Many Martyrs at Antioch

ON THE VERY MANY HOLY MARTYRS WHO SUFFERED AT ANTIOCH.

AROUND THE YEAR 304.

Very many Martyrs, at Antioch in Syria (Saints)

[1] Eusebius, in book VIII of his Ecclesiastical History, as though weary of listing Martyrs, thus begins chapter 24 according to the ancient edition, or certainly chapter 12, as Valesius separated the Martyrs of Palestine: "What need is there now," he says, "to name the rest individually, or to recount the multitude of men, or to paint with the brush of speech the various kinds of torments?" And after briefly touching upon the Martyrs in Arabia, Martyrdom reported, Cappadocia, Mesopotamia, and Alexandria who were crowned for the faith of Christ, he adds what pertains to this matter: "And now, as for the things done at Antioch, what need is there to recall them to memory, where some were placed upon gridirons, not to be roasted to death, but for the prolongation of their torment. Others preferred to thrust their right hands into the fire rather than to touch impious libations." So far that passage: which is narrated thus by Nicephorus: "Who indeed would recount the tortures at Antioch? where fires and gridirons were made, not hastening death at once, but gradually roasting the bodies of the Martyrs, and prolonging the torments and punishments. There were also those who would sooner thrust their right hands into the burning fire than attend to accursed rites and sacrifices." Rufinus also touches upon these martyrdoms in book 8, chapter 12, of his Ecclesiastical History.

[2] There is no doubt in our minds that often in this our work, mention is made of these Martyrs, also by their proper names, in ancient Martyrologies, both Latin and Greek, inscribed in the Martyrology both handwritten and printed; nevertheless, lest their memory fail, it is renewed in the Roman Martyrology for this eleventh of March in these words: At Antioch, the commemoration of very many holy Martyrs, of whom some, by the command of the Emperor Maximian, were placed upon burning gridirons, not to be roasted to death but for prolonged torment, and others, subjected to other most cruel punishments, attained the palm of martyrdom. Bishop Brautius celebrates them in this distich in his Poetical Martyrology:

"Not all endured the same torments; the crown Of martyrdom they certainly earned alike."