Martyrs Thyrsus

CONCERNING THE HOLY MARTYRS THYRSUS, LEUCIUS, CALLINICUS, AND THE OTHER FIFTEEN, IN ASIA.

Under Decius.

Thyrsus, Martyr in Asia (S.) Leucius, Martyr in Asia (S.) Callinicus, Martyr in Asia (S.) The other XV Martyrs in Asia

From various sources.

Section I. The homeland of these Martyrs, the place of their martyrdom, and the particular veneration of each.

[1] These glorious Martyrs fell for Christ in various places and on various days. Yet the constancy of all was equal: all were overwhelmed by one and the same storm of the Decian persecution; and perhaps, as Metaphrastes wrote, All these saints were Bithynians, one and the same illustrious region of the Bithynians bore them all, in which, though they were distinguished both by birth and by renown, they strove much more to obtain for themselves splendor from piety. These details, however, are not found below in the more solid Acts, from which, since the Governor inquires curiously about his origin, one may not improbably conjecture that Thyrsus was rather a foreigner. Silo, King of Oviedo and the Asturias, in a letter to Cyxilla, Archbishop of Toledo, and Luitprand in his Chronicle, no. 128 (on whom see below), and Julian the Archpriest of S. Justa, who is reported to have been present when King Alfonso VI of Castile and Leon took the city of Toledo from the Moors, make him a citizen of Toledo in Spain. This last author, in his Chronicle no. 73, at the year of Christ 252, says: "S. Thyrsus, a citizen of Toledo, a catechumen, departed from Toledo; unless perhaps Thyrsus was a Toledan. in the city of Apollonia in Greece under Decius he bore an illustrious testimony to the faith." He repeats the same at no. 397: "The holy man Thyrsus departed from Toledo under Paulatus, or Palmacius, Bishop of Toledo, as a catechumen." Whether he was a catechumen will be discussed below at section 4. Francisco Bivarius, in his commentary on the Chronicle of Dexter at the year of Christ 286, no. 2, endeavors to establish that Paulatus held the episcopate from the year of Christ 245 to 286, and strenuously contends that Thyrsus was a citizen of Toledo; whom nevertheless Francisco Pisa, bk. 3 of the History of Toledo, ch. 5, makes rather Greek or Bithynian by origin—but it appears that he had read only the Acts of Metaphrastes, not the others.

[2] So much for his birthplace alone; now for the arena of his manifold martyrdom. The first place of contest was Caesarea, a coastal city of Bithynia on the Propontis, which, to distinguish it from other cities of the same name, was surnamed Smyralia or Smyrdiana, concerning which see Ptolemy, bk. 5 of the Geography, ch. 1, and Map 1 of Asia. In this city S. Leucius obtained the palm of martyrdom by beheading—he who is corruptly called in various codices Lucius, Leontius, Leuticius, Lencius, Lenticius, Leucius suffered at Caesarea: Lensus, Leusus, and Seleucus. Whether he is venerated anywhere with a particular devotion separately from the others, we have not yet discovered, unless he is the one of whom Ferrarius writes in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy under 19 January: "The memory of S. Leucius the Martyr is most ancient at Todi; is he venerated at Todi? for on the highest summit of the city of Todi there is reported to have stood a church dedicated to his name, with a monastery of the Friars Preachers, in which his body was piously preserved and enjoyed great veneration among the citizenry. His relics, reduced to a small quantity, were translated to the new monastery of the said order, which bears the title of S. Mary, and each year on the Sunday in Albis they are brought out with solemn ceremony and displayed to the people of Todi. The memory of this holy Martyr, which had almost been extinguished, was renewed by Bishop Angelo Cesius, who inscribed it in the Calendar of the Church of Todi along with the other patrons of that city. Moreover, the acts of this Martyr, together with the time and manner of his martyrdom, have perished through the injury of time." The memory of S. Leucius, together with that of Thyrsus and Callinicus, is indeed celebrated in many most ancient Martyrologies on 18 and 20 January, as will presently be said, on which days the people of Todi, being occupied with another festival, could have observed S. Leucius on the 19th. His memory, however, is not mentioned by Giovanni Battista Possevino in his book on the Saints of Todi, or another? nor by Ferrarius himself in the Topography of the Martyrology or in his later-published general Catalogue of Saints. And even if there was some Leucius there, he could have been a native of Todi or of some other town in Umbria, and could have completed his contest there or elsewhere in Italy.

[3] The second arena for the Martyrs was Apollonia, an inland city of Greater Phrygia on the river Rhyndacus, as is clear from Ptolemy, bk. 5, ch. 1, situated only a few leagues from the aforesaid Caesarea; Callinicus suffered at Apollonia in Phrygia. called by Julian above "Apollonia in Greece," and by various Martyrologies "Apollonia in Greece," as indeed other cities of Asia Minor are similarly designated by other writers. For not having noticed this, Ferrarius in his Topography identified it as Apollonia, a city of Macedonia. In that Phrygian Apollonia, S. Callinicus was beheaded—he who is incorrectly written in MSS. and printed copies as Gallenicus, Galenicus, Calenicus, Calonicus, Galienicus, Gallinicus, Callenitus, Galenitus, Galanicus, etc. With him fifteen companions, simultaneously converted from the priesthood of idols to the sacred rites of Christ, are reported to have been beheaded, in the second Acts, no. 47.

[4] That S. Thyrsus also fell at Apollonia is related in the third Acts and by Metaphrastes; Thyrsus suffered much elsewhere; indeed the martyrdom of all of them is assigned to that place in very many Martyrologies, and those of the best authority, though all the Acts protest against this. Concerning Thyrsus, it is less surprising that this should be said, for there, and previously at Caesarea, Apamea, and perhaps Nicomedia, he had overcome various torments by divine power; but at last it was at Miletus, a maritime city of Caria, that he won his final crown. The Acts teach this precisely, especially the first from the MS. of Welser, in the last chapter; and the ancient MS. Martyrologies of Laetium and of S. Martin at Tournai agree, under 25 January, on which day Thyrsus is commemorated separately in them: "In the city of Miletus," they say, "the passion of S. Thyrsus, who suffered under Cumbricius, Silvanus, and Plaudus, proconsuls, in the city of Caesarea." The Tournai MS. adds: killed at Miletus: "For first he was ordered to be stretched on chains for punishment, so that his limbs might be torn apart. But when the chains were broken, a certain vessel was ordered to be filled with water, into which the Martyr, suspended head downward and with his head submerged, was scourged. When the vessel was shattered by the power of the Lord, he was twice shut up in prison and reserved for a hearing. Afterwards, scourged with cords, he was given to the beasts; emerging from them unharmed, a chest was ordered to be made in which, being placed, he would be sawn in half. But when those who were to saw him failed in their task, and the Blessed Thyrsus came out of the chest, by divine will his heel adhered to the chest. Perceiving this, he placed himself in it again, and thus made the end of his passion."

[5] He is venerated with a very solemn office on the same day, as Francisco Pisa reports at the passage cited, or rather, as others say, on the day before, that is, 24 January, in the Mozarabic Breviary; on which day he is also recorded in the Roman Martyrology in these words: "Likewise, of the holy Martyrs Thyrsus and Proiectus." Concerning which we said among the Omitted Saints that Proiectus (of whom no mention is made in that Gothic Breviary) is the bishop of Clermont, venerated at Toledo; of whom we treated on 25 January; but Thyrsus is this one of whom we here speak—especially since Baronius adds in his Notes that these are treated at greater length in the Toledan Breviary of S. Isidore, where there is also a sacred hymn in which the distinguished deeds of Thyrsus are recorded. But Francisco Bivarius, in his commentary on the Chronicle of Dexter at the year of Christ 286, no. 2, at the end, notes that Baronius was mistaken in believing that the hymn of the Gothic Breviary of S. Isidore treated of Thyrsus and Proiectus, since it manifestly treats of Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus. We shall give the hymn itself below.

[6] Ferrarius fell into a similar error in his general Catalogue of Saints under 30 January: "At Limoges," he says, "of S. Thyrsus the Martyr." In his Notes he cites the Calendar and records of the Church of Limoges, in which, he says, he is reported to have suffered under the Emperor Decius in Africa, in the city of Caesarea, shut up in a prison, from which, led out by an Angel, he was conducted to the Bishop who baptized him and then brought back, and was martyred by being sawn asunder. These details fit this Thyrsus exactly, who began his martyrdom at Caesarea in Bithynia, not in Africa. Furthermore, in the Breviary of Limoges, published in the year of Christ 1626 by the authority of Raymond de la Marthonie, Bishop of that church, and at Limoges S. Thyrsus is venerated with an office of nine lessons not on the 30th but on this 28th of January, on which day Saussay writes in the Gallican Martyrology: "At Limoges, the commemoration of S. Thyrsus the Martyr, who, together with other champions of the holy religion, was cruelly tortured at Apollonia, and in the final agony of his profession of the Christian faith was called by a heavenly voice to the eternal tabernacles," etc. The same Saussay, thinking that Ferrarius was presenting a different Thyrsus, writes on 30 January in his Supplement: "In Aquitaine, the natalis of S. Thyrsus the Martyr, who in Africa under the Emperor Decius, because he breathed Christian ways, was cast into a dungeon; from which, led out by an Angel and conducted to a Bishop to be baptized, having received the saving bath he was led back to prison to fight for the faith. And so, called before the tribunal, since he could not be restrained by many terrors from proclaiming the divine grace which he had come to know, he was assailed with many torments in which he always proved unconquerable; and at last, sawn asunder like Isaiah of old, he consummated a noble martyrdom" (thus far from Ferrarius, merely amplifying his phrasing), "whose relics, brought to Gaul in Aquitaine, on account of the relics transferred there. there made his name and contest famous." These are precisely the relics which, having been brought to the city of Limoges, he had reported in these words: "Certain of his relics, conveyed from the East to Gaul and deposited at Limoges, rendered his memory there both illustrious and dear to our ancestors." It was more likely that Thyrsus would be believed to have suffered in Africa because in the Acts from the MS. of Ripatorium the Governor Cambrutius is said to be "of the race of Claudius, of the province of Africa"; and in the Acts from the MS. of Welser, Baudus is said to be "an African by race." This last governor is elsewhere called Paudus, Plaudus, Bausus, and Bandus; while the first is called Combricius, Cumbritius, Cymbritius, and Bricius. In the name Silvanus all sources agree.

Section II. The common veneration of these Martyrs. The Acts.

[7] Just as S. Thyrsus is venerated on various days by himself, so also with his companions on various months, All are venerated together by the Latins on 18 January, and generally in January among the Latins, in December among the Greeks. First, on 18 January, the memory of SS. Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus is found in the most ancient MS. Martyrologies of S. Jerome and the Dungalense in Ireland; the MSS. of Centula and of S. Lambert at Liege: "In the city of Apollonia, of the holy Martyrs Thyrsus, Leucius, and Gallenicus." The MS. Florarium adds: "in the time of the Emperor Decius, in the year of salvation 253." Maurolycus, Felicius, Galesinius, Canisius: "In the city of Apollonia, of SS. Thyrsus and Seleucus and Callenitus, Martyrs." The MS. of Ado which is preserved in the monastery of S. Lawrence at Liege: "On the same day, the Passion of the holy Martyrs Leucius, Thyrsus, and Gallenicus, in the city of Apollonia, in the time of the Emperor Decius, under the Governor Combrutius, and Silvanus, and Baudus. Who, tortured by various kinds of torments, the first and the last by beheading, the middle one, called forth by a heavenly voice, yielding up his spirit, consummated their martyrdom." Only Thyrsus on that day is recorded by the Carthusians of Cologne in the additions to Usuard and the MS. Martyrology of Laetium, in which, however, the name is incorrectly written as "Thyrsa."

[8] On 20 January the same are again named in the MS. Martyrologies of S. Jerome and the Dungalense; [20.] the latter under the names of Leontius, Ursus, and Gallinicus; the former: "At Nevedunum, of Tarsus, Leucius, Gallinicus." Nevedunum, called Noviodunum by Ptolemy, bk. 2 of the Geography, ch. 5, and Map 5 of Europe, is a city situated near the Danube; it is also mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, the Itinerary Table, and the Notitia Imperii; Cluverius discusses its location in bk. 3 of his Germania, ch. 43. Whether any relics of these saints were brought there, or a church erected to them, or some other cause of this extraordinary veneration existed, is unknown to us. And there were other cities called by this name, such as the one in Gaul near Lake Geneva. In the same Martyrology again on 27 January, [27.] two of them are recorded in these words: "At Nicomedia, of Laecius; at Apollonia, of Calentinus"—who are called by others Leucius and Callinicus; the former on this day in the MS. Dungalense is called Leontius. The MS. Florarium: "At Nicomedia, of S. Thyrsus the Martyr," where he is said to have been scourged with his head immersed in water, as described in the last Acts. Whether Leucius also was previously subjected to some torments at Nicomedia before he was beheaded at Caesarea is not clear. The Governor Cumbricius is said to have traveled from Nicomedia to Apamea, and thence to Caesarea, in the Acts, no. 1.

[9] Finally, the most celebrated memorial of these saints is in the Roman Church on this 28th of January. Two are mentioned in the old Roman Martyrology published by Rosweyde: and especially on the 28th. "In the city of Apollonia, of Leucius and Thyrsus, Martyrs." More fully, Usuard, Bellinus, and the modern Roman Martyrology: "At Apollonia, of the holy Martyrs Leucius, Thyrsus, and Callinicus, who in the time of the Emperor Decius, tortured by various kinds of torments, the first and the last by beheading, the middle one, called forth by a heavenly voice, yielding up his spirit, consummated their martyrdom." Ado, Notker, and various MSS. add "in Greece." Perhaps "in gratitude"? So Rosweyde conjectured in the Notes he appended to his edition of Ado. Bede and Ado interposed "under the Governors Combricius, Silvanus, and Baudus." Nearly the same is written by Canisius, Galesinius, Maurolycus, Felicius, the MS. Florarium, and Peter de Natalibus, bk. 3, ch. 39, who adds: "on the 5th day before the Kalends of February, buried in the parts of Greece, as Ado says." They are venerated with an office of nine lessons on the same day in the ancient Breviary of the Church of Burgos in Spain. Their annual celebration is also observed with a procession in the diocese of Astorga.

[10] On 14 December they are recorded in the Gallican Martyrology published at Liege and in the additions of the Carthusian of Cologne to Usuard: and on 14 December especially by the Greeks. "Likewise, of SS. Thyrsus and his three companions"—though Thyrsus had only two companions, Leucius and Callinicus; but with the latter, another fifteen companions were beheaded. By the Greeks on the same day these holy Martyrs are venerated with solemn ceremony, killed under Decius in the parts of Asia, together with many others slain in Egypt under Diocletian. The Acts of all of these, Metaphrastes—because he generally assigns only one set of Acts to each day—compressed into a single compendium, which, rendered into Latin by Gentianus Hervetus, was published by Lipomanus and Surius under 14 December. The Greeks in the Menologium and Menaea briefly summarize the Acts of each; since the former is readily available, having been published by Canisius, we shall here present only what is found in the Menaea.

[11] In the same month, on the fourteenth day, the contest of the holy Martyrs of Christ, Summary of the Acts from the Menaea. Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus. These Martyrs lived under the Emperor Decius. When the Governor Combricius was stirring up persecution against the Christians in the regions of Nicomedia, Nicaea, and Caesarea of Bithynia, S. Leucius approached the Governor of his own accord and, professing himself a Christian and mocking the vanity of idols, was hung up by the Governor's order; then his whole body was cruelly lacerated. But remaining unmoved in his Christian profession, he was beheaded. Then, when the Governor had set out on a journey toward the Hellespont, the distinguished athlete Thyrsus met him and, publicly professing that Christ was God, rebuked the tyrant for irrationally offering divine worship to those who were not gods. He was therefore beaten with fists and crushed with mallets, and bound hand and foot was scourged and ground to pieces; his eyelids were pierced with pins, his eyes were gouged and lacerated, his feet were beaten with iron bullets, his back was drenched with molten lead—which harmed the executioners more than the Saint. Since by divine grace he had escaped unharmed from all these torments inflicted upon him, he was seized bodily and torn with iron instruments. He, however, by his prayers overthrew all the shrines of the idols. Then he was cast head downward into a vessel full of water; but when the vessel was immediately shattered, he was thrown from a wall whose sides were sharpened onto a pavement that was to receive him, studded with sharp nails and iron caltrops. But from these too he emerged safe by heavenly aid. When Combricius and Silvanus had lost their lives miserably, Babdus assumed the governorship, who ordered the Saint, fighting for Christ, to be sewn into a leather sack and thrown into the sea. But with Angels presiding, the sack was torn open and the Saint was brought to land, where he was again cruelly tortured. The Martyr by his prayers once again cast down their carved idols. Then, thrown to wild beasts as food, he remained untouched by them. The Martyr was again beaten so savagely that his flesh fell to the ground—at which point he drew S. Callinicus to the faith of Christ, who had previously been a priest of idols and was reasoning with himself thus: "Certainly the God at whose invocation idols fall is greater than all of these." For when S. Thyrsus was at Apollonia, having invoked God, he had cast the statues of the vain gods to the ground. When afterwards Callinicus performed the same miracle by his own prayers, overthrowing the idol that was worshipped, he was beheaded and so ended his life. The holy Thyrsus, however, was placed in a chest to be sawn asunder; but since the executioners could not move the saw, the Saint remained unharmed, yet yielded his soul to God when he received a voice from heaven signifying the rewards laid up for him. The feast day of these Martyrs is celebrated in their church which is in the Eleniana quarter. Maximus Cythereus and the Menologium cited above agree, in which is also mentioned the contest on the wall, narrow at the top and girt with swords below, overcome by heavenly power—a detail entirely omitted by Metaphrastes and in the Anthologion, but described below in the Acts. There follow in the cited Greek Martyrologies the encomia of SS. Philemon, Apollonius, the Governor Arianus, and the four Protectors, whose Acts we shall give on 8 March. Metaphrastes adds to these the Acts of SS. Asclas and Leonides: we treated of the former on 23 January, and of the latter a little below with the Roman Martyrology.

[12] The Acts of Thyrsus, Leucius, and Callinicus which we have obtained are threefold, all worthy of trust and thoroughly solid, though full of astonishing miracles. The first had been transcribed in his own hand by Rosweyde from a most ancient codex of Marcus Welser, The Acts are threefold. but (alas) mutilated in their first part. From these was drawn, in the same words, the eulogy already cited from the most ancient Martyrology of S. Martin at Tournai. The second we received from a codex of the monastery of S. Mary of Ripatorium, communicated to us by our François Chifflet, and we collated them with the Acts of the Martyrs published at Paris. These agree with the first in the places assigned to the contest of each. The last are taken from the MSS. of Thos and of S. Maximin at Trier, and collated with the edition of Boninus Mombritius. These appear to have been used formerly by Usuard, Ado, and Notker; and they agree most closely with what we shall present below from the Mozarabic Breviary. We had once planned to add to these the Acts from Metaphrastes, as was indicated on 23 January in the Life of S. Asclas; but because they contained hardly anything, at least of any importance, that was not already described in the other Acts, we preferred to omit them—both because they are readily available in Lipomanus and Surius, and because the Acts of various saints, not pertaining to this subject, are lumped together in them. Among more recent authors, Alfonso de Villegas published the Life of S. Thyrsus and companions on the 24th, Rosweyde on the 30th, and others on the 28th of January or 14 December.

Section III. Relics. Churches.

[13] What became of the relics of each is not easy to determine. Whether some were initially translated to Nicomedia, The relics of S. Thyrsus were buried by Philip, or subsequently to Nevedunum or Noviodunum, may be questioned on account of what has been written above; and whether some of Leucius's relics were taken to Todi. The body of S. Thyrsus was requested from Baudus by a certain devout man named Philip, and he placed it in his tomb, having waited seven days until Bishop Caesarius and Laudicius (or Laodicius) the Priest should come—from Apollonia (as we suspect) to Miletus, since previously Callinicus, together with his fifteen companions who suffered at Apollonia, is said to have been committed to burial by the same persons in the second Acts.

[14] The last Acts add that the ashes of S. Thyrsus lie hidden in Greece. Concerning them, Sozomen, bk. 9, ch. 2, among other things writes as follows: "Caesarius, a man of the first rank in power at that time, who had attained both the Consular and Prefectorial dignity (for Flavius Caesarius had been Consul with Nonius Atticus in the year of Christ 397), built outside the walls of the city of Constantinople a magnificent church to God in honor of the Martyr Thyrsus; deposited at Constantinople in a church built for him, and, as may be gathered from what follows, he placed his sacred relics therein. For when the bodies of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste lay hidden in that place, the wondrous Thyrsus appeared three times to Queen Pulcheria, sister of the Emperor, and pointed out those who lay concealed underground, and ordered them to be transferred to himself, so that they might share with him both the same place and the same honor; at the same time the Forty Martyrs themselves, clothed in splendid garments, made themselves visible to her. and nearby the relics of the Forty Martyrs. When their bodies were found, the Empress and the Bishop hastened to the martyrium. Then the Empress poured forth prayers to God in thanksgiving that He had deigned to honor her with so illustrious a revelation. Having obtained the holy relics, she honored the Martyrs with a most elegant reliquary and placed them beside the venerable Thyrsus, a public festival being celebrated, as was fitting, with due honor and pomp and psalmody—at which I myself was present... while Proclus was governing the Church of Constantinople"—who assumed it in the year of Christ 434 and died a holy death in 446; he is venerated on 24 October. S. Pulcheria is venerated on 10 September, and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste on 9 March, on which day we shall illustrate this history more fully. Moreover, here Sozomen clearly indicates his own era. We do not know, however, what a certain writer recently published under the name of Luitprand means when he writes at the year of Christ 790: "Socrates, Sozomen, Philip, ecclesiastical writers, and the teaching of John Cassian the monk, flourish." Does he mean that they lived at that time? It is a palpable falsehood. Or that they were especially read? Whence does he prove it? But much more so, since Cassiodorus in the sixth century compiled his Tripartite History from the first two and Theodoret. But these remarks are made in passing.

[15] Procopius writes that a church was built in honor of S. Thyrsus by the Emperor Justinian, in bk. 1 of his work on the Buildings of Justinian. Another church there dedicated to S. Thyrsus. "I had almost passed over," he says, "that martyrium dedicated to S. Plato, which is truly sacred and greatly venerable, and to which all other chapels yield in size. Furthermore, the church of the Martyr Thyrsus; and the chapel of S. Theodore, situated outside the city in the region called Rhession; and the church of the Martyr Thecla, which is near the shore of the city; and another, of S. Theodota, in the suburb called the Hebdomon. For all these the Emperor built from the foundations during the reign of the divine Justin, things difficult to describe and which, for the dignity of the subject, cannot be sufficiently appreciated by sight and contemplation." Concerning S. Plato, the Martyr of Ancyra, we shall treat on 22 July; concerning S. Theodore on 9 November; Thecla on 23 September; Theodota on 2 August. Finally, that a church of S. Thyrsus and his companions existed at Constantinople in later centuries, "near the Eleniana quarter" (πλησίον τῶν Ἐλενιανῶν), has been stated above from the Menaea.

[16] Relics in Gaul and Catalonia. From there certain relics of S. Thyrsus appear to have been translated, as was said in section 1, to Gaul in Aquitaine, to the Church of Limoges; and indeed also to Spain, where in the church of S. Stephen at the monastery of Banyoles in the diocese of Gerona, a hand of S. Thyrsus is devoutly preserved, as testified by one who saw and venerated it, Antonio Vicente Domenech, in his History of the Saints of Catalonia.

[17] In the Chronicle recently published under the name of Luitprand, it is written at no. 251 that a monastery of S. Thyrsus existed at Toledo, whose Abbot Agapius, as Vicar of the Lord Elipandus, Pontiff of Toledo, attended in his stead the seventh universal Synod held at Nicaea against the Iconoclasts in the era 824, the year of Christ 786. A church at Toledo, And at no. 128 it is said that Wamba, King of the Visigoths, enlarged and walled the royal city of Toledo in the era 714, the year of Christ 676, and dedicated the gate facing north to S. Thyrsus, a citizen of Toledo and Martyr who suffered abroad (that is, as stated in no. 233, at Apollonia in Greece).

[18] Prudentius Sandoval, in his account of Silo, King of Oviedo and the Asturias, asserts that the Goths built a church in honor of S. Thyrsus near the main church of Toledo, and relics; in which they honored his relics, transmitted there by the Ostrogoths. And Francisco Pisa testifies, bk. 3 of the History of Toledo, ch. 5, that the sacred remains of S. Thyrsus were formerly preserved at Toledo before that city was taken by the Moors; and lest the impiety of the Moors destroy them, Urbanus, then Archbishop of that See, then translated to Oviedo, is said to have transferred them to Oviedo, where the Gothic Kings of the Asturias afterwards resided. The same Pisa reports that these relics are preserved to this day in a sacred reliquary at the same place, both from the testimony and letters of trustworthy men who held great authority in the Church of Oviedo, and from the printed catalogue of relics of that city. For this reason, as the same author states, where a church was also built, King Alfonso the Chaste built a distinguished church in that same city in honor of S. Thyrsus, and following his example many others were erected to the same Saint in the diocese of Oviedo. Indeed, that S. Thyrsus and his companions are honored to this day with special veneration in the diocese of Astorga has already been mentioned above. But against these assertions stands the fact that the principal and greatest church of Oviedo, in honor of the Holy Savior, built after the model of the Church of S. Mary of the city of Lugo, was constructed by Alfonso himself, as he testifies in a diploma given on the 5th day before the Ides of March, era 868, the year of Christ 830, which Sandoval published from an ancient MS. codex of the Church of Braga. In the same diploma the King mentions the Church of S. Thyrsus situated in the city of Braga. But Sandoval, in his account of King Silo, is of the opinion that a smaller chapel was built by Alfonso the Chaste near the main church at Oviedo in honor of S. Thyrsus—in the same way as Alfonso VI, who recovered Toledo with its neighboring towns from the Moors, and elsewhere: built a church at Sahagun near the main church in honor of S. Totis, whom Sandoval himself interprets as Thyrsus, proposing as the model for both buildings the church near the main church of Toledo built by the Goths in honor of S. Thyrsus.

[19] The Toledan church restored by Cyxilla, They say that this same Toledan church was subsequently repaired by Archbishop Cyxilla; Julian the Archpriest in his Chronicle, no. 397, asserts that it was first built by him: "By Cyxilla," he says, "was founded the church of S. Thyrsus at Toledo, a citizen of Toledo, who suffered at Apollonia in Greece." In the Chronicle of Luitprand, no. 233: "At Toledo was founded the church of S. Thyrsus, servant of Christ, a citizen of Toledo, who suffered at Apollonia in Greece, near the Great Mosque; and it was consecrated by the Lord Cixilla, Archbishop of Toledo, with great peril." According to the chronology of the Bishops of Toledo published by Garcia de Loaisa in his Collection of the Councils of Spain, Cyxilla became Archbishop in the year of Christ 775 and died in 784, when he was succeeded by Elipandus, who, infected with heresy, was condemned in the Council of Frankfurt—unless Peter the Fair is more correctly interposed between them by other authorities. We gave the Life of S. Ildefonsus, written for this Cyxilla, above on 23 January. To him, as he was building this church, Silo, King of Oviedo, Pravia, and the Asturias, wrote, among other things, as follows: "It grieves me with danger from the Moors; that you were there in great peril of your lives, because you began there to build the church of S. Thyrsus the Martyr near the Great Mosque; and the Alcalde Zuleima Yusuf ibn Abdil, who governs Toledo, wished to kill you. But appealing to the Judge Muhammad ibn Ar-Rahman, he ordered you to be released and gave permission to build in exchange for money which you gave him. These Moors do nothing except under the pretext of profit. Nevertheless, I write to him, giving thanks for the favor he showed you, and I ask that he protect you," etc. And further: adorned with gifts by King Silo, "The Queen sends for your new church of S. Thyrsus the Martyr, which I have now heard you have completed, certain small gifts: a silver chalice and paten with a ewer, and with its spout, and on the cover the crown of our kingdom with your name and mine in abbreviated form, thus: C. S." (that is, Cyxilla and Silo) "—it shall serve for giving the Blood of the Lord to the people... Pray for me and the Queen. God keep you, Amen. At Pravia, 24 February, era 815." That was the year of Christ 777, when Spain was crushed under the most severe yoke of the Saracens. After the death of Aurelius, Silo succeeded to the kingdom in the era 812, the year of Christ 774. He reigned for nine years and ended his life in the tenth, as the Abridged History of Sebastian, Bishop of Salamanca, relates in Sandoval, who transcribes the entire letter of Silo from a MS. codex of Toledo.

[20] When in the year of Christ 1595, under Philip II, King of Spain, a royal hospital was being built near the great church of the Blessed Virgin at Toledo, the walls and ruins of the church of S. Thyrsus, long since destroyed, which were recently discovered. appeared underground; and among the debris, by the will of God, there was found the cover of the ewer which the wife of King Silo had sent to Cyxilla, with the crown of the kingdom and the initials of both, C. and S.—by which evidence it was confirmed that a church of S. Thyrsus had been built there by Cyxilla. Alfonso de Carcamo, then governor of the city of Toledo, sent to Philip II the recently discovered ewer cover, together with the letter of King Silo and a most distinguished treatise on S. Thyrsus which he himself had arranged to be printed, with the approbation of learned men, especially Stephen of Garibay, the noble and very celebrated historian of Spanish affairs, and Alfonso de Villegas, the diligent and pious writer on the Lives of the Saints. Concerning this entire matter, Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, one of our Society, wrote us detailed letters from Madrid. Francisco Bivarius also treats of these ancient monuments in his commentary on the Chronicle of Dexter at the year of Christ 286, no. 2, where he presents an engraving of the form of the cover. The same author reports—as also Alfonso de Villegas in his letter to Philip II—that the very widespread Spanish name Teresa appears to be derived from S. Thyrsus.

[21] We add the hymn on S. Thyrsus and his companions, which Baronius cites in his Notes on 24 January, Hymn on S. Thyrsus composed by Bishop Cyxilla. composed by Cyxilla, as King Silo and Julian the Archpriest testify. The latter's words in his Chronicle, no. 397, are: "The same Prelate Cyxilla, who ordered the church to be built, also composed the hymn." And Silo in the aforesaid letter: "I have heard," he says, "that you composed a hymn for the dedication of S. Thyrsus the Martyr and citizen of Toledo, as your envoys reported to me; and concerning S. Vincent and Laetus, etc. ... Let Your Paternity send them to me so that our clerics may have something to sing." Villegas believes that only the last verses were added by Cyxilla when he dedicated the church to S. Thyrsus, and that the rest of the hymn had previously been composed by S. Isidore. Bivarius presents the same hymn from the Mozarabic Breviary together with several chapters and blessings.

Section IV. Hymn on S. Thyrsus and his companions.

Rejoice exceedingly, O throng of the faithful, Today is the solemn feast of the illustrious Martyr: Sing boldly in song To the praise and power of the Lord. Of the heavenly homeland's joys thinks Thyrsus the man, who cast aside all things of the world, The Saint, when though he scarcely believed in God, Was suddenly breathed upon by the Holy Spirit. Seeing the cruel Judge, he rebukes him: Why, he says, do the Saints of the Lord You cruelly torture with most barbarous punishments? Wretched man, you shall burn in the fire of Erebus. Straightway the rabid Enemy Combricius had crushed the limbs of those Who worshipped the Lord on earth; many thousands Of shining holy Martyrs were destroyed. The holy Leucius strives for the Lord, The more eager to surrender his chosen soul: Innocent, he endured various kinds Of punishments, receiving heavenly rewards. The vigorous athlete Thyrsus, walking swiftly, When he found the impious Governor, Seized and held him, admonishes and teaches him To cease now worshipping false idols. Then feigning with a cheerful face he spoke: Thyrsus, I desire that assenting To my counsel, you sacrifice to the Gods, That you may receive great abundance of gifts. The Saint said: It is plain, impious man, That that most wicked serpent wholly Dwells in you, the depraved and envious one: May you perish with such a hideous prince. He swiftly orders a vat to be brought, Full of water, to drown the Martyr's head. The pestilent one orders the remaining body To be beaten more fiercely with knotted clubs. But the servant of the Lord with a most pious voice, From the vessel rebukes the wretched Judge: Acknowledge the Lord, you slippery and envious one, When you behold His great and illustrious works. A high and lofty mound of earth is built, With swords fixed in order round about: Set upon its kindly summit, should he fall, That the sword might receive his faithful limbs. Great are You, O Lord, above all gods, Most wondrous to those who believe in You. It becomes a trap for the wicked: the Saint in the heavens Glorifies the omnipotence of Christ. The insatiable beast, defeated, did not cease, The terrible one, but devises new Torments, thirsting to conquer the Martyr: But the holy Lord crushed the evil one. Fear not, Thyrsus, so speaks the Angel, I am sent by the Lord God To you, that I may take away all punishments: And you shall be able to conquer the most wicked enemy. Hear, O Lord: the impious one plans To impose burdens, chains of every kind, And boiling oil, lead, and claws, That he may overcome and kill the holy Martyr. Seeing that nothing avails by his own powers, He orders the Saint to be cast headlong Into the sea, that the eyes of men may not see him, Thirty stadia farther from the shore. How wondrous, O Lord, are Your works! Angels bring the Martyr by their hands, And with sweet song they sound a canticle; The Judge did not deserve to behold the Angel. We must thoroughly recount the deeds, The good things He has rendered through the merits of the Saint. Three Judges lie hidden in their guilt, Whose bodies the earth repeatedly rejected; The peoples entreat the Martyr; they say: We pray, O Lord, command forthwith That the earth receive the bodies of the Judges, That they may give their rotten food to the worms below. Weeping with compassion, he receives an oracle, Designating the place where the bodies Must be interred. Grant pardon, we beseech you, holy one, Martyr, we your humble servants believe in God. Let the hearts of all who wish To seek the joys of the heavenly homeland rejoice: And let them make little of any harmful things, Which fly past like chaff before the wind. O Martyr, with tears, as your fellow citizen, we beseech you: Through you, may the almighty Creator swiftly Remove this hard yoke by which we are pressed, And make us glad through all the ages. Now, O most high Lord, look upon Your wounded people, Blot out the record of sin for the people; And behold our groaning with favor, Granting us aid in the fitting time. Grant rest to all the departed, O Best One, Bestow prosperous times; Food for the poor, succor for widows: May all receive what they devoutly ask. This temple, O Lord, Cyxilla founded; May he have a worthy lot in heaven: May he sing canticles with the highest citizens, Rejoicing through all perpetual ages. May our glory praise You forever, Who alone are Lord, triune and one: Containing the ages by unceasing rule, And governing all things, commanding all. Grant this, O Unbegotten, through the Only-Begotten, Who reigns perpetually with the Holy Spirit, Containing heaven by unceasing judgment, Sustaining the earth by everlasting rule. Amen.

BLESSING.

May Christ the Son of God, by whom the most blessed Martyr Thyrsus enjoyed the fruit of his passion before the bath of baptism, enrich us with the gift of eternity, as He rewarded him with the everlasting prize of blessing. Amen. And may He who, when Thyrsus was cast into the sea, brought him back to shore borne by Angels, associate you with Himself in the seats of heaven, full of joy. Amen. So that you may always invoke that God and Father whom the same Martyr Thyrsus invoked with free voice even beneath the waters. Amen.

PRAYER.

O Lord, we beseech You, who come to You: as You did not permit Your Martyr to be sawn asunder by those wielding the saw, so by his intercession suffer us never to be torn from the bosom of our Mother the Church for any cause.

ACTS FROM THE MS. OF M. WELSER.

Thyrsus, Martyr in Asia (S.) Leucius, Martyr in Asia (S.) Callinicus, Martyr in Asia (S.) The other XV Martyrs in Asia

BHL Number: 8277

From manuscripts.

... the beginning is missing. ...

CHAPTER IV.

The remaining torments of Thyrsus under Combricius and Silvanus; their death.

[19] ... and clothed in light, the trap was secured, and we were delivered; our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

[20] Silvanus the Count, summoning him, said: By what sorceries did you overthrow your god, and why did you not sacrifice to him? Thyrsus replied: Perverse assembly and extinguished understanding, how have you not recognized that nothing was done by sorceries, but by the power of the invisible God? He proclaims the power of Christ: And that they are demons, and cannot help themselves? In truth I saw myself, that I too had been bound in the worst chains, and covered with darkness I thought I was in the light; but God, who never desires the death of the soul, shook off from me the dark mist and looked upon me, because I was in evil ways, worshipping stones and wood. And turning, I came to know Him who said: "For all the gods of the nations are demons," and having no way, leading through crooked paths they bring into the gehenna of fire those who believe in them. Ps. 95:3.

[21] He is ordered to be scourged with his head immersed in water: Silvanus says: Let a vessel be filled with water, and let him be suspended and, with his head submerged, scourged. The most blessed Thyrsus replied: O turbulent one and leader of all your punishments, you have truly shown yourself faithful to the treasury of Satan; for those who are gods like you have been cast into the abyss of the deep and delivered to eternal fire, whence you accomplish their manifest works. Do therefore what you will, and quickly; for I do not sacrifice to such as these. And when the vessel had been filled with water, he ordered him to be submerged head-first, freed when the vessel is shattered. and when they had bound him and thrown him in, the vessel was shattered—for he had been washed in the bath of immortality—and he said: I acknowledge, O giver of light, that You have chosen me, a useless vessel, wandering among the nations; but now in Your divinity You have had mercy on my lowliness, and You have shown me that, washed through water, I have received the Holy Spirit. Silvanus said: You delude yourself by afflicting yourself; the more you do by magic art to blind the eyes of men so that they do not see you while you are tortured, the greater and stronger punishments await you. Thyrsus said: Once and twice I have spoken, and I say again: that the entire treasury of sorceries is with your father Satan; because, holding your inheritance, he judges you. For I, through Christ who has illuminated me and armed me against you, believe that I shall overcome your devices.

[22] Silvanus ordered him to be shut up in prison, and that a narrow angular wall be hastily built, with very sharp swords fixed in its pavement; so that when he should leap to the height of the wall, being unable to stand, he would fall upon the swords fixed in the wall... upon a narrow wall girt with swords below. And when the wall had been built, it was reported to the Count: The work you ordered is completed. After the fourth day, Silvanus the Count went out to see the work, and when he had come to the place, he ordered the holy Thyrsus to be brought. And when he arrived, he raised his voice in the streets, saying: "The Lord mounted upon the Cherubim and flew upon the wings of the winds." And as he said these things, he was caught up by Angels and placed upon the wall; and he was walking upon the top of the wall, placed there by Angels, he walks about; as upon a marble pavement; and praising God he said: "In the Lord I trust; how then do you say to my soul, 'Flee to the mountain like a sparrow'? For behold, sinners have bent their bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark the upright of heart." Ps. 10:2.

[23] Hearing these things and seeing the wonders of God, Silvanus did not understand that the defense came from the Lord, but attributed the glory of God to magical arts, and ordered him to be taken down. A certain pagan named Vitalius approached the Count When Vitalius fell from it onto the swords. and asked him that he himself be allowed to take him down. Silvanus consented to his request. When Vitalianus climbed upon the wall, he placed his right foot upon it, and being unable to stand, he fell, was impaled upon the swords, and expired. But the most blessed Thyrsus was taken down from the wall by Angels; it was not fitting that he be taken down by unjust hands, he is taken down by Angels. who had been lifted up by holy ones. Silvanus, distressed, ordered him to be cast into prison.

[24] After the fourth day, Silvanus and Cumbricius, going out to Apamea, ordered him to follow them in bonds. He is led to Apamea: And when Silvanus and Cumbricius had gone one mile from the city, they planned to judge him there. Coming therefore to that place, they ordered Thyrsus to be brought into their midst, and, having confessed, to die. But the most valiant athlete, bearing a resolute countenance, was asked by them subjected to questioning on the journey, whether he wished to sacrifice to the gods and live, or not to sacrifice and die. Thyrsus answered in a loud voice: You who are a stranger to the hope of God and of Christ, let it be known to you that I do not sacrifice to such deaf and senseless things; but I sacrifice to the Lord, who reveals hidden things to men. He foretells death to the Judges: Wherefore know that from today you shall be repaid according to the works you have done. From this hour you shall begin to waste away; and thus you shall enter Apamea under guard for three days; but on the fourth day your body, loosed from its joints, shall dissolve. For you have provoked the Author of life and have loved demons and deaf idols, whose substance is stored up in your bosom. May God judge you for ever and ever—yet not you alone, but also Cumbricius, who saw greater and more numerous miracles than you. He too shall be seized by his own conscience, and a sudden fever shall seize him, refining him as if by fire. And when he had said these things, they ordered him to follow, saying: For at Apamea we shall have him plunged into the depths of the sea, so that not even his bones shall appear to the dogs.

[25] As they walked, they came to the sixth milestone from Apamea, Combricius and Silvanus are stricken with illness: and a loosening of the knees seized Silvanus as he sat in the carriage, and he had no memory at all of what had been said by the Saint of God. And they traveled about one mile further; and Cumbricius began to tremble, and both were in great affliction. A certain Viator, the Assessor of the Count, said: May the gods visit you regarding your illness; may the great Asclepius restore the weakness of your bodies to health. Yet they were tormented severely. The mule-driver hastened at a run, urging the mules; and soon they entered through the gate of the city. They could not descend from the carriage, being loosened throughout their bodies, and their faces altered. When the city guard came, they carried them in their hands as in a parade to their praetorium, they arrive at Apamea: making a spectacle before all. And when they had been laid upon their beds, the body of Silvanus began to dissolve, and Cumbricius, lying in violent fevers, was being judged. Silvanus, stricken, cried out in a loud voice, saying: I am being cut apart, wretched man that I am, by the holy men, and I suffer extreme death. they die: The third day passed; on the fourth day he gave up his spirit. But neither the earth nor the ground would receive his body and bones; rather, the earth bubbled up because of his provocation. Likewise Cumbricius, burning with fever, gave up his soul; and all who saw his body said that it appeared to have been consumed by fire. For when the earth would not receive their bodies... While they were dying in this manner, the most blessed Thyrsus was in chains at Apamea.

CHAPTER V.

Under the Governor Baudus, at Apamea he is rescued from the sea.

[26] After twenty-three days another Governor came, the successor of Cumbricius, named Baudus, of African origin—which name is interpreted as "from foam," meaning "fool"—himself also clothed by the prince of perdition. He answers the Governor Baudus boldly: The chief citizens and the guard met him, acclaiming him with praises. He came as far as the square called Dea. According to custom he pronounced praises to the Emperor, and taking incense he sacrificed. And having done this, he entered the Praetorium. On the following day he summoned the most diligent jailer and inquired of him what and how his predecessors had dealt, and the case against Thyrsus. In the morning he went out to the forum and ordered the most blessed Thyrsus to be brought. And when he had been brought to his tribunal, bearing a radiant countenance and vigorous in body, the Governor, seeing him to be such, was struck with amazement at the sight and his power, because he had heard that he had endured severe and very many punishments. And he said to him: Are you Thyrsus, who does not obey the gods and who overthrew the great god by magic? Thyrsus replied: I have not provoked the great God; but your great endeavors, which dwell among demons, I have shattered. To your commands I do not submit, for I am Thyrsus, who for the sake of Christ does not obey demons. Baudus said: You will obey now; sacrifice to the gods. But if you refuse, I shall cast you into the depths of the sea, where the one you worship shall not profit you. Thyrsus replied: O prince of the deeds of perdition, of wondrous mysteries and the worst of rulers—what false mysteries these are! "Baudus" is the name of a barking dog; "Cumbricius" means "son of madness." Do therefore what you will, Baudus; for your ways are prepared for the treasuries of gehenna. Baudus said: I shall bind you hand and foot, and with punishments I shall break your bones, and I shall cast you into the depths of the sea. Thyrsus replied: Do not disturb me with threats, but act with deeds. Do you threaten me with the depths of the sea? He who serves God in knowledge and obedience fears nothing but God. Most wicked barbarian and warrior, you have read the records and seen the punishments of the vanquished, with whom you remain, through whom you also perish. And look into the records of Christ, and see the defense and the aid by which we are saved.

[27] Then Baudus ordered him to be bound hand and foot, placed in a sack, sealed with his own ring, and cast into the open sea at thirty stadia. They did so; and going down, he sealed it with his own ring by his own hands, and came to the seashore to watch the ship in the open water. He is carried away by ship: And when they placed the holy Thyrsus in the ship, a chorus in shining garments was seen with him. The sailors carried out their orders with labor and fear; and they proceeded about twenty stadia, while the Governor waited. And so he returned to his praetorium. When they had completed about thirty stadia, they took the Saint and threw him into the open sea, and immediately his bonds were broken, plunged into the sea, he is freed from his bonds by the Saints, and the chorus of Saints who were with him received him, and he walked as if on the pavement of a basilica, and said: O Lord my God, who accompanied Your servant Moses and saved Your people, but drowned Pharaoh by Your power—save me also, Your servant, from the sea, and plunge Baudus from the depth of his folly into the Tartarus of fire, and let him say that You are God, and with them he walks upon the waters. who has care for Your servants. And immediately, with the holy men who had received him, he was walking upon the waters as if on the pavement of a basilica, all the way to the seashore.

[28] The sailors came in fear, reporting to the Governor and saying: We beseech you, Lord; what you commanded us we have done, and we cast him into the sea. But a chorus of men in splendid garments received him, and praying with them he reached the shore, walking upon the sea as on the pavement of a basilica. Baudus then came to the shore and found the Saint of God in the sack, with the seal intact which he had applied, and he ordered him... and said: Tell the truth, desperate man—how did your sorceries and the sea conspire to deceive men into credulity? By the true gods, I shall not cease torturing you until I overcome your sorceries. Thyrsus replied: By gods I do not swear, for they do not exist, He rebukes the impiety of Baudus. nor do I render them glory; but I swear by the immaculate name of my God. Give them the name that belongs to them, that is, vain idols, unclean demons, whose substance is caused to decay by evil ways. You furious, not sudden, and unclean man—how have you not recognized that the Creator of heaven and earth, who holds all things, cannot be circumscribed by a ring? For all things are sealed with His holy and terrible and glorious name; indeed without Him nothing was made. Blinded one, stiff of neck and uncircumcised of heart, look with your blind eyes and behold the stone, the power of your wooden gods, how they helped your brothers Combricius and Silvanus! And learn from them that they are nothing; and know the mysteries of the earth, which, out of fear of God, does not receive their corpses, but bubbling up has made manifest their flesh and bones to all. Baudus said: Obstinate one, since the gods, being humane, have granted you life and have shown their benevolence—for even the things that are in the underworld are subject to them, and they can, both here and there, avenge themselves—this serves as a lesson to the one who will not sacrifice to them. And you, Thyrsus, if you do not believe, shall both here be severely tortured and there shall suffer punishments fiercely. Thyrsus said: "Into a malevolent soul wisdom shall not enter." Wis. 1:4. You, therefore, both malicious and sacrilegious, friend of all hatred, unjust and hateful to the glory of God, you do not possess such a substance of punishments by which you could overcome my resolve, which abides in Christ; for I am unconquerable. Tell me then, senseless one, why are your disorderly gods not mindful of Cumbricius and Silvanus, who sacrificed to them with great honor? And why did they not help them by their power, as you claim? Why then did the lofty Apollo fall and become dust? Baudus said: They are good, and endure all things. Thyrsus replied: What good have they done, that you should believe in them? Baudus said: I shall no longer judge you by reason, but as a wild beast in wild places I shall have your flesh divided by wild beasts. Thyrsus replied: Do so quickly then; I must conquer this.

b. βαύζειν, "to bark."

CHAPTER VI.

Scourging endured at Caesarea. The wild beasts become tame. The statue of Bacchus overthrown.

[29] Baudus said: Shut him in prison until tomorrow. Led to Caesarea. On the following day the Governor went up to Caesarea and ordered the Saint of God to follow him like a bandit. The people of Caesarea heard that a Just Man had come to the city, and all, leaving the governor, went out to meet him. On account of this the Governor was all the more enraged against the Saint. Having entered the city, by night he ordered him to be brought into the Praetorium, so that he might afflict him with punishments. And when he was being led through by night, the entire city, both Christians and pagans, cried out saying: The Governor has destroyed the Saint and the Just Man! greeted by the citizens: Those entering patiently saluted him. When the Saint came to the Praetorium, he ordered him to be scourged with cords. And when he was being beaten, those who scourged him became exhausted and said: We beseech you, he is beaten with cords. Governor, we have become exhausted before the scourges; for there are men in white garments who strike us with fiery whips. The Governor said: He blinds men by his sorceries. but the executioners are struck from heaven with fiery scourges The most blessed Thyrsus replied: God, giver of heavenly light, Christ the immaculate Savior, who are inseparable from Your servants, hear me as I pray and bring my course to its perfect end; confirm my thoughts, he is freed fulfilling my understanding, and fill Baudus with weariness; and when I have been perfected against the weapons of the adversary, let him grow weak and die by those very weapons. But the Governor, hearing this, laughed and said: Your magic is defeated, Thyrsus. Some of the pagans standing around said to the Governor: Remove him quickly, for many are perishing and have turned away from the sacrifices. But others cried out: Release him, on whom God has had mercy.

[30] The Governor then ordered wild beasts to be hunted and a tower to be built in a desolate place on the mountain; and likewise to be enclosed with boards and nets, so that he might condemn the Just Man there and deliver him to the beasts, that no one might be able to collect even his bones. They carried out the Governor's command in haste over thirty-two days; when these had passed, they reported to the Governor: The work is completed. He then went up with his evil guards to see it. he is led to the temple of Bacchus: Coming and seeing, they were pleased, for they saw the beasts as well. After one day he ordered all to go to the temple of Dionysus to make vows and offer sacrifice. He commanded the holy athlete Thyrsus to come as well, so that if he would consent and sacrifice to the gods, he would release him; but if not, he would be sent up and delivered to the beasts. They performed the sacrifice, and the most blessed Thyrsus came, consoled by many from many quarters; for though he had received very grievous and numerous punishments, he was in no way diminished in body; but rather in those very punishments he drew great confidence, seeing the incorruptible crown prepared for him. Coming, he stood before the Governor. The Governor said to him: Questioned through many terrible torments, Thyrsus, and resisting through your madness and your magical arts, do you think you can prevail? Now, if you turn from your intentions, you shall receive a respite for a few days; come forward and sacrifice, and having become a friend of the Emperor, you shall be received in great glory. Thyrsus said: I am converted, Governor; and to which god do you wish me to sacrifice? Baudus said: To Dionysus. Thyrsus said: Let there be no offense to Apollo against Dionysus, since that one has been shattered. Baudus said: By a pardon of its stability it fell and was shattered. Thyrsus replied: The statue which you called Apollo. Baudus said: Do not bandy words, but come forward and sacrifice. Thyrsus replied: Approaching, I sacrifice to the great God. And all rejoiced at his promise to sacrifice, because he had consented to sacrifice. But approaching the image of Dionysus, raising his eyes to heaven and making a sign with his hands to the people and to the Governor, he said: A rational sacrifice with rational and pure thoughts I ought to offer to a rational God. And having said this, he declared: Glory to You, O God, who reign forever, who instructed the three youths in wisdom through the Holy Spirit, who destroyed the golden image, and overthrew Bel, and killed the dragon, but armed Your servants against the Tyrant; who cast down the lofty things, weak by Your servants, and delivered them to fire instead of a crown of delights. You who are God before the ages, I beseech You through the glory of Your only-begotten Son, the mediator of our life, the guide of truth, the savior of souls: receive my sacrifice, and shatter this immovable and blind and deaf statue which stands for errors, and scatter this senseless pretense, he shatters its statue by his prayers: so that they may see that You are the God who is in heaven; for it is fitting that those who serve You offer a sacrifice without blood. And while he was saying these things, it was shattered, and their sacrifices were scattered, and all fled in terror. Thyrsus alone remained in the temple.

[31] And then the Governor, enraged, ordered his soldiers to bring Thyrsus, so that he might say from what family he was born. When he had come, he is questioned about his homeland and family: the Governor said to him: Tell me, since your magic is incomprehensible, because you have overcome the sea and the air and fire and whatever else there is by your sorceries; tell me then, of what family are you? From what province were you born? The most blessed Thyrsus said: When your gods have been shattered, do you inquire about my family? Let your sacrilegious priests and diviners tell you whence I am. Baudus said: You have covered them all with your sorceries. Thyrsus replied: It has already been told you that no one gives his weapons so as to be conquered by them. Baudus said: Tell me, of what family are you? Thyrsus replied: The beginning of my formation is from God; my province is the same from which you too share a rational substance of intellect; but through the second knowledge, the one who in the beginning persuaded Eve was exiled—you retain this in your testament. I recognized that I had been in error from that time, and through faith I cast out him whose origin in sins I was dragging along.

[32] Baudus ordered the herald to proclaim to all the people that they should go up to the place called Philea, where the preparation of the wild beasts was set against the Saint. he is thrown to the beasts; As all went up, the holy Thyrsus went up rejoicing and saying: "I have chosen the way of Your truth; teach me in Your truth." When they arrived, the countenance of the holy Thyrsus was shining and radiant, so that all marveled. But the wicked, seeing his shining countenance, said to one another: See how his sorceries make him radiant. He ordered him to be placed in the cage that they had prepared for him. But when he entered, he who was alone appeared to be a fourth, and he said: I bless You, almighty God, who by the intelligible power of Your Christ established the mountains and hills, by his prayers and gave growth to all trees, and in their shade gave a dwelling place and refreshment to all the beasts of the forest, so that they too, through the shades of delight, might know and glorify You who are God above all. You who are the searcher of hearts, I invoke Your glory, that You may command these beasts to become gentle through fear of You, so that at least in this way those who oppose may know that You are the One who subjected the lions to Your servant Daniel and destroyed Your adversaries from the abyss; who, when the sea was raging, drowned the fury of the Egyptians, and by holy faith guided Your people through the desert way. And now, O Lord, hasten to the aid of Your servant. And when he said these things, he makes them tame, beasts were released, exceedingly large and powerful. But when they came out, they ran with great fear and stood around him, gazing toward heaven. And he said: O giver of light, merciful God, who gathered the waters into one gathering and walled them with sands, let Your glory come, and sends them back to the forests: and give gentleness to the throats of these beasts, for Your glory and against the unclean Baudus, so that it may be proved that he is more cruel than the wild beasts; and command that they go out and return to their habitations. And when Thyrsus had said these things, he spoke again with the voice of the Lord to the animals, having Christ in his heart: Go to your pastures. And when the beasts heard the voice of the most blessed one, roaring with the sounds of the hunt, they glorified God, and with their tails they rendered homage to the man of God, and going out through the open gate of the wall they harmed no one. But when all were terrified, many raised their voice saying: This man is from God and fears God; and many in that wilderness believed in God through him.

[33] Baudus, defeated, raged against him, seeking how to destroy him. And again he ordered him to be beaten with rods; he is scourged again: and while he was being beaten, he caught the flowing blood from his back in his holy hands, together with pieces of his flesh, and threw them in the face of the pestilential Baudus, saying: This blood, he throws blood and pieces of flesh in Baudus's face: which is shed for the name of God and of His Christ, shall be a testimony against you unto judgment, and shall make you manifest in punishments; first in this world you shall be convicted by your own conscience. Hearing this, he was all the more enraged against him, and ordered him to be scourged more severely. To the onlookers the punishment appeared cruel; but against the reception and aid of God it was nothing, for he was without pain, being guarded by the presence of Angels. nor does he feel pain. Baudus, full of confusion, ordered the scourgers to cease, and commanded him to be led in chains to prison until he should decide what to do with him.

CHAPTER VII.

The contest begun at Apollonia. The martyrdom of S. Callinicus.

[34] On the following day he traveled to Apollonia, and there was a great temple of Apollo there, He is led to Apollonia, which had many and diverse carved images. When Baudus arrived there, he performed sacrifices, and as if glorying in disorderly and accursed things, he had the glorious Just Man brought forth and scourged. And as he was being beaten, he is scourged again, he said in a loud voice: My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. In Him alone do I believe, who separated the darkness and gave the rest of light, who made man in the likeness of the only-begotten God; who subjected the day for prayer and for the glorification of all, who converted the erring and sought out what had been delivered to death. In Him I believe, because what was alien He turned away and cast into the gehenna of fire, because from all punishments He has freed me; and together with your counsels, disorderly dog, He has shattered these carved images, which if left standing, will stand; when they have fallen, they will lie there; for they are deaf and without voice and can do nothing good.

[35] And when he had said these things, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said: By his prayer he inflicts pain on Baudus and terror on the rest: O Prince of those who contend in the arena for the truth, O Christ, exercise Your aid and power, and send through the substance of Angels one who may help Your servant for Your glory. And immediately there came pain upon Baudus, and a great noise arose, so that all trembled. And when two hours had passed, the image of Apollo fell, he casts down the idols. and those of Hercules, Silvanus, and Venus. And as they lay upon the pavement, the holy Thyrsus said to Baudus: Disorderly one, sacrifice to the gods, that they may be raised up, and let me see their foolishness—whether they rise of their own accord and take away your pain. But he, placed in violent pain, did not recognize that the punishments which had come upon him were by the power of God, but cried out, saying: The great god Silvanus punishes me on account of the sorceries of this man.

[36] And while he was speaking these things, many were converted from the madness of idols Many are converted; among them Callinicus, a priest of idols. and became Christians. A certain Callinicus, a priest from the beginning under the Governor Combricius and the Count Silvanus, and also under Baudus himself, had carried out every form of the madness of idolatry, and he himself had devised various punishments against the Saint of God. Approaching Baudus, he said: Most illustrious Governor, he has shattered the great Silvanus, mightier than all the gods, and also the most precious Apollo, and the rest he has struck down by a mere word; even the greatest in power, whom no man could overcome, Hercules, he rebukes the impiety of Baudus: he has seized him and cast him prone upon the ground without a voice, and has prostrated all the rest upon the ground—not by the power of the sword, not by stones, but by the sole substance of the power of his word. He has overcome all punishments, subjected the beasts, slain the judges, and many have been endangered by his confession. Let us therefore go down and see whether Hercules, who fought so great battles, may rise up and destroy him and avenge the other gods whom he has shattered. Baudus said: I am weary; leave me. Callinicus said: I will not approach the one who has fallen by the power of God, lying on the ground without a voice. Baudus said: Have you too been seduced by his sorceries?

[37] Callinicus then cut off the hair of his head and his beard, he shaves himself and removes the garments of his profane priesthood: and stripping off the disordered garments of the sacrifices and taking them up, he came to the Governor and said to him: I have removed, Governor, the things by which the error of idols was wrought. I make known to you that they are nothing, those whom I was serving. Those who did not help themselves, how can they help others? Baudus said: Callinicus, how have you been seduced by those through whom you obtained salvation? You have been supplanted by that sorcerer. Callinicus replied: I have learned from that man that he performs great wonders, and that those whom we were serving are nothing. Why now, wasting so much time, should I serve deaf and mute idols? Now therefore I turn to the one who, appearing through Thyrsus, has done wonders for those who believe in him. Baudus said: Do you also have the power to work miracles, he defends the miracles of S. Thyrsus. just as that sorcerer does? Callinicus replied: He is not a sorcerer, nor does he overcome demons by madness, but in the name of God, who has appointed him to complete his confession. Baudus said: Perhaps you too would have the strength, if subjected to those punishments, to endure similar things. Callinicus replied: I am indeed a pagan, serving in ignorance, sacrificing to wood and stone. But if you wish, Governor, to show your cruelty upon me as well, do what you will; for He who has worked through Thyrsus is able to give me endurance, so that through me you may learn not to blaspheme.

[38] Baudus said: Do not be mad, but speak to the gods, remaining in their sacrifices. Callinicus replied: pretending that he will sacrifice to Aesculapius, I will make a sacrifice to the great Aesculapius, who possesses the arts of medicine, that by helping he may aid you in your necessities. Baudus and those who were with him entered the temple of Aesculapius together with Callinicus, the soldier of Christ. Callinicus said: I sacrifice to the true and living God something new and fresh. And approaching more closely he said: Undefiled, immaculate, unfading God, he invokes God. I have provoked You through my foolishness; I call upon You, who are in heaven, who do wondrous things, who are glorious and terrible, who are full of all goodness. Savior of the world, who through Your holy one Thyrsus show Your works in faith, do not regard the provocation with which I provoked You when I was in my most shameful course; but send Your aid and draw me from the deep pit of filth and from unclean demons and hidden error. Show me that You are the living God, who was, and who is, and confirmed by a divine voice, and who endures forever. And when he had said these things, a voice came from heaven saying: Act manfully, for today you shall be with me. And turning, he said with a loud voice: O God of Thyrsus, help me! And looking upon the statue of Aesculapius, he said: To you I speak, deaf idol—I who only yesterday was wandering in error through you; but now I have come to know the God who is in heaven, who from His hidden treasures has made you an exile, in the name of Christ His Son, who is terrible. Obey me, and make manifest your hidden error to all who trust in you, he overthrows the statue of Aesculapius by a word: and fall down before the feet of the senseless Baudus, your minister, for they are demons. And as he said these things, the earth was shaken, and that great statue of Aesculapius fell. And turning to Baudus, he said: Give your hand to your god, and know that a sorcerer does not conquer, but the living God.

[39] And Baudus, enraged, sent him to prison with the holy Thyrsus. And at dawn, proceeding, he delivered him to a swift death, saying: Be a partaker with that sorcerer Thyrsus. And he sent him to be beheaded. Callinicus prayed, saying: Glory to You and to Your Word, who are on high, who have led me out of error and illuminated my darkness, he is beheaded. and healed my wounds; who by the will of Your goodness have cast death away from me and bestowed upon me Your heavenly life. You, Lord, in peace reckon me with Yourself and with Your chosen one Thyrsus, through whom I have come to know You as the true God. And while he was speaking these things, he was beheaded. And a certain Christian named Acholius received his body.

CHAPTER VIII.

The death of S. Thyrsus at Miletus. His burial.

[40] And immediately Baudus came to the city called Miletus, to inspect the arrangement of the idols; S. Thyrsus is led away to Miletus: for there were many images of demons there. The holy and most blessed Thyrsus followed him. When Baudus was in the city, he considered a place in which to put him to death, and they came to a certain place called Daphne, which is interpreted "Laurel Grove"; and he ordered him to be brought forth to die. But the Saint himself was going up as if to a feast. He is called by a heavenly voice: And behold, a voice from heaven said to him: Thyrsus, great athlete, hasten with joy; the gates of heaven are opened to you. For today you shall be with me, entering into paradise. And when this voice sounded, all heard it, and there was a great multitude that had come up for the natalis of the most Blessed one.

[41] to be sawn asunder, Baudus then ordered a chest to be made and him to be placed in it, so that they might saw him apart. When the chest was made, he was placed in it. Vitalius and Sabinus, as they sawed and began to draw the saw, he is not harmed: were weighed down and became exhausted. Vitalius said: Pull, Sabinus, for the work is heavy. About three hours passed, and they could cut nothing, and their knees gave way from the sawing.

[42] And when they could not prevail, suddenly the chest was opened, and as the holy Thyrsus came out, his heel was caught in the chest, and he said: The fullness of my course, O God my strength, O Christ, who have adorned my care and preserved my concern immaculate: You are the King, the giver of light, the bestower of good treasures. Guard the perfect understanding of my purity, and remove from me the weight of my burden and my anxiety, and receive my soul in peace. A second time he is called by a heavenly voice: And behold, a voice came from heaven saying: Enter, Thyrsus; the gates of the kingdom are opened to you. You have contended for my sake; receive through me your rest, trusting in the bosom of the Fathers, having a crown with all the Saints. He dies: And immediately, glorifying God and saying "Amen," he gave up his spirit. And at once Baudus began to be tortured with most violent pains, and he said: I am tortured on account of the servant of God, and what I have done, this I receive. For Angels were tormenting him.

[43] A certain devout man named Philip asked the Governor for the body of the holy Thyrsus; and receiving it, he placed it carefully in his own tomb, and waited seven days until Bishop Caesarius and Laudicius the Priest should come, and many others, by the Governor's permission, he is buried. who also asked them to go up to the body of the holy Thyrsus to petition on behalf of Baudus, that his soul might depart from his body, for he was being tormented greatly. And they went up together and made a cave, and laid the Martyr of God to rest in peace.

OTHER ACTS

from the MSS. of S. Mary of Ripatorium, and others.

Thyrsus, Martyr in Asia (S.) Leucius, Martyr in Asia (S.) Callinicus, Martyr in Asia (S.) The other XV Martyrs in Asia

BHL Number: 8279

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The martyrdom of S. Leucius. The conversion of S. Thyrsus.

[1] In the times of Decius the great madness of demons had grown strong, and the superstition of the pagans was extensive. Many were sacrificing to demons, but many of them also rejected this, loving and desiring the confession of the Christians, The Governor Combrutius yet under the name of paganism they venerated the God of the Christians in virtue and conduct. For under the pressure of the misery of the pagans, all the judges were inflamed for the destruction of the faithful. A certain Combrutius, a Governor from the family of Claudius, of the province of Africa, a man pestilent in character and devoted above all to the worship of demons, came to the city of Nicomedia and sacrificed there to Jupiter and Silvanus. Departing thence, he came to Apamea and sacrificed there to Jupiter and Apollo. And at dawn he went up to Caesarea and remained there eight days, sacrificing and seducing.

[2] A certain wise man named Leucius approached him and said: S. Leucius rebukes him for sacrificing to idols: Combrutius, why do you rage like an irrational beast, doing things that are irrational? For you sacrifice to gods who are deaf and without sense. Turn, therefore, and know, insane dog, that you provoke Him who made you from nothing, the living God, and you honor the substance of the perdition of demons. By his order he is clawed with hooks: Combrutius, hearing this, was enraged and ordered him to be suspended and torn with hooks. And while he was being tortured, he said in a loud voice: O God who reign forever, who by Your command protect all things, show this senseless Combrutius of evil art that Your ways are true, and all who keep Your law and observe Your precepts You will adorn with an unfading and eternal crown.

[3] And when the torturers who were clawing him became exhausted, he said again to the Governor: Combrutius, he taunts him: behold, your punishments have failed. For I hasten to be perfected in these things and to be made victorious through you. Hasten therefore, pernicious one, and minister of all hostile powers: command greater punishments to be applied to me, that I may be perfected; but you, living in failure, shall be delivered to greater punishments. Combrutius said: Take him down and lead him out to be beheaded. They then took him down from the rack he is beheaded. and led him outside the city to a distance of one stadium, and beheaded him. And when the Governor had learned that his ministers had carried out his command, he remained two days in Caesarea, sacrificing and serving his false gods.

[4] As he was going out through the gate called the Gate of the Hellespont, a certain great athlete named Thyrsus delayed him there, saying: Hail, most illustrious Governor; hear patiently [the athlete Thyrsus, converted by the constancy of S. Leucius, rebukes Combrutius:] what must be said to you by me. The Governor Combrutius said: Hail to you also, friend of the gods; I listen to you gladly. Thyrsus said: The one and true God most high commanded through just men, saying: "The Lord your God you shall worship, and Him alone shall you serve." If therefore He commanded that He alone be served, why do we not cast away these vain and hateful effusions of blood? Deut. 6:23. Combrutius said: Does the worship of the gods then seem vain to you? Thyrsus said: Before I saw you mocked by a Christian placed among torments, I thought the gods and goddesses whose images we worship were something. Combrutius said: You seem to me to speak with great audacity, since I patiently listen to your vanities. Thyrsus said: If I lie, refute me prudently concerning the lie, as befits a judge, so that when I see myself justly convicted I shall not withdraw from the worship of the gods, whom in the passion of S. Leucius I recognized to be vain figments and empty images. Combrutius said: Since you are a pagan, why you should speak Christian words against me I cannot understand. Thyrsus said: In this it is evident that I am rational and you remain irrational and brutish; for although I am, as you yourself assert, a pagan, led by reason I have become a Christian in spirit. Combrutius said: Listen to me. Sacrifice, since you are a pagan, lest you be compelled to perish by an evil death. Thyrsus said: In other matters it can scarcely happen that a man either deceives or is deceived; but how, regarding God or his own mind, a man could deceive or lie to himself, I altogether fail to see.

[5] Combrutius said: You talk too much. But Thyrsus replied: I do not talk too much, but I speak the truth; for he who talks too much does not speak the truth. Combrutius said: And how is it not true that the gods we worship exist? Thyrsus replied: Have you not heard the Christians saying to you: "The gods he mocks the gods of the nations. who did not make heaven and earth—the God who made heaven and earth has commanded that they perish from His earth"? Does it not seem just to you that these should not reign in another's domain, and that He should reign, He should hold the sovereignty, whether in heaven or on earth or in the sea, who made those things and all that is in them? But let these be driven hence, and if they have made anything for themselves, let them go where they may be—beyond this heaven and this earth—if indeed they have feet with which to walk, and let them be worshipped there where they recognize their own creation. But I hold that He is to be worshipped in whose house we are, and that God whose servants we are acknowledged to be, even if we are unwilling, and are compelled to confess. Combrutius said: I will not endure your talkativeness. Thyrsus added: Do what you will; for I am prepared to die for the truth.

CHAPTER II.

The various torments of S. Thyrsus under the Governor Combrutius.

[6] Then Combrutius ordered him to be beaten with leaden weights. And while he was being beaten, he said to him: He is beaten with leaden weights: You who crowned a man for striking others, now you beat one who confesses God. Strike this body which has struck many bodies; let it receive what it gave, so that the soul may be freed from the guilt of the blows and injuries which I inflicted when I strove to please insane men. Combrutius said: I shall deal with you with harsher scourges. To this Thyrsus replied: Your punishments do not terrify me, for they are temporal; for I have already learned to fear Him whom I have recognized will inflict eternal punishments upon unbelievers—punishments which, as far as I can see, you will not escape.

[7] Combrutius was so moved with anger that he ordered his legs to be broken. His legs are broken: When this was done, he was diminished neither in the strength of his body nor in the strength of his speech. And as though Thyrsus himself had weakened, Combrutius began to say: You yourself caused this to happen to you. To which Thyrsus said: Most foolish one, without understanding, having neither eyes of the senses nor of the intellect—for you do not notice that your torturers have become exhausted, and the torments which are thought to be inflicted on me he mocks Combrutius: return upon you. While you are cut to pieces in spirit, and while these men have consumed their strength in my destruction, I, having invoked the name of Christ, exercise the laughter of the mind both at you and at them. Combrutius said: Shameless athlete, anointed with sorceries, even until he is gnawed by dogs when dead, he will not be silent. To which Thyrsus replied: You have spoken truly, though you did not wish to. For I have an invisible anointer who has made me his true athlete; from the moment he saw me wrestling with you, until I conquer you and receive the crown, he vivifies and strengthens me with his invisible anointing. Behold, I already laugh at you and at your master. Combrutius said: Who is my master? Thyrsus said: The Devil, whose will you strive to fulfill.

[8] Combrutius said: Let the thumbs of his feet and hands be bound with slender cords, he is suspended by thin cords: and let him hang from them; and let him be so tortured until his bones are emptied of marrow. When this had been done, Thyrsus said to him: Hasten, most wicked one, to vex me with greater punishments for the confession of the holy name; for our fight should not be light, in which I shall overcome you, anointed with the unction of Christ. Combrutius said to him: Since you are not a Christian, the Christians shall not have you as a Martyr. And Thyrsus replied: Foolish and vain man! Christ made me a Martyr from that hour in which I began to cry out testimony to His divinity amid torments. For just as if someone becomes a Christian but does not believe in Christ, it is vain that he has become a Christian; so also if someone cannot become a Christian openly and comes to suffering, to unbelieving men he may seem not to be a Christian, but before God he is a true Christian. For if I were not already a true Christian, Christ Himself would have abandoned me as not His own; but since He already acknowledges me as His own, He defends, aids, and invisibly imparts strength to me against your punishments. I shall conquer the prince of your warfare, Satan, with whose substance you are clothed.

[9] Then he ordered his eyelids to be torn out with sharp hooks. Then Thyrsus said in a clear voice: his eyelids are torn out: You have disfigured my face before men, but before God it has been made beautiful. My bodily eyes have been injured; the eyes of my soul have been illuminated better than they were. With these eyes which you have injured, I used to see; but over those eyes by which God is seen, no power is granted to you. Be confounded, wretch, be confounded! Where are the forces of your wickedness? With those eyes by which I conquer you—that is, the eyes of the mind—God is seen by them, faith is held by them, and by them I shall taunt you until I reach the heavenly crown. For if I could not be conquered in the theater, how much less shall I be conquered in the contest of Christ, fighting for an eternal crown? Hearing this, Combrutius sighed and said: By the gods and goddesses I swear, I shall waste you with various punishments; for I am cut apart and rent asunder that, though you are a pagan, you suppose yourself to suffer for God. Thyrsus, hearing this, smiled and said to him: You therefore inflict punishments on me so that I may grieve; Christ therefore does not allow me to grieve, so that I may mock you. As many times as you change the torments against me, so many times shall I make sport of you. Behold now, most wretched one, though you are a persecutor of Christians, you have become a preacher: for you assert that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ is so great that He deigns not only not to repel even me, a pagan and not yet baptized, when I approach to confess His name, but also to help me in all things.

[10] Then Combrutius ordered his arms also to be beaten against an iron bar, so that his bones might be broken to pieces. And while this was being done, he raised his face to heaven, his arms are ordered to be broken: and giving thanks to God he remained unchanged; so that no signs of either fear or pain could be discerned in him. He moved and wielded his bruised arms in such a way as to make it manifest to all that he felt no pain. The torturers had become exhausted, the executioners had yielded, the attendants, fatigued, could no longer move their hands. But Thyrsus, the witness of Christ, laughing he taunts Combrutius: and insulting Combrutius, said: Most wretched one, I see that you are now weary; all observe that your ministers have failed. If the gods had any power, they would weary me even without torturers. But since you have failed while I endure indefatigably, it is established that you are without God and that your gods have no power whatsoever.

[11] Combrutius said: Who taught you these words you speak? Thyrsus said: God. Combrutius said: he shows that he has been taught by God what he speaks: Then God has spoken with you? To this Thyrsus replied: Holy men have often spoken these words with me, which have freed my soul from the darkness of ignorance. Combrutius said: Say then that a man taught you, and not God. Thyrsus said: But those to whom God spoke testify that it is He Himself who speaks to those who believe the truth; and therefore I said that I learned from God. Combrutius said: Behold, you were not able to prove that what you say is true; how then could you have learned the truth? Thyrsus said: I spoke the truth, and they taught me the truth. Combrutius said: You lied. For you said you were taught by God, yet afterwards you said you were instructed by men. Thyrsus said: The orders which are carried out by the Emperor through you—are they true or not? Combrutius said: They are true. Thyrsus said: If then concerning a man, equal to you and to me and to the rest of men, you say that he does what you do, that he commands what you command—how much more is it true what I said, that God spoke to me, when through His saints I affirm that what was told to me was God speaking to me?

[12] Combrutius said: Do you dare with your sacrilegious mouth to equate the Emperor Augustus, the Lord of all things, with liars? Thyrsus said: Just as I showed that I spoke truly by the comparison of the Emperor, he shows that the Emperor is not the Lord of all things: when you said that he commands when you command, he condemns when you condemn, he rules when you rule—so now, if you can, teach me that he is the Lord of all things, as you yourself said. Combrutius said: Is he then not the Lord of all things? Thyrsus said: If he is the Lord of all things, let him command the winds, let him give some order to the sun, let him impose some laws upon the stars. Combrutius said: I call him the lord of all things that are under heaven. Thyrsus said: Then let him command the birds, let him command the flies not to be troublesome to men or beasts; let him command the frogs not to make noise; let him command at least the mice not to gnaw the property of others. Combrutius said: I am speaking with you about an earthly kingdom, that the Emperor is an earthly god. Thyrsus said: Well then, if he is an earthly god, let him command the earth not to bring forth serpents and scorpions, not to produce thorns and thistles for the Roman world, but let roses bloom everywhere, and let it produce the whiteness of lilies; let it encircle the forests with vine branches and adorn the groves with clusters of grapes; let it give fertile harvests and open veins of springs in dry places. Combrutius said: Now you have begun to practice your magic art; the art itself has begun to expose you. Thyrsus said: The Holy Spirit speaks to you through my mouth, so that you might at least in this way be ashamed, wretch, or at least in this way repent; for He is merciful and pardons all crimes and wicked deeds of those who turn to Him in faith. Combrutius said: See with what great vanity you are led, that the Emperor, whom I call the Lord of all, you say cannot even command the frogs. Thyrsus said: If you had called him the lord of all evils, I would have found nothing to say against it; but since you called him the Lord of all things under heaven, I wished to show that he is so far from being Lord that he cannot command even the mice or the flies. Combrutius said: I called him the Lord of all in the sense that he can command all men. Thyrsus said: He commands all men—but not the Saints. Combrutius said: Is it not enough for you that you do not sacrifice? indeed, not even over all men. Must you also attack the sovereignty of the Augustuses? Thyrsus said: I have attacked and I do attack the sovereignty of your Augustuses; for they who cannot command me, a sinful man—what saint can they command? Whence I also convict you of being a liar in this, that he cannot be Emperor of all men.

a. Variant: "euerti."

CHAPTER III.

Drenched with molten lead, and ordered to be cut to pieces, he remains whole and unharmed.

[13] Combrutius said: Everyone who does not obey the command of the Augustuses must be put to death with the most severe punishments. Fearless before every kind of torment, Thyrsus said: Let it be known to you that my honors are increased before God when pains are multiplied in my members. Therefore, that I may be more honored, devise new, unheard-of, and many torments; for by just judgment I ought both to be tortured and punished, because I did not believe before, and through so many years of my life I did not know that Christ was my life. Whom, although as a runaway slave and tardily, as soon as I began to confess, He provides me with such cause for laughter at you, that I may laugh at you, and at your father the devil, and at your most impious kings, and at your most wretched ministers, who can do nothing more. While they work for my destruction, they immediately fall into their own ruin. I, however, having been made an athlete of Christ, suddenly throw down your wrestlers, and with the fists of my mind I strike the fists of your minds; with my heels I overcome your heels. I shall cast you down like dust before the face of the wind, and like the mud of the streets I shall blot you out; for I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. Combrutius said: And who is it who strengthens you? For now it shall appear who strengthens you. Thyrsus said: Unhappy man, you prophesy and do not know it; for truly, as you say, He will appear now. For He will appear in His aid over me.

[14] Hearing this, Combrutius began to pant, and despite his resistance, to show signs of his inner agitation. Meanwhile he ordered lead to be melted stretched on an iron bed, and poured over his bare back. Then he was stretched on an iron bed, and before his eyes, in an iron vessel placed over coals, the molten lead was prepared as ordered; for he thought he could be bent by this terror. He also commanded all those around him to exhort him, saying: he laughs at the proposed torments: Have pity on yourself and sacrifice. But the Governor himself too, swearing by the gods and goddesses, said: If you sacrifice, I shall take care of you and you shall be safe. Then he, just as he was stretched out, said in a loud voice: Hear me, you who are wise; hear me, you who behold these punishments and are afraid. A river of fire, running and stagnant, mixed with sulphur and pitch, is promised to you; perpetual fire is promised; and you will not believe in Christ? But should I, on account of a brief delay and the force of molten lead, abandon my Christ and return to idols, like a dog to his own vomit? But how is it that you, even more wretched and unhappy, Combrutius, do not fear the eternal fire, into which, once you have been cast, you will never find an end of its burning? And having said this, he cried out, saying: I invoke You, Lord Jesus Christ, who said: "According to your faith be it done to you" Matt. 9:29; let this lead become for me the refreshment of water. And since I have not been bathed from Your font, when I am bathed with this lead, let it become a font for me who confess You; but for those who deny You, let it leap forth in the spirit of burning.

[15] he is drenched with molten lead, unharmed: While he was saying these and similar things, they lifted the vessel boiling with lead and poured it from his shoulders over his entire back down to his lower parts. But as soon as it was poured over him, it leapt up from him and spattered all around, over the heads and faces of those who had poured it, so that it left none of those standing around Combrutius unharmed; but like a powerful whirlwind, many of the attendants are injured as it boils over. by the will of God it inflicted the brand of its heat upon all the unbelievers. Whence it happened that some, emitting a most hideous howl, were brought even to the point of death; others, prostrated on the ground, blasphemed both Caesar and his gods.

[16] But Thyrsus, the Martyr of God, shaking himself off from the bed, rose up unharmed, as if he had slept sweetly upon it. And standing with his hands extended toward heaven and his face raised, he said: I give thanks to You, invisible God, who are perceived by the mind; who asks for lesser things and grants greater; Thyrsus rises and gives thanks to God. who has deigned to receive me, a wretched man and the least of sinners and the unrighteous, among Your saints; and has caused me, who never knew Your will nor did it, to be reckoned among those who, obeying Your will, faithfully kept Your law. But Combrutius, seeing him exulting in the Lord and boldly insulting him, while his own ministers, cruelly burned by the lead and half dead, were rolling on the ground, was tormented in spirit, and gnashing his teeth, he returned the bellowing and roaring of his heart. And rising up, he cried out saying: This condemned man conquers us by open sorceries. Thyrsus said: O deep and dark devil, administrator of scandals, sewer of unfaithfulness, unlearned, without shame, without modesty, without nobility, without truth, and most deceitful demon, who considers the grace of God to be sorceries, who calls the light of Christ darkness!

[17] Then Combrutius called his servants to him and said: Pity me, for I am dying. he is ordered to be cut to pieces. This sorcerer enervates my entire administration, he blasphemes the gods, he makes nothing of our Caesars and Augustuses; he says they are nothing, that they have absolutely no power; he insults the laws as well; he reproaches me, and contrary to the laws worships and praises Christ alone. His servants say to him: And what do you command us to do? Combrutius says to them: Let one of you go and cut him apart like a pig, and opening his belly, let him pour out his entrails. Immediately one of his servants rushed at him, One who attempts this strikes the wall instead of him. drawing his sword from its sheath, and tried to strike him; but when the point of the sword was driven with the full force of his arms into the wall, the entire blade was so shattered and broken that it seemed not to be an iron sword but a glass one. Then the chief officer Casperius said to Combrutius: It is not lawful according to the laws for anyone to strike or torture him except the official executioners. Therefore order your servants to withdraw; especially since the one who went to strike him, blinded by divine will, saw the wall as a man and shattered the iron with which he had tried to strike him. What if you should command another, and it should seem to him that he is striking the prisoner, but he should approach you yourself or kill one of us?

[18] when an earthquake occurred, Then Combrutius went to the Count and, taking soldiers from him, they decided to cut him into small pieces. The soldiers entered and put chains around his neck, arms, hands, and feet. But when they drew their swords to cut him to pieces, suddenly an earthquake broke out in that place, and the earth began to rumble. Then the soldiers, falling on their faces, were greatly afraid, and fleeing from that place together with Combrutius himself, they left Thyrsus alone in his chains. and when his bonds were loosed by divine power, Then the Saint prayed that his bonds might be loosed; and immediately the iron bonds fell away from him. And standing, the Martyr began to pray with outstretched hands. Those who had remained from the official staff came to him, took him away, and shut him up in prison in a place shrouded in darkness, he is thrown into prison. as in a pit, horrible with mire and filth; into which they violently thrust him and left him.

CHAPTER IV.

Baptism divinely procured. The statue of Apollo shattered.

[19] But as he stood in that mire, he merited the visitation of Angels; He is visited by Angels: and where there had been darkness, a divine light shone forth; and where there was no voice of human consolation, a divine voice resounded, saying: Thyrsus, be steadfast, trust in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. confirmed by a heavenly voice, And the host of Angels was shown to him. And as he beheld such wonders and trembled, one of the Angels of God came to him and said: Do not be afraid; but go and present yourself to the holy Bishop of God, so that through him you may become a friend of God, for whose name you will attain the crown. With exceeding reverence Thyrsus replied: he is led to Bishop Phileas, How shall I go and present myself to the holy man of God, when I am bound in fetters, and all the bolts of the prison are closed; and even if they were open so that I could go out, I would not know where to seek him? Then the Angel said to him: These bonds have bound you to the love of God, and these bolts have opened to you the kingdom of heaven; in the meantime, your bonds are loosed until you are reborn in Christ. Walk now and follow me, and I will show you where the Bishop of Christ, Phileas, perseveres day and night in prayer and in the praises of God.

[20] Then Thyrsus followed him and came to the Bishop, and knocking at the door of the one who was praying, he said: Holy servant of God, to whom Angels bear testimony of holiness, open to me, for I have renounced the devil and all his idols, and amid torments I have confessed Christ the Son of God; but I have not yet tasted from His table. Hearing this, the man of God understood that these things were happening from God, and the report of the Blessed Thyrsus had already frequently reached his ears. Immediately he opened to him. Thyrsus briefly explained to him who had loosed him and led him there, and that the guide was waiting outside to lead him back, once baptized, to the place from which he had brought him. Then the man of God, the Bishop, having instructed him in the mysteries of God, baptized him, he is baptized, confirmed, and refreshed with the holy Eucharist, sealed him, confirmed him, and refreshed him with both spiritual and bodily food; and anointing him entirely with the divine chrism, he said: Go forth, athlete of the Lord; your Emperor sits with all your friends and awaits your contests. Fight the good fight, for you have already become a hundredfold stronger than you were. If when you were not yet anointed you could not be cast down, how much more, now that you are holy and enlightened, will you seize the victory? And saying this and blessing him, he led him to the door. When it was opened, the holy Bishop Phileas saw before it the light he is led back to the prison. by which Thyrsus had come and by which he returned again. And he entered stronger, more vigorous, and more sound; and worshipping the Lord in mind and body, he felt the chains which he had laid aside applied about him once more.

[21] Around that time Combrutius went to a certain Silvanus, a Persian citizen, deceitful and most wicked, a son of Satan, who had received the prefecture for the sole purpose of seeking out those who walked in the way of Christ and killing them by various cruelties. He is brought before the Count Silvanus and Combrutius: When Combrutius told him about Thyrsus, the servant of God, Silvanus ordered him to be brought bound before his eyes. Sitting in the forum with the most wicked Combrutius publicly, he said to him: Desperate one, enemy of all the serenity of the gods, why do you not sacrifice to the great gods? Thyrsus said: To which gods? Silvanus said: To Jupiter the omnipotent, Juno, Minerva, Apollo, and the other gods, by whose benevolence the world is governed. Thyrsus said: You do not know who it is that governs the world. As for those whom you have named, if you truly think so, their worship has ceased; for they are dead and, cast into Tartarus, they pay the penalty for their crimes. But if you think their images should be worshipped, he mocks the idols: the images themselves cannot govern the world, because they themselves are governed by iron clamps, lead, and stone. They cannot guard you, because they themselves are guarded by dogs, lest perchance they be seized by thieves.

[22] Silvanus said: Tell me, Thyrsus—were your parents worshippers of the gods, or not? Thyrsus said: What is worse, he shows that in matters of religion one should not always follow one's parents: they were idolaters. Silvanus said: Then be what your parents were. Thyrsus said: If our parents had gout, or arthritis, or were blind, do we wish to be—what our parents were—feeble or crippled or blind? Since therefore we do not accept the infirmities of their bodies, why should we accept the languor of their souls, when it is better to accept bodily weakness than to find the damnation of the soul? For the body, whether it be healthy, its health shall cease; or whether it be weak, it shall come to an end. But the soul, if according to the quality of its deeds it shall begin to lament or to rejoice, this shall have no end.

[23] Then Silvanus led the unconquered and resisting most blessed Thyrsus into the temple, he is led into the temple of Apollo: where there stood an image of Apollo made of crystal, polished by mechanical craft, and he said to him: Who would not revere and worship such a god? Thyrsus said to him: If you should find an Apollo of clay, or plaster, or wood, would he not be a god? But this one, because he is of crystal, is a god? By which reasoning it follows that, according to your judgment, divinity is to be weighed by the merit of the material and not by the power of works. Silvanus said to him: Enough of words; worship Apollo the great god and render the sacrifice due to him. Thyrsus said: I worship indeed, but the great God, not Apollo. And Silvanus: In the meantime, worship Apollo who is present, and pour a libation to him; and afterwards you may honor whichever other you wish—whether the most mighty Hercules, or Jupiter the omnipotent, or Mercury the wise; for now, in the meantime, worship this one. Thyrsus said: It would not be advantageous for your god Apollo if I were to worship him. Silvanus said: You worship him, and it will be advantageous for you. Thyrsus said to him: You see that you are compelling me to worship him. ordered to worship him, he by his prayers casts down and shatters the statue. Then stretching out his hands toward heaven he said: God of truth, grant to me Your servant that this falsehood may fall before my feet and be turned to fragments, so that at least in this way they may understand that God cannot dwell in images. While he was still speaking, behold, Apollo fell and shattered into pieces, and a great outcry arose, so that the entire city of Caesarea was stirred and came flooding with people; for the image that had been destroyed was more precious than gold. Then the most blessed Thyrsus, gathering its fragments, said to the people: Citizens of Caesarea, hear me, the least and most wretched, who am not worthy to be named or called a servant of Christ. If Apollo were a god, these fragments would not have come from him. I did not touch him, nor did I tie a rope around his little statue; at the mere invocation of my Lord Jesus Christ he fell and perished. He therefore who could not come to his own aid—how will he be able to bring aid to you?

CHAPTER V.

He is variously tortured by order of Silvanus and Combrutius. Their death.

[24] He is severely stretched, bound with chains, Meanwhile, with some crying out against him and others weeping, Silvanus, inflamed with rage, orders him to be forcibly stretched by chains on each hand and each foot in a fourfold extension through pulleys, so that the sinews of his hands and feet would almost be torn apart. Then Thyrsus raised his voice, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, break my bonds, which burst of their own accord: that I may sacrifice to You a sacrifice of praise. And immediately the chains were broken, as though they were spider's threads, and rising up he began to bless the Lord. Then Silvanus cried out and said: What are these sorceries of yours that have overthrown a god and broken bonds? Thyrsus said: If your idols have eyes and do not see, you who have eyes and do see—why do you not understand that these are not sorceries but the power of God?

[25] Then Silvanus ordered a vat to be filled with water, and with his head submerged, his feet were to be bound upward, he is ordered to be scourged with his head immersed in water: and the middle part of his body which was above the water was to be beaten with scourges. But when they bound his feet and put his head in the vat, and were about to pour in the water, it came apart from its hoops and staves, as if it had been cut with axes, and was so reduced to pieces but the vessel breaks apart. that there was nothing that could be fitted even for kindling.

[26] Then Silvanus ordered him to be thrown headlong from a section of the wall. About to be hurled from a high structure onto swords, he is lifted up by Angels: But as soon as he was thrown down, he was raised above the wall by an invisible hand; and although the width of the wall was not even one cubit, he began to walk upon it and to sing praises to God with a loud voice. Hearing this and seeing the wonders of God, Silvanus did not understand, but attributed these things to magic arts. Then a certain Vitalicus, an extreme pagan, so to speak, approached the Prefect Silvanus after Vitalicus was cut to pieces, and asked him, saying: Allow me to go up to him. Then machines were set up; and Vitalicus, ascending to him, said: Today I shall make you lay aside all your sorceries. But after he had climbed up, he thought he could stand upon the wall just as the Martyr of God was standing there. But placing his foot on the other side of the wall upon a sharp rock, he fell, and beheld the brains of his own head before he expired. And by the will of God, Thyrsus, as if descending along a level surface, he descends unharmed. came to the place where Silvanus was standing; and rebuking him, he said: Understand, unhappy ones, the power of my God Jesus Christ; for I am spared for this reason, that seeing the power of God, you may believe that He is the God who delivers those who believe in Him.

[27] But Silvanus heard these things as a deaf adder, stopping its ears; and, constrained by excessive grief over the death of Vitalicus, he ordered Thyrsus to be more strictly consigned to the custody of the prison, while he devised some new and unheard-of torments by which the servant of God might be exhausted. And calling Combrutius to himself, he said: It is necessary for us to set out for Apamea. What then shall we do about this ill-fated Thyrsus? Combrutius replied: Wherever we go, let us order him to be led with us in chains through the cities, so that for the terror of the Christians, while he is afflicted with torments in each city, He is loaded with heavy chains to be paraded about: the rest may be corrected. On the day they were about to depart, they ordered the holy Thyrsus to be brought; and sitting together on the tribunal in the forum, they ordered new chains to be placed before him, having an iron collar and iron manacles, weighing a hundred pounds of iron. And they said to him: Either sacrifice, or we shall load you with these chains, and wherever we go through the cities, we shall have you wasted by new torments for the destruction and terror of all Christians. Thyrsus, raising his face to heaven, said steadfastly: I give thanks to You, Lord, because through many cities I shall confess Your name. And turning to them, he said: Know that I rejoice in these bonds; but you are to be punished by the judgment of God. For just as you both consent to act against God, so you both shall feel His eternal indignation, that all the wicked and unbelieving may know that Christ is God, who reigns with His Father and with the Holy Spirit, he is beaten with clubs. forever and ever, Amen. Hearing this, they ordered him to be beaten with clubs; and placing the aforesaid chains upon him, they set out from Caesarea to Apamea.

[28] On the third day Silvanus was seized by a sudden fever, so that from the ends of his knees to the soles of his feet he felt his limbs dead; Silvanus is seized with illness: and though still living, he proved himself half dead. His soul was so dead that he could not recognize that he was suffering these things on account of the man of God; nor could it come to his memory that these things had been foretold to him by the man of God. Hearing this, Combrutius, soon Combrutius as well. learning that Silvanus lay in a litter suffering these things, dismounted from his horse and got into the litter to console him. And when he said to him, "May the gods be gracious to you, and may the great god Aesculapius heal you," suddenly he too was seized by the immensity of griping pains and internal agony; and both, lying side by side, began to be tortured with unbearable affliction. Seeing them, one named Viator, the Assessor of Silvanus, suffering these things, trembled; and descending from the litter and mounting his horse, he said to them: May the gods visit you, and may the great Aesculapius restore you to health. And having said this, he fled on his horse as if he too were about to be seized with the same pain unless he averted the evil by swift flight. The mule-driver therefore hastened, striking the mules with his whip, that they might reach the city more quickly. The notables of the city came out to meet them, and the people offered the customary honors to the entering judges; they are carried to Apamea: but they observed them in astonishment, groaning and bellowing with pain. They were barely set down by the hands of their servants and, placed on blankets, were carried on separate beds to their lodgings.

[29] Doctors came, and the pestilential priests of the idols also approached; and while some anointed them, others sacrificed on their behalf, remedies and consolations applied in vain, others murmured incantations and spells about their limbs, and others vainly bound scarlet cloth about their painful parts—they were tormented more fiercely and tortured more violently in each of their limbs. Combrutius bellowed, and Silvanus, as if in antiphon, howled after his bellowing. There was no speech in them, nor could they say what they saw and felt; for the angels of Tartarus had already received power over them, and before their souls were snatched away to punishments, their bodies had begun to endure torments. Both endured these things for four days; they die. on the fifth day they breathed out their wretched spirits.

[30] Because of the stench, no embalmer could approach where their bodies lay to bury them. Combrutius lay completely as if burned by fire, and Silvanus, as though his body had been dead seven days, was teeming with worms. the earth rejects their bodies: Meanwhile their bodies were barely wrapped in coarse, rough blankets, so that the stench might be contained with them. But even wrapped, bound, and brought to the graves, when placed in the earth they were rejected from burial. A violent and disease-bearing stench exhaled from them, infecting the air, and at length a plague followed. Then some went to the man of God, Thyrsus, where he was in chains, and said to him: While you are being avenged by your God, our region is being infected with disease, and a pestilence has arisen from their stench, because the earth does not receive them. Then the holy Thyrsus said: when the aid of S. Thyrsus is implored, they are buried. I believe in the only Son of God that, so that all of you may be freed from the disease, today the earth will receive them. After this word of the man of God, they were received by the earth in eternal death.

CHAPTER VI.

Twice snatched from death under Baudus at Apamea. The statue of Bacchus overthrown.

[31] Baudus succeeds Combrutius. When these things had transpired, after some days the successor of Combrutius arrived, named Baudus, who sacrificed to the gods. When he entered Apamea, on the following day, examining all the acts of his predecessor, he came to the endurance of the most blessed Thyrsus; and reading in the records the punishments he had endured, he said: I am amazed if this man persists against the wishes of the gods. And wishing to appease the gods, he made the passion of S. Thyrsus his first order of business. Having prepared his tribunal in the forum, he orders Thyrsus brought before him: the next morning he publicly ordered Thyrsus to be presented before him. As he sat on the tribunal, the Saint of God was brought before him, joyful, strong, and robust. Baudus, examining him, said: What the records testify is one thing; what his appearance indicates is another. And turning to the staff, he said: You have kept him well-fed, he marvels at finding him so strong and whole: not confined in chains? When all told him that Thyrsus both despised food and, remaining day and night in chains, proclaimed Christ with his praises, Baudus said: The omnipotent gods therefore strive to keep you alive, so that living long you may be more frequently scraped with hooks, beaten with clubs, and vexed with new blows by repeatedly renewed torture. Wherefore, if you wish to have mercy on yourself, I advise you to sacrifice to the gods, so that what remains of your flesh need not perish. Thyrsus said: I pity you, because you follow in the footsteps of your predecessors, and shall share the lot of those whose deeds you pursue.

[32] Baudus said: I shall have you thrown into the depths of the sea, since all punishments, as far as I have learned, have now been exhausted upon you. Thyrsus taunts him: Thyrsus said: It is to you that descent into the depths of Tartarus is owed, and therefore you threaten me with the depths, because you yourself lie entirely in the depths. Baudus said: Most vile dog, do you dare to speak to me with such insolence, when I have such power over you that I could tear apart each of your limbs? Thyrsus said: "Baudus" is the name of a barking dog; I shall bear you patiently as a barking dog, and I shall laugh at you as I laughed at your predecessors. bound and enclosed in a sack, he is thrown into the sea: Then Baudus, enraged, ordered him to be bound with hempen cords by hands and feet, compressed in a sack which he sealed with his ring, and placed in a boat. He ordered him to be carried into the middle of the sea and thrown in there. When this had been accomplished, Angels of God were seen receiving him and bringing him back to land with praises of God. he is carried unharmed to the shore by Angels: The sailors who had sent him out, bound, sealed, and enclosed, came and saw him free in the midst of the holy Angels on the shore, singing praises to God and giving thanks for His wonders.

[33] When the Judge Baudus heard what had happened, he went to the shore and ordered him to be seized, saying to him: What are these sorceries of yours that make even the sea itself subject to you? Thyrsus said: Listen, fool. The God whom I confess and believe and worship and preach is the very one who long ago cast your predecessor Pharaoh with his arms and chariots he rebukes Baudus: and horses and armies into the deep. There he awaits you, where your place is with those who have taken up arms against God. But my portion is with those who were freed from the waves of the sea in such a way that they sang a hymn to God: "Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You?" Consider therefore, wretch, that your gods are more wretched than you, and can come to the aid neither of themselves nor of you, their worshippers. Baudus said: The gods in their mercy free you from blows and afflictions and from the sea for this reason—that you might sacrifice to them; for they do not wish you to be subjected to worse torments in the underworld. For if you do not sacrifice to them, you shall be subjected here to atrocious punishments and there to yet more bitter ones. Thyrsus said: Wretch and most ignorant one, it would be better for you to bite off your tongue than to allow it to speak such abominations against God.

[34] thrown to the beasts, he is not harmed. Then Baudus, enraged, ordered the hunters to take the wild beasts which they were preparing for public spectacles, weaken them with a three-day fast, open the cages within the place where the cages were, and release Thyrsus naked and bound among them; there were nine bears and six leopards. When the servant of God had been delivered to them, they gently and softly gnawed away only the bonds with which he was tied, but his flesh, as if anointed with oil, they licked with their tongues, and they seemed both to take refreshment for themselves and to provide comfort to the servant of God. The next day in the morning, Baudus, looking through the window, saw him walking about as if among Maltese puppies, and blessing the Lord; and the wretch would not attribute this to the goodness of God, but partly ascribed it to fate and partly to human trickery. He became "like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding."

[35] Finally he ordered him to be removed from there and led to the temple of Dionysus, he is led to the temple of Bacchus: beaten with rods, and compelled to sacrifice. Summoning his entire staff, he also ordered them all to force him not to refuse sacrifice to Dionysus. To them Thyrsus said: Now I will sacrifice to the god Dionysus. Hearing this, they rejoiced, and bringing him before the idol, they thought he wanted to take the censer and worship the vain little statue. But Thyrsus, the man of God, stretching out his hands to the Lord, said: Lord Jesus Christ, who are seen by the heart and perceived by the mind, send me Your Angel who shattered the image of Apollo, that he may also break this one into such small pieces that there shall be nothing of it that can be either gathered or held. When he had completed his prayer, he said to Baudus: Listen to me, Baudus. by his prayer he overthrows the statue: Apollo, to whom your brothers led me, was fragile, being of crystal; but this one is strong and cast in bronze. Lest Apollo therefore think the insult was done to him alone, for his consolation, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, behold, this one too shall fall entirely and shall shatter into such particles that there will be nothing of it that can be either smelted or fused again. And when he had said this, behold, that enormous statue fell from its height together with its base and so shook the whole temple that, as everyone fled together with Baudus himself, the man of God alone remained in the temple. And taunting the unbelievers, he gave thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ.

[36] Then Baudus began to inquire of him, saying: Most desperate of men, tell me your family. Thyrsus said: he shows that this is not done by magic power. When your gods have been shattered, do you seek my family? Baudus said: You have confounded all by your sorceries, bestowed upon you by I know not what magic powers. Then Thyrsus said: No one lends his weapons to be conquered by them. Baudus said: And who is the one of whom you say, "No one lends his weapons to be conquered by them"? Thyrsus said: In your idols the devil reigns, and in your sorceries the devil fights; how could the devil grant me the power to overthrow himself and his kingdom through me? Baudus said: Tell me your family. Thyrsus said to him: One thing was granted to me from the earth, another from heaven. What is from the earth is what you see yourself tormenting for a time; but what is from heaven is what you can neither touch nor see. Therefore, since Baudus had been confuted by the man of God in the sight of the people, he began to gnash his teeth violently, and ordering him to be bound again in chains and taken back to prison, he considered by what punishments he might cause him to perish.

CHAPTER VII.

The interrogation held at Apollonia. The conversion of S. Callinicus.

[37] On the following day, therefore, unable to bear the shame of his confusion, he set out for Apollonia, He is led to Apollonia: in which city an enormous temple of Apollo was to be seen, filled with various carved images and full of idols, to which Baudus sacrificed and prayed that he might be able to overcome Thyrsus, his despiser. Wishing therefore to avenge the wrongs of his humiliation, he is beaten with scourges: he ordered him to be beaten with scourges. And when he had been beaten, blood flowed from his sides, which blood the man of God caught in his hand and said to Baudus: Listen, Baudus. This blood which you shed also redounds to my glory; but for you it will result in everlasting destruction. Therefore, if you wish to escape, believe that Christ is God, so that you may be freed from perpetual punishments and eternal torments.

[38] Then Baudus had him stretched in four directions on pulleys in the temple of Apollo, where, he is stretched on pulleys. as has been said, there were many idols. And he said to him: Behold, my gods insult you; but who will be able to help you so that you do not suffer these things? But Thyrsus replied and said: My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth; who has freed me from all punishments, He also will command you, insane dog, to be beaten with the rods of His justice, and will dash down all these carved images which are made by the art of man.

[39] As Baudus feels enormous pain, the temple is shaken; While Thyrsus was saying these and similar things, an excessive pain fell upon Baudus, so that, driven out of his mind, he did not know what was happening to him because of the pain. The entire temple was so shaken by an angelic hand for about two hours that those monstrous idols that stood there fell down—that is, those of Apollo, Hercules, Venus, and Silvanus. And as they lay upon the pavement, Thyrsus said to Baudus: the idols fall; Let your gods now rise and free you from your pain. But Baudus cried out, saying: The great god Silvanus punishes me on account of the sorceries of this man. Then Thyrsus breathed in his face and said: The Holy Spirit long ago foretold concerning those like you, saying: "You struck them, and they felt no pain; you beat them, and they would not accept discipline." Prov. 23:35. Behold, wretch, you are held fast, yet you are hard; you are bent down, yet you still persist in your rigidity.

[40] Then from those innumerable crowds who were present at this spectacle, Many are converted. many were converted from the madness of idols; and, instructed by the admonitions of Thyrsus, they ran to the priests of God wherever they could be found (for they had been in hiding), and were made Christians by them. From the first hour, therefore, when these things were happening, until the ninth hour, while Baudus lay in his pains, the man of God Thyrsus did not cease to preach with free voice to the people standing by, showing that idols are nothing, and that the one God who reigns in heaven is to be worshipped with a sincere mind and honored with holy works. The Lord bestowed such grace upon his words among them Callinicus, a priest of the idols, that not only did the greater part of the people believe, but also a certain Gallenicus, a priest of the idols, who had remained with an obstinate heart from the beginning, raging against Thyrsus to his destruction under Combrutius and Silvanus, and also under Baudus. Now he who had devised new punishments and many evils confesses that Christ is God, to such an extent that he publicly proclaimed with free voice that the idols were most vain and most wretched.

[41] With the most steadfast countenance and spirit, therefore, approaching Baudus he addresses Baudus concerning the innocence and true faith of Thyrsus: when he had come back to his senses, he said to him: Listen to me, most illustrious man. If this man did not worship the great and true God, these mighty deeds would in no way befall him. For Hercules the unconquerable, and the wise Apollo, and the mystic Dionysus, and the invincible Silvanus—counting them as nothing, he has shattered them. He has endured all unheard-of and intolerable sufferings as if they were nothing, and has mocked them. He has exhausted the services of the torturers, and when molten lead was poured over his bare flesh, by the power of his prayer he sprinkled it upon those who were trying to pour it to his destruction. And trusting in the power of his God, he has both overcome punishments and subjected beasts and slain judges, and many have been endangered by his confession. Baudus said: As far as I can see, he has overcome you with his sorceries. Gallenicus said: With unjust judgment you think these are sorceries, when you see the power of the invisible God; but already, as I have said, the devil has invaded your mind and does not allow you to see that all the idols lie captive before the feet of Thyrsus.

[42] Baudus said: These things I have resolved not to praise, but to avenge. He mocks the gods and Baudus, their defender. Gallenicus said: A great avenger the gods have begun to have as their patron. You therefore should rather be worshipped and feared, lest perhaps, while you are unwilling to be propitious, they may be unable ever to rise after they have fallen. Since therefore you hold the power, heal them, and raise up those whom you see cast down; or if they are gods, let them furnish themselves with the help to rise. But if they have stood only with you as their defender, it is established that they cannot be gods, who, unless they are protected by the aid of a man, cannot stand even when bound with lead. Baudus said: Perhaps you too are going to say you are a Christian? Gallenicus said: I am indeed a pagan, and a priest of stones and wood, which I served with unhappy devotion; but I am a rational man, not a donkey or a camel, to prostrate my back under unjust burdens. Baudus said: Unhappy man, as I see it, you are going to die a most wretched death. Gallenicus said: It is not a most wretched death but a blessed one in which God is the defender and a man is the persecutor. And therefore I not only do not fear to undergo the punishments of the body and death, but I even glory in finding through those very torments some part, however small, with the man of God.

[43] And turning to the man of God, he said: I beg you to tell me he is briefly instructed by Thyrsus in the faith of the Trinity: what I should say to your God, that I may deserve to have some part with you on that day. Thyrsus said to him: Say: I believe in the living, invisible, and omnipotent God, and that His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, together with His Father and with the Holy Spirit, is one God. And when Gallenicus cried this out with a public voice, Baudus said: Woe to the wretch, who has become so hardened! And he ordered him to be handed over to the other priests of the temples to be guarded, he is handed over to the priests of the idols: so that he might hear him on the morrow.

[44] When he had been handed over to them, they led him into the temple where the statue of Aesculapius stood, and they began to kiss his knees, saying: Consider, Lord Gallenicus, that you are renowned in all cities, and are called the supreme pontiff; he is tempted with various blandishments. and there is no city in which your image is not held in worthy veneration. The hair of your head, which you have never cut, and your beard are admired by all who behold them, and all the priests and philosophers prostrate themselves before them in veneration and worship. Baudus has resolved first to disfigure you by cutting them, and finally, if you persist in this superstition, to shave them off entirely in mockery. To them Gallenicus said: I am the one who taught you to minister various sacrifices to various gods. I was an excessive worshipper of vain gods. I am now the servant of the one who conquered my gods; he rightly holds me in subjection who cast down those to whom I was unjustly subjected. He has freed me from an unjust burden and has made me subject to justice. Know this, however: that vain fickleness can no longer be in me.

CHAPTER VIII.

The martyrdom of S. Callinicus and of the fifteen whom he converted. The death of S. Thyrsus.

[45] Understanding this, Baudus ordered his servants to shave his head and beard. The hair, shaved by Baudus's order, When this had been done, Gallenicus tied together his hair and beard and, hurling them at the idol of Aesculapius, said: Most malignant demon and most deceitful deceiver of souls, receive back your emblem. I renounce you, accursed devil; he throws at the idol of Aesculapius: I deny you and your accomplices. I am the servant of Christ, who will now command you to be cast down, just as all your fellows have been cast down. And having said this, he stretched out his hands to the living God and said: O God, You know my mind, my faith, my purpose, my will. You know that I have believed in You with my whole heart. Show to those who have been deceived through me that this image is vain, and that there is in it neither divinity nor any angelic power. For if it shall fall at Your command and they still do not believe, they shall have their share with Baudus, who, seeing Your wonders, still remains unbelieving. But if they believe, I shall be freed from my guilt, which I incurred, wretch that I am, when I deceived them and made them submit to vain figures and render the honor of deity to those whom the servant of God has shown to all to be not gods but demons. After these words, two hours later, which falls down when he prays: the image was shaken; then, with an enormous crash, it fell and was broken into three parts. The hands of Aesculapius with his serpent and staff lay separately, his loins with his feet lay separately, and his chest and head lay separately.

[46] Fifteen priests are converted: At this event, all fifteen priests together with Gallenicus began to confess Christ the Son of God and to say that the true God is the one whom Thyrsus proclaims. When this was brought to the ears of Baudus, he ordered Gallenicus to come to him together with the priests. When he inquired of them the outcome of the matter, they are brought before Baudus, they narrated everything in order and began openly to assert that they believed in Christ. Callinicus throws his hair in Baudus's face. Gallenicus then took the hair of his head and beard and threw them in the face of Baudus, saying: Behold, what you threaten to do to me as a great insult—take my hair and beard and my sins together. From this hour, if you do not believe, you shall be manifestly guilty of damnation. Have you worshipped the gods better than I did, or defended their worship better than I, who day and night did nothing except—vain and blind as I was—sacrifice to idols? Those who seemed to be but were not have been exposed; falsity has been shown, truth has appeared, darkness has been made manifest, and the true light has shone forth. Let us all bless the one God, and let us all equally confess that He is omnipotent, whom we have proved to be the conqueror of our gods.

[47] While Gallenicus was saying these things and the other priests were confirming them, Baudus, fearing lest he should be similarly harassed by Gallenicus Callinicus is beheaded as he had been harassed by Thyrsus, ordered him to be struck with the sword in the sight of the priests. Seeing him beheaded before them, they began to say: Would that we too might be deemed worthy to be glorified for this name! When Baudus had summoned them to himself, he said: What need is there for you to leave your houses widowed, and, having wives and children, to seek a voluntary death? They answered and said: We who were priests of the idols together with Gallenicus hasten likewise with him to be witnesses of Christ. You may decree punishments, pains, deprivations, exiles, burning, the sword, and whatever death you can devise; we have already resolved to have our share with Gallenicus. and the fifteen priests. Then Baudus, raging, said: Lest the other priests of the gods do the same, let them all be beheaded together.

[48] When they had been beheaded, he ordered Thyrsus to be enclosed in a wooden chest and to be raised up on a trestle. When they had drawn the saw for three hours Thyrsus is sawn in vain in the chest: and had made not even a slight cut, suddenly by the will of God the chest was opened. Rising in it, the holy Thyrsus stood with his hands stretched toward heaven, pouring forth prayer and glorifying the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And turning to Baudus, he said: Foolish and unbelieving one, though unwillingly, you have prepared a chest for me, when the chest opens, he taunts Baudus: in which I, with my Lord Jesus Christ conquering, shall sleep and rest in peace; for the Lord has now deigned to call me to His rest. And having said this, he placed himself in the chest, made to his own measure, he dies at Miletus. and—first an athlete of the world, but then a true athlete of Christ—in the good contest he gave up his spirit. Immediately Baudus began to cry out and say: The Angels of God torment me, Baudus is punished. because I persecuted the just servant of God to the very end.

[49] Then Christians arriving from various places took the holy body in the chest, the Martyrs are buried by the Christians: and placed it with him in a cave, and they placed S. Gallenicus with the remaining fifteen priests in the same place. These things were done in the city called Miletus, in the place called Daphne. They were all buried by S. Caesarius the Bishop and Laodicius the Priest. Their bodies were prepared with ointments and spices by a devout man named Philip, a monument is built for them: by whom also the tomb was constructed, with the permission of Baudus himself. For thirty days Baudus was tormented by worms, wounds, and immense stench, so that he gave forth constant wailing and howling day and night; on which account nearly the entire population believed in Christ. many are converted.

[50] When Baudus had died and been cremated by his people, as was the custom of the pagans, the ashes of the dead Baudus are scattered: suddenly a great wind arose, so that all the dust was blown away, to the point that not even the charcoals of the wood with which his body had been burned remained. On account of this event, the entire city of Miletus was so completely converted in the confession of Christ the Milesians are all converted. that they destroyed the temples with their own hands and built churches of God at their own expense, confessing that all these things had come to them through the merits of S. Thyrsus. Through his prayers may we all who read and hear these things seek to obtain mercy, which, if we do not doubt, we shall be able to obtain, through the gift of Christ, who reigns blessed forever and ever. Amen.

OTHER ACTS

from the MSS. of Thos and of S. Maximin.

Thyrsus, Martyr in Asia (S.) Leucius, Martyr in Asia (S.) Callinicus, Martyr in Asia (S.) The other XV Martyrs in Asia

BHL Number: 8280

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The martyrdom of S. Leucius. The conversion of S. Thyrsus.

[1] At the time when the enemy was oppressing the members of Christ on earth, The Prefect Cumbricius sacrifices to the gods, a cruel storm had arisen against the faithful; for already infinite heaps of Martyrs throughout the entire bed of the world had defended their own places. Only that region had been pressed by sloth which was not illuminated by the memory of Saints. But when Cumbricius, bearing orders by the command of his Divine Masters, was charged either to subject the Christians to the idols or to rage against them with whatever rabid tooth he could, as soon as he reached the city of Nicomedia he poured libations to Jupiter and Silvanus. Thence Apamea received him in swift course, and there he sent sacrifices to Jupiter and Apollo. You would have thought that the pestilent one could never carry out his commands in practice persecuting the Christians. unless he first conciliated the demons with so many offerings. Immediately Caesarea received him at dawn, and there he remained for eight days, sacrificing and slaying many souls.

[2] S. Leucius rebukes him: A certain Leucius, having a testimony according to the law and trampling every fearful threshold with his sole, spoke thus directly to the Governor: Let him suspect death, O best of Governors, whose life comes into question. But he who is prepared even unto the sword to surrender his limbs for his ancestral law—the Judge acts cruelly against him who punishes the innocent without cause. The Holy Spirit foretold to us in prophetic speech that these would be our future crowns from your slaughter; and therefore, since what was foretold has been fulfilled, one thing remains: that by the avenging sword we may pass to heaven. Cumbricius said: I did not think you had burst upon me in this fashion so suddenly; nor had the gods whom I appeased today promised me this. But in the meantime, either sacrifice to them according to the imperial commands, or through you Greece shall today receive an example. Leucius said: Why do you speak with madness, Judge, and shatter your words in fury? To such talk I do not lend my attention. Whatever you hurl at me like a rabid dog, I shall gladly accept with God's favor. But you, despising the God who made you from nothing and worshipping demons, are acquiring for yourself the substance of perdition.

[3] he is tortured on the rack. Cumbricius said: Place him on the rack and subject his limbs to punishments. Leucius said: O God who reign forever, show this senseless man that the blind stumbles through the darkness while he sacrifices to those who are irrational. Cumbricius said: Torture him more fiercely, that the punishment may restrain the vanity of his words, and he may say something seasoned with wisdom. Leucius said: My words are so well seasoned that they surpass your insipid mind. But you, like salt that has lost its savor, shall shortly be deprived of your kingdom and cast outside to be trampled by men.

[4] he taunts Cumbricius: He also said: Your labors have already exhausted the executioners, Judge; apply others, since you see that these are dragging their vain hands over his limbs from sheer weakness. Cumbricius, raging, pronounced sentence, saying: Leucius, who rather offered himself willingly to the sword while refusing to sacrifice to the immortal gods by whom the world itself, though now weary, is somehow still sustained, I order to be beheaded. Leucius said: God, I give You thanks, because with the devil conquered on earth, today my eyes have seen Your salvation. They quickly took him down he is beheaded. and led him outside the city to a distance of one stadium, and there they beheaded him. And when the Governor had heard that the people had obeyed his command, he remained two days in the city of Caesarea, sacrificing to the false gods.

[5] As Cumbricius was going out through the gate called the Hellespontine Gate, the great athlete Thyrsus, who was about to become a Martyr immediately, S. Thyrsus the athlete rebukes Cumbricius. held him back, saying: Hail, dearest Governor, and hear patiently what must be said to you by me. Cumbricius said: Hail to you also, friend of the gods and teacher of all pleasure; I shall listen to you with an eager spirit. Thyrsus said: The one and true God most high commanded through the page of the Old Testament, saying: "The Lord your God you shall worship, and Him alone shall you serve." Deut. 6:13. If therefore He commanded that He alone be served, why do you command these empty and hateful worship-practices of demons to be cultivated, and desire our minds to be turned away from the true God? Cumbricius said: What then does it seem to you, Thyrsus—do the heavenly commands run in vain, or is it seduction to serve the worship of the gods? He also said: Do not blaspheme the gods. Thyrsus said: Do not by flattery disturb your own judgment, lest you fall into death. Those whom you worship I say are so useless that they can do neither evil nor good. Cumbricius said: You appear to leap forward in great audacity, which has rushed upon you, O lamentable one, in your age. But it is commonly said: The defendant descends from the yoke of the Judge when with brazen face he does not know how to show respect to the tribunal. Thyrsus said: I so revere the tribunal of my Judge that I exhort all to hasten to the palace of the eternal King, while I perform the office of a herald. But neither does your present power greatly terrify me. I am much concerned only whether my voice may find your ears. Cumbricius said: You have learned to be long-winded and to blaspheme. But hear me and sacrifice, since you are a pagan, and do not begin to die badly. Thyrsus said: I, Cumbricius, neither talk too much nor do I sacrifice; but I fear the one God who is in heaven, who said: "The gods who did not make heaven or earth, let them perish from the earth." If therefore the Creator of heaven and earth commands them to be destroyed, how then, blind as you are, do you force others to death? Know then that I do not talk too much, but persist in the truth. Do what you will; for I am prepared to die for the truth.

CHAPTER II.

The various torments of S. Thyrsus under the Governor Cumbricius.

[6] Cumbricius said: Beat him with leaden weights and dislocate the joints of his limbs. He is beaten with leaden weights: Thyrsus said: O master of all treachery and leader of darkness, your punishments do not terrify me, for they are temporal. But I fear God, who gives eternal punishments to those who provoke Him—which neither you shall escape, nor your father who is called Satan.

[7] his legs are ordered to be broken: Cumbricius said: Break his legs, so that confined to one place he may not command a step with his feet. Thyrsus said: O envious one, shrouded in darkness, how through your folly do you not recognize that your ministers have become exhausted and are without strength? Cumbricius said: The shameless athlete is shown to be obstinate to the end; he who, when thrown out of the arena, is hissed at by all. So also you, until you see your body destroyed and dragged by dogs, so that you are seen to be conquered by all, you will by no means believe. Thyrsus said: Well, you toothless dog, accustomed to lying, now you speak the truth. For I am a strong athlete. I have only the Lord, who arms me against you and your master the devil, so that I may see you fail, and the Almighty may cause you to be uprooted.

[8] Cumbricius said: Let the thumbs of his hands and feet be bound with slender thongs, by the thumbs of feet and hands so that in severe punishments his bones may be emptied of marrow. Thyrsus said: Hasten, most wicked one, to greater punishments, in which you yourself shall be tortured in everlasting fire. But I trust in the name of the Lord he is suspended with tightened cords: and in the contest of the most blessed men, because when your temporal punishments that are inflicted upon me have been trampled, I shall conquer the prince of your warfare, Satan, with whose substance you are clothed, blind, stumbling in your unjust course.

[9] Cumbricius said: Bring sharp hooks and cut off his eyelids from his eyes, his eyelids are cut off: so that his face, first disfigured, may offer a ridiculous sight to the onlookers; and while the pupil seeks but is unable to protect its eyes, exposing them naked to the air and wakeful without sleep, the very keenness of the eyes may vanish in itself. Thyrsus said: O master of evil arts, contriving whatever the devil has previously devised, while you think you are bringing confusion upon me, you have made me illustrious. What was ignoble in my body you have made glorious; you have taken away the more base... and brought in what is splendid. For the more the outer man of my body is corrupted, the more the inner man is renewed in the knowledge of the truth, where God dwells in the inner vision. Cumbricius said: By the true gods, I hasten to make you manifest in many ways; for since you are not a Christian, and by fictions and magic arts you seduce many, you wish to show that you suffer for God's sake. Thyrsus, smiling, said: I rejoice, most wicked one, because testimony is borne to me by you that God is a helper not only to Christians, but the Almighty also shows that those who believe from among the nations are proved worthy of His knowledge. You, however, Cumbricius, by your punishments make me a true martyr for the Lord.

[10] Cumbricius said: Bring bronze obelisks, which the mighty Capitoline Giants grip in their hands for spears, and break his upper arms and forearms into small pieces, his arms are ordered to be broken into small pieces: so that his hands, hanging and feeble, may neither bring food to his throat nor serve as a useful member in his body, but may rather be recognized as a hindrance. Thyrsus said: I had supposed, Governor, that the devil had inspired something new in his minister; for your physician is indeed accustomed to bring forth from his hidden arsenal exquisite kinds of torments. But either you have invented these, and they are altogether nothing; or the devil has devised them, and he is already defeated. On both counts I exult with joy. "All the gods of the nations are demons; but the Lord made the heavens." Ps. 95:5. Cumbricius said: Sacrifice to the gods, Thyrsus, and restrain the vanities of your words with prudent sense. Thyrsus said: O deaf and mute spirit, do you not hear that the Lord calls them demons? And how do you force me to sacrifice to them? Cumbricius said: How do you say that He is the Lord, when He was seen and spoke as a man? Thyrsus said: Do you doubt God because He spoke as a man? Cumbricius said: I do doubt, for it is not fitting that the nature of God should be mingled with the stories of our tongue.

[11] Thyrsus said: The things which are carried out by your Emperor through you—are they true or not? I wish you to answer. Cumbricius said: They are true; and unless deeds follow commands, the sword may seek the soul and mortal life may close its final day. Thyrsus said: If therefore concerning a man who is your equal, you say that the things commanded by him are true—things which are built today and destroyed tomorrow—how do you say that the words spoken by God are lies, words that are eternal, and a work enduring through a man who is God? Or perhaps because He forbears in order to correct, is an avenging Augustus judged better than a patient God? Cumbricius said: Have you compared the Emperor Augustus, who has power over all things and holds the limits of the entire world, he shows that the Emperor is not the Lord of all things. to the one who under the pretext of divinity spoke falsehood? Thyrsus said: I desire to know over what your Augustus exercises dominion, although I, a seeing man, am questioning a blind man. Cumbricius said: He dominates over those things which are under heaven. Thyrsus said: Let him command the sea to exceed its bounds, and returning again to guard the place of its port. Cumbricius said: It is not about the sea's waves that I am dealing with you. Thyrsus said: Then at least let him prevent the nature of the earth from scattering golden flowers across the fields at fixed seasons. Cumbricius said: You repeat the same things again; but I told you that he dominates over all men. Thyrsus said: In the meantime, your vanity has been defeated, which said that he dominates over all things under heaven. And although he may command men, far be it that he should hold the Saints under your authority, imposing upon them the worship of idols so as to compel them to worship demons; since the Lord commands, saying: "He who sacrifices to the gods shall be uprooted, unless to the Lord alone." Cumbricius said: Sacrifice to the gods and submit to the Augustan command, if you do not wish to die a wicked and criminal death. Thyrsus said: I have a God as my King (and not demons as gods), who both creates kings and uproots demons.

CHAPTER III.

He remains unharmed amid various torments.

[12] Cumbricius said: Talking too much, you have fallen into madness. One thing remains: that, overwhelmed with punishments, you may serve as an example to the rest, who wickedly flatter themselves concerning this impious religion. Thyrsus said: You err, Governor, and do not know it. I shall not be a laughingstock among the Christians; but overcoming the patron of your art, I shall bear punishments for Christ my Lord. Cumbricius said: Do not believe, Thyrsus, that by the madness of your words I shall cut off your head at once; rather I shall destroy you piece by piece, lest you believe you have conquered Cumbricius. Thyrsus said: Wretch, fear the God who is in heaven; and although you should have honored me by the more ample and severe punishments which you have inflicted upon me, nevertheless do now whatever the enemy commands, and make haste; for my glory is to persist in the confession of God, that I may inherit eternal life. Cumbricius said: Bring a bronze cauldron and place lead in it over an enormous fire, so that it may seem liquid like water. Then stretch Thyrsus by four sinews upon an iron bed, He is ordered to be drenched with molten lead: bound with chains by his limbs; and seizing the vessel blazing from the fire, pour it over his back, so that he himself, melted with the metal, may have not even a trace of his limbs remaining to be seen. Thyrsus said: Are these the great punishments which were thought to have been devised by you under such great anger? And in these very things Christ helps me; for this torment which you threaten me with, I shall find colder than water for the eviscerated members of the executioners, because for those who love God all things work together for good. The executioners said to Thyrsus: Wretch, do you see what torments are prepared for you? Depart from your folly and sacrifice to the gods. Thyrsus said: O miry vessels of all evil arts, neither you nor your father who is called Satan, who will send you into the fire of gehenna, shall persuade me, because you rage so against the servant of God.

[13] Cumbricius said: He raves much; let Thyrsus receive upon his limbs the vessel which has been prepared. But Thyrsus, looking up to heaven, said: God of heaven, before whom the choir of Angels stands, who by Your glory have consigned the Prince of perdition to exile, do not abandon the soul that confesses You, that the most wicked Governor, whom You have confounded in his desire, may prevail over it. I invoke You, illuminator of my life: free me from the madness of this pestilential man, and scatter the punishment prepared for me upon my adversaries, that the nations may see Your glory and know that Your name is God. himself unharmed, the attendants are killed. Thus he spoke; and upon the ministers the due punishment followed. For when they poured the vessel over the outstretched limbs of the Martyr, the boiling metal, with sparks reaching to the sky, so consumed the ministers who stood nearby that their limbs melted and they lost their lives before the punishment could devour their members. All who stood around said in a loud voice: Great is the God of the Christians. But Thyrsus, astonished at the voices of the people, as if waking from sleep, said: Where, Cumbricius, is the punishment you promised me? I have already seen it in a dream; I wish to suffer it more surely. And when the most blessed Martyr had noticed that it had been inflicted upon him and that the ministers had been consumed by fire, he spoke thus: "My mouth was filled with joy, and my tongue with exultation." Ps. 125:2. And again he said: Tell me truly, Cumbricius, are you still without sense, and do you not understand that God reigns in heaven, who today has done wonders in your sight? But how shall the words of the Prophets be fulfilled? "The just man is always rescued from snares; but the wicked are delivered in his place." Prov. 10:3.

[14] Cumbricius said: Do you think, Thyrsus, that by magic art you will be able to prevail, so as to conquer us or Aesculapius? Thyrsus said: You insult him by calling him God when you name Aesculapius. Cumbricius said: You seem to yourself to babble under delusion. By the health of the gods, through you they shall be propitiated to the world when they see your blood immolated to them. Thyrsus said: Thus for Christ my blood shall be shed today, accursed one, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; just as previously His own blood was shed for us, for the remission of sins. But you and Aesculapius, He is ordered to be cut to pieces: whom you name, the eternal fire shall receive; and all who agree with you. Cumbricius said: Bring a sword and cut open his belly through his limbs; but do not inflict lethal blows all at once; rather cut his limbs into pieces, so that the earth may receive his rotting flesh, and he may not be removed too quickly from the living. Thyrsus said: In this I contend for Christ, and trusting in the Lord I fight, that my body, which has sinned grievously, may receive various torments. But You, Lord my God, look upon me and take me away from—or rather strip me of—this corruptible body and from eternal punishments; he is confirmed by a heavenly voice: and make me wise to manifest Your glory, and show me Your Son, my Lord, for whose sake I suffer these things, that on that day I may say with confidence: "As we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of our God, on His holy mountain." While Thyrsus was praying this, heaven blazed with unspeakable light, and a voice thundered from the cloud: Take heart, Thyrsus. I am He for whose sake you suffer. I do not wish you to fail. Be a strong athlete; I have helped you and I shall help you. Then the face of the most blessed Thyrsus was suddenly transformed. Cumbricius said: I hear, Thyrsus, the gods speaking with you. One thing remains: sacrifice to them, that you may escape the torments prepared for you. Thyrsus said: May you never fare well, nor those through whom the world is deceived, that they themselves should have such voices. But God, our Lord, from the trumpet of His word always arms His athletes in the contest.

[15] when an earthquake occurred, Suddenly a great earthquake took place, and the ground on which the Judge was sitting was shaken. Cumbricius said: The magic arts of Thyrsus have prevailed; but until the heavens settle from the noise, let him be received into custody with bronze chains, he is thrown into prison. and let an armed band of soldiers besiege the doors of the prison. At the next session let him be brought before me in the city of Nicomedia. He is taken back to prison under careful guard; for the day had already passed into evening.

CHAPTER IV.

The baptism of S. Thyrsus. The statue of Apollo overthrown.

[16] In another part of the prison, not far away, was the most blessed Bishop Phileas. Furthermore, a certain Count Silvanus from Persia, a citizen pestilent in character, had petitioned the Emperor to hold the entire territory under his authority. Silvanus the Persian is appointed over the province: The devil arranged this so that he might destroy the Christians who remained in the world. The Emperor immediately granted what was requested and appointed Silvanus as Prefect. Silvanus, therefore, having received authority to destroy the Christians, went about roaring like a lion in the wilderness, or like a dragon hissing in secret, desiring to destroy the followers of piety. But he found Thyrsus no unequal foe, one who would trample the lion and the dragon. Meanwhile Silvanus, slaughtering heaps of Martyrs in droves, entered the city of Nicomedia; and it was reported by the staff that a certain Thyrsus had been left there by Cumbricius, he sacrifices to the idols at Nicomedia. who was prepared to be killed for the faith of I know not what Crucified One. Silvanus said: As is the custom, let us first make the immortal gods favorable to us. Immediately, therefore, he sacrificed to Silvanus and Apollo, demons like himself.

[17] One thing remained for the Martyr: to be reborn of water and the Holy Spirit. Thyrsus was deferred to another day for his hearing; and he was enclosed in prison, praising and blessing God. But in the middle of the night, when the guards had already surrendered their limbs to rest, and sleep pressed upon eyes long broken by vigils and drove them into slumber—while He who guards Israel neither slumbered nor slept— Thyrsus is led by Angels to Bishop Phileas. a multitude of Angels burst in, opened the doors of the prison, and light shone in the dwelling, and the weight of chains was loosed from Thyrsus. Going out of the prison, with Angels as his guides, he came to the place where the Bishop was confined. Knocking at the door, he called out to the Bishop thus: I am a stranger to every art of the enemy; I desire to obtain the baptism of Christ, so that, sealed with the threefold confession, I may be able to complete the martyrdom which I have begun. The Bishop, startled, not thinking of his own escape, with hasty step and fingers preceding his steps through the darkness, opened the door; but neither did the light attending him desert the blessed Thyrsus. Thyrsus spoke thus to the Bishop: In the arena of this world, O venerable Father, I run strongly, but I have still left the palm in the hand of the judge of the contest. Make known to me the way by which I should walk, that I may see the goal of life to which I hasten to come, lest another go before me and snatch the palm from my hand. This alone is needed: that through you I may obtain baptism and immediately return to the arena of the contest. Bishop Phileas said to the Martyr Thyrsus: May our God, creator, guardian, and almighty helper, Christ, who by His rational power established all things and with the divinity of the Father perfected all things, illumine the understanding of your soul and perfect the step of your contest; he is baptized by him: that you may become a useful vessel of sanctification, filled with blood, prepared for every good work; that receiving through these visible hands the baptism of sanctification, through this visible body He may work in you by His invisible Word what is pleasing in His eyes; that on that day, in the bosom of our Abraham, among the companies of Martyrs, I may deserve to see you. To this Thyrsus answered: Amen. And having been baptized by the Bishop, he gave thanks to the King of the ages.

[18] When these things were completed, the most blessed Martyr, leaving his spiritual father, he returns to the prison: accompanied by Angels, was returned to the prison. From the font of baptism to the blood of his passion, about to be immolated to Christ in a second baptism, he rendered glory to God. A sudden trembling seized the guards, and they perceived the return of him whom they had not seen depart. the guards being terrified: They took up arms and rushed to the prison with flashing swords; but as soon as they found the seal intact as they had set it, they sheathed their swords, and at the melodious voice of the Martyr, which the psalms had rendered, the sleep which had been banished by fear immediately took possession of their limbs once more.

[19] he is brought before Silvanus and Cumbricius, Day returned to earth. The Count Silvanus together with Cumbricius proceeded to the forum and ascended the prepared seat. Silvanus said: Let the one who was designated yesterday by the staff be presented before us. The staff said: He is present. Silvanus said: What is your name? He answered: Thyrsus. Silvanus said: Of what religion are you? Thyrsus said: I am a Christian, as the Governor Cumbricius who sits beside you well knows. Silvanus said: Desperate one and enemy of all the serenity of the gods, why do you not sacrifice to the gods, by whom all things were made? Thyrsus said: To which gods, illustrious Silvanus? Silvanus said: To Silvanus and Apollo. he mocks the gods: Thyrsus said: I see you, Silvanus, as a man, not a god. As for Apollo, whom you name, I know him not at all. Silvanus said to the staff: Break his neck, lest he mock us. Immediately the ministers of the devil followed words with deeds. Thyrsus said: Hear me patiently and I shall tell you the truth. Silvanus said: If it is for your safety, speak. Thyrsus said: Until very recently I myself was a pagan, worshipping demons, as you now do. I walked blind through the darkness of the world, and the popular voice which said "Bravo, bravo" to the wanderer delighted me. But when I perceived these things to be vain, I rejected the hateful praises of men from me, revolving with prudent counsel within myself that it was not right to sacrifice to demons. For they are carved images fashioned from metal, which the craftsman fashions when it pleases him, and if they displease, he breaks them. Silvanus said: These are superfluous and vain words; but hear me. Enter and sacrifice to the gods. Thyrsus said: With God helping me and not a demon, I shall now do what you yourself will see.

[20] Entering the temple of Apollo with the Count Silvanus and all his attendants, he spoke thus: See now, bystanders, the aid of the true God, and the sacrifice which I offer to the King of heaven. And gazing upon heaven with his eyes, he said: You, almighty one, are my refuge; You are my glory, O Unbegotten One. Do not forsake me, for You have illuminated my darkness, and through the memorable way of Your salvation in Christ, You have revealed to me the immaculate and true God, who is and remains forever. I beseech You, light of truth, By his prayer he casts down and shatters the statue of Apollo. for whose sake we suffer that we may be healed. Come to my aid, that these may know that You are the almighty God—if indeed they are willing—so that You may turn their heart again. And when he had said these things, the earth suddenly split open and, gaping, left the gloomy place alone and withdrew. And Apollo fell from his threshold and was ground to dust like sand. Trembling seized those present, and their eyes were fixed upon the sad sight of the shattered image. Their mute tongue had adhered to their dry throats, and their limbs were barely held together by their joints because of the overwhelming fear. The blessed Thyrsus spoke thus to those who were stunned: Behold your lying and renowned idol, and gathering the bone-fragments of its shards, know that your vain insanities are nothing.

CHAPTER V.

The various torments inflicted upon the Martyr by Silvanus.

[21] Silvanus said: Bring iron chains—not the ones previously fabricated by the trickery of artisans, but such as those by which bronze beams are fastened in public walls. With these, stretched by four sinews of his limbs, tightly bound, he is freed by divine power. let his flesh be minutely torn apart on all sides. Thyrsus said: Truly, in this too you shall depart defeated, O enemy. Beyond the hands of craftsmen, the devil prepares stronger bonds. His delicate hands are compressed, and the soft toes of his feet are placed in the links of the chains; but the grace of God was not lacking. For when he had been stretched by four sinews, he spoke this psalm to the Lord: "You have broken my bonds; I will sacrifice to You a sacrifice of praise." Ps. 115:16. He had not yet completed the words when the chains were burst from him, like straw that has caught the scent of fire. The Martyr immediately exults with joy and bathes his face with streams of tears; he offers to God the written page of a pure conscience, makes ink from his groaning and tears, and with eyes seeking heaven, joyfully sounds forth these praises: "The snare is broken and we are freed. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Ps. 123:7. Furthermore, the most blessed Martyr shines among the companies of robed ones in the midst of the prison; and clothed in a white garment, the choir of Angels resounds praises with Thyrsus: he is visited by Angels in the prison: "We have received Your mercy, O God, in the midst of Your temple." Ps. 47:10.

[22] Silvanus said: Let the sorcerer Thyrsus be brought. He is snatched from the prison, his feet barely touching the ground. The staff reported: Thyrsus is present. Silvanus said: Gallows-bird, deserving of punishment, is it a small thing to you that you despise our tribunal; and do you dare to shatter our gods minutely by your magic art? Thyrsus said: You err, Judge, and do not know it. No god is shattered by a man. But if you wish to hear the truth: I too in former times was entangled in soft and passing pleasures. But God, who desires no death of the soul, when I lay in a miry depth as in a deadly sepulchre, it pleased the most high God at last to say to me: Thyrsus, come forth; do not be afraid, even though you reek, since you are a pagan. Immediately I shook off the mist from myself, and I, who was formerly blind, worshipping stones and wood, looked upon myself, and spoke thus to the Lord: "Let all who worship carved images be confounded, and who glory in their idols." Silvanus said: Bring a large vat and fill it with water. he is scourged with his head immersed in the water: Bind Thyrsus head downward in it, and cut to pieces with scourges the remaining limbs that are above the water, so that even the inner parts of his viscera, as long as they can, may endure punishment and pain, and without a voice the soul may be driven from the body beneath the waters. The Martyr's head is wedged in and compressed beneath the waters up to the neck; and the remaining parts of his body exposed to punishments he speaks from the water. are hacked with hewn clubs. But soon the Martyr produced a free voice from beneath the waters in the vessel: O turbulent one, and miry above all mire, following the ruin of the swine—in your fullness you follow the counsels of Satan; for the demons who are like you, having possessed a herd of swine, rushing headlong into the abyss, saw the deep before they lost their lives. But that I may show the virtue of my soul... Thyrsus said in a clear voice: "Save me, O God, for the waters have come in even unto my soul"... Thyrsus said: As long as I live, I shall never be conquered by you, O enemy. Made strong through the Lord, by whom once washed, I had no need to be dipped in the vessel of a basin. Silvanus said: You torture yourself, wretch, by your magic arts so that you fail under the punishments. Believe me, sacrifice to the gods; you shall not escape my hands. Thyrsus said: I shall indeed escape your hands, even if I die; but you shall not escape the hand of God, neither alive nor dead.

[23] Silvanus said: Heap the weight of chains upon his neck and let him be received into prison under diligent guard. But another punishment shall be prepared for him by me, insofar as time permits. Immediately the devil devised a new stratagem against the Martyr. Silvanus said: In the form of a wall, construct a tower with a square angular shape, whose top, rising aloft, shall reach higher toward heaven. In the structure of this tower, let sharp swords on every side, fixed by the craftsman's hand, protrude to the right and left. At the foot of the tower itself, let the earth receive every kind of sharp instrument. Then with his hands placed behind his back, throw Thyrsus from the summit of the wall, so that whatever part of his limbs the weapons of the spears shall touch, ordered to be thrown onto sharp swords, they may cut them to pieces; so that they may offer food to the birds—whatever each sword shall have torn away. The architect reports that what was commanded is ready. After the fourth day, at the dawn of twilight, Silvanus proceeded to the field, surrounded by a military guard, with Thyrsus following, laden with chains. What the devil had fabricated pleased the minister of Satan. Silvanus said to Thyrsus: Do you see the evils prepared for you? Come forward and sacrifice, lest afterward you repent. Thyrsus immediately raising his voice said: "The Lord mounted upon the Cherubim and flew upon the wings of the winds." he is placed unharmed by Angels upon the prepared structure. And when he had said this, he was snatched by Angels from the eyes of the onlookers and placed upon the summit of the wall, praising the Lord; and walking upon the swords as upon marble, he sang with a clear voice: "In the Lord I trust; how do you say to my soul, 'Flee to the mountain like a sparrow'? For behold, the sinners have bent their bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, to shoot in the dark the upright of heart." Hearing this and seeing—though blind—the wonders of God, Silvanus spoke thus to Cumbricius: We have already exhausted every punishment upon Thyrsus; as it appears, he departs as the victor while we are the vanquished. Cumbricius said: the words of the Judges are divinely made known to him: In the meantime, lest Thyrsus feel himself the victor, attribute what has happened to magic arts. The words of the executioners were suddenly revealed to Thyrsus, who spoke thus: I perceive it to be true, my God, that the divine word has spread: "Unjust witnesses have risen against me, and iniquity has lied to itself." Ps. 26:12.

[24] Silvanus said: Let Thyrsus be taken down from the wall. A certain Vitalius from the staff said: If your honor commands, I shall take him down from the tower. Silvanus said: As you wish. Do what pleases you. Vitalius began to climb a ladder which had reached to the top of the tower. As soon as he stretched out his hand to grasp the garments of the holy man, Thyrsus, with all listening, said: "Let sinners be turned into hell, and especially the nations who forget God." The Martyr had not yet completed his words when the punishment immediately sought its avengers. For Vitalius, falling backward from the wall, after Vitalius fell onto the swords, while each sword projecting claimed a portion of the falling man's limbs, nothing could be found for the earth to receive. The Judge fell, and at the same time all who stood nearby, their limbs cruelly pierced by javelins, presented horrible sights. While Thyrsus sang: "They prepared a snare for my feet and bowed down my soul. They dug a pit before my face, and they themselves have fallen into it." Immediately the Angels set down the Martyr he is taken down by the Angels. who had raised him upon the wall; for he could not descend by impure hands who had ascended by holy ones.

[25] Silvanus said: Do you not cease to cloud your sorceries with your seductions? Thyrsus said: Unspeakable shamelessness! I marvel that you have hardened your face to such a degree that you are not ashamed, because my God has given His Angels charge concerning me, to bear me up in their hands lest I dash my feet among the swords. I am ashamed, Silvanus, that Aesculapius does not bid you feel confusion. Silvanus said: By the gods, accursed one, you shall not conquer me! And he added: Let him be received into prison, laden with chains on all his limbs. Although, he is shut in prison. O detestable and deserving of punishment, you who obey me from the staff, you shall also endure similar punishments, since under the pretense of a service you allow physicians and enchanters to enter to him, to tend the scars of his wounds, so that Thyrsus may boast that a heavenly physician bestows healing upon him. The staff replied: By your magnificence, no one has seen him, nor has anyone tended him. If it is true, test it; you have the authority; we offer our limbs.

CHAPTER VI.

The death of Silvanus and Combricius.

[26] The second interrogation took place as they journeyed to the city of Apamea, On the road to Apamea he is again subjected to questioning: after the first hearing in the city of Nicomedia. Silvanus had barely reached one or two miles from the city when he said: Let Thyrsus be brought. The staff said: He is present. Silvanus and Combricius said: Have you resolved within yourself to sacrifice to the gods, or do you persist, ready to die? Believe us: it is expedient for you to do so. Honor will follow if sacrifice precedes. Thyrsus said: By Christ, who grants me endurance to suffer such things for His name's sake, I shall not sacrifice. Keep for yourselves the honor which you wish to give me, and deliver yourselves from gehenna. But I say one thing to you which the outcome will prove. From this hour, Silvanus, he foretells the death of Silvanus and Combricius: you shall be dissolved in all your limbs, and your rotting flesh shall lie for three days. On the fourth day, when you begin to enter Apamea, your body shall be loosed from its joints, and teeming with worms your soul shall flow out. But Combricius too shall be followed by the punishment owed to him, who saw great and greater wonders yet did not believe. And the sign of his punishment shall be this: a sudden fever shall seize him, refining him so that he seems to have been melted in fire. And thus as life deserts you, the torments of death shall hold you. Silvanus said: Let Thyrsus be led away, and what he promises hangs over us, let him experience as something to be carried out upon himself by us.

[27] Soon, when they had reached about the sixth mile from Apamea, a dissolution of the knees seized Silvanus; they are stricken with illness. nor was Combricius spared the punishment owed to him, but as an intolerable fever cooked his bones and joints, he was grievously dissolving. Meanwhile, one named Viator, who was attending the Counts, spoke thus to the ailing judges: O our lords, as you see, the punishment is present; let Apollo provide medicine. Thyrsus will immediately believe if the great Aesculapius heals Combricius. What, I ask, delays the god who is so worshipped? Let either Silvanus slay the accursed Thyrsus or heal Combricius. with the Assessor Viator mocking them and the gods, These things he tossed out for his own amusement. But the impending divine vengeance was grievously torturing the judges. The mule-driver hastened with swift pace, under great lashes urging the headlong mules. As soon as they entered the gates of the city, with their limbs shattered on every side, they could not descend from the carriage. they are magnificently received by the Apameans. The entire citizenry came out to meet them, clad everywhere in white togas. The judges, whom inward pain was burning, pretended a happy face for the people. Throngs of people rushed forward in droves with palms and torches. The street trembled with the great noise, and the high walls were astonished at the voices thrown toward the sky. But the roar of the crowds concealed the groaning of the judges.

[28] They entered the curtained Praetorium as was customary, where punishment already awaited them. As soon as the paneled ceilings received the bodies of the judges, Silvanus was suddenly divided limb from limb, and hosts of worms rushed forth from his body in droves and overwhelmed the precious mosaic floors. But Combricius, whom the great chamber of the Praetorium held, and whom an armed guard had sealed in behind the locked doors of the palace for the sake of rest—while all supposed he had given his limbs to sleep—suddenly the young soldiers heard a voice resound from the interior of the Praetorium: Why, O our fellow soldiers, do you leave your Commander desolate? What has he not provided for you while the reign was in force? they howl horribly from pain and terror of spectres: Do you go up to the shrines? Why do you see death hanging over us? Do you not know, O delightful soldier, that the cause of terror is the emptiness of these spacious halls? You leave the judges alone, whom, besides the approaching diseases, the very silence itself terrifies? What then is Silvanus doing for me, when he himself is suffering similar punishments? Why does neither medicine follow us, nor is burial granted? Each of them asked these things with immense wailing. You would have thought both were driven by one pain of punishment, though they were shaken by different torments. The fourth day had now dawned they die. since the punishment held them half dead. Twelve deadly hours had passed for them, and time was already driving the day into evening. When darkness suddenly took away their sight, the souls of both surrendered their spirits to the infernal regions.

[29] The attendants prepared the bodies according to custom; the perfumes of ointments partly concealed the stench of the corpses. the bodies are prepared with ointments: They were committed to the ground with a great accompanying throng. Suddenly the very place of the sepulchre, with fire bursting from the earth, hurled sulphurous dust into the sky, and with an enormous crash immediately vomited back the bodies entrusted to it. the earth rejects them repeatedly and belches flames. The entire area round about reeked of sulphur, with sparks vibrating through the air; and the attendants did not know what to do. Wherever they wished to bury the bodies, the same punishment awaited. The place they had thought safe from the conflagration, as soon as the diggers' hands touched it, crackled with fire.

[30] A saving remedy for the dead is found. Thyrsus is asked to come, and whatever injuries he might have received in his body, he is asked to forgive. The throngs of the city entreat the Martyr, and they drench the garment of the Blessed one with fountains of tears: "We beseech you, let not the earth swallow the unknowing, or at least look upon our children. Why does punishment follow us who are innocent, while divine vengeance remains for the judges? By Christ whom you worship, we pray you, that the heavens may be calmed from their great crash, and that somehow, with us unharmed, the earth may receive the bodies of the rulers." S. Thyrsus, when asked, buries them. Thyrsus, having offered a libation to God, asked to be given a mattock; and having dug two cavities, he buried the bodies of the condemned with his own hands. And in this the divine benefits served them, that they might have a tomb according to custom, whom the earth had refused to receive. When these things were accomplished, the prison that had surrendered the Martyr received him back.

CHAPTER VII.

Under the Governor Baudus, thrown into the sea, he is freed.

[31] After the circuit of one month's days, a successor came to Combricius and Silvanus, named Baudus. Baudus succeeds Silvanus and Combricius: Immediately the obligated staff rendered its service. The citizens of the city clapped their hands, and with snowy white linens, which their bent right hands had waved, they suddenly veiled the sky. As soon as he entered the Praetorium, the staff reported: There is a certain man left behind by the predecessors of your eminence, named Thyrsus; the prison holds him today. The executioner awaits what your clemency shall command concerning him. Baudus said: he sacrifices to the gods. First of all, let us sacrifice according to custom to the immortal gods. As soon as he entered the Capitolium, he cast incense to the demons. On his return to the Praetorium, the baths received him, and the royal preparations according to custom.

[32] On another day, Baudus, sitting on his tribunal, said: Let him concerning whom the staff has reported be brought before my authority. It was said: He is present. Baudus said: What is your name? He answered: I am called Thyrsus; but since I serve Christ the King, Thyrsus is brought before him, I am called Christian. Baudus said: Hear me. Until this hour, let the pretenses of sorceries previously brought against you suffice; let the mockeries suffice through which you are said to have confounded so many judges. Hear me and sacrifice to the gods whom even the Emperors themselves worship, and you shall gain great profit from the bargain. Otherwise, do not hope for your life in any way. Thyrsus said: Your eminence has been well instructed, as I suppose, Judge, by the many bundles of records concerning my name left to you; but my spirit is alive and present. I say nothing other than what I said to your predecessors: I am a Christian, and for the name of Christ I am prepared to come even to the sword. Baudus said: Are you the one who dared to shatter the god Apollo, balanced on his throne, and to cast hateful words at Aesculapius? Thyrsus said: I have shattered no god, if he is a god; for it is not right that a god should be broken by a man. Aesculapius, however, I call not a god but a demon, he mocks the gods: and I have cursed him and I curse him. And not him alone, but all who trust in him.

[33] Baudus said: The vanity of your words does not disturb me, nor this sturdy youth in which you so greatly presume. Everything that is stronger in a man requires stronger punishments; and, as you yourself have already experienced, he scorns the threats: your limbs will fail before the punishments do. Thyrsus said: Far be it from you, accursed one, that all that is stronger in a man should be able to be torn apart by you. I offer only my body to be consumed by your rabid teeth (since indeed "Baudus" is the barking of a dog; but I offer my limbs to your bestial bites). My soul I commend to its Creator, who is powerful to look down from His lofty seat and to judge my cause. Baudus said: And I have been made similar to a dog by you, detestable man, I who still patiently endure you? Thyrsus said: You have not been deemed a dog by me, Governor; but if anger is warranted, let it be taken out on the parents who affixed the names of dogs to their children. Baudus said: Under the guise of reason you are very mad. Either sacrifice to the great Aesculapius, or, lacerated in all your limbs with the heavy burden of chains, the waves of the sea shall receive you. Thyrsus said: I ask only this: that the fury not abate, and that under the pretense of mercy my glory not be diminished. I want words to be committed to deeds; for he is judged a liar whose words precede but whose deeds do not follow. Baudus said: Perhaps you think that by your tricks you will delude the sailors, so that when they bring you to shore they will report that you were drowned far out at sea? Thyrsus said: O provident tongue of the devil! I do not know what you are portending will happen to me, but I accept whatever punishment your headlong fury may inflict. I ask only that the devil may accomplish through his minister what he promises me.

[34] Baudus said: First stretch him upon four sinews, stretched and beaten with clubs: and break his limbs with clubs. Then bind him with iron chains through the four joints of his limbs, so that the curved spine, pressing from his neck upon his back, may force his knees down, and his feet may look upon his eyes, and his tongue, adhering to his heels, may seem to lick the soles of his feet. bound tightly and sewn into a sack, secured with a lead seal: Then break his palms with knotted crossbars, so that his hands, broken behind his back, may more easily serve the bonds; and sew him up in the form of a ball in a thick sack under enormous compression, so that even the breath of air may be taken from his nostrils; that while sighs go forth but do not return, his limbs may inflict upon themselves greater torments than any punishment could have prevailed to do. Bind the throat of the leather sack itself with stronger cords, and fix the seal upon it in melting lead (since wax cannot withstand the foamy salt of the waves). Then hand him over to the sailors under diligent guard, with some of your men accompanying; and when thirty stadia appear to stretch out into the deep, throw the sack headlong into the sea, so that the rocks which receive his limbs may shatter them, and what the rocks reject may serve as food for the sea-beasts. Thyrsus said: Hear, O God. For one Martyr's body more torments are prepared than there are limbs.

[35] A crowd of sailors drives the ship to the shore and fits the three-oared boat to the ocean waves. They take up the sack from the shore, he is thrown into the sea: sealed with the ring of the Governor; those from the staff who would keep faith at the crucial moment boarded the skiff as well. The sails of the sailors are filled with wind, and with an immense shout they seek the deep ocean. When the appointed boundary was found in the deep, the soldiers said in the open sea: Behold, the place designated for the purpose is at hand; throw the sack headlong into the sea at once. Already prepared to give the mangled body to the waves, while the rocks fixed in the depths awaited the Martyr's limbs to be served to them—immediately, with a light sent before, the sky shone beyond its usual brightness, and companies of Angels illuminated the ship. When they had rendered the marines fixed to the stern, they seized and minutely cut the leather sack, preceded by a voice: he is carried back to the shore by Angels: Come forth, Thyrsus; we await you. Come with us. We are in the service of the one whom you worship. And lifting up Thyrsus, they proceeded with equal step across the waters. When together they reached the middle sands, the glad voice of the throngs sang a hymn with the Martyr, and the delightful singing held in trembling suspense the hearing of the sailors, whom bloodless and terrified the interior of the hold was sheltering.

[36] They returned to the shore at full speed, and in their terror did not know whether they would strike upon any stakes. When they had reported the event in order to the Judge, Baudus said: Let the staff proceed, but not without weapons, and whoever finds anyone, let him cut them apart limb from limb. He proceeded to the shore, surrounded by a military guard; and seeing from afar the dense ranks of Angels, he commanded his feet to quicken their pace. But what is happening? Why does he run in vain, whom iniquity precedes? As soon as he reached the middle sands of the shore, he inspected the sack with its seal intact, and Thyrsus, whom he had sent inside bound. But he did not merit to see the heavenly host, because he was not worthy. Baudus, having opened the leather sack, said to Thyrsus: Where do you think the band of deserters which we saw has suddenly fled? Thyrsus said: If you had my eyes, accursed one, what I have merited, again he is detained by Baudus, who cannot see the Angels. you too could see. Baudus said: With what reward do you think you first honored the sailors, that they did not throw you headlong into the sea? But now sacrifice to the gods, because if the waters of the sea have rejected you, the jaws of wild beasts shall receive you. Thyrsus said: Do what you will, most atrocious of all wild beasts. But I know one thing: that just as it was possible for God to free me from the abyss, so also He freed the Prophet from the bowels of the beast. Jonah 2:11.

CHAPTER VIII.

Thrown to the beasts, he is unharmed.

[37] Baudus said: Let the prison receive Thyrsus, laden with chains. And in the dead of night Caesarea received Baudus. Immediately, when the rooster had barely given its first crow, He is led to Caesarea: Baudus said: Let the most wicked Thyrsus be brought before me. The staff said: He is present. Baudus said: We are wasting our effort, fellow soldiers, if we wish to question this pestilent one after first trying persuasion. he is beaten with bull-hide scourges: In the meantime, open his back and belly with bull-hide whips, to see if punishment may at least wring out the truth. But although he was thought to be beaten for a long time, the executioners' hands had already grown weary, and those whom prolonged torments had exhausted fell at the feet of the Judge: Let your clemency come to our aid, Lord, we beg you. While we thought we were beating Thyrsus, we inflicted punishment upon ourselves. Behold, Governor, our bones slashed to the very marrow. While we thought we were beating Thyrsus, the executioners beat themselves, their hands turned back by Angels: we saw fierce Angels turn back our hands with the bull-hide whips against us.

[38] Baudus said: Are you going to kill my men before you yourself perish, Thyrsus? It shall not be so. He also said: Let every hunter the city has be brought before my eyes, and let this order be given to them: that they fill the forests with traps and capture from their hiding places whatever beasts they have not yet driven out, so that not even the smallest fox may rejoice that its burrows have served it. in a tower built outside the city, Let a tower be built in the open field with speed by the hand of the craftsman, in the form of an amphitheater, since the one the city has is too small to hold the many who would wish to watch. Around this tower, fix planks in the manner of a fence, and there release all the beasts at random, with food withheld from the day before, so that whatever beast catches sight of Thyrsus may, driven by hunger, take a single bite of him. Thirty-six days were completed, and the attendants reported that the orders had been fulfilled. Soon the Judge descended with the crowd. An immense roar arose from the beasts; everything trembled with a mighty rumbling. he is thrown to the beasts: You would have thought the beasts could never be calmed unless the Martyr came. As soon as the hunters threw Thyrsus into the arena, such silence fell among the beasts that you would have thought none was present. Immediately, in droves, lions rushed to the Martyr's feet and, like sheep, licked his torn wounds with their tongues. You could see bears drawing their soft paws over the Martyr's body, which fawn upon him: and wherever they spotted a wound, after wiping away the filth with their tongues, they rubbed it with their paws. Leopards and wolves, since there were no limbs left for them to lick once the stronger animals had preceded them, fixed their eyes upon the Martyr with cheerful faces, wagging their tails along the arena in adulation.

[39] as the people applaud, The tower resounded with a great noise: Release the just man, wicked Judge, for you have judged wrongly! The Martyr Thyrsus said to the beasts: You have rendered the services which God commanded you as His ministers. Let me also grant you something, lest I seem to have left you empty-handed. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he sends the beasts back to the forests: for whose sake I suffer these things, with the walls of planks broken open, let the forests that sent you receive you back; and singing praises to God, and without harm to anyone, let your dens receive you. Immediately, with headlong speed and a mighty roar, having broken through all the barriers, they sought the forests. Again the cry of the people rose: Great is the God of the Christians! Blessed are all who trust in Him. The Governor returned to the Praetorium in sorrow, raging all the more because many of the people believed in God, among whom was also a certain Gallenicus, a priest of the idols.

[40] Baudus said to Thyrsus: We ask you, do us a favor; sacrifice to the gods, and we shall make you famous. Thyrsus said: O poison covered with honey! You ask in order to deceive; you pour forth prayers while seeking to destroy. And immediately entering the temple, he said to the carved image of Silvanus: he shatters the idol of Silvanus by a word: How long shall I suffer these things, Silvanus? By Christ, who uproots demons, I command you not to provide seduction to the wretched. Immediately the pavement received the shattered limbs of Silvanus. Baudus said: Tear him with rods he is scourged and tortured with fragments of pottery, so that the blows may lay bare his marrow; and for small reminders, fix fragments of pottery into his wounds from his sides; and when the blows pause, let him never escape his tortures. Thyrsus said: Even if you cut me to pieces, this Angel is with me whom you do not see, while an Angel sustains him. and he heals all my infirmities. Meanwhile the Angel, whom Thyrsus alone saw at his side, said to the Martyr: Brother Thyrsus, I am at hand; do not be afraid. Only a little more remains, and we shall pass hence together. A fourth interrogation still accompanies you; for you cannot otherwise see the three Evangelists alone before the Father.

CHAPTER IX.

The fourth interrogation concerning him at Apollonia. The conversion and martyrdom of Callinicus. The death of S. Thyrsus.

[41] The fourth interrogation, which the Angel had predicted, took place in the city of Apollonia. Soon the tribunal received Baudus. He said: Let the sorcerer Thyrsus be brought before me. The staff said: He is present. Baudus said: The city which holds me today, Thyrsus, has not one but four gods. Setting aside your magic art, sacrifice to them, and by the health of the Augustuses, I shall release you unharmed. Thyrsus said: As I suppose, Governor, it pleases you that through me all the idols of Greece should be brought to an end. It might be useful for you to keep at least one for yourselves, lest you remain empty worshippers without a god. However, if you please, with God's favor, let us inspect these too. And as he beheld the temples of each, lifting his voice to heaven, he said: My God, I give You thanks, because You command that through me, with the demons removed, Your name be invoked. But would that, just as I shatter these by the invocation of Your name, I might also have the power to convert their worshippers to You! Having said this, the images of Hercules, he utterly overturns four idols at Apollonia by prayer: Silvanus, Apollo, and Venus were dashed from their thresholds as if driven by a whirlwind, and all were so shattered that not even dust was believed to have been seen. The people, thrown into a panic, were divided into two opposing groups: one rang out in sweet praise, "Great is the God of the Christians, whom Thyrsus worships"; the other filled the sky with murmuring, "Away with the sorcerer, Judge! He has no right to live!" The hissing of the people, clamoring on the right and on the left, made the crowd dull.

[42] Gallenicus, who had sat with the Governors Combricius and Silvanus, Callinicus, priest of the idols, is converted: and who under the present Baudus as well had devised all the punishments which the Martyr had suffered, who, clothed in a priestly vestment, had performed the services of the worship of demons, said to the Judge: I want you to believe me, Governor: we perceive that Thyrsus endures to this day not by the art of sorcery; but, as I grasp it with the meagerness of my understanding, the power that is in him is the power of God, which is called great. Baudus said: he tries to persuade Baudus to the faith: I want you to leave me for a little while; living as I am, I am consumed with tedium and grief. Gallenicus said: Let us believe, if it seems right, in the God whom Thyrsus worships, and all our weariness shall leave us; for the law of theirs sings: "Cast your care upon the Lord, and He shall nourish you." Ps. 54:23. Baudus, with eyes fattened by fury, his whole upright bearing altered by the art of the devil, with trembling limbs and teeth sounding with grinding, spoke thus to Gallenicus: And you too, worthy of punishment—has the sorcerer Thyrsus deceived you, that you should wish to sell me such vain words? Gallenicus said: Do not gorge yourself on fury; endure a little, Governor, and you shall drink my blood, and you shall cease to be disturbed. Baudus said: Do you see, condemned man, that neither our gods considered you propitiated, nor did the palace itself hold you as a faithful priest, but as a hypocrite? This is plain because Thyrsus has deceived you today. Gallenicus said: Thyrsus has not deceived me; but Christ, whom Thyrsus invokes, has today inspired me to leave behind your vanities and sacrifice to my God with a perfect heart.

[43] The devil immediately arms Baudus, and the serpent coils its immense loops around him in seven orbits. he is ordered to be cruelly tortured: He therefore commands his soldiers, saying: Let Gallenicus receive upon his limbs every kind of torment which the hands of executioners have devised; and if you wish to survive, let no healthy limb remain in him except what escapes the executioner's eye. If the torments wring out his life, we have won the palm. If his limbs endure, let them bear the punishment. He is led out immediately, and with his limbs barely following his steps, they alternate every kind of torment. The blows render him happy rather than feeble. The passage lay through that temple which was raised aloft by a hundred columns, and there Aesculapius was enthroned. Gallenicus said to the torturers: Let mercy fall, I beg, before your eyes, and be gentler than your Judge, and wait a little while. You see the fiery sun vibrating through the air, which I dread more than any torment your hands could devise. There is a place around the temple which, by its arched construction, offers delightful shade, if I might perhaps briefly recover my breath. The merciless ones grant mercy. As soon as the shade of the temple received Gallenicus, he said in a loud voice to Aesculapius: Give honor to God! I know that you are a demon and not a god. You alone in this city have eluded the most blessed Thyrsus; but today he has delegated to me the task of uprooting what he himself left behind. For this is the sign he gave through Christ, who will judge the living and the dead: that as soon as Gallenicus passes by, you shall fall from your throne. Without delay, by his prayer he overturns the idol of Aesculapius and the temple: while the stupefied torturers still pressed their fixed gazes upon the Martyr and their dissolving limbs wasted away—Aesculapius, falling from his throne, was shattered into small pieces, and simultaneously the place lost both its lord and its temple.

[44] Then the executioners snatched the Saint through the air: What have you done to us, O wicked one? they cried. And whose life is now in jeopardy? Was your death alone not enough, unless you wish to add our blood to yours? And with tears and great groaning they sang to one another: What shall we do, O our fellow soldiers? Whoever among you is a stranger to pity, let him slay our comrade. As soon as we see Baudus, the earth will swallow us alive; if we take flight, the avenging sword will pursue our homes. Oh, if only it were permitted without orders, we would each lick you with our bites. As soon as these things were reported to the tyrant, he is beheaded: and not without harm to the executioners, he ordered Gallenicus to be beheaded. Bellowing under the blade, he said in a gentle voice: You have sent me ahead, most blessed Thyrsus; follow quickly, that the realms of the Angels may receive us both on one day.

[45] Baudus then ordered Thyrsus to be compressed in a chest and divided in half by a saw through two sides. Nine hours were spent by the sawyers Vitalius and Sabinus, S. Thyrsus is ordered to be sawn apart, and the saw did not divide even a hair of the Martyr. For Thyrsus, fixing his eyes on heaven, said: I see, Father, that the Gospel has been fulfilled in me, because not a hair from my head would fall without Your will. Luke 21:18. he is unharmed for a space of nine hours. Already fasting and labor had made the sawyers weary. Vitalius said to Sabinus: Draw the saw, Sabinus. The day is spent, and we labor in vain. Sabinus answered Vitalius: If the fruitless labor did not make me feeble, I would not show you my arms. Meanwhile the punishment owed overtook Baudus; for with immense wailing, divided by scourges through his limbs, Baudus is punished. he suffered every kind of torment that he had inflicted upon the Martyr, crying out these words: May your clemency come to my aid, O God! If I had recognized the Martyr, I would long ago have stayed my hands. If I am restored to the gods above, I shall make amends; or if not even this my merit demands, at least let the earth swallow me quickly, lest I be a laughingstock to the living. Amid these tearful words, he lost his life before the plague took him.

[46] Called forth by a divine voice, S. Thyrsus dies: Immediately heaven was mixed with murmuring, and a voice came from the cloud saying: Enter, Thyrsus, into the joy of your Lord; the palm of victory follows the strong athlete, with the devil having been triumphed over. Today you shall be with me in paradise. Immediately the Martyr, stripped of the earthly garment of the body, delivered his spirit undefiled to the Lord. Soon the holy body, with lights going before, and with all things solemnly celebrated in the procession of the Martyr, he is buried. with Bishop Caesarius arriving and the Priest Laudocius accompanying the bier, was received into the sepulchre, he is renowned for miracles. where great miracles are wrought and all kinds of illnesses are cured. His ashes lie hidden in Greece, but his benefits are manifest everywhere. Healing alone does not follow the one whose faith has not preceded; but the one whose faith has been found in full carries away the reward with praise, blessing the same Lord, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

CONCERNING S. CHARIS THE MARTYR.

Charis, Martyr (S.)

From various sources.

The Greek Menaea have presented this unconquered heroine, unknown to the Calendars of the Latins. This alone is recorded of her: "On the same day, S. Charis, having had her feet amputated, met her end."

Charis, with her feet cut off, ran to God. For feet that are amputated are not the soul's feet.

She is also mentioned by Maximus Cythereus.

CONCERNING S. LEONIDES, MARTYR IN THE THEBAID.

Under Diocletian.

Leonides, 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.