33 - Book IX, Part 1

BOOK NINE. PART ONE. CHAPTERS ONE THROUGH EIGHT. BOOK NINE. CHAPTER ONE. THE PRETENDED RELAXATION. The imperial edict of recantation, which has been quoted above, was posted in all parts of Asia and in the adjoining provinces. After this had been done, Maximinus, the tyrant in the East, a most impious man, if there ever was one, and most hostile to the religion of the God of the Universe, being by no means satisfied with its contents, instead of sending the above-quoted decree to the governors under him, gave them verbal commands to relax the war against us. For since he could not in any other way oppose the decision of his superiors, keeping the law which had been already issued secret, and taking care that it might not be made known in the district under him, he gave an unwritten order to his governors that they should relax the persecution against us. They communicated the command to each other in writing. Sabinus, at least, who was honoured with the highest official rank among them, communicated the will of the Emperor to the provincial governors in a Latin epistle, the translation of which is as follows. With continuous and most devoted earnestness their Majesties, our most divine Masters, the Emperors, formerly directed the minds of all men to follow the holy and correct course of life, that those also who seemed to live in a manner foreign to that of the Romans should render the worship due to the immortal Gods. But the obstinacy and most unconquerable determination of some went so far that they could neither be turned back from their purpose by the just reason of the command, nor be intimidated by the impending punishment. Since, therefore, it has come to pass that by such conduct many have brought themselves into danger, their Majesties, our most powerful Masters, the Emperors, in the exalted nobility of piety, esteeming it foreign to their Majesties' purpose to bring men into so great danger for such a cause, have commanded their devoted servant, myself, to write to thy wisdom, that if any Christian be found engaging in the worship of his own people, thou shouldst abstain from molesting and endangering him, and shouldst not suppose it necessary to punish any one on this pretext. For it has been proved by the experience of so long a time that they can in no way be persuaded to abandon such obstinate conduct. Therefore it should be thy care to write to the Curators, and Magistrates, and District Overseers of every city, that they may know that it is not necessary for them to give further attention to this matter. Thereupon the Rulers of the Provinces, thinking that the purpose of the things which were written was truly made known to them, declared the Imperial Will to the Curators, and Magistrates, and Prefects of the various Districts in writing. But they did not limit themselves to writing, but sought more quickly to accomplish the supposed Will of the Emperor in deeds also. Those whom they had imprisoned on account of their confession of the Deity they set at liberty, and they released those of them who had been sent to the mines for punishment, for they erroneously supposed that this was the true Will of the Emperor. And when these things had thus been done, immediately, like a light shining forth in a dark night, one could see in every city congregations gathered and assemblies thronged, and meetings held according to their custom. And every one of the unbelieving heathen was not a little astonished at these things, wondering at so marvellous a transformation, and exclaiming that the God of the Christians was great and alone true. And some of our people, who had faithfully and bravely sustained the conflict of persecution, again became frank and bold toward all, but as many as had been diseased in the faith and had been shaken in their souls by the tempest, strove eagerly for healing, beseeching and imploring the strong to stretch out to them a saving hand, and supplicating God to be merciful unto them. Then also the noble athletes of religion, who had been set free from their sufferings in the mines, returned to their own homes. Happily and joyfully they passed through every city, full of unspeakable pleasure and of a boldness which cannot be expressed in words. Great crowds of men pursued their journey along the highways and through the market-places, praising God with hymns and psalms. And you might have seen those who a little while before had been driven in bonds from their native countries under a most cruel sentence, returning with bright and joyful faces to their own firesides, so that even they who had formerly thirsted for our blood, when they saw the unexpected wonder, congratulated us on what had taken place. CHAPTER II. THE SUBSEQUENT REVERSE But the tyrant who, as we have said, ruled over the districts of the Orient, a thorough hater of the good and an enemy of every virtuous person, as he was, could no longer bear this. And indeed he did not permit matters to go on in this way quite six months. Devising all possible means of destroying the peace, he first attempted to restrain us, under a pretext, from meeting in the cemeteries. Then through the agency of some wicked men he sent an embassy to himself against us, inciting the citizens of Antioch to ask from him a very great favor that he would by no means permit any of the Christians to dwell in their country, and others were secretly induced to do the same thing. The author of all this in Antioch was Theoteknus, a violent and wicked man, who was an imposter, and whose character was foreign to his name. He appears to have been the curator of the city. CHAPTER III. THE NEWLY ERECTED STATUE AT ANTIOCH After this man had carried on all kinds of war against us, and had caused our people to be diligently hunted up in their retreats as if they were unholy thieves, and had devised every sort of slander and accusation against us, and become the cause of death to vast numbers, he finally erected a statue of Jupiter Filius with certain juggleries and magic rites. And after inventing unholy forms of initiation and ill-omened mysteries in connection with it, and abominable means of purification, he exhibited his jugglery by oracles which he pretended to utter even to the Emperor, and through a flattery which was pleasing to the ruler he aroused the demon against the Christians, and said that the God had given command to expel the Christians as his enemies beyond the confines of the city and the neighboring districts. CHAPTER IV. THE MEMORIALS AGAINST US The fact that this man, who took the lead in this matter, had succeeded in his purpose was an incitement to all the other officials in the cities under the same government to prepare a similar memorial. And the governors of the provinces perceiving that this was agreeable to the Emperor suggested to their subjects that they should do the same. And as the tyrant by a rescript declared himself well pleased with their measures, persecution was kindled anew against us. Priests for the images were then appointed in the cities, and besides them high priests by Maximinus himself. The latter were taken from among those who were most distinguished in public life and had gained celebrity in all the offices which they had filled, and who were imbued, moreover, with great zeal for the service of those whom they worshipped. Indeed, the extraordinary superstition of the Emperor, to speak in brief, led all his subjects, both rulers and private citizens, for the sake of gratifying him to do everything against us, supposing that they could best show their gratitude to him for the benefits which they had received from him, by plotting murder against us, and exhibiting toward us any new signs of malignity. CHAPTER V. THE FORGED ACTS Having therefore forged acts of Pilate and our Saviour full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ, they sent them with the Emperor's approval to the whole of the empire subject to him, with written commands that they should be openly posted to the view of all in every place, both in country and city, and that the schoolmasters should give them to their scholars, instead of their customary lessons, to be studied and learned by heart. While these things were taking place, another military commander, whom the Romans called the Dukes, seized some infamous women in the marketplace at Damascus in Phoenicia, and by threatening to inflict tortures upon them, compelled them to make a written declaration that they had once been Christians, and that they were acquainted with their impious deeds, that in varied churches they committed licentious acts, and they uttered as many other slanders against our religion as he wished them to. Having taken down their words in writing, he communicated them to the Emperor, who commanded that the documents also should be published in every place and city. CHAPTER VI. THOSE WHO SUFFERED MARTYRDOM AT THIS TIME. Not long afterward, however, this military commander became his own murderer and paid the penalty for his wickedness. But we were obliged again to endure exile and severe persecutions, and the governors in every province were once more terribly stirred up against us, so that even some of those illustrious in the divine word were seized and had sentence of death pronounced upon them without mercy. Three of them in the city of Emesa, in Phoenicia, having confessed that they were Christians, were thrown as food to the wild beasts. Among them was a Bishop Silvanus, a very old man, who had filled his office full forty years. At about the same time Peter also, who presided most illustriously over the parishes in Alexandria, a divine example of a bishop on account of the excellence of his life and his study of the sacred scriptures, being seized for no cause and quite unexpectedly, was, as if by command of Maximinus, immediately and without explanation beheaded. With him also many other bishops of Egypt suffered the same fate. And Lucian, a presbyter of the parish at Antioch, and a most excellent man in every respect, temperate in life and famed for his learning in sacred things, was brought to the city of Nicomedia, where at that time the Emperor happened to be staying, and after delivering before the ruler an apology for the doctrine which he professed, was committed to prison and put to death. Such trials were brought upon us in a brief time by Maximinus, the enemy of virtue, so that this persecution which was stirred up against us seemed far more cruel than the former. Chapter 7. THE DECREE AGAINST US WHICH WAS ENGRAVED ON PILLARS The memorials against us and copies of the imperial edicts issued in reply to them were engraved and set up on brazen pillars in the midst of the cities, a course which had never been followed elsewhere. The children in the schools had daily in their mouths the names of Jesus and Pilate and the acts which had been forged in wanton insolence. It appears to me necessary to insert here this document of Maximinus which was posted on pillars, in order that there may be made manifest at the same time the boastful and haughty arrogance of the god-hating man and the sleepless evil-hating divine vengeance upon the impious, which followed close upon him, and under whose pressure he not long afterward took the opposite course in respect to us and confirmed it by written laws. The rescript is in the following words. Copy of a translation of the rescript of Maximinus in answer to the memorials against us, taken from the pillar entire. Now at length the feeble power of the human mind has become able to shake off and to scatter every dark mist of error, which before this besieged the senses of men, who were more miserable than impious, and enveloped them in dark and destructive ignorance, and to perceive that it is governed and established by the beneficent providence of the immortal gods. It passes belief how grateful, how pleasing, and how agreeable it is to us, that you have given a most decided proof of your pious resolution, for even before this it was known to every one how much regard and reverence you were paying to the immortal gods, exhibiting not a faith of bare and empty words, but continued and wonderful examples of illustrious deeds. Wherefore your city may justly be called a seat and dwelling of the immortal gods, at least it appears by many signs that it flourishes because of the presence of the celestial gods. Behold, therefore, your city, regardless of all private advantages, and omitting its former petitions in its own behalf, when it perceived that the adherents of that execrable vanity were again beginning to spread, and to start the greatest conflagration, like a neglected and extinguished funeral pyre when its brands are rekindled, immediately resorted to our piety as to a metropolis of all religiousness, asking some remedy and aid. It is evident that the gods have given you this saving mind on account of your faith and piety. Accordingly that supreme and mightiest Jove, who presides over your illustrious city, who preserves your ancestral gods, your wives and children, your hearths and homes from every destructive pest, has infused into your souls this wholesome resolve, showing and proving how excellent and glorious and salutary it is to observe with the becoming reverence the worship and sacred rites of the immortal gods. For who can be found so ignorant or so devoid of all understanding as not to perceive that it is due to the kindly care of the gods that the earth does not refuse the seed sown in it, nor disappoint the hope of the husbandmen with vain expectation, that impious war is not inevitably fixed upon earth, and wasted bodies dragged down to death under the influence of a corrupted atmosphere, that the sea is not swollen and raised on high by blasts of intemperate winds, that unexpected hurricanes do not burst forth and stir up the destructive tempest, moreover, that the earth, the nourisher and mother of all, is not shaken from its lowest depths with a terrible tremor, and that the mountains upon it do not sink into the opening chasms? No one is ignorant that all these, and evils still worse than these, have oftentimes happened hitherto. And all these misfortunes have taken place on account of the destructive error of the empty vanity of those impious men, when it prevailed in their souls and, we may almost say, weighed down the whole world with shame. After other words, he adds, let them look at the standing crops already flourishing with waving heads in the broad fields, and at the meadows glittering with plants and flowers, in response to abundant rains and the restored mildness and softness of the atmosphere. Finally, let all rejoice that the might of the most powerful and terrible Mars has been propitiated by our piety, our sacrifices, and our veneration, and let them on this account enjoy firm and tranquil peace and quiet, and let as many as have wholly abandoned that blind error and delusion, and have returned to a right and sound mind, rejoice the more, as those who have been rescued from an unexpected storm or severe disease, and are to reap the fruits of pleasure for the rest of their life. But if they still persist in their execrable vanity, let them, as you have desired, be driven far away from your city and territory, that thus, in accordance with your praiseworthy zeal in this matter, your city, being freed from every pollution and impiety, may, according to its native disposition, attend to the sacred rites of the immortal gods with becoming reverence. But that ye may know how acceptable to us your request respecting this matter has been, and how ready our mind is to confer benefits voluntarily, without memorials and petitions, we permit your devotion to ask whatever great gift ye may desire in return for this your pious disposition. And now ask that this may be done and that ye may receive it, for ye shall obtain it without delay. This being granted to your city shall furnish for all time an evidence of reverent piety toward the immortal gods, and of the fact that you have obtained from our benevolence merited prizes for this choice of yours, and it shall be shown to your children and children's children. This was published against us in all the provinces, depriving us of every hope of good, at least from men, so that, according to that divine utterance, if it were possible, even the elect would have stumbled at these things. And now, indeed, when the hope of most of us was almost extinct, suddenly, while those who were to execute against us the above decree had in some places scarcely finished their journey, God, the defender of His own Church, exhibited His heavenly interposition in our behalf, well nigh stopping the tyrants' boasting against us. CHAPTER VIII. THE MISFORTUNES WHICH HAPPENED IN CONNECTION WITH THESE THINGS, IN FAMINE, PESTILENCE, AND WAR. The customary rains and showers of the winter season ceased to fall in their wanted abundance upon the earth, and an unexpected famine made its appearance, and in addition to this a pestilence, and another severe disease consisting of an ulcer, which on account of its fiery appearance was appropriately called a carbuncle. This spreading over the whole body greatly endangered the lives of those who suffered from it, but as it chiefly attacked the eyes, it deprived multitudes of men, women, and children of their sight. In addition to this, the tyrant was compelled to go to war with the Armenians, who had been from ancient times friends and allies of the Romans. As they were also Christians, and zealous in their piety toward the Deity, the Enemy of God had attempted to compel them to sacrifice to idols and demons, and had thus made friends foes and allies enemies. All these things suddenly took place at one and the same time, and refuted the tyrant's empty vaunt against the Deity. For he had boasted that, because of his zeal for idols and his hostility against us, neither famine nor pestilence nor war had happened in his time. These things, therefore, coming upon him at once and together, furnished a prelude also of his own destruction. He himself, with his forces, was defeated in the war with the Armenians, and the rest of the inhabitants of the cities under him were terribly afflicted with famine and pestilence, so that one measure of wheat was sold for twenty-five hundred adik drachmas. Those who died in the cities were innumerable, and those who died in the country and villages were still more, so that the tax lists which formerly included a great rural population were almost entirely wiped out, nearly all being speedily destroyed by famine and pestilence. Some, therefore, desired to dispose of their most precious things to those who were better supplied in return for the smallest morsel of food, and others, selling their possessions little by little, fell into the last extremity of want. Some, chewing wisps of hay and recklessly eating noxious herbs, undermined and ruined their constitutions. And some of the high-born women in the cities, driven by want to shameful extremities, went forth into the market-places to beg, giving evidence of their former liberal culture by the modesty of their appearance and the decency of their apparel. Some, wasted away like ghosts and at the very point of death, stumbled and tottered here and there, and too weak to stand fell down in the middle of the streets, lying stretched out at full length, they begged that a small morsel of food might be given them, and with their last gasp they cried out, Hunger! having strength only for this most painful cry. But others, who seemed to be better supplied, astonished at the multitude of the beggars, after giving away large quantities, finally became hard and relentless, expecting that they themselves also would soon suffer the same calamities as those who begged, so that in the midst of the market-places and lanes dead and naked bodies lay unburied for many days, presenting the most lamentable spectacle to those that beheld them. Some also became food for dogs, on which account the survivors began to kill the dogs, lest they should become mad and should go to devouring men. But still worse was the pestilence which consumed entire houses and families, and especially those whom the famine was not able to destroy because of their abundance of food. Thus men of wealth, rulers and governors and multitudes in office, as if left by the famine on purpose for the pestilence, suffered swift and speedy death. Every place, therefore, was full of lamentation. In every lane and market-place and street there was nothing else to be seen or heard than tears, with the customary instruments and the voices of the mourners. In this way death, waging war with these two weapons, pestilence and famine, destroyed whole families in a short time, so that one could see two or three dead bodies carried out at once. Such were the rewards of the boasting of Maximinus and of the measures of the cities against us. Then did the evidences of the universal zeal and piety of the Christians become manifest to all the heathen. For they alone in the midst of such ills showed their sympathy and humanity by their deeds. Every day some continued caring for and burying the dead, for there were multitudes who had no one to care for them. Others collected in one place those who were afflicted by the famine throughout the entire city and gave bread to them all, so that the thing became noised abroad among men, and they glorified the God of the Christians, and, convinced by the facts themselves, confessed that they alone were truly pious and religious. After these things were thus done, God, the great and celestial Defender of the Christians, having revealed in the events which have been described His anger and indignation at all men for the great evils which they had brought upon us, restored to us the bright and gracious sunlight of His providence in our behalf, so that in the deepest darkness a light of peace shone most wonderfully upon us from Him, and made it manifest to all that God Himself has always been the ruler of our affairs. From time to time, indeed, He chastens His people and corrects them by His visitations, but again, after sufficient chastisement, He shows mercy and favor to those who hope in Him.