ON THE HOLY MARTYRS OF THE THEBAID, UNDER DECIUS,
CommentaryMartyrs in the Thebaid under Decius. (SS.)
BY G. V. H.
Two martyrs whose names are unknown, under Decius We have not wished to pass over in our Acts two martyrs of good memory, whose names are contained in the knowledge of God alone, who, when the storm of the Decian persecution thundered through the Thebaid, suffered a cruel martyrdom for Christ. For the fierce tempest, says Jerome, devastated many Churches in Egypt and the Thebaid. For it was then the wish of Christians to be struck by the sword for the name of Christ: but the cunning enemy, seeking out punishments slow to bring death, desired to slaughter souls, not bodies; and, as Cyprian himself, who suffered from him, says, those who wished to die were not permitted to be killed. That his cruelty may become better known, we subjoin two examples for the sake of memory. A martyr persevering in the faith and victorious amid racks and hot plates he ordered to be smeared all over with honey and, with hands tied behind his back, to be set under the most burning sun, so that he who had previously overcome the fiery frying-pans might yield to the stings of flies. Another, in the flower of youth, he commanded to be led away into a most delightful little garden and there, among gleaming lilies and blushing roses, with a brook creeping by with a gentle murmur of waters and the wind brushing the leaves of the trees with a soft whisper, to be laid on his back on a bed heaped up with feathers and, that he might not be able to shake himself loose from it, to be left entangled in the soft bonds of garlands. When, all having withdrawn, a beautiful harlot came to him, she began to clasp his neck with delicate embraces and (what is a crime even to tell) to handle his private parts with her hands, so that, his body being roused to lust, she might as shameless conqueror lie upon him. What the soldier of Christ should do and where he should turn he did not know: him whom torments had not conquered, an abominated pleasure was overcoming. At length, inspired from heaven, he bit off his tongue and spat it into the face of her who was kissing him; and thus the great pain that succeeded overcame the sense of lust. In the same period, then, in which such things were being done, in the lower Thebaid, with a sister already given to a husband, after the death of both his parents, Paul was left in a rich inheritance, about fifteen years old, excellently learned in both Greek and Egyptian letters, of gentle spirit, greatly loving God; and, when the storm of persecution thundered, he withdrew to a more remote and secret estate. So St. Jerome at the opening of the Life of St. Paul, the first hermit.
[2] they suffered in the Thebaid. Both these martyrs, then, whose glorious contests the holy doctor described with their names suppressed, we judge to have been of the number of those who, under the governor Arianus, confirmed the faith of Christ with their blood in the Thebaid, at the same time as the most holy spouses Timothy and Maura, after overcoming very many tortures from the same most impious judge, fixed to crosses, consummated their martyrdom amid the divine praises. These have been treated at the 3rd day of May Acta Sanctorum, volume I of May, p. 375.. Of many others there will be treatment later.
[3] The report of Nicephorus Callistus on the same. It matters little that Nicephorus Callistus [Ecclesiastical History, book VII, chapter 13 (Patrologia Graeca, volume CXLVI, column 1232).], in his account of the martyr who, after the torments of cruelty had been overcome, was tempted much more sharply by pleasure, puts back his martyrdom to the persecution under Diocletian. For greater is the authority of St. Jerome, who narrates this story as having occurred in the persecution of Decius, than that of Nicephorus, whose credit is more than once suspect. We nevertheless subjoin the report of Nicephorus, since it differs in certain matters from the narrative of St. Jerome. Καὶ ἀσκητὴν δέ τινα τὸν ἴσον ἀγῶνα διενεγκεῖν τηνικάδε ὁ λόγος ἱστόρησεν. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ ἀπώμοτος ἦν, μετὰ πολλὴν καὶ ἀπείριτον βάσανον ἐπὶ κλίνης ἥπλωτο δέσμιος. Γυνὴ δὲ αὐτῷ ἀναιδὴς ἐπαφίετο· ἣ φιλοῦσα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἀναίδη τοῖς τῶν μελῶν ἀπορρήτοις προσάγουσα, πρὸς τὴν πονηρὰν ἡ ἀναιδὴς πρᾶξιν ἐξεβιάζετο, οὐδέν τι τῶν ἀτόπων πράττειν παραλιμπάνουσα. Ὁ δὲ μή τι ἄλλο δρᾶν ἔχων, τὴν ἰδίαν γλῶσσαν καὶ τῷ ἰσχυρῷ τοῦ δήγματος ἐκτεμὼν καὶ ἱκανῶς αὐτὴν διαμασσησάμενος κατὰ τοῦ προσώπου τῆς μαχλάδος προσέπτυσε. Καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῷ μὲν πόνους δριμεῖς ἀντὶ ἡδονῆς, τῇ ἀσελγεῖ δ᾽ ἐκείνῃ αἰσχύνην καὶ ἔκπληξιν σὺν ἀηδίᾳ παρασκευάσας, τῆς σφοδρᾶς ἐκείνης ἐπηρείας ὑπέρτερος διαγέγονε. Ταύτης δ᾽ ἀνώτερος γεγονὼς, μαρτυρίῳ τὸν βίον μετὰ βραχὺ ἐπεσφράγιζεν. And history narrates that a certain ascetic at that time bore a similar contest. For when he could not be overcome, after long and endless torments he was stretched out on a bed, tied with bonds. A shameless woman was sent in to him; who, kissing him and with the utmost shamelessness bringing her hands to his secret members, by the use of force, the unchaste woman tried to compel him to the wicked act, leaving undone nothing of what is forbidden. And he, since he had nothing else he could do, bit his own tongue violently, and cutting it off by a strong bite, having crushed it sufficiently with his teeth, spat it into the harlot's face. And thus, having prepared for himself bitter pains in place of pleasure, and for that shameless woman shame and stupefaction with disgust, he was made superior to that most powerful assault of the enemy. And being victor over it, after a short time he set the seal of martyrdom on his life.