Martyrs Palladius

ON THE HOLY MARTYRS PALLADIUS, COTYLAS, ADRAMAS, MOSES, ESAS, PALICONUS, COTYLAS II, AND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY COMPANIONS.

Venerated among the Abyssinian Ethiopians.

Palladius, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Cotylas, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Adramas, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Moses, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Esas, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Saliconus, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) Cotylas II, honored among the Abyssinians (St.) The 150 Companions, honored among the Abyssinians (SS.)

D. P.

From the already often-praised Metrical Hagiology of the aforenoted nation, we have again received this notable troop of holy Martyrs, whom we presume to have suffered in Egypt, and we subjoin them to others pertaining to the persecution of Maximian, set forth by conjecture on the first days of this month. They are indicated as condemned to death by a certain council of seven men while they are thus invoked. Among them three or six brothers, I salute Palladius, Cotylas, and Adramas, three brothers, and three others, Moses, Esas, and Paliconus: to whom a second Cotylas was added to complete the number. They died tortured for the sake of Christ by seven Idolaters, and those lame or drunken, as Job Ludolf explains; but I think these epithets can be referred to drunkenness of mind rather than of body. Of these same seven again mention is made in the following strophe, through which the Poet salutes the one hundred fifty Saints, before whom the seven Idolaters, brought to judgment, set a sharp sword, with a boiling pan, before their eyes: but by the sight of these they were not terrified. More and more distinct things we would now seek in vain. Ludolf doubts whether he here called Paliconus should not be called Palingenius: but in his own Calendar, naming only the first three, he adds, "and Companions," nor in the Notes does he suggest anything pertaining here.