: It is fitting that the land which bore them should also have them, nourish them, and punish them.

[55] So great is the power of God's providence in skill, wisdom, and facility of contrivance, and so easily does it find an outcome in doubtful matters, that Clement, who had traversed so much land and sea and had been so long in exile, returned to his dearest and most delightful homeland, as he had wished. Having entered it with a joyful and cheerful spirit, he said: Glory to You, Lord Jesus Christ God, they are brought before the Commander Curicius: that You have heard my prayers and have restored me to my homeland and the tombs of my ancestors with a splendid addition -- with my companion in the contest, I mean, Agathangelus: that where I was born, there also I may die. Then they were brought before Curicius, presiding in a certain place called the Cryptos, that is, the Hidden Place, where a small church had also been built. He, trying to win them over and attract them to himself by the sharpness and ingenuity of his mind, addressed them thus at the very beginning:

[56] Having learned carefully about you, O men -- how much of the earth you have traversed, how many and how great the dangers you have undergone, and how many kinds of death aimed at you you have escaped -- I too am moved in spirit and am broken even by the mere hearing of these things, and in a certain way I become your companion in misfortunes: they are tempted with blandishments: and therefore, laying aside the severity of my office, I converse with you so kindly and gently. For it seems to me entirely, O most great and admirable Clement, that because you were born in this most excellent city, and grew and were taught and raised in it, for this reason you did not wish to appear pious toward the gods in any other city, unless you first returned to your homeland, reserving this for it as a sort of repayment. Thanks are therefore now owed by you to the city and to us. And let the illustrious Agathangelus follow your example. Do not therefore delay, but sacrifice to the gods in the customary manner. But the Saints said: How would you be a companion of our afflictions, when afflictions are a delight to us? For we rejoice in these sufferings, and all the more because we consider it suffering and calamity not to endure such things; just as, conversely, we consider it perpetual blessedness if we are consummated in the present faith of Christ and in this confession. But if we must be companions of each other's afflictions, we ought rather to pity your evils, who, ignoring the true God, are wretchedly devoted (alas!) to senseless and deaf images.

[57] Curicius, deeply enraged by these words, said: they are cruelly tortured, with a burning helmet, etc. Since, as it seems, you are of an evil persuasion, and, as it seems, you rejoice while being tortured, I will provide what is dear to your hearts, liberally and magnificently. Having immediately heated iron until it was so hot that sparks of fire were emitted from every direction, he placed it under the armpits of the great Clement: and then, having firmly bound his elbows to his sides so that he might feel a sharper pain, he fixed a post equal to his height in the ground and ordered Clement to be tied upright to it; and having raised Agathangelus aloft and stationed lictors around him on every side, he was beating his sides and shins at the same time. Meanwhile he kept asking them, as if mocking them, whether they felt the punishments. 2 Cor. 4:16. To this the great Clement replied with that saying of Paul, fitting for the occasion: As much as our outward man is being corrupted, he said, so much is the inward renewed. The Commander, then, striving to overcome his supreme endurance with supreme punishments, also brought an iron helmet and, having heated it as much as he could, placed it upon the head of the Martyr: and immediately smoke was emitted through his mouth, nose, and ears. When he had groaned deeply and called upon God, saying, O living water, rain of our salvation, instill, he said, Your dew upon me. You brought us first from water, and now bring us from fire into refreshment. He said this, and gradually that device grew cold, and those who were beating Agathangelus grew weary. When the Commander saw this, trembling and amazement seized him; and he immediately ordered the Saints to be led away to prison, concealing his lack of counsel under the pretext of mercy.

[58] But the wise Sophia, who, as we said, was both his mother and his teacher and had been everything to the good Clement, when after a long time she had seen him return thus with the adornment of confession, they are visited by Sophia and refreshed with food: and the splendid robe of martyrdom, and again in his homeland had become more illustrious by the addition of dangers, had a heart full of joy and hoped soon to see the crowns that would be sent from above. Coming to the prison at night, she embraced Clement and, shedding tears of joy upon him, kissed tenderly and sweetly his face, hands, tears, and indeed all his limbs. Then she asked in detail about how he had sailed from there, to whom he had been handed over, what he had endured in the meantime, how he had fought for so long, and who it was who fought with him under this Commander and was now imprisoned with him. After the great Clement had explained everything in detail, she wiped away their blood and cleaned their wounds with clean linen, and set before them the foods with which she knew Clement had been nourished from his earliest years.

[59] Meanwhile, Curicius, having realized that nothing of the kind could be devised by him for punishment that could overcome the endurance of such men, entrusted the hearing concerning them to a certain Vicar to whom the administration of Amisus had then been given (his name was Domitius). When the Martyrs were being taken to him, they are sent to Amisus: she who was held by the love of her children, or rather of the Martyrs, could not be absent from them, but followed with a willing and cheerful spirit together with the boys who were being raised by her; whom, as we said before, Clement had attached to her.

[60] When this was immediately reported to Maximian concerning the boys, he ordered that if they were willing to depart from Clement, they should be permitted to return home; but if they would not easily leave him, The boys who follow him are killed, they should be put to death. When this sentence had therefore been passed upon the boys, the soldiers seized them and tried to tear them away from the Martyr by force. But since they could not bear to be separated from him, throwing themselves to the ground and clasping his feet with both hands, they did not let go until each of them received the end of life by the sword, having shown constancy and prudence beyond their years, and having clearly demonstrated that this perfect gift had descended from above, from the Father of lights, as the most munificent reward of a good spirit and character. The place to which the boys' bodies fell was called the Campus. And the pious Sophia, on account of her supreme benevolence toward them, took care even of their dead bodies and did not think it worthy of herself to see them lying on the ground; They are buried by Sophia. but she was separated from the great Clement and the divine Agathangelus even against her will, having first bidden them farewell and said that if God should grant it, she would return to them again. Wherefore, when with her holy hands she had piously covered the boys' bodies with earth, she returned home with joy.

CHAPTER X. Tortures inflicted at Amisus. The martyrdom of SS. Phengon and Eucarpius.

[61] When the Martyrs had arrived at the city of Amisus, they knelt on the ground for some time, and when they had invoked God with warm tears to be present again to their aid, Clement and Agathangelus are brought before the Vicar Domitius: they were led by the soldiers to Domitius. But since he was occupied in examining other Christians, he reserved them for the following day with fixed tribunals and punishments, saying it was not proper for their hearing to be joined with others. They were therefore brought to him the following day with a noble and lofty spirit, free of all fear; who were so far from yielding and betraying piety if they should suffer anything grievous that the great Clement even attempted to bring the Judge himself over to his opinion, teaching about the good things to come and the immortal life that awaits those who have resolved to suffer for Christ. For whose sake we too, he said, gladly endure the present punishments. And plying him further with many admonitions and filling his ears with the most pleasant teaching, to such a degree that even Agathangelus himself, filled with delight, fell at his feet and then, rising from there, embraced him and ardently kissed that sweet mouth.

[62] But Domitius, as the proverb says, was an ass at the lyre in his hearing: and he understood not even a little of what had been said by him, but being wholly detained by error, he took up arms against the Martyrs, supposing they are separated from one another: that he would lead them away from piety. Indeed, he also separated them from each other, hoping thus to find them weaker, and led each one separately to examination. But the whole outcome was the opposite. For although separated in body, they were entirely bound together in spirit, and respecting the agreements and confession made between them, they made themselves all the more noble and lofty in spirit, each one striving to receive the incitement from the other within himself.

[63] they are plunged into quicklime: That impious Judge, therefore, having resolved to punish them from the start, filled a cistern with lime and buried the Saints in it. Then, having stationed soldiers nearby, he ordered them to guard them carefully: Lest, he said, the Christians steal them away by night. And this indeed that fool did, undertaking truly foolish things, as God well knows. Dan. 3. For just as the furnace that once received the three youths afflicted them with no pain or suffering and, to speak with the divine Scripture, they are illuminated by heavenly light at night, did not harm even a single hair of theirs; so also it happened with these men. For when they had been cast into the lime at the second hour, they stood all day (it was the Day of Preparation) unharmed, praising God: and in the evening a light shone upon them from above and illuminated them throughout the entire night.

[64] And the miracle was followed by fruit as well. For two of the soldiers to whom the custody of them had been entrusted, marveling at this splendor and this cheerfulness, willingly leaped into the lime and confessed themselves to be Christians. When day had now appeared, the Vicar, who was dead in impiety, supposing them to be dead, ordered their bodies to be cast out of the cistern. And when those to whom their custody had been committed approached, they saw them, and the soldiers who had deserted to them, to have suffered nothing grievous at all; The soldiers Phengon and Eucarpius believe and are crucified, but to have a certain divine grace blooming in their countenances and to emit a certain sweet radiance from their faces. When they had therefore drawn them out of the cistern, they reported to the Vicar about the soldiers (their names were Phengon and Eucarpius), and at his command they were immediately crucified, they too having their eyes illuminated with the bright light of confession, and already enjoying the rewards of their recompense.

[65] Strips of leather are cut from the backs of Clement and Agathangelus; But Clement and Agathangelus were still running in the stadium of martyrdom. The Vicar endeavored to take their present life from them, since he saw that they were neither persuaded by the promises of good things nor at all yielded to the assaults of evils, wishing still more and more illustrious crowns to be woven for them. From this point the Vicar ordered two strips of leather to be cut from the back of each one: and then he ordered them to be beaten with rods over their entire bodies most vehemently. But they, even while their flesh was being cut and their bones crushed, endured the present things bravely and constantly, as if they had been translated to a nature incapable of suffering, then they are scourged: and feeling no bodily distress. The illustrious Clement also spoke such words to God, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, who fashioned from clay with Your own hands everything that breathes, and constructed for man sinews and bones and his other form; who also have often strengthened us when shattered and steadied us when collapsing and raised up the afflicted and prostrate; raise up also our bones now that are shattered and fill them with Your exultation. For it is You, O unconquered King, who fight this contest in us: so that through our weakness Your power may be more clearly shown. For how could this body, which is subject to destruction, have overcome such sufferings? Thus the great Clement spoke with God.

[66] The Vicar, however, seeing them overcome the present torments, proceeded to another mode of punishment: [they are placed on burning iron beds: they sleep on them and are animated by Christ,] and having heated two iron beds red-hot, he made each of them recline on one. When he had spread much fire underneath and poured oil, fire, pitch, and sulfur on top, and when much smoke and flame, as is natural, had risen into a great part of the air, those who stood around, and even the magistrate himself with them, all believed, as was the natural consequence, that the Saints were dead. And the Vicar was already signaling to the lictors that, when the pyre was extinguished, they should throw the bodies of the Saints into the river. But a sweet and inexpressible sleep had come upon them; and in their sleep a vision also came. The vision was the Master of the Games Himself, Christ, who appeared with an army of Angels and said: Do not be afraid, for I am with you. When they had therefore been awakened from this divine sleep, they shared the vision with each other, lying as if on soft and fragrant grass, not in the midst of fire.

CHAPTER XI. The ordeal of fire overcome at Tarsus.

[67] When Domitius saw that they had thus wonderfully and beyond expectation overcome the fire, They are sent back to Maximian: and did not know what to do with them next, he sent them back to Maximian, who was then returning from Tarsus to Ancyra. When the Saints had therefore set out under military guard, along with many other Christians, since their bodies were wearied by the length of the road, and besides the road through which they were to pass was very desolate and utterly without water, thirst was burning them most intensely. Seeing that those who were traveling with them were being grievously oppressed by it and were about to give out, they bowed their hearts as well as their knees in prayer, saying: Lord Jesus Christ our God, who even before made the waters of the sea firm and stable like a wall, and again brought water from the rock; look down upon us now also, look down, I say, O King: for our soul burns greatly, and we run in thirst and heat in a place that is without water. But at Your will, earth will certainly become water, and water in turn earth. These things they both said, they divinely obtain water on the road, and warm tears flowed from their eyes. When they had therefore prayed and immediately looked up to heaven, a certain pure and clear stream was emitted from that dry and uncultivated earth. Having drunk from it, they quenched the thirst that was pressing upon them.

[68] When the fame of this event had spread even to those who were far away, the inhabitants of the surrounding area flocked to them, and a great multitude of people afflicted with many and various diseases they heal many sick, was brought to them. The mere touch of their hands was to each one the remedy for the disease. The most blessed Clement therefore (for the narrative returns to him alone again) thirsted so much to suffer for Christ that he did not even pray that the time of his life might be shortened by punishments, but rather that its limits might be perpetually extended. Lord, he said, who alone are the King of the ages, do not take me away in the midst of my days, wearied by these daily perils: but grant me, a sinner, to suffer all things for Your name and Your confession throughout all the life that remains, and to sacrifice to You even my very limbs, that I may receive them again with greater splendor. As soon as he had prayed these things, he seemed to hear a voice from on high saying: What you have asked, Clement, has now been given to you. Twenty-eight years of martyrdom are promised to Clement from heaven. Bear yourself bravely, strengthen your powers, and complete the course of the contest steadfastly. For the entire time of your remaining life, together with what you have already accomplished in fighting, will be numbered at twenty-eight years of martyrdom.

[69] Thus the illustrious Clement, having received from heaven a sure pledge of his martyrdom, proceeded again confidently toward the city of Ancyra together with Agathangelus. The soldiers who were leading them away, hearing that the Emperor was still sojourning at Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, They are brought to Tarsus: led the Saints there to him. When he had immediately ordered them to be presented, and had concealed what was truly the case, he first attempted with feigned kindness to lead them on in a humane and gentle manner, saying: It seems to me, O men, that the reason you have not to this day resolved to yield altogether, but have rather been disobedient and contentious toward those to whom you were sent, is so that you might come all the way to us, and not be changed in the sight of any other than the Emperor himself. They refute Maximian's blandishments: For the presence of the Emperor often transforms the mind and provokes even the most hostile to goodwill. Behold, therefore, you have been deemed worthy of our sight for now, and soon you shall be deemed worthy also of our goodwill, if you first worship the gods as saviors and common guardians of mankind. But those illustrious men responded most illustriously: As for the fact that we have been brought before your power, O Emperor, we ourselves also rejoice—but as those who deserve to be deemed worthy of punishment before your tribunal for the sake of Christ, and of no other honor. For thus shall we stand with great confidence before His terrible and incorruptible tribunal—which we beseech you also to attain, O Emperor. They foretell future Christian Emperors: For He is the one through whom kings truly reign, and tyrants hold dominion upon the earth. For He is the one who both destroys every nation and exalts the empire of the Romans, and will exalt it still more, and through Him it shall rule over all nations. Which indeed the Prophet also calls an iron rod, saying: He has given you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall rule them with an iron rod. Ps. 2:9. Moreover, He will raise up Emperors who shall follow you, pious and worshippers of the true God. For the Spirit has also declared this beforehand.

[70] Maximian, therefore, more violently angered by these words, said: What fatidical books have you read, O you who are about to perish by a violent death, that tell such fables? But they replied: Not fatidical but rather prophetical books, O Emperor, in which indeed this too is written: God will raise up pious Kings in the last days. But Maximian, interrupting their speech while they were saying these things, said: What then—are we not those who show such piety toward the gods that we even afflict with the gravest evils those who do not obey them, as you now? Wherefore the great Clement, with Agathangelus keeping silent, said: But O Emperor, if there had been some change from impiety They are cast into a furnace but suffer no harm: since that prophetic word was spoken, what you have said would have some reason. But since the worship of images abounds in the world to this very day, it is clear that the time of pious Emperors is altogether yet to come. When Maximian had been provoked to uncontrollable anger by these words, he ceased speaking: but a furnace, far greater than the furnace of the Chaldeans, was kindled for the Saints. But when they too had been cast into it, divine grace bedewed them with its moisture; just as it preserved the youths there, so here it preserved the Martyrs. And the furnace held them for the entire night and day: but from within was heard a certain sound of those celebrating a feast, and a sweet-smelling and pleasant smoke was emitted upward from it.

[71] These things were reported to Maximian. But when the flame had now died down, he approached and saw the Saints safe within it—O miracle!—since the flame had not harmed even a single hair of theirs; but they had their hands extended toward heaven, and their lips were moving in glorification. When he had immediately ordered them to be presented before his tribunal, he said: At least in this one thing gratify me, that you tell me by what incantations you deprive fire of its power. Isa. 43:2. But they said: Not by incantations, O Emperor, but solely by the promise of Him who said: Even if you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you. These words therefore again stung and vexed the Emperor, They are tortured again: and he ordered them to be dragged publicly, and torn apart by the lictors, and to suffer the worst extremities. But these measures also turned out badly for him. For then also many of the unbelievers, seeing spirits that could not be brought into subjection, and a mind that could not be cast down or depressed and that plainly breathed confidence and freedom, and—what is greatest—men who were being cruelly dragged and torn apart, By their constancy they convert many: and who were suffering every grievous thing imaginable, and not only did not yield, but had somehow become more vigorous and lively, and were full of confidence, and were overcoming the Emperor himself; seeing these things, they both renounced their ancestral religion and joined themselves to them, and to Christ whom they proclaimed.

[72] They are detained in prison for four years. When therefore Maximian was utterly at a loss for counsel and entangled on every side, he handed the Martyrs over to custody just as they were, in chains, having condemned them to inhabit a prison for four years: Perhaps, he said, the intervening time will dissolve their constancy and blunt the vehemence of their ready and eager spirit. But the opposite of what he hoped came to pass. For they were of good and tranquil mind in the meantime, and when the appointed time had now arrived, just as if they had been imprisoned only yesterday or the day before, they preserved their keen and vehement zeal for confession. For their desire for Christ, and the hope of things to come, made them inhabit the prison no differently than magnificent halls and a palace. When Maximian had therefore learned these things also, he himself declined to undertake further contests against them: but he deliberated to whom he should henceforth send them, under the pretext, indeed, that on account of their remarkable impiety they were not worthy even of the Emperor's tribunal; but the true reason was that, having found them superior to all methods of persuasion, and neither induced by promises of good things nor bent by the assaults of evils, he was still afraid to engage with them, considering their noble and indomitable spirit, and thinking it would diminish his own glory and detract something from his greatness.

CHAPTER XII. The attacks mounted by the Governors Sacerdos and Maximus.

[73] But while he was thus deliberating, there were present also many other magistrates and Governors who had assembled from many provinces. Among these was also one Sacerdos, who was indeed distinguished by his rank, but was far more distinguished by his impiety, and had often subjected many Christians to many and various punishments. To him Maximian entrusted the examination of the Martyrs. Since he was endowed with great power of persuasion and was an outstanding artificer at enticing the minds of men, and moreover was eager to show that those who had preceded him had granted the Martyrs their victory not through the magnanimity of the Martyrs' spirit but rather through their own simplicity, he sat upon the tribunal and caused They are variously tested by the Governor Sacerdos: those illustrious men to be presented before him, and undertook to contend with them in various ways: now indeed with gentleness and the promise of money, now with severity and threats of evil things; at one time with blandishments, at another with indignation, and partly by the experience of harsh realities, partly by applying as if from repentance a remedy to what had preceded. However, when he first ordered the Martyrs to be presented, he said: Come before Sacerdos, whom no one, he said, among the Christians who inhabit Pontus and Galatia has escaped: but many indeed I have honored with offices and gifts after persuading them, and—what is greatest—I have reconciled them to the gods and made them their familiars; but many of those who did not obey I have consumed with sword and fire, and delivered to the most bitter death. If you likewise obey, offer sacrifice, so that in proportion to the many evils you have suffered for so many years, you may enjoy good things.

[74] To this the Saints replied: He who will reward and honor us according to our merits is Christ, who possesses gifts so excellent They are cruelly beaten: that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us by Him. On account of which Sacerdos also acted in the same manner as those who had preceded him, and ordered them to be beaten on the shoulders until their very bones were laid bare. When the present sufferings seemed light to the Martyrs, the spine likewise was beaten until the arrangement of the bones was visible to the eyes of those present, and the entire framework of the vertebrae was measured out. Sacerdos, therefore, was defeated so wretchedly and so pitiably by the fortitude of the Martyrs. Wherefore he himself rather endured what they were likely to suffer. For they indeed, when he had given the order, returned to prison on their own feet. But he, fainting from shame and distress at being overcome, and carried by many hands, withdrew disgracefully from the tyrant's tribunal. So that even pieces of flesh fell off: Meanwhile, as the Saints were going to prison, the flesh that fell from them with the blood caused the faithful to rush from everywhere to collect it, as if toward some treasure of good things. Which indeed, immediately lifting up with the dust itself in their thirsting hands, they believed they were drawing to themselves a certain blessing and grace.

[75] After Sacerdos had tried every threat, applied every expedient, and employed cunning devices, artifices, and stratagems to no effect, but had, as the saying goes, shot at the sky, and Maximian learned of this, he burst into laughter at Sacerdos: This is the Sacerdos, he said, who is celebrated by all! A certain Maximus, therefore, who was himself also a military commander, being present with Maximian and hearing what was said, was filled with a certain zeal of spirit against the Saints, and said: I beseech your power, O Emperor, that those men also be delivered into my hands. For I have confidence in the great gods that I shall either persuade them to change their opinion entirely, or I shall take their lives from them cruelly. Wherefore, when Maximian had consented, he himself became the eighth to take charge of the Martyrs, and he devised something new against them, in that he would converse with them after allowing some interval of time to pass, and pretended to give the Saints true and friendly counsel. For he first addressed them, They are solicited by the blandishments of Maximus: speaking in a friendly manner and discussing pleasant and agreeable things with them. Afterwards, however, with some days again having intervened, he summoned them to conversation, and he appeared to admonish them and give them counsel, but not at all to use force against them or to compel them.

[76] When a great deal of time had thus passed, the fraud of Maximus was openly exposed, and the reason for his deceitful and feigned friendship was revealed. For when he had summoned the Saints, he said: Greetings, O men, whom the immortal gods likewise love, and both regard as their own sons. For they have often given me oracular responses and appeared to me in dreams, restraining their anger against you, for no other reason at all than that they await your voluntary change, which will soon arrive, as indeed the great Dionysus among the gods revealed to me last night, having given us this command, saying: Bring the men. Behold, therefore, the altar is prepared, and the sacrifices are prepared: come forward and sacrifice to their goodwill. They mock him and his dreams and his gods. To this the Saints responded: You have spoken falsely, O Judge, and most implausibly. For whatever your gods say to you by day, they say the same also by night. For who is this Dionysus present with you? For he is twofold, as we see: or which of them do you call immortal? The one of bronze, or the one of stone? For if you mean the one made of stone, you will soon see this immortal god of yours either shattered, or cast into a building, or burnt and transformed into quickite. But if the bronze one has conversed with you, he too will soon be beautifully melted down into vessels that serve useful purposes, according to whatever need each of them may require. When the Saints had given this response, and Maximus realized that his entire pretense and fiction had accomplished nothing other than to have branded his own gods with reproach and disgrace, he thereafter dropped the mask and openly revealed himself as Maximus, and what he truly was promptly appeared.

[77] He therefore orders sharp-pointed obelisks, one foot in size, having spikes at the top, to be driven into the ground, and Blessed Clement to be placed on his back upon the spikes, and to be beaten most violently with very thick wooden clubs: but upon the head of Agathangelus he orders molten lead heated by fire to be poured. Clement is stretched on his back upon iron spikes and beaten. When the order had been swiftly carried out, the magnanimous Clement was indeed beaten upon his chest from above, while his back was pierced from below by the obelisks. But not even thus did the soul of this Saint depart from his body. For He who had made the promise was truthful—that the torments would not overcome him, and that no punishment would end his life. Molten lead is poured upon Agathangelus. Agathangelus himself likewise displayed an admirable fortitude. Maximus, therefore, struck with astonishment at this miracle contrary to his expectation, together with those who stood around, could scarcely even believe their own eyes, so unexpected and beyond reason was the miracle they beheld—that a man pierced through the chest, heart, and entire body by a sharp iron, and moreover beaten violently from above, had not immediately breathed out his soul, but was still alive and surviving, and was resisting that intolerable force with a sound mind. With great difficulty, therefore, he at last tore him from the obelisks, torn apart like a garment on every side, and persuading by speech alone that he was not dead. The Martyr, immediately looking toward Maximus, said: Now you have come to know how not only our body fights against you, but has God who through it far surpasses your snares, who also does not permit the soul to fly from the body, restraining and containing it by some hidden counsel and an unspeakable providence.

CHAPTER XIII. The efforts of Aphrodisius the Persian against the Saints.

[78] When the tyrant had therefore utterly lost heart and was held by no hope any longer, They are led back to prison again. he shut the holy Clement, who was still being carried, along with Agathangelus in prison: and he himself also reported every detail to Maximian—what he had devised against the Martyrs, and how he had found them conquerable neither by blandishments nor by torments, and that even nature itself was overcome by them. But Maximian likewise, just as Maximus himself, could devise no strategy—let alone for persuading those illustrious men, but not even for killing them—and he ordered them to be left in prison, and no care at all to be taken of them, until they should die a natural death. But the impious men, even though they had received such manifest proof of them—O madness! O cruelty!—could not even so find rest, but still expected that in this way they would prevail.

[79] Certainly Aphrodisius, too, took up the contest against them as the ninth, a Persian by birth, who had often devised many kinds of torments against Christians. This was a clear sign that Maximian took great account of them, and everyone knew that whoever could persuade them would be doing him the most welcome service and would receive the greatest reward in return. This man, therefore, having happened to be in the presence of Maximian They are handed over to Aphrodisius the Persian for torture: at the time when the matter of the Saints was being reported to him, requested that power over them be given to him, even if, as the proverb goes, he should strip off the Sicyonian shoe. When he had made his request and received permission, he immediately set out at his home a lavish and magnificent dinner, and invited them to the banquet, so that by offering pleasant things to those wearied by the toil they had endured, he might win their goodwill and gently draw their minds to himself. But since they preferred the abstinence that had grown upon them and was dear to them, They refuse the food offered by him: and added: We feed upon heavenly bread, which whoever eats shall hunger no more but shall live forever, for there a banquet of good things is prepared for us—Aphrodisius, considering this an insult and more violently provoked against them, handed them over to custody, saying: Your banquet, then, shall be death with pain, which indeed I shall magnificently set before you tomorrow.

[80] On the following day he ordered two millstones to be brought, and each one to be tied to the neck of each of them, They are dragged through the city and stoned: and thus, pelted with stones from every side, to be dragged through the middle of the city, while those who dragged them shouted this to them: Obey the gods and the Emperors. Whoever decrees anything contrary to our ancestral religion is made subject to such punishments. But Aphrodisius did all this so that he might either break their immense spirits and make them yield, not enduring to be paraded so shamefully; or else incite the city against them, so that all rushing together might kill them. But He who reveals what is deep and hidden overturned what he had cunningly devised. For the Martyrs, glorying rather than ashamed, were led around, and the city, flocking together to the spectacle and seeing how cheerfully and joyfully they suffered for Christ, and how, after so many and so great torments, their bodies remained strong, quickly repelling those enormous wounds—considering them impassible and immortal, Many are converted: they too confessed the true God and came joyfully to the faith. When Aphrodisius had therefore been so far defeated, these things were also reported to Maximian. But he, having cast off all hope of their change, They are condemned to perpetual imprisonment. since it could not happen that the Martyrs would be turned from their resolution, especially since on account of this more people were being drawn to their piety, condemned them to perpetual imprisonment, so that, having wasted away in a custody from which they were never permitted to depart, they would thus depart from life—God providing this for them so that the prayer of Clement might receive the end he himself had prayed for, and so that there might be greater rewards of martyrdom for them.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Martyrdom of St. Agathangelus, at Ancyra.

[81] When they had thus remained in custody for a long time, many other pious persons who had begun their martyrdom after them received their consummation before them. The guards whom Maximian had appointed over the prison of Clement and Agathangelus, those illustrious athletes of piety, wearied by that long prison watch, at last approached Maximinus, who had then assumed the empire, and asked what he commanded concerning those whom they had held bound for many years, who were of the Christian religion, who died with difficulty, or were rather immortal. For so they named the Blessed ones, because they had endured evils They are sent to Ancyra: that human nature cannot bear. But Maximinus, having first assailed his own gods with many curses because they had been unable to take their present life from them, then also inquired about the city in which they had been born and from which they had set out, and of what lineage they were; and when he learned that they were Galatians, from the city of Ancyra, he sent them to Lucius the Governor: for he was then governing it. Thus the Lord is known making judgments, who also restored the Martyrs, after so many and so great dangers, to the city that had borne them, by means known to Himself. They therefore, having departed from Tarsus, completed with eager steps the road that leads to their homeland. As soon as they caught sight of Ancyra, They are severely constrained. they were presented before the Governor Lucius. But he, not even having first given them leave to speak, then confined them firmly in the stocks, with a stone tied to each of them, so that they could not move at all, nor extend their legs.

[82] On the following day, having summoned Agathangelus, he said: I know that it was not through wickedness, but through pliability of mind and simplicity of character, that you were deceived by your familiar Clement. Wherefore you seem to many to have an innate and excessive eagerness for contention. But it is not strange if a bad habit, which like some disease has formed a callus over time, has changed your mind. For even a drop of water, continuously dripping, is known to hollow out a rock, as the saying goes. But grant this pliability of yours to us as well, Agathangelus, which would be far more profitable and just, and, in a manner befitting your name, be a good messenger to us, announcing your own conversion and repentance. To this Agathangelus replied: For me, St. Agathangelus refutes the blandishments of the Governor Lucius: neither pliability of mind nor wickedness produced this constancy. But that it was not wickedness, you yourself have already confessed. And that, in turn, I do not easily comply with just anyone, is evident from this: how could I have resisted so many Governors, and indeed the Emperor himself, who, having dealt with me both together with Clement and again separately, left no device untried, but attempted to ensnare me with promises, to terrify me with threats, and to bring me over to another opinion by punishments? Therefore you should call this neither pliability nor wickedness, but rather wisdom and fortitude of soul: wisdom, by which we prefer things that stand and endure to things that perish and quickly pass away, and, turning away from your false and counterfeit gods, we attend to the one true God alone; and fortitude, through which we contend with so many dangers for Christ and despise death as if it were a kind of sleep. Nor is it Clement who persuades me, but Christ, who called me through Clement long before. Nor have I been deceived, but rather I have departed from error—from which, I pray, you also may withdraw, so that I may be a messenger of truth to you as well, if you are willing.

[83] When Agathangelus had spoken these words, the Governor, frustrated in every hope he had conceived regarding him, He is grievously tormented: both cast iron clasps, heated to a glowing heat, into his ears, and applied torches feeding a copious fire to both his sides. When therefore the sharp pain from his ears was inwardly turning his brain, and smoke and darkness were filling it, the Martyr bore it bravely, confessing Christ and calling upon Him alone for help, and crying out: Lord Jesus Christ, do not deprive me of that blessed fruit of immortal goods; but grant me patience and endurance, and when You have deemed me worthy to complete the course of Your confession, number me with Your servant Clement, and with all who have fought for Your glorious name, for my strength has failed; but my soul has hoped in You. These things he indeed prayed, and God from on high brought them to fulfillment.

[84] When the Governor saw that nothing was succeeding according to his design, He is put to death on November 5th. but that the athlete was rather becoming more illustrious, he led him away to the place that is called Cryptos, that is, the Hidden Place, and cut off his blessed head with a sword, on the fifth day of the month of November. And the Martyr, having departed from the things that are temporal, and having been freed from labors and torments, was in the heavens; and he was deemed worthy to stand with the Angels and to lead the choruses with those above, having contended under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, and under the magistrates Agrippinus, Curicius, Domitius, Sacerdos, Maximus, Aphrodisius, and Lucius. He is buried by Sophia. But that pious and most devoted lover of the Martyrs, Sophia, inflamed with maternal love toward Agathangelus also on account of the great Clement, after she saw him consummated as she had wished, was both released from the cares she had borne for his sake, and, taking up that martyric body with great joy and composing it, she laid it to rest in the place of his consummation, in a very deep sepulchre, at the entrance of the church that is there.

CHAPTER XV.

The Martyrdom of SS. Clement, Christopher, and Chariton.

[85] The illustrious athlete of Christ, Clement, Clement is cruelly beaten daily. when he learned of the consummation of his companion in the contest, Agathangelus, was himself also filled with a joy that can scarcely be expressed, and in the prison, stretched out face down upon the ground as he was (for the stocks that held his feet and the stone tied to his body prevented him from rising), he uttered, as was fitting, words of thanksgiving to God. But neither had the Governor become more negligent toward him; rather, in addition to his bonds and the misery he endured from them, he ordered one hundred and fifty blows to be inflicted upon his face and head daily. He is healed at night by Angels. Thus every day rivers of blood flowed from him, so that even the stone that was tied to him and the entire floor beneath him became purple. But when night came again, both a light shone around him as if dawning, and Angels stood by, and a generous healing of his wounds followed.

[86] While he himself, therefore, had been bravely enduring the stone and the bonds and those nightly beatings for a long time already, the Theophania—the feast of the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ—was now approaching for the Christians: and the pious and God-loving Sophia, who was always moved by a vehement zeal of piety, On the feast of Theophany he is led by Sophia to the church: and who was at that time burning with an even more ardent spirit, dared to undertake a noble and magnanimous deed. Having gathered a multitude of servants and of the boys and girls whom she was raising, she entered the prison, and when they had released the Martyr from his chains, they led him out of the prison. Then Sophia clothed him in a white garment, placed a stole upon his shoulders, and put the Gospel book into his hands, and surrounded by many lamps and censers, she led him to the church. She herself also wore a white garment, and showing her inward joy of soul on account of the illustrious Clement, she placed her hand beneath his on the left side, supporting him and assisting the Martyr as he walked.

[87] He prays for his people and for those who will invoke him: They were still on the way when Clement, as one who had already perceived that the Lord was calling him to Himself, raised his right hand to heaven (for with the other he held the Gospel), and prayed both for his spiritual mother Sophia, and also for the Clergy and the entire flock, and he asked that those who should invoke him after he had departed from this life, and should otherwise honor and venerate him, might receive the Lord's protection and salvation, and that whatever should be granted at their petition might be of benefit to them: and so at last, praying, together with the Martyr-loving Sophia and those who were escorting him, he entered the church. And they indeed, having secured the doors with keys and bars (for they feared lest some of the impious might burst in upon them), sang throughout the whole night. He celebrates the liturgy and preaches. After the saving day had arrived, dawning joyfully and sweetly upon the souls of those who were worthy, when the Martyr had most nobly celebrated the sacred ministry and had distributed the pure and bloodless sacrifice to those who were present, that sweet branch of Christ—Clement, I say—distilled to them the sweet wine of his teaching.

[88] He foretells the end of the persecution. When he saw them troubled and stricken with fear, as those who suspected that some incursion of the unbelievers was imminent, he strengthened their spirits, and having set before their eyes the things that were to come, he said: Be of good courage, brothers, not one of you shall perish. But two certain men, and I as the third with them, shall be the last to depart from you. Then the rage that rages against Christians shall be extinguished: and peace shall arise in the Roman Empire: and every city and region shall be filled with the knowledge of Christ: and every sacred church shall be opened, while the temples of the pagans shall be closed, and those who worship in them shall flee; and they shall be stricken with the same fear by which you are now afflicted. This time is near, and some of you shall see the persecutors overthrown.

[89] Sophia generously entertains the Christians for twelve days. While he was speaking these things so plainly to those who were present, Sophia, the most devoted lover of Christ and the Martyrs, her heart full of the greatest joy and gladness on account of Clement, summoned widows and orphans, and abundantly supplied them with bread and food and wine, and embraced them as far as her resources allowed. And these things were done for twelve days thereafter, and Sophia liberally entertained those who came with a banquet, and they celebrated festive days and passed them in merriment, and honored the coming of Clement. When the appointed day had now arrived (it was the Lord's Day), summoning the athlete from the present life, he celebrated the divine sacrifice. After the customary rites had been completed and the faithful had partaken of the life-giving body and blood, while the divine gifts were still set forth upon the sacred table and the Martyr had his neck bowed over them, a certain magistrate named Alexander, suddenly bursting in with soldiers, ordered one of his men to cut off the sacred head of Clement. Then they also cast the undefiled oblation (O Your patience, Christ the King!) to the ground, St. Clement is killed, and the profane trampled it with their profane feet. And so indeed the great Clement, while offering sacrifice, was himself offered to God as a sacrifice received on behalf of another. Of the multitude that was present, some indeed withdrew weeping; Likewise Christopher and Chariton. but two alone of the Levites, who were also ministering at the undefiled sacrifice—one named Christopher and the other Chariton—as the Blessed one himself had foretold, received their blessed end at his divine table.

[90] But the faithful Sophia, Sophia buries them honorably: who had been by God's providence a mother and nurse and instructress to the great Clement, having her son stored up in the most secure palace, one who had passed on to the crowns above and the rewards of those immovable goods, releasing all anxiety and sorrow, both lit a multitude of lamps, and taking up the body of her most beloved dead—one who had suffered much and had conquered many contests—she wrapped it in clean garments and linens, and laid that illustrious body illustriously in the very church that is in the place called Cryptos: where she had also previously laid Agathangelus, so that the bodies might be entrusted to one sepulchre whose souls the same tabernacle of heaven had received. Near them she also buried those Deacons who had contended with the great Clement, in which place a small chapel was also built for them. Then, having sat down at Clement's sepulchre, she spoke these noble words, full of humanity and affection: I indeed have laid you, O my sons, in the Cryptos, that is, in the hidden place: but Christ will assuredly lead you out into the open to rest, for whose sake you chose of your own will to suffer so many and so great things, and He will raise up a dwelling worthy of you, She prays that they intercede for her: and your bodies shall be placed in it. Moreover, old age now summons me also to you, which has been preserved to this very day so that I might gather common dust for you, whom not even the long time of martyrdom separated from one another, and might offer myself as a fair tomb for you. But pray for me, O dearest ones, who am your mother, and nurse, and suppliant, that as here, so also there I may be near you, and that I may also have some small confidence before the Lord. And she indeed spoke these words at the sepulchre, and as her voice flowed, so also her tears gently flowed with it.

[91] The illustrious athlete of Christ, Clement (for when I have added a few things to what has been said, I shall bring the discourse to a close) When and how long St. Clement suffered. contended perpetually under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian: and under the magistrates and Governors Domitianus, Agrippinus, Curicius, Domitius, Sacerdos, Maximus, Aphrodisius, Lucius, and Alexander. He completed his contest on the 23rd of January, so that the entire time of his martyrdom was twenty-eight years. This indeed we must hold in memory so that we may be roused from our sloth and may revere these so prolonged contests—we who cannot endure even a small moment of time suffering anything grievous for Christ—and that we may so prepare ourselves and take on such confidence that for His sake, if need be, we endure all things, so that we may undergo a martyrdom of the will and obtain confidence before God together with them: which may it be granted to us all to obtain by the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be to the Father together with the Holy Spirit glory, power, honor, and adoration, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.