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| In what Manner the Iberians were converted to Christianity.
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Chapter XX.—In what Manner the Iberians were
converted to Christianity.
It is now proper to relate how
the Iberians223
| 223These Iberians dwelt on the east shore of the Black
Sea in the present region of Georgia. What their relation to the
Spanish Iberians was, or why both the peoples had the same name it is
not possible to know at present. It was probably not the one suggested
by Socrates. For a similar identity of name in peoples living widely
apart, compare the Gauls of Europe and the Galatæ of Asia.
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about the same time became proselytes to the faith. A certain woman
leading a devout and chaste life, was, in the providential ordering of
God, taken captive by the Iberians. Now these Iberians dwell near the
Euxine Sea, and are a colony of the Iberians of Spain. Accordingly the
woman in her captivity exercised224
| 224ἐφιλοσόφει :
the ethical sense here attached to the word became very common after
the time of the Stoics and their attempt to make ethics the basis and
starting-point of philosophy.
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herself among the barbarians in the practice of virtue: for she not
only maintained the most rigid continence, but spent much time in
fastings and prayers. The barbarians observing this were astonished at
the strangeness of her conduct. It happened then that the king’s
son, then a mere babe, was attacked with disease; the queen, according
to the custom of the country, sent the child to other women to be
cured, in the hope that their experience would supply a remedy. After
the infant had been carried around by its nurse without obtaining
relief from any of the women, he was at length brought to this captive.
She had no knowledge of the medical art, and applied no material
remedy; but taking the child and laying it on her bed which was made of
horsecloth, in the presence of other females, she simply said,
‘Christ, who healed many, will heal this child also’; then
having prayed in addition to this expression of faith, and called upon
God, the boy was immediately restored, and continued well from that
period. The report of this miracle spread itself far and wide among the
barbarian women, and soon reached the queen, so that the captive became
very celebrated. Not long afterwards the queen herself having fallen
sick sent for the captive woman. Inasmuch as she being a person of
modest and retiring manners excused herself from going, the queen was
conveyed to her. The captive did the same to her as she had done to her
son before; and immediately the disease was removed. And the queen
thanked the stranger; but she replied, ‘this work is not mine,
but Christ’s, who is the Son of God that made the world’;
she therefore exhorted her to call upon him, and acknowledge the true
God. Amazed at his wife’s sudden restoration to health, the king
of the Iberians wished to requite with gifts her whom he had understood
to be the means of effecting these cures; she however said that she
needed not riches, inasmuch as she possessed as riches the consolations
of religion; but that she would regard as the greatest present he could
offer her, his recognition of the God whom she worshiped and declared.
With this she sent back the gifts. This answer the king treasured up in
his mind, and going forth to the chase the next day, the following
circumstance occurred: a mist and thick darkness covered the mountain
tops and forests where he was hunting, so that their sport was
embarrassed, and their path became inextricable. In this perplexity the
prince earnestly invoked the gods whom he worshiped; and as it availed
nothing, he at last determined to implore the assistance of the
captive’s God; when scarcely had he begun to pray, ere the
darkness arising from the mist was completely dissipated. Wondering at
that which was done, he returned to his palace rejoicing, and related
to his wife what had happened; he also immediately sent for the captive
stranger, and begged her to inform him who that God was whom she
adored. The woman on her arrival caused the king of the Iberians to
become a preacher of Christ: for having believed in Christ through this
devoted woman, he convened all the Iberians who were under his
authority; and when he had declared to them what had taken place in
reference to the cure of his wife and child not only, but also the
circumstances connected with the chase, he exhorted them to worship the
God of the captive. Thus, therefore, both the king and the queen were
made preachers of Christ, the one addressing their male, and the other
their female subjects. Moreover, the king having ascertained from his
prisoner the plan on which churches were constructed among the Romans,
ordered a church to be built, and immediately provided all things
necessary for its erection; and the edifice was accordingly commenced.
But when they came to set up the pillars, Divine Providence interposed
for the confirmation of the inhabitants in the faith; for one of the
columns remained immovable, and no means were found capable of moving
it; but their ropes broke and their machinery fell to pieces; at length
the workmen gave up all further effort and departed. Then was proved
the reality of the captive’s faith in the following manner: going
to the place at night without the knowledge of any one, she spent the
whole time in prayer; and by the power of God the pillar was raised,
and stood erect in the air above its base, yet so as not to touch it.
At daybreak the king, who was an intelligent person, came himself to
inspect the work, and seeing the pillar suspended in this position
without support, both he and his
attendants were amazed. Shortly after, in fact before their very eyes,
the pillar descended on its own pedestal, and there remained fixed.
Upon this the people shouted, attesting the truth of the king’s
faith, and hymning the praise of the God of the captive. They believed
thenceforth, and with eagerness raised the rest of the columns, and the
whole building was soon completed. An embassy was afterwards sent to
the Emperor Constantine, requesting that henceforth they might be in
alliance with the Romans, and receive from them a bishop and
consecrated clergy, since they sincerely believed in Christ. Rufinus
says that he learned these facts from Bacurius,225
| 225Rufinus, H. E. I. 10, gives their story and
adds that Bacurius was a faithful and religious person and rendered
service to Theodosius in his war with Eugenius.
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who was formerly one of the petty princes226
| 226βασιλίσκος
: lit. ‘little king.’
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of the Iberians, but subsequently went over to the Romans, and was made
a captain of the military force in Palestine; being at length entrusted
with the supreme command in the war against the tyrant Maximus, he
assisted the Emperor Theodosius. In this way then, during the days of
Constantine, were the Iberians also converted to Christianity.
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