Book VIII, Part I.
Introduction through Chapter VIII.
Book VIII, Introduction.
As we have described in seven books the events from the time of the Apostles,
we think it proper in this eighth book to record for the information of posterity a
few of the most important occurrences of our own times, which are worthy of
permanent record.
Our account will begin at this point.
Chapter I.
The Events Which Preceded the Persecution in Our Times.
It is beyond our ability to describe in a suitable manner the extent and nature of
the glory and freedom with which the word of piety toward the God of the universe,
proclaimed to the world through Christ, was honored among all men, both Greeks and
barbarians, before the persecution in our day.
The favor shown our people by the rulers might be adduced as evidence, as they
committed to them the government of provinces, and on account of the great
friendship which they entertained toward their doctrine, released them from anxiety
in regard to sacrificing.
Why need I speak of those in the royal palaces, and of the rulers over all,
who allowed the members of their households, wives and children and
servants, to speak openly before them for the divine word and life, and suffered
them almost to boast of the freedom of their faith?
Indeed, they esteemed them highly, and preferred them to their fellow
servants.
Such an one was that Dorotheus, the most devoted and faithful to them of
all, and on this account especially honored by them among those who held the
most honorable offices and governments.
With him was the celebrated Gorgonius, and as many as had been esteemed worthy of
the divine distinction on account of the word of God.
And one could see the rulers in every church accorded the greatest favor by all
officers and governors.
But how can anyone describe those vast assemblies, and the multitude that crowded
together in every city, and the famous gatherings in the houses of prayer,
on whose account not being satisfied with the ancient buildings, they erected from
the foundation large churches in all the cities?
No envy hindered the progress of these affairs which advanced gradually,
and grew and increased day by day.
Nor could any evil demon slander them or hinder them through human counsels,
so long as the divine and heavenly hand watched over and guarded his own people as
worthy.
But when, on account of the abundant freedom, we fell into laxity and sloth,
and envied and reviled each other, and were almost, as it were, taking up
arms against one another, rulers assailing rulers with words like spears,
and people forming parties against people, and monstrous hypocrisy and dissimulation
rising to the greatest height of wickedness, the divine judgment with
forbearance, as is its pleasure, while the multitudes yet continued to
assemble, gently and moderately harassed the episcopacy.
This persecution began with the brethren in the army.
But as if without sensibility, we were not eager to make the deity
favorable and propitious, and some, like atheists, thought that our affairs
were unheeded and ungoverned, and thus we added one wickedness to another,
and those esteemed our shepherds, casting aside the bond of piety,
were excited to conflicts with one another, and did nothing else than heap up
strifes and threats and jealousy and enmity and hatred toward each other,
like tyrants eagerly endeavoring to assert their power.
Then truly, according to the word of Jeremiah, the Lord in His wrath darkened
the daughter of Zion, and cast down the glory of Israel from heaven to earth,
and remembered not His footstool in the day of His anger.
The Lord also overwhelmed all the beautiful things of Israel, and threw down
all His strongholds.
And according to what was foretold in the Psalms, He has made void the covenant of
His servant, and profaned His sanctuary to the earth, in the destruction of the
churches, and has thrown down all His strongholds, and has made His fortresses
cowardice.
All that pass by have plundered the multitude of the people, and He has become
besides a reproach to His neighbors.
For He has exalted the right hand of His enemies, and has turned back the help of
His sword, and has not taken His part in the war.
But He has deprived Him of purification, and has cast His throne to the ground.
He has shortened the days of His time, and besides all, has poured out His shame
upon Him.
Chapter 2.
The Destruction of the Churches.
But it is not our place to describe the sad misfortunes which finally came upon
them, as we do not think it proper, moreover, to record their divisions and
unnatural conduct to each other before the persecution.
Wherefore we have decided to relate nothing concerning them, except the things
in which we can vindicate the divine judgment.
Hence we shall not mention those who were shaken by the persecution, nor those who
in everything pertaining to salvation were shipwrecked, and by their own will were
sunk in the depths of the flood.
But we shall introduce into this history in general only those events which may be
useful first to ourselves, and afterwards to posterity.
Let us, therefore, proceed to describe briefly the sacred conflicts of the
witnesses of the divine word.
It was in the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the month Distrus,
called March by the Romans, when the feast of the Saviour's Passion was near at hand,
that royal edicts were published everywhere, commanding that the churches
be leveled to the ground and the scriptures be destroyed by fire,
and ordering that those who held places of honour be degraded, and that the household
servants, if they persisted in the profession of Christianity, be deprived of
freedom.
Such was the first edict against us, but not long after other decrees were
issued, commanding that all the rulers of the churches in every place be first
thrown into prison, and afterwards by every artifice be compelled to sacrifice.
CHAPTER III.
THE NATURE OF THE CONFLICTS ENDURED IN THE PERSECUTION.
Another was punished with insupportable rackings and scrapings, in which some
suffered a miserable death.
Others passed through different conflicts.
Thus one, while those around pressed him on by force and dragged him to the
abominable and impure sacrifices, was dismissed as if he had sacrificed,
though he had not.
Another, though he had not approached at all, nor touched any polluted thing,
when others said that he had sacrificed, went away, bearing the accusation in
silence.
Another, being taken up half dead, was cast aside as if already dead,
and again a certain one lying upon the ground was dragged a long distance by his
feet and counted among those who had sacrificed.
One cried out and with a loud voice testified his rejection of the sacrifice,
another shouted that he was a Christian, being resplendent in the confession of the
saving name.
Another protested that he had not sacrificed and never would.
But they were struck in the mouth and silenced by a large band of soldiers who
were drawn up for this purpose, and they were smitten on the face and
cheeks and driven away by force, so important did the enemies of piety
regard it, by any means, to seem to have accomplished their purpose.
But these things did not avail them against the holy martyrs, for an accurate
description of whom what word of ours could suffice.
CHAPTER IV.
THE FAMOUS MARTYRS OF GOD, WHO FILLED EVERY PLACE WITH THEIR MEMORY AND WON
VARIOUS CROWNS IN BEHALF OF RELIGION.
For we might tell of many who showed admirable zeal for the religion of the God
of the universe, not only from the beginning of the general persecution,
but long before that time, while yet peace prevailed.
For though he who had received power was seemingly aroused now as from a deep
sleep, yet from the time after Decius and Valerian, he had been plotting secretly
and without notice against the churches.
He did not wage war against all of us at once, but made trial at first only of
those in the army, for he supposed that the others could be taken easily,
if he should first attack and subdue these.
Thereupon many of the soldiers were seen most cheerfully embracing private life,
so that they might not deny their piety toward the Creator of the universe.
For when the commander, whoever he was, began to persecute the soldiers,
separating into tribes and purging those who were enrolled in the army,
giving them the choice either by obeying to receive the honor which belonged to
them or, on the other hand, to be deprived of it if they disobeyed the command,
a great many soldiers of Christ's kingdom, without hesitation, instantly preferred
the confession of him to the seeming glory and prosperity which they were enjoying.
And one and another of them occasionally received in exchange for their pious
constancy not only the loss of position, but death.
But as yet the instigator of this plot proceeded with moderation, and ventured so
far as blood only in some instances, for the multitude of believers,
as it is likely, made him afraid, and deterred him from waging war at once
against all.
But when he made the attack more boldly, it is impossible to relate how many and
what sort of martyrs of God could be seen among the inhabitants of all the cities
and countries.
CHAPTER V.
THOSE IN NICOMEDIA.
Immediately on the publication of the decree against the churches in Nicomedia,
a certain man, not obscure but very highly honored with distinguished temporal
dignities, moved with zeal toward God, and incited with ardent faith,
seized the edict as it was posted openly and publicly, and tore it to pieces as a
profane and impious thing.
And this was done while two of the sovereigns were in the same city,
the oldest of all, and the one who held the fourth place in the government after
him.
But this man, first in that place, after distinguishing himself in such a
manner, suffered those things which were likely to follow such daring, and kept his
spirit cheerful and undisturbed till death.
CHAPTER VI.
THOSE IN THE PALACE.
This period produced divine and illustrious martyrs, above all whose
praises have ever been sung and who have been celebrated for courage, whether among
Greeks or barbarians, in the person of Dorotheus, and the servants that were with
him in the palace.
Although they received the highest honors from their masters, and were treated by
them as their own children, they esteemed reproaches and trials for religion,
and the many forms of death that were invented against them, as in truth greater
riches than the glory and luxury of this life.
We will describe the manner in which one of them ended his life, and leave our
readers to infer from his case the sufferings of the others.
A certain man was brought forward in the above-mentioned city, before the rulers of
whom we have spoken.
He was then commanded to sacrifice, but as he refused, he was ordered to be
stripped and raised on high and beaten with rods over his entire body,
until, being conquered, he should, even against his will, do what was
commanded.
But as he was unmoved by these sufferings, and his bones were already appearing,
they mixed vinegar with salt and poured it upon the mangled parts of his body.
As he scorned these agonies, a gridiron and fire were brought forward,
and the remnants of his body, like flesh intended for eating, were placed on the
fire, not at once, lest he should expire instantly, but a little at a time.
And those who placed him on the pyre were not permitted to desist until,
after such sufferings, he should assent to the things commanded.
But he held his purpose firmly, and victoriously gave up his life while
the tortures were still going on.
Such was the martyrdom of one of the servants of the palace, who was indeed
well worthy of his name, for he was called Peter.
The martyrdoms of the rest, though they were not inferior to his, we will pass by
for the sake of brevity, recording only that Dorotheus and Gorgonius, with many
others of the royal household, after varied sufferings, ended their lives
by strangling, and bore away the trophies of God-given victory.
At this time Anthimus, who then presided over the church in Nicomedia, was beheaded
for his testimony to Christ.
A great multitude of martyrs were added to him, a conflagration having broken out in
those very days in the palace at Nicomedia, I know not how, which,
through a false suspicion, was laid to our people.
Entire families of the pious in that place were put to death in masses at the royal
command, some by the sword, and others by fire.
It is reported that with a certain divine and indescribable eagerness men and women
rushed into the fire, and the executioners bound a large number of others and put
them on boats, and threw them into the depths of the sea.
And those who had been esteemed their masters considered it necessary to dig up
the bodies of the imperial servants, who had been committed to the earth with
suitable burial, and cast them into the sea, lest any, as they thought,
regarding them as gods, might worship them lying in their sepulchres.
Such things occurred in Nicomedia at the beginning of the persecution, but not long
after, as persons in the country called Melitene and others throughout Syria
attempted to usurp the government, a royal edict directed that the rulers of
the churches everywhere should be thrown into prison and bonds.
What was to be seen after this exceeds all description.
A vast multitude were imprisoned in every place, and the prisons everywhere,
which had long before been prepared for murderers and robbers of graves,
were filled with bishops, presbyters and deacons, readers and exorcists,
so that the room was no longer left in them for those condemned for crimes.
And as other decrees followed the first, directing that those in prison,
if they would sacrifice, should be permitted to depart in freedom,
but that those who refused should be harassed with many tortures, how could any
one, again, number the multitude of martyrs in every province, and especially
of those in Africa and Mauritania and Thebaeus and Egypt?
From this last country many went into other cities and provinces and became
illustrious through martyrdom.
We were present ourselves when these things occurred, and have put on record
the divine power of our martyred Saviour Jesus Christ, which was present and
manifested itself mightily in the martyrs.
For a long time the man-devouring beasts did not dare to touch or draw near the
bodies of those dear to God, but rushed upon the others who from the outside
irritated and urged them on.
And they would not in the least touch the holy athletes, as they stood alone and
naked, and shook their hands at them to draw them toward themselves, for they were
commanded to do this.
But whenever they rushed at them, they were restrained as if by some divine
power, and retreated again.
This continued for a long time, and occasioned no little wonder to the
spectators.
And as the first wild beast did nothing, a second and a third were let loose
against one and the same martyr.
One could not but be astonished at the invincible firmness of these holy men,
and the enduring and immovable constancy of those whose bodies were young.
You could have seen a youth not twenty years of age standing unbound and
stretching out his hands in the form of a cross, with unterrified and untrembling
mind, engaged earnestly in prayer to God, and not in the least going back or
retreating from the place where he stood, while bears and leopards, breathing rage
and death, almost touched his flesh.
And yet their mouths were restrained, I know not how, by a divine and
incomprehensible power, and they ran back again to their place.
Such an one was he.
Again you might have seen others, for they were five in all, cast before a
wild bull, who tossed into the air with his horns those who approached from the
outside, and mangled them, leaving them to be taken up half dead.
But when he rushed with rage and threatening upon the holy martyrs,
who were standing alone, he was unable to come near them, but though he stamped with
his feet, and pushed in all directions with his horns, and breathed rage and
threatening on account of the irritation of the burning irons, he was,
nevertheless, held back by the sacred providence.
And as he in no wise harmed them, they let loose other wild beasts upon
them.
Finally, after these terrible and various attacks upon them, they were all slain
with the sword, and instead of being buried in the earth, they were committed
to the waves of the sea.
Such was the conflict of those Egyptians who contended nobly for religion in Tyre.
But we must admire those also who suffered martyrdom in their native land,
where thousands of men, women, and children, despising the present life
for the sake of the teaching of our Savior, endured various deaths.
Some of them, after scrapings and rackings and severest scourgings, and numberless
other kinds of tortures, terrible even to hear of, were committed to the flames.
Some were drowned in the sea, some offered their heads bravely to those who cut them
off, some died under their tortures, and others perished with hunger.
And yet others were crucified, some, according to the method commonly
employed for malefactors, others, yet more cruelly, being nailed to the
cross with their heads downward, and being kept alive until they perished
on the cross with hunger.