Chapter
IV.
1. Maximinus
Cæsar2642
| 2642 On Maximinus and his attitude toward the Christians, see above,
Bk. VIII. chap. 14, note 2. He was made a Cæsar at the time of the
abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, May 1, 305, and Egypt and Syria
were placed under his supervision. |
having come at that time
into the
government, as if to manifest to all the evidences of his
reborn enmity against
God, and of his impiety, armed himself for
persecution against us more vigorously than his
predecessors.
2. In consequence, no little
confusion arose among all, and they scattered here and there,
endeavoring in some way to escape the danger; and there was great
commotion everywhere. But what words would suffice for a suitable
description of the Divine love and boldness, in confessing God, of the
blessed and truly innocent lamb,—I refer to the martyr
Apphianus,2643
| 2643 Apphianus is called, in the Syriac version, Epiphanius. We know
him only from this account of Eusebius. For some remarks upon his
martyrdom, see above, p. 8 sq. |
—who presented in the sight
of all, before the
gates of Cæsarea, a wonderful example of
piety
toward the only
God?
3. He was at that time not
twenty years old. He had first spent a long time at Berytus,2644
| 2644 The modern Beirût. A celebrated school of literature and law
flourished there for a number of centuries. |
for the sake of a secular Grecian
education, as he belonged to a very
wealthy family. It is wonderful to
relate how, in such a city, he was superior to youthful passions, and
clung to
virtue, uncorrupted neither by his bodily vigor nor his young
companions; living discreetly, soberly and piously, in accordance with
his profession of the
Christian doctrine and the
life of his
teachers.
4. If it is needful to mention
his native country, and give honor to it as producing this noble
athlete of piety, we will do so with pleasure.
5. The young man came from
Pagæ,2645
| 2645 The mss., according to Valesius, are
somewhat at variance in the spelling of this name, and the place is
perhaps to be identified with Araxa, a city of some importance in
northwestern Lycia. |
—if any one is acquainted with
the place,—a city in Lycia of no mean importance. After his
return from his course of study in Berytus, though his
father held the
first place in his
country, he could not bear to
live with him and his
relatives, as it did not please them to
live according to the rules of
religion. Therefore, as if he were led by the
Divine Spirit, and in
accordance with a
natural, or rather an inspired and true philosophy,
regarding this preferable to what is considered the
glory of
life, and
despising bodily
comforts, he secretly left his
family. And because of
his
faith and
hope in
God, paying no attention to his
daily needs, he
was led by the
Divine Spirit to the city of Cæsarea, where was
prepared for him the
crown of martyrdom for
piety.
6. Abiding with us there, and
conferring with us in the Divine Scriptures diligently for a short
time, and fitting himself zealously by suitable exercises, he exhibited
such an end as would astonish any one should it be seen
again.
7. Who, that hears of it, would
not justly admire his courage, boldness, constancy, and even more than
these the
daring deed itself, which evidenced a zeal for religion and a spirit
truly superhuman?
8. For in the second attack upon
us under Maximinus, in the third year of the persecution, edicts of the
tyrant were issued for the first time, commanding that the rulers of
the cities should diligently and speedily see to it that all the people
offered sacrifices.2646
| 2646 This was simply a republication in its fullness of
Maximian’s fourth edict, which was referred to in chap. 3 (see
note 2 on that chapter). Eusebius does not mean to say that this was
the first time that such an edict was published, but that this was the
first edict of Maximinus, the newly appointed Cæsar. |
Throughout the
city of Cæsarea, by command of the
governor, the heralds were
summoning men,
women, and
children to the
temples of the
idols, and
besides this, the chiliarchs were calling out each one by name from a
roll, and an immense
crowd of the
wicked were rushing together from all
quarters. Then this
youth fearlessly, while no one was aware of his
intentions, eluded both us who lived in the
house with him and the
whole
band of
soldiers that surrounded the
governor, and
rushed up to
Urbanus as he was offering libations, and fearlessly seizing him by the
right
hand, straightway put a stop to his sacrificing, and skillfully
and persuasively, with a certain
divine inspiration, exhorted him to
abandon his delusion, because it was not well to
forsake the one and
only true
God, and
sacrifice to
idols and
demons.
9. It is probable that this was
done by the youth through a divine power which led him forward, and
which all but cried aloud in his act, that Christians, who were truly
such, were so far from abandoning the religion of the God of the
universe which they had once espoused, that they were not only superior
to threats and the punishments which followed, but yet bolder to speak
with noble and untrammeled tongue, and, if possible, to summon even
their persecutors to turn from their ignorance and acknowledge the only
true God.
10. Thereupon, he of whom we are
speaking, and that instantly, as might have been expected after so bold
a deed, was torn by the governor and those who were with him as if by
wild beasts. And having endured manfully innumerable blows over his
entire body, he was straightway cast into prison.
11. There he was stretched by
the tormentor with both his feet in the stocks for a night and a day;
and the next day he was brought before the judge. As they endeavored to
force him to surrender, he exhibited all constancy under suffering and
terrible tortures. His sides were torn, not once, or twice, but many
times, to the bones and the very bowels; and he received so many blows
on his face and neck that those who for a long time had been well
acquainted with him could not recognize his swollen face.
12. But as he would not yield
under this treatment, the torturers, as commanded, covered his feet
with linen cloths soaked in oil and set them on fire. No word can
describe the agonies which the blessed one endured from this. For the
fire consumed his flesh and penetrated to his bones, so that the humors
of his body were melted and oozed out and dropped down like
wax.
13. But as he was not subdued by
this, his adversaries being defeated and unable to comprehend his
superhuman constancy, cast him again into prison. A third time he was
brought before the judge; and having witnessed the same profession,
being half dead, he was finally thrown into the depths of the
sea.
14. But what happened
immediately after this will scarcely be believed by those who did not
see it. Although we realize this, yet we must record the event, of
which to speak plainly, all the inhabitants of Cæsarea were
witnesses. For truly there was no age but beheld this marvelous
sight.
15. For as soon as they had cast
this truly sacred and thrice-blessed youth into the fathomless depths
of the sea, an uncommon commotion and disturbance agitated the sea and
all the shore about it, so that the land and the entire city were
shaken by it. And at the same time with this wonderful and sudden
perturbation, the sea threw out before the gates of the city the body
of the divine martyr, as if unable to endure it.2647
| 2647 It is perhaps not necessary to doubt that an earthquake took place
at this particular time. Nor is it surprising that under the
circumstances the Christians saw a miracle in a natural
phenomenon. |
Such was the death of the
wonderful Apphianus. It occurred on the second day of the month
Xanthicus,2648
| 2648 Xanthicus was the eighth month of the Macedonian year, and
corresponded to our April (see table on p. 403, below). The martyrdom
of Apphianus must have taken place in 306, not 305; for according to
the direct testimony of Lactantius (de Mort. pers. chap. 19; the
statement is unaccountably omitted in the English translation given in
the Ante-Nicene Fathers), Maximinus did not become Cæsar
until May 1, 305; while, according to the present chapter, Apphianus
suffered martyrdom after Maximinus had been raised to that position.
Eusebius himself puts the abdication of the old emperors and the
appointment of the new Cæsars early in April or late in March (see
above, chap. 3, §5, and the Syriac version of the Martyrs,
p. 12), and with him agree other early authorities. But it is more
difficult to doubt the accuracy of Lactantius’ dates than to
suppose the others mistaken, and hence May 1st is commonly accepted by
historians as the day of abdication. About the year there can be no
question; for Lactantius’ account of Diocletian’s movements
during the previous year exhibits a very exact knowledge of the course
of events, and its accuracy cannot be doubted. (For a fuller discussion
of the date of the abdication, see Tillemont’s Hist. des
Emp., 2d ed., IV. p. 609.) But even if it were admitted that the
abdication took place four or five weeks earlier (according to
Eusebius’ own statement, it did not at any rate occur before the
twenty-fourth of March: see chap. 3, above, and the Syriac version, p.
12), it would be impossible to put Apphianus’ death on the second
of April, for this would not give time for all that must intervene
between the day of his appointment and the republication and execution
of the persecuting edicts. In fact, it is plain enough from the present
chapter that Apphianus did not suffer until some time after the
accession of Maximinus, and therefore not until the following year.
Eusebius, as can be seen from the first paragraph of this work on the
martyrs, reckoned the beginning of the persecution in Palestine not
with the issue of the first edict in Nicomedia on Feb. 24, 303, but
with the month of April of that same year. Apphianus’ death
therefore took place at the very close of the third year of the
persecution, according to this reckoning. |
which is the fourth day before
the Nones of April, on the day of
preparation.
2649
| 2649 i.e. Friday, the old Jewish term being still retained and widely
used, although with the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the
first day of the week it had entirely lost its meaning. Upon the
prevalence of the word among the Fathers as a designation of Friday,
see Suicer’s Thesaurus, s.v. παρασκευή
and νηστεῖα. The day of Christ’s crucifixion was called μεγ€λη
παρασκευή, the “great preparation.” |
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