Alexandrian Martyrs

CONCERNING THE HOLY ALEXANDRIAN MARTYRS.

In the year of Christ 356.

The Alexandrian Martyrs under Constantius (SS.)

[1] The cruelties which were repeatedly and savagely perpetrated by the Arians against S. Athanasius and his supporters are faithfully recounted by Athanasius himself and by other ecclesiastical writers of that age, and by us from them in the proper place. On this day we shall set forth the slaughter of innocents perpetrated at Alexandria with the utmost perfidy and savagery by the general Syrianus, The slaughter of these Saints written down three days later; as it was committed to writing by the Alexandrian Church itself three days afterwards. This account survives among the works of Athanasius, after his letter to those leading a solitary life, in which he also writes of these letters as follows: A cruelty perpetrated against the Church is set forth, which anyone may easily learn from the testimonies of the people which we have appended at the end. The same is reported from the translation of Petrus Nannius by Baronius, vol. 3, at the year 356, nos. 3 and following: which we have corrected according to the Greek codex.

[2] Perpetrated in the year 356. That slaughter of the Catholic people was carried out after the consulship of Arbetio and Mavortius Lollianus, in the year of Christ 356, in which the Consuls created were Constantius Augustus for the eighth time and Julian Caesar, which fact appears to have been still unknown in Egypt when those letters were written, either because the Consuls had been announced too late, or because at that time, being the depth of winter, the sea was unsuitable for navigation. The day of the slaughter was written differently by the Greeks than it was expressed by the Latin translators: "For at the dawning of the day before the fifth of the Ides of February, that is, the fourteenth of the month Mechir." That is to say, at the dawning of the fifth day before the Ides of February, 9 February, that is, the fourteenth of the month Mechir: Bede, in his book On the Reckoning of Times, ch. 9, begins Mechir from 26 January. The Coptic Calendar agrees with Bede, which Athanasius Kircher of our Society transcribed for us from an ancient MS. codex of the library of the Maronite College at Rome. According to this calculation, Rosweyde of our Society accurately presents a comparative table of the Egyptian and Latin months in his Onomasticon to the Lives of the Fathers. The fourteenth day of Mechir, therefore, is for us the ninth of February, or the fifth before the Ides of February; and the letters are dated: "The seventeenth of the month Mechir, the day before the Ides of February." Petrus Nannius translates the former passage: "For at the dawning of the fifth before the Kalends of February, that is, the fourteenth day of that month which is called Mechir." And the latter: "On the seventeenth day of the month Mechir, which is the day before the Kalends of February."

[3] It is added in the Greek: "For the synaxis was about to be held on the day of Preparation," that is, because the synaxis was to be celebrated on the day of the Parasceve, Friday, as Nannius also translates. And that slaughter occurred on a Friday. But in that year, when the Dominical letter was G in January and February, the 28th day of January fell on a Sunday; the 9th of February, or the fifth before the Ides, fell on a Friday. Yet inscribed in the calendars on 28 January. Nevertheless, following the version of Nannius, Baronius enrolled these Martyrs in the records of the Roman Church on the fifth before the Kalends of February with this eulogy: "At Alexandria, of the very many holy Martyrs who on this very day, by the assault of the Arian general Syrianus, while they were holding a synaxis in the church, were slain by various kinds of death."

LETTER OF THE ALEXANDRIANS

concerning the slaughter of the holy Martyrs.

The Alexandrian Martyrs under Constantius (SS.)

From various sources.

The people of Alexandria, of the Catholic Church, which is under the most reverend Bishop Athanasius.

[1] A short time ago we bore witness concerning the nocturnal invasion which we suffered, both we ourselves and the temple itself: although in those matters testimony was not needed, since the entire city knew and knows what happened. For the bodies of the slain were found and exposed in public: While Syrianus conceals the tumult and slaughter, the weapons likewise and the bows in the temple virtually cry out the crimes that were committed. But nevertheless, since after our testimonies the Most Illustrious General Syrianus compels us all by force to attest by our testimonies that no tumult occurred and that no one was killed (which fact itself is no slight argument that these things were not done by the decision of the most humane Emperor Constantius: for he would not have conceived fear of his own deeds if he had done them by command); and since indeed he ordered us, Christian men who approached him with prayers that he should not resort to violence or deny what had been done, to be beaten with clubs: for which reason he amply declared himself to be the author of the nocturnal assault upon the church; on account of all these things which we have recounted, we now again state the same facts for this testimony. Then, since certain persons were setting out on a journey to the most pious Augustus, we adjured, by Almighty God and upon the salvation of the most pious Caesar Constantius, the Prefect of Egypt, Maximus, and the Imperial agents, the Catholics make it widely known, that they should report everything to the most pious Augustus and to the Most Illustrious Prefects in authority. We likewise adjured all shipmasters that they should everywhere publish all these things and bring them to the ears of the most religious Augustus and the other Prefects and all the judges who preside in the several places: so that the war waged against the Church might be known everywhere, and that Syrianus, in the times of the Augustus Constantius, had caused Virgins and others to die as Martyrs.

[2] For at the dawning of the fifth day before the Ides of February, that is, the fourteenth of the month called Mechir, while we were keeping vigil in the church and engaged in prayer, because the synaxis was to be celebrated on the day of the Parasceve, suddenly in the dead of night the Most Illustrious General Syrianus arrived with many legions of soldiers carrying arrows, drawn swords, and other weapons of that kind, He had burst into the church with armed men; not without helmets and the rest of their armor. While we were plainly intent upon our prayers, in the very middle of the recitation of the sacred lessons, he broke down the doors: and when the doors were thrown open by the force of the multitude, immediately at his order some began to shoot arrows, others to sound the battle cry: meanwhile a great crash of arms was heard, and swords flashed in the light of the candles: many Virgins were trampled underfoot which, many having been slain, and dashed against one another by the rush of terrified soldiers: men fell pierced by arrows: some of the soldiers turned to the assault and stripped the Virgins naked, for whom the fear of the slightest touch was more grievous than death itself. The Bishop at that time was sitting on his throne, exhorting all to prayer. The General, however, was drawing up the battle lines of his soldiers, having with him as companion Hilarius the Notary, who was inspiring him with this purpose, as the outcome of events itself declared.

[3] The Bishop, however, being dragged hither and thither, was nearly torn apart: and he, stunned by a grave fainting spell, S. Athanasius cruelly dragged about, was being dragged about as though dead, and by their agency now appears nowhere, so that we do not know what became of him: certainly they plotted his death by every means. Then, when they saw the bodies of so many slain, they ordered the soldiers to hide them in secret places. The most holy Virgins who had been killed and left there, they buried in tombs, and to these the glory of martyrdom fell in the times of the most religious Constantius. Deacons, moreover, were beaten with blows in the very church and bound in chains. Nor did the destruction stop here: but after such great crimes, the church plundered, each one as he pleased, breaking down the doors, burst in, searched the hidden places, and made his way even into those areas even the sanctuary, into which it is not lawful for all Christians to enter.

[4] The General of the city, Gorgonius, saw these things with his own eyes, because he was present. Arms left by them publicly displayed. Nor should the weapons, arrows, and swords which were left in the church by those who had burst in be held as a slight proof of that hostile incursion; these still hang in the church, so that they cannot deny their crimes. He often sent the Commander and leader of the military units to remove them. But this has been denied him by us until now, so that the facts might be known to all. If it is the decree of the Emperor that a persecution be waged against us, we are all prepared to undergo martyrdom; but if not, we pray the Prefect of Egypt, Maximus, and the other magistrates, to petition the Emperor that such things be not committed in the future; and we beseech that these our prayers reach him, The Catholics refuse another Bishop in place of Athanasius, so that we may obtain that they not be free to introduce another Bishop. Against which happening we have resisted unto death; desiring the most reverend Athanasius, whom God gave us from the beginning, according to the succession of our Fathers; whom the most religious Augustus Constantius himself sent here with letters and oaths. For we are confident that, if his piety learns of these things, he will bear the matter with righteous indignation and will do nothing contrary to his oath, but will command that Bishop Athanasius remain with us. To the Most Illustrious Consuls designated after the consulship of Arbetio and Lollianus, on the seventeenth day of the month Mechir, which is the day before the Ides of February.