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| Concerning St. Hilarion and the Virgins in Heliopolis who were destroyed by Swine. Strange Martyrdom of Mark, Bishop of Arethusa.
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Chapter X.—Concerning St. Hilarion and the
Virgins in Heliopolis who were destroyed by Swine. Strange Martyrdom of
Mark, Bishop of Arethusa.
At the same period the
inhabitants of Gaza sought for the monk Hilarion; but he had fled to
Sicily.1382
| 1382Hieron. Vita Hilarionis (divergent on some
points).
|
Here he employed himself in collecting wood in the deserts and on the
mountains, which he carried on his shoulders for sale in the cities,
and, by these means, obtained sufficient food for the support of the
body. But as he was at length recognized by a man of quality whom he
had dispossessed of a demon, he retired to Dalmatia, where, by the
power of God, he performed numerous miracles, and through prayer,
repressed an inundation of the sea and restored the waves to their
proper bounds, and again departed, for it was no joy to him to live
among those who praised him; but when he changed his place of abode, he
was desirous of being unobserved and by frequent migrations to be rid
of the fame which prevailed about him. Eventually he sailed for the
island of Cyprus, but touched at Paphos, and, at the entreaty of the
bishop of Cyprus, he loved the life there and practiced philosophy at a
place called Charburis.
Here he only escaped martyrdom by flight; for he fled in
compliance with the Divine precept which commands us not to expose
ourselves to persecution; but that if we fall into the hands of
persecutors, to overcome by our own fortitude the violence of our
oppressors.
The inhabitants of Gaza and of Alexandria were not the
only citizens who exercised such atrocities against the Christians as
those I have described. The inhabitants of Heliopolis, near Mount
Libanus, and of Arethusa in Syria, seem to have surpassed them in
excess of cruelty.1383
| 1383Greg. Naz. Or. cont. Julianum, i. 86, 87.
|
The former were guilty of an act of barbarity which could scarcely be
credited, had it not been corroborated by the testimony of those who
witnessed it. They stripped the holy virgins, who had never been looked
upon by the multitude, of their garments, and exposed them in a state
of nudity as a public spectacle and objects of insult. After numerous
other inflictions they at last shaved them, ripped them open, and
concealed in their viscera the food usually given to pigs; and since
the swine could not distinguish, but were impelled by the need of their
customary food, they also tore in pieces the human flesh.
I am convinced that the citizens of Heliopolis
perpetrated this barbarity against the holy virgins on account of the
prohibition of the ancient custom of yielding up virgins to
prostitution with any chance comer before being united in marriage to
their betrothed. This custom was prohibited by a law enacted by
Constantine, after he had destroyed the temple of Venus at Heliopolis,
and erected a church upon its ruins.1384
Mark, bishop of Arethusa,1385
| 1385Greg. Naz. Or. cont. Julianum, i.
88–90.
|
an old man and venerable for his gray hairs and life, was put to a very
cruel death by the inhabitants of that city, who had long entertained
inimical feelings against him, because, during the reign of
Constantine, he had more spiritedly than persuasively elevated the
pagans to Christianity, and had demolished a most sacred and
magnificent temple. On the accession of Julian he saw that the people
were excited against the bishop; an edict was issued commanding the
bishop either to defray the expenses of its re-erection, or to rebuild
the temple. Reflecting that the one was impossible and the other
unlawful for a Christian and still less for a priest, he at first fled
from the city. On hearing, however, that many were suffering on his
account, that some were dragged before the tribunals and others
tortured, he returned, and offered to suffer whatever the multitude
might choose to inflict upon him. The entire people, instead of
admiring him the more as having manifested a deed befitting a
philosopher, conceived that he was actuated by contempt towards them,
and rushed upon him, dragged him through the streets, pressing and
plucking and beating whatever member each one happened upon. People of
each sex and of all ages joined with alacrity and fury in this
atrocious proceeding. His ears were severed by fine ropes; the boys who
frequented the schools made game of him by tossing him aloft and
rolling him over and over, sending him forward, catching him up, and
unsparingly piercing him with their styles. When his whole body was
covered with wounds, and he nevertheless was still breathing, they
anointed him with honey and a certain mixture, and placing him in a
fish-basket made of woven rushes, raised him up on an eminence. It is
said that while he was in this position, and the wasps and bees lit
upon him and consumed his flesh, he told the inhabitants of Arethusa
that he was raised up above them, and could look down upon them below
him, and that this reminded him of the difference that would exist
between them in the life to come. It is also related that the prefect1386
| 1386He means Sallustius, who was at this time
præfectus prætorio Orientis, to be distinguished from another
Sallustius, who was præfectus prætorio Galliæ.
|
who, although a pagan, was of such noble conduct that his memory is
still honored in that country, admired the self-control of Mark, and
boldly uttered reproaches against the emperor for allowing himself to
be vanquished by an old man, who
was exposed to innumerable tortures; and he added that such proceedings
reflected ridicule on the emperor, while the names of the persecuted
were at the same time rendered illustrious. Thus did the blessed one1387
| 1387Most likely this was the same Mark, bishop of
Arethusa, mentioned in iii. 10; iv. 6, 12, 16, 22.
|
endure all the torments inflicted upon him by the inhabitants of
Arethusa with such unshaken fortitude that even the pagans praised
him.
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