ON ST. SABINUS OR ABIBUS, MARTYR IN EGYPT.
AD 287
CommentarySabinus or Abibus, Martyr in Egypt (St.)
[1] Under Arianus, Governor of the Thebaid, whose Martyrdom we narrated on the eighth of this month, and under the tyranny of Diocletian, Sabinus of Hermopolis suffered. We would say that the place of his passion was Antinoe, if we dared believe the Acts, Acts confused with those of St. Ascla: which survive in Latin for this day in Lipomanus and Surius; but we by no means dare to do so, because those Acts, with only the name changed, are the Acts of St. Ascla, published by us on the twenty-third of January. We prefer to believe that these two, similar in the manner of their martyrdom and perhaps having suffered at the same place and time, were different persons rather than one and the same person under different names. Therefore, omitting those Acts, which clearly pertain to St. Ascla based on the miracle of his ship being fixed in the middle of the river while the Governor was being carried in it, we shall give here only the eulogies from the Menaea; and first indeed from the manuscript Synaxaries or Menologies, both the one which we found in the monastery of Crypta Ferrata, written by order of the Emperor Basil, and the other which we received from our Clermont College, both containing the same words.
[2] Sabinus, Martyr of Christ, was from the region of Egypt. Eulogy from manuscripts: On account of the severity of the persecution bearing down upon him, he abandoned his secular life and withdrew, hiding himself outside the city in a small dwelling, together with certain other Christians. When a great multitude of the faithful was being seized, Sabinus too was sought by the idolaters, and his not being found caused the infidels no small grief. Then a certain Beggar, who was accustomed to approach Sabinus and receive from him the necessities of life, said to the idolaters: What will you give me, and I will show you the one you seek, Sabinus? And they gave him two coins, and following him they burst into the little dwelling, and having seized Sabinus they brought him before the Governor. And the Governor said to him: Why do you scorn the edicts of the Emperors and the majesty of the great Gods, and presume to preach some unknown God? Sabinus answered: Because this God whom I preach ought to be confessed and believed in above all others. And so, after torments, he was cast into the river and ended his life. These things the manuscript codex of Crypta Ferrata records for this day; the Clermont codex, however, records them for the preceding day, the twelfth, while for this day it briefly states: "and of holy Sabinianus."
[3] Veneration assigned to this day from the Menaea: On this day also the Menology which Henricus Canisius published in Latin, and which Cardinal Baronius followed in the Roman Martyrology, preserves the memory of St. Sabinus, otherwise known as Abibus, from Hermopolis; who, bound to a stone and cast into a river, was consummated in martyrdom. Concerning him, under the sole name of Abibus, the printed Menaea say the same things as above for this day, and append this distich in his honor:
Cast into a river with a stone, Abibus navigated the muddy river of this life.
[4] On the sixteenth day of March, the same Menaea have the Office of St. Sabinus with hymns, likewise on the sixteenth with a eulogy from the same sources, commending in the first strophe the rigor of his abstinence and fasting, together with this eulogy: He was from Hermopolis in Egypt, in the time of the Emperor Diocletian, hidden outside the city in a small house. He was sought by the idolaters because there was much great talk about him among the Christians; for his lineage was altogether distinguished, and his zeal for defending the faith was extraordinary. At length he was seized and led before a certain Arianus, Governor of the city, and having confessed his faith in Christ, he was suspended on the rack and torn apart until his flesh fell to the ground; then he was scorched with torches, and finally, bound to a stone, he was cast into the Scamander and obtained the laurel of martyrdom. We believe that this last detail about the Scamander is certainly not true, for Hermopolis in Egypt is far from Phrygia; nor do we read of a Governor named Arianus there, but in Egypt. Therefore some half-learned person must have substituted the Scamander for the Nile, which is called "the river" par excellence. The compilers of the Menaea followed this rashly, and even placed for the thirteenth of March a separate distich for Sabinus, distinct from Abibus, as follows:
The stream of the Scamander, the water of reproof, proved the manly courage of Sabinus.