CONCERNING S. LEONIDES, MARTYR IN THE THEBAID.
Under Diocletian.
CommentaryLeonides, Martyr at Antinous in the Thebaid (S.)
From various sources.
[1] The persecution stirred up in the Thebaid under the Emperor Diocletian adorned many with the palm of martyrdom, as has been recorded elsewhere. Among these, Asclas and Leonides are considered the chief by Metaphrastes in the Acts of SS. Philemon, SS. Leonides and Asclas Apollonius, Arrianus, and others, which, joined together with the contests of Leucius, Thyrsus, and Callinicus endured under Decius, and rendered into Latin by Gentianus Hervetus, are found under 14 December in Lipomanus and Surius. Here concerning Leonides and Asclas: "Diocletian tyrannically seized the Roman Empire; under the Governor Arrianus and an edict was again sent to all parts, that either all should share with him in impiety, or undergo the punishment of death. Arrianus, therefore, who was then Governor of the Thebaid, without hesitation, as soon as he had seized Asclas and Leonides, who cultivated and defended piety, subjected them to many and great torments; they suffer various torments: and then he most cruelly freed them from life."
[2] What those torments were may be seen from the Acts of Asclas, which we gave on 23 January from several MSS. No mention of Leonides is made there; but that he was a companion of Asclas is attested by the same Metaphrastes, in whose account Arrianus addresses Philemon thus: "Did you not see shortly before what and how many torments Asclas and Leonides suffered, and how they were then condemned to death?" "This very thing," replied Philemon, "was the occasion which impelled me to martyrdom: that Asclas and Leonides so lately contended for Christ; they halt a ship in mid-river by their prayers: and from this I received the greatest teaching of endurance and proof of fortitude. And besides, the miracle which they recently displayed in that ship of yours, when they halted it in the middle of the river's channel—whom would this not have induced to prepare himself to undertake the contest for piety?"
[3] This miracle is narrated in the Acts of Asclas as having been performed by him, when, cruelly lacerated on the bank of the river and unable to stand because of his fresh wounds, he lay naked on the ground. But afterwards, burned with torches and bound to a stone, he was thrown into the river. However, carried by the will of God to the bank, he was buried in peace by the Christians together with the stone. they are killed: Whether S. Leonides perished by the same kind of punishment is not at all known to us. The same burial was certainly bestowed upon both. For, as the same Metaphrastes writes, when the relics of SS. Philemon and Apollonius had been they are buried. held in honor by the pious, as was fitting, and deposited with the divine Martyrs of Christ, Asclas and Leonides, the Governor Arrianus, taking up dust, anointed his blinded eye, saying: "In Your name, Jesus Christ, for whose sake these men chose death of their own free will, I apply dust to my eye; and if I see again, I too shall say there is no God besides You." When he had said this, their relics are honored by Arrianus, now converted: he immediately found a double cure, namely both of his eye and of his soul... Then, having obtained precious linen cloths with many spices, he came again with many others and two Bishops to the shrines of the Saints, and faithfully and devoutly covered their venerable relics with earth. He was therefore arrested; he paid eight hundred coins so that for a short time he might be allowed to approach the relics of the Martyrs. When, therefore, having been granted permission, he had approached, he begged, he fell prostrate, he supplicated, he embraced the dust, and he prayed that they might bring him aid in the contest—which he experienced; and then, thrown into the sea with four Protectors, he attained the glory of martyrdom. Their bodies, carried to shore by a dolphin, and his servants being commanded by a divine voice to lay them down honorably with Asclas and Leonides, when they had done so, they gathered abundant fruits of miracles daily.
[4] SS. Philemon, Apollonius, Arrianus, Theotychus, and the other three Protectors are venerated on 8 March by the Latins, and by the Greeks on 14 December together with SS. Leucius, the name of Leonides in the sacred Calendars on 28 January. Thyrsus, and Callinicus. But it is remarkable that SS. Asclas and Leonides are nowhere recorded by the latter—neither in the Menaea, nor in the Anthologion, nor the Menologion, nor the Horologion, nor finally in Maximus Cythereus or in other ritual Calendars. Baronius in his Notes on this day says that the Greeks treat of S. Leonides and his companions on this day and number among them the Martyr Asclas, but he does not specify in which Greek books this is recorded. He has nevertheless inscribed in the Roman Martyrology also on this day: "In the Thebaid, of the holy Martyrs Leonides and his companions, who in the time of Diocletian attained the palm of martyrdom." He treats again of Leonides in vol. 3, year of Christ 310, no. 24, as though he perished in the persecution of Maximinus, whereas the Acts of the aforesaid companions assert by unanimous agreement that he was crowned with martyrdom under Diocletian.
[5] Others celebrate Leonides on the Kalends of March, on which day the MS. Martyrologies of S. Lambert at Liege and S. Donatian at Bruges, and on 1 March. and the printed Cologne and Germanic Martyrologies record: "At the city of Antinous, the passion of the Blessed Leonides the Martyr." Molanus follows, who in the second edition of his Additions to Usuard cites in the margin the Acts of S. Thyrsus. Maurolycus also records them there. Ado, the MS. of the monastery of S. Lawrence at Liege, the MS. of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp bearing the name of Bede, and the MS. Florarium: "At the city of Antinous, the passion of the Blessed Leonides, who was destroyed by various torments by the same judge as S. Asclas." In the Germanic Martyrology, another Leonides, the Martyr of Alexandria and father of Origen, is appended. Both are confused in the MS. Martyrology of Brussels: we shall treat of the latter on 22 April.
[6] So much for Leonides. But who are his companions? Only Asclas is named in the Acts, who is venerated on 23 January. In the Gallican Martyrology published at Liege, the following is found under this 28th of January: "In the Thebaid, His companions, SS. Asclas, Leonides, Philemon, Apollonius, and their companions. Under the Emperor Diocletian they underwent martyrdom." But in the same Martyrology, Asclas is recorded as having suffered at Antinous on 23 January, and Philemon and Apollonius on 8 March; these latter did not have companions in martyrdom, but only in imprisonment. Thus Metaphrastes, after relating the death of SS. Asclas and Leonides: "After their martyrdom had been accomplished, he also orders all Christians in the city to be seized, and especially those who were more distinguished in piety than the rest; and that the instruments of torture be set before him, and then that they themselves also be brought before his face. are they 36 Confessors? When this had been done most swiftly, he himself, with a proud countenance and an even prouder spirit, said: 'This is in your hands, and we leave this matter to your power: either sacrifice and live securely and freely, or, if you do not obey, you shall be given over to various torments and then also to death.' When the Governor had said this and the torments had been immediately shown to them, men to the number of thirty-seven, men unconquered in their convictions and spirits, mocking what was said, despising all that was seen, and encouraging one another (having said only this: that not only is it better to die for piety than to live impiously, but even than to live rightly in piety), they leapt into the midst of danger and seized the opportunity entirely." Of these, Apollonius alone attained the palm of martyrdom; the remaining thirty-six were confined in prison, whom the Governor Arrianus, once converted to the faith of Christ, is said below to have released from their chains.