ON THE HOLY MARTYRS NESTOR AND TRIBIMIUS, AT PERGE IN PAMPHYLIA.
YEAR 251
CommentaryNestor, Martyr, at Perge in Pamphylia (Saint)
Tribimius, Martyr, at Perge in Pamphylia (Saint)
[1] Perge, the metropolis of Pamphylia Secunda and the seat of the governors under the Roman Emperors, has been ennobled by the victories of many illustrious Martyrs. To this city, during the persecution of the Emperor Decius, Saint Nestor, Bishop of Magydus, was brought, and after other torments was put on the cross These Martyrs suffered under Decius and obtained the crown of martyrdom, as his Acts, published by us under February 26, declare. In those Acts it is said that the most wicked edict of Decius was promulgated under the Governor Pollio, (Or under the Governor Pollio) "who held the province itself, who without delay sent horsemen to ride through the country, also enforcing the royal command, that if there were Christians anywhere, they should be compelled to eat food sacrificed to idols." So much there. But Pollio is called Publius by the Greeks, perhaps his full name being Publius Pollio; and we believe that while he was executing the edict of Decius, these holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribimius, or Tribimaeus, were found by his agents in the region of the Cibyratae At Perge in the region of the Cibyratae and crowned as Martyrs in a glorious contest also in the city of Perge. Concerning the Cibyratae and the city of Cibyra, Strabo treats in book 13 of his Geography and again in book 14, where he assigns the lesser Cibyratae to Pamphylia. In the Menaea it is called χώρα τῶν κιβυρραιωτῶν, or κιβοιρραιωτῶν, or κυραιωτῶν, and their city is designated as Perge.
[2] Listed under March 1 In the manuscript Menaea of Grottaferrata, the veneration of these Martyrs is established under the first day of March thus: "Ἄθλησις τῶν ἁγίων Μαρτύρων Νέστορος καὶ Τριβιμίου"—"The Contest of the Holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribimius." The Greek Menologion composed by order of the Emperor Basil the Younger, about seven hundred years ago, adds the following notice about them under the same first of March: "Under the reign of the most impious Decius, In the Menologion of the Emperor Basil the holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribimaeus, from the city of Perge in the region of the Ciboerrhaeotae, because they were Christians and freely and boldly preached Christ, were denounced before the Governor of the province. He immediately sent a large number of soldiers and ordered them to be brought in chains and presented before his tribunal, and all instruments of torture to be set up in their sight. But seeing that they both scorned his threats and confessed Christ in a loud voice, he ordered them to be stripped of their garments and cruelly beaten with dried ox sinews, then suspended and burned until their innards were visible. When, after these things had been done, he found that they maintained an immutable mind and spirit toward our Lord Jesus Christ, he had them taken down from the rack and handed over to the executioners, by whom their precious heads were cut off with knives; and so, joyfully completing their martyrdom, the Lord Christ received them."
[3] In the printed Greek Menaea, as well as in the manuscript ones preserved at Dijon by Pierre-François Chifflet, Nestorius is commemorated on March 1 as a Martyr by the sword, and these two are listed under the second day of March, Under March 2 with which Maximus of Cythera agrees in his Lives of the Saints. In the Menaea the following verses are prefixed: In the manuscript and printed Menaea
"He who struck the neck of Nestor with the sword / Dealt a similar blow to Tribimius. / Nestor's companion, cut down on the second day, did not escape notice."
"The Memory of the Holy Martyrs Nestor and Tribimius."
"These arose in the region of the Cyraeotae, and in the city of Perge. Under the reign of the impious Decius, they were handed over to the Governor of the region by idolaters because they preached Christ. Stripped of their garments, therefore, they were beaten with ox sinews. Then, when they had been suspended on the rack, their limbs were beaten for so long that their innards were exposed. Finally, since they could not be led away from the profession of the Christian faith, their heads were cut off with knives." The same is read, but under the first day of March, in the manuscript Synaxarion of Paris belonging to our Collège de Clermont.