MARTYRS IN THE CHURCH
1. Introduction: Martyrs as Witnesses and Teachers of the Faith

2. Acts of the Martyrs

3. Eusebius of Caesarea as principal source for the Acts of the Martyrs

 

3.1 The Martyrs of Alexandria in Egypt

3.2 The Martyrs in the Thebais

3.3 The Martyrs of Tyre in Phoenicia

3.4 The Martyrs of Pontus in Asia Minor

3.5 Martyrdom of S. Symphorosa and her Seven Sons

3.6 Martyrdom of Ptolemy, Lucius and another

3.7 Martyrdom of S. Maximus

3.8 The Scillitan Martyrs

3.9 Martyrdom of the Christians of Alexandria

3.10 Martyrdom of the Centurion, S. Marinus

3.11 Martyrdom of the Deacon, S. Euplius

3.12 The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste

3.13 Martyrdom of S. Symeon

3.14 Martyrdom of S. Polycarp

3.15 Martydom of SS. Carpus, Papylus and Agathonice

3.16 Martyrdom of S. Apollonius

3.17 Martyrdom of S. Pionius

3.18 Countless Martyrs

3.19 Martyrdom of S. Conon

3.20 Martyrdom of the ascetics Samona and Gurias

4. How Many Martyrs were there?

5. Conclusion - Remembering the Martyrs, everlasting witnesses to the love of Christ and of the Church. (Pope John Paul II in "The Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 -Incarnationis mysterium", the Bull of Indiction for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000)

6. Martyrs as Radical Witnesses (Juan E. Vecchi, Superior General of the Salesians of Don Bosco)

1. Introduction: Martyrs as Witnesses and Teachers of the Faith
Living these days requires much courage. There are many reasons to be afflicted and worried, even if, basically, it is a good time to live with hope for a more serene and pleasant tomorrow. Many risk their life to defend their ideas and freedom,and we have shining examples of heroism.
Still Christians are compelled to make sacrifices to remain such. Is it not true that in some parts of the world there are still oppression and persecution which force those who wish to remain faithful to Christ to do so secretly, as in the earlier times of persecution ? Often, if they are discovered, they have to pay dearly.
Even when it does not come to this, there are less obvious forms of persecution. People can be outcasts, discriminated against in a thousand ways, ridiculed for the way you practise your Christian beliefs!
Such persecutions are no novelty. From the time Christ was sent to the cross, there began a long tale of nearly two thousand years: that of the Christian martyrs, which will never know its end. Christ Himself told us:"They have persecuted me, and they will persecute you also". It is a well-known and enduring characteristic of the Church of Christ: it is a Church of Martyrs.
There are, however, pages in this history which deserve special attention. They are the ones referring to the martyrs in the early centuries of the Christian Church, when their blood was poured out in great abundance.
It is very useful, even necessary, to return to this story. (We must pay attention: these are historical events, not legends, documented history, not fables or myths). We can learn from them how to be heroic in the practice of the faith and to overcome our own hardships whatever they may be.

 

2. The Acts of the Martyrs
The Acts of the martyrs are the official and most ancient documents of the Church in the age of persecutions, since they are contemporary accounts of the events which they relate. There are the transcripts of the trials of Christians, called the "Acta proconsularis", since the presiding magistrate was of the rank of Proconsul. There was the evidence of eye-witnesses. There were the "Passion Letters" i.e. circular letters concerning the martyrs sent from one Church to the other christian communities and the "Passion Accounts" given in part by the martyrs themselves.
Most of the Acts of the Martyrs are related by Eusebius of Caesarea (3rd-4th century) in his "Ecclesiastical History" and his work "The Martyrs of Palestine"; by Lactantius (3rd - 4th centuries) in "De mortibus persecutorum"; by S. Cyprian (3rd century) in his Letters and his treatise "De Lapsis"; in the Apologies of the Greek and Latin writers and in the Panegyrics preached by the great christian orators such as Ambrose, Augustine, Maximus of Turin, Peter Chrysologus in the West; and Basil, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysologus in the East.
The Acts of the Martyrs were read on their feastdays, during the eucharistic celebration. In fact the memorial, the remembrance of the martyr, is founded on the memorial of Christ, since the passion of the martyrs is a reliving of the sufferings of Christ Himself in His Death and Resurrection.

 

3. Eusebius of Caesarea as principal source for the Acts of the Martyrs
Born at Caesarea in Palestine about the year 265 and educated in the school of the learned Pamphilus, he received solid intellectual formation, above all in history. He was elected bishop of his hometown and became the most learned man of his time. He wrote many works of theology, of exegesis, of apologetics, but his most important were his "Ecclesiastical History", in 10 volumes, which were the fruit of twenty-five years of sustained and careful historical research.
In the first seven books, he tells the history of the Church from the beginning until 303. Books 8 and 9 refer to the persecution begun by Diocletian in 303 and ended in the East in 306 but continued in the West by Galerius until the Edict of Toleration in 311 and the death of Maximinus (313). Book 10 describes the recovery of the Church up to the victory of Constantine over Licinius and the unification of the Empire (323).
Before undertaking this work, Eusebius had collected and transcribed a vast amount of documentation (acts of trials of martyrs, passions, apologies, evidence from individuals and groups) and also martyrdoms before the persecution of Diocletian in his work "Collection of Ancient Martyrdoms", which has been lost but parts of which are preserved in his Ecclesiastical History.
Spared from the persecution of Diocletian (303-311), Eusebius was a witness of exceptional importance, since he himself was present at the destruction of churches, at the burning of books, and the savage scenes of martyrdom in Palestine, in Phoenicia and at a distance from the Thebais in Egypt and has left us a work of great historical value.
In spite of gaps and errors, his Ecclesiastical History remains "the best known historical work and one worthy of trust and sometimes the only reliable source of information." (Angelo Penna in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Città del Vaticano, 1950, vol. V, pp 842-854).
We will present a very brief collection of historical events, a short anthology taken from the original texts of these authors and carefully translated. In this way we will come to know how our brothers and sisters in the faith suffered and endured torture and death for Christ.

Martyrdom has been a constant throughout the Church.
Also the martyrs, remembered in this brief collection belong to different centuries, were different kinds of people, from different nations and social classes; they represented the whole Church. There were men and women, rich and poor; old (Symeon was 120) and young (the 7 "sons" of Symphorosa): clerics (Symeon, Polycarp, Acacius, Carpus, Sagaris were bishops; Pionius, a priest; Euplius and Papylus were deacons) and lay: Apollonius, a senator; Maximus a merchant; Conon a gardener; the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were legionaries; Marinus a centurion; Symphorosa and Agathonice, mothers of families; of noble birth (like Apollonius) and lowly members of the people (such as Conon, and often christians whose names have been forgotten).
All have borne witness with the painful sacrifice of their lives in fidelity to Christ. The Acts of the martyrs recall the true history of the early Church.

 

3.1. The Martyrs of Alexandria in Egypt
" From a letter of Phileas to the inhabitants of Tmuis"

Phileas, bishop of the Church of Tmuis, a city to the east of Alexandria, was famous for the public offices he had held and for the outstanding service he had given particularly to culture and philosophy. He was young, noble and very rich with a wife and children and it seems certain that he had been a pagan. From prison he wrote a letter in which he described the slaughter of the Christians he had assisted personally and praised the courage and faith of the martyrs. He suffered martyrdom by decapitation in 306.

"With all these examples and precedents and trustworthy signposts before their eyes in the inspired and holy Scriptures, the blessed martyrs among us did not hesitate, but directing the eye of the soul with all earnestness towards the Almighty, and resolved to die for their faith, they clung firmly to their vocation, aware that Our Lord Jesus Christ became man for our sakes, in order to destroy every kind of sin and make it possible for us to enter into eternal life. for He did not regard it as a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of bondservant, and appearing in human shape submitted humbly to death, and death on a cross.
So, eagerly desiring the greater gifts, the Christ-bearing martyrs endured every kind of suffering and every outrage that iniquity could invent, not once but twice in some cases; and when their armed guards competed not only in making all sorts of threats against them, but also in carrying them out, they never wavered, because perfect love casts out fear. What words would suffice to recount their heroic courage under every trial?
Liberty was given to all who wished to insult them, and some struck them with cudgels, some with sticks, some with whips, others with straps, and yet others with rope-ends. The spectacle of these outrages was constantly changing and abominable through and through. Some, with their hands tied behind them, were hung from the gibbet and their limbs were pulled apart by machines; then the torturers were ordered to get to work on every part of their helpless bodies, not as with murderers applying their instruments of correction to sides alone, but even to belly, legs and cheeks. Others were hung by one hand from the porch and hauled up: no agony could have been so horrible as the stretching of their limbs and joints.
Others were bound to pillars, facing inwards, with their feet off the ground and the weight of the body drawing the ropes tighter and tighter.
This they endured, not while the governor was busy haranguing them, but almost all day long. Whenever he went on to another group, he left subordinate officials to keep an eye on the first, in case anyone should succumb to the tortures and seemed to be giving in. He instructed them to add unsparingly to their bonds, and when they were at their last gasp, to cut them down and drag them away.
They were not to show the least consideration for us but to regard us and treat us as if we no longer existed, this being the second torture devised by our adversaries in addition to the floggings. Some, even after these outrageous sufferings, were put in the stocks with their feet stretched out all four holes apart, so that they were forced to lie on their backs, incapacitated by the open wounds with which the blows had covered their entire bodies.
Others were hurled to the ground and lay helpless, as a result of the concentrated onslaught of the torturers, presenting to the spectators a sight more horrible than the torture itself, as they bore in their bodies marks of the elaborate and unlimited ingenuity of the torturers.
In this state of affairs some died under the tortures, shaming their adversary by their unshakeable determination; others were locked up in prison half dead, and a few days later were overcome by their agonies and so found fulfilment; the rest responded to treatment and time and their stay in prison restored their confidence.
So when the order was given, they were invited to choose between touching the abominable sacrifice (in which case they would go unmolested, receiving from their persecutors the freedom that brought a curse with it) and refusing to sacrifice and so incurring the supreme penalty.
Without hesitating a moment, they went gladly to their death, knowing what Holy Scripture has laid down for us: "He who sacrifices to other gods shall be utterly destroyed"(Ex. xxii. 20) and "You shall have no other gods but Me."(Ex. xx. 3)."

Eusebius concludes: "Such was the message that the martyr, truly both lover of wisdom and lover of God, sent to the Christians of his diocese before the final sentence, while he was still undergoing imprisonment, explaining his own situation and at the same time urging them on to hold firmly, even after his approaching fulfilment, to true religion in Christ." (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I. VIII, c. X).

 

3.2. The Martyrs in the Thebais (Egypt)

"But words cannot describe the outrageous agonies endured by the martyrs in the Thebais. They were torn to bits from head to foot with potsherds like claws till death released them. Women were tied by one foot and hoisted high up in the air, head downwards, their bodies completely naked without a morsel of clothing, presenting thus the most shameful, brutal and inhuman of all spectacles to everyone watching.

Others again were tied to trees and stumps and died horribly; for with the aid of machinery they drew together the very stoutest boughs, fastened one of the martyr's legs to each, and then let the boughs fly back to their normal position; thus they managed to tear apart the limbs of their victims in a moment.

In this way they carried on, not for a few days or weeks, but year after year. Sometimes ten or more, sometimes over twenty were put to death, at other times at least thirty, and at yet others not far short of sixty; and there were occasions when on a single day a hundred men as well as women and little children were killed, condemned to a succession of ever-changing punishments.

We were in these places, and saw many of the executions for ourselves. Some of the victims suffered death by beheading, others punishment by fire. So many were killed on a single day that the axe, blunted and worn out by slaughter, was broken in pieces, while the exhausted executioners had to be periodically relieved.

All the time I observed a most wonderful eagerness and a truly divine power and enthusiasm in those who had put their trust in the Christ, son of God. No sooner had the first batch been sentenced, than others from every side would jump on to the platform in front of the judge and proclaim themselves Christians.

They paid no heed to torture in all its terrifying forms, but undaunted spoke boldly of their devotion to the God of the universe and with joy, laughter, and gaiety received the final sentence of death; they sang and sent up hymns of thanksgiving to the God of the universe till their very last breath.

Wonderful as these were, far, far more wonderful were those who were conspicuous for their wealth, birth, and reputation, and for learning and philosophy, yet put everything second to true religion and faith in our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. . . ." (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History I, VII, c.9).

3.3. The Martyrs of Tyre in Phoenicia
But we should feel equal admiration for those of them who were martyred in their own country (Phoenicia), where immense numbers of men, women and children, despising this transient life, faced death in all its forms for the sake of our Saviour's teaching.
Some were scraped, racked, flogged mercilessly, subjected to countless other torments too terrible to describe in endless variety, and finally given to the flames.
Others cheerfully stretched out their necks to the headsman's axe; some died under torture; others were starved to death; others again were crucified, some as criminals usually are, some with still greater cruelty nailed the other way up, head down, and kept alive till they starved to death on the very cross. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I, VIII, 8)

3.4. The Martyrs of Pontus (in Asia Minor)

Things that would make the hearer shudder were done to others in Pontus. Pointed reeds were driven into the fingers of both hands under the ends of the nails; in other cases lead was melted over a fire and the boiling, seething mass poured down their backs, roasting the vital parts of the body.
Others endured in their private parts and bowels sufferings shameful, merciless and unmentionable, which the noble judges, upholders of the law, showing off their brutality as proof of their cleverness, most ingeniously devised: by constantly inventing new outrages, as if they were taking part in a prize competition, they tried their hardest to put each other in the shade.
The heightof calamity fell upon the Christians when, worn out at last by their ghastly wickedness, tired of killing, satiated and surfeited with bloodshed, they turned to what seemed to them kindness and humanity: they thought they were no longer doing us any harm. It was not in good taste, they said, to pollute the city with the blood of their own race, or to lay the highest levels of government open to the charge of cruelty, a government mild and gentle to all; rather ought the beneficence of the humane imperial authority to be extended to everybody, no one henceforth being punished with death: they had already ceased to impose this penalty on us, thanks to the emperor's humanity.
Orders were then issued that eyes should be gouged out and one leg maimed. That is what they meant by 'humanity' and 'the lightest of punishments' inflicted on us.
As a result of his 'humanity' shown by God's enemies, it is no longer possible to count the enormous number of people who first had their right eye hacked out with a sword and cauterized with fire, and the left foot rendered useless by branding-irons applied to the joints, and then were condemned to the province's copper mines, not so much to secure their services as to subject them to ill-treatment and physical hardship, to say nothing of the various other ordeals that befell them and were too numerous to list, for the "reckless deeds" committed against us went beyond all reckoning.
In these trials the splendid martyrs of Christ let their light so shine over the whole world that they everywhere astounded the eye-witnesses of their courage - and small wonder: they furnished in themselves unmistakable proof of our Saviour's truly divine and ineffable power. To mention each one by name would be a lengthy task - nay, an impossibility. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 12)

3.5. Symphorosa and her seven sons
The construction of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli was completed about 135 and so the martyrdom of Symphorosa must have happened then, since she was considered a propitiatory offering "according to the nefarious pagan rites" of consecration of the imperial dwelling.
The extract which speaks of her martyrdom shows an emperor Hadrian ill-disposed towards Christianity (gone are the times of peaceful advice to the proconsul Minutius Fundanus) and inclined to believe the calumnies of the pagan priests.
The emperor himself and not his functionaries, call for the woman, tries to induce her to renounce her faith and does the same to her children.

"The emperor Hadrian had a palace built and wished to consecrate it with nefarious pagan rites. With sacrifices, he had begun to ask the response of the idols and demons who lived there, when he received this reply: "The widow Symphorosa, with her seven sons, torments us daily with invocations to her God. Therefore if you yourself make her and her seven sons sacrifice according to our rites, we promise to give you all you ask."
Therefore Hadrian had her imprisoned with her seven sons hoping thus to encourage her to sacrifice to the gods. But Symphorosa said to him; "My husband Jetulius and his brother Amatius, while serving as tribunes in your army, endured all kinds of torture but did not sacrifice to the idols, and like valiant athletes, overcame the demons with their deaths; preferred to be beheaded than to yield, offering their death which, accepted for the name of Christ, would be deemed ignominy in the world of men bound to earthly interests but in the opinion of the angels, gave them honour and eternal glory. They are now with the angels, raised in the triumph of their passion, enjoying eternal life in heaven with the everlasting king."
The emperor replied to holy Symphorosa: " With your sons, sacrifice to the all-powerful gods, or I shall have you sacrificed with your sons."
Then holy Symphorosa added: "Where from comes to me such a grace to deserve to be offered with my children as a victim to God?"
The emperor responded: "I will make you a sacrifice to my gods."
Blessed Symphorosa answered: "Your gods cannot accept me in sacrifice. But if I shall be sacrificed in the name of Christ, I shall have the power to burn up all your demons."
The emperor went on: "Choose one of these proposals: you can sacrifice to my gods or die a tragic death."
Then Symphorosa responded: "You believe that my view can be changed by such a threat. I want nothing more than to rest in peace with my husband Jetulius whom you put to death for the name of Christ."
The emperor Hadrian had her taken to the temple of Hercules, and there beaten and hung by the hair. Seeing, however, that nothing could in any way shake her resolution, he had her thrown into the river with a stone tied round her neck.
Her brother Eugenius who held a post in the curia of Tivoli, recovered the body and had it buried on the outskirts of the city.
Next day, the emperor Hadrian had all seven sons brought into his presence at the one time. When he saw that neither promises nor threats could induce them to sacrifice to the gods, he had seven stakes driven into the ground around the temple of Hercules and, with machines had the young men fastened up. Then he killed them: Crescentius was pierced through the throat: Julianus through the chest; Nemesius in the heart; Primitivus in the navel; Justinus in the shoulder: Stracteus in the ribs; Eugenius was torn from head to foot.
The emperor Hadrian, came next day to the temple of Hercules and had their bodies taken away and thrown into a deep pit in a place the pontiffs called "of the seven executed".
After this, there was a respite in the persecution for a year and six months: during this time honourable burial was given to the bodies of the martyrs and tombs were set up to those whose names were written in the book of life.
The birthday to heaven of these holy Christian martyrs, Symphorosa and her Seven Sons is celebrated 15 days before the Kalends of August (17th July). Their bodies rest by the Via Tiburtina, about eight miles from Rome, in the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen". (from F. Cardulo, "Acta Symphorosae et sociorum, Rome, 1588).

 

3.6. Martyrdom of Saints Ptolemy, Lucius and another
The following extract is taken from the Second Apology of Justin which was inspired by the trial of three Christians which took place in Rome in 162 or 163 under the prefect Urbicus and written a short time later. The account is simple without elaboration or rhetorical ornament, but allows a vigorous defence of the christian faith.
Why condemn someone whose faith issues in such an austere way of life and who avoids all of nature's weaknesses ? This is the sense of the words of the martyr Lucius and the spirit of Justin, who only a few years later sealed his own faith with his blood.

There was a woman married to a man of evil life, in which she too had formerly participated. But once she had come to know the teachings of Christ she became reformed and tried in turn to persuade her husband to reform his own life, calling to his mind the doctrines of Christ and warning him of the eternal fire prepared for those who live not according to discipline and right reason. But the man persisted in his licentiousness and alienated his wife by his actions. His wife then thought it would be wrong to continue to live with a man who sought his pleasures from any source whatsoever, no matter whether it was against justice or the natural law; and so she wished to have a divorce. Her relatives, however, earnestly entreated her, advising her to remain, on the ground that her husband might one day attain the hope of amendment; and so she forced herself to stay on with him.
Her husband then departed for Alexandria, and word was brought back that he was behaving worse than before. And so his wife , not wanting to become an accomplice in his crimes and injustices by remaining in wedlock with him, sharing his bed and board, gave him what you call a repudium and left him.
Now her excellent spouse should have been happy that his wife had given up the practices she formerly used to indulge in so recklessly with servants and hirelings, taking her pleasure in drunkenness and every sort of vice, and that she had even trieed to get him to stop. Instead he filed a complaint against her on the ground that she had left him without his consent, adding that she was a Christian. She then submitted a petition to you, Emperor, asking that she be allowed first to settle her affairs and then, after she had done so, to defend herself against the charge. And you granted her petition.
Her former husband, no longer being able to sustain the same complaint, turned his attention in the following way to a certain Ptolemais (Ptolemy), the man who had been her instructor in Christian doctrine. These were his tactics: he persuaded a centurion his friend, who had sent Ptolomy to prison, to take him by surprise and ask him merely whether he was a Christian Now Ptolemy, who was a lover of truth, and not deceitful or a liar by disposition, admitted that he was a Christian, and so the centurion had him put in chains and had him punished for a long time in gaol. At length, when he was brought before Urbicus, he was again merely asked whether he was a Christian. And once again, fully aware of the benefits he enjoyed because of Christ's doctrine, he confessed to the instruction in diving virtue. Now a person who disowns something either deliberately denies the fact or else (aware that this is unworthy and alien to him) avoids any admission of it. But such conduct does not befit the true Christian.
Now when Urbicus ordered him to be executed, a man named Lucius, who was also a Christian, seeing how unreasonable the sentence was, cried out to Urbicus: "Why have sentenced to death this man who is not convicted of adultery, nor of fornication, nor of murder, nor of robbery, nor of plunder nor of any crime whatsoever, but only because he confessed himself a Christian? Your way of judging,Urbicus, does not befit the emperor Antoninus Pius; it is unworty of Caesar's son, lover of wisdom,; and finally unworthy of the holy senate.
Urbicus made no further reply, but said to Lucius: 'I think you too are a Christian.'
And because Lucius nodded heartilyThe martyr declared that it was a grace for him, for he knew he was leaving the world of the wicked for the abode of the heavenly Father. A third man, who turned up to declare himself a Christian, was also sentenced to death (from Justin, Apologia, 1,2).

 

3.7. Martyrdom of St. Maximus under the emperor Decius (249-251)
Maximus was a Christian from Asia Minor. He is known only from the account of his martyrdom. He freely proclaimed himself a Christian, with an attitude that the Church would not entirely approve, but he was courageous and passed the test.

"The Emperor Decius, wishing to break and suppress the law of the Christians, issued his edicts throughout the world. In these he ordered Christians to abandon the true and living God and to sacrifice to demons; those who would not obey would undergo punishment.
In those days, Maximus, a man holy and faithful to the Lord, spontaneously declared himself a Christian. He was a commoner and earned his living as a merchant. Arrested, he was taken before the proconsul Optimus in Asia.
The proconsul asked him: "What is your name?"
He answered: "I am called Maximus."
The proconsul continued: "What is your status?"
Maximus replied: "I am freeborn, but the servant of Christ."
The proconsul went on:" How do you earn a living?"
Maximus answered: " I am plebeian and live by my trade."
The proconsul asked: "Are you a Christian?"
Maximus replied: "Although a sinner, I am a Christian."
The proconsul said: "Do you not know the decrees of our most noble sovereigns, promulgated very recently?"
Maximus asked: "What decrees?"
The consul explained: "Those which order that all Christians abandon their vain superstitions, recognize the true sovereign to whom everything is subjected, and adore his gods".
Maximus replied, "I have come to know the iniquitous edicts which have come from the ruler of this world and because of them publicly declare myself a Christian."
The proconsul ordered:" Then sacrifice to the gods!"
Maximus replied:" I will sacrifice only to One God to whom I have been pledged since my youth."
The proconsul insisted: "Sacrifice to save yourself. If you refuse, I will make you faint under every kind of torture."
Maximus responded:"This is the very thing I have always desired: for this, in fact I have declared myself a Christian, finally to obtain eternal life, a welcome change from this miserable existence in time."
Then the proconsul had him beaten with rods, and during this beating, he kept saying to him: "Sacrifice, Maximus, that you may be released from this torment."
Maximus responded: "These are not torments, but anointings which are inflicted to me for love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If in fact I went away from the precepts of my Lord, in which I have been instructed by his Gospel, then the perpetual torments of eternity would wait for me."
The proconsul then had him put on the rack and, while he was being tortured, repeatedly said to him:" Repent from your craziness, miserable one, and sacrifice to save your life!"
Maximus replied:" Only if I do not sacrifice, will I save my life. If I were to sacrifice, I would certainly lose it. No rods, nor hooks, nor fire can bring me grief, since there lives in me God's grace. This will save me eternally with the prayers of all the saints who, struggling in this sort of strife, have overcome your folly and have given us noble examples of valour."
After these proud words, the proconsul pronounced sentence against him, saying: " The divine mercy has given ordinances that to strike terror into other Christians, should be stoned to death whoever does not willingly assent to the sacred laws which impsed him to sacrifice to the great goddess Diana."
Thus the athlete of Christ was dragged outside by the ministers of the devil, while he gave thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son, who deemed him worthy to overcome the devil in his struggles.
He was led out of the city, struck with stones and yielded up his spirit.
The servant of God, Maximus, underwent martyrdom in the province of Asia two days before the ides of May, during the rule of Decius and the proconsul Optimus, reigning with our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is given glory through ages without end. Amen."
(from the "Passion" of the martyr, in BHL "Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina", II, p. 852.)

 

3.8. The acts of the Scillitan Martyrs (from Numidia in N. Africa)
The trial of the Christians of Scillium took place in the summer of 180 A.D. It was a few months after Commodus became emperor and he decided to follow up the persecution let loose under his predecessor Marcus Aurelius. The Christian faith had probably spread over a period of fifty years in proconsular Africa and had even reached the small centres of population: Scillium was little more than a hamlet in Numidia.
The latin text given here in translation was probably contemporary with the events. Perhaps it is a verbatim account of the trial, and only the last part was later added by a christian transcriber. It is the first document giving the witness in blood shed by the Christians of Africa for the Church and it is the most ancient known document in the Latin Christian literature.

On July 17th under the consulship of Praesens, for the second time, and of Claudian, - Speratus, Nartzalus and Cittinus, Donata, Secunda and Vestia appeared in the private audience chamber at Carthage.
The proconsul Saturninus said: "You can obtain grace from our master the emperor if you return to a reasonable frame of mind." Speratus answered, "We have never done anything evil nor lent ourselves to any iniquity: we have never said any evil of anybody, rather we have always rendered good for evil, and because of this we obey our emperor".
The proconsul Saturninus said. - "We also are religious and our religion is simple. We swear by the genius of our master the emperor, and we pray for his safety. You should do the same."

Speratus. -" If you truly wish to lend me an attentive ear, I will explain to you the mystery of the true simplicity."
Saturninus. -"I will not lend my ear to your impertinences against my religion. Swear rather by the genius of our master the emperor."
Speratus. - "I do not acknowledge the kingdom of this present age, but I only serve with greater fidelity my God Whom no man has seen and Whom mortal eyes cannot see. I have not committed theft. If I labour at any trade, I pay the taxes, because I know our Lord the King of Kings and of all peoples."
The proconsul Saturninus addressing himself to the other accused persons. -"Give up this vain belief."
Speratus. - "It is a bad policy to threaten to kill if one does not perjure himself".
The proconsul Saturninus. - "Cease to be the accomplices of this folly."
Cittinus. -"We have to fear only our God who is in heaven."
Donata. -"We render to Caesar the honour due to Caesar, but we fear God only."
Vestia. - "I am a Christian".
Secunda. - "I am a Christian and wish to remain so."
Saturninus to Speratus. -"Do you remain a Christian?"
Speratus. - "I am a Christian."
All the accused associated themselves with him.
Saturninus. -"Do you wish for a delay to reflect?
Speratus.- " In so just a cause we have already made up our minds."
Saturninus: - "What do you keep in your box?"
Speratus. - The books of the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, a holy man."
Saturninus. - You have thirty days' delay to reflect".
Speratus said again. -"I am a Christian.
All the accused associated themselves with him.
Saturninus the proconsul read the decree on the tablet:
"Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Vestia, Secunda and others have declared that they live in the manner of the Christians; and to the proposal made them to return to the Roman traditions, have persisted in their obstinacy: we condemn them to die by the sword."
Speratus.- "Let us thank God."
Nartzalus. - This very day as martyrs we shall be in heaven. Thanks be to God."
The proconsul Saturninus ordered the herald to read the sentence:
"I order that: Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata and Secunda have been sentenced to death."
They all said, "Thanks be to God."
Thus all at the same time were crowned with martyrdom for the name of Christ.
(From the "Atti dei Martiri Scillitani"; first published by C. Baronius in his "Annales Ecclesiastici", 1588-1607).

3.9. The martyrdom of the Christians of Alexandria during the persecution of Decius (249-251)
In this letter to Bishop Fabius of Antioch, Dionysius gives this account of the ordeals of those who were martyred at Alexandria under Decius. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I.VI, c. 40.1-42.6)

It was not the imperial edict that set the persecution in motion against us: rather the persecution was delayed for a whole year, until there arrived in this city a fortune-teller and a plotter of frauds, whoever he was, who stirred up and incited the hidden masses against us, fanning the flames of their congenital superstition. Excited by this fellow and urged by an unbridled licentiousness to commit every kind of empiety. They considered that the only act of devotion and cult to their deities was to murder us.
First they seized an old man named Metras, and ordered him to utter blasphemous words; when he refused, they beat him with cudgels, drove pointed reeds into his face and eyes, took him to the suburbs, and stoned him to death.
Next they took a female convert named Quinta to the idol's temple and tried to make her worship. When she turned her back in disgust they tied her feet and dragged her right through the city over the rough paved road, bumping her on the great stones, till they arrived at the same place where they stoned her to death.
Then they all rushed to the houses of the Christians, charged in by groups on those they knew as neighbours, raided, plundered and looted. The more valuable of their possessions they purloined; the cheaper wooden things they threw about, or they made a bonfire of them in the streets.
This made the city look as if it had been captured by enemies. The Christians retired and gradually withdrew; like those to whom St. Paul paid tribute. They took with cheerfulness the plundering of their belongings (Heb. 10:34 Dionysius evidently accepted the Pauline authorship of Hebrews).
I do not know of anyone, except possibly one man who fell into their clutches, who denied the Lord.
Next they seized the wonderful old lady Apollonia, battered her till they knocked out all her teeth, built a pyre in front of the city, and threatened to burn her alive unless she repeated after them their heathen incantations. She asked for a breathing-space, and when they released her, jumped without hesitation into the fire and was burnt to death.
Serapion they arrested in his own house. They racked him with horrible tortures and broke all his limbs, then threw him down head first from the upper floor.
No road, no highway, no alley was open to us, either by night or by day; always and everywhere, everybody was shouting that anyone who did not join in their blasphemous chants was at once dragged away and burnt.
For a long time the terror remained intense, but the wretched men were suddenly plunged into faction and civil war, which turned the savagery of which we had been the victims against its authors. For a little while we breathed again, as they were too busy to vent their rage on us, but very soon the change from the reign that had been kinder to us became generally known, and the threat to our safety filled us with horrible foreboding.
And the edict indeed arrived, and it was almost the most terrible of all those foretold by our Lord and such as to shock, if possible, also the elect. It is certain that all were upset.Of the most public figures some accepted the orders of the edict through fear, others who were in state employment were induced by professional reasons, others were dragged forward by their relatives.
Summoned by name, some approached white-faced and trembling the unclean, unholy sacrifices, as if they were not going to sacrifice but to be sacrificed themselves as victims to the idols, so that the large crowd of spectators heaped scorn upon them because it was obvious that they were utter cowards, afraid to die and afraid to sacrifice.
Others ran more boldly towards the altars, pertly declaring they were not Christians and that they had not been Christians even in the past. For them it will come true the Lord's prediction they unlikely will be saved.
Of the rest, some followed each of these groups, others tried to get away; some were caught, and of these some withstood prison and chains,(in some cases remaining confined for weeks), and then, even before coming into court, renounced their faith, while others held out for a time under torture but in the end gave up.
Instead other Christians, solid and sturdy pillars of the Lord, strengthened by his grace, drew power and endurance from the faith which inspired them, and became wonderful witnesses of His kingdom.
(from Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, VI, 40.1-42.6).
 

3.10. S. Marinus, centurion under Gallienus
It might seem strange to hear talk of a martyr under the emperor Gallienus (260-268), who did not persecute Christians. He even annulled the edicts and restored the goods confiscated, as Eusebius tells us in another part of Book VII of his Ecclesiastical History.
Marinus, in fact was not the victim of an organised persecution, but of the rivalry in competition for his military advancement.
Noble, rich, he had reached a high rank in the hierarchy. Perhaps he hesitated a little before the threats of the judge, so much so that he took timegiven him to reflect, in contrast to many others who, in similar circumstances, took an immediate decision. But the opportune advice of his bishop resolved his uncertainty.
This fact is very important, because it makes us understand how, even when it was not in operation a persecution, there was always a latent conflict between the political, moral and religious stance of the roman empire and the principles of Christianity.

During this time the churches everywhere enjoyed peace; nevertheless at Caesarea in Palestine Marinus, who had served in the army with great distinction and was a man of good birth and great wealth, was beheaded for his witness to Christ.
It came about thus. Among the Romans the vine-emblem is a mark of honour, and those who win it, we are told, become centurions. A vacancy occurred, and by order of seniority Marinus was entitled to be promoted to fill it. But when he was about to receive the honour, another man advanced to the law-court and declared that Marinus was debarred by old-established laws from holding rank in the Roman army, as he was a Christian and did not sacrifice to the emperors; that individual maintained that the office was due to himself. Reacting to this, the judge - his name was Achaeus - first asked what religion Marinus held; when he saw that the stubbornly declared himself a Christian, he allowed him three hours to think it over.
As soon as he left the court, Theotecnus, the bishop of the diocese, came to him through the crowd, drew him aside, took him by the hand, and led him to the church. Inside, he placed him right in front of the altar, and drawing aside his cloak a little way pointed to the sword at his side.
The he fetched the book containing the divine gospels, placed it before him, and invited him to choose whichever of the two he preferred. Without a moment's hesitation, he put out his right hand and took the divine book. said Theoctenus. "Hold always to God and you will obtain what you have chosen;strenghtened by his grace, go in peace." No sooner had Marinus gone back than an usher called on him to present himself before the court; the period of time granted for his decision was now over. He stood erect before the judge and displayed still greater devotion to the Faith. Instantly, just as he was, he was taken to execution and thus found fulfilment.
It was at Caesarea also that Astyrius is remembered for his frankness and religious fervour. A member of the Roman Senate, he was in friendly relations with the emperors, he was in the public eye because of his birth and affluence. He was present when the martyr found fulfilment, and, he lifted the corpse on his shoulders, over his spotless and precious garnment, and took it away to give him an honourable burial, worthy of his social state. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I, VII, 15 et seq.).
 

3.11. Martyrdom of St. Euplius the deacon, under Diocletian in the year 304
The martyrdom of Euplius, deacon in Catania, occurred in 304, as it is recorded in the consulate of Diocletian and Maximian and from the fact that the Christian is invited to sacrifice to the gods, in accordance with the fourth imperial edict issued that year.
The edict against keeping the sacred books was still in force since the main accusation against Euplius, the deacon, concerned the Gospel, that the deacon had kept and showed with pride.
The Acts are in a short Latin text, which gives an account of the arrest, first confession of Euplius and his interrogation under torture.
It begins "
Euplius was outside the veil of the prefect's chamber and proclaimed aloud:"I am a Christian and I want to die for the name of Christ," makes us think that he had not yet been arrested, but had denounced himself spontaneously perhaps during the interrogation of other faithful. This theory is confirmed by the words of the judge who committed him to the soldiers: 'Since your admission is evident. . . ' and seemed induced by the attitude of the Christian, more than by his personal enquiring will.

On the twelfth day of August in the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the eighth of Maximian, in the city of Catania, a deacon named Euplius was outside the veil of he prefect's chamber and proclaimed aloud: "I am a Christian and I want to die for the name of Christ."
Hearing this the governor Calvisianus said: "Let the man who shouted come in!"
As soon as Euplius entered the judge's chamber carrying the Gospels, one of Calvisianus' friends named Maximus said: "He should not have such writings; it is contrary to the emperor's edict."
Calvisianus the governor said to Euplius: "Whence are these? Did they come from your home?
"I have no home," said Euplius. "This my Lord Christ Jesus knows."
The governor Calvisianus said:"Did your bring them here?"
"I brought them here myself," said Euplius,"as you can see for yourself. They found them on my person."
Calvisianus said:"Read them."
Euplius opening the book, read: Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. and in another place it says: "Whoever wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me."
While he was reading he had read these and other passages, the governor Calvisianus said: "What does this mean?"
Euplius said:" It is the law of my Lord that has been handed down to me."
"Handed down by whom?" said the governor Calvisianus.
Euplio rispose: « Da Gesù Cristo, Figlio del Dio vivente ».
Euplius replied: "By Jesus Christ, the son of the living God."
The governor Calvisianus interrupted him and said:" Since the admission of his crime is clear, let him be handed over to the torturers and question him under torture."
Thus he was handed over and there began his second examination under torture.
It was the twelfth day of August, in the ninth consulship of Diocletian and the eighth of Maximian, when the governor Calvisianus said to Euplius under torture: "What now do you repeat with regard to the things you admitted in your confession?"
Euplius made the sign of the cross on his forehead with one free hand and answered: "What I said then I confess again now: I am a Christian and I read the divine Scriptures."
Calvisianus retorted:" Why did you not hand over these books which the emperors have forbidden to read, but you have kept them with you"
"Because I am a Christian," said Euplius," and it was forbidden to give them up. For a Christian it is better to die than surrender them. In them is eternal life. Whoever gives them up, loses eternal life. I give up my own life that I may not lose it."
Calvisianus interrupted and said:"Whereas Euplius has not surrendered the Scriptures according to the imperial edict, but reads them to the people, let him be tortured."
While he was being tortured, Euplius said: "I thank you, Christ! Protect me, who suffer this for your sake!"
Calvisianus the governor exhorted him: "Euplius, desist from this madness. Worship the gods and you will be set free."
Euplius said:"I adore Christ. I detest the demons. Do what you will - I am a Christian - long have I prayed for this - do with me what you will - increase my torments - I am a Christian !"
After he was tortured for a long time, the executioners were ordered to stop. Then Calvisianus said to the martyr: "You poor fellow, adore the gods. Worship Mars, Apollo, Aesculapius"
Euplius said:"I worship the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I adore the holy Trinity, besides whom there is no god. Perish the gods who did not make the heaven, the earth, and all that is in them. I am a Christian!"
Calvisianus the prefect insisted: "If you want to be free, offer sacrifice."
Euplius said:"I sacrifice myself now to Christ my God. I have no other sacrifice to make. You try in vain to make me deny my faith. I am a Christian."
Calvisianus ordered him to be tortured once again more intensely, and, while he was being tortured, Euplius said:"Thank you, O Christ! Come to my aid, O Christ ! It is for you, Christ, that I suffer this!" He said this again and again, and even when he had no more strength left, he kept saying these and other prayers with his lips without uttering a sound.
Calvisianus went into his council-chamber and dictated the sentence, and coming outside he brought a tablet and read: "whereas the Christian Euplius has despised the edicts of our emperors, and has blasphemed to gods, and has not repented, I sentence him to die by the sword. Lead him away !"
Then the book of the Gospels with which he was arrested was fastened to his neck, and the herald made this proclamation: "Behold Euplius the Christian, an enemy of our emperors and our gods!"
Euplius was joyful and kept repeating, "Thanks be to Christ my God!"
When he was brought to the place of execution, he knelt down and prayed for a long time. And once again giving thanks, he offered his neck and was beheaded by the executioner. Afterwards his body was carried away by the Christians and was embalmed with spices and buried.
(from "Atti del martirio di Euplio", in BHG - Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca, I, pp. 192-193, Bruxelles, 1957).
 

3.12. The forty martyrs of Sebaste (in Armenia minor)
We read of them in the discourses of the Cappadocians, Basil and Gregory of Nyssa, and of Ephrem the Syrian, all having particular authority due to their proximity to the region in question where the martyrdom took place. Their passion has very little authority, while we must consider authentic the "collective testament" they drew shortly before their death. The martyrdom happened in 320, during the persecution of Licinius.

"They were enlisted in a legion of border guards. It seems certain that it was the XIIth legion Fulminata which had taken part in the assault and capture of Jerusalem in the year 70, and then was stationed in the Orient with its headquarters at Melitene in Armenia minor.
There was a kind of Christian tradition within the legion since they had counted Christians in their ranks since the IIIrd century and perhaps even before. Other links with Christians through friendship and marriage developed during their stay in Armenia, where Christians were numerous. The martyrdom took place a little north of Melitene, in a city called Sebastia (Sebaste to be more precise), where perhaps the legion maintained a strong detachment.
The Forty were quite young, in their twenties. Their "testament" says that when they bid farewell to their dear ones, only one had wife and a little child, one had a fiancé, while others saluted their living parents. In general, then, they were in the prime of early manhood.
When the order of Licinius reached the encampment that soldiers must participate in the sacrifice to idols, they refused without hesitation.Arrested forthwith, they were bound with a single chain long enough for all of them and locked up in gaol.
They spent a long time in prison, probably because they were waiting for orders from a higher officer or even- given the gravity of the case - from Licinius himself. During this time of waiting, the prisoners fortelling their end,wrote their collective "testament" by the hand of a certain Meletius, one of their number.
In this important, profoundly Christian document, those about to die exhorted their relatives and friends to forsake the fleeting goods of this world for the things of the one beyond. They greeted those most dear to them. Finally they asked that their bodies be handed over to the Christians - as had already happened to the relics of other martyrs - so that they might be buried all together in the village of Sarein, near the city of Zela. The document carries, as usual, the names of all forty martyrs, and these names were copied into other texts with small divergences in spelling.
According to the sentence handed down, the forty were to die by exposure: they were put naked at night, in the dead of winter on a frozen lake, and there awaited their end. The place chosen for the sentence seems to have been a wide courtyard in front of the Baths of Sebastia, where the condemned would be withdrawn from the curiosity and sympathy of the public and at the same time under the supervision of the baths attendants.
In the courtyard was a large water tank, a kind of lake, which was joined to the baths. Basil tells us that the place was in the middle of the city, and beside a lake. Perhaps it was a reservoir, feeding the baths and not a proper lake outside.
Later a church was built on the site of their martyrdom and it was in this very church that Gregory of Nyssa delivered his discourses in honour of the martyrs.
On this frozen lake, in the very low temperature, the suffering of their naked bodies would have been appalling. To increase the pangs of the victims they were put where they had a clear view of the open door of the baths and in the light they could see the clouds of steam from the calidarium. This was a powerful sight for the sufferers since they would only have to take a very few paces to escape their torment and regain that life which was leaving their bodies by the minute. But there was an insurmountable barrier between them: the invisible Christ, whom they would have to deny. Time passed very slowly: none of the condemned left the stretch of ice. The superintendent of the baths was fascinated by the spectacle.
All of a sudden one of the condemned overcome by the cold went towards the illuminated doorway, but there, for a regular physiological reason, hardly had he reached the warm vapour than he died. Seeing this, the superintendent, in a burst of enthusiasm, decided to take the place of the one who had given in, and so restore the number forty. Taking off his clothes, he proclaimed himself a Christian and went on to the ice with the other condemned.
The light of the next day revealed a pile of dead bodies. Only one was still alive. He was the youngest to whom the document gives the name of Meliton. Such tenacity of life surprised his mother, a Christian of admirable faith who was present when the bodies were loaded on a cart to be taken for burning. Seeing her son put there while still alive, she took him in her arms and herself carried him to the cart so that her offspring would not be deprived of the crown given to the others. These same arms which a few years earlier had held him a suckling babe, now carried the athlete to triumph. In this maternal embrace, the young man died.

The converted superintendent is called Aglaios in some versions. Comparison of the various texts make us suspect that the one gave in and abandoned the fight, dying on the threshold of the baths was Meletius himself, the writer of the "testament"; but that is just conjecture. Some details of the story are doubtful but the general outline can be accepted with certainty. The veneration of the Forty Martyrs was quite popular in the East. But even in the West, by the end of the same century, Gaudentius of Brescia speaks of them because he was well informed about the facts of Orient. However, in Rome a painting of their martyrdom is still preserved in a fresco of the VII-VIII centuries. It is in an oratory adjoining the church of Santa Maria Antiqua in the Roman Forum. (by Giuseppe Ricciotti, L'Era dei Martiri, Coletti edition, Roma, 1953, pp. 268-70).
 

3.13. The martyrdom of S. Symeon: an old man crucified at the age of 120.
Not to the enforcing of the instructions of the emperor Trajan ("rescript of Trajan to Pliny), but to the persecution by the Jews we owe the martyrdom in Palestine of the bishop of Jerusalem, St. Symeon. The historian Hegessipus, a well-informed witness to events in Palestine, informs us that c 117 A.D., the holy bishop was accused through the malice of Jewish heretics of belonging to the shoot of David and of being a Christian.
According to the evidence of Eusebius, the persecution, caused principally by popular outcry struck Symeon, son of Cleophas at the age of 120. "The relative of the Lord - wrote Eusebius - was tormented for many days by the bitterest torments, but still confessed his firmness of faith in Christ. He did this with such strength that the proconsul Atticus and all those present marvelled to see how an old man of 120 could withstand such torments, since by the sentence of the judge was finally crucified." (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III, 32, 1-6).
 

3.14. Martyrdom of S. Polycarp "I have the wild beasts ready . . "
The martyrdom of S. Polycarp is one of the more ancient "Letters on the Passions". A disciple of John the Apostle, Polycarp became bishop of Smyrna, one of the most important Christian communities.

At Smyrna (Turkey) in 155, this intolerance showed itself in the martyrdom of Bishop Polycarp, which came about through the ferocity of the crowd. The magistrate proceeded to arrest the bishop, who in the meantime had been away from the city. He brought him into the amphitheatre seeking to persuade him to renounce his faith.
"Have respect for your age" Swear by the genius of the emperor. Convince yourself for once to cry: "Away with the atheists!"
"Yes, death to the atheists!"
The governor persisted and said: "Swear and I will let you go. Curse Christ!"
But Polycarp answered:"For eighty-six years I have been his servant and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme against my king and saviour ?" . . .
The governor said:"I have wild animals, and I shall expose you to them if you do not change your mind."
And he answered: "Go and call for them! We Christians don't support that one passes from good to evil, instead we think it right and proper to convert from sin to justice.
And he said again to him:"If you are not afraid of the animals, I shall have you consumed by fire - unless you change your mind."
But Polycarp answered: "The fire you threaten me with burns merely for a time and is soon extinguished. It is clear you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment and of the judgement that is to come of the eternal punishment. Why do you hesitate? Do what you will."
He said these words with such courage and serenity shining from his face that you would have thought that it was the Proconsul himself who was condemned . . . .
When the pyre was ready, he was bound with his hands behind his back li8ke a ram chosen for an oblation from a great flocki, a holocaust accept to the Lord. Looking up to heaven, he said: " . . .
I bless you, Lord God omnipotent because you have thought me worthy of this day and this hour, to have a share among the number of the martyrs in the cup of your Christ, for the resurrection unto eternal life of both body and soul in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. . . . .
He had uttered his final Amen and finished his prayer, and the men in charge of the fire started to light it. A great flame blazed up and those of us to whom it was given to see beheld a miracle. . . .
For the flames, bellying out like a ship's sail in the wind, formed into the shape of a vault and thus surrounded the martyr's body as with a wall. And he was within it not as burning flesh but rather as bread being baked, or like gold and silver being purified in a smelting-furnace. And from it we perceived such a delightful fragrance as though it were smoking incense or some other costly perfume.
. . . In the end an executioner killed him with a sword. (from the "Martyrium Polycarpi"- 9.3; 21 which is the most ancient of the Acta Martyrum).
 

3.15. Why are you smiling?" The martyrdom of Carpus, Papylus and Agonathice
In the city of Pergamum (Asia Minor) at this time there were martyred the bishop Carpus, deacon Papylus and the faithful Agathonice, mother of a god-fearing family.
At the trial, Carpus declared: "We are Christians and cannot follow your practices"
The proconsul said:"Sacrifice to the gods and do not play the fool".
Carpus replied:" It is impossible for me to offer sacrifice; in fact I have never sacrificed to idols before."
Immediately the proconsul ordered him to be hung up and scraped And Carpus kept screaming:"I am a Christian!" But after being scraped for a long time he grew exhausted and was no longer able to speak.
The proconsul then left Carpus and turned to the next . . . After being invited to sacrifice, Papylus replied with intrepidy:
". . . I have always served God from my youth and have never offered sacrifice to idols, because I am a Christian, there is no other greater or nobler thing than to offer myself a victim to the living and true God."
The torments engaged in turn the torturers, but he did not utter a moaning.
"I feel no torture - he said - because I have someone who suffers in me one whom you do not see . . . ."
Finally the bishop and deacon were condemned to be burned alive. . . Then the Devil's henchmen first stripped Pamphilus and nailed him to a stake. Then they straightened the stake.When the flames began to rise, the martyr calmly prayed and gave up his soul to God. ù Then they came to Carpus. But when he was lifted up, his countenance seemed happy and he smiled.
And those who stood by said to him:"Why are you smiling?"
"I have seen the glory of the Lord and am full of joy.Blessed are you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, because you have rendered me sinner worthy of your lot.
There was among the spectators a woman named Agathonice, who seeing Carpus contemplating the glory of the Lord, understood that it was a calling from heaven and cried out in a loud voice: " The banquet is prepared for me as well, I want to partake of this food of glory."
While the crowd cried out to her:"Have pity on yourself and on your child, the saint replied: "the Lord Himself will take care of him"
And when she was led to the spot, she removed her cloak and lay down joyfully on the stake struck all those who looked at her beauty.. The bystanders could not hold back their tears and said: "Terrible judgement and unjust decrees. And when the fire was lit beneath her Agathonice cried out three times, "Lord, Lord, Lord, assist me! For you are my refuge." And she gave up her spirit and died together with the saints. And the Christians secretly collected their remains and kept them for the glory of Christ and the praise of his martyrs.
In Asia there was also martyred Sagaris, bishop of Laodicea (Eusebius IV, 26, 3,5).
 

3.16. The martyrdom of the saintly and blessed apostle Apollonius.
Apollonius, a roman senator and renowned among Christians of the City for his high social rank and deep learning. . . Denounced, probably by one of his slaves, Apollonius was invited by the judge to present his case before the senate. Eusebius of Caesarea writes that, although he presented a most eloquent defence of his faith, he was still condemned to death.
The proconsul Perennis, out of regard for the nobility and high reputation of Apollonius, sincerely wanted to save him, but was compelled to hand down the sentence of condemnation because of the decree of Emperor Commodus (c. 180).
We will report some parts of the trial, in which the martyr affirmed his love of life, recalls the moral standards which Christians had received from the Lord Jesus, and proclaimed his hope in a future life.

Apollonius: "A divine decree cannot be quelled by the decrees of men. Indeed, the more believers you will, the more will their numbers will grow by God's aid.. . . We don't find it hard, proconsul, to die for the true God. For it is through God that we are what we are. For this reason we make every effort not to die an evil death. Indeed, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
Perennis the proconsul said: "With these ideas, Apollonius, you enjoy dying!"
Apollonius: I enjoy living, but I have not been afraid of death because of my love of life. There is nothing more precious than life - that is eternal life - which is the immortality of the soul that has lived a good life on earth." . . .
"The Lord's Word, our Saviour Jesus Christ, has taught us to put a stop to anger, to moderate our desires, mortify our lust, uproot our grief, to live in fellowship, to intensify our love and to eradicate our vanity; not to retaliate against those who commit injustices against us,to despise death for God's law, not to return a wrong by a wrong, but to bear it, to believe in the law he has given, to honour the emperor, to worship the immortal God alone, to believe that the soul is immortal, to be convinced that there will be a judgement after death, and that there will be a reward given by God after the resurrection, to those who have lived a good life, for their labours on behalf of virtue.
When the judge pronounced the sentence of death, Apollonius said: " I thank my God, proconsul Perennis,for this sentence of yours which will bring me salvation, together with all those who believe in almighty God, his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit."

Apollonius died by being beheaded in Rome on 21st April 183, a Sunday. Eusebius makes this comment on the death of Apollonius: "The martyr, most dearly loved by God, was a great warrior for Christ, who went to his martyrdom with a pure and fervent heart. Following his shining example, let us rejuvenate our souls in faith."
We also know from the same Eusebius, that the accuser of Apollonius - just like the one of the future pope Callixtus much later- was condemned to having his legs broken. In fact, according to an imperial edict we know of from Tertullian (Ad. Scap. IV, 3) attributed to Marcus Aurelius, the accusers of Christians had to be condemned to death. The Acts of the Martyrdom of Apollonius, discovered in the last century, exist today in the original Armenian and greek versions and in various modern translations.
(from the Collection of the Ancient Martyrdoms incorporated by Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical History", V, 21).
 

3.17. The pearls of the Church trampled down by the swine. Martyrdom of Pionius
At Smyrna (in Turkey) Pionius was arrested while celebrating the anniversary of Polycarp with Sabina, Asclepiades, Macedonia and Limnos. They had finished the prayers and had just taken the consecrated bread when Polemen, keeper of the temple (verger) presented himself, with his men to arrest the Christians and take them to sacrifice to the idols and to eat the food that had been offered up.
"Surely you are aware," said the verger," of the emperor's edict commanding you to sacrifice to the gods."
"We are aware," said Pionius" of the commandments of God ordering us to worship him alone.. . .
You men who boast of the beauty of Smyrna, who glory in your fellow citizen Homer, you laugh at the Apostles, you mock those who spontaneously go to sacrifice or don't refuse to do it, because they are forced to, you should follow the counsels of your Homer, who says that it is an impious thing to make fun of those who are about to die.. . Life is good, but we go in search of a better life. Light is beautiful, but we wish for the true The world itself is beautiful because it is the work of God. We do not renounce it through disgust or because we despise it, but because we prefer something better."
Sabina smiled and the verger and his men said: "You smile?"
"If God so wills," she said,"I do. You see, we are Christians. Those who believe in Christ are certain to go towards eternal happiness."
They told her:"Women who refuse to sacrifice are put into a brothel Don't you mind it?"
"The God who is holy will take care of me", replied Sabina
To those who had already apostatised and came to visit them in prison, Pionius said: "I suffer pangs that break my heart in seeing the pearls of the Church being trampled by swine, the stars of heaven being swept down to earth and the vine which the right hand of God planted being ravaged by the wild boar. . Satan has demanded to have us that he might sift us like wheat, and the fiery winnowing fork is in the hand of the Word of God for the clearing of the threshing-floor.ready to welcome us again in his mercy.They brought the wood and lit the fire around the condemned: Pionius closed his eyes and the crowd thought that he had expired, however he was praying in silence. When he had finished his prayer, he reopened his eyes as the flames arose.
With a look of immense joy he cried: "Amen, Lord, receive my soul" With a light breath his spirit left without sorrow.
(Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, IV, 15).

 

3.18. Countless martyrs
In Asia Minor, that same year of 250, there was martyred Acacius, bishop of Antioch in Pisidia, who was circumvented by the legate of the emperor Decius.
- You live under roman law, therefore love our princes.
- No one loves the emperor more than we do - replied Acacius - who turn to God continually in prayer for a long life of just government of the people in peace. We pray also for the safety of the soldiers and for the prosperity of the empire and of the world, but the emperor cannot require us to make sacrifice.
Maximus, a small trader among the people, arrested and taken before the proconsul of Asia, in the name of the Lord held the tortures as gentle as balsam compared to those of eternity.
- If I am unfaithful to the commandments of my Lord - he said - not following the Gospel, I will lose my life . . . I do not feel the rods nor the iron claws nor the fire, since the grace of Christ is in me.
In Nicomedia (still in Asia Minor) between 250 and 251 St. Lucianus was burned alive, because from a persecutor he had become a "preacher", and St. Marcianus, who had previously adored the false gods and had been converted to the worship of the true God.
Even Egypt did not lack its martyrs. Denis of Alexandria wrote that the persecution did not begin there with the edict of the emperor but a year earlier. The first to be brought forward was an old man called Metra whom they ordered to pronounce impious words. When he refused, they beat him violently, drove sharp reeds into his face and eyes, then dragged him on the outskirts of the township and stoned him to death.
Then there was the turn of a certain Quinta, who having been taken to the temple to offer sacrifice, refused energetically;seized by her feet, she was dragged through the streets and was finally stoned. The dwellings of Christians were sacked and everything valuable taken, while the cheaper goods were thrown into the street and burned. Thus Alexandria had the look of a city under siege.
St. Apollonia, a holy virgin advanced in years, was so struck in the face that she lost her teeth. They threatened to give her over to the flames if she refused to blaspheme. But she asked for an instant to reflect, and threw herself spontaneously into the flames. Serapion, arrested in his house, was tormented in many ways, all his members stretched and then thrown from the top floor.
Julianus, who because of arthritis could neither walk nor stand up, was carried to the courtroom by two others, one of whom apostatized on the instant and the other Cronius, also known as Eunus, confessed the Lord like the holy old man Julianus. A Libyan by the name of Felix was made happy . . . at the good fortune of being burned alive ! Epimachus and Alexander underwent prison, torture with iron hooks, whips and a thousand other torments and finally thrown into a cauldron of quicklime, dying there consumed in the flames. Four Christian women suffered the same fate.
Then it was the turn of Hero, Attus and Isidore, all three Egyptians, and a fifteen year old youth called Dioscorus. The judge began with the young man thinking that he would soon give in, given his youth, but he showed himself unshaken before the promises and torments. Then he had the oldest two brutally beaten, and after having subjected them to every torment, had them put to death by fire. The judge remained in admiration of Dioscorus, for the wisdom of his response and the vigour of his spirit, such that he wanted to set him free - saying that he would give him time to think it over.
Denis, bishop of Alexandria, following the example of Cyprian of Carthage, at first hid, then was arrested, but set free in spite of himself. Finally, he returned to his see, where he could relate the deeds of the Egyptian martyrs we have retold. Under Decius, the great Origen was subjected to torture and imprisoned, finally rescued from the palm of martyrdom. The first great attempt to destroy the new Christian society failed, notwithstanding the huge number who fell into apostasy.
(C. Riggi, Il messaggio dei primi martiri, Elledici, Torino-Leumann, 1978, 19-20).

 

3.19. He made the sign of the cross and gave his soul to God. Martyrdom of Conon the greengrocer
In Pamphilia (Asia Minor) during the persecution of Decius (249-251), there occurred the martyrdom of the aged Conon, "servant of Christ, "a pure soul without guile". Originally from Nazareth in Galilee, he moved to Pamphilia in the vicinity of Magidos, where he led a very retired life. He cultivated a garden and nourished himself on the produce he grew there.

The prefect said to the martyr: - "Tell me, fellow, where are you from ? Of what descent are you ? What is your name ?"
"I am from the city of Nazareth in Galilee" answered Conan, "and my relationship is not with Christ, whose worship I inherited from my forefathers; him I recognize as the God above all."
"If you recognize Christ,"said the tyrant, " why do you not recognize our gods?. . "
"How could you thus blaspheme against the God of the universe?"
The prefect after consulting with his counsellors, ordered spikes to be driven under his ankles, and thus he made the martyr run ahead of his chariot with his feet pierced. Driven on by two men with whips, he answered not a word, but simply sang the words of the psalm: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry." Fainting from fatigue, he looked upwards towards his Master and prayed aloud "Lord Jesus Christ, receive my soul . . . "
And after he had made this prayer and made the sign of the cross upon himself he gave up his spirit.
(From Synaxarium Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, coll. 495, 509)…

 

3.20. Martyrdom of the ascetics Samonas and Gurias
In the first nineteen years of his rule, Diocletian did not disturb the peace of the Church. At the instigation of Galerius he finally decreed that the army should be cleared of Christians (297), to destroy the churches and Scriptures, to eliminate noble Christians from public office and to deprive ordinary Christians of their freedom (303).
There were perhaps martyrs as early as 289. The two martyrs Samonas and Gurias had been obliged to answer for their faith at Edessa (in Asia Minor). Gurias was an ascetic who lived near Edessa and Samonas was a Christian lay person. During the persecution of Galerius and Maximian, they were arrested and taken before the prefect Misianus. To the court they declared:

" - We will be obedient to the King of kings who is in heaven and to His Christ. We will not follow the way of sinners. We will not die but live doing the will of Him who has created us. If we obeyed your princes, we would fall into death. . .
A few days later, at Antioch the governor Misianus of Urhai sent out precise orders:
Our princes ordered you to sacrifice to the gods, to burn incense and pour out wine before Zeus.
Don't oppose their will, since you do not have the strength to withstand the tortures which await you.But since they were unshaken, he ordered Leontius to hang them up by the arms and stretch them cruelly, from nine in the morning to two in the afternoon.
Their resistance was surprising. Since the executioners finally tired, the governor ordered them to be taken down and taken to a prison called "the black mouth", where they remained from August to the middle of November. Then the governor had them brought into his presence, but they insisted -"We have already confessed our faith, we are unshakeable and you must do what you have been ordered to; you may have power over our bodies, but not over our souls.
Seeing that the governor was by now disposed to condemn them to death, they were filled with joy and said:
"Let Him be praised who has judged us worthy to endure every torment for the name of Christ. When they had arrived at a hill, the executioner had them get down from the cart. They were full of joy that the day of their crowning had finally arrived. They asked for a little time to pray and the executioner gave it saying:
- "Pray also for me, for the evil I do before God."
They prayed together and after them asked for the mercy of the Lord the executioner and the soldiers."
(from the "Acts of the Martyrs of Edessa", in BHG- Bibliotheca Hagiographica Greca, I, 241).

 

4. How many martyrs were there?
What was the number of Martyrs ? It is impossible to state it exactly. There were many both before and after Constantine, so that the word of Christ be safe or not vain. There were already drawing near the Persian persecutions, which between 309 and 314 added many others under Saporis II and Brahram V.
To the martyrs already named of the first three cenuries we could add those that in the West and the East tell the story of the Cross of Christ in a particular way, and can be held up as models of the victory over the pagan world and paganism. The seven virgins of Galatia, the widow of Cappadocia, Zenobius priest and doctor, Pamphilus, teacher and saint, Cassian, a humble school teacher, the commoner Taranco and the noble Probus, the covert courtier Afra and the poor innkeeper, Theodotus of Ancyra, etc.
Their example urges us to live a christian life, to use earthly goods without losing heavenly values, praying for our persecutors and spreading the joy of the Risen One while we are still in our earthly bodies. We are all called to give witness to the Gospel, in the Calvary of illness and the other daily crosses.
In a certain sense, the persecutions are still going on. Let us still give witness by fidelity to Christ and his Church.

 

5. Conclusion
To conclude this study on the Acts of the Martyrs we will add some thoughts of Pope John Paul II on the significance and value of martyrdom as a "perennial witness to love of Christ and of the Church and as an eloquent proof of the truth of the faith." There is also a reflection by Juan Edmundo Vecchi, Superior General of the Salesians of Don Bosco on the radical nature and occurrence of martyrdom in the early Church and that of our own day.

 

REMEMBERING THE MARYTRS,
perennial Witnesses to the love of Christ and of his Church.
"The Church of the First Millenium - Pope John Paul II has written in "Tertio Millennio Adveniente" - Apostolic Letter concerning the preparation for the Jubilee, 10th November 1994, No 43) was born from the blood of the martyrs: "Sanguis martyrum -semen Christianorum. . . At the end of the second millenium, it has again become the Church of the Martyrs. Their example must not be forgotten."
In the Bull proclaiming the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, "Incarnationis mysterium" ( the mystery of the Incarnation), the Pope reminds us that "the story of the Church is a story of sanctity and of martyrdom. . ." We will quote from the Bull, the passage which speaks of the martyrdom of the Church in its early centuries and in our own times.

"A sign of the truth of Christian love, ageless but especially powerful today, is the memory of the martyrs. Their witness must not be forgotten. They are the ones who have proclaimed the gospel by giving their lives for love. The martyr, especially in our own days, is a sign of that greater love which sums up all other values. The martyr's life reflects the extraordinary words uttered by Christ on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34). The believer who has seriously pondered his Christian vocation, including what revelation has to say about the possibility of martyrdom, cannot exclude it from his own life's horizon. The two thousand years since the birth of Christ are marked by the ever-presence witness of the martyrs.
This century now drawing to a close has known very many martyrs, especially because of Nazism, communism, and racial or tribal conflicts. People from every sector of society have suffered for their faith, paying with their blood for their fidelity to Christ and the Church, or courageously facing interminable years of imprisonment and privations of every kind because they refused to yield to an ideology which had become a dictatorial regime. From the psychological point of view, martyrdom is the most eloquent proof of the truth of the faith, for faith can give a human face even to the most violent of deaths and show its beauty even in the midst of the most atrocious persecutions.
Filled with grace during the coming Jubilee year, we shall be able with new strength to raise the hymn of thanksgiving to the Father, singing: Te martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus. Yes, this is the host of those who "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb" (Rev 7:14). For this reason the Church in every corner of the earth must remain anchored in the testimony of the martyrs and jealously guard their memory. May the People of God, confirmed in faith by the example of these true champions of every age, language and nation, cross with full confidence the threshold of the third millenium. In the hearts of the faithful, may admiration for their martyrdom be matched by the desire to follow their example, with God's grace, should circumstances require it".

(Incarnationis mysterium, 13)

6. The martyrs, radical witnesses
"To be martyrs is a vocation. The Holy Spirit, not the judge or the executioner, makes the martyrs i.e. the outstanding witnesses. It is as though each vocation expresses a dimension of christian existence which is common to all." This is the line taken in the pastoral reflection of Don Juan Edmundo Vecchi on martyrdom and its force of attraction, above all for the young.

In his message to the world on Easter Day 1998, the Pope has brought together in the same recollection, evangelical witness to the resurrection and the martyrs of our times. One of the projects for the Jubilee is a martyrology of the Twentieth Century, that is a list of those who from 1900 to our own times have been killed for the faith. The Synods of Africa, of the Americas, and of Asia have enumerated the martyrs and the memory of them among the most important points of Christian life today and of the new evangelization. This is for life as well as for history ! The martyrs are not only the "glory" and the "exemplars", but the living revelation of a dimension of Christian being- the evidence of Christ in true life.
Martyrdom, in the original meaning of the term, meant the deposition of a witness inscribed under oath with proven valour. It then had the greatest credibility, the guarantee of truth, which could be asked.
The Gospel applies the word to Jesus who gives witness to the Father and true life in deeds and sayings, but above all in his passion and death. He is the witness, the martyr par excellence. It then applies it to those who spoke of the Resurrection of Jesus or, later preached it. This was open to ridicule and failure and even risk of death, as was shown from the very beginning of the Church in the martyrdom of S. Stephen.
Jesus himself joined to this confession of his disciples the assistance of the Holy Spirit. "They will deliver you up to councils . . and torture you. . . you will bear testimony before them and before the pagans. . . Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say. . It is not you who are to speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." (Mt 10: 17-18, 20).
Soon and throughout history, martyrdom took on the sense of life offered up in a bloody death in witness to the faith. The martyrs did not defend their innocence with arguments before those who accused them. Indeed they used the occasion to speak of Jesus, declaring how much Christ was important to them, and confessing their allegiance to the group of Christians. They even had the courage to exhort the judges and executioners to change their minds and to return to reason.
Even today people are killed on account of their faith. We see this in the seven monks in Algeria and in many others, religious and lay faithful, victims of intégrisme or religious superstition. Others died in the exercise of charity or efforts at reconciliation in ethnic conflicts, in civil wars or situations of general insecurity.
However, it is more often for "human reasons", intimately bound up with the faith. Thus in the ideological regimes of the Twentieth century there have been massacres of believers Catholics, protestants, orthodox under the accusation of being opposed to the good of the people, ofsubversion, of favouring the enemies of the State. No one was asked if he wanted to renounce his faith. They got rid of him without trial. Sometimes he was defamed through a powerful press and puppettribunals.
It is interesting to see how the words of Jesus have been fulfilled: the framed accusations we have forgotten. What the martyrs have proclaimed through their sufferings and with their silence we rememberthe value of life, the dignity of the person called to the communion with God and to the responsibility before Him, the freedom of conscience, the criticism against such tragic deviations as racism, integralism, the absolute power of the State, the discrimination, the exploitation of the poor.
It is said that no cause goes forward without its martyrs, i. e. without those who believe in it so much as to give their lives for it.Fiath always involves a certain violence. Jesus teaches us that we reach full life through death. He reached glory through his passion. Those who desire the crown, says S. Paul, must first strive and those who would reach the end must first enter the race and train with sacrifice.
Today, such thoughts are not very popular. There is a gift of the Holy Spirit which makes us understand and take it upon ourselves: fortitude. We all need it. Perhaps no one will kill us for our religious beliefs. But there is a whole christian concept of living to sustain and choices of life which ask for clarity and strength. There are personal circumstances, illness, situations at home and at work, which require a firm sticking to hope.
To be a martyr is a vocation. The Holy Spirit not the judge or the executioners make the martyrs i.e. the outstanding witnesses to faith. And like every vocation it expresses a dimension of Christian existence which is common to all. In Rome, reminders of the martyrs are commonplace. We can touch them in many Churches, but above all in the catacombs which bring back the perilous conditions of Christian community in the times of persecution and the happenings in which were involvedindividual believers who were accused because of their religion.
Paintings, diagrams, inscriptions, sarcophagi and the location itself are a veritable lesson, a reflection of the faith lived in the "times" of the martyrs: the times of minority, a provocative significance, trials, adherence and love.
In other contexts it is a current reality, but there is not the same intense reflection, rich and articulated, which affects us in the classical places.
The presuppositions, the implications, what underlines martyrdom, cannot be separated from the forming of faith. This is source of joy and of light, but it is not offered on the cheap. We are reminded of the parable of the "treasure hidden in the field", for which the buyer would sell all he had.
Martyrdom is joined to one of the marks without which the Good News loses its colour, its taste, its thread, its radicality. It is a kind of internal dynamism through which one points to the maximum possible and it is typical of faith. It is not fundamentalism which is blind adherence to the letter of the tenets; it is not maximalism which pretends to show connection between ideal and reality. It is rather a "taste", an understanding of the truth, a personal bond of love to Christ.
John Paul II based his discourse on a sure fact with the saying: people in our times listen more to witnesses than to "experts". Among youth there is a fibre which accepts the invitation to be radical. Let us make it vibrate! (Juan Edmundo Vecchi in Dire Dio air giovani, Elledici, Leumann-Torino, 1999, pp. 84-87).

Acknowledgements

Nos 1- 11 of the Acts of the Martyrs, by the kind courtesy of the Editor of "Atti dei Martiri" by Giuliana Caldarelli, Edizioni Paoline, 1983

No. 12 by Giuseppe Ricciotti, "L'Era dei Martiri", Coletti editore, Roma, 1953.

The Preface and Nos 13-20 from Calogerus Riggi, "Il messaggio dei primi martiri", Elledici, Leumann-Torino, 1978.

"Incarnationis Mysterium", Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano, 1998.

"I martiri, testimoni radicali" by Juan Edmundo Vecchi, "Dire Dio ai giovani", Elledici, Leumann-Torino, 1999.

Background reading in English

Ehrman, Bart D., After the New Testament. A Reader in Early Christianity, Oxford University Press, 1999. GUL 10 Theology D 130 EHR

Musurillo, Herbert, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs, Introduction and Translation. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1972. ULL Theology JA 250 MUS

Eusebius, The History of the Church. Translation by G.A. Williamson, Minneapolit, Minn. Augsburg Publishing House, 1975. GUL 10 Theology JB 20