In the year four hundred and sixteen of the kingdom of the Greeks, that is the fifteenth year of the reign of the sovereign ruler, our lord, Trajan Cæsar, in the consulship of Commodus and Cyrillus,³²¹⁰

3210 This is a mistake for Cerealis, and the consulate meant must be that of Commodus Verus and Tutilius Cerealis, which was in the ninth (not fifteenth) year of Trajan, which agreed with the 416th year of the Greeks, or a.d. 105.

3211 See note on p. 678.

3212 Called Labu at p. 678.

And, immediately that the judge heard these things, he sent the Sharirs of the city, and some of his attendants with them, to go down to the church and bring up Barsamya from the church.  And they led him and brought him up to the judgment-hall of the judge; and there went up many Christians with him, saying:  We also will die with Barsamya, because we too are of one mind with him in respect to the doctrine of which he made Sharbil a disciple, and in all that he spoke to him, and in all the instruction that Sharbil received from him, so that he was persuaded by him, and died for the sake of that which he heard from him.

And the Sharirs of the city came, and said to the judge:  Barsamya, as thine Excellency commanded, lo! is standing at the door of the judgment-hall of thy Lordship;³²¹³

3213 Lit. “authority.”—Tr.

And, when the judge heard those things which the Sharirs of the city had told him, he commanded them to go out and write down the names of the persons who were crying out, “We will die with Barsamya.”  And, when they went out to write down the names of these persons, those who so cried out were too many for them, and they were not able to write down their names, because they were so many:  for the cry kept coming to them from all sides, that they “would die for Christ’s sake along with Barsamya.”

And, when the tumult of the crowd became great, the Sharirs of the city turned back, and came in to the judge, and said to him:  We are not able to write down the names of the persons who are crying aloud outside, because they are too many to be numbered.  And the judge commanded that Barsamya should be taken up to the prison, so that the crowd might be dispersed which was collected together about him, lest through the tumult of the multitude there should be some mischief in the city.  And, when he went up the gaol, those who had become disciples along with Sharbil continued with him.

And after many days were passed the judge rose up in the morning and went down to his judgment-hall, in order that he might hear the case of Barsamya.  And the judge commanded, and they brought him from the prison; and he came in and stood before him.  The officers said:  Lo, he standeth before thine Excellency.

The judge said:  Art thou Barsamya, who hast been made ruler and guide of the people of the Christians, and didst make a disciple of Sharbil, who was chief-priest of the gods, and used to worship them?

Barsamya said:  It is I who have done this, and I do not deny it; and I am prepared to die for the truth of this.

The judge said:  How is it that thou wast not afraid of the command of the emperors, so that, when the emperors commanded that every one should sacrifice, thou didst induce Sharbil, when he was standing and sacrificing to the gods and offering incense to them, to deny that which he had confessed, and confess Christ whom he had denied?

Barsamya said:  I was assuredly³²¹⁴

3214 See note 6 on p. 658.—Tr.  [The Syriac for “assuredly.”]

The judge said:  Now, therefore, since thou hast confessed that it was thou that madest Sharbil a disciple, at thy hands will I require his death; and on this account it is right that thou rather than he shouldest be condemned before me, because by thy hands he has died the horrible deaths of grievous tortures for having abandoned the command of the emperors and obeyed thy words.

Barsamya said:  Not to my words did Sharbil become a disciple, but to the word of God which He spoke:  “Thou shalt not worship images and the likenesses of men.”  And it is not I alone that am content to die the death of Sharbil for his confession of Christ, but also all the Christians, members of the Church, are likewise eager for this, because they know that they will secure their salvation before God thereby.

The judge said:  Answer me not in this manner, like Sharbil thy disciple, lest thine own torments be worse than his; but promise that thou wilt sacrifice before the gods on his behalf.

Barsamya said:  Sharbil, who knew not God, I taught to know Him:  and dost thou bid me, who have known God from my youth, to renounce God?  God forbid that I should do this thing!

The judge said:  Ye have made the whole creation disciples of the teaching of Christ; and lo! they renounce the many gods whom the many worshipped.  Give up this way of thinking,³²¹⁵

3215 Lit. “this mind.”—Tr.

Barsamya said:  If God is the help of those who pray to Him, who is he that can resist them?  Or what is the power that can prevail against them?  Or thine own threats—what can they do to them:  to men who, before thou give commandment concerning them that they shall die, have their death already set before their eyes, and are expecting it every day?

The judge said:  Bring not the subject of Christ before my judgment-seat; but, instead of this, obey the command of the emperors, who command to sacrifice to the gods.

Barsamya said:  Even though we should not lay the subject of Christ before thee, yet the sufferings of Christ are portrayed indelibly³²¹⁶

3216 Lit. “portrayed and fixed.”—Tr.

The judge said:  Lo! thou hast obeyed Christ and worshipped him up to his day:  henceforth obey the emperors, and worship the gods whom the emperors worship.

Barsamya said:  How canst thou bid me renounce that in which I was born? when lo! thou didst exact punishment for this at the hand of Sharbil, and saidst to him:  Why hast thou renounced the paganism in which thou wast born, and confessed Christianity to which thou wast a stranger?  Lo! even before I came into thy presence thou didst thyself give testimony on the matter beforehand, and saidst to Sharbil:  The Christians, to whom thou art gone over, do not renounce that in which they were born, but continue in it.  Abide, therefore, by the word, which thou hast spoken.

The judge said:  Let Barsamya be scourged, because he has rebelled against the command of the emperors, and has caused those also who were obedient to the emperors to rebel with him.

And, when he had been scourged by five men, he said to him:  Reject not the command of the emperors, nor insult the emperors’ gods.

Barsamya said:  Thy mind is greatly blinded, O judge, and so also is that of the emperors who gave thee authority; nor are the things that are manifest seen by you; nor do ye perceive that lo! the whole creation worships Christ; and thou sayest to me, Do not worship Him, as if I alone worshipped Him—Him whom the watchers³²¹⁷

3217 [Guardian angels.]  Comp. Dan. iv. 13.  This designation was given to angels after the captivity, in which the Jews had become familiar with the doctrine of tutelary deities.—Tr.

The judge said:  But if ye have taught men to worship Christ, who is it that has persuaded those above to worship Christ?

Barsamya said:  Those above have themselves preached, and have taught those below concerning the living worship of the King Christ, seeing that they worship Him, and His Father, together with His divine Spirit.³²¹⁸

3218 Lit. “the Spirit of His Godhead.”—Tr.

The judge said:  Give up these things which your writings teach you, and which ye teach also to others, and obey those things which the emperors have commanded, and spurn not their laws—lest ye be spurned by means of the sword from the light of this venerable sun.

Barsamya said:  The light which passeth away and abideth not is not the true light, but is only the similitude of that true light, to whose beams darkness cometh not near, which is reserved and standeth fast for the true worshippers of Christ.

The judge said:  Speak not before me of anything else instead of that about which I have asked thee, lest I dismiss thee from life to death, for denying this light which is seen and confessing that which is not seen.

Barsamya said:  I cannot leave alone that about which thou askest me, and speak of that about which thou dost not ask me.  It was thou that spakest to me about the light of the sun, and I said before thee that there is a light on high which surpasses in its brightness that of the sun which thou dost worship and honour.  For an account will be required of thee for worshipping thy fellow-creature instead of God thy Creator.

The judge said:  Do not insult the very sun, the light of creatures, nor set thou at nought the command of the emperors, nor contentiously resist the lords of the country, who have authority in it.

Barsamya said:  Of what avail is the light of the sun to a blind man that cannot see it?  For without the eyes of the body, it is not possible for its beams to be seen.  So that by this thou mayest know that it is the work of God, forasmuch as it has no power of its own to show its light to the sightless.

The judge said:  When I have tortured thee as thou deservest, then will I write word about thee to the Imperial government, reporting what insult thou hast offered to the gods, in that thou madest a disciple of Sharbil the priest, one who honoured the gods, and that ye despise the laws of the emperors, and that ye make no account of the judges of the countries, and live like barbarians, though under the authority of the Romans.

Barsamya said:  Thou dost not terrify me by these things which thou sayest.  It is true, I am not in the presence of the emperors to-day; yet lo! before the authority which the emperors have given thee I am now standing, and I am brought to trial, because I said, I will not renounce God, to whom the heavens and the earth belong, nor His Son Jesus Christ, the King of all the earth.

The judge said:  If thou art indeed assured of this, that thou art standing and being tried before the authority of the emperors, obey their commands, and rebel not against their laws, lest like a rebel thou receive the punishment of death.

Barsamya said:  But if those who rebel against the emperors, even when they justly rebel, are deserving of death, as thou sayest; for those who rebel against God, the King of kings, even the punishment of death by the sword is too little.

The judge said:  It was not that thou shouldest expound in my judgment-hall that thou wast brought in before me, because the trial on which thou standest has but little concern with expounding, but much concern with the punishment of death, for those who insult the emperors and comply not with their laws.

Barsamya said:  Because God is not before your eyes, and ye refuse to hear the word of God; and graven images that are of no use, “which have a mouth and speak not,” are accounted by you as though they spake, because your understanding is blinded by the darkness of paganism in which ye stand—

The judge interrupting said:  Leave off those things thou art saying, for they will not help thee at all, and worship the gods, before the bitter tearings of combs and harsh tortures come upon thee.

Barsamya said:  Do thou too leave off the many questions which lo! thou askest me, and give command for the stripes and the combs with which thou dost menace me:  for thy words will not help thee so much as thy inflictions will help me.

The judge said:  Let Barsamya be hanged up and torn with combs.

And at that very moment there came to him letters from Alusis³²¹⁹

3219 This seems to be Lusius Quietus, Trajan’s general in the East at this time.

3220 Or “kings.”—Tr.

And the judge commanded that the nobles, and the chief persons, and the princes, and the honourable persons of the city, should come before him, that they might hear what was the order that was issued by the emperors, by the hand of the proconsuls, the rulers of the countries under the authority of the Romans.  And it was found that the emperors had written by the hand of the proconsuls to the judges of the countries:³²²¹

3221 We have here probably the most authentic copy of the edict of Trajan commanding the stopping of the persecution of the Christians, as it was taken down at the time by the reporters who heard it read.

And, when this command of the emperor’s clemency was read, the whole city rejoiced that there was quietness and rest for every man.  And the judge commanded, and they released Barsamya, that he might go down to his church.  And the Christians went up in great numbers to the judgment-hall, together with a great multitude of the population of the city, and they received Barsamya with great and exceeding honour, repeating psalms before him, according to their custom; there went also the wives of the chief of the wise men.  And they thronged about him, and saluted him, and called him “the persecuted confessor,” “the companion of Sharbil the martyr.”  And he said to them:  Persecuted I am, like yourselves; but from the tortures and combs of Sharbil and his companions I am clean escaped.³²²²

3222 Lit. “am far removed.”—Tr.

3223 2 Cor. viii. 12.  Both the Peshito and the Greek (if τίς be rejected) have “what it hath:”  not “what it is.”—Tr.

And the day after Lysinas³²²⁴

3224 See note on p. 678.—Tr.

I Zenophilus and Patrophilus are the notaries who wrote these Acts, Diodorus and Euterpes,³²²⁵

3225 Perhaps “Eutropius.”

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This³²²⁶

3226 What follows, down to the end, is a much later addition, evidently made by the same ignorant person as that at p. 685, above:  see note 2 there.

3227 That is “Pius.”  The blunder arose from taking the prefix D (?) as a part of the name.

3228 i.e., “Sixtus.”—Tr.

3229 Or “Eortis.”  The person referred to is “Evaristus.”  Cureton reads “Erastus:”  it does not appear why.—Tr.

3230 i.e., “Linus:”  see p. 675, note 3.—Tr.

3231 See note 3 on p. 667.—Tr.  [Also see p. 666, supra.]

3232 Put by mistake for “sixteenth,” which agrees with the statement of Julius Africanus as to the date of our Lord’s death; also with the year of the consulate of Rubellius Geminus and Fufius Geminus (the persons intended below), and with the year of the Greeks 341, which was a.d. 29 or 30.

3233 Prop. “rising,” as of the sun.—Tr.

3234 The Greek ειλητάριον:  see Du Fresne, Glossarium.

Here endeth the martyrdom of Barsamya, bishop of Edessa.

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