ON SS. EUSEBIUS AND NESTABUS AND ZENO AND NESTOR, MARTYRS AT GAZA IN PALESTINE,
More probably in the year 362.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Whence the memory in the Roman Martyrology was drawn: the time of the martyrdom: the title of martyr ascribed to Nestor: the burial of the martyrs.
Eusebius, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Nestabus, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Zeno, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Nestor, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
C. S.
Among the martyrs who under the rule of Julian the apostate made the Church of Christ illustrious by their blood, four athletes of Gaza in Palestine come to be commemorated on this day, Memory in the Roman Martyrology. namely Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno, brothers, and their cousin Nestor, whom the men of Gaza, stirred by a tumultuary fury, cruelly slew after they had first been shut up in prison and then led out. The most eminent Baronius first of all, so far as appears, inserted them in his Roman Martyrology, yet under a twofold announcement, in this manner: At Gaza in Palestine, of the holy martyrs Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno, brothers, who in the time of Julian the apostate, a crowd of gentiles rushing upon them, were torn in pieces and killed. Then he soon subjoins: In the same place, of St. Nestor the martyr, who under the same Julian, most savagely tortured by the same raging gentiles, gave up his spirit. Whence he learned of these Martyrs he teaches in his Annotations, namely from Sozomen, who narrates their contest in book 5, chapter 9 of the Ecclesiastical History, in the Valesian edition, from which we too shall reprint it.
[2] But why Baronius referred these Champions to the 8th of September, The month and day of the martyrdom uncertain: the year more probably was no other reason occurs to me than that he was ignorant of the day of the martyrdom, and therefore seems to have assigned them at his own pleasure to this day, lest their memory should perish. The same I judge concerning the month, since Sozomen has disclosed neither the one nor the other. As to the year in which the Saints suffered, the short reign of Julian does not allow us to err much, which, obtained by him alone from the month of November of the year 361, in which Constantius died, he held until the twenty-sixth of June of the year 363. Wherefore if it were established that our Martyrs were crowned in the month of September, no doubt would be left concerning the year 362 either; but, as we have said, that is uncertain. Yet we assign that year with Baronius in his Annals, and others after him, more probably to their martyrdom, led by this reason, that at the time when the Saints were slain Julian's hatred against the Christians had not yet so broken out into the open that they might be thought able to be killed with impunity; and that impious sentence of Julian had not yet been pronounced, in which, speaking thus of the prefect who had cast the slayers of Christians into prison, Sozomen being witness: What need was there that those men should be led away, who had avenged themselves on a few Galileans for the many injuries with which they had afflicted them and their gods.
[3] of Christ 362. The laurel of martyrdom to Nestor Not yet, I say, was Julian's mind sufficiently known: for the same Sozomen, having narrated the slaughter of the Saints, thus continues concerning the inhabitants of Gaza, by whom it had been perpetrated: But the men of Gaza, reckoning in their mind the gravity of their deed, began to fear that the emperor would not allow them to go unpunished. For a rumor had already been spread that he was indignant, and had determined that every tenth man of the populace should be killed. The same reason indeed for the year 361
fights, but since he first obtained the empire alone in the month of November of this year, and since Sozomen places before the martyrdom of the Saints the slaughter inflicted on George at Alexandria and some other things, it seems that their martyrdom should rather be fixed to the year 362. Further, the praised historian adorns SS. Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno with the title of martyrs, but calls Nestor a confessor: for he writes thus concerning their relics deposited by St. Zeno, bishop of Majuma, in the basilica which he himself had built: Τὰ ὀστὰ τῶν Μαρτύρων ἀπέθετο πλησίον Νέστορος τοῦ ὁμολογητοῦ. He deposited the bones of the Martyrs beside Nestor the confessor.
[4] is vindicated. So he: but Baronius ascribes the laurel of martyrdom to this one as well as to those. And deservedly indeed: for all were cast into prison by the same men of Gaza and by the same onset of fury out of hatred of the Christian religion, and were butchered. Nor is there any other difference between the martyrdom of Nestor and that of the others, than that these were tortured to death by the raging rabble and torn in pieces and then cast upon a burning pyre, while he, nearly finished off by his wounds and now, as was thought, about to die, was cast out beyond the city, whence he was carried to St. Zeno, and, while medicine was being applied for the healing of his wounds, breathed out his soul. Equal therefore was the cause of death of them all, and their martyrdom alike, although in Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno it was a little more savage, in Nestor perhaps more prolonged. That Sozomen therefore called the three Brothers martyrs, and called Nestor a confessor, I think was done for no other reason than that the three former rendered up their victorious souls under the very hands of the persecutors, while the latter, as I have said, already nearly dead from his wounds, expired in the house of St. Zeno: but it is manifest that nothing is thereby taken away from the laurel of martyrdom.
[5] The same reason perhaps which moved Sozomen to honor St. Nestor with the title of confessor Why Baronius announces him separately. led Baronius to commemorate him in a distinct announcement, as though he did not belong to their class. But we join St. Nestor to the rest, with whom he endured the scourges and the prison, and was cruelly dragged through the streets, and at last from the wounds received consummated his martyrdom, although perhaps on another day and in another place. Not on the same day, I say, perhaps: for that is left uncertain in Sozomen, who delivers this concerning his death: While they were dragging him, those who were hauling him, having beheld his beauty, took pity on the Youth and cast him outside the gates of the city, still indeed breathing, but one who was expected shortly to die. Thence certain men taking him up carried him to Zeno; in whose house, while medicine was being applied to his sores and wounds, he breathed out his soul. But how long he survived the fury of the gentiles in Zeno's house, he does not state. As regards the place in which the Saint died, it is no less uncertain. Perhaps it was Anthedon, a maritime city about twenty stadia or two miles and a half distant from Gaza, whither St. Zeno is said by Sozomen to have fled, while his Cousins were being killed, and he feared the like for himself.
[6] But although these holy Athletes seem, as I have already noted, to have been unknown to the ancient martyrologists, The relics of the Saints laid up in a church. it is not to be doubted that the legitimate cult of the same was established for the most eminent Baronius, when he inserted them into the Roman Martyrology; nay rather the often-praised Sozomen seems sufficiently to insinuate that very thing. For he writes that the relics of the three former were, by God's command, gathered by night by a certain Christian woman and carried to St. Zeno, who kept them hidden at home for some time. But afterward, having obtained the bishopric of that church (of the city of Majuma) (and this happened under the principate of Theodosius), he built a basilica outside the city and raised a lofty altar and deposited the relics of the Martyrs beside Nestor the confessor. This basilica Sozomen himself could have seen, while Zeno, already nearly a hundred years old, still presided over the church of Majuma, as will be evident from the annotations to the Acts, from which the reader will understand who that Zeno was.
ACTS
From Sozomen, book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 9, according to the version of Valesius.
Eusebius, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Nestabus, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Zeno, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
Nestor, martyr, at Gaza in Palestine (S.)
From Sozomen.
SINGLE CHAPTER
The Saints, beaten with scourges by the men of Gaza, are cast into prison: led out thence they are cruelly butchered by the raging populace and burned: their relics, gathered at God's command, are honorably buried.
After the scourges cast into prison: and led out thence It now seems opportune that we make mention of Eusebius, Nestabus and Zeno, brothers, whom the people of Gaza, pursuing them with a hatred, seized at that time as they lay hidden at home: and first indeed cast them into prison and beat them with scourges. Then b all, assembling in the theater, cried out against them, that they had violated their temples and had abused the opportunity of former times c to the overthrow and insult of the Greek d religion. And while they cry out thus and mutually incite one another to their slaughter, they conceived fury in their minds. And as a seditious mob is wont, having exhorted themselves, they hastened to the prison, and, having led them out thence, killed them with a most cruel kind of death, dragging them now face down, now face up, and dashing them upon the pavement, and, each at his pleasure, some beating them with stones, others with cudgels and with weapons of every sort that were at hand.
[2] they are most cruelly slain: the bones from the burned bodies I have heard also that women, leaving their looms, came forth from their houses and pricked them with their weaving-rods, and that cooks who were in the market place partly poured over them pots boiling with hot water, snatched from the fires, and partly transfixed them with spits. After they had torn them apart and had so broken their heads that the brain flowed out upon the ground, they dragged them outside the city to the place where the carcasses of beasts of burden were wont to be cast. There, a pyre having been kindled, they burned their bodies, and the bones that remained, those namely which the fire had not consumed, they mingled with the bones of camels and asses scattered about there at random, that they might not easily be found.
[3] the remainder, gathered at the divine command, But yet they did not lie hidden long. For a certain Christian woman, not indeed sprung from the city of Gaza, but who had fixed her dwelling there, at God's command gathered them by night, and, having put them into a pot, delivered them to be guarded to Zeno e, their cousin. For God had so charged her in dreams, and had shown the woman the place where that man was living, and had pointed him out to her before she had seen him. For he was unknown to the woman, and lay hidden in concealment on account of the persecution recently stirred up. For little had been wanting but that he too should be seized by the men of Gaza and killed: but while the people were intent on the slaughter of his Cousins, he, having got his opportunity, fled to Anthedon f, a maritime city about twenty stadia distant from Gaza: which indeed at that time was equally addicted to the superstition of the gentiles and beyond measure given over to the worship of images. There, when by the information of certain persons he had been betrayed as a Christian, he was gravely beaten with rods upon the back by the Anthedonians and cast out of the city.
[4] And when he had betaken himself to the port g of the men of Gaza, he lay hidden there in concealment. and are entombed by St. Zeno in a church: the martyrdom of St. Nestor. There the woman, meeting him, delivered the relics to him. He kept them hidden at home for some time: but afterward, having obtained the bishopric of that church h (and this happened under the principate of Theodosius i), he built a basilica outside the city and raised a lofty altar, and deposited the relics of the Martyrs beside Nestor the confessor k. He, having associated familiarly with his Cousins while they lived, and having been seized together with them by the people, had endured bonds and scourges along with them. But while they were dragging him, those who were hauling him, having beheld his beauty, took pity on the Youth l, and cast him outside the gates of the city, still indeed breathing, but one who was expected shortly to die. Thence certain men taking him up carried him to Zeno: in whose house, while medicine was being applied to his sores and wounds, he breathed out his soul.
[5] But the men of Gaza, reckoning in their mind the gravity of their deed, The slaughter of the Saints unpunished under Julian. began to fear that the emperor m would not allow them to go unpunished: for a rumor had already been spread that he was indignant, and had determined that every tenth man of the populace should be killed. But that was false and merely a popular rumor, spread abroad among the crowd out of fear, as is credible, and out of consciousness of the things they had done. For indeed the emperor did not even do what he had done toward the Alexandrians on account of the slaughter of George: he rebuked n the men of Gaza by letter. Nay rather he cashiered the consular o who then governed that province, and held him suspect, and, when he was brought to trial, wished it to be attributed to his own clemency that he did not punish him with death. And he accused him of this, that he had seized certain of the men of Gaza, who were said to have been the authors of the sedition and slaughter, and had cast them into bonds, that they might undergo trial according to the prescript of the laws [p]. For what need, he said, was there that those men should be led away, who had avenged themselves on a few Galileans [q] for the many injuries with which they had afflicted them and their Gods? And these things indeed are reported [r] to have been so done.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. From these things it is clear that our holy Martyrs were slaughtered not by public authority, but by a rioting mob.
q. So indeed the impious apostate was accustomed to address Christians.
r. Sozomen could have learned these things from his parents, since his grandfather had at that time dwelt near Gaza, and had afterwards fled thence for fear of the pagans, as he writes in book 5, chapter 15.