ON ST. ATHANASIUS, DEACON AND MARTYR
AT JERUSALEM.
ABOUT THE YEAR 452.
A Historical Collection.
Athanasius, Deacon and Martyr, at Jerusalem (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
While Theodosius the pseudo-monk, most defiled with the filth of sacrileges and crimes, and a most zealous champion of the Eutychian sect, was disseminating calumnies forged on a diabolical anvil against the Council of Chalcedon (whom the Augusta Pulcheria in her epistle, volume 4 of the Councils, column 872, To the fury of Theodosius the pseudo-monk calls the precursor of Antichrist), while at Jerusalem he was turning everything upside down with slaughters and outrages; there was found in that same place the front-rank soldier of the orthodox faith, full of heroic spirit, our holy martyr Athanasius, a deacon by office, St. Athanasius stands in the way. who, prodigal of his own life, and a despiser of death and of torments, bravely set himself against the unbridled tyranny of Theodosius. Nor indeed did the glorious Athlete bear these generous and magnanimous daring deeds with impunity. Indeed, most dreadfully mangled with scourges, then slain with the sword, by this light and momentary tribulation he procured for himself an eternal weight of glory.
[2] Theophanes treats of him, Theophanes treats of him in his Chronography; after he has recounted the outrages committed by the nefarious Theodosius after the end of the Council of Chalcedon, concluding in these words: At last Theodosius cruelly killed Athanasius, deacon of the holy Resurrection, who assailed his supreme impiety toward God with reproaches and reprehensions, and the Saint's body, dragged publicly through the city in mockery, he cast to the dogs. Marcian, contemporary with the Saint, so graphically, although the name is not expressed, depicts his martyrdom, that it does not seem it can be doubted whether the things which he writes can equally fitly apply to any other Martyr deacon than ours.
[3] Let us hear the words, in the expostulatory epistle to the people of Aelia, inserted in volume 4 of the Councils, from column 856; and most probably it is the Emperor Marcian. where, when the aforesaid Emperor had sharply censured the crimes committed by them, he thus proceeds: Moreover also the slaughter committed against the Deacon of venerable memory, and that his body, after his death, being also deprived of common burial, was insensibly dragged, and subjected to injuries. I wonder that no jot is found on this day in the Greek Synaxaries, Menaea, or Menologies concerning this Martyr; whom in many exemplars I have sought in vain. For the rest, by most deserved right he was raised from the obscure mist of night into public light, when, inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, he found a place of public veneration there, in these words.
[4] At Jerusalem, St. Athanasius the deacon, who for the holy Synod of Chalcedon, being seized by the heretics, The cult from the Roman Martyrology; and having experienced all kinds of tortures, at last slain with the sword, died for the catholic faith. What forbids adding to these an elogium, from Nicephorus Callistus book 15 chapter 9, inserted by Baronius into the ecclesiastical Annals volume 6 page 452, number 30. Theodosius also stirred up a great persecution in the holy city against those who would not communicate with him: for he tortured some with torments, took away the substance of some, cast fire into the houses of others; so that the city seemed to be captured by barbarians … A certain Athanasius, admitted into the order of deacons, an elogium from Nicephorus; in the midst of the church at Jerusalem, with much freedom of speech, while the ambition of iniquity sat upon the most holy throne, uttered that illustrious voice: Cease, Theodosius, to commit so great a slaughter: cease to wage war on Christ, and to cast out his flock after the manner of robbers from the divine sheepfold: and at some time at last acknowledge good will toward our true and genuine pastor. When he said these things, he was seized by the satellites of Theodosius, and dragged from the church, and, having endured every kind of insolent petulance and of torments for Christ, and cut to pieces with many scourges, at last also lost his life by the sword. His corpse, dragged by the feet through the whole city, was at last cast to the dogs for food. Baronius adds, saying that the fifth day of July was consecrated to the perpetual memory of the crown taken up by our Martyr for the Catholic faith. And these things about the Martyr among the writers.
[5] The time of the Martyrdom. From what has been said, the reckoning of the time at which the martyrdom of St. Athanasius happened is easy to determine. For since the Council of Chalcedon was begun on the eighth of October 451, and finished on the Kalends of November of the same year; and since again the fatal blow was not inflicted on the holy Martyr before the beginning of the said council; nor long after its end; it seems conveniently conjectured and defined that the time of the martyrdom falls in the year 451, or the next following. Theophanes in the Chronography page 29 seems to connect the year of the death of Pulcheria Augusta with the tumults at Jerusalem stirred up by Theodosius and the rabble of his followers, and with the death of St. Athanasius, which according to this reckoning ought to have fallen in the year 453 of the common era, since the death of the aforesaid Augusta is marked in this year. Baronius places the death of our Saint in the year 452.