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 PERSECUTIONS

709

PERSECUTIONS

holding religions meetings, publicly or privately (Eusebius, op. cit., IX, ii, 4; Lactant., op. cit., XXXVI). At the same time everything was done to excite the heathens against the Christians. Forged Acts of Pilate and of Our Lord, full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ, were sent with the em- peror's approval to all the provinces under him, with written commands that they should be posted pub- licly in every place and that the schoolmasters should give them to their scholars instead of their customary lessons to be studied and learned by heart (Euseb., op. cit., IX, v). Members of the hierarchy and others were seized on the most trifling pretext and put to death without mercy. In the case of Peter of Alex- andria no cause at all was given. He was arrested quite unexpectedly and beheaded without explanation as if by command of Maximinus (ibid., IX, vi). This was in April, 312, if not somewhat earlier. In the autumn of the same year Constantine defeated Maximinus and soon after conjointly with Licinius published the edict of Milan, a copy of which was sent to Maximinus with an invitation to publish it in his own provinces. He met their wishes half way, publishing instead of the document received an edict of tolerance, but so full of false, contradictory state- ments and so reticent on the points at issue, that the Christians did not venture to hold meetings or even appear in public (Euseb., "Hist. eccl. ", IX, ix, 14-24). It was not, however, until the following year, after his defeat at Adrianople (30 April, 313) at the hands of Licinius, with whom he was contending for the sole supremacy over the Eastern empire, that he finally made up his mind to enact a counterpart of the edict of Milan, and grant full and unconditional liberty to the Christians. He died soon after, consumed by "an invisible and God-sent fii-e" (Hist, eccl., IX, x, 14). Lactantius says he took poison at Tarsus, where he had fled (op. cit., 49).

Effects op the Persecutions. — On the effects of the persecutions in Egypt, Alexandria, and the Thebaic! in a general way we are well informed by ocular witnesses, such as Phileas, Bishop of Thmuis, in a letter to his flock which has been preserved by Eusebius (Hist, eccl., VIII, x), who visited Egypt towards the end of the persecution, and seems to have been imprisoned there for the faith. Eusebivis speaks of large numbers of men in groups from ten to one hundred, with young children and women put to death in one day, and this not for a few days or a short time, but for a long series of years. He describes the wonderful ardour of the faithful, rushing one after another to the judgment seat and confessing them- selves Christians, the joy with which they received their sentence, the truly Divine energy with which they endured for hours and days the most excruciating tortures; scraping, racking, scourging, quartering, crucifixion head downwards, not only without com- plaining, but singing and offering up hymns^ and thanksgiving to God till their very last breath. Those who did not die in the midst of their tortures were killed by the sword, fire, or drowning (Eu.seb., "Hist, eccl.", VIII, viii, 9). Frequently they were thrown again into prison to die of exhaustion or hunger. If perchance they recovered under the care of friends and were offered their freedom on condition of sac- rificing, they cheerfully chose again to face the judge and his executioners (Letter of Phileas, ibid., 10). Not all, however, received their crowns at the end of a few hours or days. Many were condemned to hard labour in the quarries of Porphyry in Assuan, or, espe- cially after a.d. 307, in the still more dreaded copper mines of Phtinon (near Petra, see Revue Bililique, 1898, p. 112), or in those of Cilicia. Lest they should escape, they were previously deprived of the use of their left legs by h.aving the sinews cut or burnt at the knee or at the ankle, and again their right eyes were blinded with the sword and then destroyed to the

very roots by fire. In one year (308) we read of 97, and again of as many as 130, Egyptian confessors thus doomed to a fate far more cruel than death, because of the remoteness of the crown they were impatient to obtain and the privation of the encouraging presence and exhortations of sympathetic bystanders (Mart. Pal., VIII, i, 13).

God in at least two instances related by Eusebius inspired the tyrant to shorten the conflict of those valiant athletes. At his command forty of them, among whom were many Egyptians, were beheaded in one day at Zoara, near Phunon. With them was Silvanus of Gaza, a bishop who had been ministering to their souls. On the same occasion, Bishops Peleus and Nilus, a presbyter, and a layman, Patermuthius, all from Egypt, were condemned to death by fire probably at Phianon, A. D. 309 (Euseb., "Mart. Pal.", XIII, Cureton, pp. 46-8). Besides Peter of Alex- andria, but a few of the many who suffered death illustriously at Alexandria and throughout Egypt and the Thebaid are recorded by Eusebius, viz., Faustus, Dius, and Ammonius, his companions, all three pres- byters of the Church of Alexandria, also Phileas, Bishop of Thmuis and three other Egyptian bishops; Hesychius (perhaps the author of the so-called Hesy- chian recension, see Hastings, "Diet, of the Bible", IV, 44.5), Pachymius, and Theodoras (Hist, eccl., VIII, xiii, 7); finally Philoromus, "who held a high office under the imperial government at Alexandria and who administered justice every day attended by a military gu;ird corresponding to his rank and Roman dignity" (ibid., ix, 7). The dates of their confessions, with the exception of that of St. Peter (see above) are not certain.

Egyptian Martyrs in Stria and Palestine. — Among these, Eusebius mentions Ptesis and Alexander, beheaded at Cajsarea in 304, with six other young confessors. Hearing that on the occasion of a festival the public combat of the Christians whQ had lately been condemned to the wild beasts would take place, they presented themselves, hands bound, to the governor and declared themselves Christians in the hope of being sent to the arena. But they were thrown in prison, tortured, and finally were beheaded (Mart. Pal., IV, iii). Elsewhere we read of five young Egyptians who were cast before different kinds of ferocious beasts, including bulls goaded to madness with red-hot irons, but none of which would attack the athletes of Christ who, though unbound, stood motionless in the arena, their arms stretched out in the form of a cross, earnestly engaged in prayer. Finally they were also beheaded and cast into the sea (Hist, eccl., VIII, vii). We must al.so mention with Eusebius a party of Egyptians who had been sent to minister to the confessors in Cilicia. They were seized as they were entering Ascalon. Most of them received the same sentence as those whom they had gone to help, being mutilated in their eyes and feet, and sent to the mines. One, Ares, was condemned to be burnt, and two, Probus (or Primus) and Elias, were beheaded, a. d. 308 (Mart. Pal., X, i). The following year five others who had accompanied the confessors to the mines in Cilicia were returning to their homes when they were arrested as they were passing the gates of Cffisarea, and were put to death after being tortured, a. d. 309 (ibid., vi-xiii).

We close this section with the name of ^desius, a young Lycian and brother of Apphianus (Mart. Pal., IV). He had been condenmod to the mines of Palestine. Having soinchiiw been released, he came to Alexandria and fell in with II icrocles, the governor, while he wa.s trying some Christians. I'nable to con- tain his iiidign-iliiin at llic sight of the outrages in- flicted by this magistrate on the modesty of .some pure women, he went, forward anil with words and deeds overwhelmed him with shanii- and disgrace. Forth- with he was committed tcTthc executioners, tortured