ON SS. DOMNINA AND BERINNA AND PROSDOCE, ALSO CALLED BERENICE, MARTYRS IN SYRIA,
IN SYRIA.
IN THE YEAR 305 OR 306.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Domnina, M. in Syria. (S.) Berinna or Berenice, M. in Syria. (S.) Prosdoce, M. in Syria. (S.)
BY C. B.
§ I. Their memory in the sacred calendars, their ecclesiastical cult; whether they are to be reckoned among the holy Martyrs, and what their Acts are.
Among the illustrious Christian women who, as we have received by record, amid the raging storms of the persecutions Although the Saints, who in only a few brought a violent death upon themselves for fear of losing their chastity and of consenting to sin, no lowest place is held by Domnina and her two daughters, Berinna or Berenice or Bernice, and Prosdoce, or as it is otherwise written, Prodoce. These the Sirletian Menology and the printed Great Menaea of the Greeks celebrate today. And in the latter first this announcement is read: Τῇ ἀυτῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἁγίας μάρτυρος Δομνίνης, καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων ἀυτῆς Βερίννης καὶ Προδόκης. On the same day, that is, the fourth of October, of the holy martyr Domnina and of her daughters Berinna and Prodoce. And then, two little verses being interposed which contain nothing worthy of note, the following elogium is subjoined: Αὗται ἁι γυναῖκες Θείῳ ζήλῳ τρωθεῖσαι, καταλιποῦσαι οἰκίας καὶ συγγενεῖς, πρὸς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν μετετάξαντο, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν φεύγουσαι κατέλαβον τὴν Ἔδεκαν . Ἐκεῖσε τοίνυν διατριβουσῶν, ἐξαίφνης ἐπίσταται ὁ ἀνήρ καὶ πατὴρ, στρατιώτας ἔχων πρὸς τὴν σύλληψιν τῆς θήρας. Ὡς δὲ συνελήφθησαν, κατέλαβον τὴν Ἱεράπολιν· ποταμὸς δὲ παραῤῥεῖ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐκείνην, καθ᾽ ἣν ἐπανίεσαν . Αὖται λαθοῦσαι τοὺς στρατιώτας ἀριστοποιουμένους καὶ μεθύοντας, εὐχῇ συντόμως χρησάμεναι εἰσῆλτον εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν καὶ ἀφῆκαν ἑαυτὰς διὰ τῶν ῥευμάτων, καὶ ὅυτω ἐτελειώθησαν διὰ τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος πνηγμονῆς *.
[2] These Women, wounded with divine love, having left home and kindred, set out abroad, calendars of the Greeks, and in none of the Latins, are inscribed, and at last in their flight reached Edessa. But while they were staying there, the husband and father suddenly appears, having soldiers with him to seize his prey. And when they had been arrested, they were led to Hierapolis; and a river flowed past that road by which they were returning. They, unobserved by the soldiers who were dining and drinking, having made a brief prayer, entered the river and committed themselves to the streams, and thus, smothered by the waters, consummated their life. And the Sirletian agrees exactly with the Menaea, so that it is not necessary to transcribe here the announcement of the Saints and at the same time the elogium which it supplies. Further, if what Maximus Margunius, bishop of Cythera, accustomed to cling closely to the Menaea, supplies to the present-day Greek
tongue, you except the Menology which he composed, there are besides no other sacred calendars among the Greeks which commemorate the Saints. But as regards the Menologies and Martyrologies of the Latins, none of these, as it appears, celebrates St. Domnina and her daughters Berinna or Berenice and Prosdoce — not even the present-day Roman Martyrology itself, however much it has been almost everywhere enlarged with Saints taken from the Sirletian Menology, which, as has been said, commemorates Domnina and her holy Daughters. There are indeed some who contend that our Saints are inscribed in the present-day Roman at the 14th of April, or even at the 19th day of October; but Domnina and her holy companions, whom the present-day Roman celebrates on both those days, seem, as I shall teach below, to be different from our Domnina and her two holy Daughters Bernice and Prosdoce; and accordingly, since these Saints of ours do not occur on any other day either in the present-day Roman, there exists in it, as it appears, no memory of them anywhere at all.
[3] killed themselves, are yet to be reckoned among the Saints, since, no otherwise But, you will say, did not Baronius and the other most learned men who reformed the present-day Roman rightly exclude from it St. Domnina and her two holy Daughters, Berenice and Prosdoce? Are these perhaps not to be numbered among the Saints, and does the violent death which they brought upon themselves not deserve the name of martyrdom? It is indeed certain and beyond doubt that for no cause is it lawful to kill oneself, and that the action by which this is done, if considered in itself, ought to be called not only unworthy of the name of martyrdom but even impious and nefarious. But however that be, it cannot be called in doubt that there have been holy women who laudably killed themselves lest they should fall into lust and consent to sin. For (see in our Work, vol. 2 of February, p. 278 and following) St. Apollonia killed herself, leaping of her own accord into the fire, and yet by the writings and tongues of all is proclaimed a Saint and a Martyr; St. Pelagia too killed herself, voluntarily casting her body down from a height, and yet (go to vol. 2 of June, p. 158) is inscribed in very many sacred calendars, adorned with the name of Martyr and Saint. Some others too killed themselves, whom for brevity's sake I omit, and nonetheless from this very thing earned for their name the glorious fame which belongs to Saints and Martyrs.
[4] than other holy women, They killed themselves, that is, either out of inculpable ignorance, whereby they did not know that suicide is always contrary to the law of nature, or being moved within in a certain singular manner by the Holy Spirit, at whose command that which would otherwise be turned into a crime is done with praise. But, you will now say, ought Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce also to be reckoned among those holy women who, although they killed themselves, are nevertheless held for Martyrs? Our Janning, in vol. 2 of June just cited, in the Historical Commentary which he composed on St. Pelagia, writes thus: Apollonia killed herself; Pelagia too killed herself, and her mother and sisters. The former killed herself lest by uttering impious words she should sin; the latter killed themselves lest, exposing their body to lust, they should lose their chastity and consent to sin. Death was set before Apollonia, but it still stood within the threats of the persecutors; it was set before Pelagia and her companions too, doubtless to be inflicted after the violation of their bodies. Wherefore, since almost everything was equal between them, it must be said that, moved within by an equal spirit, they anticipated death by their own act, that they might withdraw themselves from the danger of sinning and might fly the more quickly, chaste, to their most chaste Spouse. And as Apollonia did this, kindled within by a greater flame of the Holy Spirit (so the present-day Roman asserts at the 9th of February) than was the outward flame of the pyre, so must the same Holy Spirit have worked in a singular manner in Pelagia too, since the Church numbers this one as well as that among the holy Martyrs.
[5] Thus far Janning, to vindicate for Pelagia the name of Saint and Martyr; or by a singular instinct of the Holy Spirit, and in like manner you may not ineptly vindicate for Domnina and her daughters Berinna or Bernice and Prosdoce the praise of Sanctity and Martyrdom. For with the same end, and moved by the same Spirit, with which Pelagia killed herself, with the same end also, as is understood from what has been said, and by the impulse of the same Spirit, will Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce have killed themselves. But, you will object, even if Pelagia is to be judged to have killed herself by the instinct of the Holy Spirit, yet there does not seem an equal reason for believing the same of Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce. For she is inscribed in very many sacred calendars, Latin, Greek, and Arabo-Egyptian; but these are inserted almost only in the printed Menaea of the Greeks and in the Sirletian Menology, which from time to time reckon even the unworthy among the Saints. I admit it is so; but what then? Concerning the Saints, judgment ought to be passed not so much from the sacred calendars in which they are inserted as from the undoubted cult which they enjoy and have enjoyed in the Church. Now since our Saints were venerated in the Church as Martyrs already from the fourth century — as is clear from the Homily, to be mentioned here more fully below, which St. Chrysostom, who was ordained bishop in the year 398, delivered concerning them at Antioch while still only a presbyter — why should they not likewise be believed to have killed themselves moved within by the same Holy Spirit as St. Pelagia?
[6] But, you will object also: after Augustine has taught in book 1 On the City of God, chapter 25, that it is lawful for no one, even for the sake of avoiding sin and preserving chastity, to kill himself, in chapter 26 he first objects thus to himself: instinct, But certain holy women, they say, in the time of persecution, to avoid the assailants of their chastity, threw themselves into a river which would carry them away and kill them, and in that manner died; and their martyrdoms are frequented with most celebrated veneration in the Catholic Church. And then he answers thus: Of these (namely the Women who drowned themselves) I dare judge nothing rashly. For whether divine authority has persuaded the Church by any testimonies worthy of credit so to honor their memory, I know not; and it may be that it is so. For what if they did this not deceived in human fashion, but commanded from on high — not erring, but obeying, as it is not lawful for us to believe otherwise concerning Samson? But when God commands, and makes known without any ambiguity that He commands, who would call obedience a crime? Who would accuse the compliance of piety? Thus far Augustine; and undoubtedly here, as it seems to Tillemont, vol. 5 of the Monuments, p. 404, and to other learned men everywhere, he designates by the holy women whom he objects to himself Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce. Now since the holy doctor seems to call in doubt whether these — and accordingly whether Domnina and her two Daughters — were moved within by the Holy Spirit to bring death upon themselves, there is indeed a reason why it may seem that we too must doubt about the matter. Thus can those who would have Domnina and her Daughters struck from the number of the Saints argue further. But what then? The great doctor does not indeed deny that the holy Women whom he mentions killed themselves by the instinct of the Holy Spirit. But be it so: let St. Augustine deny even that. Nay, let our Saints in fact not have been impelled by the Holy Spirit to kill themselves; not even so will you have proved that they sinned by bringing death upon themselves.
[7] or did it out of inculpable ignorance, For they can also have done it out of inculpable ignorance, by which they thought suicide lawful for the sake of preserving chastity. And indeed it must altogether be said that Domnina and her Daughters killed themselves, if not by the instinct of the Holy Spirit, at any rate out of inculpable ignorance. For on account of the cult which, from what has been said and what is further to be said, they enjoy in the Church, they are beyond all doubt to be held for Saints; and Augustine does not deny that they are holy and Martyrs. Nor is there reason for you to say that their sanctity too is, as it appears, at least called in doubt by Augustine in the words just recited: for since the holy doctor plainly admits also that the women whom he objects to himself — and accordingly Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce — enjoy in the Church a most celebrated cult of the kind customarily paid to the Saints, I do not sufficiently see how their sanctity can deservedly be called in doubt. Besides, however the matter finally stands, to Augustine I oppose Chrysostom, who in the Homily of which I have already made mention calls Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce more than once Saints and Martyrs, and at the end most earnestly exhorts the people of Antioch to venerate and invoke them assiduously. I oppose also Ambrose, who in book 3 On Virgins likewise calls Saints and Martyrs the mother and sisters of St. Pelagia, who drowned themselves in a river to take thought for their chastity and to avoid the danger of sinning, and who from what is to be said are perhaps not different from Domnina and her Daughters.
[8] they ought to be reckoned. Two Homilies concerning the Saints And so, all things being examined, the violent death which Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce brought upon themselves deserves the name of martyrdom, and these are undoubtedly to be reckoned among the holy martyrs, so that they ought not to have been excluded from the present-day Roman. Nor indeed, as I think, would they have been excluded if perchance those who reformed it had had clearly before them from St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom their ancient cult in the Church. Of this I now undertake to discuss somewhat more at length, since it will be of use to have made it better known. But before I do so, it is pleasing to premise something about the fountain from which knowledge of it is chiefly drawn. Montfaucon, in vol. 2 of the most recent edition of the Works of St. Chrysostom which he prepared in this century, inserted, in Greek and Latin together, two notable Homilies which this Saint, while still a presbyter at Antioch, delivered in praise of Domnina and her Daughters: the one, which is the longer, and which had already been published more than once, taken from the earlier edition of Fronton du Duc, whose Latin translation he also used; the other, which is shorter, and which had not yet been published in print by anyone, copied out from an old Ottobonian codex. And the former indeed exhibits Domnina and her Daughters expressed by name, not in the body of the text, but nevertheless in the Greek and therefore original title which it bears; but the latter does so not only not in the body of the text, but not even in the original title which it has prefixed to it in Greek.
[9] Yet that this too treats of Domnina, Bernice, and Prosdoce Chrysostom delivered, appears as certain as if they were called by that very name. It was, namely, recited at Antioch, and treats of a Mother and two Daughters venerated in the church of Antioch, who for the sake of preserving their faith and chastity, having left their native land, drowned themselves in a river; which that Domnina and her two Daughters did is plain from what has been said, and will become more plain from what is to be said. Both the Homilies already mentioned, therefore — the shorter, namely, which is of the four-days-dead Lazarus alone, as well as the longer, which is of Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce
is marked by name in the title — undoubtedly concern these Saints of ours. But do both also undoubtedly have Chrysostom as their author? Tillemont, in vol. 5 of the Monuments, p. 745, writes more or less thus on the longer one, which alone he saw: It does not seem to possess all the vigor, sublimity, and majesty of St. Chrysostom, nor does it end with a moral lesson, as is customary with this Saint. Besides, it embraces things which St. Chrysostom's own authority would hardly make credible. Meanwhile, on the other hand, it is intimately connected with the thirty-fourth Homily of the fifth volume (this is entitled "On the Cemetery and on the Cross," and is inserted in vol. 2 of Montfaucon's edition), admitted by the most skilled as the Saint's; and lord Du Pin reckons both among those which are truly his. Savile too admits the Homily on St. Domnina as legitimate, and builds his opinion on the Augsburg Catalogue, in which it occupies the sixty-first place. St. Chrysostom does not always finish his panegyrical orations on the Saints with some moral lesson. This Homily, therefore, until fuller elucidation be brought, we judge should be cited under his name; and what occurs in it should be reported, that it may be left to the judgment of readers.
[10] Thus Tillemont, ascribing the longer Homily on our Saints, of which he treats, to Chrysostom only doubtingly. of which we shall here publish the longer. But deservedly? He first brings forward three reasons why he does so; but what then? The second of these, which is drawn from the method of ending Homilies customarily observed by Chrysostom, he himself presently overthrows. As regards the two remaining, by the first he alleges a difference of the style in which the said longer Homily is written from the style of the Saint's other Homilies; which, since it was not noted by Fronton du Duc and by Chrysostom's other translators, however most skilled in the Greek tongue, does not make Tillemont's doubt sufficiently founded. By the second he pleads that certain things are in that Homily to which St. Chrysostom's own authority would hardly give credit. Perhaps he here designates the circumstances attending the violent death of the Saints, which in that Homily, to be published here as I shall presently say, at nn. 19, 20, and 24, are related concerning the help given by the father to the holy Daughters for deceiving the soldiers, and the shoes left by them on the river bank in order to take thought for the soldiers who guarded them; and which Tillemont, in his fourth Note on St. Pelagia, declares seem to him very difficult to believe. But these, as I shall teach below, are not such that they could not but seem incredible to St. Chrysostom, and accordingly there is no reason why the longer Homily in which they are recorded should be denied to that holy Father, or why it should deservedly be called in doubt whether he is truly its author. However it be, Ruinart at any rate reports it among the genuine and select Acts of the Martyrs, and at the same time ascribes it to St. Chrysostom without hesitation. And no less without hesitation do all to a man who treat of the matter, and who have been consulted by me, learned men, hold it for a genuine offspring of the Saint — if you except one, Tillemont, who as has been said doubts. With them therefore I readily agree, and I reprint the said longer Homily on our Saints, to which also I shall append some Annotations where it shall seem opportune, from Montfaucon's most recent edition under St. Chrysostom's name; and that, in order to set the Work before the reader in no part mutilated, without even cutting out (as nevertheless was done by Ruinart) those things which contribute neither to the history nor to the praise of the Saints.
[11] [From these it is shown to be established concerning the Saints' cult, and about what season of the year] Further, as regards now the shorter Homily of Chrysostom on the Saints which was mentioned above, it is not worth the labor to reprint it here likewise, because it supplies scarcely anything concerning Domnina and her Daughters that is not in the longer one, and all of it can easily have its place in this Preliminary Commentary. So much concerning the Homilies pronounced by Chrysostom in praise of the Saints. I add further — so as at the same time to pass on to the Saints' cult — that both were pronounced when the festive day of Domnina and of her daughters Berenice and Prosdoce was being kept at Antioch, and the faithful had come together to the church on that occasion. And concerning the Shorter this is clear from these words of it: But these (namely Domnina and her Daughters) leapt across from a temporal life to a perpetual life: the Mother and the Daughters, who have gathered us together today. And concerning the longer, from these words which it has at its very beginning: Not yet have twenty days elapsed since we celebrated the memory of the Cross, and behold, we celebrate the memory of the Martyrs (namely of Domnina, Berenice, and Prosdoce). And not only do we have from this last text that the longer Homily which we are to publish was pronounced on the feast of our Saints, but also about what season of the year this was celebrated at Antioch. For by the memory of the Cross, which in the said text he intimates was celebrated about twenty days before the Saints' feast, Chrysostom designates Good Friday, the sixth feria of the Parasceve, which is also called the festival of the suffering Lord. This is clear from the fact that, a few words being interposed, he affirms that then, when the memory of the Cross was being celebrated about twenty days before, he delivered a sermon to the people in which he said, He hath broken the gates of brass, and hath shattered the bars of iron; and that the sermon in which the Saint said this is none other than that which is entitled On the Cemetery and on the Cross, and that it was delivered on the day of the Parasceve, becomes manifest even from these few words which Chrysostom uses in it: Today … our Lord goes round all the places of the underworld. Today He has shattered the gates of brass.
[12] they were venerated each year, It is therefore not to be doubted that by the memory of the Cross, which in the opening words of the Homily to be published he indicates was celebrated at Antioch about twenty days before the Saints' feast, Chrysostom designates Good Friday, the sixth feria of the Parasceve. Now since this is so, it must be that the festive day of Domnina and of her Daughters was not far removed from Good Friday, and accordingly not far from Easter either. Nevertheless the Greeks, who borrowed the Saints and their elogium in the Menaea, given at n. 1, from St. Chrysostom, celebrate it twenty days after the fourteenth of September, namely on the fourth day of October. And they do so because they think that the memory of the Cross which Chrysostom records in the longer Homily to be published is nothing else than the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, customarily celebrated on the fourteenth of September. But that the Greeks err in this matter is clear from what has been said. Montfaucon, where he has observed the same about the Greeks as I have just done, in his prefatory note to the Homily to be published, continues thus: Far more advisedly does the Roman Martyrology assign the feast of the holy Martyrs Domnina and her Companions to the fourteenth day of April, although in this it seems to err, that it calls Domnina a virgin, who was the mother of the virgins Bernice and Prosdoce. And from this reckoning of the Roman Martyrology we seem able to fish out the year in which both this Homily on the holy Martyrs and that on the Cross was delivered, namely 392, in which Easter was celebrated on the twenty-eighth day of March, and consequently the day of the Parasceve was the twenty-sixth of that month; from which, if you count, the twentieth day will fall on the fourteenth of April. Tillemont, in vol. XI of the Monuments, note 34 on St. Chrysostom, carried the torch before Montfaucon here. But although from what has been said our Saints were venerated at Antioch not far from Easter, yet I do not think that this was undoubtedly done on the 14th day of April, as these two writers contend out of the Roman Martyrology. For our Domnina and her Daughters seem to be distinguished from the Domnina and her companion virgins inscribed in the Roman Martyrology at the fourteenth day of April, as you will understand from the following §, to which I now proceed.
Annotata* Ἔδεσσαν
* ἐφίσταται
* παρέῤῥει
* ἐπανῄεσαν
* πνιγμονῆς
§ II. From what holy women Domnina and her Daughters are to be distinguished, and from what they are not to be distinguished.
A mother and two daughters, whose history from Eusebius What not rarely happens in our Work, that labor must be spent on denying or establishing the distinction of some Saints from others, happens today too in the case of Domnina and her two holy daughters Berenice and Prosdoce. Eusebius, in book 8, chapter 12, records, with their name suppressed, a mother and two daughters who for the sake of preserving their faith and chastity, while the Diocletianic persecution raged, drowned themselves of their own accord in a river. Likewise Ambrose, in book 3 On Virgins, extols with praises, their name also suppressed, a mother and two daughters who did the same thing at the same time and with the same end. Besides, a certain Domnina and her companion virgins are inscribed at the 14th of April, and likewise, as some think, at the 19th of October, in the Hieronymian Martyrologies, in Usuard, in the present-day Roman, and in other sacred calendars. The question therefore now arises whether our Domnina and her two daughters Bernice and Prosdoce are distinct both from these and from the three anonymous women, both the Ambrosian and the Eusebian. I begin the discussion from the Eusebian women, or those recorded by Eusebius. This writer, in the place cited, treating of the Martyrs of Antioch under Diocletian, thus records for memory: But what need is there to recall to memory the things which were done at Antioch (the persecution, namely, having been stirred up by Diocletian)? Where some, placed upon gridirons, were roasted, not to the point of death, but for the prolonging of their torment. Others preferred to thrust their right hands into the fire rather than to touch the impious libations. Of whom some, avoiding the danger, before they were taken and fell into the hands of those who lay in wait for them, threw themselves headlong from high roofs, counting death as gain on account of the malice of the impious.
[14] A certain most holy woman also, admirable for her fortitude of mind, is transcribed here, most famous at Antioch for wealth and splendor of birth and especially for good repute, who had instructed in the precepts of the Christian religion two Daughters, virgins outstanding in beauty of body and in the flower of their age — when very many, goaded by envy, were searching out their hiding-places rather curiously, and then, having learned that they were living among foreigners, had with all zeal and effort summoned them to Antioch: after the Woman perceived that she and her Daughters had fallen into the snares of the soldiers, being reduced to a lack of counsel, she addressed her Daughters. And she set forth what great evils threatened them from the soldiers; and that the gravest and most intolerable of all evils was outrage, the threat of which it was not lawful for herself or her Daughters to endure even to hear. When she had further said that to make over the soul to the servitude and obedience of demons was worse than any death or destruction, she admonished them that the one remedy against all these things was to flee to the help of Christ. These things being said, all embracing the same counsel, when they had come to the middle of the journey, they ask leave of the soldiers that they might be allowed to turn aside from the road for a little while. Which being obtained, having arranged their garments honorably and decently, they cast themselves into the river flowing past. And these indeed thus drowned themselves. Thus
far Eusebius. Compare now this narrative of his with what Chrysostom records concerning Domnina and her holy daughters Bernice and Prosdoce in the Homily to be published, and you will see that these Saints of ours are the same as the three holy Eusebian women, namely a Mother and two Daughters. The three holy women whom Eusebius records withdrew by flight into a foreign land when the persecution was stirred up by Diocletian; and, being sought out and taken by soldiers, of their own accord, these being deceived, they drowned themselves in a river which flowed past the road by which they were being brought back to Antioch.
[15] are not different from our Saints. The same things Chrysostom reports concerning Domnina and her Daughters in the Homily to be published; and although he further brings forward not a few circumstances which Eusebius passes over in silence, yet he brings forward none which plainly conflicts with the circumstances recorded by Eusebius, or which cannot be brought into agreement with them. But, you will say, Chrysostom says that Domnina and her Daughters turned aside from the road, unobserved by the soldiers, in order to drown themselves in the river; whereas on the contrary Eusebius affirms that the women he records did this with the soldiers' knowledge and having asked leave of them. I answer: Chrysostom records that Domnina and her Daughters drowned themselves unobserved by the soldiers; but not that they likewise turned aside from the road unobserved by them in order to drown themselves. That holy writer does indeed say that the soldiers were then occupied in taking their midday meal and drinking wine when Domnina and her Daughters cast themselves into the river flowing past. But what then? Domnina and her Daughters could nonetheless, before they did this, have obtained from the soldiers, though these were dining and drinking, that they might be allowed to turn aside from the road for a little while. And indeed that it was so done even according to St. Chrysostom's mind seems to be gathered even from this, that the soldiers, even when Domnina and her Daughters, after a longer delay, did not return, still awaited their return, as the same Saint indicates plainly enough at n. 22 of the Homily to be published in these words: And the soldiers indeed, wholly unaware (of the violent death which Domnina and her Daughters had brought upon themselves), waited as though they would receive them back again; but they were already with Christ's soldiers, the heavenly angels. Namely, the holy women feigned to the soldiers that they would return, and thus obtained leave to turn aside from the road for a little while. Chrysostom therefore and Eusebius are by no means at variance with one another as regards the leave obtained from the soldiers by which the holy Women they record turned aside for a little from the road; and accordingly, since neither is this the case in the other circumstances of the narrative which they supply, the three holy Eusebian women do not seem different from our three Saints whom Chrysostom praises.
[16] Let us now examine whether the same must also be said of the three holy women praised by Ambrose. And likewise of the Ambrosian women, whose history from Ambrose This Saint, in the place cited above, makes them the mother and sisters of St. Pelagia; and when he has narrated how she, to take thought for her chastity, threw herself headlong from a height, death following, he continues thus: But when the detestable persecutors saw the prey of modesty snatched from them (Pelagia), they began to seek her mother and sisters. But they with a spiritual flight already held the field of chastity, when suddenly, with the persecutors pressing on this side and on that a rushing river, being shut off from flight and shut in to the crown, they say: What do we fear? Behold water: who forbids us to be baptized? And this is that baptism by which sins are forgiven, kingdoms are sought; and this is that baptism after which no one offends. Let the water receive us, which is wont to regenerate; let the water receive us, which makes virgins; let the water receive us, which opens the heavens, covers the weak, hides death, makes martyrs. Thee, O God, Creator of things, we beseech, that the wave may not scatter our bodies when the spirit has left them; that death may not separate the funerals of those whose life affection did not separate; but let there be one constancy, one death, one burial also. Having said these things, and hesitating a little, with their garments girt at the bosom, that they might cover their modesty and not hinder their step, with joined hands, as though leading a dance, they advance into the middle of the channel, directing their steps where the wave was swifter, where the deep was more abrupt. None drew back her foot, none checked her going, none tried where she might plant her step; anxious when land met them, vexed at a shallow, glad at the deep. You might have seen the pious mother clasping their hands in a knot, rejoicing in her pledges, fearing for a fall, lest even the waves should take her daughters from her. "These victims," she says, "O Christ, I offer Thee: guardians of chastity, guides of the journey, companions of the passion."
[17] But who could rightly wonder that there was so great a constancy in them living, when even in death they claimed an immovable station for their bodies? is likewise here given, The wave did not uncover their corpses, nor did swift currents roll them in the river; nay, the holy mother too, though lacking the feeling of affection, yet still kept her embrace, and did not loose even by death the religious knot which she had tied; so that she who had paid the debt to religion should die with affection as her heir; for those whom she had joined for martyrdom, she claimed even to the tomb. So St. Ambrose concerning the mother and sisters of Pelagia, virgin and martyr of Antioch. In substance they run more or less thus: the persecutors of Pelagia, when they saw that this prey of modesty had been snatched from their power by the death which she had brought upon herself by a voluntary fall, began to seek her mother and sisters, who had fled; but these, that with chastity unharmed they might pass to their most chaste Spouse, when the persecutors were now pressing upon them, cast themselves into a river beyond which they were prevented from fleeing further. But in Chrysostom, says Theodoric Ruinart in the Genuine and Select Acts of the martyrs, in the Admonition which he prefixes to the martyrdom of St. Pelagia, Domnina and her Daughters, having heard the edict of persecution, had already migrated into another region; where, when they had been apprehended by Domnina's husband, the father of the Virgins, and were being brought back to Antioch, the soldiers who guarded them being deceived on the way, they cast themselves into a river; all of which certainly by no means agrees with Pelagia's mother and sisters as recorded by Ambrose, any more than what is narrated of those Martyrs by Eusebius in book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 12. Whence either Domnina and her Daughters are different from Pelagia's mother and sisters, or at any rate Ambrose must be said to have understood the matter somewhat otherwise than it really happened. So the praised Ruinart, leaving undecided whether Domnina and her Daughters are distinct from the mother and sisters of St. Pelagia.
[18] it is perhaps to be said. Baronius, at the year 309, n. 15, pronounces something more, and inclines to that opinion which makes the Eusebian women mentioned above — and accordingly, from what has been said, Domnina and her Daughters — the same as the mother and sisters of St. Pelagia of whom Ambrose speaks. The most learned man's reason is that, although circumstances far different are reported, yet in both places the same kind and end of death are narrated: namely, that the women drowned themselves of their own accord in a river, and that lest they should make shipwreck of their chastity. Tillemont does not differ much from Baronius. For in vol. 5 of the Monuments, Note 1 on St. Pelagia, he makes the Eusebian women the same as Domnina and her two Daughters, as we too have done above; but since Eusebius attributes to the mother of whom he treats in the narrative transcribed here above — and accordingly, from what has been said, to Domnina — only two Daughters, while Ambrose attributes to the mother whom he praises at least three, namely Pelagia and two others besides, and since nonetheless Ambrose reports of his women the same things as regards the kind and end of death which Eusebius reports of his, he judges it necessary either that Ambrose speaks of a mother who is distinct from St. Domnina, or that that Saint, in making her also the mother of St. Pelagia, did not have the matter sufficiently clear. Which last, he says, appeared to us more credible than that the same event, clothed with almost the same circumstances, happened twice at the same time and in the same region. Tillemont therefore together with Baronius inclines to the opinion of judging that the Eusebian women mentioned above — and accordingly Domnina and her Daughters — are the same as the mother and sisters of whom Ambrose speaks. And indeed, since it may be that Ambrose learned less correctly an event done far from Italy, in which he was living, and understood it somewhat otherwise than it had happened, I should not dare here to contradict Baronius and Tillemont without hesitation — although meanwhile our Janning does not favor them in St. Pelagia, and many things occur which are apt to urge a distinction between Domnina and her daughters and the Ambrosian women.
[19] The next thing now is that I inquire whether Domnina and her companion virgins, who at the 14th of April are inscribed in the Hieronymian transcripts, in the present-day Roman, and in many other sacred calendars, are to be distinguished from Domnina and her Daughters. But Domnina and her companions, venerated on the 14th of April, Tillemont, in vol. 5 of the Monuments, Note 2 on St. Pelagia, as also in vol. XI of the same Monuments, Note 34 on St. Chrysostom, believed that St. Domnina and her two holy daughters were venerated at Antioch on the 14th day of April. To this Montfaucon too readily assented, following Tillemont, in his prefatory note to the Homily on our Saints. But, says our Stilting in vol. IV of September, on St. Chrysostom, n. 502, the Domnina who is found on that day (the 14th of April) in the Martyrologies does not seem to be the woman of Antioch. And indeed the Domnina who is inscribed in the sacred calendars at the fourteenth day of April seems to me also to be different from our Domnina of Antioch and her Daughters Berenice and Prosdoce. For the Domnina whom the Martyrologies record at the 14th of April is in almost all the Hieronymian ones called a Virgin, and in none at all a Mother. That this is indeed wrongly done, and that the same error then occurs at the 19th of October, Tillemont asserts in Note 2 on St. Pelagia; but he proves this assertion of his by no argument at all, and the Domnina whose name is found in some Hieronymian calendars at the 19th of October is also distinct from our Domnina, as I shall show below. Besides — whence the distinction of our Domnina from the Domnina venerated on the 14th of April becomes still more evident — the latter is assigned, together with other martyrs, to Interamna, a city of Italy, in very many Hieronymian transcripts, but in none to Syria, in which most ample region of Asia nevertheless our Domnina and her Daughters met death for the sake of preserving faith and chastity, and afterwards obtained ecclesiastical cult there also.
[20] Tillemont indeed says, in the place just cited, that it is customary with the ancient martyrologists from our Domnina and her Daughters to place Martyrs who suffered in different places under one and the same place. Besides, that in the first copies of the Martyrologies Domnina, venerated on the 14th of April, was perhaps separated in place from Proculus and the other martyrs of Interamna, since Ado, Usuard, and Notker, having assigned St. Proculus to Interamna, add, Likewise of St. Domnina, etc. — which does not compel one to place her at Interamna, as it would if they had written In the same place. So more or less Tillemont, that the argument
against the opinion by which our Domnina is held to be distinct from the Domnina to whom the 14th of April is sacred — an argument drawn from the place or city to which the latter is assigned — may be struck down. But although Martyrs who suffered in different places are from time to time assigned in the ancient Martyrologies to one and the same place, yet that this was really done in the case of these or those Martyrs by name ought not to be admitted without a grave and solid reason; and such is not that which Tillemont draws from the manner in which Ado, Usuard, and Notker assign first Proculus and then Domnina in their Martyrologies to the 14th day of April. For although that manner does not require it, yet it permits Domnina to be attributed to Interamna. And indeed I should think it all but certain, on account of what has already been said, that she really is to be attributed to Interamna. Besides — which also somewhat confirms me in this opinion — Domnina, inscribed in very many Martyrologies at the 14th of April, seems to be venerated at Interamna together with her companion Virgins on the 15th of April. For Ferrari in the General Catalogue of the Saints has at the 15th of April: At Interamna in Umbria, of St. Domnina virgin and her Companion Martyrs.
[21] And so, chiefly taking account of the ancient Martyrologies, seem to be different, in which Domnina, inscribed in them at the 14th of April, is at the same time called a virgin and placed at Interamna in Umbria, a region of Italy, this Domnina and her companion martyrs seem to me altogether most probably to be distinct from our Domnina and her daughters Bernice and Prosdoce. Nor does it stand in the way that in some ancient Martyrologies — which Tillemont too in the place just cited brings forward in support of his opinion — Domnina venerated on the 14th of April is announced in this manner: Of Domna, Domina, or Domnina crowned with her virgins. For this phrase or manner of speaking is not, contrary to what Tillemont judges, such as to be most clear in the history of Domnina of Antioch alone, but in every other quite obscure and inept. For suppose that Domnina, whose memory is celebrated on the 14th of April, was the superior or leader of some virgins with whom she suffered: would it have been inept to announce her with them thus, Domnina with her virgins? Would you not rightly say that St. Ursula, leader of the virgin martyrs of Cologne, suffered with her virgins? But, you will object further, Domnina and her Daughters of whom we here treat were honored with solemn cult at Antioch about the 14th day of April, on which Domnina of Interamna and her companion martyrs are inscribed in the Martyrologies, as is certain from Chrysostom's Homily to be published; and accordingly Domnina of Interamna and her companions, as being inscribed in the Martyrologies, as has often been said, on the same 14th day of April, are not different from these. I answer: it may be that Saints of the same name are venerated in different places on one and the same day and are nevertheless distinct. The thing is established by experience, nor do I think any solid reason can be brought to the contrary.
[22] as also Domnina and her companions announced on the 19th of October. Further, in some Hieronymian calendars at the 19th of October there is announced Domna or Domnina, virgin; there is announced Prosducus or Prosdocia; there is announced also the birthday of SS. Pelagius, Beronicus, Pelagia, and of forty-eight other martyrs. Hence some think that here again our Domnina and her holy daughters Berenice and Prosdoce are celebrated, either by reason of some translation or for some other like cause. But the Domnina who is inscribed in the ancient Martyrologies at the said 19th of October is again called a virgin, and is placed not at Antioch in Syria but at Puteoli. There too is placed Prosducus or Prosdocia; and accordingly both this Prosdocia and Domnina or Domna are different from our Prosdoce and her mother Domnina. But as regards now the birthday of SS. Beronicus and Pelagia, which also occurs at the aforesaid 19th day of October in the ancient Martyrologies in Florentini, it is indeed placed at Antioch in Syria, but a greater number of martyrs is assigned than fits our Bernice; and accordingly Beronicus is most probably distinguished from her, who besides is inserted with a masculine, not a feminine, termination in absolutely all the ancient Martyrologies in Florentini. And these are the things which I had to examine concerning the distinction of our Saints from other holy women. I now pass on to the time at which they met death, and to the other circumstances which accompanied this event.
§ III. The time, the place, and the other circumstances of their martyrdom or death.
The Saints, while Diocletian's persecution raged, Although Chrysostom nowhere teaches in which persecution of the heathen emperors against the Christians the Saints met death, yet that it happened in the Diocletianic one is clear from the fact that, as has been said, they are the same as the Mother and two Daughters who, when the persecution was stirred up by Diocletian, drowned themselves of their own accord in a river lest they should suffer the loss of their chastity, as Eusebius reports in book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 8. But in what year of Christ was this done? To define it with certainty is indeed exceedingly difficult. Nevertheless the stronger reason seems to stand for the year 305 or 306. For Domnina and her Daughters, when the most severe edicts against the Christians had already been published at Antioch and a most grievous war had thence been stirred up against them, rushed in flight out of that city and slipped away to Edessa, a city of Mesopotamia, which now, on Baudrand's testimony, is called Orfa. Further, while they were already staying in that city, cruel edicts against the Christians were sent in every direction, and then at last the Saints were arrested, and, having deceived the soldiers by whom they were being brought back to Antioch, of their own accord drowned themselves in a river. All this Chrysostom teaches; and from his narrative also (see the Homily to be published, n. 12 and the two following) the edicts of the persecution seem to have been promulgated at Antioch for some time before the Saints fled to Edessa; and accordingly the edicts which, when the Saints were already staying at Edessa, were sent in every direction are different from those — as looking also to laymen, and therefore (see what I taught in the immediately preceding Sylloge on Mark and Marcian, n. 5) issued in the last place.
[24] But what and of what sort were these? Eusebius, On the Martyrs of Palestine, chapter 4, writes thus concerning Apphianus the martyr: in the year, as is dug out from Chrysostom, When Maximinus had stirred up a second war against our people in the third year of Diocletian's persecution, and the tyrant's edicts had been sent through all the provinces, by which the governors were ordered to see to it that all the inhabitants of all the cities should sacrifice publicly to the gods; and when heralds were summoning all the heads of households throughout the whole of Caesarea to the temples of the demons by the governor's order, and moreover the tribunes of the soldiers were citing each one by name from a tablet, all the Christians everywhere being shaken by an inexplicable whirlwind of evils — he whom we have named above, having communicated his plan to no one, unknown to us who dwelt in the same house, unknown to the whole cohort of soldiers who stood around the governor, approached Urbanus, who then chanced to be pouring a libation, undaunted, etc. Maximinus therefore, who had been created caesar by Diocletian when he abdicated the empire in the year 305, renewed the persecution stirred up against the Christians, as Eusebius teaches in these words, and to this end issued new edicts through all the provinces. These, as it appears, Chrysostom designates by the edicts which he affirms were sent in every direction when our Saints had already slipped away in flight to Edessa. So I judge, because these, as you will easily gather from what has been said, appear later than the edicts issued by Diocletian against lay or secular persons also, and Maximinus's edicts, which Eusebius records in the words just recited, immediately succeeded them. Now these edicts of Maximinus (see Eusebius's words) were sent through all the provinces in the third year of the Diocletianic persecution, which agrees partly with the year of Christ 305, partly with the year 306; and accordingly so too were the edicts which Chrysostom says were then sent in every direction, when our Saints were already staying at Edessa in Mesopotamia.
[25] 305 or the following, fearing rightly for their modesty Further, since Domnina and her Daughters, as is manifest from what Chrysostom hands down in the Homily to be published, nn. 17, 18, 19, and 20, were arrested by the soldiers at that time when these last edicts were sent in every direction, and also drowned themselves of their own accord in the river while they were being brought back by them to Antioch, it follows that this happened either in the year 305 or in the following 306. And thus we now have at what time, as it appears, Domnina, Berinna, and Prosdoce brought death upon themselves. It is pleasing now, for the sake of elucidation, to discuss some other circumstances of this event; and first indeed to bring forward certain things from the other Homily of St. Chrysostom on the four-days-dead Lazarus which I praised above, from which it may be plain how rightly the Saints feared for their modesty — for the preserving of which, together with the precious treasure of the faith, they brought death upon themselves, as has been said enough and more than enough. Chrysostom therefore speaks thus in that place concerning the chief persecutor of the Saints: He who persecuted (the Saints, namely) was a tyrant, and unmarried; but unapproachable were the Virgins (Bernice and Prosdoce) who contended. Hence Montfaucon observes thus in his Admonition to the aforesaid Homily or sermon on the four-days-dead Lazarus: Something singular is here (namely in the words of Chrysostom just recited) briefly intimated, which does not appear in the former Homily on SS. Bernice and Prosdoce: namely that a certain unmarried tyrant wished to assail their virginity, that is, of Domnina's Daughters, but that the virgins were unapproachable; which indeed, although it is passed over in silence in the former, yet agrees with what is said at n. 7 (for us n. 23), where Chrysostom, asking why Domnina anticipated the judgment and, before she was set before the judge, cast herself with her Daughters into the river, answers that she did it lest anyone should corrupt her Daughters' virginity — by which it is intimated that the judge or tyrant had cast eyes of desire upon Domnina's Daughters. So Montfaucon, with whom indeed I here not unwillingly agree.
[26] in the river Singa. Since, then, the tyrant who persecuted the Saints was carried by a base lust toward Berenice and Prosdoce, Domnina's daughters, she certainly had reason to fear for her Daughters' chastity. But who was that tyrant, the Saints' persecutor? Nothing is available for me to determine it with certainty; perhaps, however, he was the prefect of the city of Antioch. But however the matter stands, I think it was by fear of that tyrant that the Saints, lest they should suffer the loss of their chastity either from the tyrant himself or from the soldiers at his order, cast themselves into the river which flowed past the road by which they were passing; and where this was situated or which it was, I now inquire. Ptolemy in book 5, chapter 15, places in Commagene, a province of Syria, a river which is called the Singas. This, as that geographer there teaches, runs down from Pieria toward the North, and thence, turning to the East, mingles with the Euphrates. It is also called the Marsyas by Pliny, whom therefore you must not confuse with the Marsyas which is poured into the Orontes between Larissa and Apamea. Go to Cellarius, vol. 2 of the Ancient Geography, p. 245. Further, I think that Pliny's Marsyas, which to Ptolemy, by a most probably older appellation, is the Singas, is the river in which our Saints drowned themselves. For between Edessa or Orfa, and Antioch
there occur only two rivers in which they could have done it, namely the Singas already mentioned and the Euphrates; and the Saints did not drown themselves in the Euphrates. I prove the matter thus: when the Saints drowned themselves in the river, they had already advanced to the middle of the journey (see Eusebius's narrative given at n. 14); but they had not yet advanced to the middle of the journey from Edessa toward Antioch when they had come from Edessa only as far as the Euphrates.
[27] Besides, from the words of St. Chrysostom presently to be given it is clear [into which, not far from the city of Hierapolis, they cast themselves and met death.] that the Saints did not cast themselves into the river until they had already come to Hierapolis, a city of Syria on the Singas, thence to be brought back to Antioch; and Hierapolis is situated between Antioch and the Euphrates, and is distant from that river about one day's journey, as Baudrand teaches in his Geography. The Saints therefore drowned themselves not in the Euphrates but in the Singas, which, as has been said, is called the Marsyas by Pliny, and which waters the city of Hierapolis with its streams. But at about what place of this river did this happen? Chrysostom in the Homily to be published, n. 20, writes thus: And the kind of their contest (of Domnina and her Daughters) was of this sort: They came to a city, Hierapolis by name, and thence they truly ascended to the holy city by such a device. A river flowed past that road by which they were returning; unobserved by the soldiers, who were taking their midday meal and getting drunk — there are also those who say that they used their father as an accomplice and helper to deceive the soldiers, which I also believe; for perhaps he did this in order that by at least a slight excuse he might on the day of judgment provide for his own salvation in the matter of this betrayal, in that he lent his aid and helped and made the course to martyrdom easier. Having therefore called him to their help, and having by his aid been able to remove the soldiers, they entered into the middle of the river and let themselves down into those streams. The Saints therefore, according to this narrative of Chrysostom, seem to have thrown themselves into the Singas near Hierapolis; and this is also confirmed by the fact that, when they did this, they had already completed the middle of the journey from Edessa toward Antioch, as Eusebius's narrative transcribed here at n. 14 declares, and that Hierapolis is situated about equidistant on both sides between Edessa and Antioch, as is plain from the Geographical Map of Syria which Cellarius supplies in the volume cited.
[28] Gather from what has been said that the Hierapolis of which we here treat is not, as it has seemed to some, the modern Aleppo, but the city called Bambyce by Pliny, and known today to the Latins under the name of Membij. For Aleppo is not situated on the river Singas, as anyone will easily detect who will consult Cellarius's Ancient Geography or books of like subject. Further, to dispatch the other circumstances which concern the Saints' death: it was reported, as Chrysostom says in the words just recited, that the father of SS. Bernice and Prosdoce had by his help brought it about that they could both deceive the soldiers and cast themselves into the river; and St. Chrysostom embraces this opinion too, saying that the father wished to lend his aid to the Saints in that matter, that he might in some measure lessen before God the offense which he had committed by betraying his Daughters to the heathen. But this seems to Tillemont, in vol. 5 of the Monuments, Note 4 on St. Pelagia, very difficult to believe — as also that the Saints, when about to drown themselves, left their shoes on the bank of the river in order to take thought for the soldiers whom they had deceived. But what then? Let both be, as indeed they are, difficult to believe: does it therefore follow that St. Chrysostom could by no means have believed it, and that the Homily from which it is clear that the Saint believed this must be denied to him? St. Chrysostom had received these things as handed down to memory, and he was unwilling to inveigh too vehemently against the father of SS. Berenice and Prosdoce, because, namely, he was both the husband of a Martyr and the father of Martyrs, as he declares at n. 20. Hence, in order in some way to excuse him, he could hold himself persuaded of a thing conducing to that end, however difficult to believe. And as regards the shoes left by the Saints on the bank of the river in order to take thought for the soldiers who guarded them, the Saint could show himself ready to believe it in order thence to extol with praises the rare charity of the Saints even toward their enemies.
HOMILY
of St. John Chrysostom, presbyter of Antioch, afterwards bishop of Constantinople,
ON SS. DOMNINA AND BERINNA AND PROSDOCE, ALSO CALLED BERENICE, MARTYRS IN SYRIA,
Domnina, M. in Syria. (S.) Berinna or Berenice, M. in Syria. (S.) Prosdoce, M. in Syria. (S.)
from St. John Chrysostom.
The holy Martyrs, from the death of Christ, undaunted toward death; Not yet have twenty days elapsed since we celebrated the memory of the Cross, and behold, we celebrate the memory of the Martyrs a. Do you see how swift is the fruit of Christ's death? For the sake of that sheep these heifers were slain; for the sake of that lamb these victims; for the sake of that sacrifice these offerings. Not yet have twenty days elapsed, and suddenly the wood of the Cross has budded forth illustrious shoots of martyrs; for these are the works of that death. See, then, the demonstration given today by the very works of the things that were then said. Then I said: He hath broken the gates of brass, and hath shattered the bars of iron b; these things are today demonstrated by works. For unless He had broken the gates of brass, while they were shut women would not so easily have dared to enter; unless He had shattered the iron bar, the Virgins could not have carried it off; unless He had made the prison useless, the Martyrs would not have entered with such confidence. Blessed be God: a woman is undaunted toward death; the woman who brought death into our nature has laid low this ancient weapon of the devil, the devil's power; a weak little vessel and subject to injuries has become an unconquerable weapon; women are bold against death — who would not be astounded? Let the heathen blush, let the Jews be put to shame, who do not believe in the resurrection of Christ. For what greater proof, I ask, of the resurrection do you seek, when you see so great a change of things brought about?
[2] a thing which even holy Men in the Old Testament feared. Women are undaunted toward death — a thing which even to holy men was formerly fearful and dreadful. Learn, then, how great a terror it once was; so that, when you have seen how contemptible it now is, you may praise God the author of the change. Learn how great its force formerly was, so that, when you have learned how great its weakness now is, you may give thanks to Christ, who has utterly unnerved it. Nothing was formerly stronger than it, dearest, and nothing weaker than we; but now nothing is weaker than it, and nothing stronger than we. Do you see how excellent a change has been made? How God has made the strong weak, and the weak strong, that from both sides He might declare His power to us? Nevertheless, lest I seem only to assert these things, I will add a demonstration too. And if it seems good, let us first show this, how formerly not only sinners but also holy men feared it — men who had much confidence with God, who abounded in right deeds, and had attained every virtue. And I show these things not that we may condemn the Saints, but that we may extol God's power. Whence, then, is it established that the specter of death was formerly fearful, and that all shuddered and trembled at it?
[3] From the patriarch first. For the patriarch Abraham, a just man, Abraham himself, who, lest he be slain, his wife the friend of God, who had left his native land, who had for God's command despised his house, his kindred, his friends, and all present things, so feared and dreaded death that, being about to enter Egypt, he said this to his wife: I know that thou art a fair woman. It will be therefore, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will indeed save thee, but will kill me. What then? Say, I am his sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live for thy sake c. What is this, O Saint and patriarch? Do you count it as nothing that outrage be brought upon your wife, that your bed be injured, that your marriage be violated? Do you then so dread death? Nay, you not only count it as nothing, but you also weave a trick with your wife, and feign with her a tale of outrage, and give all your efforts that the king, while he attempts adultery, may be able to lie hid; and, the name of wife being taken away, you have fitted to her the person of a sister? But I fear that, while we strive to diminish the power of death, we may seem to accuse a just man; wherefore I shall try to accomplish both: to show the weakness of death, and to drive away that accusation from him. But it is worth the labor first to demonstrate that he feared death, and then to vindicate him from the charge. Let us see, then, what an intolerable and troublesome thing he suffered; for to behold a wife outraged and to look upon her polluted with adultery is more intolerable than six hundred deaths. Why do I say polluted with adultery? If even the thought of a slight suspicion about her seize the mind, all life is made bitter to him and by no means worth living.
[4] For the disease of jealousy is to him a kind of fire and an untamed flame; the deed being evil in appearance, declaring whose tyrannical and inescapable force someone said: For the mind of her husband, full of jealousy, will not exchange its hatred for any ransom, nor will it spare in the day of judgment, nor be appeased by many gifts [d]; and again elsewhere: Jealousy is hard as hell [e]. For as hell cannot, he says, be bent by money, so neither can he who labors under jealousy be soothed and appeased. Many indeed have often gladly ransomed with their own life the chance to find the adulterer; they would most gladly have tasted the very blood of the man who had outraged their wife, and would have been content to do or to suffer anything whatever for that cause. But this intolerable disease nonetheless, this violent and implacable one, the just man bore most patiently, and despised the outrage of his wife because of his excessive fear of death and destruction. It is clear from this, therefore, that he feared death. Now it is time that we free him from the charge and accusation which arises hence, if first we have set forth the accusation itself. What, then, at last is that accusation? He ought, someone will say, rather to have met death than to count it as nothing that his wife be outraged; and this is what certain men turn into a charge against him, that he preferred to save his own life rather than his wife's chastity.
[5] yet in himself from guilt What do you say? Ought he rather to have died than to count it as nothing that his wife be outraged? But what would that have profited? For if indeed by his death he would have rescued his wife from outrage, you would rightly say these things; but if by dying he profited his wife nothing toward freeing her from outrage, for what cause should he rashly and inconsiderately have betrayed his own safety? For that you may understand that not even by his death could he have freed her from adultery, hear what he says: And it will be, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will indeed save thee, but will kill me. It was going to happen, therefore, that two crimes would be perpetrated, adultery and murder; and it was the part of no common prudence out of these two
to gain one. For if indeed, by exposing his own life — for I will say the same again — he would have freed her from outrage, and, the just man being slain, they would not have touched Sarah, you would rightly accuse him; but if, he being taken off by death, it would equally have come about that his wife was outraged, for what cause do you accuse the just man, because, when two evils were to come about, adultery and murder, he by his wisdom hindered one, namely the murder? For on this account he ought even to be praised, that he kept the hand of the adulterer pure from blood. For you cannot say this, that by her saying that she was his sister she by that very thing invited the Egyptian to outrage; for even if she had said that she was his wife, not even so would he have departed. And this he himself declared when he said: If they see thee, they will say, This is his wife, and they will kill me, but thee they will save.
[6] excusing, he called her sister to the Egyptians, And so, if she had said that she was his wife, both adultery and murder would have been perpetrated; but if she said sister, the murder was prevented. Do you see how, when two evils threatened, he took away one by his wisdom? Do you wish to learn how he again lessens even the crime of adultery, so far as lay in his power, so as not to permit him to be even a complete adulterer? Hear his very words again attentively: Say, he says, I am his sister. What does he say? He who receives a sister is not an adulterer; for an adulterer is judged by the purpose of his mind. Judah indeed, when he went in to his daughter-in-law Tamar, was not judged an adulterer; for he went in not as to a daughter-in-law but as to a harlot woman. So also in this place the Egyptian, who was going to receive her not as Abraham's wife but as his sister, was not to be judged an adulterer. But what is this to Abraham, someone will say, who well knew that he was exposing his wife and not his sister? Yet not even this is his crime. For if, when he had heard that she was his wife, he would have restrained himself from outrage, you would rightly charge the just man; but if the name of wife would have brought Sarah no advantage for driving outrage from herself — as he himself also said, They will say, This is his wife, and they will save her — it is far more just that we should praise the just man, who in so great a difficulty of affairs was able both to keep the Egyptian pure from blood, and, so far as lay in him, to lessen the crime of adultery f.
[7] Jacob It remains that we turn our discourse to his grandson Jacob, that you may see him too a man fearing and trembling at death — a man who from his earliest age had displayed an Apostolic philosophy. For Paul enjoined upon his disciples in these words: Having food and wherewith we may be covered, with these we shall be content g; this too that man asked of God, saying: If the Lord shall give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, it is enough for us [h]. But yet he too, who sought nothing beyond necessaries, who had left his home, who had received the blessings, who had obeyed his mother, who was God's friend, who by wisdom had done violence to nature — for, though later by nature, he came out first in the blessings; he who had been able to do so many things, who had displayed so great a philosophy and so great a piety, after six hundred contests, after six hundred struggles, after six hundred wrestlings and those very many crowns — when he was returning to his native land and was about to meet his brother, as though he were to behold a wild beast, and greatly fearing his indignation, becomes a suppliant to God and prays: Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him, lest perhaps he come and smite me, and the mother upon the children [i]. Do you see how he too greatly fears death? how he trembles and prays to God on account of it?
[8] Do you wish me to show another great man likewise affected in this same way? and Elias dreaded it. Set before your eyes Elias, a soul reaching to heaven and divine. For he who shut heaven and again unlocked it, who cast down fire from above, who offered that wonderful sacrifice, who burned with zeal for God; he who in a human body displayed an angelic life, who had nothing but a sheepskin, who came out superior to all human things — so fears and dreads death that after all those things, after the heaven and the sacrifice, after the sheepskin, the desert, and philosophy and so great confidence, he greatly fears a worthless little woman, and therefore flees. For because Jezebel had said, These things may the gods do to me and these things add, unless tomorrow I shall have made thy life as the life of one of those who are dead — Elias feared, it says, and fled a journey of forty days k. Do you see how terrible death is? Let us then praise the Lord, because, when it was terrible to prophets, He made it easy to be despised by women. Elias fled from death; women fled to death. He recoiled from death; they pursued death.
[9] Do you see how great a change has suddenly been made? Abraham and Elias dread death; But in the New Testament the Saints despised death, but women have trodden death under their feet like mud. Nevertheless let us not accuse those Saints either; it is not their fault; it was the weakness of nature, not a crime of the will. God willed death to be fearful at that time, that the greatness of grace might afterwards be made known. He willed it to be fearful, for it was a punishment; therefore He would not have the threats of punishment dissolved, lest men should afterwards be made more slothful. Let the sentence remain, He says, to terrify and restrain them. For there will be, there will be a time when they will be freed from that fear too; which indeed came to pass. For that we have been freed from this fear both the martyrs declare, and before the Martyrs Paul. Have you heard Abraham in the Old Testament saying, Thee indeed they will save, but me they will kill? Have you heard Jacob saying, Deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I fear him? Have you seen Elias fleeing a woman's threats for fear of death? Hear how Paul is affected toward that matter, whether he judges it fearful as they did: whether at its approach he is saddened and afraid.
[10] and Paul embraced it as a thing desirable, Nay rather, on the contrary, he thinks it a desirable thing; therefore he says, To be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better l. To them fearful, to him better; to them unpleasant, to him pleasant — and deservedly indeed: for formerly death led down to hell, but now death sends across to Christ. Wherefore Jacob indeed says, Ye shall bring down my old age with sorrow to the grave [m]; but Paul said, To be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better. And he said these things not to condemn this life — far be it; for let us beware lest we give a handle to heretics — nor because he fled it as an evil, but because he longed for the life to come as better. For he did not say, To be dissolved and to be with Christ is good simply, but better; and "better" is said by comparison with something good. For just as when he says, He that joins in marriage does well; but he that joins not does better n, he shows that marriage indeed is good, but virginity better, so indeed in this place too: The present life is good, he says, but the life to come is much better. Again elsewhere he philosophizes on like grounds, and says: But even if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and congratulate you all; and do you also rejoice for this same thing and congratulate me o.
[11] inasmuch as a better life receives it, What do you say? Do you die, O Paul, and call men to fellowship in pleasure? What, I ask, has happened to you? I indeed do not die, he says, but pass to a better life. As, therefore, men entering upon a magistracy summon very many to be their companions and partakers of gladness, so Paul too, going to death, called men to be sharers of his joy. For death is a kind of rest, the end of labors, the recompense of sweats, and the prize and crown of contests. Therefore in the beginning indeed there were certain wailings and lamentations over the dead, but now psalms and songs of hymns. The Jews therefore wept for Jacob forty days, and wept and lamented for Moses as many more, since death at that time was death. But now it is not so; rather there are hymns, prayers, and psalms, all of which declare that there is pleasure in that thing [p]. For psalms are a sign of a cheerful mind: For is any among you of an even mind? Let him sing psalms [q]. Since, therefore, we abound in gladness, we therefore sing psalms over the dead, which exhort us not to fear death. For turn, it says, my soul, into thy rest, for the Lord hath done well to thee [r]. Do you see that death is a benefit and a rest? For he who has entered into that rest has rested from his works, as God from His own. And so much concerning death. Come now, let us thereafter turn to the praises of the Martyrs, unless perhaps you are wearied with listening; for these things too were said on the occasion of the Martyrs' praise. But it is worth the labor that we begin our narrative a little further back.
[12] A grave persecution being stirred up against the Christians, A grave war was once stirred up against the Church, the gravest of all wars [s]; for this war was twofold: one arising within, the other without; the one from members of the household, the other from enemies; the one brought on by strangers, the other by those of one's own house. And indeed, had the war been single, it would have been an intolerable evil; and had it only pressed from outside, the magnitude of the calamities would have been enormous. But now this was twofold; and what comes from members of the household is far graver than what comes from outsiders. For we can easily guard ourselves against one who professes himself an enemy; but one who puts on the mask of a friend, while being disposed no otherwise than an enemy, you cannot easily catch in his snares. There was therefore then a twofold war: this a civil one, that rushing in from outside — or rather, if the truth must be told, both wars were civil. For those who assailed from without — judges, magistrates, and soldiers — were not foreigners or barbarians, or from some other empire or kingdom, but men who were ruled by the same laws, dwelt in the same native land, were partakers of the same commonwealth.
[13] It was therefore a civil war which was brought on by the judges, but graver was that brought on by kinsfolk, the holy Daughters and Mother, by their kinsfolk a new and unlooked-for one and overflowing with much cruelty. For brothers were betrayed by brothers, children by fathers, wives by husbands; all the rights of kinship were trampled underfoot, and the whole world was overturned, nor did anyone then acknowledge anyone; for the devil held sway in a greater degree. In that tumult, then, and war, those Women — if indeed they are to be called women, since in a womanly body they displayed manly spirits; nay rather, not only manly spirits, but having gone beyond nature itself
and contended with the incorporeal powers — those Women, then, leaving city, home, and kinsfolk, migrated abroad [t]. For when Christ is despised, they said, let nothing be precious to us, nor joined to us by ties of kin; therefore, leaving all things, they went out. And just as, when at midnight a house is set on fire, those who were sleeping within, as soon as they hear the tumult, leaping quickly from their beds fly out through the vestibule of the house, and carry off with them nothing of the things that are within — for this one thing they are eager, to snatch their body from the flame and to outrun the course of the fire advancing with great speed — so indeed these women too acted.
[14] For when they had seen the whole world in flames, having left their native land, they migrate abroad, and many they at once leapt out from the vestibule of the city and flew away, seeking this one thing, that they might keep the salvation of their soul whole and safe. For then there was a hostile conflagration, and deep darkness held sway — darkness far fouler than that of night; wherefore, as in darkness, friends did not know friends, and husbands betrayed wives; therefore, while they passed by their enemies, they attacked friends and household members; it was a kind of hostile night battle, and everything was filled with enormous tumult. Then, therefore, these women, having left their native land, departed, and imitated the patriarch Abraham, to whom it was said: Go forth out of thy land and out of thy kindred [u]. For the time of persecution urged these women too to this, that they should go out of their land and out of their kindred, that so they might possess heaven by inheritance. There went out, therefore, from her house a woman having two Daughters with her. But do you not pass by carelessly when you hear that Women liberally brought up, and not accustomed to bearing evils of this kind, departed; but turn over in your mind how great that evil was, with how great difficulties that business was hedged about. For if men who undertake a moderate journey abroad, when beasts of burden are at hand, when servants are not lacking, when the roads are free of danger, when it is in their power to return, experience many troubles and endure many miseries — where there was a Woman and Virgins, lack of servants, the betrayal of friends, tumult and disturbance, intolerable fear, various dangers about them, peril of life, and enemies on every side, what discourse at last could express the women's contests, their fortitude, their greatness of soul, their faith?
[15] amid hardships and grave perils For if the Mother had gone out alone, the contest would not have been so intolerable; but now, since she was leading her Daughters too, and two virgins, thus there was a twofold occasion of fear and a great addition of anxiety; for the greater the possession, the harder the guarding. She went out, then, having Virgins, and not having chambers in which to hide them — although you understand that chambers, women's apartments, doors, bars, guards, watchers, maidservants, nurses, and a mother's assiduity and a father's providence and much care of parents are employed that the flower of virginity may be guarded, and that even so it is scarcely kept unharmed. But she was destitute of every guard; how then could she protect them? By the guardianship, that is, of the divine laws. She had no house with which to be walled round, but she had a mighty hand by which she was protected from heaven; she had no door nor bar, but she had a true door which kept snares far away. And just as in the midst of Sodom the house of Lot was indeed besieged, yet suffered no evil, since it had angels within, so indeed these Martyrs too, set among Sodomites and all their enemies, and besieged on every side, suffered no evil, since they had the Lord of angels dwelling in their souls; and, carried on their journey into the desert, they suffered nothing, because they had a way which led them to heaven.
[16] they flee to Edessa: Wherefore, caught in so great a war, tumult, and surging waves, they went on in security; and, what is indeed wonderful, sheep were led through the midst of wolves, lambs advanced through the midst of lions, and no one looked upon them with lascivious eyes; but as God did not permit the Sodomites standing by the door to see the entrance, so He blinded the eyes of all at that time, lest virgin bodies should be betrayed. They go on, therefore, to a city named Edessa [x], a city indeed more rustic than very many, but more distinguished in piety. For what could they have judged as advantageous from that city as that in so great a storm they should obtain a refuge, and in such a tempest have a harbor? And the city received the strangers — strangers indeed of earth, but citizens of the heavens — and guarded the deposit it had received. But let no one accuse the Women of weakness because they fled; for they were fulfilling the Lord's precept, which runs thus: When they persecute you, flee from this city into another [y]; which these women too, when they had heard it, fled; and meanwhile one crown was being woven for them. What at last was that? The contempt, namely, of all present things. For whosoever shall have left brothers and sisters, or native land, or house, or friends, or kinsfolk, shall receive a hundredfold, He says, and shall possess eternal life [z]. And they were there, having Christ as their companion; for if, where two or three are gathered together, He is in the midst of them, where they were not only gathered together but also exiles for His name's sake, did they not by much better right earn His help?
[17] where, while they stay, edicts being sent in every direction While, therefore, the women were dwelling there, nefarious edicts were at once sent in every direction, filled with much tyranny and barbaric cruelty [aa]: For let kinsfolk, it said, betray kinsfolk, husbands wives, fathers children, children fathers, brothers brothers, friends friends. But do you here call to mind the words of Christ, and marvel at His prediction, since He had long ago foretold all these things. For brother, He says, shall betray brother, and the father the son, and children shall rise up against parents [bb]. And He foretold those things for these three reasons: first, indeed, that we might know His power, and that He is true God, who long beforehand foresees things that have not yet happened. For that you may understand that He foretold things to come for this reason, hear Him saying, Therefore have I told you these things before they come to pass, that when they shall have come to pass, ye may believe that I am He [cc]. And then, lest any of our adversaries should say that these things happened without His knowledge or that He permitted them through weakness: for He who foresaw long before could also have hindered them; but He did not hinder them, that the crowns might be more distinguished. For this cause He foretold these things; but He pronounced them for yet a third reason. What at last was that? That He might render the contest easier for those who are engaged in the stadium.
[18] For evils that are unexpected, whatever at last they may be, most savage edicts against the Christians, and the persecution growing strong, seem grave and intolerable; but those which we await, and for the receiving of which we prepare ourselves, are made light and easy. Those adversaries, then, who at that time gave such commands, both declared their own cruelty and unknowingly bore witness to Christ's prophecy; and brothers were betrayed by brothers, and sons by fathers, and nature made war upon itself; kinship was cleft against itself, all laws were utterly overturned, everything was filled with a kind of tumult and disturbance, and then houses were filled by demons with the blood of kindred. For the father who betrayed his son also wholly slew him; for although he did not drive in the sword, nor did his right hand perpetrate the slaying, yet by the purpose of his mind he accomplished the whole thing. For he who handed a man over to the executioner to be killed has himself committed homicide. Let us bring it about, then, that they slay their own children, the demons said; let us make sons parricides by betrayal. For such victims were once offered to them, and fathers slaughtered their sons. And this the Prophet cried, saying: They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons [dd]; and they thirsted for blood of this kind.
[19] When, therefore, Christ had forbidden those execrable and abominable sacrifices, they are arrested by their father coming upon them with soldiers, they strove to renew them again. But to say shamelessly and openly, Slaughter your sons, they did not dare, for no one would have complied with them; but by another method they contrive an edict and devise a law: through the judges they command that parents betray their sons. For it makes no difference to us whether a man slaughters or hands over a son to be slaughtered; for both this man and that is a slayer of his children. It was possible, then, to see parricides, slayers of their children, fratricides; everything was full of tumult and disturbance. But the Women enjoyed a deep tranquility, since on every side the hope of things to come fortified them, because even while they dwelt abroad they did not dwell abroad: for they had the faith as their true native land; they had confession as their own city; and, being nourished by the best hope, they were affected by no present things, for they looked only to things to come. While matters, then, were in this state, there came into that city the father, surrounded by soldiers to take his prey [ee]; there came the father and husband — father indeed of the Daughters, husband of the Wife — if indeed he ought to be called father or husband who spent his service on matters of this kind.
[20] and, being brought to Hierapolis, they cast themselves into a river, But let us spare him, so far as may be, since he was the father of Martyrs and the husband of a Martyr; and let us not increase the pain of his wound by our reproaches. But do you consider the prudence of the Women: for when they had to flee, they fled; when the contests had to be entered, they stood firm, and, bound by the love of Christ, they followed. For as temptations are not to be summoned, so when they have come, one must contend, that from the one we may give a specimen of our gentleness, from the other of our fortitude — which these women too then did; and they returned and contended. For the stadium had been opened, and the time invited them to the contests. And the kind of their contest was of this sort: they came to a city, Hierapolis [ff] by name, and thence they truly ascended to the holy city [gg] by such a device. A river flowed past that road by which they were returning; unobserved by the soldiers, who were taking their midday meal and getting drunk — there are also those who say that they used their father as an accomplice and helper [hh] to deceive the soldiers, which I also believe; for perhaps he did this in order that by at least a slight excuse he might on the day of judgment provide for his own salvation in the matter of this betrayal, in that he lent his aid and helped and made the course to martyrdom easier. Having therefore called him to their help, and having by his aid been able to remove the soldiers, they entered into the middle of the river [ii] and let themselves down into those streams [kk].
[21] The Mother entered with her twin Daughters, having her Daughters on either side of her; and so they meet death. This Chrysostom here calls a baptism. she who had a husband was in the midst of the unwedded, and marriage was in the midst of virginity, and in the midst of them was Christ. As, then, the root of a tree is fenced by two shoots standing on either side, so on either side that Blessed one, hedged about by Virgins, entered and let herself down into those waters; and thus they were smothered — or rather baptized with a new and unwonted baptism. And if you wish to know that what was done was an illustrious baptism, hear how Christ calls His own death a baptism: for addressing the sons of Zebedee, My cup indeed ye shall drink, He says, and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized ye shall be baptized [ll]. But by what
baptism was Christ baptized after John's baptism, if not by death on the Cross? As, therefore, James, not fastened to a cross but beheaded by the sword, was baptized with Christ's baptism, so these women too, although they were not crucified but slain by the waters, were baptized with Christ's baptism. Further, their Mother baptized them. What do you say? Does a woman baptize? Certainly with baptisms of this kind women too baptize, just as she indeed both baptized and was made a priest; since she offered rational victims, and the purpose of her mind supplied for her the place of ordination. And, what is wonderful, she needed no altar when she sacrificed, nor wood, nor fire, nor sword; for the river was to her in place of all — of altar, and wood, and sword, and fire; and the same thing was both a sacrifice and a baptism more evident than this baptism.
[22] For concerning the latter Paul says: and the Mother, who suffered most, We have been planted together in the likeness of His death [mm]; but concerning the baptism of martyrs he no longer says in the likeness of it, but that we are conformed to His death. The Mother therefore was leading in her Daughters, not as though about to lead them into a river, but as though she were leading them into the bridal chamber; she led them in, holding them on either side and saying, Behold, I and the Girls whom God hath given me: Thou gavest them to me, to Thee I commend them, my possessions and myself. And so the Woman's martyrdom was twofold, nay rather threefold; for through herself once, and through her Daughters twice, she suffered martyrdom. And just as, when she had to cast herself in, she had need of much endurance, so also when she drew her Girls with her she needed as much endurance again — nay rather, much greater. For women are not wont to grieve so much when they themselves are to die as when their daughters have suffered this. And so by a graver martyrdom through her Daughters was she tormented, when she girded herself to repress the force of nature, when she withstood the flames of maternal love and the intolerable disturbance of her bowels and the agitation of her womb. For if any woman, seeing one daughter dying, counts her own life bitter, consider what martyrdoms she displayed who not merely looked upon two Daughters dying together, but drew them to death with her own hand — she who in very deed endured what is intolerable to others even to hear. And the soldiers indeed, wholly unaware, waited as though they would receive them back again; but they were already with Christ's soldiers, the heavenly angels — which the guards did not see, since they had not the eyes of faith.
[23] For indeed concerning a mother Paul says, and who commanded the deed out of a praiseworthy fear, She shall be saved through the bearing of children [nn]; but here the Daughters were saved through their Mother. So indeed ought mothers to bear children; for this birth is better than that former one, in which the pains indeed are more bitter, but the gain received is greater. Of those pains of birth, as many as have been mothers know; but what pains that burns in, when you see daughters meeting death, and how grievous it is that you should perpetrate the slaying with your own hand, cannot be expressed in words. But for what cause did the woman not come to judgment? She wished before the battle to raise a trophy, before the contests to snatch the crown, before the wrestlings to carry off the prizes — not because she dreaded torments, but lest they should lie open to the eyes of the lascivious; she did not fear lest anyone should dig into her sides, but she feared lest anyone should corrupt her daughters' virginity. And that she was seized by this fear and not by that, and therefore did not come to judgment, is manifest from this: she endured far graver torments in the river. For it is far graver and more bitter, as I said before, to plunge one's own bowels — my daughters, I mean — with one's own hand, and to see them smothered, than to see the flesh torn; and she had need of far less [*] Philosophy for enduring torments than to be able to hold the girls' right hands and to draw them with her into the streams of the river. For it does not bring an equal weight for burning in grief to see them tormented by others, and oneself to serve death, oneself to become the minister of the slaying, oneself to perform for one's Daughters the executioner's part; but this is far graver and more intolerable than that.
[24] To this discourse of mine all of you will bear witness together with her Daughters he praises, who have been mothers, who have experienced the pains of childbirth and have borne daughters. How did she seize the girls' right hand? How could it be that her hand was not benumbed? How were her sinews not loosened? How was her mind not cast down from its standing? How could her reason serve what was being done? For that deed was more bitter than six hundred torments, since in place of her body her soul was tormented. But how long at last shall we strive to pursue what no one can attain? For no discourse could express the greatness of the suffering; but she alone who experienced and contended, the Woman, knows what such contests are. Let mothers hear these things, let virgins hear them: mothers, that they may so instruct their daughters; virgins, that they may so obey their mothers. For it is fitting not only to praise the Mother who commanded such things, but also to commend the Daughters who obeyed in matters of this kind. For neither did the mother need bonds for her victims and offerings, nor did the heifers recoil; but with equal alacrity of mind and with the same spirit drawing the yoke of martyrdom, they thus entered the river, their shoes being left behind outside the river bank; which they did for this reason, that they might take thought for their very guards. So great was the foresight of those holy women [oo]. They were eager, namely, to leave them a handle of defense at the judgment, lest that cruel and savage judge should accuse them of betrayal, or of having let the women go because they were corrupted by money. Therefore they left their shoes, to testify to the soldiers' conscience that not with their knowledge but while they were unaware they had leapt of their own accord into the river.
[25] and he exhorts the people to venerate and invoke them. Perhaps you have burned with no ordinary love toward those Saints; with this ardor, then, let us prostrate ourselves before their relics, let us embrace their caskets; for the caskets of Martyrs can obtain great power, just as the bones of martyrs have great force. And not only on the day of this festival, but on other days too, let us sit by them, let us beseech them, let us adjure them to be our patronesses [pp]. For they obtain great confidence not only while living, but also when dead — and much more when they are dead. For now they bear the stigmata of Christ; and when they have shown these stigmata, they can persuade the King of all things. Since, then, they are strong with so great a power, and have so great a friendship with Him, when by a continual siege as it were and by perpetual visitation of them we have insinuated ourselves into their familiarity, let us through their work obtain the mercy of God; which may it befall us all to attain by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now and always and for ever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
d. Proverbs 6, ℣ 34.
e. Canticles 8, ℣ 6.
doctrine, when a man has something he may do, not to tempt the Lord his God. For could not the Savior Himself protect His disciples, to whom nevertheless He says, If they persecute you in one city, flee into another? … Accordingly, when among strangers, on account of Sarah's most excellent beauty, both her modesty and her husband's life were in doubt, and Abraham could not protect both — but nevertheless could protect one of them, that is, his life — lest he should tempt his God, he did what he could; but what he could not do, he committed to Him. He therefore who was unable to hide that he was a man, hid that he was a husband, lest he be slain; he entrusted his wife to God, lest she be polluted.
h. Genesis 28, ℣ 20.
i. Genesis 32, ℣ 11.
m. Genesis 42, ℣ 38.
p. Hence it is clear that already from St. Chrysostom's time Psalms and hymns were wont to be sung at the funerals of Christians.
q. Epistle of St. James, chapter 5, ℣ 13.
r. Psalm 114, ℣ 7.
s. Since our Saints are not different from the Mother and her two Daughters who are narrated by Eusebius in book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 12, to have drowned themselves in a river lest they should suffer the loss of their chastity while Diocletian's persecution raged, Chrysostom here undoubtedly understands by the grave war once stirred up against the Church the Diocletianic persecution. Go to the Commentary, n. 23.
t. To this last Latin clause corresponds this Greek of Chrysostom: Αὗται τοίνυν αἱ γυναῖκες ἀφεῖσαι πόλιν καὶ οἰκίαν καὶ συγγενεῖς, πρὸς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν μετετάξαντο· and it has been carried over almost word for word into the elogium of the Saints transcribed here at n. 1 of the Preliminary Commentary. Hence further, and from some other Greek clauses of Chrysostom likewise carried over almost word for word into the aforesaid elogium of the Menaea, as I shall also note below here, it becomes manifest that it was drawn from this Homily of St. Chrysostom, as I asserted in the Commentary; for the Menaea are not ancient enough for Chrysostom to have been able to learn the history of the Saints from them and partly to copy it out.
u. Genesis 12, ℣ 1.
x. It is a city in Mesopotamia, or modern Diarbekir, under the dominion of the Turks; it is now called by most Orfa or Orpha, as I have already noted from Baudrand in the Commentary.
y. Matthew 10, ℣ 23.
z. Matthew 19, ℣ 29.
aa. What appears to be concluded from this passage of the Homily I have set forth at n. 23 of the Commentary and the two following.
bb. Matthew 10, ℣ 21.
cc. John 14, ℣ 29.
dd. Psalm 105, ℣ 37.
ee. The Greek clause corresponding to this last Latin one runs thus: τῶν δὴ πραγμάτων ἐν τούτοις ὄντων, έφίσταται ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ πόλει στρατιώτας ἔχων πρὸς τὴν σύλληψιν τῆς θήρας· And it too has been carried over almost word for word into the elogium of the Saints transcribed here above from the Menaea, as will be plain to one who inspects it.
ff. For knowledge of this city go to the Commentary, n. 27.
gg. Thus is heaven here called, by an allusion to the Greek name of the city from which, or near which (see the Commentary, n. 27), the Saints migrated to the heavenly fatherland — Hierapolis, which is compounded of the words ἱερὸς, holy, and πόλις, city.
hh. This seemed difficult to believe, and not undeservedly, to Tillemont; yet how it could be believed by Chrysostom I have declared at n. 28 of the Commentary.
ii. Which river it probably is in which the Saints drowned themselves, and at about what place they did it, I have taught at nn. 26 and 27 of the Preliminary Commentary.
kk. To the Latin words which follow from these words, They ascended, having been carried up, down to this place, there correspond again many Greek words of Chrysostom, which have been carried over into the Greek elogium of the Saints which the Menaea supply. The matter will be plain from a comparison of the one with the others. I set down Chrysostom's Greek words. They run thus: Ποταμὸς παρέῤῥει τὴν ὁδὸν ἐκείνην, καθ᾽ ἢν ἐπανῄεσαν, καὶ λαθοῦσαι τοὺς στρατιώτὰς ἀριστοποιουμένους καὶ μεθύοντας … εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν μέσον, καὶ ἀφῆκαν ἑαυτὰς κατὰ τῶν ῥευματῶν ἐκείνων.
ll. Matthew 19, ℣ 39.
mm. Epistle to the Romans, chapter 5, ℣ 6.
nn. 1 Epistle to Timothy, chapter 2, ℣ 25.
oo. What is here brought forward concerning the shoes left on the bank of the river by Domnina and her Daughters in order to take thought for the soldiers appears again incredible to Tillemont, Note 4 on St. Pelagia — and indeed not undeservedly; but see n. 28 of the Preliminary Commentary. But if further certain other things occur in this Homily, touching even upon doctrine, which, in view of the laws of exact truth, seem scarcely to be admitted even on St. Chrysostom's own authority, and which perhaps Tillemont also designates in Note 2 on St. Pelagia, these will find excuse with fair judges of things from the oratorical style in which the Saint wrote. Add these things to what was said at n. 10 of the Commentary.
pp. It is clear from this that in St. Chrysostom's time Christians paid veneration and cult to the Saints, and also implored their patronage — which is utterly opposed to the opinion of certain heretics who deny that the Saints are to be venerated and invoked. Further, since this whole Homily was composed in praise of the Saints, it seems as suited to its subject that it should end with an exhortation to the cult of the Saints as with a moral lesson. From the fact, therefore, that it does not end with a moral lesson, Tillemont ought not to have doubted whether it truly has Chrysostom as its author. This I add to what I brought forward at n. 10 of the Commentary, which makes for this point too.
In Greek, greater*.