ON THE HOLY 45 MARTYRS AT NICOPOLIS IN ARMENIA. ABOUT THE YEAR 319. PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The 45 Martyrs at Nicopolis in Armenia (SS.)
BY THE AUTHOR I. P.
Nicopolis in Armenia, distinguished from several other cities of the same name by the addition of this province, founded by Pompey the Great on account of Mithridates there subdued, on the authority of Dio Cassius, book 36 of the Roman Histories, stood forth as the wrestling-ground of the most illustrious 45 Martyrs, the witness and spectator of their constancy, and the theater of their glory; [Nicopolis, praised elsewhere, again to be praised, because the wrestling-ground of the Martyrs.] a city indeed noble both by this notable triumph, and deserving to be wondrously extolled, in that in the times of the Emperor Valens it stood unshaken against the storms of the Arians, as St. Basil mentions at length in his epistles, as Baronius notes here, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the Nutius edition. But that the memory of the holy Martyrs was most celebrated in the sacred registers, will abundantly appear from those things which we append concerning their cult.
[2] The Basilian Menology, edited in part in Greek at the end of the first volume of this month, A eulogy from the Basilian Menology; memory from the registers of the Greeks; after the announcement: In the same month of July, on the X day, the passion of the holy 45 Martyrs, who were afflicted with martyrdom at Nicopolis, thus proclaims concerning them: Forty-five Martyrs of Christ lived under the reign of Licinius and the prefecture of Lysias, whose chiefs were Leontius, Mauricius, Daniel, and Antonius. Being therefore seized, they stood before Lysias the Duke at Nicopolis of Armenia, and, confessing Christ and execrating the idols, and being beaten and their mouths and faces bruised with stones, they were shut in prison, remaining several days without food. The soldiers, beholding their constancy, believed in Christ. Then, cast out of prison, and their legs cut off with axes, these already dead, but those still breathing, being thrown into a furnace of fire, they consummated their course, receiving the immortal kingdom which was prepared for them by Christ before the foundation of the world. Elsewhere the memory of these Martyrs recurs quite often in the Greek fasti, and mostly with a small eulogy; namely, in the printed Menæa and their Index and the Horologion of the Greeks; likewise in the Supplement to the Menæa from the Synaxarion of Sirmond and the Manuscript of Chifflet, in the Menæa of the Ambrosian Library, the Menæon of Chifflet, the Slavo-Russian Menology, which for Leontius writes Leo; Maximus, Bishop of Cythera; to which can be added a Manuscript from a book in the Arabic tongue on the life of several Saints, the Typicon of St. Sabas, and the printed epitome of the Menology: finally, the Menology of Sirleto: from which afterward their memory passed to the Roman Martyrology, which reports them thus: At Nicopolis in Armenia, of the holy Martyrs Leontius, Mauricius, Daniel, and their companions, who under the Emperor Licinius and the Governor Lysias, being variously tortured, at last cast into the fire, completed the course of martyrdom. Molanus also has them, and Galesinius.
[3] The printed Menæa, as also their said Supplement, little verses; thus sing to the sacred band of Martyrs:
Παρεμβολή τις ἑυρέθη τῷ Θεῷ νέα Τολμῇ παρεμβαλοῦσα καὶ πυρὸς μέσον. Κτεῖνεν ἀρισθενέας δεκάτη πῦρ Νικοπολίτας.
The Godhead found a new camp, a new soldiery, boldly daring to press into the midst of the pyres. On the tenth day the flame slays the noble Nicopolitans.
The same Supplement has this singular thing concerning their cult: Τελεῖται δὲ ἡ αὐτῶν σύναξις ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς ἁγίας Ακυλίνης πλησίον τοῦ φόρου. But their solemnity is celebrated in the temple of St. Aquilina near the forum. Of the temple of St. Aquilina, Du Cange treats in book 4 of Constantinople Christian, page 144.
[4] Baronius, Volume 3, page 162, number 46, treating of these Martyrs, the reckoning of the time. fixes their combat in the year 316. In the Slavo-Russian Menology they are placed as having suffered in the year 307. The book in the Arabic tongue, of which above, seems to bind them to the times of Diocletian; since after the announcement there is added, the beginning, as I suppose, of the Acts of the life or of the eulogy, in the days of Diocletian: and it is inscribed, folio 13. In Volume 5 of May, page 151, in the annotation on chapter 3 of the Acts of St. Donatus and his companions, Martyrs, letter f, Licinius is put as having begun to persecute the Christians in the year 316. Pagi thinks otherwise in his Critique of the Chronological History, Volume 1, page 381, judging that no Martyrs suffered in the Licinian persecution before the year 319, nor that before that time Licinius inflicted persecution on the Church. Tillemont, Volume 5, page 512, in passing commemorating from the Greek registers the holy champions of Christ, does not determine the year of the martyrdom. And indeed that reckoning of the time which Pagi fixes does not seem improbable: for it does not appear what year you might rather assign to the oft-mentioned martyrdom than that in which Licinius contrived various things against the Christians, driving them from his palace, forbidding them to hold councils, and establishing and doing very many other things against them in hatred of Constantine, of which Eusebius treats in book 1 of the Life of Constantine, chapters 51, 52, and following; which Petavius binds to the year of Christ 319, as is to be seen in the second part of On the Doctrine of Times, page 718; adding that in that persecution 40 Martyrs in Cappadocia suffered, killed by cold, and Basil, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, was afflicted with martyrdom, and he cites the Chronicle of Eusebius. He was treated of in Volume
3 of April, page 416, the epoch being set about the year 322; but of them, the 40, on the X of March. Besides, the Chronicle of Eusebius rendered into Latin in Joseph Scaliger, page 180, at the year 321, has: Licinius drives the Christians from his palace. Let us therefore say that the Martyrs died about the year 319.
[5] The Acts not genuine, Understand in a few words what I think of the Acts, translated by me from Greek into Latin. That they are not genuine, but adorned with more than one episode, and composed dramatically, seems to me beyond doubt. For indeed in them breathes the genius of Metaphrastes, or at least of some other not unlike him, who has earned rather the name of a sacred tragedian than of a sincere historian. The following observations are the proof. First, the prayers, too artfully composed from the words of the psalms, as you may see at numbers 8 and 12. Secondly, the introduction of Martyrs of both sexes, and also the example of St. Potamiaena, in the times of Maximian, for the protection of her chastity, cast by her own master into a cauldron furnished with pitch — do they not breathe the theater? St. Leontius, narrating these things to excite their spirits to fight bravely for Christ, says that he received them from his teacher, who came from Egypt, and said that he had heard them from St. Antony the Ascetic. I ask, who is this Antony the Ascetic? Antony the Great, I suppose, the most celebrated abbot of many monks: if it is he whom I conjecture, the writer seems to connect things sufficiently disparate; since he died so long after St. Leontius, namely in the year 356. Those matters are narrated from number 8 at the end. Thirdly, the devil, feigning himself Æsculapius, and inciting Lysias the Duke against the Martyrs, what is it but a dramatic scene, number 12?
[6] but dramatically embellished. Fifthly, the death of the Martyrs, hastened in this manner, which is reported at number 16, I am mistaken if it finds full credence. Sixthly, a woman comes onto the scene, secretly bringing water to the Saints under her garments in prison, number 11; who returns again at number 19. There will be, I suppose, those to whom the prayers and the water drawn from the rock will not altogether be pleasing, number 22. Finally, the following clause, wont to be absent from genuine Acts, not slightly harms the sincerity of the Acts, which is had at number 23, in which Sisinnius, now about to die, thus prays to God. Those needing your help, and invoking you by our intervention, straightway hear, O Lord, in whatever necessity and want; though anyone be in poverty; though in widowhood and bereavement; though in pilgrimage; though in infirmity of body and soul; though in debt and calumnies; though in bitter servitude; though in the contagion of men and cattle; though anyone be shipwrecked at sea, etc. Be thou to him, O King, a consolation through us, and straightway hear, that the inhabitants of this world may know that we are much loved by thee, and heard, and that this water may become a remedy for any evil; for at the invocation of thee it bubbled up and the old miracle was renewed, to the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to the praise and memory of thy forty-five Martyrs.
[7] Among the 36 Martyrs who suffered at Alexandria, of whom there is treatment likewise on this day above, the first two, Leontius and Mauricius, Were the present Martyrs confused with the Alexandrians? and the fifth, Daniel, are entirely homonymous with three of our Nicopolitan Martyrs, whose name we have seen expressed. Which homonymy may perhaps afford some a suspicion, here as well as more than once elsewhere, of some confusion introduced, one troop of Martyrs perhaps divided into two, or, if you will not have this, the names of the one derived into the other. But since it is not easy for us to attain what mystery lies hidden here, we have distinguished them into two classes, following the Hieronymian Martyrologies: as we indicated above, where we treated of the said thirty-six Martyrs, and did not pass over this difficulty.
[8] Tamayo expresses the name of St. Leontius alone, and the companion Martyrs confusedly: At Nicopolis in Armenia, of St. Leontius the Martyr, Were the relics of St. Leontius carried into Spain? who with his other companions completed an admirable combat. This rightly; but the following clause — whose sacred remains are kept in the town of Alcaudete, of the diocese of Jaén, in the convent of the nuns of St. Clare, with the due honor of cult — to what end did he add it? Since in the notes on this passage he candidly professes that he suspects that his learned friend erred, namely Father Martín Ximena Jurado, from whose report he had assigned that place to the aforesaid relics of the Saint, and that these pledges are of another Leontius, a martyr who suffered at Rome; of whom Maurolico, Galesinius, and Philippus Ferrarius treat in the General Catalogue of Saints on the XI of July, folio 284, and we are persuaded from this, that Paul V, Supreme Pontiff, offered his remains, extracted from the Roman cemeteries, to the Count of Benevento; nor is it hitherto known that those of the Nicopolitan were brought to Rome. Rightly, I think, here Tamayo corrects both himself and his other guide. Would that in many other things he had corrected himself with the same felicity and facility! Thus his wares would be worth more among learned Hagiophiles, even Spanish ones, being often more worthy of indignation and laughter than of price.
THE ACTS. From a very ancient Vatican Manuscript codex, 866, folio 343. TRANSLATED BY J. P.
The 45 Martyrs at Nicopolis in Armenia (SS.)
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
CHAPTER I.
An edict against the Christians being published by Licinius, the holy Martyrs are set before Lysias the Duke.
Λικίνιος ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλεν διατάγματα κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ὀικουμένην, ὡς εἴ τινες εὑρεθεῖν Χριστιανοὶ, τούτους παντὶ τρόπῳ κολάζεσθαι. Ὁ δὲ τύπος τοῦ διατάγματος τοῦτον εἶχεν τὸν χαρακτῆρα. Λικίνιος αὐτοκράτωρ, μέγιστος, σεβαστὸς τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ὀικουμένην ἄρχουσιν χαίρειν· ἐπειδὴ ἐδιδάχθη ἡ ἡμετέρα θειότης, ὅτι τινὲς τῶν λεγομένων Χριστιανῶν οὐ μόνον οὐ θύουσιν τοῖς εὐεργέταις θεοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνυβρίζουσιν τὴν εὐσεβῆ τῶν θεῶν θρησκείαν, πλείστους δὲ θεοὺς καὶ ἐν νυξὶν συνέτριψαν προφάσει τοῦ θύειν αὐτοῖς, καὶ πολλάκις κολασθέντες οὐ μετετέθησαν, οὐ τιμαῖς εἴξαντες, οὐ φόβῳ μεταπεισθέντες, διὰ τοῦτο κελεύει τὸ ἡμέτερον κράτος ὅπου δ᾽ ἂν εὑρεθεῖν Χριστιανοὶ, τούτους θῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ τιμῶν μεγίστων καὶ δωρεῶν ἀπολαύειν, τοὺς δὲ μὴ πεισθέντας, σὺν γυναιξὶν καὶ τέκνοις πυρὶ καὶ μαχαίρᾳ παραδιδόσθαι, τὴν δέγε ὕπαρξιν αὐτῶν πᾶσαν δημοσιευθῆναι εἰς ἐπιμέλειαν ναῶν, τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν κλοπῇ καθαιρεθέντων, καὶ τειχῶν καὶ λουτρῶν δημοσίων. Εἰδότες οὖν τὸ ἀπαράβατον τῆς ἡμετέρας κελεύσεως παντὶ σθένει τὸ προσταχθὲν εἰς ἔργον ἐνέγκατε, ὡς μὴ καὶ ὑμᾶς συνκινδυνεῦσαι τοῖς ἀθεοτάτοις. Τούτων τῶν προσταγμάτων προτεθέντων ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις τῶν πόλεων, οἱ ἅγιοι δοῦλοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἔχαιρον, τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου σκοποῦντες.
[2] Καὶ δὴ καὶ ἐν τῇ Νικοπολιτῶν προτεθέντος τοῦ διατάγματος, καὶ τῶν φόβων ἐπισειομένων, καὶ τῶν κολαστηρίων εὐτρεπισθέντων, ξύλων ὀρθίων είς ἀνάρθησιν, ὀνύχωντε σιδηρῶν ἀκμαίων εἰς εἴσξεσιν, καὶ κασσίδων πεπυρακτομένων, τηγάνων καὶ τροχῶν, καὶ ἥλων, καὶ βουνεύρων ζηρῶν, καὶ ἑτέρων χαλεπωτέρων κολαστηρίων, καὶ παραγενομένου τοῦ δουκὸς Λυσία, ὅπερ ἦν ἀποκεκληρωμένη ἡ λεγεὼν πᾶσα ἡ Ἀρμενίας, συνελήφθησάν τινες, ἑαυτοὺς καταδήλους ποιήταντες, ὅτι Χριστιανοί εἰσιν, Λεόντιος καὶ Μαυρίκιος, καὶ Δανιὴλ, ἄνδρες ἐπίσημοι τῶν ἐν τῇ πόλει γένει τε, καὶ παιδεύσει λόγων καὶ βίῳ κατὰ Χριστὸν διαπρέποντες, σὺν αὐτοῖς δὲ καὶ ἕτεροίτε μ᾽ λέγοντες ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι Χριστιανοὺς, καὶ αὐτοπροαιρέσεως προελθόντες τῷ Λυσίᾳ. Ὁς θεασάμενος τὴν τοσαύτην τῶν ἀνδρῶν προθυμίαν, ἠρώτα αὐτοὺς, λέγων· Πόθεν ἐστέ; καὶ τίς ἐστιν ὁ πείσας, ὑμᾶς, μὴ εὐσεβεῖν, μή τε θύειν τοῖς θεοῖς τοῖς οὐρανίοις; Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει· ἡμεῖς πάντες Χριστιανοί ἐσμεν. Καὶ οἱ μὲν τὴν πόλιν ταύτην ὀικοῦμεν, οἱ δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῆς ὑπὸ τὴν πόλιν ὥρμηνται. Καὶ πατρὶς μὲν ἡμῖν αὕτη ἡ ἐπίγειος, πατὴρ δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ ἐπουράνιος· καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν, ὁ διδάξας ἡμᾶς καὶ πείσας, θεοῖς κουφοῖς καὶ τυφλοῖς μὴ λατρεύειν, μή τε ἔργοις χειρῶν ἀθρώπων προσκυνεῖν.
[3] Λυσίας εἶπεν· Καὶ ποῦ ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός; οὐχὶ ἐσταυρώθη καὶ ἀπέθανεν; Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει· Μὴ μόνον τὸ άπέθανεν ἀκούσεις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐννοήθητι ὅτι καὶ ἠγέρθη καὶ ζῶν ἐστιν ἐν τοις οὐρανοῖς· ἑκὼν γὰρ ἀπέθανεν δι᾽ ἡμᾶς, καὶ πάλιν ἠγέρθη, ὡς υἱὸς ὢν τοῦ θεοῦ. Λυσίας εἶπεν· οὐκ οὖν ζῆ νῦν; Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: ὦ Λυσία, οἱ ὑμέτεροι θεοὶ ἀποθανόντες οὐ ζῶσιν· ὁ δὲ ἡμέτερος δεσπότης καὶ Θεὸς, ὁ τὰ πάντα τῇ ἰδίᾳ δεξιᾷ καταρτήσας, οὐρανὸν, γῆν, θάλασσαν, καὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἀποσπάσῃ τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας· ἐκεῖνος ζῆ, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξεν ὑπεραποθνήσκειν αὐτοῦ, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀποθανόντες συνζήσωμεν αὐτῷ. Λυσίας εἶπεν. Οὐχὶ δώδεκά εἰσιν θεοὶ οὐράνιοι; ποῖον οὖν σὺ λέγεις ἕτερον Θεὸν, ὅς ἐποίησεν οὐρανὸν, καὶ γὴν, καὶ θάλασσαν; Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: ποῖοί εἰσιν οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν; Λυσίας λέγει: Ζεὺς, καὶ Ἀπόλλων, καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸς, καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι, οὒς σέβει ἡ σύμπασα. ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: ζεὺς οὖν Θεός ἐστιν; Λυσίας εἶπεν· Οὐαὶ, ἐμάνεις, ἄνθρωπε βλασφημῶν, αὐτός ἐστιν, ὁ κρατῶν τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε καὶ θεῶν. Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: εἰ οὖν θεός ἐστιν ὁ Ζεὺς πάντως, ὅτι καὶ ἰσχυρός ἐστιν, καὶ ὑμῶν τῶν ἐκδίκων οὐ χρήζει ἀσεβούμενος· πάντως δὲ καὶ δίκαιός ἐστιν, καὶ μισοπόνηρος, μισῶν μοιχίαν, μισῶν πορνείαν, μισῶν ἀῤῥητοποιΐαν, μισῶν ἀδελφογαμίαν, μισῶν πολέμους, καὶ φιλῶν εἰρήνην. Ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς ὀφείλει τέλειος εἶναι, καὶ ἀπροσδεὴς, καὶ ἀναμάρτητος· ἐὰν γὰρ ἁμάρτῃ ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, ἐστὶν ἁμαρτωλὸς, καὶ ἄλλου θεοῦ χρείαν ἔχει ἀναμαρτήτου εἰς διόρθωσιν ἑαυτοῦ.
[4] Λυσίας εἶπεν· Σὺ εἶ ὁ δικάζων τὰ τῶν θεῶν κακὴ κεφαλὴ; μὰ τὴν σωτηρίαν τῶν θεῶν, καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν, κακῶς ἀπολέσω ὑμᾶς. Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: Μὴ ἀγανάκτει τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀκούων· τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πᾶσιν νόμοι τέθηνται, οἱ μὲν λογικοὶ, οἱ δὲ φυσικοὶ, ὡς οὐ χρὴ ἄνθρωπον ἀλλοτρίαν ἔχειν γυναῖκα, οὔτε ἀδελφογαμεῖν, οὔτε πολέμους ἀγαπᾶν, καὶ προξενεῖν ὄλεθρον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εἴπερ σωτῆρας αὐτοὺς καλεῖς, ὤφειλον μᾶλλον ἐκ τῆς εἰρήνης σώζειν, καὶ περιποιεῖσθαι τοὺς σεβομένους. Εἰ δὲ ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν τοιαῦτα διαπράττεται, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πεισάτω λῦσαι τοὺς νομους· ἢ καὶ ὡς ἄνθρωπος πραττέτω ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν, καὶ μιμησάσθω τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· εἰ γὰρ οἱ πράττοντες ἃ μὴ ὁ νόμος κελεύει, παράνομοι λέγονται, καὶ τιμωρίας μεγίστης, καὶ θανάτου ἄξιοί εἰσιν; οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν παρανομοῦντες, πόσων θανάτων ἄξιοί εἰσιν; Οἴδαμεν ἀνθρώπους ἐγκρατευομένους ἀπὸ τῶν ἀκαθαρσιῶν τούτων, καὶ λέγονται δίκαιοι, φυλασσόμενοι ἀπὸ ἀσελγίας· οὐκ οὖν οἱ ἐγκρατεῖς ἄνθρωποι τῶν θεῶν ἀκρατῶν κρείττουσιν· εἰ δὲ οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως, ἀλλὰ κακῶς εἶπον, μαρτύρησόν μοι·
οὐκ εἶπον γὰρ κακῶς, ὅτι οὔκ εἰσιν θεοὶ σώζοντες, ἀλλὰ δαίμονες κάκιστοι, ὀλοθρεύοντες ψυχάς. [5] Ὀ ἅγιος Δανιὴλ λέγει τῷ ἁγίῳ Λεοντίῳ· Καλῶς, εἶπας, πάτερ, καὶ πάντας ἡμᾶς παρεθάῤῥυνας. Ὁ Δοῦξ εἶπεν, κακὴ κεφαλὴ, καὶ πάσης ἀπονίας πεπληρωμένη, οὐχὶ ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν ἐσταυρώθη ὡς κακοῦργος; τίς δὲ τῶν θεῶν ἡμῶν ἐσταυρώθη; Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει: Ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος Θεὸς ἐσταυρώθη, καὶ ἐγκαυχόμεθα ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ αὐτοῦ, δι᾽ οὗ οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν οὐκ ἔτι ἰσχύουσιν· ὁ γὰρ Χριστὸς βουλόμενος σῶσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον διὰ τὴν ἐπικρατήσασαν ταύτην ἀθεότητα, ἑκουσίως ἑαυτὸν παρέδωκεν τοῖς ἰουδαίοις, προκηρύξας ταῦτα διὰ τῶν προφητῶν, ἵνα διὰ τοῦ σταυροῦ παραβασιν ἀρχαίαν τοῦ προτοπλάστου λύσῃ, καὶ κατέλθῃ εἰς τὸν ᾄδην, καὶ ἀνοίξῃ τοῦτον καὶ ἀπολύσῃ ψυχὰς, καὶ ἀνάστασιν ἡμῖν δωρήσηται. Οἱ δὲ ὑμέτεροι θεοὶ, ζεὺς μὲν δι᾽ ἀσωτίαν, κύκνος, καὶ ταῦρος, καὶ ἑρπετὸν ἐγένετο· τί οὖν ἐστὶν ἐραστότερον, Θεὸν τὸν ποιήσαντα ἄνθρωπον, καὶ ἀπολωλότα διὰ ἰδίαν αὐτοῦ κακὴν προαίρεσιν, ἀποθανεῖν τὸν Θεὸν δι᾽ αὐτὸν, καὶ ἀναστῆναι καὶ συναναστῆσαι τοῦτον ἰλεηθέντα, ἢ δι᾽ ἀσωτίαν γενέσθαι πελαργὸν, καὶ ἕρπειν διὰ πορνίαν; Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλων, ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν, ἐκεραυνώθη, ὡς ἐν τοῖς μύθοις ἡμῶν τραγῳδεῖται. Ἀσκλήπιος δὲ καὶ Ἡράκλης ἐκεραυνώθησαν καὶ αὐτοὶ, καὶ κατεδαπανήθησαν πυρὶ οὐρανίῳ, οὐ γὰρ ἦσαν θεοὶ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπατηλοί.
An edict against the Christians being published by the Emperor Licinius, The Emperor Licinius everywhere published edicts, that, if any Christians were found, they should be punished in every way. The copy of the edict was expressed thus: Licinius Emperor, greatest, augustus, to those who are set over the world, greeting: After our divinity was made more certain that certain of those who are called Christians not only do not sacrifice to the beneficent gods, but also inflict injuries on the pious cult of the gods; nay, under pretext of sacrificing to them, have crushed very many gods even in the night-time; and, though often punished, have not repented, whether affected by honors or deterred by fear; therefore our power commands that, wherever Christians are found, these shall sacrifice to the gods, and enjoy great honors and gifts: but those who resist, together with their wives and children, shall be delivered to fire and sword; moreover all their goods shall be made public, for the benefit of the temples, secretly overthrown by them, and of the walls and public baths. Being therefore instructed in our inviolable command, as much as you can strive, execute what is enjoined, lest you be endangered together with the most impious. These edicts therefore being published in the streets of the cities, the holy servants of God rejoiced, considering the opportunity of martyrdom offered them.
[2] Meanwhile, the edict being published in the city of the Nicopolitans, when terrors pressed on, our holy Martyrs are set before Lysias the Duke; and the instruments of torture were made ready — poles erected for hanging, sharp iron claws for scraping, fiery helmets, boiling pots, wheels, nails, hardened ox-sinews, and other more atrocious torments; and when Lysias the Duke had arrived, where the whole legion of Armenia had by lot been distributed, some were seized who declared themselves Christians, Leontius and Mauricius and Daniel, men conspicuous for the splendor of their birth, and illustrious in the erudition of learning and in the conformity of their life to the laws of Christ, and together with them forty others, declaring themselves Christians, of their own accord approached Lysias. Who, contemplating such a loftiness of spirit in the men, questioned them, saying: Of what country are you, and who is the author to you, that you offer no cult or sacrifice to the heavenly gods? To whom St. Leontius: We are all Christians, and we indeed inhabit this city, but they came from the region which lies under the city. And our earthly fatherland indeed is the same, but our heavenly Father is Christ; and it is he who taught us, and persuaded us not to worship mute and blind gods, nor to adore the works of the hands of men.
[3] Lysias said: Where then is Christ? Was he not fastened to a cross and did he not die? to whom, while St. Leontius renders the account of his faith, To whom St. Leontius: Do not only hear that he died, but consider that he rose again, and lives in the heavens: for indeed he died willingly for us, and rose again, as being the Son of God. Lysias said: So then he even now lives? To whom St. Leontius: O Lysias, your gods, after they died, do not live; but our Lord and God, who governs all things with his right hand — heaven, earth, sea, and all men — died for us, that he might draw us out of the cult of idols. He lives, and taught us to die for him, that, dead, we may live with him. Lysias said: Are there not twelve heavenly gods? What other God then do you speak of, who made heaven and earth and sea? St. Leontius said: Who then are your gods? Lysias said: Besides, both Apollo and Æsculapius, and the others whom the whole world worships. St. Leontius said: Is Jupiter, then, a god? Lysias said: Bah! you are mad, blasphemous man: he it is who holds the heavens, the father of men and of gods. St. Leontius said: If, then, Jupiter is a god, because he is altogether strong, he has no need of you as defenders when he is injured; he is altogether just and a hater of evil, a hater of fornication, a hater of adultery, a hater of nefarious obscenity, a hater of incest, a hater of wars, and a lover of peace. For God ought to be perfect, and free from want and from sin: for if your god sins, he is a sinner; and he needs another God who knows not how to sin, for his own correction.
[4] Lysias said: Do you plead the cause of the things which pertain to the gods, you evil head? By the safety of the gods and mine, having inveighed against the idols I will evilly destroy you. St. Leontius says: Do not take it ill to hear the truth. To all men both reason and nature have prescribed laws, that it is not right that a man have another's wife, and that he commit incest, or love wars, or bring destruction on men. If you call them saviors, they ought rather to preserve out of peace and to deserve well of their worshippers. If your god does these things, let him persuade men to loose the laws; or let your god act as a man, and imitate men. For if those who do the things which the law does not command are called transgressors, and are worthy of the highest punishment and of death itself; of what kind of death, then, are your gods, as transgressors, worthy? We know men who have restrained themselves from these filthy things; and they are called just, shunning lust. Therefore continent men are more excellent than incontinent gods. If the matter is not so, but I have spoken ill, bear witness to me. For indeed I have not spoken ill; for they are not gods who preserve, but most wicked demons, bringing destruction on souls.
[5] and having defended the honor of Christ St. Daniel says to St. Leontius: You have spoken beautifully, Father, and have given courage to us all. The Duke said: Evil head, and full of all madness; was not your God, like a malefactor, fastened to a cross? But which of our gods was fastened to a Cross? St. Leontius says: Our God was fastened to the Cross; nay rather we glory in his Cross, against which your gods avail nothing at all: for Christ, wishing to save man from such impiety as had prevailed, voluntarily delivered himself to the Jews, having foretold these things through the Prophets, that through the cross he might loose the ancient transgression of the first man, descend to hell, open it, free the souls, and grant us resurrection. But your gods — Jupiter indeed, on account of lust, became a swan, a bull, and a serpent. What then is more worthy of love: that God, who had made man, and who had perished by his own evil will — that God, I say, should die for him and rise again, and together raise up this same man, having obtained mercy; or, on account of lust, to become a stork and to creep on account of lechery? Likewise too Apollo, your god, perished by a thunderbolt, as is dramatized in your fables. But Æsculapius and Hercules were likewise struck by a thunderbolt and consumed by heavenly fire: for they were not gods, but impostors.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER II.
The Saints, struck with stones and cast into prison, are strengthened by St. Leontius with various examples.
Καὶ χολώσας ὁ Δοῦξ, ἐκέλευσεν λίθοις τὰς ὄψεις αὐτῶν δέρεσθαι, καὶ λέγει· Τύπτετε τὰ στόματα αὐτῶν, ὅθεν ἐξῆλθεν βλασφημία εἰς τοὺς θεούς. Οἱ δὲ Ἅγιοι τυπτόμενοι, λέγουσιν τῷ τυράννῳ· Τύπτειν σε μέλλει ὁ Θεὸς, ὑπηρέτα τοῦ σατανᾶ, ὅτι τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀκούων, μεθύεις τῇ ἀσεβείᾳ. Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει· Ἀδελφοὶ, μὴ καταράσθε τοὺς αὐτοκαταράτους, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον εὐλογεῖτε. ἐπειδὴ οὕτως ἐπιγέγραπται: εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς διώκοντας ὑμᾶς: εὐλογεῖτε, καὶ μὴ καταράσθε. Ὁ δοὺξ εἶπεν: Λεόντιε, μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς, ἐὰν πισθῆτέ μοι καὶ θύετε, ὂ, ἐὰν βούλεσθε, παρέξω ὑμῖν· ἕως γὰρ τοῦ παρόντος ἠνεσχόμην ὑμῶν, σκοπῶν τὴν μεταβολὴν. Ἐὰν οὖν παρακούσετε τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων, καὶ μὴ προσελθόντες, θύσητε τοῖς θεοῖς, τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν τοῖς κόραξιν καὶ τοῖς κυσὶν βορὰν παραθήσω, καὶ οὐδὲν ὑμᾶς ὠφελήσει ἡ ματαία ἔνστασις. Ὁ ἅγιος Ἀντώνιος λέγει: Ποίοις θεοῖς κελεύεις θύσαι ὑμᾶς; Λυσίας λέγει· Θύσατε τῷ Διΐ, καὶ τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι. Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος εἶπεν. Ὁ Θεὸς ὑμῶν, ἑαυτὸν σῶσαι μὴ δυνάμενος, Ἀπόλλων λέγεται: τοῦτο ὑμεῖς μαρτυρεἶτε.
[7] Ἀγανακτήσας οὖν ὁ Λυσίας, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ θυμοῦ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς διαπύρους ποιήσας, καὶ τρήσας τοὺς ὀδόντας, ἐκέλευσεν σιδήρῳ θῆναι αὐτῶν τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ τοὺς πόδας, καὶ κλοίοις βαρυτάτοις κατασφηγχθέντας ἀποτεθῆναι εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον εἰς τὸν πύργον τῆς πόλεως τῆς βλεπούσης κατὰ βορέαν, ἔνθα καὶ πηγὴ ὑπεκτρέχει, ῥέουσα ἔξωθεν τῆς πύλης τῆς πόλεως. Παραγγείλας τοῖς φυλάσσουσιν αὐτοὺς στρατιώταις, Μεναῖᾳ καὶ βηληράδῃ, λέγων αὐτοῖς, Βλέπετε, ὦ Μεναῖα καὶ βηληράδη, πῶς αὐτοὺς φυλάττετε· μὰ τὸν γὰρ Ἀσκλήπιον, ὅτι ἐᾶν μάθω, ὅτι ἄρτος, ἢ ὕδωρ ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς παρά τινος, τὴν ἐκείνων τιμωρίαν ὑμῖν ἐπιθήσω, καὶ πυρὶ σὺν ἐκείνοις ὑμᾶς ἀναλώσω. Οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται τὰ δεσμὰ περιθέντες τοῖς ἁγίοις, ἐνέβαλον εἰς τὸν πύργον. Οἱ δὲ Ἅγιοι ὡς ἐξ ἐνὸς στόματος ἔλεγον· εὐλογοῦμέν σε, Κύριε, τὸν βασιλέα τῆς δόξης, τὸν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου παραστάντα εἰς κριτήριον διὰ τὰς ὑμετέρας ἁμαρτίας· σὺ γὰρ εἶ ἡ ἀληθινὴ ζωὴ, ὁ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν θυσία δοθεὶς, ὁ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς ἀληθινὸς, καὶ τοῦ σοῦ πατρὸς ἀρχιερεὺς, μὴ χωρήσῃς ἡμᾶς τοῦ ἐλέου σου, μήτε ταύτης τῆς ἀδελφότητος, ἑνόσας ἡμᾶς πάντας τῇ σῇ ὁμολογίᾳ, καὶ ποιήσας ἡμᾶς ὁμοψύχους, ἕνοσον ἡμῶν καὶ
τὴν τελείωσιν, καὶ μὴ ποιήσῃς ἡμᾶς ἐν μηδενὶ χωρισθῆναι ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων, ὅπως ἰδόντες ἡμῶν τὴν καλὴν προθυμίαν οἱ ἀσεβεῖς ἐργάται, ἐπιθυμήσουσιν τὴν καλὴν ἡμῶν πράξιν. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐν σκότει κατεβλήθημεν πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ἡμῶν ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐκτήκεται· ἀλλὰ σὺ, κύριε, χάρισαι ἡμῖν τὴν ὑπομονὴν καὶ τελείωσον ἡμῶν τὸν δρόμον, ἵνα μηδένα ἐξ ἡμῶν ὁ σατανὰς χειρώσηται.
[8] Καὶ κλίναντες τὰ γόνατα προσηύξαντο, καὶ ἀναστάντες ἐκαθήσθησαν, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτοὺς ὀρθοὺς στῆναι· ἦσαν γὰρ ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς κατακαμπτόμενοι, καὶ ἔψαλλον συμφόνως λέγοντες· Ὑπομένων ὑπέμεινα τὸν Κύριον, καὶ προσέσχεν μοι, καὶ εἰσήκουσε τῆς δεήσεώς μου, καὶ ἀνήγαγέν με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ ὕλεως. Καὶ πληρώσαντες τὸν ψαλμὸν, ἔπεσαν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον, καὶ ἀναστάντες πάλιν ἔψαλλον, λέγοντες· Ἐιςσάκουσον ὁ Θεὸς προσευχῆς μου, ἐν τῷ δέεσθαί με πρός σε, ἀπὸ φόβου ἐχθροῦ ἐξελοῦ τὴν ψυχήν μου· ἐσκέπασάς με ἀπὸ συστροφῆς πονηρευομένων, ἀπὸ πλήθους ἐργαζομένων ἀδικίαν· Καὶ πληρώσαντες τὸν ψαλμὸν, καὶ ποιήσαντες τρίτην εὐχὴν, ἐκαθέζοντο, ἀλλήλων τὰ δεσμὰ καταφιλοῦντες, καὶ προσέχοντες ἀλλήλοις ἠγαλλιῶντο. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Λεόντιος ἤρξατο παρακαλεῖν αὐτοὺς καὶ λέγειν. Ἀδελφοὶ τίμιοι καὶ θεράποντες καὶ δοῦλοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, γενναίως ἅπαντα ὑπομείνωμεν· οἴδατε γὰρ ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν, ὅσα ὑπέμεινεν Ἰὼβ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τέλος κυρίου ἔγνωται, μέμνησθε πάντως ὅτι Ἰωάννης μὲν ὁ βαπτιστὴς ἀπεκεφαλίσθη, Στέφανος δὲ ἐλιθοβολήθη, Πέτρος ὁ ἀτόστολος ἐν Ῥώμῃ ἐσταυρώθη, Παῦλος ἀπεκεφαλίσθη, Θωμᾶς ἐκεντήθη· ὅσοι δὲ ἅγιοι ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ Δεκίου, καὶ Ἀδριανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀλλων ἀσεβῶν βασιλέων, ἐμαρτύρησαν, ἐπιδόξως καὶ τους στεφάνους ἀπέλαβον, καὶ μακαρίζονται παρὰ πάντων, καὶ ἔγνωτε πάντως καὶ ἀκούετε.
[9] Καὶ τὶ δεῖ περὶ ἀνδρῶν ἀθλησάντων λέγειν; ὅπουγε καὶ γυναῖκες θεοσεβεῖς καὶ ἀνδρεῖαι ἀποθέμεναι τὸ τῆς φύσεως ἄτονον καὶ ἀσθενὲς, ἐνίσχυσαν τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἐλπίδα, διὰ τὴν ἀποκειμένην ἐν οὐρανοῖς δόξαν. Ὁ γὰρ κύριος εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις· Ὃς ἂν ὁμολογήσει με ἔμπροσθεν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμολογήσω αὐτὸν κᾀγὼ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὅς ἂν ἀπαρνήσηταί με ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀπαρνηθήσεται καὶ αὐτὸς ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ Θεοῦ· εἰ οὖν γυναῖκες, ὧν ἡ φύσις ἀσθένεια, ἀνδρικῶς ἀγωνίσαντο, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὀφείλομεν ἡμεῖς οἰ τοιοῦτοι καὶ τοσοῦτοι ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρῆσαι; Ἀκούετε περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Εὐφημίας, καὶ Καπιτουλίνης καὶ Ἰουλίττης, καὶ τῶν ἀλλων ἁγίων γυναικῶν, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἐν βίβλοις τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰσιν ἀναγραπτὰ, πῶς λαμπρῶς ἠγωνίσαντο, καὶ ἐνίκησαν τὸν διάβολον· ἐν οἷς διηγήσομαι τῇ ἀγάπῃ ὑμῶν λόγον ἄξιον, μνημονεύων, ἃ ἀκήκοα παρὰ ἀνδρὸς, διδασκάλου ἡμῶν, ἐλθόντος ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, καὶ αὐτὸς ἔλεγεν ἀκηκοέναι παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀντωνίου τοῦ ἀσκητοῦ.
[10] Ὅτι ἐν τοῖς καιροῖς Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ διώκτου κόρη τις ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ, δούλη τινὸς ὑπάρχουσα τῶν ἐκεῖσε πλουσίων, αὕτη δὲ ἐλέγετο Ποταμιήνα. Ἠναγκάσθη παρὰ τοῦ ἰδίου δεσπότου συνκαθεύδειν αὐτῷ. Ἡ δὲ εἶπεν· Ὅτι Χριστοῦ εἰμι δούλη, καὶ οὐ πορνεύω. Ὁ δὲ δεσπότης ἐφήδετο αὐτῆς ἕως τινὸς· ἡ δὲ οὐκ ἐπείσθη· αὐτὸς μέν ἅμα ἀγαπῶν, ἅμα δὲ καὶ ἐλεῶν, οὐκ ἐτύπτεν, ἀλλὰ παρέδωκεν αὐτὴν τῷ ἡγεμόνι, λέγων· Ἐὰν συνθῆτε τῷ σκοπῷ μου, φῆσαι αὐτοῖς, εἰ δὲ μὴ, κόλασον ἀὐτη ὡς Χριστιανήν. Παραδοθείσα δὲ τῷ ἡγεμόνι, καὶ πολλὰ παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ κολακευθεῖσα τοῦ πεισθῆναι τοῖς τοῦ δεσπότου κελεύμασι, ἀποκριθεῖσα εἶπεν. Μὴ γένοιτο τοιοῦτό ποτε δικαστὴς, ὃς κελεύει ἀσωτίᾳ δεσπότου δούλην ὑποτάσσεσθαι· τοῦ δὲ ἡγεμόνος φοβήσαντος, ὅτι ἐν τῷ λέβητί σε ἐμβάλω, συνκαίεσθαι τῇ πίσσῃ ὡς Χριστιανὴν οὖσαν· ἡ δὲ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· τὴν κεφαλέν σοι τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐπειδὴ πολὺ φοβῆ αὐτὸν, μὴ κελεύσεις ἀπὸ ἅπαξ ῥιφῆναί με ἐν τῷ λέβητι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μικρὸν χαλασθῆναι, ἵνα γνῶς, πόσην μοι ὑπομονὴν ὁ Χριστὸς χαρίζεται.
[11] Καὶ βληθήσης αὐτῆς ἐν τῷ λέβητι, ὡς ἦλθεν περὶ τὸν τράχηλον ἡ πίσσα, ἀπέδωκεν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτῆς. Ὁρᾶτε, ὅτι γυνὴ μόνῃ καὶ δούλη ὑπάρχουσα, καὶ μὴ ἔχουσα ἑαυτῆς ἐξουσίαν, οὕτως τῇ μεγάλῃ ὑπομονῇ κατῄσχυνεν τὸν τύραννον. Τί ἂν εἴποιμεν ἡμεῖς; ἢ ποῖα ὑπέρθεσίς ἐσται, τοῦ μὴ ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ; Μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τελείωσιν ἡμῶν, αἱ μὲν ψυχαὶ ἡμῶν ὑπὸ ἁγίων Ἀγγέλων δορυφοροῦνται, καὶ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν στέφανοι, καὶ τιμαὶ ἔσονται· τὰ δὲ λείψανα ἡμῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ δόξης κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐκπέμπονται. Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν, πάντας παρεθάῤῥυνεν, ὥστε καὶ αὐτοὺς εἰπεῖν, τοῦ Κυρίου τὸ θέλημα γενέσθω. Καύσονος δὲ ὄντος ἀφορήτου, ἡνίκα ταῦτα τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐσυνέμβαινεν, καὶ ἐκκαιομένων αὐτῶν τῇ δίψῇ, καὶ κολυομένων τῶν οἰκείων ἐπιδοῦναι αὐτοῖς ἄρτον, ἢ ὕδωρ, γυνή τις θεοσεβης ὀνόματι Βασιανὴ, εὐσχημόνως ἐνδυσαμένη τὴν γυναικίον στολὴν, καὶ μαφόριον πλατύτερον τῆς συνηθείας περιβαλλομένη, κοθώνας ὕδατος πλήρεις διαζωσαμένη, καὶ ὡς ἐπισκέψεως χάριν ἀνυπόπτως πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰσπορευομένη, ἐπότιζεν αὐτοὺς λανθανόντως.
his face too is struck with stones along with the others, Then the Duke, angry, ordered their faces to be beaten with stones. And he said: Strike their mouths, from which blasphemy burst forth against the gods. The Saints, being struck, say to the Tyrant: God is about to strike you, minister of Satan, because, hearing the truth, you are drunk with impiety. St. Leontius says: Brethren, do not curse these who are cursed of themselves, but rather bless. Since it is thus written: Bless them that persecute you: bless and curse not. The Duke said: Leontius, I swear by the Gods, if you obey me and sacrifice, whatever you wish, I will give you: for hitherto I have borne with you, expecting that you would change. If therefore you resist the Emperors, and if you do not come to sacrifice to the gods, I will set your limbs as food for the crows and dogs, and your foolish obstinacy will profit you nothing. St. Antony said: To what kind of gods do you bid us sacrifice? Lysias says: Sacrifice to Jove and Apollo. St. Leontius said: Your god, who cannot save himself, is called Apollo. This you yourselves confess.
[7] Lysias therefore, indignant, with eyes inflamed with fury and gnashing his teeth, bound with chains, they are consigned to prison, and pray, ordered their hands and feet to be bound with chains, and, being tortured with the heaviest chains, to be shut in prison in the tower of the city which faces the North. Whence also a fountain runs out, flowing outside the gate of the city. To the soldiers who guarded them, Menaeas and Belerada, he gave this charge, saying: See, Menaeas and Belerada, how you guard them. For by Æsculapius, if I shall learn that either bread or water has been given them by anyone, I will punish you with their punishment, and destroy you by fire together with them. But the soldiers, placing chains around the Saints, cast them into the tower. The Saints as with one mouth said: We bless thee, O Lord, King of glory, who for our sins stood before Pontius Pilate to be judged. For thou art the true life, who for us sinners wast given as a victim, true Son of the true God, and Pontiff of thy Father; separate us not from thy mercy, nor from this fraternal union; who makest us all one by the confession of thee, and of one will, and our death also one, and permit not that one of us be separated from another in anything, that, seeing our excellent alacrity, the impious ministers may be moved by our example. For behold, we have been thrust into darkness, hungering and thirsting, and our soul wastes away in chains; but do thou, O Lord, give us patience, and complete our course, that Satan may seize none of us.
[8] And bending their knees they prayed; and after they had risen, they sat down, reciting the words of the psalms, because they could not stand with body erect (for they were bent over in their chains), and with one voice they sang, saying: Waiting I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me, and heard my prayer, and brought me out of the pit of misery and from the mire of dregs. And the psalm being finished, they fell on their face, and rising again they sang, saying: Hear, O God, my prayer, when I make supplication to thee: from fear of the enemy deliver my soul: thou hast protected me from the assembly of the malignant, from the multitude of those who work iniquity. And the psalm being finished and a third prayer made, they sat down, kissing one another's chains, and, mutually embracing one another, they exulted. But St. Leontius began to exhort them and to say: Venerable brethren, servants and slaves of Christ, let us endure all things with a generous spirit: for you know from the sacred Scriptures how much Job endured (and indeed the end of the Lord is not hidden from you); be mindful that John the Baptist was beheaded, Stephen stoned, Peter the Apostle crucified at Rome, Paul beheaded, Thomas pierced through with darts. But how many saints in the times of the Emperor Maximian, of Decius and Adrian, and of the other impious emperors, were afflicted with martyrdom, and gloriously obtained crowns, and are proclaimed fortunate by all, you both know entirely and have heard.
[9] But to what end does it belong to commemorate men as champions? St. Leontius exhorting them by the examples of women When women too, excelling in religion and manly spirit, having laid aside the weakness of their sex, placed their hope in Christ, on account of the glory laid up in heaven. For the Lord says in the Gospels: Whoever shall confess me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven, and whoever shall deny me before men, he also shall be denied before the Angels of God. And so if women, whose nature is weak, contended manfully; how much more must we, such and so many, undergo martyrdom for Christ? You have heard of St. Euphemia, Capitolina, and Julitta, and other holy women, whose names are written in the books of the heavens, how strenuously they fought, and vanquished the devil. Of whom I will recount to your charity a worthy discourse, commemorating those things which I received from a man, our teacher, who came from Egypt, and said that he had heard them from St. Antony the ascetic.
[10] and of St. Potamiaena, In the times of Maximian the persecutor there was a certain girl at Alexandria, a maidservant of one of the rich men dwelling there. Her name was Potamiaena a. She was compelled by her master to lie with him. She said: I am a handmaid of Christ, I do not fornicate. But the master for some time importuned her. She, however, did not comply. He therefore, at once loving and at once pitying, did not strike her, but handed her over to the Prefect, saying: If she yields to my design, announce it: but if not, punish her as a Christian. Being therefore handed over to the Prefect, and tempted by him with many flatteries, that she should obey her master's commands, she answered and said: May there never be such a judge, who bids a handmaid obey the lust of her master. And when the Prefect
struck fear into her: I will cast you into a cauldron, that you may be burned with pitch, since you are a Christian; she said this to him: By the head of the emperor (for you greatly revere him), do not order me to be thrown into the cauldron all at once, but to be let down little by little, that you may know how much patience Christ grants me.
[11] cast into a cauldron for her chastity. She therefore, cast into the cauldron, as soon as the pitch reached her neck, delivered up her spirit. You see that a woman, who was alone and a handmaid, and who had no power over herself, confounded the tyrant with so great patience. What then shall we say; or what delay will there be in not dying for our Lord Jesus Christ? For after our death, our souls will be attended by the escort of the holy Angels; and in the kingdom of heaven there will be crowns and honors: but our relics will be transmitted with joy and honor throughout the whole world. Having said these things, he gave courage to all, so that they too said: The Lord's will be done. But since, at the time when these things were happening to the Saints, the heat was intolerable, and they were burning with thirst; and since, moreover, it was forbidden to the household to give them bread or water; a certain pious woman, by name Basiana, decently clothed in a woman's garment, girded with a maphorium b wider than she was accustomed, encircled with cups full of water, and setting out to them as if for the sake of visiting, without suspicion, secretly gave them drink.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER III.
The Saints are in vain incited to the worship of the gods; St. Leontius inveighs against the gods and the Tyrant; they are secretly given drink by the woman.
Διανυκτερεύσαντες δὲ ἐν τῷ σκότει ἦσαν ἀγαλλιόμενοι, ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἔψαλλον ὁμοῦ πάντες λέγοντες· Ἐξελοῦ με ἐκ τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐπανισταμένων ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ λύτρωσαί με· ῥύσαι με ἐκ τῶν ἐργαζομένων τὴν ἀνομίαν, καὶ ἐξ ἀνδρῶν αἱμάτων σῶσόν με, καὶ τὰ ἡξῆς. Οἱ γὰρ πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν ἐκ νεαρᾶς ἡλικίας ἦσαν ἐκμεμαθηκότες τοὺς ψαλμούς. Καὶ τελέσαντες τὴν νυκτερινὴν εὐχὴν, ἐκάθηντο ἐκδεχόμενοι τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοήθειαν. Ὁ δὲ Δοὺξ ἐν φροντίδι γενάμενος, ποίᾳ τιμωρίᾳ καλάσει τοὺς Ἁγίους, ἄϋπνος διετέλει τὴν νύκτα. Περὶ δὲ τὸν ὄρθρον ἀφυπνώσαντος αὐτοῦ, παρέστη αὐτῷ ὁ σατανᾶς, λέγων· Ἀνδρίζου, Λυσία· ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ Ἀσκλήπιος, εἰς ὃν χθὲς ὤμνυες, ἀλλὰ ἀναστὰς τιμώρισον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τούτους· ἅπαξ γὰρ βλασφημήσαντες, καὶ ἐνυβρίσαντες οὔκ εἰσιν ἄξιοι τῆς ἡμετέρας θεότητος· ξέσον οὖν αὐτοὺς· οἶδα γὰρ τὴν ἔνστασιν αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὔτε θύουσιν ἡμῖν, οὔτε προσκυνοῦσιν· πολλὰ γὰρ ἔλεγον κατ᾽ ἐμοῦ ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ. Εὐθὺς οὖν κλάσας αὐτῶν τὰ ὀστᾶ, καῦσον αὐτὰ πυρὶ καὶ ἐπιζήτησον τὸν Λὐκον ποταμὸν, καὶ ἐκεἱ αὐτὰ ἀπόλεσον· φοβοῦμαι γὰρ μήπως, ἐὰν εὕρωσιν αὐτὰ οἱ Χριστιανοὶ, οἰκοδομήσαντες οἴκους μεγάλους καὶ περιφανεῖς, ἐκεῖ αὐτοὺς κατορύξωσιν, κᾀκείνους σέβοντες καὶ τιμόντες, ἐμὲ ἐξουθενίσουσιν· σπουδῇ οὖν ἀπόλεσον αὐτούς.
[13] Ἀναστὰς οὖν ὁ Δοὺξ τῷ πρωῒ μετὰ σπουδῆς πολλῆς καὶ φαντασίας, καὶ πλήθους στρατιωτῶν, καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἕξω τῆς πόλεως ὡς ἀπὸ βημάτων ρν᾽, καὶ εὑρὼν τόπον ὑψιλότερον, καθήσας ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος, ἐκέλευσεν ἀχθῆναι τοὺς Ἀγίους· καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται τὸ τάχος ἐκβαλότες αὐτοὺς παρέστησαν δεδεμένους. Καὶ ἀτενίσας εἰς αὐτοὺς ὁ Δοὺξ, εἶπεν· Οἴδατε, ὅτι χθὲς φεισάμενος ἡμῶν τοῦ μὴ προσάγειν ὑμῖν βασάνους, εἰς τὴν σήμερον ἐταμιευσάμην, ἵνα τὴν σήμερον θύσαντες τοῖς θεοῖς, φίλοι γενέσθαι τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων, καὶ ἡμῶν· καὶ θύσας ἕκαστος ὑμῶν λάβῃ πρὸς σ᾽ χρυσοὺς, καὶ ἀισθῆτας, καὶ ἄλλας δωρεὰς βασιλικάς· ἰδοὺ γὰρ, ὁρῶ τοὺς πλείστους ὑμῶν θέλοντας θύσαι, ἐὰν οὖν πεισθῆτέ μοι, ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη ἐκέλευσα ἀχθῆναι ταύρους, ἵνα θύσητε τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ γένηται ὑμῖν ἄριστον, καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐωχίᾳ λήψησθε καὶ τὰς δωρεὰς λαμπράς. Ἐὰν δὲ μὴ πεισθῆτέ μοι, ἀνάγκη ἐπὶ τὸ ἔτερον εἶδος τῶν βασάνων ἐλθεῖν. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς μὴ στερηθῆναι τοῦ γλυκυτάτου φωτὸς, μήδε χωρισθῆναι γυναικῶν καὶ παιδίων, καὶ φίλων, ἀλλὰ θύσαι, καὶ θυμιάσαι λίβανον οἵῳ βούλεσθε θεῷ.
[14] Τότε πάντες οἱ Ἅγιοι ὠς ἐξ ἐνὸς στόματος εἶπον· ἀνάθεμά σοι, τύραννε, τῆς οἰκείας λύσσης ἐπώνυμε· κελεύεις ἡμᾶς ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ θύσαι δαίμοσιν ἀκαθάρτοις καὶ βδελυκτοῖς· ἡμῖν γὰρ καὶ ἔνδυμα, καὶ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις, καὶ θησαυρὸς, καὶ πατὴρ, καὶ φίλος, καὶ ἀδελφὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰσοῦς Χριστός ἐστιν ὁ καλέσας ἡμᾶς. Ὁ Δοὺξ λέγει· Ἔτι ὑμῶν φείδομαι καὶ ὑβριζόμενος· δίκαιον γάρ ἐστιν καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων ἐλαττόματα βαστάζειν· καὶ καταλιπὼν πάντας, λέγει τῷ ἁγίῳ Λεοντίῳ: Ὁρῷ σὲ μᾶλλον εὖ εἰδότα τὰ τῶν ἑλλήνων μυστήρια, πάντως ὅτι ἐκ παιδὸς ἐμυήθης. Τί οὖν; Ἐπειδὴ οὐ δοκοῦσίν σοι εἶναι θεοὶ Ζεὺς καὶ Ἀπόλλων καὶ Ἀσκλήπιος, καθήσατε τῷ Ποσειδῶνι, ἤτι Ἀρτέμιδι. Ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος λέγει. Πεπλάνησθε, θεοὺς τούτους λέγοντες· ὀπότε αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀθάνατοι οὖσαι, κρείττους εἰσὶν τῶν θεῶν τῶν θνητῶν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς λέγουσιν εἶναι τὴν γένννησιν τῶν θεῶν ὑμῶν, οὐρανὸς δὲ καὶ γῆ φθαρτὰ στοιχεῖά εἰσιν, πάντως, ὅτι καὶ τὰ τέκνα μιμοῦνται τοὺς γενήτορας, καὶ φθείρονται καὶ αὐτοὶ, ὡς οἱ γονεῖς· εἰ δέ εἰσιν φθαρτοὶ, πῶς ὀνομάζονται θεοὶ; καὶ εἰ αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποσπόμεναι τῶν σωμάτων, οὐκ ἐπανέχονται ὡς μὴ σώματος παραμένειν, ἀλλά τινα θεῖον τόπον καταλαμβάνουσιν, εἰ θεοὶ ἦσαν ἐκεῖνοι, οἳ ζητοῦσιν ἃ αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μισοῦσιν, καὶ χαίρουσιν πορνίαις καὶ κνήσαις; Εἰ οὖν τολμᾶ τις εἰπεῖν· Ὅτι θεός εἰμι, παρὲξ ἑνὸς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ποιήσει καὶ οὗτος ἕτερον κόσμον, καὶ εἴπῃ ὅτι τοῦτον τὸν κόσμον ἐγὼ ἐποίησα, καὶ τότε λεγέσθω Θεός· οὗτος γὰρ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ βασιλέως ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν τέχνη καὶ δημιούργημα.
[15] Καὶ θεασάμενος ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος τὸν Δοῦκα θυμωθέντα καὶ στρεβλούμενον, λέγει αὐτῷ· ὦ Δούξ, ἀνεξικάκως ἄκουσον· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἶπές με μύστην εἶναι τῶν ἑλληνικῶν πραγμάτων, ἄκουε τὰ κατὰ τῶν θεῶν σου· ὅν τρόπον γὰρ σὺ ἐὰν Καῖσαρ κληθεὶς, καὶ παροργήσας τὸν βασιλέα, τιμωρίαις ἄξιος εἶ· οὕτως καὶ οἱ θεοὶ ὑμῶν οἱ δαίμονες τολμήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς θεοὺς καλεῖν, ἔνοχοὶ εἰσιν μεγίστης κολάσεως· ὅρα δὲ καὶ ἕτερον παράδοξον. Διατὶ ὑμεῖς οἱ ἔκδικοι τῶν θεῶν ὑμῶν καθεκάστην ἐλαττοῦσθε; ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ δοῦλοι διωκόμενοι, καὶ ἀποθνήσκοντες πληθύνομεν; καὶ τοῦτο πεισάτω σε, τύραννε, ὅτι δοῦλοί ἐσμεν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἠγαπημένου. Καὶ τυμωθεὶς ὁ Δοὺξ λέγει· θύσατε τοῖς θεοῖς, ἐπεὶ μὰ τὸν Ἀσκλήπιον καὶ τὸν Ἥλιον, οὐχ ὑπερβήσεσθε τὴν αὔριον. Οἱ δὲ Ἅγιοι πάντες ὡς ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος εἶπον· Ἡμεῖς Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ προσφέρομεν λογικὴνν λατρείαν καρπὸν χείλων ήμῶν, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς ὁλοκλήρους τῶν ῤυομένων ἡμᾶς τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως· σὲ δὲ, Λυσία, ἄμα τοῖς θεοῖς σου κολάζοντα ἐν γεέννῃ πυρὸς ἀσβέστου.
[16] Καὶ χολάσας ὁ Δοὺξ ἐκέλευσεν πάντας γυμνωθῆναι εἰς ξύλα μακρὰ, καὶ ξέεσθαι ὄνυξιν σιδηροῖς, καὶ ὀστράκοις ὀξέσιν· καὶ ἐκέλευσεν βοᾶν τὸν κήρυκα· οἱ τοῖς θεοῖς μὴ θύοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνυβρίζοντες, ταῦτα πάσχουσιν· οἱ δὲ ἅγιοι ξεόμενοι, ἔλεγον· ὦ τύραννε, εἰ ἔχεις δεινότερα κολαστήρια, προσάγαγε· ταῦτα γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστιν εὐκαταφρόνητα. Καὶ ἤδη ὥρας ἕκτης καταλαβούσης, καὶ τοῦ ἡλίου καταφλέξαντος τὴν γῆν πᾶσαν, ἦσαν οἱ ἅγιοι ξεόμενοι. Ὁ δὲ Δοὺξ πεινάσας, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοὺς κατενεχθῆναι, καὶ ἀποτεθῆναι ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ, ἐντειλάμενος μηδένα θεάσαι αὐτοὺς, μήτε ὕδωρ αὐτοῖς ἀποδοθῆναι· ἦν δέ τις πολιτευτὴς ἐν τῇ πόλει τοὔνομα Ἡρώδης Χριστιανὸς, ὑποκρινόμενος δὲ τὸν ἑλληνισμὸν, παρ᾽ ᾦ ἔμενεν ὁ Δοὺξ. Ἔσχεν δὲ νοτάριον Φίλινον ὀνόματι, οὗτος ἦν άγαπώμενος παρὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Λεοντίου, καὶ μεταστειλάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος, λέγει· Ἀδελφὲ φίλινε ἀπελθὼν εἰπὲ Ἡρώδῃ, ἵνα, εἰ ἔχει τινὰ εἰς τὸν Δοῦκα παῤῥησίαν, αὔριον ἡμᾶς τελειώσῃ, ηὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ μή τις τῶν ἁγίων δηλιάσας ἀπαγορεύσει. Ὁ δὲ ἀπελθὼν ἀπήγγειλεν πάντα τῷ πολιτευομένῳ. Ὁ δὲ Δοὺξ ἦν καλέσας αὐτὸν ἐπ᾽ ἄριστον, καὶ περιέμενεν αὐτόν. Ἡρώδης δὲ παρῃτεῖτο λέγων· Ὅτι, ἐπειδὴ χθὲς ἴδον τῶν καταδίκων ἐκείνων τὰς πλευρὰς ξεομένας, σιανθεὶς ἀνετράπην τοῦ στομάχου, καὶ οὐ δύναμαι ἀριστῆσαι· καὶ ὁ Δοὺξ ἐπερώτησεν αὐτὸν λέγων. Τί οὖν βούλει ἵνα ποιήσω; Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Οὐχὶ ὡς ἀνθεστηκότες τοῖς τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων θεσπίσμασιν ἄξιοί εἰσιν θανάτου; Τί οὖν οὐκ ἀποθνήσκουσιν συντόμως; Ὁ δὲ ὑπέσχετο, τὴν αὔριον πυρὶ παραδοῦναι αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὰ διατάγματα τοῦ βασιλέως.
[17] Καὶ ὁ Φίλινος ἀκούσας ταῦτα, δραμὼν ἀπήγγειλεν τοῖς Ἁγίοις· οἱ δὲ φαιδρυνθέντες τὰς ψυχάς, ἐξεδέχοντο τὸ πέρας μετὰ καλῆς προθυμίας, καὶ εὐλόγησαν πάντες τὸν Φίλινον διὰ τὴν ὑπακοὴν, καὶ Ἡρώδην διὰ τὴν σπουδὴν. Ἡ δὲ συνήθως άποφέρουσα αὐτοῖς τὸ ὕδωρ ἐλευθέρα, εἶχεν μὲν τὸ ὕδωρ, ὡς τὸ σύνηθες, ἐπὶ τὸ διάζωσμα· κωλυθεῖσα δὲ εἰσελθεῖν, ἠρωτᾶτο παρὰ τῶν ἁγίων, εἰ ἔχει ὕδωρ. Ἡ δὲ διὰ τοὺς παρεστῶτας ἠρνήσατο· καὶ λέγει αὐτὸ ὁ ἅγιος Λεόντιος τῇ Ἀρμενίῳ φωνῇ Βασιανῆ· Εἰ μὴ ἤνεγκας ἄρτι τὸ ὕδωρ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ άνάγκῃ, ὅτι καταφλεγόμεθα καὶ αἱ καρδίαι ἡμῶν σβέννυνται, καὶ ὃ ἐποίησας ἡμῖν καλὸν, ὡς οὐδὲν κατεφάνη, καὶ ὡς οὔτε ὄλως γεγονός. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν προτρεπόμενος αὐτῇ ἐνέγκαι τὸ ὕδωρ. Ἡ δὲ ἐξελθοῦσα τῆς πύλης, καὶ εὑροῦσα μικρὰν καὶ στενὴν θυρίδα, διὰ ταύτης ὑπέδωκεν αὐτοῖς τὸ ὕδωρ. Καὶ πιόντες καὶ ἀναψύξαντες ἐπηύξαντο αὐτῇ τοὺς υἱοὺς, καὶ υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν αὐτὴς εἰς ἱερέας γενέσθαι διαμοιβὴν τῆς τοιαύτης θεραπείας.
[While the Saints persist in the psalms, the Duke is admonished by the devil, feigning himself Æsculapius,] But while they passed the night, in the darkness they exulted as much as in the light, and all sang together: Deliver me from my enemies, O my God, and from those who rise up against me redeem me: free me from those who work iniquity, and from men of blood save me, etc. For most of them from their earliest age had thoroughly learned the psalms. The nocturnal prayers being finished, they sat, expecting help from God. But the Duke, worn out with care as to what punishment he should inflict on the Saints, passed the night sleepless. But when toward dawn he had fallen asleep, Satan stood by him, and said: Be of good courage, Lysias: for I am Æsculapius, by whom yesterday you swore; but rouse yourself from your bed and punish those men: for, having once used blasphemies and injuries against our divinity
they are unworthy of our divinity. Therefore slay them: for I know their obstinacy, that they will neither sacrifice to us, nor offer worship: for they said many things against me in prison. Soon therefore, their bones being broken, burn them with flames, and seek out the river Lycus, and there scatter these: for I fear lest, if the Christians find them, who have built great and illustrious houses, they should bury them there, and, attending them with reverence and honor, ruin me: destroy them therefore without delay.
[13] The Duke therefore, when he had risen in the morning with great haste, [who urges the Saints, having ordered them summoned, now with promises, now with threats, to sacrifice;] by reason of the vision's image and the multitude of soldiers, and had gone out beyond the city about the space of a hundred and fifty paces, and had found a higher place, sitting on the tribunal, ordered the Saints to be summoned. Without delay: the soldiers brought them out, and set them bound before him. But the Duke, running over them with fixed gaze, thus speaks: You know that I spared you yesterday, that you should not be tortured with torments, and that I have connived until this present day, that today, sacrificing to the gods, you may become friends of the Emperors, and of us; and after each of you has sacrificed, he shall receive two hundred gold pieces, and garments and other imperial gifts. For behold, I see that most of you wish to sacrifice; if therefore you comply with me, I have ordered bulls soon to be brought here, that you may sacrifice to the gods, a banquet may be prepared for you, and amid the feasting you may also receive splendid gifts. But if you refuse to obey, one must proceed to another kind of torments. Therefore I counsel you not to suffer yourselves to be deprived of the enjoyment of the sweetest light, nor to be separated from wives and children and friends; but that you offer sacrifice and burn incense to whatever god you please.
[14] Then the Saints, as with one mouth, said: Anathema to you, but in vain; St. Leontius arguing against the gods, Tyrant, who have obtained a surname fitting your fury: for you bid us fall away from the living God, and sacrifice to impure and abominable demons. For indeed our garment, and food and drink, and treasure, and father, and friend, and brother is our Lord Jesus Christ, who called us. The Duke says: Even now I spare you, though provoked by injury: for it is fair to bear also the faults of friends: and, leaving all the rest, he said to St. Leontius: I see that beyond the rest you well understand the mysteries of the Gentiles, plainly instructed in them from a boy. What then? Since Jupiter, Apollo, and Æsculapius do not seem to you to be gods; sacrifice a victim to Neptune or Diana. St. Leontius says: You err, when you say that they are gods. For indeed the immortal minds of men surpass mortal gods: for if they say that the generation of your gods is from heaven and earth, and heaven and earth are elements subject to corruption; certainly, since sons imitate their begetters, they themselves are corrupted, like their begetters. But now, if they are subject to corruption, how are they called gods? And if the minds of men, loosed from bodily bonds, do not endure to remain when the body does not exist, but occupy a certain divine place; were those gods, who seek those things which the minds of men hate, and delight in the itch of venereal lust? And so if anyone should dare to say: I am God, besides our one Lord Jesus Christ, let him also create another world, and say, I created this world: and then at last let him be called God: for it is the art and workmanship of our Lord and King Jesus Christ.
[15] and rebuking the tyrant; St. Leontius, seeing the Duke angry and perturbed, thus begins: O Duke, hear with an even mind: since you said that I was initiated in the affairs of the Gentiles; hear what I shall say against your gods. As you, if you were named Caesar, and stirred the Emperor's anger, would be worthy of punishment; so also your gods, demons who have dared to call themselves gods, are guilty of the greatest penalty. Nay, see also another incredible thing. Why do you, the avengers of your gods, daily grow fewer? While we, on the contrary, servants suffering persecution for Christ, and dying, increase? Let that too persuade you, Tyrant, that we are servants of the beloved God. The Duke, kindled with fury, says: Sacrifice to the gods: for by Æsculapius and the sun, you shall not live beyond tomorrow. But the Saints, as with one mouth, said: We offer to the Lord Jesus a reasonable service, the fruit of our lips, which will wholly free us from the judgment to come; but you, Lysias, together with your gods, they will consign to the inextinguishable fires of Gehenna.
[16] who, denying them bread, orders them to be tortured. The Duke, angry, ordered all to be stripped upon long poles and scraped with iron claws and sharp potsherds, and the herald to cry out: Those who do not sacrifice, but rather inflict injury, suffer these things. While the Saints were being tortured, they said: O tyrant, if you have harsher torments, bring them forth: for these we contemn. When it was now the sixth hour and the sun kindled all the earth, the Saints were being scraped. Meanwhile the Duke, at a loss for counsel, ordered them to be led away and consigned to prison, commanding that no one should visit them, or give them water. There was a certain administrator of the commonwealth in the city, by name Herod, a Christian, but he feigned the rites of the Gentiles; with whom the Duke dwelt. He had a notary, by name Philinus, who was loved by St. Leontius. After he had summoned him, St. Leontius said: Brother Philinus, go, tell Herod that, if he has any influence with the Duke, he should obtain that he put us to death tomorrow: for he feared lest any of the Saints should fail through fear. But he, going away, reported all things to the administrator of the commonwealth. But the Duke was inviting him to dinner and was already awaiting him. Herod excused himself, saying: Because, after yesterday I saw the sides of those condemned men scraped, I returned with a sick stomach and cannot dine. The Duke asked him, saying: What then do you wish me to do? But he said: Are not these, who resist the edicts of the Emperors, worthy of death? Why then do they not die quickly? And he promised that he would consign them to the fire tomorrow, according to the Emperor's commands.
[17] They receive drink from the woman; These things heard, Philinus ran and reported to the Saints; who, glad in spirit, awaited their end with excellent alacrity, and all prayed well for Philinus, that he had complied, and for Herod, that he hastened. But that noble woman, who was accustomed to bring water to the Saints, as usual hid water beneath her girdle: but, being prevented from entering, she was asked by the Saints whether she had water. She denied it, on account of the bystanders. St. Leontius said this in the Armenian tongue to Basiana: If you have not brought water in this necessity (for we are burning, and our hearts are being extinguished), truly the good you have done us has appeared as nothing and as if not done at all. But this he said, exhorting her to bring the water. But she, going out by the gate, and finding a small and narrow window, handed them water through it. And after they had drunk and were refreshed, they prayed that her sons and her sons' sons might become priests, in recompense for so great a service.
CHAPTER IV.
As they pray, an Angel appears; two guards of the prison are converted; the holy Martyrs are condemned to the fire; water drawn from a rock; the translation and cult of the relics.
Ἐσπέρας δὲ καταλαβούσης, ἔψαλλον λέγοντες· Κύριε εἰσάκουσον τῆς προσευχῆς μου, καὶ ὴ κραυγή μου πρός σε έλθέτω, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καἱ πληρώσαντες τὸν ψαλμὸν, ἦσαν ἐῤῥημένοι ἐν τοῖς δεσμοῖς, εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ κυρίῳ, δεόμενοι καὶ λέγοντες· Κύριε Ἰησοῦ, ὁ βαστάζων τὰ κακὰ πάσης τῆς κτίσεως, οὐδὲν κρυπτὸν παρά σοι, ὁ ἐρευνῶν καρδίας, καὶ δοκιμάζων νεφρούς· σὺ ἐπίστασαι τὴν ἡμετέραν εἰς σὲ προθυμίαν, ὁρᾶς τὰς βασάνους, ἴασαι ἡμῶν τὰς ψυχὰς· τὰ γὰρ σώματα ἡμῶν διά σε παρεδώκαμεν· συναπάλειψον ἡμῶν τὰ ἀνομήματα ἐν τῷ φθαρτῷ ἡμῶν βίῳ· μικρὰ γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστιν ταῦτα, καὶ ἀνάλγητα, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν περί σε, Δέσποτα, ἀγάπην· σὲ ποθοῦμεν, σὲ φοβοῦμεν. Κάτιδε οὐρανόθεν καὶ παραθάῤῥυνον ἡμᾶς· σὺ γὰρ εἰ ὁ παρακαλῶν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ πάσῇ τῇ θλίψει ἡμῶν, εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι ἡμᾶς ἐπενεγκεῖν· καὶ μὴ ἐχέτω τόπον ὁ σατανάς· μὴ χωρήσῃς ἡμᾶς τῆς ἀδελφότητος ταύτης· μήτηρ γὰρ πάντων ἡμῶν ἡ εἰς σὲ πίστις. Καὶ σὺ, κύριε, πατὴρ ἡμῶν, δόξασόν σου τὸ ὄνομα ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν ἡμῶν, καὶ προσδεχθείημεν ὡς ἐν ὁλοκαυτώμασιν κριῶν καὶ ταυρῶν, καὶ ὡς ἐν μυριάσιν ἀρνῶν πιόνων. Οὕτω γενέσθω ἡ θυσία ἡμῶν ἐνόπιόν σου, Κύριε, καὶ ἐκτελέσθω ὄπισθέν σου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ καὶ δεδοξασμένος εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας. Καὶ πάντων εἰπόντων, ἀμὴν, διετέλεσαν ἄϋπνοι. Περὶ δὲ τὸ μεσονύκτιον ἔψαλλον τὸν μέγαν ψαλμὸν, ἐπιτάφιον ἑαυτοῖς.
[19] Καὶ πληρωσάντων αὐτῶν καὶ εὐξαμένων, ἰδοὺ, Ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐπιστὰς ἐπλήρωσεν φοτὸς τὸ οἴκημα. καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· χαίρετε· ἐγγὺς ὑμῶν ἡ τελείωσις, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα ὑμῶν ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν ζώντων ἀνεγράφησαν· θαρσεῖτε, ὁ Κύριος μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν. καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ὁ ἄγγελος ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν. Οἱ δὲ ἅγιοι προσεκύνησαν, καὶ ηὐχαρίστησαν τῷ Κυρίῳ. Οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται, οἱ φυλάσσοντες τὰς θύρας τῆς φυλακῆς, Μενέας καὶ Βηληράδης ἐθεάσαντο μὲν τὸ φῶς, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ Ἀγγέλου ἤκουσαν, τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ οὐκ εἶδον. Καὶ λέγει Μενέας τῷ Βηληράδῃ τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ, ἦσαν γὰρ Αἱγύπτιοι τὸ γένος· Ὁρᾶς καὶ άκούεις, ἀδελφὲ Βηληράδη, οἴου Βασιλέως εἰσὶν οὗτοι στρατιῶται; κᾀγὼ ἐξ ἀρχῆς φίλος τῶν Χριστιανῶν τυγχάνω· οὐ γὰρ σπουδάζουσιν ἀδικεῖν τινα, ἀλλ᾽ ἑαυτοῖς προσέχουσιν νηστεύοντες, καὶ δεόμενοι τοῦ θεου αὐτῶν, μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς ὄρθροις, καὶ ἐν πάσῃ δὲ ὥρᾳ προσκυνοῦντες αὐτόν, μηδὲν ἄδικον, ἤ παράνομον διαπραττόμενοι, φιλόξενοι, πάντας ἀγαπῶντες. Καὶ, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς οἶδας πρὸ ἐμοῦ, τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐρεμίτας, ὁπόσα θαυματουργοῦσιν. Τί οὖν μέλλομεν, ἢ βραδύνομεν; Νῦν καιρὸς ἀγῶνος. Ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ εἰσελθεῖν σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ, καὶ παρακαλέσαι αὐτοὺς δέξασθαί με σὺν αὐτοῖς. Σοὶ δὲ τί δοκεῖ, ἀδελφέ; Καὶ ὁ Βεληράδης ἔφη· Εἰ οὗτοι οὐκ ἐφοβήθησαν τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτῶν μετὰ χαρᾶς ἀποθνήσκουσιν, καὶ τοιοῦτον φῶς βλέπουσιν, οἷον καὶ ἡμεῖς ἰδεῖν· κατηξιώθημεν τῷ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῖς φανέντι, διατί καὶ ἡμεῖς μέτοχοι τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτῶν οὐ γινόμεθα; ἤθελον δὲ εἴ τις τὸν Δοῦκα, ἵνα ἠνάγκασεν ἀποθανεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεοῦ αὐτοῦ Ἀσκληπίου, ἤ Ἀπόλλωνος, καὶ ὅν καθέξατο· ἄλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος μὲν φιλοζωεῖ, ἡμῶν δὲ καὶ τὰς ἀννῶνας καὶ τὰς ἄλλας εὐεργεσίας ὑπέτεμεν, καὶ ἄνδρας δικαίους ἀποκτενεῖ· προσέλθωμεν οὖν.
[20] Καὶ εἰστδραμόντες προσέπεσον τοῖς Ἁγίοις, λέγοντες· κύριοι ἡμῶν, καὶ δοῦλοι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, δέξασθε καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐν τῷ ἀριθμῷ ὑμῶν· ἐπιστεύσαμεν γὰρ ἡμεῖς εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, τὸν ἀγαπήσαντα ἡμᾶς. εὔξασθε οὖν καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν, ἵνα μὴ ὡς
βραδύναντες ἐκκλειθῶμεν, καὶ πάντες ὁμοῦ περιπλακέντες αὐτοῖς οἱ Ἄγιοι κατεφίλησαν αὐτοὺς μετὰ χαρᾶς, λέγοντες· Ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν ἐστε· ὁ γὰρ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ τοὺς τῆς ἐνδεκάτης ὥρας ἐργάτας ἐδέξατο εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα· μὴ οὖν δειλιάσητε· ᾧ γὰρ ἐπιστεύσατε κυρίῳ, τῷ ὀφθέντι ἡμῖν καὶ λαλήσαντι, αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς ἐκάλεσεν ὡς ἀξίους ὄντας. Ποωΐας δὲ γεναμένης, ἠκούσθη ταῦτα τῷ δουκὶ, ὅτι καὶ οἱ φύλακες παρέβησαν, καὶ εἰσιν σὺν τοῖς δεσμόταις· ὁ δὲ δοὺξ βλασφημήσας τοὺς θεοὺς αὐτοῦ, εἶπεν, ὅτι ἕνα κατ᾽ ἕνα ἀπώλεσεν, μὴ δυνάμενοι ἑαυτοῖς βοηθῆσαι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκδέχονται τὴν διὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκδίκησιν. Καὶ ἐξελθὼν τῆς πόλεως, ἐκάθισεν ἐν τῷ συνήθει τόπῳ, καὶ δεδωκὼς πρόοδον κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτους προαχθῆναι, καὶ θεασάμενος τὸν Μενέαν, καὶ βηληράδην, ἑαυτοὺς συνδέσαντας τοῖς Ἁγίοις ἐμειδίασεν, καὶ λέγει Ἀππιανῷ τῷ πρίγκιπι· Θεωρεῖς, Ἀπιανὲ, ὅτι ἔστιν τίς καὶ ἐν τοῖς χείροσιν ἡδονὴ ἡ θάνατον φέρουσα· ἰδοὺ γὰρ οἱ στρατιῶται τὸν θάνατον μᾶλλον ἠγάπησαν, ἤ τὴν ζωήν. Ἀππιανὸς εἶπεν, δέσποτα, κόλασον αὐτοὺς ξένῃ τιμωρίᾳ. Ὁ δὲ Δοὺξ λέγει· Οὒ, μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς, οὐ κολάζω αὐτοὺς, μήπως κολαζόμενοι καὶ ὁμολογήσαντες τοὺς θεοὺς ζήσωσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀποφαίνομαι κατ᾽ αὐτῶν ὅπως σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις καῶσιν· ὃ ἐπεθύμησαν, λάβωσιν.
[21] Ἀπεφήνατο οὖν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν, λέγων· Οὕτοι οἱ ἐστῶτες πρὸ τοῦ βήματός μου οἱ πένθε καὶ τεσσαράκοντα τῆς τῶν Χριστιανῶν θρησκείας θρησκεύοντες τυγχάνοντες, καὶ παρακούσαντες τῶν αὐτοκρατόρων βασιλέων, καὶ μὴ θύσαντες τοῖς θεοῖς, πρότερον μὲν πελέκεσιν τεμνέσθωσαν χεῖρας καὶ πόδας, ἔπειτα πυρὶ παραδοθήτωσαν, καὶ ἀπωλείᾳ τοῦ Λύκου ποταμοῦ. Οἱ δὲ ὑπηρέται ποιήσαντες καθεσθῆναι τοὺς ἁγίους ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους, κατέτεμνον καὶ ἐμέλιζον ἐν σπουδῇ· καὶ οἱ μὲν τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῇ πυρρᾷ τοῦ καύσωνος ἐξαιματωθέντες, ἀπέδωκαν τὰς ψυχάς· οἱ δὲ ἔτι ἔμπνέοντες ἦσαν· ἐν οἷς καὶ ὁ ἅγιος Ανίκητος θεασάμενος τὸν μυρὸν αὐτοῦ κλασθέντα, οὐ παντὶ δὲ τμηθέντα, ἀλλὰ στρεβλῶς κείμενον, καταγελῶν τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ, ἔλεγεν· Δεῦτε, ἴδετε, ἀδελφοὶ, δρεπάνην καρπικὴν· καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ αὐτῷ συνεφαιδρύνοντο· Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Σισίννιος κατεαγεὶς τὰ σκευή, καὶ σφόδρα καταφλεχθεὶς τὰ ἔγκατὰ ἐκ τῆς δίψης κατεσύρη, κυλησθεὶς εἰς τὴν ὑποκειμένην πέτραν οὐ μακρὰν τῶν ἄλλων ἁγίων, καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα αὐτοῦ, ἐδεήθη τοῦ κυρίου, λέγων.
[22] Κύριε μεγαλόδωρε, ὁ ἐκ πέτρας ἀκροτόμου δήμον μέγαν, καὶ λαὸν διψῶντα ποτίσας, ὁ θεὶς τὴν ἐρυθρὰν θάλασσαν τμήματα δύο, ἵνα ὁ σὸς λαὸς ἀπὸ χειρῶν ἀνόμου ῥυσθῇ, ὁ ἀνοίξας τοὺς καταράκτας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης, καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, ὁ εὐλογήσας τὰ ὕδατα ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου σου βαπτίσματος, ὁ εἰπὼν· Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ ζωὸν, διάνοιξον τὴν πέτραν ταύτην, καὶ ἔκχεον ὕδωρ, καὶ πότισόν με μικρὸν, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ γνώσομαι εἰ ἠγάπησας ἡμᾶς, καὶ εἰ ἄξιοί ἐσμεν τῆς σῆς ἐπικλήσεως, Δέσποτα· ὁρᾶς γὰρ ὅτι πᾶσα πηγμὰς τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν ἐξεδαπανήθη, καὶ ξηροὶ γεγόναμεν ὡς ὄστρακον· ἔτι δὲ τούτου εὐχομένου ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ ἀθρόον, ταραχή τις γέγονεν ἐκ τῆς πέτρας, καὶ βόμβος ὕδατος· καὶ ῥαγεῖσα ἡ πέτρα ἐξέβλυσεν ὕδωρ διειδές τε καὶ καλὸν, ὅπερ θεωρεῖται μέχρι τῆς σήμερον· καὶ πιὠν ὁ ἅγιος Σισίννιος ηὐλόγησεν τὸν θεὸν, λέγων· Ὑμνῶ σε, Κύριε, ὅτι ἐχόρτασας ψυχὴν κενήν. Αἰνῶ σε, βασιλεῦ, καὶ δοξολογῶ τὸν προαιώνιον τεχθέντα ἐκ τῆς θεοτόκου Μαρίας, ὅτι ἐκορέσθην τοῦ σοῦ κτίσματος, καθάπερ παιδίον γάλα μητρός.
[23] Καταξίωσόν με καὶ τοὺς ἡγιασμένους ἀδελφούς μου τελειωθῆναι τῇ σῇ χάριτι, καὶ ἐλπίδι· καὶ ὥσπερ ἠνώθημεν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἀδιστάκτως, ἐνωθῶμεν καὶ τοῖς ὀστέοις· καὶ τῶν χρείαν ἐχόντων τῆς σῆς βοηθείας, καὶ παρακαλούντων σε δι᾽ ἡμῶν ταχέως ἐπάκουσον, Κύριε, ἐν ἑκάστῃ ἀνάγκῃ καὶ χρείᾳ· κᾂν ἐν πενίᾳ τις ὑπάρχει, κᾂν ἐν χηρίᾳ καὶ ὀρφανίᾳ, κᾂν ἐν ὑποδημίᾳ, κᾂν ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς, καὶ ἐν χρέεσιν, καὶ συκοφαντίαις, κᾂν ἐν πικρᾷ δουλείᾳ, κᾂν ἐν φθορᾷ ἀνθρώπων ἢ ζώων, κᾂν ἐν θαλάσσῃ χειμαζόμενός τις εἴη, κᾂν ἐν ἄλλῃ περιστάσει προσαχθῇ, συ, βασιλεῦ, δι᾽ ἡμῶν παράκλησιν ταχὺ ἐπάκουσον, ἵνα γνῶσιν πάντες οἱ κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην, ὅτι πολὺ ἠγάπησας ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἀκούεις ἡμῶν· καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦτο γενέσθω εἰς ἴασιν ἐν παντὶ παθει· σῇ γὰρ ἐπικλήσει ἐξόμβρισεν, καὶ παλαιὸν θαῦμα ἀνεκαινίσθη εἰς δόξαν Πατρὸς, καὶ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἔπαινον δὲ καὶ μνείαν τῶν Μαρτύρων σου τῶν πέντε καὶ τεσσαράκοντα.
[24] Καὶ τούτου εὐχομένου ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ, οἱ στρατιῶται καύσαντες κάμινον ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως, καὶ εἰς ὕψος θρέψαντες ξύλοις τὸ πῦρ, καὶ ποιήσαντες ὁμοίαν τῆς Βαβιλωνίας, ἦλθον ἐπάραι αὐτοὺς, καὶ ζητοῦσι τὸν ἀριθμὸν, καὶ ὁ εἷς ἔλειπεν. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος Σισίννιος ἐβόησεν λέγων· Ὦδέ εἰμι, ᾦδέ εἰμι. Ἐλθόντες δὲ καὶ ἐπάραντες καὶ τοῦτον, ἤγαγον ἐπὶ τὸ πῦρ. Καὶ λέγουσιν οἱ Ἅγιοι ὁμοψύχως· Εἰς χεῖράς σου, Κύριε, παραθησόμεθα τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν· καὶ, εὐλογητὸς Κύριος, ὅς οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἡμᾶς εἰς θήραν τοῖς ὀδοῦσιν αὐτῶν, καὶ ψάλλοντες ἐβλήθησαν εἰς τὸ πῦρ. Οἱ δὲ δήμιοι ἐξῆπτον τὴν κάμινον, μιμούμενοι τοὺς Χαλδαίους. Καὶ τελειωθέντων αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ, ἥτίς ἐστιν τοῦ ἰουλίου δεκάτη, ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Δούξ συλλεγῆναι αὐτῶν τὰ ὀστᾶ, καὶ ῥιφῆναι ἐν τῷ ποταμῷ, τῷ λεγομένῳ Λύκῳ, τῷ ὄντι ἀποσημεῖα ἕξ τῆς πόλεως, καὶ κομίσαντες ἐζήτουν τόπον ἐπιτήδειον πρὸς ἀπώλειαν τῶν ἁγίων λειψάνων. Εἴλιξ δέ ἐστιν πρὸς τῇ γεφύρῃ βαθὺς, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ κατεκένωσαν τοὺς μαρσίππους.
[25] Ὁ δὲ ποταμὸς καθάπερ παρακαταθήκην λαβὼν τῶν ἁγίων τὰ λείψανα, καὶ ὡς ὀφείλων, σῶα καὶ ἀκέραια ἀποδοῦναι αὐτὰ συναγαγὼν ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ παρεφύλαττεν. Ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ τῶν δημίων, ἄνδρες θεοσεβεῖς, δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὁμότροποι τῶν ἁγίων, λαβόντες τινὰς ἐμπείρους εἰδότας πολυπραγμονῆσαι τὰ βάθη τοῦ ποταμοῦ, ἀνῄραντο ὅλα μετὰ τῆς [γῆς] συνηγιασμένης αὐτοῖς, ὡς πληρωθῆναι τὴν γραφὴν· φυλάσσει Κύριος πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ αὐτῶν· καὶ ἐνέγκαντες ἐν τῇ πόλει ἀνέθεντο ἐν τοῖς ἐυκτηρίοις οἴκοις, εἰρήνης δὲ βαθείας, τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ φιλανθρωπείας, καὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου Κωνσταντίνου, καί εἰσιν πύργοι τῆς πίστεως ἄσειστοι, ἀστέρες λογικοὶ λάμποντες Χριστιανοῖς, ἄνθη τῶν κατὰ τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐκκλησιῶν, πρεσβευταὶ τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, φύλακες τῶν εὑσεβῶν, προστάται τῆς τε ἰδίας πόλεως καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης, εὑεργέται τῶν κεκτημένων αὐτοὺς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ πρέπει δόξα ἅμα τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ παναγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
Evening being come, they sang, saying: O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee, they pray to God; etc. And the psalm being finished, they were strengthened in their chains, giving thanks to God, praying and saying: Lord Jesus, who bearest the evils of every creature, nothing is hidden before thee; who searchest hearts and provest reins: thou knowest with what desire of thee we burn, thou seest our torments; heal our souls: for our bodies we have delivered up for thy sake: blot out our iniquities in our corruptible life: for these things are small to us, and by no means grievous, on account of our great love for thee, O Lord: thee we desire, thee we fear. Look down from heaven, and raise us up; for thou consolest us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to endure. Let Satan have no place. Separate us not from this fraternal love: for the mother of us all is faith in thee. And thou, O Lord, our Father, glorify thy name in our members, and let us be received as in holocausts of rams and bulls and in myriads of fat sheep. So let our sacrifice be made in thy sight, O Lord, and be perfected before thee; for thou art blessed and glorified unto all ages. And when all had said, amen, they passed the night sleepless. At midnight, they sang for themselves the great funeral psalm.
[19] After they had finished this and prayed, behold, an Angel of the Lord stood by and filled the dwelling with light, an Angel appears, at whose seen light two guards of the prison are converted: and says to them: Rejoice: your end is near at hand, and your names are written in the book of the living: Be confident, the Lord is with you. Having said these things, the Angel departed from them. The Saints adored, and gave thanks to God. But the soldiers who guarded the doors of the prison, Meneas and Belerades, saw indeed the light, and heard the voice of the Angel; but they did not see his face. Meneas says to Belerades in the Egyptian tongue (for they were Egyptians by race): Do you see and hear, Brother Belerades, of what king these are soldiers? I indeed from the beginning have been a friend to the Christians: for they do not seek to harm anyone, but attend to themselves, giving themselves to fasting, and praying to their God, especially at dawn, and adoring him at every time. They do nothing unjust, nothing iniquitous; they are hospitable, they love all. And, as you know better than I, how many solitaries in Egypt work miracles? Why then do we delay or tarry? Now is the time of combat. It pleases me to enter into prison together with them, and to entreat them to receive me into their fellowship. But what seems good to you, brother? And Belerades said: If they do not fear death, but die for their God with joy, and behold such a light, of which he who appeared to them deigned to make us also worthy; why should we too not become partakers of their joy? I would that someone might compel the Duke to die for his god Æsculapius or Apollo, and lay hold of him: but he loves life; while he has cut off our rations a and other benefits, and kills just men. Let us therefore draw near.
[20] Wherefore all are condemned by the Duke to the fire, And running up they fell before the Saints, saying: Our lords, and servants of Christ, admit us too into your number: for we have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us. Pray therefore for us, lest as coming late we be excluded; all the Saints, embracing them, gave them a kiss with gladness, saying: You are our brethren: for our Lord Jesus Christ admitted the laborers of the eleventh hour into the vineyard: do not therefore fear; for the Lord, in whom you have believed, who appeared to us and spoke with us, has himself called you, as worthy. But when day arose, the Duke learned that the guards had gone over, and were on the side of the prisoners
stood with them; and, reviling his gods, he said that they had perished one after another, who could not help themselves, but suffered punishments from men. Having gone out of the city, he sat in his accustomed place, and, sending one to go before the Saints on the way, he ordered them to be brought: Then, beholding Meneas and Belerades bound with the Saints, he smiled and says to Appianus the chief b: You see, Appianus, that even in men of lower rank there is a certain pleasure in enduring death. For behold, the soldiers have loved death rather than life. Appianus said: Lord, punish them with an unusual torment. But the Duke said: No, by the gods, I do not torture them, lest, being tortured, and having confessed the gods, they live; but I pronounce sentence against them, that they be burned together with the others, and receive what they desired.
[21] and, their limbs cut off, they are burned, except Sisinnius; He therefore passed sentence against them, saying: These forty-five worshippers of the Christian superstition who stand before my tribunal, having resisted the Emperors Augusti, did not sacrifice to the gods; first let their hands and feet be cut off with axes, then let them be delivered to the fire, and perish in the waves of the river Lycus. But the ministers, placing the Saints on the ground, without delay cut off their limbs: of whom some, bloody, breathed out their soul in the burning pyre: but others still breathed. Among whom Anicetus, beholding that his leg was broken, not wholly cut off, but deformedly twisted, laughing at the ills of his body, said: Come, brothers, see the fruitful sickle: and they rejoiced together with him. But St. Sisinnius, his limbs broken and his heart inflamed with great heat, was tortured with thirst, and, rolling himself onto a rock beneath, not far from the other Saints, with open mouth, prayed to the Lord, saying:
[22] O Lord, giver of great gifts, who gavest drink to the multitude of the common folk and the thirsting people from the steep rock, who didst cleave the Red Sea in two, who by his prayers water is drawn from the rock, that the people might be snatched from the hands of the wicked one; who didst open the cataracts of heaven, who didst call forth the waters of the sea, and pour them out upon the face of the whole earth, who didst bless the waters which are in the Jordan by thy holy baptism, who didst say: I am the living water; open this rock, pour forth water, give me a little drink: and from this I shall know if thou lovest us, and if we are worthy, O Lord, to invoke thee. For thou seest that all the framework of our body is consumed, and that we are dry as a potsherd. While he was praying these things upon the rock, a great murmur resounded from the rock, and a noise of waters: and the rock, being broken, poured forth clear and bright water, which is seen unto this present day: and after St. Sisinnius had drunk, he blessed God, saying: I bless thee, O Lord, that thou hast satisfied an empty soul. I praise thee, O King, and glorify thee, who, existing before the ages, wast born of the God-bearer Mary, because, as a child by the milk of his mother, I have been sated by the work which thou hast created.
[23] Grant to me and to the holy brethren to complete our course in thy grace and hope; and having prayed well for those who will invoke the holy Martyrs, and as we have been steadfastly united among ourselves in soul, so let us be united in bones. Those needing thy help, and invoking thee by our intervention, straightway hear, O Lord, in whatever necessity and want; though anyone be in poverty: though in widowhood and bereavement: though in pilgrimage: though in infirmity of body and soul: though in debt and calumnies: though in bitter servitude: though in the contagion of men or cattle: though anyone be shipwrecked at sea: though finally in other circumstances of times and places; do thou, O King, being entreated through us, straightway hear him, that all the inhabitants of this world may know that we are much loved by thee, and heard: and let this water become a remedy for any evil: for at the invocation of thee it bubbled up, and the old miracle was renewed, to the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to the praise and memory of thy forty-five Martyrs.
[24] And while he was praying this upon the rock, the soldiers, who had kindled the pyre in the field near the city, he too is cast into the fire with them. feeding the fire high with wood in the likeness of the Babylonian furnace, came to take them up; they count the number, and one was wanting. But St. Sisinnius cried out, saying: Here I am, here I am. And coming, they took him up too, and brought him to the fire. And the Saints say with one accord: Into thy hands, O Lord, we commend our souls: and, blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth; and singing they were cast into the fire. Furthermore the lictors kindled the pyre, imitating the Chaldeans. On the same day on which they died, which is the tenth of July, the Duke ordered their bones to be collected, and cast into the river surnamed Lycus, distant six miles from the city. When they had carried them thither, they sought a suitable place for destroying the holy relics. There is a deep whirlpool near the bridge, into which they emptied the little sacks.
[25] But the river received the relics of the Saints as a deposit, and, that it might restore them safe and unharmed, as it ought, The translation and cult of the relics. it preserved them collected into one place. But the lictors having departed thence, men distinguished in religion, servants of God, and like the Saints in their manners, taking with them certain men skilled in exploring the depths of the river, took them up whole, with the earth sanctified with them, that the Scripture might be fulfilled: The Lord keeps all their bones. And after they had carried them into the city, they laid them up in oratories, when there was a profound peace, by the bounty of God, the most pious Constantine reigning; and they are unshaken towers of the faith, rational stars shining for the Christians, flowers of the churches which are throughout the world, intercessors of sinners, guardians of the pious, presidents of their own city and of the whole world, benefactors of those who possess them, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.