ON THE SAINTS EGYPTIAN MARTYRS,
PTOLEMY, PHILIP, JOHN AND ACRA
From the Metrical Hagiology of the Anonymous Habessine.
CommentaryPtolemy, Martyr of Egypt (S.)
Philip, Martyr of Egypt (S.)
John, Martyr of Egypt (S.)
Acras, Martyr of Egypt (S.)
D. P.
Among the other Martyrs, whose notice, received from the Alexandrian Church, the Habessines preserved in their Calendars, Saved from arrows and flames, and their Poet consigned to Ethiopic Verse; notable also is the Quadriga foretitled, and ascribed to Northern Egypt, in this manner: Salutation I say to Ptolemy and Philip, John and Acra, joined together from Boreal Egypt: who when they had stood for martyrdom before the tribunal of a cruel Judge, the Lord freed them from the flying arrow, and preserved them unharmed from the fire composed in a pyre. But did he also save them from the edge of the sword? I do not think so: they seem to have completed martyrdom by the sword. but the common memory of all here persuades us that they were equally consummated by martyrdom. For if after these miracles, dismissed, they had finished life in peace, illustrious by the title of Confession alone, they would not be venerated on the same day. Northern Egypt however, from which they were brought to the tribunal, and perhaps to Alexandria, on the right bank of the Nile toward the Red Sea. To have suffered under Maximinus, if not under Diocletian, it is allowed to divine, it cannot be defined, with arguments lacking for this.