WEBVTT

00:00.060 --> 00:05.220
The Martyrs of Palestine, Part One,
from Eusebius' Church History.

00:06.080 --> 00:07.540
This is a LibriVox recording.

00:07.940 --> 00:10.640
All LibriVox recordings are in the public
domain.

00:11.300 --> 00:16.140
For more information, or to volunteer,
please visit LibriVox.org.

00:17.840 --> 00:19.540
Recording by David Leeson.

00:21.040 --> 00:23.780
Church History by Eusebius of Caesarea.

00:24.160 --> 00:26.400
Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert.

00:26.940 --> 00:31.520
The Martyrs of Palestine, Part One,
Introduction through Chapter Five.

00:33.620 --> 00:37.960
The following also we found in a certain
copy in the eighth book.

00:39.320 --> 00:44.120
It was in the 19th year of the reign of
Diocletian, in the month Xanthicus,

00:44.340 --> 00:48.520
which is called April by the Romans,
about the time of the feast of our

00:48.520 --> 00:52.920
Savior's Passion, while Flavianus was
governor of the province of Palestine,

00:53.320 --> 00:58.060
that letters were published everywhere,
commanding that the churches be leveled to

00:58.060 --> 01:02.740
the ground, and the scriptures be
destroyed by fire, and ordering that those

01:02.740 --> 01:06.960
who held places of honor be degraded,
and that the household servants,

01:07.280 --> 01:11.660
if they persisted in the profession of
Christianity, be deprived of freedom.

01:13.280 --> 01:16.320
Such was the force of the first edict
against us.

01:16.620 --> 01:21.300
But not long after other letters were
issued, commanding that all the bishops of

01:21.300 --> 01:26.320
the churches everywhere be first thrown
into prison, and afterward, by every

01:26.320 --> 01:28.780
artifice, be compelled to sacrifice.

01:30.660 --> 01:31.840
Chapter One.

01:32.460 --> 01:38.320
The first of the martyrs of Palestine was
Procopius, who, before he had received the

01:38.320 --> 01:42.700
trial of imprisonment, immediately on his
first appearance before the governor's

01:42.700 --> 01:48.340
tribunal, having been ordered to sacrifice
to the so-called gods, declared that he

01:48.340 --> 01:53.120
knew only one to whom it was proper to
sacrifice, as he himself wills.

01:53.520 --> 01:57.420
But when he was commanded to offer
libations to the four emperors,

01:57.900 --> 02:02.440
having quoted a sentence which displeased
them, he was immediately beheaded.

02:03.160 --> 02:08.320
The quotation was from the poet,
The rule of many is not good, let there be

02:08.320 --> 02:10.060
one ruler and one king.

02:11.280 --> 02:15.860
It was the seventh day of the month
Decius, the seventh before the Ides of

02:15.860 --> 02:20.760
June, as the Romans reckon, and the fourth
day of the week, when this first example

02:20.760 --> 02:22.940
was given at Caesarea in Palestine.

02:24.440 --> 02:29.560
Afterwards, in the same city, many rulers
of the country churches readily endured

02:29.560 --> 02:34.680
terrible sufferings, and furnished to the
beholders an example of noble conflicts.

02:35.360 --> 02:41.040
But others, benumbed in spirit by terror,
were easily weakened at the first onset.

02:41.440 --> 02:46.460
Of the rest, each one endured different
forms of torture, as scourgings without

02:46.460 --> 02:51.700
number, and rackings, and tearings of
their sides, and insupportable fetters,

02:52.020 --> 02:54.540
by which the hands of some were
dislocated.

02:56.240 --> 03:00.700
Yet they endured what came upon them,
as in accordance with the inscrutable

03:00.700 --> 03:01.980
purposes of God.

03:02.460 --> 03:06.800
For the hands of one were seized,
and he was led to the altar, while they

03:06.800 --> 03:11.280
thrust into his right hand the polluted
and abominable offering, and he was

03:11.280 --> 03:12.980
dismissed as if he had sacrificed.

03:12.980 --> 03:16.980
Another had not even touched it,
yet when others said that he had

03:16.980 --> 03:19.400
sacrificed, he went away in silence.

03:20.200 --> 03:24.800
Another, being taken up half dead,
was cast aside as if already dead,

03:25.020 --> 03:28.800
and released from his bonds, and counted
among the sacrificers.

03:29.500 --> 03:34.620
When another cried out, and testified that
he would not obey, he was struck in the

03:34.620 --> 03:38.860
mouth, and silenced by a large band of
those who were drawn up for this purpose,

03:39.260 --> 03:43.080
and driven away by force, even though he
had not sacrificed.

03:43.980 --> 03:48.940
Of such consequence did they consider it,
to seem by any means to have accomplished

03:48.940 --> 03:49.780
their purpose.

03:51.220 --> 03:55.600
Therefore, of all this number,
the only ones who were honored with the

03:55.600 --> 04:00.920
crown of the holy martyrs were Alpheus and
Zacchaeus, after stripes, and scrapings,

04:01.000 --> 04:06.360
and severe bonds, and additional tortures,
and various other trials, and after having

04:06.360 --> 04:10.340
their feet stretched for a night and day
over four holes in the stocks,

04:10.980 --> 04:15.120
on the seventeenth day of the month Dias,
that is, according to the Romans,

04:15.440 --> 04:20.300
the fifteenth before the calends of
December, having confessed one only God

04:20.300 --> 04:25.700
and Christ Jesus as King, as if they had
uttered some blasphemy, they were beheaded

04:25.700 --> 04:26.980
like the former martyr.

04:28.480 --> 04:29.620
Chapter 2.

04:30.400 --> 04:35.380
What occurred to Romanus on the same day
at Antioch is also worthy of record.

04:35.940 --> 04:40.740
For he was a native of Palestine,
a deacon and exorcist in the parish of

04:40.740 --> 04:45.180
Caesarea, and being present at the
destruction of the churches, he beheld

04:45.180 --> 04:50.040
many men, with women and children,
going up in crowds to the idols and

04:50.040 --> 04:50.700
sacrificing.

04:51.480 --> 04:56.420
But through his great zeal for religion he
could not endure the sight, and rebuked

04:56.420 --> 04:57.740
them with a loud voice.

04:58.960 --> 05:03.160
Being arrested for his boldness,
he proved a most noble witness of the

05:03.160 --> 05:05.080
truth, if there ever was one.

05:05.500 --> 05:10.040
For when the judge informed him that he
was to die by fire, he received the

05:10.040 --> 05:14.180
sentence with cheerful countenance and
most ready mind, and was led away.

05:14.860 --> 05:18.300
When he was bound to the stake,
and the wood piled up around him,

05:18.640 --> 05:22.320
as they were awaiting the arrival of the
emperor before lighting the fire,

05:22.740 --> 05:25.040
he cried, Where is the fire for me?

05:26.060 --> 05:31.200
Having said this, he was summoned again
before the emperor, and subjected to the

05:31.200 --> 05:34.220
unusual torture of having his tongue cut
out.

05:34.660 --> 05:39.140
But he endured this with fortitude,
and showed to all by his deeds that the

05:39.140 --> 05:43.600
divine power is present with those who
endure any hardship whatever for the sake

05:43.600 --> 05:47.860
of religion, lightening their sufferings
and strengthening their zeal.

05:48.260 --> 05:52.060
When he learned of this strange mode of
punishment, the noble man was not

05:52.060 --> 05:57.100
terrified, but put out his tongue readily,
and offered it with the greatest alacrity

05:57.100 --> 05:58.620
to those who cut it off.

06:00.060 --> 06:05.180
After this punishment he was thrown into
prison, and suffered there for a very long

06:05.180 --> 06:05.620
time.

06:06.300 --> 06:11.180
At last the twentieth anniversary of the
emperor being near, when, according to an

06:11.180 --> 06:15.940
established gracious custom, liberty was
proclaimed everywhere to all who were in

06:15.940 --> 06:20.740
bonds, he alone had both his feet
stretched over five holes in the stocks,

06:21.100 --> 06:26.120
and while he lay there was strangled,
and was thus honored with martyrdom as he

06:26.120 --> 06:26.680
desired.

06:28.260 --> 06:32.800
Although he was outside of his country,
yet, as he was a native of Palestine,

06:33.340 --> 06:36.580
it is proper to count him among the
Palestinian martyrs.

06:37.200 --> 06:40.980
These things occurred in this manner
during the first year, when the

06:40.980 --> 06:44.540
persecution was directed only against the
rulers of the church.

06:45.900 --> 06:46.920
Chapter Three.

06:48.560 --> 06:52.380
In the course of the second year,
the persecution against us increased

06:52.380 --> 06:56.480
greatly, and at that time Urbanus,
being governor of the province,

06:57.000 --> 07:02.080
imperial edicts were first issued to him,
commanding by a general decree that all

07:02.080 --> 07:07.020
the people should sacrifice at once in the
different cities, and offer libations to

07:07.020 --> 07:07.600
the idols.

07:08.960 --> 07:15.520
In Gaza, a city of Palestine, Timotheus
endured countless tortures, and afterwards

07:15.520 --> 07:18.360
was subjected to a slow and moderate fire.

07:18.980 --> 07:23.840
Having given, by his patience in all his
sufferings, most genuine evidence of

07:23.840 --> 07:28.480
sincerest piety toward the deity,
he bore away the crown of the victorious

07:28.480 --> 07:29.800
athletes of religion.

07:30.520 --> 07:35.600
At the same time, Agapius and our
contemporary Thecla, having exhibited most

07:35.600 --> 07:39.440
noble constancy, were condemned as food
for the wild beasts.

07:41.080 --> 07:45.920
But who that beheld these things would not
have admired, or if they heard of them by

07:45.920 --> 07:48.100
report, would not have been astonished.

07:48.360 --> 07:52.140
For when the heathen everywhere were
holding a festival and the customary

07:52.140 --> 07:57.180
shows, it was noised abroad that besides
the other entertainments, the public

07:57.180 --> 08:01.340
combat of those who had lately been
condemned to wild beasts would also take

08:01.340 --> 08:01.840
place.

08:03.180 --> 08:08.660
As this report increased and spread in all
directions, six young men, namely

08:08.660 --> 08:14.920
Timoleus, a native of Pontus, Dionysius
from Tripolis in Phoenicia, Romulus,

08:15.120 --> 08:20.240
a subdeacon of the parish of Diospolis,
Pisas and Alexander, both Egyptians,

08:20.800 --> 08:25.140
and another Alexander from Gaza,
having first bound their own hands,

08:25.460 --> 08:31.040
went in haste to Urbanus, who was about to
open the exhibition, evidencing great zeal

08:31.040 --> 08:31.980
for martyrdom.

08:32.480 --> 08:36.480
They confessed that they were Christians,
and by their ambition for all terrible

08:36.480 --> 08:41.220
things, showed that those who glory in the
religion of the God of the universe do not

08:41.220 --> 08:43.860
cower before the attacks of wild beasts.

08:45.440 --> 08:50.620
Immediately, after creating no ordinary
astonishment in the governor and those who

08:50.620 --> 08:53.060
were with him, they were cast into prison.

08:53.780 --> 08:56.540
After a few days, two others were added to
them.

08:56.980 --> 09:02.180
One of them, named Agapius, had in former
confessions endured dreadful torments of

09:02.180 --> 09:03.100
various kinds.

09:03.660 --> 09:08.400
The other, who had supplied them with the
necessaries of life, was called Dionysius.

09:08.800 --> 09:14.280
All of these eight were beheaded on one
day at Caesarea, on the 24th day of the

09:14.280 --> 09:17.940
month Distrus, which is the ninth before
the calends of April.

09:19.240 --> 09:23.800
Meanwhile, a change in the emperors
occurred, and the first of them all in

09:23.800 --> 09:29.100
dignity, and the second retired into
private life, and public affairs began to

09:29.100 --> 09:29.680
be troubled.

09:31.120 --> 09:36.460
Shortly after, the Roman government became
divided against itself, and a cruel war

09:36.460 --> 09:37.600
arose among them.

09:38.060 --> 09:42.280
And this division, when the troubles which
grew out of it, was not settled until

09:42.280 --> 09:46.220
peace toward us had been established
throughout the entire Roman empire.

09:47.300 --> 09:52.200
For when this peace arose for all,
as the daylight after the darkest and most

09:52.200 --> 09:56.580
gloomy night, the public affairs of the
Roman government were re-established,

09:56.820 --> 10:01.000
and became happy and peaceful,
and the ancestral goodwill toward each

10:01.000 --> 10:01.920
other was revived.

10:02.480 --> 10:06.060
But we will relate these things more fully
at the proper time.

10:06.360 --> 10:09.600
Now let us return to the regular course of
events.

10:10.860 --> 10:17.000
Chapter 4 Maximinus Caesar, having come at
this time into the government,

10:17.480 --> 10:22.160
as if to manifest to all the evidences of
his reborn enmity against God,

10:22.460 --> 10:27.140
and of his impiety, armed himself for
persecution against us more vigorously

10:27.140 --> 10:28.340
than his predecessors.

10:29.860 --> 10:35.520
In consequence, no little confusion arose
among all, and they scattered here and

10:35.520 --> 10:40.520
there, endeavoring in some way to escape
the danger, and there was great commotion

10:40.520 --> 10:41.040
everywhere.

10:41.760 --> 10:45.840
But what words would suffice for a
suitable description of the divine love

10:45.840 --> 10:50.520
and boldness in confessing God of the
blessed and truly innocent Lamb,

10:50.800 --> 10:55.060
I refer to the martyr Apphianus,
who presented in the sight of all,

10:55.240 --> 11:00.140
before the gates of Caesarea, a wonderful
example of piety toward the only God.

11:01.260 --> 11:04.340
He was at that time not twenty years old.

11:04.620 --> 11:09.560
He had first spent a long time at Beratus,
for the sake of a secular Grecian

11:09.560 --> 11:12.900
education, as he belonged to a very
wealthy family.

11:13.440 --> 11:18.000
It is wonderful to relate how,
in such a city, he was superior to

11:18.000 --> 11:22.800
youthful passions, and clung to virtue,
uncorrupted neither by his bodily vigor

11:22.800 --> 11:27.640
nor his young companions, living
discreetly, soberly, and piously,

11:28.140 --> 11:31.940
in accordance with his profession of the
Christian doctrine and the life of his

11:31.940 --> 11:32.320
teachers.

11:33.620 --> 11:38.320
If it is needful to mention his native
country, and give honor to it as producing

11:38.320 --> 11:41.800
this noble athlete of piety, we will do so
with pleasure.

11:42.700 --> 11:48.780
The young man came from Pagi, if anyone is
acquainted with the place, a city in Lycia

11:48.780 --> 11:50.140
of no mean importance.

11:50.940 --> 11:55.280
After his return from his course of study
in Beratus, though his father held the

11:55.280 --> 11:59.340
first place in his country, he could not
bear to live with him and his relatives,

11:59.340 --> 12:03.400
as it did not please them to live
according to the rules of religion.

12:03.840 --> 12:08.680
Therefore, as if he were led by the Divine
Spirit, and in accordance with a natural

12:08.680 --> 12:13.760
or rather uninspired and true philosophy,
regarding this preferable to what is

12:13.760 --> 12:19.000
considered the glory of life and despising
bodily comforts, he secretly left his

12:19.000 --> 12:19.400
family.

12:20.020 --> 12:24.520
And because of his faith and hope in God,
paying no attention to his daily needs,

12:24.920 --> 12:29.620
he was led by the Divine Spirit to the
city of Caesarea, where was prepared for

12:29.620 --> 12:31.840
him the crown of martyrdom for piety.

12:33.380 --> 12:38.580
Abiding with us there, and conferring with
us in the Divine Scriptures diligently for

12:38.580 --> 12:42.940
a short time, and fitting himself
zealously by suitable exercises,

12:43.520 --> 12:48.040
he exhibited such an end as would astonish
anyone should it be seen again.

12:49.100 --> 12:54.540
Who that hears of it would not justly
admire his courage, boldness, constancy,

12:54.860 --> 12:59.460
and even more than these the daring deed
itself, which evidenced a zeal for

12:59.460 --> 13:01.840
religion and a spirit truly superhuman.

13:03.840 --> 13:08.580
For in the second attack upon us under
Maximinus, in the third year of the

13:08.580 --> 13:13.580
persecution, edicts of the tyrant were
issued for the first time, commanding that

13:13.580 --> 13:17.880
the rulers of the cities should diligently
and speedily see to it that the people

13:17.880 --> 13:19.040
offered sacrifices.

13:20.600 --> 13:24.680
Throughout the city of Caesarea,
by command of the governor, the heralds

13:24.680 --> 13:28.120
were summoning men, women, and children to
the temples of the idols.

13:29.040 --> 13:33.560
And besides this, the ciliarchs were
calling out each one by name from a row,

13:33.780 --> 13:37.780
and an immense crowd of the wicked were
rushing together from all quarters.

13:38.700 --> 13:43.620
Then this youth fearlessly, while no one
was aware of his intentions, eluded both

13:43.620 --> 13:47.760
us who lived in the house with him and the
whole band of soldiers that surrounded the

13:47.760 --> 13:53.020
governor, and rushed up to Urbanus as he
was offering libations, and fearlessly,

13:53.220 --> 13:57.420
seizing him by the right hand,
straightway put a stop to his sacrificing,

13:57.940 --> 14:01.920
and skillfully and persuasively,
with a certain divine inspiration,

14:02.480 --> 14:07.240
exhorted him to abandon his delusion,
because it was not well to forsake the one

14:07.240 --> 14:11.100
and only true God, and sacrifice to idols
and demons.

14:12.080 --> 14:16.740
It is probable that this was done by the
youth through a divine power which led him

14:16.740 --> 14:21.720
forward, and which all but cried aloud in
his act that Christians, who were truly

14:21.720 --> 14:26.240
such, were so far from abandoning the
religion of the God of the universe which

14:26.240 --> 14:30.800
they had once espoused, that they were not
only superior to threats and the

14:30.800 --> 14:35.300
punishments which followed, but yet bolder
to speak with noble and untrammeled

14:35.300 --> 14:40.160
tongue, and, if possible, to summon even
their persecutors to turn from their

14:40.160 --> 14:42.720
ignorance and acknowledge the only true
God.

14:44.240 --> 14:48.700
Thereupon, he of whom we are speaking,
and that instantly, as might have been

14:48.700 --> 14:52.920
expected after so bold a deed,
was torn by the governor and those who

14:52.920 --> 14:58.180
were with him as if by wild beasts,
and having endured manfully innumerable

14:58.180 --> 15:02.300
blows over his entire body, he was
straightway cast into prison.

15:03.320 --> 15:07.920
There he was stretched by the tormentor
with both his feet in the stocks for a

15:07.920 --> 15:11.740
night and a day, and the next day he was
brought before the judge.

15:12.080 --> 15:16.460
As they endeavored to force him to
surrender, he exhibited all constancy

15:16.460 --> 15:18.620
under suffering and terrible tortures.

15:19.120 --> 15:24.420
His sides were torn, not once or twice,
but many times, to the bones and the very

15:24.420 --> 15:24.960
bowels.

15:25.200 --> 15:29.820
And he received so many blows on his face
and neck that those who for a long time

15:29.820 --> 15:34.320
had been well acquainted with him could
not recognize his swollen face.

15:35.600 --> 15:40.220
But as he would not yield under this
treatment, the torturers, as commanded,

15:40.720 --> 15:45.080
covered his feet with linen cloths soaked
in oil and set them on fire.

15:45.800 --> 15:50.220
No word can describe the agonies which the
Blessed One endured from this,

15:50.620 --> 15:55.040
for the fire consumed his flesh and
penetrated to his bones, so that the

15:55.040 --> 15:59.560
humors of his body were melted and oozed
out and dropped down like wax.

16:01.140 --> 16:06.060
But as he was not subdued by this,
his adversaries, being defeated and unable

16:06.060 --> 16:10.260
to comprehend his superhuman constancy,
cast him again into prison.

16:11.200 --> 16:15.220
A third time he was brought before the
judge, and having witnessed the same

16:15.220 --> 16:20.000
profession, being half-dead, he was
finally thrown into the depths of the sea.

16:21.280 --> 16:25.580
But what happened immediately after this
will scarcely be believed by those who did

16:25.580 --> 16:26.340
not see it.

16:26.960 --> 16:31.400
Although we realize this, yet we must
record the event, of which to speak

16:31.400 --> 16:34.620
plainly, all the inhabitants of Caesarea
were witnesses.

16:35.280 --> 16:38.800
For truly there was no age but beheld this
marvelous sight.

16:40.060 --> 16:44.720
For as soon as they had cast this truly
sacred and thrice-blessed youth into the

16:44.720 --> 16:49.720
fathomless depths of the sea, an uncommon
commotion and disturbance agitated the sea

16:49.720 --> 16:54.360
and all the shore about it, so that the
land and the entire city were shaken by

16:54.360 --> 16:54.640
it.

16:54.840 --> 16:59.780
And at the same time, with this wonderful
and sudden perturbation, the sea threw out

16:59.780 --> 17:04.520
before the gates of the city the body of
the divine martyr as if unable to endure

17:04.520 --> 17:04.860
it.

17:06.400 --> 17:09.300
Such was the death of the wonderful
Apphianus.

17:09.740 --> 17:14.340
It occurred on the second day of the month
Xanthicus, which is the fourth day before

17:14.340 --> 17:17.100
the Nones of April, on the day of
preparation.

17:18.460 --> 17:19.660
Chapter 5.

17:20.260 --> 17:26.160
About the same time, in the city of Tyre,
a youth named Ulpianus, after dreadful

17:26.160 --> 17:30.660
tortures and most severe scourgings,
was enclosed in a raw ox-hide,

17:30.980 --> 17:36.140
with a dog and one of those poisonous
reptiles, an asp, and cast into the sea.

17:36.940 --> 17:40.720
Wherefore, I think that we may properly
mention him in connection with the

17:40.720 --> 17:42.160
martyrdom of Apphianus.

17:43.080 --> 17:49.260
Shortly afterwards, Edesius, a brother of
Apphianus, not only in God but also in the

17:49.260 --> 17:54.460
flesh, being a son of the same earthly
father, endured sufferings like his,

17:54.860 --> 17:59.700
after very many confessions and protracted
tortures in bonds, and after he had been

17:59.700 --> 18:02.580
sentenced by the governor to the mines in
Palestine.

18:03.500 --> 18:08.620
He conducted himself through them all in a
truly philosophic manner, for he was more

18:08.620 --> 18:13.120
highly educated than his brother,
and had prosecuted philosophic studies.

18:14.420 --> 18:15.060
6.

18:15.060 --> 18:19.260
Finally, in the city of Alexandria,
when he beheld the judge, who was trying

18:19.260 --> 18:24.240
the Christians, offending beyond all
bounds, now insulting holy men in various

18:24.240 --> 18:28.600
ways, and again consigning women of
greatest modesty and even religious

18:28.600 --> 18:33.500
virgins to procurers for shameful
treatment, he acted like his brother,

18:33.780 --> 18:38.080
for as these things seemed insufferable,
he went forward with bold resolve,

18:38.400 --> 18:42.800
and with his words and deeds overwhelmed
the judge with shame and disgrace.

18:43.080 --> 18:48.160
After suffering in consequence many forms
of torture, he endured a death similar to

18:48.160 --> 18:50.780
his brother's, being cast into the sea.

18:51.880 --> 18:55.860
But these things, as I have said,
happened to him in this way a little

18:55.860 --> 18:56.320
later.

18:58.540 --> 19:01.500
End of The Martyrs of Palestine,
Part 1