ON SAINT PANCHARIUS, MARTYR, AT NICOMEDIA IN BITHYNIA.
ABOUT THE YEAR 302
CommentaryPancharius, Martyr at Nicomedia (Saint)
[1] The eulogies of the illustrious life and martyrdom of Saint Pancharius are found on this March 19 and on May 25 in the Great Greek Menaea and in Maximus of Cythera, whence we gather that fuller Acts of his deeds once existed. His memory is also inserted on this day in the Greek Menologion, published from the translation of Cardinal Sirleto by Henry Canisius, in which the following is read: "On the same day, of the holy Martyr Pancharius of Rome, Sacred cult: struck with the sword at Nicomedia on the nineteenth of the month of March during the reigns of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, for the confession of the Christian faith." From the cited Menologion, Galesin has: "At Nicomedia, of Saint Pancharius the Martyr. He, during the reigns of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, in the greatest disturbance of Christian affairs, having confessed the faith with illustrious testimonies, won the palm of martyrdom with the most steadfast spirit, having overcome his torments." Which is more briefly set forth in the Roman Martyrology: "At Nicomedia, of Saint Pancharius of Rome, who, beheaded under Diocletian, received the palm of martyrdom."
[2] He is said in the eulogy on May 25 to have been born in the city of Rome, but as is explained on this day, he was originally from the land of the Uzani and the city of Bilapata; his homeland, places
or province of the Uzani and the city of Bilapata. These are unknown places, having received their names from later usage; they seem to have been under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Nicomedia, so that he seems to have been sent from Rome to that place rather for the purpose of being executed at Nicomedia. His rank in the Palace. But while he was living at Rome, he was made sakellarios and skrenarios of the Empire -- that is, Treasurer of the Empire, to whom the care of the purse or treasury was entrusted, and Secretary or Chartulary, which, as is read in the Notitia of the Empire, Acts from the Menaea. means that he was Master of the bureaux of letters and petitions. Of him the following eulogy is found in the said Menaea.
[3] While Diocletian and Maximian were reigning in ancient Rome, the whole world was raging with the impious cult and error of idols. Taught the faith of Christ by his parents, On the other hand, whoever professed Christ was stripped of all goods, mangled with every kind of torment, and driven from life. At which time a certain man named Pancharius, from the province of the Uzani and the city of Bilapata, born of Christian parents, a man distinguished by the dignity of his speech and person, came to Rome and was immediately admitted to the intimate familiarity of the Emperor, and, appointed Prefect of the Palace by him, was loved in wondrous ways. Wherefore, as they embraced each other with immense love, He abandons it at Rome through the Emperor's favor: Pancharius, to win the Emperor's favor, also abjured Christ. Hence the Emperor endowed him with great revenues of grain and taxes, partly in fixed places and partly by spontaneous and royal munificence, and gave him possessions for the use of spectacles and recreations. By these means the Emperor brought it about that Pancharius was obedient and subservient to him in all things.
[4] When his mother and sister learned of these things, they wrote a letter warned by letter by his mother and sister, and urged him to recall the fear of God to his memory; then to dread the fearful judgment of God, and to consider what promise those who cling to God and freely profess the true God before Kings and Princes would receive from him; and at the same time to recognize what damnation those who deny his divinity would incur. Finally they added: "If anyone gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul, there is no comparison between the gain of the world and the eternal ruin of the soul." He comes to his senses: When Pancharius had read these letters of his mother, he both returned to himself and dissolved in tears, cast himself upon the ground and exclaimed: "Have mercy on me, almighty God, and do not confound your servant in the sight of men and Angels; but according to your great mercy spare me."
[5] Certain members of the Palace overheard these lamentable words of Pancharius and reported them to the Emperor. He fearlessly professes the faith: Who, having summoned him, addressed him with these words: "Tell me, most beloved Pancharius, are you not a Nazarene?" "I am," said Pancharius, "I am, O Emperor, both a Nazarene and a Christian." And the Emperor: "For my sake," he said, "renounce this appellation of a Christian man; otherwise know that I shall pronounce a sentence upon you by which you will not die a simple death but will be tortured and killed by every kind of torment." And the Saint said: "I, O Emperor, greatly fear and tremble that, because I have thus far agreed with you, a thunderbolt hurled from heaven may destroy me. Therefore, far be it that I should henceforth abjure or deny my Christ, He is beaten with sinews: even if today or at any later time you should wish, as you say, to consume me with various kinds of torment." Then, stripped of all his clothing, he was beaten with sinews.
[6] By the advice of the Senate, Then, having dismissed the Senate, and with it standing before him, the Emperor said: "You have heard that our Treasurer and Secretary of the Empire has professed the religion of the Galileans. What do you advise me to do?" "Command," they said, "that he be stripped and led through the theater and beaten with scourges, and so beaten, send him to Nicomedia to the Governor, to be punished by him, so that we too may not here be made guilty of the blood of one so greatly loved by you." The sentence pleased the Emperor, and because he loved him greatly, he did not wish to be a spectator at his punishment. Cruelly scourged in the theater, he is sent to Nicomedia: Thereupon brought into the theater and cruelly beaten, he was handed over with Caesar's orders to soldiers and conducted to Nicomedia to the Governor of the province, and committed to him to be tortured with various punishments and killed. When the Saint arrived at Nicomedia and was presented to the Governor, when he was asked to answer the proposed questions, he said: "From the Emperor's decree, you know who I am; therefore diligently and freely set forth whatever seems right to you against me."
[7] And the Governor said: "What is your name?" And the Martyr: "I am called Pancharius. I was a Christian from my ancestors, Having freely professed the faith before the Governor, but led away from the faith by the arts of the Emperor, I began to agree with him and also to advocate evil; but set back on the path by my mother and sister, with God before me, I returned to Christ my God, for whom I am now hastening to die, so that I may blot out the stain contracted from denying Christ." And the Governor: "Leave off what you say and obey the Emperor's command; and since you are endowed with such distinguished form and flower of body, do not go to your own ruin and abolish all memory of yourself on earth." And the Saint: "This death which you announce is brief and temporal, but it procures for those who endure it for Christ eternal life." He is beheaded on March 19. When the Governor saw that the Saint could not be moved from his resolution, he pronounced sentence of death upon him. Therefore the holy Martyr of Christ, Pancharius, struck with the axe at Nicomedia on the fourteenth before the Calends of April, flew to heaven.
[8] I append another eulogy, recorded on May 25 in the manuscript Greek Synaxarion of Paris, from the Jesuit College of Clermont: Epitome from the Synaxarion for May 25. on which day a somewhat different account is read in the printed Menaea. "The contest of the holy and glorious Martyr Pancharius. He was a seed and nursling of the city of the Romans, the son of pious and faithful parents, who, plainly honored with the highest distinctions by the most wicked Emperors, utterly unworthy of any honor, became their intimate and familiar; and he strayed from the right path, having embraced the Emperor's superstition, from whom he shone with bestowed titles. When his mother learned of this course of life, she sent him a letter full of maternal admonitions, that he should abandon the cult of idols and approach the light of truth, impressing upon him the punishments of eternal Gehenna and the inextinguishable fire. Enlightened by these and, as it were, returning to himself from darkness and coming to his senses, he transferred himself anew to the knowledge of the true God, with repentance conceived from the depth of his heart. When the Emperor learned of this, he afflicted the Saint with heavy scourges and punishments, inflicted tortures, imprisonment, and very many vexations; and finally sent him into exile at Nicomedia, where, having endured infinite tribulations and been beheaded, he committed his spirit into the hands of God."