31 - Martyrs of Palestine, Part 2

THE MARTYRS OF PALESTINE Part 2 by Arthur Cushman McGuifford. In the fourth year of the persecution against us, on the twelfth day before the calends of December, which is the twentieth day of the month Dias, on the day before the Sabbath, while the tyrant Maximinus was present and giving magnificent shows in honour of his birthday, the following event, truly worthy of record, occurred in the city of Caesarea. As it was an ancient custom to furnish the spectators more splendid shows when the emperors were present than at other times, new and foreign spectacles taking the place of the customary amusements, such as animals brought from India or Ethiopia or other places, or men who could astonish the beholders with skilful bodily exercises, it was necessary at this time, as the emperor was giving the exhibition, to add to the shows something more wonderful. And what should this be? A witness of our doctrine was brought into the midst and endured the contest for the true and only religion. This was Agapius, who, as we have stated a little above, was with Thecla, the second to be thrown to the wild beasts for food. He had also, three times and more, marched with malefactors from the prison to the arena, and every time, after threats from the judge, whether in compassion or in hope that he might change his mind, had been reserved for other conflicts. But the emperor being present, he was brought out at this time, as if he had been appropriately reserved for this occasion, until the very word of the Saviour should be fulfilled in him, which through divine knowledge he declared to his disciples that they should be brought before kings on account of their testimony unto him. He was taken into the midst of the arena with a certain malefactor who they said was charged with the murder of his master. But this murderer of his master, when he had been cast to the wild beasts, was deemed worthy of compassion and humanity, almost like Barabbas in the time of our Saviour, and the whole theatre resounded with shouts and cries of approval, because the murderer was humanely saved by the emperor, and deemed worthy of honour and freedom. But the athlete of religion was first summoned by the tyrant and promised liberty if he would deny his profession. But he testified with a loud voice that, not for any fault but for the religion of the Creator of the universe, he would readily and with pleasure endure whatever might be inflicted upon him. Having said this, he joined the deed to the word, and rushed to meet a bear which had been let loose against him, surrendering himself most cheerfully to be devoured by him. After this, as he still breathed, he was cast into prison, and living yet one day, stones were bound to his feet, and he was drowned in the depths of the sea. Such was the martyrdom of Agapius. Again in Caesarea, when the persecution had continued to the fifth year, on the second day of the month Xanthicus, which is the fourth before the nuns of April, on the very Lord's day of our Saviour's resurrection, Theodosia, a virgin from Tyre, a faithful and sedate maiden, not yet eighteen years of age, went up to certain prisoners who were confessing the kingdom of Christ and sitting before the judgment seat, and saluted them, and, as is probable, besought them to remember her when they came before the Lord. Thereupon, as if she had committed a profane and impious act, the soldiers seized her and led her to the governor, and he immediately, like a madman and a wild beast in his anger, tortured her with dreadful and most terrible torments in her sides and breasts, even to the very bones, and as she still breathed, and withal stood with a joyful and beaming countenance, he ordered her thrown into the waves of the sea, then passing from her to the other confessors, he condemned all of them to the copper mines in Pheno in Palestine. Afterwards on the fifth of the month Dias, on the nuns of November according to the Romans, in the same city, Silvanus, who at that time was a presbyter and confessor, but who shortly after was honoured with the episcopate and died a martyr, and those with him, men who had shown the noblest firmness in behalf of religion, were condemned by him to labour in the same copper mines, command being first given that their ankles be disabled with hot irons. At the same time he delivered to the flames a man who was illustrious through numerous other confessions, this was Domninus, who was well known to all in Palestine for his exceeding fearlessness. After this the same judge, who was a cruel contriver of suffering, and an inventor of devices against the doctrine of Christ, planned against the pious punishments that had never been heard of. He condemned three to single pugilistic combat. He delivered to be devoured by wild beasts Auxentius, a grave and holy old man. Others who were in mature life he made eunuchs, and condemned them to the same mines. Yet others, after severe tortures, he cast into prison. Among these was my dearest friend Pamphilus, who was by reason of every virtue the most illustrious of the martyrs in our time. Urbanus first tested him in rhetorical philosophy and learning, and afterwards endeavoured to compel him to sacrifice. But as he saw that he refused, and in no wise regarded his threats, being exceedingly angry, he ordered him to be tormented with severest tortures. And when the brutal man, after he had almost satiated himself with these tortures by continuous and prolonged scrapings in his sides, was yet covered with shame before all, he put him also with the confessors in prison. But what recompense for his cruelty to the saints, he who thus abused the martyrs of Christ, shall receive from the divine judgment, may be easily determined from the preludes to it, in which immediately, and not long after his daring cruelties against Pamphilus, while he yet held government, the divine judgment came upon him. For thus suddenly, he who but yesterday was judging on the lofty tribunal, guarded by a band of soldiers, and ruling over the whole nation of Palestine, the associate and dearest friend and table-companion of the tyrant himself, was stripped in one night, and overwhelmed with disgrace and shame before those who had formerly admired him as if he were himself an emperor, and he appeared cowardly and unmanly, uttering womanish cries and supplications to all the people whom he had ruled. And Maximinus himself, in reliance upon whose favor Urbanus was formerly so arrogantly insolent, as if he loved him exceedingly for his deeds against us, was set as a harsh and most severe judge in this same Caesarea to pronounce sentence of death against him, for the great disgrace of the crimes of which he was convicted. Let us say this in passing. A suitable time may come when we shall have leisure to relate the end and the fate of those impious men who especially fought against us, both of Maximinus himself and those with him. CHAPTER VIII. Up to the sixth year the storm had been incessantly raging against us. Before this time there had been a very large number of confessors of religion in the so-called Porphyry quarry in Thebaeus, which gets its name from the stone found there. Of these one hundred men, lacking three, together with women and infants, were sent to the governor of Palestine. When they confessed the God of the universe and Christ, Vermilianus, who had been sent there as governor in the place of Urbanus, directed, in accordance with the imperial command, that they should be maimed by burning the sinews of the ankles of their left feet, and that their right eyes with the eyelids and pupils should first be cut out, and then destroyed by hot irons to the very roots. And he then sent them to the mines in the province to endure hardships with severe toil and suffering. But it was not sufficient that these only who suffered such miseries should be deprived of their eyes, but those natives of Palestine also, who were mentioned just above as condemned to pugilistic combat, since they would neither receive food from the royal storehouse nor undergo the necessary preparatory exercises. Having been brought on this account not only before the overseers, but also before Maximinus himself, and having manifested the noblest persistence in confession by the endurance of hunger and stripes, they received like punishment with those whom we have mentioned, and with them other confessors in the city of Caesarea. Immediately afterwards others who were gathered to hear the scriptures read were seized in Gaza, and some endured the same sufferings in the feet and eyes, but others were afflicted with yet greater torments and with most terrible tortures in the sides. One of these, in body a woman, but in understanding a man, would not endure the threat of fornication, and spoke directly against the tyrant who entrusted the government to such cruel judges. She was first scourged, and then raised aloft on the stake, and her sides lacerated. As those appointed for this purpose applied the tortures incessantly and severely at the command of the judge, another, with mind fixed, like the former, on virginity as her aim, a woman who was altogether mean in form and contemptible in appearance, but on the other hand strong in soul and endowed with an understanding superior to her body, being unable to bear the merciless and cruel and inhuman deeds, with a boldness beyond that of the combatants famed among the Greeks, cried out to the judge from the midst of the crowd, ìAnd how long will you thus cruelly torture my sister?î But he was greatly enraged, and ordered the woman to be immediately seized. Thereupon she was brought forward, and having called herself by the august name of the Saviour, she was first urged by words to sacrifice, and as she refused she was dragged by force to the altar, but her sister continued to maintain her former zeal, and with intrepid and resolute foot kicked the altar, and overturned it with the fire that was on it. Thereupon the judge, enraged like a wild beast, inflicted on her such tortures in her sides as he never had on anyone before, striving almost to glut himself with her raw flesh. But when his madness was satiated he bound them both together, this one and her whom she called sister, and condemned them to death by fire. It is said that the first of these was from the country of Gaza, the other, by name Valentina, was of Caesarea, and was well known to many. But how can I describe as it deserves the martyrdom which followed, with which the thrice-blessed Paul was honored? He was condemned to death at the same time with them, under one sentence. At the time of his martyrdom, as the executioner was about to cut off his head, he requested a brief respite. This being granted, he first, in a clear and distinct voice, supplicated God in behalf of his fellow Christians, praying for their pardon, and that freedom might soon be restored to them. Then he asked for the conversion of the Jews to God through Christ, and proceeding in order he requested the same things for the Samaritans, and besought that those Gentiles, who were in error and were ignorant of God, might come to a knowledge of Him, and adopt the true religion. Nor did he leave neglected the mixed multitude who were standing around. After all these, oh, great and unspeakable forbearance, he entreated the God of the universe for the judge who had condemned him to death, and for the highest rulers, and also for the one who was about to behead him, in his hearing and that of all present, beseeching that their sin toward him should not be reckoned against them. Having prayed for these things with a loud voice, and having, as one who was dying unjustly, moved almost all to compassion and tears, of his own accord he made himself ready, and submitted his bare neck to the stroke of the sword, and was adorned with divine martyrdom. This took place on the twenty-fifth day of the month Panemus, which is the eighth before the calends of August. Such was the end of these persons. But not long after, one hundred and thirty admirable athletes of the Confession of Christ from the land of Egypt endured, in Egypt itself, at the command of Maximinus the same afflictions in their eyes and feet with the former persons, and were sent to the above-mentioned mines in Palestine, but some of them were condemned to the mines in Cilicia. CHAPTER IX. After such noble acts of the distinguished martyrs of Christ, the flame of persecution lessened, and was quenched, as it were, by their sacred blood, and relief and liberty were granted to those who, for Christ's sake, were laboring in the mines of Thebaeus, and for a little time we were beginning to breathe pure air. But by some new impulse, I know not what, he who held the power to persecute was again aroused against the Christians. Immediately letters from Maximinus against us were published everywhere in every province. The governors and the military prefect urged by edicts and letters and public ordinances the magistrates and generals and notaries in all the cities to carry out the imperial decree, which ordered that the altars of the idols should with all speed be rebuilt, and that all men, women, and children, even infants at the breast, should sacrifice and offer oblations, and that with diligence and care they should cause them to taste of the execrable offerings, and that the things for sale in the market should be polluted with libations from the sacrifices, and that guards should be stationed before the baths in order to defile with the abominable sacrifices those who went to wash in them. When these orders were being carried out, our people, as was natural, were at the beginning greatly distressed in mind, and even the unbelieving heathen blamed the severity and the exceeding absurdity of what was done, for these things appeared to them extreme and burdensome. As the heaviest storm impended over all and every quarter, the divine power of our Saviour again infused such boldness into His athletes that without being drawn on or dragged forward by any one, they spurned the threats. Three of the faithful joining together rushed on the governor as he was sacrificing to the idols, and cried out to him to cease from his delusion there being no other God than the Maker and Creator of the universe. When he asked who they were, they confessed boldly that they were Christians. Thereupon Formilianus, being greatly enraged, sentenced them to capital punishment without inflicting tortures upon them. The name of the eldest of these was Antoninus, of the next Zebinus, who was a native of Eleutheropolis, and of the third Germanus. This took place on the thirteenth of the month Dias, the Ides of November. There was associated with them on the same day Innathus, a woman from Scythopolis, who was adorned with the chaplet of virginity. She did not indeed do as they had done, but was dragged by force and brought before the judge. She endured scourgings and cruel insults, which Maxis, a tribune of a neighboring district, without the knowledge of the superior authority, dared to inflict upon her. He was a man worse than his name, sanguinary in other respects, exceedingly harsh and altogether cruel, and censured by all who knew him. This man stripped the blessed woman of all her clothing, so that she was covered only from her loins to her feet and the rest of her body was bare. And he led her through the entire city of Caesarea, and regarded it as a great thing to beat her with the thongs while she was dragged through all the marketplaces. After such treatment she manifested the noblest constancy at the judgment seat of the governor himself, and the judge condemned her to be burned alive. He also carried his rage against the pious to a most inhuman length and transgressed the laws of nature, not being ashamed even to deny burial to the lifeless bodies of the sacred men. Thus he ordered the dead to be exposed in the open air as food for wild beasts and to be watched carefully by night and day. For many days a large number of men attended to this savage and barbarous decree, and they looked out from their post of observation, as it were a matter worthy of care, to see that the dead bodies should not be stolen. And wild beasts and dogs and birds of prey scattered the human limbs here and there, and the whole city was strewed with the entrails and bones of men. So that nothing had ever appeared more dreadful and horrible, even to those who formerly hated us, though they bewailed not so much the calamity of those against whom these things were done as the outrage against themselves and the common nature of man. For there was to be seen near the gates a spectacle beyond all description and tragic recital, for not only was human flesh devoured in one place, but it was scattered in every place, so that some said that limbs and masses of flesh and parts of entrails were to be seen even within the gates. After these things had continued for many days, a wonderful event occurred. The air was clear and bright, and the appearance of the sky most serene. When suddenly throughout the city from the pillars which supported the public porches many drops fell like tears, and the market places and streets, though there was no mist in the air, were moistened with sprinkled water, whence I know not. Then immediately it was reported everywhere that the earth, unable to endure the abomination of these things, had shed tears in a mysterious manner, and that as a rebuke to the relentless and unfeeling nature of men, stones and lifeless wood had wept for what had happened. I know well that this account may perhaps appear idle and fabulous to those who come after us, but not to those to whom the truth was confirmed at the time. CHAPTER X. On the fourteenth day of the following month, Apellius, the nineteenth before the calends of January, certain persons from Egypt were again seized by those who examined people passing the gates. They had been sent to minister to the confessors in Cilicia. They received the same sentence as those whom they had gone to help, being mutilated in their eyes and feet. Three of them exhibited in Ascalon, where they were imprisoned, marvellous bravery in the endurance of various kinds of martyrdom. One of them named Ares was condemned to the flames, and the others, called Probus and Ilias, were beheaded. CHAPTER X. On the seventh day of the month Audinius, which is the third before the Ides of January, in the same city of Caesarea, Peter, an ascetic, also called Absalomus, from the village of Aeneas, on the borders of Eleutheropolis, like purest gold, gave noble proof by fire of his faith in the Christ of God. Though the judge and those around him besought him many times to have compassion on himself and to spare his own youth and bloom, he disregarded them, preferring hope in the God of the universe to all things, even to life itself. A certain Asclepius, supposed to be a bishop of the sect of Marcion, possessed as he thought with zeal for religion, but not according to knowledge, ended his life on one and the same funeral pyre. These things took place in this manner. End of The Martyrs of Palestine Part 2