ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF CONSTANTINOPLE UNDER MACEDONIUS THE HERESIARCH.
IN THE YEAR 351
CommentaryConstantinopolitan Martyrs under Macedonius the heresiarch (SS.)
[1] The entries of the Roman Martyrology record these Martyrs as follows: At Constantinople, the commemoration of the very many holy Martyrs of the Catholic communion, Sacred veneration: whom in the time of Constantius the heresiarch Macedonius killed, torturing them with unheard-of kinds of torments: for among other things he compressed and cut the breasts of faithful women between the lids of chests, and burned them with red-hot iron. The Acts of St. Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople, to be illustrated on the seventh of June, Acts of the Martyrs from the Life of St. Paul the Archbishop: set forth the struggle of these Martyrs as follows: When Magnentius had seized the tyranny and killed Constans, Emperor of the West; again the storm of the Arian madness disturbed the Churches of the world, and again Athanasius fled, and Gregory seized his See, and Paul the defender of piety was banished to Cucusus in Armenia, in which place he was consummated in martyrdom by a noose, the impious rushing upon him by night. At Constantinople, in his place the impious Macedonius was introduced, and the Shepherds were expelled from other Churches: but wolves again invaded them, and the madness of Macedonius strove to surpass the cruelty of the nations against Christians. And indeed the entire East was afflicted with evils, but especially Constantinople... and there was an evil that cannot be described, not only extending to Bishops and Priests, but also seizing women and children who rejected the communion of Macedonius. For the breasts of women, O madness! were partly thrust into the coverings of chests and compressed and cut off, and partly by iron; and other severe tortures were devised against others. For what shame prevented even the Gentiles, alien from God, from devising against common nature, those things then came into the minds of the impious to do. So far the Acts of St. Paul the Archbishop: similar things Socrates writes in Book 2 of the Ecclesiastical History, Chapter 12. from the history of Socrates, Book 2, Chapter 12: When Paul had been unexpectedly expelled both from the church and from the city, and carried off with speed; Philip the Prefect of the Emperor hastened from the public bath to the church. With him, as though by arrangement, Macedonius was present, and sitting together in a carriage, was shown to the eyes of all on every side. A band of soldiers with swords surrounded them: hence terror was struck into the hearts of the multitude. All therefore flocked to the churches, and both those who defended the faith of the Consubstantial and those who upheld the dogma of Arius, hastened to go to the church. As soon as the Prefect together with Macedonius approached the church, a great fear indeed struck both the multitude and even the soldiers themselves. For since so great a crowd was present that no passage was open to the Prefect who was leading Macedonius; the soldiers began to push the multitude violently. And when the multitude was so compressed that on account of the narrowness of the place it could not withdraw: the soldiers, thinking that it had deliberately opposed itself to them and of its own accord had blocked the Prefect's passage, drew their swords and began to attack it and fiercely engage in battle. About three thousand one hundred and fifty persons are said to have fallen, of whom some were slaughtered by the soldiers, others perished crushed by the multitude. But Macedonius, after such illustrious deeds, as though he had done nothing evil, but had been blameless and innocent of these crimes, was placed in the episcopal see more by the judgment of the Praepositus than by Ecclesiastical Canon. In this way, therefore, Macedonius and the Arians ascended to the governance of the Church through such a slaughter of men. and Chapter 30: So far Socrates, who in Chapter 30 adds the following about the same Macedonius and the Martyrs killed under him:
[3] When he had acquired the episcopate, he afflicted those who could not bring themselves to follow his opinion with almost infinite hardships... Many men of outstanding piety were seized and severely afflicted with torments for this reason, that they had refused to communicate with him. Indeed these men, after they had inflicted torments on them, compelled them by force to participate in the mysteries with them: for they stretched open their mouths with wooden instruments and thrust in the mysteries. And those who underwent this torture considered it much more bitter than other torments: moreover, they seized women and children and compelled them to become partakers of the mysteries with them. And if anyone refused or contradicted them, he was immediately beaten with stripes, and after the stripes thrown into bonds and prison, and forced to endure other bitter kinds of torments: of which I will set forth one or two, so that the cruelty and savagery both of Macedonius and of others who at that time became notorious for this reason, may be clearly established before all. The breasts of women who refused to participate in the mysteries with them, having been thrust between the lips of small chests, were cut off with iron instruments. The same parts of other women they burned partly with red-hot iron, partly with eggs heated in fire as much as possible: This indeed was a new kind of torture, never before heard of even among the Gentiles themselves, which these men who professed themselves Christians devised.
[4] So far Socrates: Sozomen has similar things, from whom the following from Book 4, Chapter 2 are relevant here: and Sozomen: When Paul was sent into exile, Macedonius, having seized the Church of Constantinople... is said to have afflicted the supporters of Paul with various hardships, and first to have driven them out of the churches; then to have used force against them so that they would communicate with him: whence it happened that many, being severely beaten with stripes, perished; finally he deprived some of their property, others of their city, and others were punctured in the forehead with marks by him, so that they might be conspicuous above the rest. and Suidas: Suidas also records that Macedonius openly afflicted Christians with many evils.
[5] To the eulogy of the Roman Martyrology recorded above, it is fittingly inserted that they were Martyrs of the Catholic communion; Novatian heretics excluded: because also the Novatian heretics, since they too professed the consubstantial Deity of the most holy Trinity in the distinction of Persons, had suffered severe things from the same Macedonius: as Baronius observed in his Notes for this day, where he also indicates from Socrates that about three thousand one hundred and fifty were killed by the faction of Macedonius, and in the Annals he develops these things more fully under the year 351, in which they chiefly occurred. time of martyrdom: Brautius, Bishop of Sarsina, venerates these Martyrs in the Poetic Martyrology with these couplets:
The royal city celebrates the feast of many, who fell by the abominable hand of the heretical Bishop. Women's breasts, pressed in the coverings of chests, he burned and cut off with fiery spears.