Severianus

ON ST. SEVERIANUS, MARTYR,

AT SEBASTE IN LESSER ARMENIA.

Under Licinius.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Severianus Mart. at Sebaste in Lesser Armenia (S.)

BY J. S.

§ I. His memory in the Calendars and the Saint's veneration: the Greek Acts of Metaphrastes already published in Latin: other older and better ones, which will be given.

[ ] The renowned martyr Severianus the Calendars of the Greeks, both published and unpublished, celebrate today The Saint's memory in the sacred Calendars, and his veneration: with long eulogies. The Muscovites too have inserted Severianus in their Calendars. From the Greeks Galesinius received him, whom Baronius followed in the Roman Martyrology, where it has thus: At Sebaste, of S. Severianus, a soldier of the emperor Licinius, who, when he frequently visited the forty martyrs detained in prison, was by order of Lysias the governor hung up with a stone bound to his feet, and beaten with rods and torn with scourges, and gave up his spirit amid the torments. That eulogy is not accurate, since neither the cause of the martyrdom nor the manner of the death is rightly set forth, as will be plain from the Acts. Further, the Greeks in their Menæa perform the Office on this day chiefly of the saints Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Most Holy Virgin, yet in such a way that they assign a part to S. Severianus the martyr. Their eulogies I do not transfer hither, because most of them are taken from the Acts; but those things in them which seem contrary to the Acts, or at any rate added over and above the Acts, I shall examine below.

[2] The Greek Acts of S. Severianus, written by Metaphrastes, The Acts written by Metaphrastes, which as regards the facts, Leo Allatius mentions in his Diatribe on the writings of the Symeons, pag. 127, saying that their beginning is such: Λικινῖου τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς βασιλεύοντος, Λυσίας τὸ τηνικαῦτα δοὺξ ὢν. In the reign of the impious Licinius, Lysias, who was then duke etc. I have a Greek transcript of these Acts, communicated of old to our predecessors from a Medicean codex. The same Acts rendered into Latin Lipomanus published in tom. 6, and Surius at the IX of September. Tillemont, tom. 5, in the Persecution of Licinius, adduces some things from these Acts, seen in Surius; and he treats them more kindly than he is otherwise wont to treat Acts written by Metaphrastes, although he acknowledges him as their author. For he says that the Acts do not seem bad as regards the facts up to the death; but that the miracles which are narrated to have been wrought after the death seem in any case suspect. Of the discourses which are inserted in these Acts, both many and long enough, he adds not a word; but merely omits them.

[3] are accurate enough, yet are not without blemishes. And so in these Acts the facts can be held for true, in Tillemont's judgment, even if we do not believe that the sayings inserted in the Acts are the Martyr's; and rightly indeed: for Metaphrastes has expressed well enough the torments inflicted on the Martyr, and certainly better than Tillemont himself excerpted them from Metaphrastes, as will be plain from the other Acts to be given, and from what is to be disputed below. Nevertheless that lucubration of Metaphrastes is not without blemishes, since he has everywhere changed at his own pleasure the words uttered by S. Severianus and by Lysias the duke at the time of the martyrdom, and has added various things about the beginning and the end of the Acts, which we shall afterward discuss. Besides, from conjectures, as far as appears, many things have been inserted into the Acts by which the affections of mind and the counsels of Lysias the duke are set forth. But since these are not read in the older Acts, they must be held only for uncertain. For the rest, I shall not reprint those Acts, since we have better ones: nevertheless I shall recite and examine certain things from them below.

[4] Other Greek Acts, which I judge Metaphrastes used for the writing of his own, Other Greek Acts of good standing, the most illustrious Man, D. Claude Sallier, keeper of the praised library, had transcribed for us from a manuscript codex of the royal library of Paris, and most courteously transmitted them lately; where they are contained in two manuscript codices. Our transcript is of codex 1506 among the Greek ones; but to it have been added variant readings from codex 1519, in which the same Acts are contained, and some things are read more correctly. These different readings I shall assign in the margin, or in the Annotations to the Acts, where it shall seem worth the trouble. Now as regards the credit of these Acts: I certainly find nothing in them which can deservedly seem suspect or unworthy of belief. All things are set forth accurately: nothing seems exaggerated, nothing discordant, nothing contrary to the manners of Christians or of the gentile Romans.

[5] Besides, although these Acts are not so written by notaries at the command of Lysias the duke, and, as far as appears, of a well-informed writer. yet they suggest that they are of a contemporary writer; nor is it improbable that the Acts of the notaries lay before the author, and were for the greater part inserted into these: for all the sayings both of S. Severianus and of Lysias the duke seem accurately written, nay even the accusations brought against the Saint at the beginning: but the torments are reported only briefly. Nevertheless all things could also have been so written by someone who had been present at the events, or who had learned each particular from those who had been present: for even in the gravest persecutions some Christians mingled with the crowd in order to behold the contests of the martyrs. But whether from the Acts of the notaries, or by some eyewitness, or from the report of those who were present, or in some other manner the Acts were written; everything persuades that the author of the Acts was sufficiently informed about the particulars.

§ II. There are examined the things which were added to the Acts by Metaphrastes and by the Greek martyrologists, and certain other doubtful matters.

[ ] The Saint does not seem to have been a Sebastene by birth; The Acts nowhere express where S. Severianus was born, and not even Metaphrastes. Nevertheless the Menologies of the Greeks and their manuscript Synaxary have that he was by birth a Sebastene, perhaps on no other foundation than that he suffered at Sebaste. But that conjecture is of no moment, since Severianus was a soldier, and soldiers are frequently far from their own country. Metaphrastes clearly distinguishes the birthplace of S. Severianus from the city of Sebaste, when he says that the body of the dead man was carried by certain persons into the Martyr's own country. But perhaps that writer was ignorant of his country, since he nowhere names it: nor can we place much trust in the translation asserted by him. Nevertheless I judge that Severianus was not by birth a Sebastene, nor that his body remained at Sebaste, because in the Acts at num. 1 he is said to have charged certain persons present, who were of his own country, that they should take care of his body. For those who were of his own country seem by that manner of speaking to be distinguished from the Sebastenes. And by them the Saint's body received

and was likely carried elsewhere, I shall show in the Annotations toward the end of the Acts.

[7] nor was he arrested immediately after the death of the forty martyrs, Secondly, in the Acts the Saint is said to have suffered on the IX day of September, and to have been detained in prison only five days, as it seems. And so according to the Acts he was arrested on the III or IV of September. But Metaphrastes so begins the Acts that he could easily persuade — and has indeed persuaded some — that Severianus was taken immediately, or not long after, the martyrdom of the forty martyrs of Sebaste, of whom we treated at the X day of March. The words of Metaphrastes rendered into Latin in Lipomanus are these: In the reign of the impious Licinius, Lysias, who was then duke, was hastening to come from Cæsarea to Sebaste. For the time of the martyrs of Christ was calling him; of those, I say, the forty renowned for victory. But after their martyrdom had come to its end, Severianus too is brought before the duke. And presently, among the accusations which the informers were bringing against Severianus, he recounts this: namely that of those forty who a little before had contended manfully, … Severianus had been the chief cause of their endurance etc.

[8] but nearly six months later: The words adduced altogether suggest that a short time elapsed between the death of the forty martyrs and the arrest of S. Severianus. Hence Baronius, whose words I gave at num. 1, believed that Severianus was arrested when he frequently visited the forty martyrs detained in prison. But in these matters Metaphrastes is not to be followed, but corrected; since those forty Martyrs suffered in the month of March, Severianus in the month of September, so that nearly six months elapsed between the martyrdom of the two parties: for Metaphrastes himself too has it that S. Severianus suffered on the IX of September, and did not mean that he was kept in prison longer than our Acts do. I suspect therefore that Metaphrastes was deceived by the beginning of our Acts, because it can indeed be so understood as he seems to have understood it, if it be considered alone: but it is not necessarily to be so expounded, since it is said indeed that the persecution was renewed after the contests and martyrdom of the holy forty martyrs, but it is nowhere asserted that this happened immediately after their martyrdom. Wherefore what follows afterward in the Acts must also be considered, and most of all the day of the martyrdom; and thence it must be laid down that our Saint was crowned nearly six months after those famous forty martyrs.

[10] A translation of the body, and the raising of a dead man, Before I subjoin the Acts, I transfer hither what was added to the Acts by Metaphrastes concerning the twofold translation of the body, and the miracles then wrought. But on the following day certain of the pious men to whom the Martyr while living had committed his burial, coming together, when they had magnificently composed that martyr's body, and had sung hymns over it, and had performed whatsoever Christians are wont to do, bore it, raised by hands at once loving and venerating, in the middle of the night into the Martyr's own country. But when they had come to a certain place, from there indeed the coming of the relics is announced to his country. And every one of them was thinking to go to meet them: and all went out together, nor was there any who did not come, not an old man, not a boy, not a sick man, not one slow by nature: but each one supposed that he would snatch the blessing first, if only he ran first to meet the relics. Thus therefore, as all were briskly hastening, the wife of a dead servant alone had been left behind (for at that time one of the Martyr's servants had died), and all things were bitter to the wife: the loss of her husband, and the loneliness of one who might console her: and that she knew not in what way she could go to meet the Martyr. Being therefore left alone within, since she sought one who might console her, and there was none, and one who might grieve with her, and she found none: with the body of her dead husband laid beside her, she beat her breast, groaned, lamented, and addressed the dead man as though he were alive. Rise, O husband, rise, she said, let us go to meet our Lord, lest we alone seem slothful and idle, and lest anyone accuse us of negligence toward our Lord. And gently she touched his tunic, and poured out tears together with her voice. After she had for a short time urged these things and said them to her husband, the body of the Martyr too was presently about to arrive: suddenly (O miracle) he who was dead is seen alive, and, casting off the things that had been laid upon him, when he had at once girded himself, he too goes to meet the Martyr. Which notable miracle both bore witness to the Athlete of his greater confidence toward the Lord, and kindled the minds of all to a greater desire. For what had been done was not of such a kind that it could be rejected, nor could there be any doubt about it: but those who had been spectators of his death, and who had had the care of the funeral, were also witnesses of the resurrection.

[11] But when the servant had sat long by the Martyr's sepulcher, another translation also asserted. in the fifteenth year from that time, and a little more, he too departed from life. And then indeed, when all who had been gathered for this were considering where the martyr's body should be laid by them, since no solution of the doubt was given, they left it to be determined by a better and more divine providence, and they place upon the relics a crown woven of flowers. And straightway, as though sent by someone, an eagle flying down from above took the crown, and gently moved its wings, and made them less swift for flying. But the people at once followed it. And it in a manner led them, flying so far before them that it was not much removed from their eyes. And when it had come to a neighboring wood, and had then let the crown down from on high in a beautiful place of the mountain, it began to fly more swiftly, and set out to its own dwelling. Judging this to be a divine indication, they, running together with delight and great zeal, there lay down that sacred and divine body in a holy and divine manner. In which place to this present day the Saint works there frequent cures and many miracles, appearing kindly to whoever asks him, and taking care of him, in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus far Metaphrastes; whence he received these things, we do not know. Tillemont observes that these things are in any case of suspect credit, and I willingly assent to him. I do not indeed judge that they were invented by Metaphrastes; but I suspect that they were taken from some older monument: but since we do not know of how great credit the writings were which Metaphrastes here probably followed, we are also compelled to doubt of the truth of the account itself, and to leave everything to his own credit. For the rest, if the things which are said of the translations of the body are true, the Saint's country will have been in Lesser Armenia itself, or at any rate in a neighboring province.

§ III. An Appendix concerning the place in which the forty martyrs were exposed to the frost, of whom these Acts make mention.

[ ] The forty martyrs of Sebaste are believed to have suffered in a lake: Our predecessors at the X of March treated diligently of the forty martyrs of Sebaste, of whom the Acts of S. Severianus make mention, and proved clearly that they suffered in a lake near Sebaste, as a most ancient tradition has it, confirmed by nearly all the writers of all ages who have treated of them, from the IV century, in which they were crowned, down to our own. They seem however in some measure to have doubted whether they were immersed in the waters of the lake, or ordered to stand upon the frozen lake, because S. Basil is copious in describing the ice of the lake, and the Nyssene too speaks of it. But since S. Ephrem and the Acts, and several other monuments, clearly hand down that the martyrs were set upon the waters, they sufficiently hinted that they preferred this opinion, at least as the more probable. And indeed, even if the lake was covered with the most solid ice, even so they could have been set partly upon the waters, partly upon the ice, provided that a suitable hole was made for each, the ice being broken with axes: I do not however wish to examine this doubt, such as it is, further here, being content to have said in what manner S. Basil, S. Gregory of Nyssa, S. Ephrem and others can be reconciled among themselves and with the Acts.

[13] but Tillemont wished to refute that tradition. But Tillemont, tom. 5 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, note 3 on the Forty martyrs, has attempted utterly to overthrow the most received tradition concerning these Saints as having suffered in a lake, and wished to show that they were rather set naked in the middle of the city, and exposed to the coldest air. But when I saw that that opinion had already in some measure pleased some modern writers, I wished to examine its foundations without prejudice, comparing the writers alleged by Tillemont with the words which he attributes to them. By this examination I was further led to refute that new opinion in this place, lest it should creep further, since it appears to me not only false, but also makes S. Basil contrary to his friend S. Ephrem, and S. Gregory of Nyssa at variance with both. For, if we believe Tillemont, according to Basil these Saints were set naked in the middle of the city, according to Ephrem in the lake near the city, and according to the Nyssene in the public baths. Let us hear the arguments which Tillemont uses to prove this.

[14] His first argument, from an ambiguous passage of S. Basil, First he asserts that SS. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa merely say that those Saints were exposed naked to the frost, but do not add that this was done in a lake, as he confesses that the matter is narrated by S. Ephrem, in all the Acts, and by more recent writers. Nay he even adds that S. Basil seems to say the same, and that thence not one but several interpreters of Basil have been deceived: for he contends that the passage of S. Basil, where he mentions the lake, was not rightly rendered into Latin by the interpreters. Tillemont was agreed with by the latest editor of the Works of S. Basil, Julien Garnier, and he interpreted of the city, in tom. 2 pag. 152, the passage expounded by others of the lake. That passage is really ambiguous, and could equally be expounded of the city as of the lake, if by that exposition Basil were to be reconciled with Ephrem and the Nyssene: but it can equally be understood of the lake as of the city, and therefore it must be so understood that S. Basil may be reconciled with his friend S. Ephrem, to whom he himself narrated the deeds of those martyrs.

[15] Let us hear S. Ephrem himself, and consider whether we can prudently believe him contrary to S. Basil in the present matter. to whom the clear words of S. Ephrem are far to be preferred: In his Encomium of S. Basil, tom. 2 of the Greek Works of the most recent Roman edition, pag. 293, he has thus, narrating his meeting with S. Basil: Then my womb conceived prudence, that it might prepare the praises of the forty martyrs: for that excellent man joined to my ears every measure of their endurance; how, namely, they chose to die for Christ, and how great perils they despised, that they might gain him etc. And a little below, comparing Basil with those martyrs, he says of these: They in the lake etc. And again: They amid the waters etc. So in his Oration on the forty martyrs he speaks most clearly of the lake and of the waters, as Tillemont confesses. Who therefore would prudently believe, on account of an ambiguous passage of Basil, that these two

Saints do not agree about the place of the contest, since the one taught the other? For what Tillemont says, that we have the Works of S. Ephrem only as they have been rendered into Greek and into Latin, is of small moment, since it is in no way likely that the Greek translator erred in as many places as those in which he speaks of the lake and of the waters, while he celebrates the praises of the forty martyrs. No better is what he asserts, that Ephrem learned by the living voice only, and that through an interpreter, from Basil, what he writes about the praised martyrs. For even if Basil at first addressed him through an interpreter, it will never be shown that an interpreter was always necessary to them. But if they spoke everything through an interpreter, that will not hinder Ephrem from having been able to grasp Basil's mind rightly.

[16] Now let us consider the passage of S. Basil itself, that it may be plain how ambiguous it is, for Basil's passage can rightly be expounded of the lake: or rather how it is to be explained of the lake rather than of the city. He affirms that the martyrs were condemned to pass the night in the open, ὅτε λίμνη μὲν, περὶ ἣν ἡ πόλις κατῴκισται, ἐν ᾗ ταῦτα διήθλουν οἱ ἅγιοι, οἷόν τι πεδίον ἱππήλατον ἢν; when the lake, about which the city had been founded, in which (or in which masc./neut.) the Saints were contending, was like a certain plain fit for riding. The words ἐν ᾗ can be referred to the word πόλις, city, to which Tillemont would have them necessarily referred, because this is nearer, or to the word λίμνη, lake, although this is further off: for those words, about which the city had been founded, seem to be enclosed in a parenthesis, because Basil presently goes on to speak of the lake, not of the city. And so the passage is ambiguous, and therefore to be so explained that it may not conflict with the other Fathers, especially with S. Ephrem, who learned the deeds of these martyrs from Basil. But, says Tillemont, S. Gaudentius understood and explained the passage of the city, in the tract delivered at the dedication of the basilica of these and other martyrs. I answer that this indeed seems true: for he has thus: The lake also lying below the city in which these things were being done, spread far and wide, with a most powerful frost hardening it, afforded a solid road to the groaning wagons. Nevertheless even so Gaudentius seems to have seen the ambiguity of the passage, and for that cause nowhere to have expressed whether the martyrs were exposed to the cold in the city or in the lake, because he had read no more about them than S. Basil has.

[17] nor is it repugnant to the common opinion, even if it be otherwise explained. Besides, the authority of S. Gaudentius in these matters cannot be so great as is that of S. Ephrem; especially since all the Acts and later monuments agree with the latter; and since Gaudentius was very far distant from the martyrs' arena, but Ephrem near enough, so that he could learn the circumstances of the martyrdom not only from the words and writings of S. Basil, but also through others who were nearer the place. Wherefore Ephrem would have to be preferred to Basil himself, if they could in no way be reconciled: for, since Ephrem wrote later, it is incredible that he wished to write things contrary to Basil, unless he were certain that some error had crept in upon him. But, if Basil's passage were altogether to be understood as S. Gaudentius seems to have understood it, Basil would not be contrary to Ephrem, just as S. Gaudentius is not at variance with him; but he would only omit the place of the martyrdom: for the words of Gaudentius, in which these things were being done, are most clearly uttered of the earlier contest and the condemnation of the martyrs, and in the same sense are the words of S. Basil to be explained, if by those words which I have shown to be doubtful he meant the city to be designated.

[18] Another argument of Tillemont from another passage of S. Basil, From other passages of Basil however Tillemont wished to prove his opinion further. A little before the words just given, in the published Works of S. Basil, these are read: He ordered them all, stripped, to die frozen in the open in the middle of the city. These words, if they are genuine words of S. Basil, do indeed make him at variance with S. Ephrem. But Vossius in his Annotations to the Works of S. Ephrem, pag. 736, testifies that in a most ancient manuscript codex of Grottaferrata of the Works of S. Basil there is read, not in the middle of the city, but in the middle of the lake, only a single word being changed: for instead of πόλει there is λίμνῃ. That this reading is far to be preferred, Vossius strives to show from the common consent of the writers who have handed down that the forty martyrs suffered in a lake, and not in the middle of the city. But Tillemont and others allege for their reading the multitude of the codices. I do not deny that the consent of many codices is generally to be preferred to one: but neither can our opponents deservedly deny that many can often be corrected from one, when the circumstances persuade that some passage is corrupt in many.

[19] which we show to be probably corrupt, and to be read in another way. Thus Tillemont in note 4 suspects that another passage of Basil in this same Oration is corrupt, because he cannot compose it with the sayings of SS. the Nyssene, Ephrem and Gaudentius; although he assigns no codex favoring him. With how much greater right therefore does Vossius judge that this passage, which he shows to be at variance with several writers, is faulty in most codices, since he has at least one favoring him? Further, not only the authority of the other writers, but also the sequence of the discourse shows that it should rather be read in the middle of the lake than in the middle of the city. Take Basil's preceding words: For when (the tyrant) had considered the nature of the region, that it was cold, and the season of the year, that it was winter, having watched for the night in which the evil was most increased, especially since the north wind was then blowing in it; then follows: he ordered them all, stripped, etc. If the tyrant observed so many things, in order to expose the Saints to the greatest cold, who would doubt that he also chose the coldest place? But a lake open on every side, and exposed to the winds and covered with ice, was a colder place than the middle of the city. The sequence of the discourse therefore persuades that the genuine reading is in the middle of the lake, and thus we have Basil favoring the common opinion.

[20] Let us hear then the last objection from Basil. For, after relating the death of the Saints, A third argument from Basil, which is frivolous. he adds this: They contended on land, they showed endurance in the air, they were delivered to fire, water received them. Thus Basil, in order to show that all the elements concurred in the Saints' martyrdom: for on land they had endured the earlier things, cold in the air, the bodies of the dead were cast into fire, and finally the ashes into water. But Tillemont asks whether Basil would not rather have brought forward what they suffered while alive upon the water, if they suffered in or upon a lake, than what he said about the ashes cast into water. I answer that Basil wished to attribute something different to each element, and that he did this rightly, because cold is prior in the air to what it is in the water, and is communicated to the water from the air: but frost is not produced by water, but by air. Besides, if they stood upon the ice, they did not suffer wholly in the waters. If they were immersed in the waters up to the middle of the body, not even so were they frozen by the water, but by the air. Wherefore there is nothing that compels us to believe Basil contrary to Ephrem, at least on this side. Cotelier in tom. 2 of the Monuments of the Greek church, pag. 97 and following, published a letter of Basil to the emperor Theodosius, doubting however whether it is truly of Basil the Great. But whether the letter be Basil's, or another's who flourished in Cappadocia in the time of Theodosius, the author in it mentions the most sacred lake of the Sebastenes, in which the truly named and noble forty soldiers of Christ were fixed, while a heavy north wind blew.

[21] Together with Basil, Tillemont wished to bring forward the Nyssene, even against his will, against Ephrem, Tillemont, praising the Nyssene, corrupted his first passage, but unhappily, since the Nyssene does not have what he attributes to him. S. Gregory of Nyssa, he says, says clearly enough that they were exposed to the frost in the public baths; and still more clearly, that the church in which he was delivering his discourse was built on the very place where those Saints suffered. I answer that neither of these is said by the Nyssene. The words of the Nyssene, which he assigns in the margin for the public baths, are these, in Oration 2 on the Forty martyrs: Ἀλλ᾽ ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἅπαντες τουτονὶ καταλαβόντες τὸν τόπον, ὡσεὶ δημοσίοις τότε λουτροῖς σχολάζοντα, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸι μέλλοντες τῷ λουτρῷ καταφαιδρύνειν τὰ σώματα. Which I thus render into Latin, expressing word for word: But unanimously all of them occupying this place, as though it were then given over to public baths, as if they too were about to refresh their bodies with a bath. If anyone wishes to conclude from this passage that the Saints were placed in public baths, he will with the same ease be able to infer that they went thither in order to refresh their bodies: so discordant and improbable is Tillemont's explanation. We shall therefore say more rightly that the lake is compared with public baths on account of the multitude of those entering it together: and that the entrance of the Saints into the lake is compared with the tending of bodies in baths, because they entered the water willingly and briskly.

[22] For the following statement, about a church built on the very place of the martyrdom, he assigns Oration 1 of the Nyssene on the Forty. as also the second: for the Nyssene does not have But there the Nyssene does not say that the place of the martyrdom was that very place in which he was preaching, but that it was not far distant from it. It will be enough to transfer the Latin words hither, that anyone may perceive this: Behold, he says, this sacred field: hence the sheaves of the martyrs were gathered. But if thou desirest to know of what field I speak, do not look about thee far from that which is present. What is this place which embraces the assembly? What does the yearly round of the circle say to thee?.. If thou lookest upon the place, it says that it is itself the stadium of the martyrs etc. In no way can it be legitimately inferred from these things that this oration was delivered on the very place in which the martyrs suffered; but it will rightly be inferred that it was delivered near that place: for that follows from those words, do not look about thee far from that which is present, provided we add what follows. No more can it be shown from the whole Oration that the Nyssene was then discoursing in some church, since various things rather hint that that Oration was delivered in an open place.

[23] the statements cited by Tillemont; For at the beginning the Nyssene says that he is being pressed by the excessive multitude of the people, and nowhere speaks of a church, but often of a most numerous assembly: then toward the end he complains that he cannot be heard for the excessive noise of so great a multitude, and at length for that cause breaks off the Oration unfinished. Besides, on the following day he begins the second Oration thus: Yesterday the martyrs were calling the people to themselves: now, offering themselves, they are received into the hospitality of the church. These words plainly hint that the earlier Oration was not delivered in a church; or at any rate not in the same church in which the second was held on the next day. For which cause it is likely that the first Oration of the Nyssene

was delivered in an open place near the lake: and it is far most certain that the words of the Nyssene alleged by Tillemont in no way favor him, unless they be corrupted, as they have been corrupted by him; but that his opinion is rather refuted by the words alleged at num. 21.

[24] but he sufficiently suggests the common opinion. For the Nyssene says that the place in which the Saints were exposed to the frost was as though then given over to public baths, and that the Saints betook themselves to that place so briskly as if they were going to refresh their bodies with a bath. Both the comparison of the place with public baths, and that of the Saints with those using a bath, requires that we believe that there was water in that place, and that the Saints were set upon the water: which is as consonant with the sayings of S. Ephrem as it is contrary to Tillemont's opinion. Next, from the Nyssene's words it clearly follows that the place was distinct from baths; but that it only had something like public baths in that act: for that reason the particle ὡσεὶ, as though, is added; and presently again ὡς, as, is added, when the martyrs are compared, on account of their briskness, with those entering a bath to refresh their bodies. And so this passage most openly favors the common opinion, and shows that the Saints suffered in a lake, and more probably were partly immersed in the waters, as S. Ephrem has it with the Acts and most other writers. Finally, if anyone should wish to object that it is nowhere clearly said by the Nyssene that the Saints suffered in a lake: I shall answer that neither the Nyssene nor Basil wrote the Acts of those Saints, and therefore passed over many other things which were known to their hearers: for they did not even recount the names of the Saints, so that the silence of one or another about such a matter cannot stand in the way, since others speak.

ACTS

by an anonymous author

From the Greek manuscript codex 1506 of the royal library of Paris, collated with codex 1519 of the same library. Rendered by J. Stilting.

Severianus Mart. at Sebaste in Lesser Armenia (S.)

By an Anonymous writer.

Μετὰ τοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τὴν ἄθλησιν τῶν ἁγἰων τεσσαράκοντα μαρτύρων, τῶν τελευτησάντων ἐν πόλει Σεβαστίᾳ τῆς Ἀρμενίας, ἐπὶ Λικινίου τοῦ βασιλέως· πάλιν διανίσταται ὁ ἀρχέκακος δαίμων κατὰ τῶν εὐσεβούντων, καὶ ὑποτίθεταί τισιν ἑαυτοῦ ἐργάταις φθόνῳ καὶ φόνῳ κινηθῆναι κατὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν· ἤνθει δὲ κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν καιρὸν ὁ ὁσιώτατος μάρτυς Σευηριανὸς ἐν θεοσεβείᾳ, καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπῃ ἐνεφαιδρύνετο, ὡς ἔκπληξιν ἔχειν πάντας ἐπὶ τῇ παῤῥησίᾳ τοῦ ἁγίου μάρτυρος . Πολλῶν γὰρ παραινούντων αὐτῷ φυγεῖν τὸν καιρὸν, καὶ μὴ παῤῥησίᾳ χρησάμενον εἰς προφανῆ κίνδυνον ἐμπεσεῖν, ἔλεγεν ὁ ἅγιος· οὐ μὴ ὑποκρίνομαι τοὺς θεοὺς τῶν ἑλλήνων, οὐδὲ μὴ καυχᾶσθαι ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ * τοὺς ἀσεβεῖς παρασκευάσω, ἐλέγξω δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν ἄθεον πλάνην, ὅτι στρατιώτης Χριστοῦ δυνατώτερός ἐστιν ἀσεβοῦς βασιλέως. Ταύτην δὲ λέγων τὴν φωνὴν δημοσίᾳ ἐν τῇ πόλει Σεβαστίᾳ, ἐνετείλατό τισιν ἐκ τῆς χώρας αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖ οὖσιν ἵνα μετὰ τὴν τελείωσιν τῆς μαρτυρίας αὐτοῦ τὰ λείψανα αὐτοῦ κομίσωνται.

[2] Διαβάλλεται οὖν τῷ δουκὶ Λυσίᾳ ὑπό τινων λεγόντων· Σευηριανὸς ὁ στρατιώτης τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐξουσίας, ὁ ἐν τάξει σενατόρων ὑπάρχων κατεφρόνησεν τῶν τοῦ βασιλέως προσταγμάτων καὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας ἐξουσίας, λέγων ἑαυτὸν Χριστιανόν· ὃς καὶ αἴτιος γέγονεν θανάτου τῶν τεσσαράκοντα γενναίων στρατιωτῶν, ἀναστατώσας αὐτοὺς μὴ πειθαρχῆσαι τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως προστάγμασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὥστε καὶ ἐνούσιος ὑπάρχων διέτρεφεν αὐτοῦς τε καὶ ἑτέρους ὄντας ἐγκατακλείστους προστάγματι τῆς σῆς ἐξουσίας. Ταῦτα δὲ ἀκούσας ὁ Δοὺξ βρίξας ἐξαπέστειλεν ὑπηρέτας τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μανίας, κεφαλικὴν αὐτοῖς ἀπειλήσας τιμωρίαν, εἰ μὴ τάχειον παραστήσωσιν τὸν Σευηριανόν. Ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ ἅγιος Σευηριανὸς γενναίῳ φρονήματι αὐτὸς δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπήντησεν καὶ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸ Πραιτώριον λέγει πρὸς τὸν Δοῦκα· ἰδοὺ ζητούμενος πάρειμι, τοῦ ὑποδεῖξαι ὑμῖν ὅτι οὔκ ἐστιν χρείαν λόγων πρὸς τὸ ὑποδεῖξαι τῆς ἀσεβείας ὑμῶν τὴν ἀταξίαν· ἤλεγξεν γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἡ πεῖρα τῶν πρώην μαρτυρησάντων, ὡς καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ μηχαναὶ ὑμῶν ^f κατήργηνται ὑπὸ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρατιωτῶν, μὴ ἰσχυσάντων ὑμῶν μεταπεῖσαι αὐτῶν τὸν εὐσεβῆ λογισμὸν· καίπερ προσαγαγόντες αὐτοῖς τοσαύτας πικρὰς βασάνους. Ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖς μὲν καὶ οἱ προσκυνούμενοι παρ᾽ ὑμῶν δαίμονες κατησχύνθητε, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἐστεφανώθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ.

[3] Τότε ὁ Δοὺξ μὴ φέρων αὐτοῦ τὴν παῤῥησίαν, καὶ ὅτι προπετῶς ὕβρισεν αὐτὸν, βρίξας ὡς λέων ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἀποδοθῆναι καὶ διαταθῆναι καὶ νεύροις ξηροῖς τύπτεσθαι αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ τυπτόμενος ἔλεγεν· ἐπὶ τοῦ νώτου μου ἐτέκτανον οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ· ἐμάκρυναν τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῶν. Μετὰ δὲ τὸ ἰκανῶς καμεῖν τοὺς ὑπηρέτας καὶ ἀτονῆσαι, ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Δοὺξ ἐπαρθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· Ἴδες Σευηριανὲ τί σοι προεξένισεν ἡ ἄκαιρός σου θρασύτης καὶ ἡ παῤῥησία τοῦ Χριστοῦ σου. Ὁ μάρτυς Σευηριανὸς λέγει· εἰ εἶχες ὀφθαλμοὺς, ἐδείκνυόν σοι τί μοι προεξένησεν ἡ ἄκαιρος αὕτη θρασύτης ἣν σὺ λέγεις, νῦν δὲ τυφλὸς εἶ καὶ ἰδεῖν τὰ προκείμενά μοι βασίλεια οὐ δύνασαι, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ στόχασαι ὅτι βλέπων ἐκεῖνα μετάρσιος γίνομαι τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὸ σῶμα * νεκρὸν βασανίζεις, τῆς ψυχῆς μου ἀποδημούσης, καὶ τῆς θεραπείας τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ προσασχολουμένης.

[4] Λυσίας ὁ Δοὺξ λέγει· Κομπάζεις, Σευηριανὲ, ἀπάξεις τοὺς ἀνοήτους, ἐμὲ δὲ οὐ δύνασαι συναρπάσαι· ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον δέ σε αἰκισμοῖς βασανίσω, ἕως ἂν ὁμολογήσῃς τῶν θεῶν τὴν δεσποτείαν. Ὁ ἅγιος Σευηριανὸς λέγει· πράττε ὅσα ἂν βούλῃ καὶ προσάγαγε τὰς μιαράς σου θυσίας, καὶ μαθήσῃ τοῦ Κυρίου μου τὴν δύναμιν· μᾶλλον σὺ ἀτονήσεις ἐπινοῶν τὰ κολαστήρια ἢ ἐγὼ ὑφιστάμενος τὰ παρά σοι ἐπιφερόμενά μοι βασανιστήρια. Ὁ Δοὺξ λέγει· ἀγνοεῖς τρισάθλιε ὅτι στρατιώτης ὢν ἄρχοντι διαλέγει ; ὁ ἅγιος Σευηριανὸς λέγει· παῤῥησίαν μοι δίδωσιν ἡ εὐσέβεια τοῦ Χριστοῦ μου. Τοιούτῳ γὰρ λατρεύω Θεῷ, ὃς καὶ βασιλέων ἀσεβῶν καταφρονεῖν με ποιεῖ καὶ ἄρχοντας εἰς οὐδὲν ἡγεῖσθαι τοὺς μὴ κατὰ νόμους πολιτευομένους. Ὀνειδίζεις γάρ μοι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα ὅτι στρατιώτης εἰμὶ, ἀλλὰ μάθε καὶ τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ μου εὐγένειαν, ὃς ἀνεγένησέν με ἐν τῷ αἵματι αὐτοῦ καὶ βασιλέων με ἐποίησε βασιλικώτερον καὶ ἀρχόντων δυνατώτερον· ὅθεν νῦν ὡς ἀνδραπόδῳ σοι διαλέγομαι, ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ Χριστόν μου ἐλπίδος, ὃς πᾶσαν τὴν τοῦ βίου τέρψιν ὡς κόπρον ἔπεισεν ἡμᾶς ἡγήσασθαι *· μὴ οὖν νομίσῃς ἐκ τῆς περί σε φαντασίας καταπλῆξαί με. Ὁ Χριστὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὑπερασπιστής μου.

[5] Ὑπερζέσας δὲ τῷ θυμῷ ὁ Δοὺξ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν κρεμασθέντα ξέσεσθαι· οἱ δὲ ὑπηρέται πανταχόθεν αὐτὸν ὡς θῆρες περικυκλώσαντες ἀνήρτησαν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ ἔξεον. ὁ δὲ ἅγιος βασανιζόμενος ἔλεγεν· κύριέ μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ, ὁ τῆς ἀοράτου καὶ ὁρατῆς κτίσεως δημιουργὸς, ὁ αἰχμαλωτεύσας τὸν ᾄδην, ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ θριαμβεύσας τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας, καὶ παραδειγματίσας τὸν ἄρχοντα τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, ὁ τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀποστόλοις δεδωκὼς δύναμιν ἐξ ὕψους καὶ πολλοῖς λύκοις ἀνεπειρεάστους διατηρήσας, ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς βαβυλωνίας καμίνου τὴν φλόγα χαλινώσας, καὶ τὰ σώματα τῶν τριῶν παίδων ἄσπιλα διατηρήσας *, δυνάμωσόν με κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ καὶ ἐνίσχυσόν με κύριε· εὖ γὰρ γινώσκεις τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως τὴν ἀσθένειαν· ὅτι χόρτου ξηροῦ ἀτελεστέρα ἡ δύναμίς μου καὶ ἄνθους προσκαίρου ὀλιγοχρονιωτέρα ἐστὶν ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν, δὸς δόξαν τῷ ὀνόματί σου καταλύσας τὴν δυναστείαν τῶν ἐπανισταμένων τῇ ἁγίᾳ σου ποίμνῃ, ἵνα γνῷ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ Θεὸς μόνος. Ὡς δὲ ἐπάυσατο προσευχόμενος, ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Δοὺξ κατενεχθῆναι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ ἀπειλήσας αὐτὸν ὅτι ἐὰν μὴ εὐπειθέστερος ἔλθοις εἰς ἑτέραν ἐξέτάσιν, σωφρονισθήσῃ διὰ πλειόνων βασάνων.

[6] Ἀπαγόμενος δὲ ὁ ἅγιος εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον, διὰ πάσης τῆς πόλεως ἐβόα λέγων· οἱ τῶν ἀπογραψαμένων εἰς τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ στάδιον ἀγωνιστῶν τὰ τραύματα βλέποντες, ἐννοήσατε καὶ τῶν πόνων τὰ ἔπαθλα. Εἰ γὰρ βασιλεὺς τῶν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἀποθανόντων [καὶ] εἰς τιμὴν ἀνδρισαμένων λαμπραῖς δωρεαῖς τιμᾷ τοὺς ἐκείνων συγγενεῖς, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ὁ ἡμέτερος ἀγωνοθέτης Χριστὸς ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι μετόχους ἀναδείξει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἀγωνιζομένους; ἠκολούθει δὲ αὐτῷ ὄχλος πολὺς ἕως τῆς φυλακῆς, καὶ συνταξάμενος αὐτοῖς εἰσήλθεν χαίρων καὶ δοξάζων τὸν Θεόν.

[7] Μετὰ δὲ πέντε ἡμέρας ἐκέλευσεν ὁ Δοὺξ ἀχθῆναι αὐτὸν, καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτόν· ἐγὼ μὲν οἰμαι μὴ χρήζειν σε παραινέσεως, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ τὸ συμφέρον γνοῦς, θυσον τοῖς θεοῖς καὶ μὴ θελήσῃς τῇ προτέρᾳ χρήσασθαι φιλονεικίᾳ ὅπως με μὴ ποιήσῃς ἐν πικροτέραις βασάνοις σε ἀπολέσαι. Ὁ ἅγιος Σευηριανὸς λέγει· ἀνόητε καὶ τρισάθλιε τοσαύτας πληγάς μοι ἐπήγαγες καὶ οὐκ ἐπλάνησάς με, καὶ λόγοις με ἔχεις πεῖσαι; εἰ δὲ καὶ περισσοτέρως αἰκίσεις με, οὐ μὴ ἀρνήσομαι τὸν κύριόν μου Ἰησοῦν . Τότε ὁ Δοὺξ ἐκέλευσεν τύπτεσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸ στόμα λίθοις, λέγων· μὴ μνημόνευε ἐνταῦθα τοῦ ἐσταυρομένου, μιαίνεις γάρ μου τὸ Πραιτώριον· ὁ δὲ ἀθλητὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ μειδιάσας, λέγει· πάσης ἀνομίας μεστὲ, τῶν θεῶν σου μνημονεύων οὐ δοκεῖς μιαίνειν τὸ Πραιτώριον καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ λέγεις τοῦτο; μαίνει δὲ καὶ δυσφορεῖς οὐχ ὅτι μιαίνεταί σου τό Πραιτώριον, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ ἀκούων τοῦ φοβεροῦ ὀνόματος ὀδυνᾶσαι καὶ μαστίζει * τὴν ψυχήν.

[8] Ὁ Δοὺξ λέγει· κρεμάσατε αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ τὰς πλευρὰς αὐτοῦ σπαθήσατε· αὐτὸν γὰρ ὁρῶ ἐπιμένοντα τῇ μωρίᾳ. Ὡς δὲ ἀνήρθησαν αὐτὸν, λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Δοὺξ· ὁμολόγησον τοῦ θῦσαι τοῖς θεοῖς, πρὶν ἄρξωμαι τῶν κατά σου βασάνων, θεώρησον τὰς πλευράς σου καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐλέησον αἰκισμοῖς καταδαπανώμενον. Ὁ ἅγιος λέγει· οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Διὰ τοῦτο οὖν σπεύδω καί σε ὡς μηδεν ὠφελήσαντα καταισχύναι καὶ αἰώνια κληρονομῆσαι. Ὁ δὲ Δοὺξ ὀργισθεὶς ὡς μηδὲν ἀνύων ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους ἀναχθῆναι [καὶ] διασπασθῦναι· καὶ ἀποδήσαντες ἀπὸ τοῦ τραχήλου αὐτοῦ λίθον παμμεγέθη, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ποδῶν, ἐκρέμασαν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ τείχει· διασπωμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἔλεγεν αὐτῷ ὁ Δοὺξ νομίζων χλευάζειν αὐτὸν· ἀγωνίζου Σευηριανὲ, ἵνα μείζονα μίσθον λάβῃς. Ὁ δὲ ἅγιος στενάξας καὶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνατείνας προσηύξατο καὶ εἶπεν· ὁ Θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, ἡ ἐλπὶς τῶν ἐπί σοι πεποιθότων, εἰσάκουσόν μου κύριε ὁ Θεός μου, καὶ χάρισαί μοι τὴν ἐπουράνιον ζωὴν, ὅπως μὴ καυχήσηται ἐπ᾽ ἐμοὶ * ὁ λυμεὼν οὗτος· καὶ

προσευξάμενος ἐμβλέψας τῷ Λυσίᾳ λέγει· εἰ ἐγίνωσκες ἄθλιε τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ ἐπουρανίου Θεοῦ, ὅτι διὰ τῶν προσκαίρων τούτων βασάνων αἰωνίας ἐκφευξώμεθα κολάσεως καὶ ὅτι συμβασιλεύσωμεν Χριστῷ οἱ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ * ἠλπικότες, παντελῶς ηὔχου παθεῖν ἃ νῦν προσάγεις μοι κολαστήρια.

[9] Ταῦτα τοῦ ἁγίου λέγοντος κρεμαμένου ἐπ᾽ τοῦ τείχους, ἐθαύμαζεν ὁ Δοὺξ καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· ἔλεγόν μοι πάντες ὅτι ἰδιώτης εἶ καὶ ἀπαίδευτος, ἐγὼ δὲ ρἥτορος δεινότητα ὁρῶ ἔν σοι. Ὁ ἅγιος λέγει· καὶ ποῖος ρἥτωρ τῷ ἐν ἐμοὶ λαλοῦντι Χριστῷ ἰσωθῆναι δυνήσεται; μὴ οὖν νομίσης ἐμὲ φθέγγεσθαι, ἰδιώτης γάρ εἰμι ὡς ἔμαθες, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ χάρις ἐστὶν ἡ συναγωνιζομένη μοι, ἡ καὶ λαλεῖν με ταῦτα παρασκευάσασα· Καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν προσηύξατο πρὸς Κύριον καὶ εἶπεν· εὐχαριστῶ σοι δέσποτα ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι ἐρύσω με ἐκ παγίδος θηρευτῶν καὶ ἐλυτρώσω με ἐκ τῶν ζητούντων· τὴν ψυχήν μου καὶ ἐταπείνωσας πάντας τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ ὑποκάτω μου, ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ ζῇν Χριστὸς καὶ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν κέρδος· παρατίθημί σοι Χριστὲ τοὺς διὰ τὸ ὄνομά σου διωκομένους, γενοῦ αὐτῶν ὑπέρμαχος ἀσφαλὴς. Καὶ βύθισον τοὺς ἐπανισταμένους τῇ ἁγίᾳ σου ποίμνῇ. ὅτι σου ἔστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

[10] Καὶ πληρώσας τὴν προσευχὴν παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα. Τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον συναχθέντες ἄνδρες εὐλαβεῖς, οἷς καὶ προεῖπεν ὁ ἅγιος, συνέστειλαν τὸ τίμιον αὐτοῦ λείψανον· ἐμαρτύρησεν οὖν ὁ ἅγιος μάρτυς Σευηριανὸς μηνὶ Σεπτεμβρίῳ [mm] θ᾽, βασιλεύοντος Λικινίου, κατὰ δὲ ἡμᾶς βασιλεύοντος τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· μεθ᾽ οὗ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ ζωοποιῷ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

When the Saint was piously helping the Christians, and reproving the gentiles, After the contests and martyrdom of the holy forty martyrs, who fell at Sebaste ^a in Armenia, in the reign of Licinius, again the devil, the author of evils, rose up against the pious, and appointed certain workmen of his own, that they should be moved with envy and slaughter against the Christians ^b. But the most holy martyr Severianus at that same time was flourishing in religion, and shone with the love of God, so that all marveled at the confidence of the holy Martyr. For when many were urging him to flee the occasion, lest by freedom of speech he should fall into open peril, the Saint said: I use no dissimulation regarding the gods of the gentiles, nor will I make the impious glory over me; but I will reprove their impious error ^c, because a soldier of Christ is more powerful than an impious emperor. When he was saying these things publicly in the city of Sebaste, he charged certain persons present there who were of his own country that, when his martyrdom was accomplished, they should gather up his relics.

[2] He is therefore denounced to Lysias the duke ^d by certain men saying: Severianus, a soldier of thy power, [he is denounced to the duke, and, being sought, presents himself of his own accord:] who is of the senatorial order, has despised the commands of the emperor and thy power, calling himself a Christian: who also was the author of the death of those forty brave soldiers ^e, since he incited them not to obey the commands of the emperors. Besides, since he is rich, he has fed both them and others shut up in prison by the order of thy power. When the duke heard these things, raging he sent out the ministers of his fury, threatening them with capital punishment if they did not quickly bring Severianus. But when S. Severianus understood the matter, with a noble resolve he himself went out to meet them of his own accord: and entering the prætorium, he said to the duke: Behold, I whom you seek am here, to show you that there is no need of arguments to demonstrate the disorder of your impiety. For the experience of the martyrs who went before has convicted you, so that all your engines have been shattered by the soldiers of Christ, since you could not persuade them to change their pious resolve, however many bitter torments you brought upon them. But you indeed, and those who adore your demons, have been confounded; while they have been crowned by Christ ^g.

[3] Then the duke, not bearing his freedom of speech, and that he was insolently insulted, answering freely, he is grievously beaten, roaring like a lion, ordered him to be stripped and stretched out ^h, and to be beaten with dried sinews. But he ⁱ, while he was being beaten, said: The sinners have built upon my back: they have prolonged their iniquity. After the ministers were much wearied and were failing, the duke ordered him to be lifted from the ground, and says to him: Thou hast seen, Severianus, what thy untimely boldness and confidence in thy Christ has brought thee. Severianus the martyr says ^k: If thou hadst eyes, I would show thee what this untimely boldness, as thou callest it, has gained me: but now thou art blind, nor canst thou see the royal rewards which are to be mine. But from this conjecture, that I, beholding those things, am borne aloft in soul, and that thou art torturing a dead body, while my soul is away and is occupied with the delight of the promises of our Savior Jesus Christ ^l.

[4] in nothing changed by these things, Lysias the duke replies: Thou boastest magnificently, Severianus; thou wilt seduce the senseless ^m; but thou canst not draw me along with them. But I will press thee so long with insulting torments until thou acknowledge the lordship of the gods. S. Severianus answers: Do what thou wilt, and bring forward thy polluted sacrifices ⁿ, and thou shalt learn the power of my Lord: thou wilt sooner fail ^o in devising punishments than I in enduring the torments inflicted on me by thee. The duke says: Dost thou not know, most wretched man, that thou, a soldier, art speaking with a duke? S. Severianus says: Freedom of speech is afforded me by the worship of my Christ: for I serve such a God as makes me both despise impious emperors and count as nothing those dukes who do not live according to the laws. Thou reproachest me with my manner of life, because I am a soldier: but learn also my nobility in Christ, who regenerated me in his own blood, and made me more of an emperor than emperors, and more powerful than dukes. Whence I now speak to thee as to a slave, out of my hope in Christ, who has taught us to hold every delight of life as dung [p]. Do not think, therefore, that I am to be dismayed by thee through thy pomp: for my defender is Christ [q].

[5] he is torn with hooks: But the duke, boiling beyond measure with anger, ordered him to be hung up [r] and torn with iron hooks. And the ministers, surrounding him on every side like wild beasts [s], raised him upon the wood, and were tearing his sides. But the Saint, being tortured, said: My Lord Jesus Christ, maker of the invisible and visible creation, who didst lead hell captive, who on the cross didst triumph over principalities and powers, and didst put to shame the prince of this world, who gavest to the holy Apostles power from on high, and didst preserve them unconquered against the violence of wolves, who in the furnace of Babylon didst bridle the flames, and didst keep the bodies of the three children unharmed; strengthen me, Lord Jesus Christ, and bestow strength upon me, Lord: for well thou knowest the weakness of human nature, since my strength is feebler than dry hay, and our life is shorter than a fleeting flower. Give [t] glory to thy name, dissolving the dominion of those who rise up against thy holy flock, that all the earth may know that thou alone art God [u]. After he had ceased to pray, the duke ordered him to be let down from the wood and to be led away to prison, threatening him: Unless thou come more obedient to another examination, thou shalt be brought to prudence by more torments.

[6] then he is led to prison. But the Saint, while he was being led away to prison, cried out through the whole city, saying: You who behold the wounds of the athletes who have given their names to the stadium of Christ, consider also the rewards of their labors. For if an emperor honors with splendid gifts the kinsmen of those who fell for him, when they contended manfully for his honor, how shall not our president of the games, Christ, in the age to come rather show as sharers of his kingdom those who contended for him? And a huge crowd of men followed him as far as the prison; and instructing them, he entered joyful and glorifying God.

[7] Brought back to the tribunal, But after five days the duke ordered him to be brought [x]. Then he says to him: I indeed suppose that thou needest no admonition: but, since thou thyself knowest what is expedient for thee, sacrifice to the gods, and do not use thy former contentiousness, lest thou make me destroy thee with more bitter [y] torments. S. Severianus says: Madman and wretch, thou hast inflicted so many stripes upon me, and yet hast not deceived me, and dost thou attempt to try me with words? But even if thou torment me more violently, I will by no means deny my Lord Jesus. Then the duke ordered his mouth to be beaten with stones, saying: Do not make mention of the Crucified [z] here: for thou defilest my prætorium. But the Athlete of Christ, smiling, says [aa]: Thou who art full of all iniquity, when thou makest mention of thy gods [bb], dost thou not believe that thou defilest the prætorium, and dost thou say this of Christ the King? But thou art mad and angry, not because thy prætorium is defiled, but because on hearing that dread name thou art tormented, and art scourged in thy soul.

[8] The duke says: Hang him upon the wood, and consume his sides: and again torn, he is hung up with a stone at his neck and another at his feet, for I see him clinging to his folly. But when they had hung him up, the duke says to him: Promise that thou wilt sacrifice to the gods, before I begin the torments against thee: behold thy sides, and have pity on thyself, consumed with torments. The Saint says: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us. Wherefore I make haste both to confound thee, as one who brings no profit, and to obtain an eternal inheritance [cc]. But the duke, angry that he obtained nothing, ordered him to be lifted up upon the wall and torn asunder [dd]. Binding therefore a huge stone to his neck, and likewise another to his feet, they hung him from the wall [ee]. But when his limbs were thus being torn asunder, the duke, wishing to mock him [ff], said to him: Contend bravely, Severianus, that thou mayest receive a greater reward. But the Saint, after a groan, with his mind lifted up to heaven [gg], prayed and said: O God, Creator of all, hope of those who believe in thee, hear me, Lord God; and mercifully grant me eternal life, that that harmful one may not glory over me [hh]. After his prayers had been poured forth, looking upon Lysias he says: If thou knewest, wretched man, the gift of God who is in heaven — that by these temporary torments we escape eternal punishment, and that we who have hoped in him shall reign with Christ — thou wouldst altogether desire to suffer the torments which thou now bringest upon me.

[9] While the Saint said these things hanging on the wall, the duke marveled [ii], that his limbs might be torn asunder: which bearing bravely, and says to him: All told me that thou wast an unlearned man and untaught: but I see in thee the force of a rhetorician. The Saint says: And what rhetorician will be able to be compared with Christ who speaks in me? Do not therefore think that I am speaking: for I am an unlearned man, as thou hast learned,

as thou hast learned: but it is grace which fights with me, and which has made me speak these things. When he had said this, he was praying to the Lord, and saying: I give thee thanks, O Lord God, because thou hast drawn me out of the snare of the hunters, and hast delivered me from those who sought my soul, and hast humbled beneath me all who rose up against me; because to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. To thee, O Christ, I commend to be preserved those who suffer persecution for thy name: be their sure defender, and drown [kk] those who rise up against thy holy flock, because thine is the kingdom and the glory for ages of ages. Amen.

[10] His prayer ended, he gave up his spirit [ll]. But on the following day pious men, gathered together, he dies: his body taken up by the Christians. to whom the Saint had also foretold this, gathered up his venerable body. And so the holy martyr Severianus was crowned with martyrdom in the month of September, on the IX day, in the reign of Licinius, but with us in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to God the Father, and together to his good and life-giving Spirit, be glory, power, honor and adoration now and always and for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. There is added in the same place καὶ πηλὸν, and mire.

q. There in Greek: ἐμοὶ γὰρ ὁ Χριστός μού ἐστιν ὑπερασπιστὴς καὶ βοηθός. For to me Christ is defender and helper.

r. Here in the said Ms. is inserted ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου, upon the wood.

s. The words ὡς θῆρες, like wild beasts, are not in the other Ms.

t. Here thus in the same Ms.: Ναὶ Κύριέ μου Ἰησοῦ Χριστὲ δὸς, Yea, my Lord Jesus Christ, give etc.

u. There is added in the same place: καί σοι πρέπει ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, αμήν. and to thee is glory fitting for ages, amen.

x. Again there is added: ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος, to the tribunal.

y. In the same place: ἐν δειναῖς καὶ πικροτέραις, with grievous and more bitter etc.

z. In the same place: τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἐσταυρομένου, the name of the Crucified.

aa. Here the following words are inserted: πρὸς αὐτόν· Δόλιε καὶ φονεῦ καὶ, to him: Crafty and murderous and etc.

bb. The praised Ms.: τῶν ματαίων καὶ κιβδήλων σου θεῶν, when thy vain and counterfeit gods etc.

cc. There is added in the same place, ἀγαθά, goods: which comes to the same.

dd. In the praised Ms. it is thus read: ἐπὶ τοῦ τείχους ἀναχθέντα διασπασθῆναι· he ordered him, lifted up upon the wall, to be torn asunder. And presently there follows: καὶ ἀναβιβάσαντες αὔτον ἐπὶ τὸ τεῖχος: and lifting him up upon the wall, and binding etc.

ee. Metaphrastes in Surius set forth in this manner this last torment of the Saint, by which he died: He brings him to the wall: and when he had bound two very great and very heavy stones, one to his neck, the other to his feet, and had girded the Martyr with a rope, he lets him down from the wall hanging on high, that, his limbs being torn asunder by the weight of the stones, he might violently break off his life. I do not doubt of this exposition, since it agrees excellently with the Acts. The figure of the martyr so hanging Gallonio exhibits in his Italian Work on the Instruments of martyrdom, pag. 17, lit. b. But the figure of S. Severianus hanging from the wall which is given in the recent edition of the Basilian Menology at the 9th of September is not exact, just as neither is the Saint's death rightly there set forth, because the stone which was bound to his neck is omitted, and thence an altogether different figure of one hanging is exhibited. Tillemont too (tom. 5 pag. 511 of the second edition) has strayed far from the truth, when he thus wrote of the Saint's death: At length (the duke) ordered a stone to be bound to his neck, and another to his feet, and in that condition ordered him to be cast down headlong from the top of a certain wall. Let whoever will compare these things with the words given from Surius, which nevertheless are assigned in the margin; and let him consider how little we can trust the interpretations of that writer, when we frequently detect similar blunders in him.

ff. In the often-praised codex these things are thus expressed: ἐπιπολὺ δὲ αὐτοῦ κρεμαμένου καὶ διασπωμένου τοῖς μέλεσιν, ἔλεγεν αὐτῷ ὁ δοὺξ, ὡς δῆθεν χλευάζων αὐτόν. But when he had hung long, and his limbs had been dissolved, the duke said to him, as though mocking him.

gg. There is added in the same place: τὴν διάνοιαν, which I have also expressed.

hh. There these words are added: καὶ βάσκανος ἐχθρὸς· καὶ ταῦτα etc. That harmful and envious enemy; and having prayed these things etc.

ii. Add from the same Ms.: τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ὑπομονὴν, his wisdom and endurance.

kk. In the said Ms.: καὶ καταίσχυνον καὶ ὄλεσον τοὺς etc.: and confound and destroy those etc.

ll. There is added in the same place: αὐτοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ, his spirit to the Lord.

mm. In the other Ms. is read: Νοεμβρίῳ, November: by which the month of the martyrdom is made doubtful. But Metaphrastes and all the Greek Calendars stand for the month of September; and therefore I should think the manuscript which I have published is to be preferred, although the other in various places is more elegant and more correct, so far as I can gather from the variants. I suspect that the diction of the former Ms. was polished in the second, and certain grammatical faults corrected. Finally the conclusion is changed, but it is not worth the trouble to add anything about it.

\ al. ἀνδρὸς, of the man*

\* al. χρώμενον

\* al. ἐν ἐμὸι

\* read with the other Ms. ἄλλως τε

\* read with the same, βρύξας

\* likewise read τάχιον

\* ibid. rightly οὔκ ἐστι χρεία

\* al. μηδ᾽ ὅλως

\* al. δί᾽ ὅτι

\* read βρύξας.

\* al. τῶν νώτων

\* in the other Ms. προσεξένησεν

\* al. μὲν is added

\* al. ἄθλιε

\* al. Διαλέγῃ

\* al. νόμον

\ al. τὴν τύχην, fortune*

\* al. ἡγεῖσθαι

\ al. τότε, then*

\* al. ἀνεπηρεάστους

\* al. Διαφυλάξας

\* al. ἠπάτησάς

\* al. αἰκίσης

\* al. is added: Χριστον.

\* with the other Ms. read μαίνῃ

\* likewise μαστίζῃ

\* al. ἐν ἐμοὶ.

\* al. ἐν αὐτῷ