Marcian the Martyr

ON ST. MARCIAN THE MARTYR,

BISHOP OF SYRACUSE IN SICILY.

UNDER VALERIAN AND GALLIENUS, 3RD CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the cult of the Saint himself, the age of his Encomiast, and his apocryphal Acts.

Marcian, Bishop, at Syracuse in Sicily (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

[1] The city of all Sicily once Royal and most ample, inasmuch as it embraced within itself five cities in one circuit of 180 stadia (as Strabo says), in the first three centuries of the Christian religion had and venerates three holy Bishops: first Marcian, [So that St. Marcian is believed to have been sent by the Apostles together with St. Pancras,] who is celebrated today; second Chrestus, his disciple, as they relate, and successor, of whom we shall treat on the 3rd of November; third, Eutychius, on the 27th of November. This last is said to have administered the Eucharist to St. Lucy, her throat pierced through while she still stood; and so he must have lived in the year 303. The Catalogue of the other Bishops of Syracuse was composed by Christophorus de Escobar, who (as Antonius Nicolai has it in the Spanish Library) in the eighth year of the past century was living in Sicily, attached to the Viceroy of that time for sacred matters and for studies, to whose other distinguished works you may add this Catalogue also. He used another manuscript, which he calls the Archetype; which Rochus Pirrhus too, in his Account of the Church of Syracuse, where he treats of Bishop Eulalius on page 123, says he saw; and on page 170, where he treats of Bishop Enechus, he cites in the margin, as carried up to that point, and so not older than the year 1363.

[2] A series of 17 Bishops is woven down to the martyrdom of St. Lucy; From it Christophorus, and Rochus following him, produce in name only, before the aforesaid St. Eutychius, seventeen Bishops in all; and thus they easily carry the first of these, Marcian, up to the times of the Apostles, by whom, together with St. Pancras, Bishop of Tauromenium, of whom we treated on the 3rd of April, he is said to have been sent into Sicily by St. Peter, when he was about to depart from Antioch to Rome. It is altogether credible that Sicily was not neglected by the Prince of the Apostles, especially since he already had a fixed Chair at Rome: wherefore concerning St. Pancras I would not raise a question for the people of Tauromenium, the nearest crossing into the island from the farthest corner of Italy. But that, at the same beginning of the faith preached to the Sicilians, Syracuse too obtained its own Bishop—which befell Messina, Catania, Palermo, cities equally principal, only in the 3rd century— by no means necessary; if he belongs to the time of Valerian and Gallienus. this the Greek Encomiast of St. Marcian makes most difficult for me to believe; he is older than the fabulous Acts of Sts. Pancras and Marcian; he himself indeed ascribes their mission to St. Peter; but through ignorance of the times he did not notice that that tradition is destroyed by the testimony of St. Peregrinus the Martyr, on which he chiefly relies; whom he says flourished in the same times as the Saint, and who defers the martyrdom of St. Marcian to the time of Valerian and Gallienus exercising their tyranny, within the year 254 and 260; on which supposition Christ alone, in the middle between Marcian and Eutychius, would abundantly suffice.

[3] Namely an excessive zeal for antiquity, as with the Byzantines, Our Janning, on the 4th of June §5 concerning St. Metrophanes, demonstrates almost evidently that he was the first Byzantine Bishop; nor before the Pseudo-Dorotheus is anyone found who named any older than he. But that writer, of no credit, as is now everywhere clear even to the modestly learned, intends nothing else by that fiction than to make the Church of Constantinople next to the Roman in authority, prior in age, to the prejudice of the two other Patriarchal Sees, the Antiochene and the Alexandrian. Why then should not the authority of St. Peregrinus stand firm? But an equal rivalry may have moved the Syracusans, so that they wished their Church to appear, if not prior, at least equal to the Church of Tauromenium, of whose antiquity there was no doubt; [thus it persuaded the Syracusans also to derive the beginnings of their Episcopate from the Apostles;] and on that account they let themselves be persuaded that Marcian, equally with Pancras, was a disciple of Peter. To this persuasion afterward the Encomiast clung; not considering how far from the age of Peter were the times of Valerian and Gallienus; while he who afterward composed the most prolix Acts of both Proto-Bishops boldly substituted Nero for them, under whom they suffered; and lastly someone presumed, with the same faith as the Pseudo-Dorotheus, to fill the Catalogue with names summoned from his own brain or elsewhere, and that most likely after the recovery of the

island from the Saracens, and to fill the Catalogue with fictitious names, in the 11th century of Christ advanced beyond its middle. For the island, which formerly was no more productive of crops than of fables, was such also after the bringing-in of the faith of Christ; as so many Lives of Sicilian saints prove, foisted, with Greek wordiness and faith, upon authors not their own; concerning which see the Acts of Sts. Alphius, Philadelphus, and Cyrinus on the 10th of May.

[4] Yet no one undertook to fashion a similar Catalogue for the people of Tauromenium, although their Bishops, at least from the time of St. Leo, It is to be set against the older Episcopate of Tauromenium. are fairly certain to themselves from public records. Because, after that city in the year 878 came almost last into the power of the Saracens, it lacked them only in this manner, reduced to a great scarcity of inhabitants. It had been most populous when the Acts of Sts. Pancras and Marcian were written; but such that Octavius Cajetanus, in his Lives of the Sicilian Saints, by no means otherwise a severe critic, esteemed them unworthy of his work. We found them in the Vatican Library, codex 1591, extended to nearly a hundred pages, and yet defective in the earlier part; which cause, and that we knew them to be fabulous, persuaded us that their description should be neglected. Now, after we have judged that even such things are not to be withdrawn from public notice and judgment, anyone will do us a favor who shall arrange to have them transcribed for us (especially if he find them entire elsewhere) for a Supplement: The Acts of Sts. Pancras and Marcian were composed with a similar zeal in which case we shall be able to judge more surely concerning Evagrius (under whose name those Acts are entitled) whether the title is genuine or supposititious, as is that of others elsewhere censured. But I know not whether they are the same, or compendia of the same, which Cajetanus says are found in the monasteries of Grottaferrata outside Rome, and of San Salvatore outside Messina, and the Library of Cardinal Sfondrati. The Vatican manuscript, in which the Acts of St. Marcian easily occupy seventy pages, begins thus, "It came to pass, after our Lord was taken up."

[5] A common feast also of both, on the 5th of the Ides of February, The common feast of both on the 5th of February, Cajetanus found in certain Sicilian Menaea; but in the printed ones, for Marcian, he is called Marcellus: it appears, however, that the same person is meant, and there is added St. Philagrius, Bishop of Cyprus, as though he had been ordained Bishop together with these by St. Peter. What the cause of joining them thus was, I do not divine; unless perhaps the Relics of this man were translated from Cyprus into Sicily, and received into some oratory common to the two former on such a day. For what Cajetanus suspects, that they were actually ordained Bishops on such a day, does not please me. For although in the Latin Church it is not unheard of for the Ordinations of certain more illustrious Saints, say of Ambrose, Gregory, Martin, to be celebrated; yet I have not yet found this among the Greeks; and even had I found it, I would not believe that so distinct a knowledge of the day of those who were ordained in the first three centuries was handed down to posterity. Meanwhile I observe that each is thus referred, the 3rd of April and the 14th of June among the Latins: Pancras indeed in the Menaea and Synaxaria on the 9th day of July, but Marcian only in certain Sicilian manuscripts on the 30th of October, as though these were their own proper Birthdays, which were likely those of the Translation or of a Dedicated church. The cause for doubting is, because the Hieronymian Martyrology, older than all those, places the Birthday of St. Pancras on the 3rd of April, which the other Martyrologists followed, and the present Roman one retains. But Marcian, Abbot Maurolycus has on this 14th of June, the first author of referring him into the Latin Calendars, in which Molanus followed him in his 2nd edition, and Baronius in the Roman.

[6] Here too he cites in his Notes the manuscript Acts received from the Cajetan Church, with whom those venerable relics are kept, the Acts of the latter were copied at Gaeta, translated thither when that island was harassed by the incursions of the Saracens, with this beginning: "After the triumphal victory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Cajetanus indicates that the same are had in the Church of Syracuse, and that thence were taken the Lessons of the Gallican Breviary, that is, of that which the Sicilians began to use under the dominion of the Franks: but he adds that he was unwilling to produce them, since they are sufficiently defiled with lies, most of them also culled from those Acts which are circulated corrupted concerning St. Pancras under the name of Evagrius. Those Latin Acts of St. Marcian are brief, and of only 12 little pages, but they were set aside by Henschenius I know not where, because the body was translated there, and are not found: wherefore I again sought the same from Rome out of the Vallicellian Library of the Fathers of the Oratory, that I might form a surer judgment of them; but while I await them, let it please you to read what Cajetanus has thus concerning the aforesaid Translation, and certain Relics of the same St. Marcian: "The Christians of Syracuse with mourning laid away the body of so beloved a Pastor in the living rock of that cave which Marcian himself had inhabited, and had dedicated as a temple to God. That tomb still remains among the Syracusans, a monument of so great a man; recognized in the year 1594 as not entire, and it once grew famous with very many miracles, before the tyranny of the Saracens had subdued Sicily: but when their fury raged, the body of St. Marcian was carried to Gaeta; and there it now is, in the great church of the Mother of God, enclosed in a marble chest beneath an altar, near the bodies of the holy Bishops and Martyrs Erasmus and Innocentius. This last is venerated on the 7th, the former on the 2nd of June, when we treated of them. But in the year 1594," says the same Cajetanus, "Alfonso Lasso Sedeño, a Spaniard by nation, Bishop of Gaeta, opened it; and found the bones of St. Marcian broken indeed, and perhaps the Father's was brought there. and most white, but such as do not make up an entire body: for at Syracuse his jawbone is now venerated, and at Messina his arm, brought thither by Archbishop Riccardo from the church of Syracuse, about the year 1180. I have read in a certain manuscript codex that the body of St. Marcian was carried from Syracuse to Patras; but on what foundation this rests I do not sufficiently see." Thus Cajetanus: but to me it would not seem strange if the body was conveyed first to Patras, then to Gaeta.

[7] The Encomium is given from the Greek, translated by Sirmond, The Encomium of which I made mention above, and which Cajetanus judged worthier to be read than the Acts, our Father James Sirmond, then staying at Rome, found in Greek in the Vatican Library, and made into Latin, and sent it himself into Sicily. I, in the year 1660, found that very Greek text there in Codex 688, and recently received it faithfully transcribed, and so present it here Greek-and-Latin: only I observe that Theodosius, Bishop of Syracuse, of whom the Author makes mention at number nine, relating a deed performed by him as he received it from the Priests who had been present; Theodosius, I say, I note that he seems to be no other than the one who subscribes thus to the Sixth Synod, celebrated at Constantinople under Pope Agatho, in the year 680, in the Fourth Session: "Theodosius, least of the Bishops of the holy Church of Syracuse, which is in Sicily." Escobar indeed, from his archetype Catalogue, numbers four men named Theodosius; the first, the predecessor of this one; and two, nearly a hundred years later; of whom one composed the Troparia which are sung in the Vigils of the fasts; the other built a tower above his cell, and multiplied the stipend for the Clergy: but as I think that the former of the 7th century is wrongly drawn out into two, so I think one suffices for the 8th century; and that the Author of the encomium does not treat of this one; otherwise that writing would have been composed a few years before the city was occupied by the Saracens, and so would not be older than the author of the apocryphal Acts; which nevertheless seems certain from his very silence about these.

[8] To this Encomium Cajetanus subjoins a fragment (as he calls it) of a Canon, St. Joseph the Hymnographer seems to have published the Canon: for the feast of St. Marcian, composed (as he supposes) by St. Joseph the Hymnographer, which Joseph is venerated on the 3rd of April, where we gave his Life: he died at Constantinople in the year 883, but very aged, and a champion of many crowns won against the Iconoclasts, such that he could have composed a Canon of this kind, being himself a Sicilian, and according to some even a Syracusan, before the irruptions of the Saracens; just as he composed a Canon concerning St. Pancras, in favor of the people of Tauromenium. Further, whether he himself or another composed either the Canon, or the three Sticheria with the Troparion to be prefixed to the Canon, which the Greeks call Homoia, "Similaria" (for these seem to me rather than a fragment of a Canon), he was in the common error then, carried away by the common error even about the age of Marcian: in which also was the author of the Encomium, concerning the time when Marcian was sent into Sicily, as appears even from this beginning: "That most splendid one and Coryphaeus of the Apostles, Peter, sent thee from the East, the first star of the Sun of justice, Christ, to the West, as a shining ray, that thou mightest illumine the minds of men with divine knowledge. Wherefore, cherishing thy flock, confirm them in the faith, most holy Marcian, and for us all pray unceasingly."

[9] Namely, he was reckoned to have been sent by the Apostolic See and the successor of Peter: and this manner of speaking, joined with the zeal for making the beginnings of the Churches as ancient as possible, can be presumed to have introduced that error, common to many. It can also be believed that who will rather be said to have been sent by St. Fabian the Pope. Marcian was sent in that deep peace of the Church under St. Fabian the Pope, which preceded the Decian persecution; the continuation of which was that which raged under Valerian and Gallienus: from which, lest he depart, he whom the Encomiast transcribed, St. Peregrinus, always names the Princes or Emperors in the plural, not the singular; so that Cajetanus suspects in vain that it is a transcriber's gloss, that Valerian and Gallienus are named instead of Nero; since the whole context requires more than one. Moreover, while the Acts of St. Peregrinus the Martyr, which Cajetanus has for the 3rd of November from an ancient Codex, thus join with Valerian and Gallienus the Prefect or Consular of Sicily, Quintianus, under whom St. Peregrinus suffered; they confirm our opinion; because under the same, a few years before, St. Agatha is said to have suffered under the Decii reigning: and they shed light on her Acts, as to the death of Quintianus, who thus could not have perished immediately after the martyrdom of the same Saint. Yet it could be said that it was familiar to Sicilian writers and suffered under the Prefect Quintianus. to use the name of Quintianus for any President who was a persecutor of the Christians; just as the Spanish Biographers use Dacian, the Milanese Anulinus: as all are compelled to do who raise to the times of Nero Martyrs whom they would better leave to the Decian persecution, or even to the times of Diocletian and Maximian; but if the Sicilians really did this, the name of Quintianus found here will contribute nothing to what was required.

ENCOMIUM OF ST. MARCIAN, BISHOP AND MARTYR.

From the Vatican Manuscript 688, translated by James Sirmond, S.J.

Marcian, Bishop, at Syracuse in Sicily (St.)

TRANSLATOR JAMES SIRMOND.

CHAPTER I.

The arrival of St. Marcian in Sicily, his sojourn in the Pelopian caves, his preaching, and his martyrdom.

[1] Come then, O beloved of God, let us set forth in the midst the narratives concerning this holy man and Chief Shepherd Marcian, just as from of old we have followed from unwritten

Greek text: …also from a written narrative, of the confessors and gloriously victorious Martyrs who in his times were distinguished and shone forth, and put on the crown of immortality from Christ the Director of the contest and King of all, whose names are written in the book of life, which things, together with others, we shall relate in order, lest it seem to some that we are weaving a mythology of lies.

[2] For after the divine and world-saving resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, and his ascension into the heavens with his flesh, having sent forth his own Disciples and Apostles to the preaching, he commanded them to preach to every creature, saying, "Going into all the world, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep whatsoever I have commanded you," as it is written in the Gospels. Confirmed therefore by the coming of the Spirit, they set out to the preaching, scattered each of them in the region of the inhabited world that fell to him by lot. Then indeed Peter, the First of the Apostles, who was entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and received the power of binding and loosing; coming to Antioch and teaching the word, from there he appointed this holy luminary, and truly a great teacher, and sent him forth to teach, as the Lord had commanded them, "Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you," and what follows; "be therefore prudent as serpents, and harmless as doves." For such was this approved Father, as the appearance of the image of his face shows: manly in body, strong in soul, bold in mind, ever goading in his heart the marks of our Lord and God, having chosen to suffer for him who suffered for us under Pontius Pilate; having heard him saying in the Gospels, "My cup you shall drink."

[3] He is sent therefore as a teacher, having been instructed by the Coryphaeus of the Apostles, the first luminary and teacher of the Apostles; and coming to this city of the Syracusans in Sicily, he went about seeking a place in an inn. Then indeed, like a sun ever-shining gleaming forth, this holy man, and like a light in the night, entering into certain caves at the edge of the city, called Pelopian, in which now his venerable casket is treasured, and very many healings of wonders ever gush forth from generation to generation upon those who fear the Lord, and take refuge by faith in it, suffering with all manner of diseases, being strengthened, while the holy man works miracles unceasingly, by cures through the gift of the Holy Spirit. The opening of which caves is opposite the murderous synagogue of the Jews, which lies behind those same caves toward the sea. Coming then, the aforesaid honored Father dwelt in them, having considered this, that he was near the God-hating synagogue, and could more easily, through the nearness, carry on his teaching, being also enlightened in this from above; taking into his mind that our Lord Jesus Christ too, the Savior and God of all, having come down from the heavens, and been born of the Lady and truly Mother of God, and ever-virgin Mary, obtained a cave for his lodging, and in it the dread mystery of the dispensation was accomplished.

[4] When therefore, in his dwelling in those same caves, he did not allow himself anything of food, or only the garments which he wore, following the Lord's teaching, which thus speaks: "Be not anxious for your soul what you shall eat, nor for your body what you shall put on; but seek first only the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you." Thinking on these things, then, he was anxious for none of earthly things, but looked here and there, gazing about so as to spare for the Spirit, into which grace makes its way, to attain the promise; and he conversed in a catechetical and gentle manner, bringing forward teaching out of the Law and the Prophets, and exhorted, saying: "Repent, and let each of you be baptized for the remission of sins." And many following were persuaded by his teaching, and those who were made his disciples were multiplied from among the Jews and the Greeks, and his teaching advanced, and the name of Christ was diffused unto all, and praying they were baptized by him, in the font which to this day is venerably worshipped, into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, leaving behind their ancestral error.

[5] Hence then, holding fast a good beginning, the multitudes of the peoples ran together, not only of the city, but also of those nearby, and they were resounded with his teaching, concerning all the wonders which the Lord did upon the earth. Hence was given and flashed forth the threefold light of the divine radiance, and the nature of men, sleeping in the darkness of ignorance, was illuminated. Hence the air of the prevailing gloomy deceit of the demons was cleansed in part. Hence the teachings of the knowledge of God shone forth like lightning, and the idolatrous dominations fell. Hence the dragon was deadened, and the nature of men, deadened by sin, by the working of the Cross was restored to its first God-stamped beauty and dignity, receiving, instead of a curse, the counsel of wisdom. Hence the West was shown to be an East, the God-bearing Father having risen in it, like the light of the morning-star.

[6] The enemy therefore of those who wished to be pious, not bearing to see himself overthrown, is moved to anger, and stirs up a dust, and a furnace-like boiling turmoil against those who believed in our Lord Jesus Christ. For finding men sufficient and most ready for their own ill-disposed mind, those who unworthily then held the scepters of the kingdom, he kindles in them his own wrath, instilling in them the venom of his own malice, as the martyrial writing of the prize-bearing Peregrinus teaches us, concerning whom it was said in the proem. For he too, having been enlightened by the teaching of this God-revealing Marcian, was shown to be a perfect Martyr to God, becoming a sacrifice well-accepted by his free choice, and a whole burnt-offering for an odor of sweetness, on a mountain called Kakoumenon of Krotale, having borne away a death like that of the holy Bishop and Martyr Libertinus of the Church in Akragas.

[7] For on that mountain, he says, when Valerian and Gallienus the tyrant Basilisks, as was said, were ruling, they sent out decrees throughout the whole world, for the turning-away and cessation of the pious religion of the Christians, decreeing that every age and rank should be compelled, slaves and free, small and great, with women and infants, to worship the abominable idols honored and worshipped by them, and to bring sacrifices to them and libations as to gods. Hence again the purity of the air was defiled with the savors and smoke of the sacrifices offered to the vain idols. For those who were unwilling to yield to them, and to their decrees, were subjected to various punishments and torments, and at last, after many interrogations, they ordered them to be brought to death by sentence. No small trouble and surge seized the Christians from these things, and many were sunk in the tempest of the rising storm of the unsteadfast. But as many as moored the vessel of their soul upon the safer and unshaken rock of the pious faith, were shown to be true Martyrs of the faith of Christ, having thus played the man for the pious faith. And so distinguished did they become in the contest of confession, as to astonish the tyrants, and to make all who were of them marvel exceedingly. Then indeed, then, when the impious decree was brought by the tyrants, and in this island of the Sicilians the like deeds were being done, as many as, embracing and preferring the Savior Lord Jesus Christ, the God over all and King of all things, before their own life, made bright by contests of piety, choosing the glorious death rather than the present life, crowned with all manner of prizes of virtues, sing the gloriously-victorious and unceasing hymn ever to the King of all and the Most High God, inasmuch as they range about the heavenly abodes, with the victory-maker and Protomartyr, the only-begotten Son of God, through whom be glory, and honor, and magnificence, to the Father himself, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

[1] Come then, O beloved of God, let us undertake to tell of this holy Bishop Marcian Preface of the author the things which have come down to us either from the memory of earlier times, handed down as it were through hands, without writings; or which the glorious Confessors and Martyrs, who flourished in the same times as he, and attained the crown of immortality, consigned in their writings to posterity: whose names indeed are written in the book of life, but which shall also afterward be brought forth by us in their place, lest anyone suppose that we are weaving an empty and fabulous narrative.

[2] For after the divine and world-saving resurrection of our Lord from the dead, when, being about to ascend into the heavens, he sent his Disciples and Apostles From the Apostles sent by Christ to preach, to promulgate the Gospel; he commanded them to announce it to every creature, saying: "Going into all the world, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things which I have commanded you"; as it is written in the Gospels. Matt. 28:20 Confirmed therefore by the coming of the Holy Spirit, they set out to preach; and all were dispersed, as each man's region of the world had fallen to him by lot. Then indeed Peter, that Prince of the Apostles, to whom the keys of the kingdom of the heavens were entrusted, and the power of binding and loosing was committed; having entered Antioch, and scattering the seed of the divine word; there first chose this holy luminary and truly great preceptor, and destined him for teaching; instructing and arming him with his admonitions, as the Lord had commanded: "Fear not those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. For they will deliver you up in councils, and in synagogues they will scourge you," and what follows. Peter is said to have sent Marcian from Antioch: "Be therefore prudent as serpents, and simple as doves." And such truly was the praiseworthy Marcian, as the very appearance of his image teaches; manly in body, strong in soul, bold in spirit; bearing the marks of Christ and our God in his heart; eager to suffer for him who suffered for us under Pontius Pilate; hearkening, namely, to him who had said: "My cup you shall drink."

[3] who, having landed at Syracuse, He is sent therefore by the Coryphaeus of the Apostles, a learned master; and coming, the first splendor or ray of the Apostles, to this Syracusan city of Sicily, he went about, seeking a place in a lodging: and at last, like another sun rising, the holy man, and as a lamp in the night, entered certain caves, which in the elevated part of the city

were, and were called Pelopian: where now the venerable treasure of his casket is laid up, he withdrew to the Pelopian caves, and perennial fountains of miracles flow, diseases of all kinds being shaken off, the Saint himself ever working by the wonderful power of the divine Spirit. These caves were situated opposite the impious synagogue of the Jews: for this had been placed at the southern quarter of the caves, looking toward the sea. In these caves, then, the venerable man dwelt; doing this, namely, opposite the Jewish Synagogue; that he might be near the Synagogue hateful to God, and from the very nearness pave a way for himself to the discipline of heavenly doctrine: considering also this together, that Christ, the Lord and Savior of all, when he had descended from the heavens, and assumed flesh from the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary, chose a cave for his lodging, and in it accomplished the dread mystery of the incarnation.

[4] and there leading the Apostolic life. But while he dwelt in those caves, he was by no means anxious about food, nor did he possess garments other than those with which he was covered, obeying the voice of the Lord, which says: "Be not anxious for your soul, what you shall eat; nor for your body, what you shall put on: but seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you." Pondering these things in his mind, he was touched by no care of earthly things: and he went here and there, where the Spirit led; and familiarly instructing those to whom the grace of the Gospel was granted, and sweetly confirming his doctrine from the Law and the Prophets. He exhorted all, therefore, with Gospel words: "Repent, and let each one of you be baptized." that he might convert and baptize many. Many, moreover, receiving the voice, followed him; and the disciples were multiplied from among the Jews and the Greeks; and his doctrine advanced, and the name of Christ resounded to all. They were baptized by him as they prayed in the Font, which to this very time is held in veneration, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, abandoning their ancestral and former error.

[5] These foundations of the illustrious work having thus been laid, crowds of peoples ran together from all sides, spreading the faith far and wide not only of citizens, but also from neighboring places, and gave themselves to his teaching; and were taught about all the miracles which the Lord willed to work upon the earth. Hence indeed was diffused and flashed the threefold light of the divine splendor, and it illuminated the nature of men, sleeping in the darkness of ignorance. Hence gradually the air was cleansed, which was held beset by the gloomy fraud of the demons. Hence the proofs of divine knowledge flashed forth like lightning, and the dominion of idols went to ruin. Hence the dragon, struck down, was laid low, and the nature of mortals, prostrated by sin, by the power of the life-giving Cross was recalled to the former splendor and dignity of the divine likeness, receiving the symbols of benevolence in place of the dire curse. Hence the West was turned into the East, the God-bearing Marcian rising in it as a morning-star.

[6] The enemy of the human race, therefore, not bearing to be conquered and cast down by those who embraced piety, until, as St. Peregrinus the Martyr writes straightway grows hot, and stirs up flames of fury, like a furnace, against the faithful of Christ. Having found those who then held the scepters of Empire fit and ready for the wicked counsel of his crime, he inspires them with his own rage, and instills the venom of depraved endeavor, just as the writings of that excellent Martyr of Christ, Peregrinus, of whom we spoke before, teach us. For he, among the rest, imbued with the doctrine of Marcian the herald of God, was made a perfect witness to God; becoming an acceptable and voluntary sacrifice, and a holocaust for an odor of sweetness; when on the mountain which is called Cacumen-Crotaleos he won the like triumph of death, together with the holy Martyr and Bishop of the Agrigentines, Libertinus.

[7] At the same time, he says, while Valerian and Gallienus were exercising their tyranny, there were sent into the whole world, the edicts of Valerian and Gallienus went forth for the utter overthrow and abolition of the religion of the Christians, commands; by which every age, sex, and condition, with no distinction, was ordered to worship their abominable idols, and to offer to them, as to gods, vows and victims. Hence again the now clear and pure air was contaminated with the impure smoke and stench of the offered victims: for those who refused to do the commands, harried with various torments and kinds of interrogations, they decreed should at last be punished with the penalty of death. And so no slight tempest thence afflicted the Christians; and many who were not sufficiently steadfast were pressed down and submerged by the force of the rushing storm: but those who had brought the spiritual skiff of their soul to the unshaken and safe rock of pious faith; these showed themselves true Martyrs of Christ; concerning the persecuting of the Christians, fighting so intrepidly for the name of Christ, undergoing so bravely the glorious contest of confession, that they turned the very tyrants to admiration and astonishment of them. Then therefore, when the wicked edict had been carried into this island of the Sicilians too, and the tyrants raged with equal madness against the flock of Christ; as many as, preferring our Savior Jesus Christ, the God and King of all, to their own self-love, descended into this arena of piety, and set the present life behind a glorious death; many of whom triumphed gloriously. these now, crowned with the insignia of every kind of virtue, sing an immortal hymn of victory and triumph to God the King of all; inasmuch as they now inhabit the heavenly dwellings, with the giver of victory and proto-martyr, the only-begotten Son of God, through whom be glory and magnificence to the Father himself, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

NOTES OF D. P.

p For in the first four years of Valerian the Church had recovered breath from the earlier persecution under the Decii, enjoying even a benevolent Emperor, contrary to what Baronius supposed, taking occasion from the treatise on the praise of Martyrdom, which Pagi shows in the year 263 is not Cyprian's.

CHAPTER II.

The encomium of his virtues, his burial, and the driving-out of the demons from those caves under Bishop Theodosius.

[8] Greek text: The souls of the Martyrs, deemed worthy of the heavenly kingdom, rejoice together with the choirs of the Prophets and Apostles; with whom this holy man and Confessor Marcian also, having fought the good fight, having finished the course, having kept the faith, became a sweet odor through his whole-burnt-offering; wherefore we too, since we happen to be of his country, his renowned contests we have described, not on pillars made of stone, nor in a painting variegated with colors, nor in figures and forms of lifeless matter, but in a word of truth witnessed by the very deeds, an active image, and a venerable example of pious teaching, sending it up to unceasing memory, making his virtues a sight before our eyes; virtues, I say, his many manly deeds, the strong constancy of his soul, the boldness of his faith, the brightness of his mind, the firmness of his piety, the unshaken, the unforsaking, the

Greek text continued: the God-loving, the Christ-loving, which most of all supplied to him also a power greater than mortal nature. For he was a lover of God toward the King of all, and having loved Him with the whole power of his soul, he obtained in return the recompense of His aid. Wherefore, being at once beloved and strengthened, uttering such words as from a common community, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or famine, or peril, or sword? But in all these we more than conquer, through Jesus Christ who loved us, to whom belongs all glory and honor, together with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

[9] Come now, let us again recapitulate the discourse, supplying what is lacking of the narrative of the holy Martyr Marcian, that our souls may obtain profit, and that all of us in common may send up glory to the King of all things, Christ our God, who works marvelous wonders from generation to generation for those who fear Him. For the cave, in which, having been hidden, on high his honored relic is buried, was full of every evil-spiritedness, until, coming, the aforesaid honored Father and great teacher Marcian dwelt in it. For by the working of the Cross, having driven away all the malicious spirits lurking in it, he made it a dwelling enlightening with holy vision; in it enlightening all who enter it, and who believe through his teaching in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and our God. But that the thing said may be confirmed, that the same cavern, or cave, was a habitation of demons, as the foregoing narrative declared, the very situation also shows the truth to be so. For the caves beyond, and at a distance from, his all-venerable temple, and the same underground chambers held by the same, communicating with one another, and called by the same name Pelopia, until the times of Theodosius—of holy memory and ever-remembered in his end, who became Bishop of this city of the Syracusans—certain satanic operations buzzed about, and apparitions, which it is not good to declare, on account of the lightness of the simpler folk, lest, if remembrance of such an evil came about, the narrative should become hostile to the unsteadfast. For this cause, therefore, we have brought forward such a statement, for the confirmation of the things to be said, and for the shame of the apostate serpent set against us, who is dragged along the ground, and by his deceitful hissing draws down the simpler folk, but to the glory of our good and compassionate God, who does great and wonderful, extraordinary, and glorious things, of which there is no number, from generation to generation, for those who fear the Lord, through His Saints.

[10] When many therefore were being ensnared, to speak truly, in the said Pelopian caves of the simpler people, and were being exercised unto destruction by the phantasmal deceit of this author-of-evil serpent, and were being enticed by his deceitful hissing, and being dragged down into the gaping pit of evil-spiritedness; the aforementioned most holy Bishop Theodosius of this city of the Syracusans—who in such a generation administered piously and most worthily the throne of the priesthood in righteousness—giving ear to these things, and treading in the footstep of his predecessor, and not only of this one, but also of Zosimus the most gentle, who well piloted the ecclesiastical flock, and adorned his own life with almsgivings and prayers, with greater abstinence and watchings, having written it wholly in apostolic conduct, and become simply, to speak, a rival of the angels, a fleshless angel in a body, and one well-pleasing to God; by whose prayers may we be deemed worthy to find mercy on the day of recompense from the just Christ. Let us therefore, beloved, turn back the discourse to the narrative.

[11] These things, as has been said, the aforesaid Theodosius giving ear to, not bearing the noise of the absurdity, so plainly resounding, is moved against the impiety, and is roused like a good soldier of Christ the King of all, God, to the battle-line against the spiritual enemy, playing the man by the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. And first, in secret he implores God, like that great Moses, leading the people out of the land of Egypt; persevering in greater abstinence and watching in prayers; and having known by the Spirit that his prayer had been heard, he most manifestly declares the matter to all, and moves all to supplication concerning this; just as that great and renowned Bishop of Caesarea, Basil, in those times accomplished, having himself wrestled, that is, fought, and conquered the devil, as is recorded in his memoirs. On one of the days, therefore, this holy shepherd Theodosius, rising, and taking with him the whole clergy, both the God-loving order, and all the pious people, with women and children, and every council, both of age and of rank, went forth in a public procession, in supplication, even to that said cave, in which the phantasmal apparition and drama was enacted. And for many hours, while all lay prostrate before his face toward the east, and cried with a strong voice "Lord, have mercy," this holy man raised them all up, and, all having said "Amen," he fixed the mystical table, which is called Antiminsion, before the face of that cave, of the ascent, and performed the Liturgy. And having completed the divine mystagogy, and all having partaken of the life-giving mysteries of our Lord Jesus Christ, having made the dismissal, he sealed the cave thrice with the sign of the precious Cross, having made an earnest prayer, and gave charge to all the people, and cast a stone, and they blocked up that cave, and so they returned, all rejoicing and praising God, who does great wonders and marvelous things in all generations; being assured that the cunning of the devil no longer worked in that place as it was wont.

[12] This therefore I have declared, having learned it from the holy men and priests who were spectators at that time, the said ones, for the remembrance of the holy and ever-remembered Bishop Theodosius; and as a confirmation of the following narrative of the honored Hieromartyr Marcian, that the same cavern was a habitation of demons, until his coming into it; which now, beholding the figure of a church and of a holy tabernacle, we run to with veneration, to the praise of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and to the good report of the honored Father himself; no longer a satanic cave, but a holy angelic temple; no longer full of evil-spiritedness, but filled with the angelic choir; no longer a workshop of deceit, but a remedy for incurable sufferings. O cave likened to the cave in Bethlehem, in which the God of all exchanged our nature, taken before from her who is properly and truly, and ever-virgin Mary, having anticipated this, enduring no mixture or any pouring-out whatsoever, but having emptied Himself as in His own good-pleasure He was pleased, in compassion, to a condescension of extreme lowliness. O name of the cave in which the heavenly King put on the lowly garment, not by chance and fate, but by His own good-pleasure. O name of the cave, in which the angelic and archangelic orders, in a circling array, offered the unceasing hymnody, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men of good-pleasure." O name of the cave, in which the Maker of all, God, deigned to dwell with a body. O name of the cave, in which the songs of theology were woven, and the angels announced to men the good tidings of great joy, which was given to all creation.

[8] The blessed souls of the Martyrs, having attained the heavenly kingdom, St. Marcian is praised exult with the Prophets and the choirs of the Apostles: among whom is also this holy Confessor Marcian, the happy contest accomplished, the course consummated, the faith kept, having become the good odor of a holocaust. Wherefore we too, having obtained the same country with thee, have described his renowned contests, not carved on pillars of stone, not shadowed forth with pigments of colors, nor expressed in other forms of lifeless matter; but in the word of truth, confirmed by the very deeds; setting forth a living and breathing image, an example of religious discipline, for everlasting memory; an example of every virtue, that the spectacles of his divine virtues may always be turned before our eyes. Virtues I say, those tokens of manly patience, the unconquered strength of a present mind, the freedom of faith, the candor of his breast, the firmness of constancy, the untiring and intrepid love and charity toward God and Christ; which indeed procured for this holy man a force and power greater than every mortal lot. For, joined by an intimate bond with God, and embracing him with the whole effort of his soul, he received the mutual return of divine aid, and was supremely dear to him and corroborated with singular virtue: therefore he uttered these words with himself, as if from the common mouth of all: "Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or peril, or sword? But in all these we are always superior, through him who loved us, Jesus Christ, to whom is due all honor and glory, with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

[9] he is buried in the cave whence he had cast out the demons: Come now, let us briefly fulfill what remains concerning the holy Martyr Marcian, for the benefit of our souls, that we all together may render due thanks to our King Christ and Lord, who works wonders in his servants. For that cave, into which his sacred Relics were translated upward, was crammed with all the foulness of demons, before the holy man and great teacher Marcian fixed his seat in it: but he, by the power of God, cast out far from there all the impure spirits dwelling there, and erected in that same place a dwelling of sanctification, enlightening all who flocked to him in it, and imbuing them with the saving faith, who nevertheless persisted in the neighboring caves, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God and our Lord. And, that the things which have been said may be proved true, and it may plainly appear that that cavern or cave, of which our discourse was earlier, was a dwelling of demons; the very situation of the place and its arrangement in some way lends credit to the narrative. For the caves which are situated beyond his venerable temple, and indeed those subterranean caverns which are occupied by the temple, and are passable among themselves to one another, and were called by the same name Pelopia, until the times of Theodosius of blessed memory, until Bishop Theodosius, once Bishop of this city of the Syracusans, worthy of eternal praise. These poured forth from themselves a certain noise by a certain satanic force and art, and presented certain specters, which it is of no consequence to relate in this place, lest the very commemoration strike the weaker minds, and the recollection of so great an evil be a snare to the simpler. Indeed for this cause chiefly we have lightly touched on these things, both to make credible the things which are to be said, and to the ignominy of the apostate serpent, who, insinuating himself into the lands, with fraudulent

hissing, hunted for the minds of the weaker by this whisper; and chiefly for the praise and glory of our merciful God, by whose admirable power the admirable works of his Saints are made perfect and numberless.

[10] a worthy successor to Sts. Marcian and Zosimus, For when very many of the common people were being led into the snare and ruin at these caves of Pelops, perverted by those specters; and, allured by the serpent, the architect of all evils, and his disguised hissing, were tumbling into the open pit of diabolical superstition; the most holy Bishop of the Syracusans, Theodosius, who at that time held the throne of this See with the highest praise of sanctity and justice; these things being known, followed the footsteps of his predecessor, and not only of this one, but also of Zosimus the most kind, who governed the ecclesiastical flock most beautifully, and adorned his life with almsgivings and prayers and much continence and vigils; and, to say it in one word, lived as a rival of the Apostles and Angels, so that he seemed an Angel in the body, free of flesh: by whose prayers may we, on the last day of retribution, obtain mercy from the just Judge. But let the begun narrative return meanwhile to its former course.

[11] fasts and prayers having been premised, These things, therefore, as has been said, when they had come to the ears of Bishop Theodosius; he, not bearing the deceitful noise resounding thus openly, girds himself against the impiety; and, like a good soldier of almighty God, goes forth into the battle-line, about to subdue the spiritual foe by the power of the Holy Spirit. And first, indeed, he strove to bend God with hidden prayers, just as that great Moses, when he led Israel out of Egypt, insisting on assiduous continence and vigils and prayers. But when he divinely perceived that his prayers were heard; then he openly announces the whole matter to all, and invites all to pray; by the example of the great and celebrated Bishop Basil, whom likewise, in like manner, the monuments that survive about his deeds testify to have contended with the demon and laid him low. coming there with the people in supplication, On the appointed day, therefore, the holy Theodosius hastening, having summoned the order of Priests and the whole Clergy, and indeed the whole assembly of Christ's faithful, with wives and children, no age or condition excepted, made straight for the destined place, that is, for the cave in which the appearances of empty specters were seen, and those horrible things were perpetrated. And when all, turned to the east, had spent some hours in prayer, crying out with intent voice "Lord, have mercy"; the holy man straightway roused them all; and, all acclaiming "Amen," he fixed the mystical cloth which is called Antimension at the opening of the cave; and the sacred Liturgy duly performed there, he blocked it up with stones, when each had received the life-giving mysteries of our Lord, and the Sacred rites were ended; the Pontiff drew the sacred sign of the Cross over the cave three times, adding continual prayers. Then, a signal being given to the people, they soon blocked it up entirely with stones and rocks, and so return home joyful, praising God, who always works wonders; and surely persuaded that the demon would no longer, as he was wont, work anything by his deceits in that place.

[12] as one relating it who were present. But I received these very things which I relate from those who were then present as spectators, eminent men and endowed with the Priesthood; and therefore I judged them worthy to be commemorated, both for the sake of the holy and ever-praiseworthy Bishop Theodosius; and that it might be established as true, what we said of the holy Martyr Marcian, that until his coming there was in that cave a seat and dwelling of demons, where now, beholding the form of a church and sacred tabernacle, we run with veneration, to the honor and glory of the great God and Savior of all, Christ Jesus, to the praise also of this our venerable Father; a cave, no longer that satanic one, but a holy and angelic temple; no longer full of bands of demons, Hence the Author, running on into the praise of the cave, then sacred, but celebrated by choirs of Angels; no longer a workshop of fraud and deceits, but a medicine for incurable diseases. O cave, to be compared with that of Bethlehem, in which the God of all assumed our nature from the truly and properly and ever-virgin Mary, suffering no mixture or any confusion, but emptying himself, as it pleased him, to the utmost lowliness of humility. O name of the cave! in which the heavenly King put on a private garment, by no fate or fortune, but by full and free will. O name of the cave! he compares it with that of Bethlehem. in which the Angelic and Archangelic orders, standing round about, sang a perpetual hymn, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and among men good will." O name of the cave! in which the parent and founder of all, God, deigned to dwell with a body. O name of the cave! in which the canticles of theology were composed, and the Angels announced to men the joy which was given to all creation.

NOTES OF D. P.

CHAPTER III.

The encomiastic conclusion.

[13] Greek text: O servant Marcian, herald of Christ, and most wise teacher, and guide from the beginning of the sacred things to this God-cared-for city of the Syracusans. O foremost ruler of the flock, companion of the Apostles, fellow-tabernacler of the Patriarchs, and adornment of the Ascetics, made beautiful by God. O revealer of God and holy priestly office of the divine mystagogy, functioning even until now. For in thee, and through thee, the Priests daily ministering gifts perform the bloodless sacrifice to the Most High. What then shall we call thee? an altar, or incense? a God-dwelt lodging of the Holy Spirit, or the cognoscible sweet odor of a whole-burnt-offering? With what woven praises shall we crown thee, who crowned our country with the flowers of teaching and martyrdom? With what worthy good reports shall we honor thee, who shinest with the gleams of thy teachings, and makest bright the well-set glorying of souls? What then shall we call thee? a God-breathed meadow or a God-planted paradise? for truly thou art both a meadow and a most fragrant paradise, variegated with all manner of flowers, and making fragrant the Church of Christ by the outflow of thy wonders. How shall we honor thee? an embodied angel, or a man? raised on high to heaven, or a wonder-worker on earth? O head of teaching and guide of teachers of our country. We are at a loss to say very much; but as we were taught, so also do we honor a high-priest, and an athlete, and a shepherd of the rational flocks of Christ, and a zealot of the sufferings of Christ. For thou art the good shepherd, who laid down thy soul for thy sheep, just as the teacher and protomartyr Jesus, our God. We describe thee as another Moses, not in gloom and tempest and the sounds of thunders and trumpets, and the other terrors of the smoking mountain, beholding God without form, with dim sight, insofar as it was possible to see God with human, that is, with sensible eyes, as that man did; but beholding intellectually with the eyes of the soul the whole God the Word wholly made flesh, and openly preaching him to be the Savior of all. We discern thee as another Aaron, but also very much greater. For he, with sprinklings of the blood of irrational animals, purified the people; but thou, with the honored, untasted blood which the Lamb of God shed for the life and salvation of the world, purifying the flock, and cleansing thy country. For this much-spoken-of and famous city of the Syracusans, made so through thee, we describe thee to have as a country on earth, in which thy house remains, and shines, and very many outpourings of wonders ever flow; but in the heavens we know thee to have a country, which the divine Paul declared, the Jerusalem above; in which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit reign from the beginning before all beginning, and now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[13] O servant of God, Marcian, herald of Christ, and most wise master, and from the beginning guide of sacred things to this city of the Syracusans cared for by God. Hence he turns to the encomia of St. Marcian, O foremost ruler of the flock, familiar of the Apostles, consort of the Patriarchs, and glory of the Martyrs, adorned by God! O teacher of the divine secrets, who does not cease to imbue the Priests with the sacrosanct mysteries! for in thee, indeed, and through thee, the Priests daily sacrificing to the Most High offer the unbloody Sacrifice. Whom shall we call thee? an altar, or a victim? a lodging of the Holy Spirit, or the mystical odor of a holocaust? But with what garlands of praises shall we crown him, who crowned our country with the flowers of teaching and martyrdom? With what sacred acclamations shall we honor thee, gleaming with the brightest lights of teachings, and illuminating souls duly ordered? Whom, finally, shall we call thee? A field divinely inspired, or a garden planted by God? for truly thou art a field and a most fragrant garden, glowing with flowers of every kind, and filling thy Church with the odor of thy miracles. With what honor shall we venerate thee? by what name shall we call thee? An Angel in the flesh, or a man without flesh? Borne up into the heavens, or doing wonders on earth? O fount and head of doctrine! O teacher and leader of our country!

[14] We know not how to say more and greater things. As we have learned, so we venerate thee, a prelate and an athlete, and a pastor of the rational sheep of Christ, and an emulator of the sufferings of Christ. For thou art the good shepherd,

who didst lay down thy soul for the sheep, and likens him to a good Shepherd, to Moses, just as the master himself and protomartyr Jesus, the Son of God and our God. We depict thee as another Moses, not in the mist and whirlwind, amid thunders and the blasts of trumpets, and the other terrors of the smoking mountain, beholding the Lord with a faint and obscure gaze, as far as was permitted to human, that is, to bodily eyes; but beholding with the keen sight and eyes of the mind the whole, however much there is of, the incarnate Word of God, and openly announcing him to be the Savior of the world. We acknowledge thee as another Aaron, indeed not a little greater: and compares him to Aaron. for he, sprinkling the blood of irrational animals, expiated the people; but thou, with the sacrosanct and life-giving blood of the Lamb of God, which he poured out for the life and salvation of the world, dost wash thy flock and sanctify thy country. For this much-renowned city of the Syracusans, made most famous on thy account, we rightly reckon thy country on earth, where thy bier and temple remain, and is illustrated by perpetual miracles: but in the heavens we are not ignorant that thou hast a country, that one which the divine Paul called the heavenly Jerusalem: in which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit reign from eternity, and now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.