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| Concerning Macedonius, Theodulus, Gratian, Busiris, Basil, and Eupsychius, who suffered Martyrdom in those Times.
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Chapter XI.—Concerning
Macedonius, Theodulus, Gratian, Busiris, Basil, and Eupsychius, who
suffered Martyrdom in those Times.
About the same period,
Macedonius, Theodulus, and Tatian, who were Phrygians by birth,
courageously endured martyrdom.1388
| 1388For the Phrygians, Soc. iii. 15.
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A temple of Misos, a city of Phrygia, having been reopened by the
governor of the province, after it had been closed many years, these
martyrs entered therein by night, and destroyed the images. As other
individuals were arrested, and were on the point of being punished for
the deed, they avowed themselves the actors in the transaction. They
might have escaped all further punishment by offering sacrifices to
idols; but the governor could not persuade them to accept acquittal on
these terms. His persuasions being ineffectual, he maltreated them in a
variety of forms, and finally extended them on a gridiron, beneath
which a fire had been lighted. While they were being consumed, they
said to the governor, “Amachus (for that was his name), “if
you desire cooked flesh, give orders that our bodies may be turned with
the other side to the fire, in order that we may not seem, to your
taste, half cooked.” Thus did these men nobly endure and lay down
their life amid the punishments.
It is said that Busiris also obtained renown at Ancyra,
a city of Galatia, by his brilliant and most manly confession of
religion. He belonged to the heresy denominated Eucratites; the
governor of the province apprehended and designed to maltreat him for
ridiculing the pagans. He led him forth publicly to the torture chamber
and commanded that he should be elevated. Busiris raised both hands to
his head so as to leave his sides exposed, and told the governor that
it would be useless for the executioners to lift him up to the
instrument of torture and afterwards to lower him, as he was ready
without this to yield to the tortures as much as might be desired. The
governor was surprised at this proposition; but his astonishment was
increased by what followed, for Busiris remained firm, holding up both
hands and receiving the blows while his sides were being torn with
hooks, according to the governor’s direction. Immediately
afterwards, Busiris was consigned to prison, but was released not long
subsequently, on the announcement of the death of Julian. He lived till
the reign of Theodosius, renounced his former heresy, and joined the
Catholic Church.
It is said that about this period, Basil,1389
| 1389Independent with Soz.
|
presbyter of the church of Ancyra, and Eupsychius,1390
| 1390Basil, M. Ep. c.; Greg. Naz. Ep.
lviii.
|
a noble of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, who had but just taken to
himself a wife and was still a bridegroom, terminated their lives by
martyrdom. I believe that Eupsychius was condemned in consequence of
the demolition of the temple of Fortune, which, as I have already
stated, excited the anger of the emperor against all the inhabitants of
Cæsarea. Indeed, all the actors in this transaction were
condemned, some to death, and others to banishment. Basil had long
manifested great zeal in defense of the faith, and had opposed the
Arians during the reign of Constantius; hence the partisans of Eudoxius
had prohibited him from holding public assemblies. On the accession of
Julian, however, he traveled hither and thither, publicly and openly
exhorting the Christians to cleave to their own doctrines, and to
refrain from defiling themselves with pagan sacrifices and libations.
He urged them to account as nothing the honors which the emperor might
bestow upon them, such honors being but of short duration, and leading
to eternal infamy. His zeal had already rendered him an object of
suspicion and of hatred to the pagans, when one day he chanced to pass
by and see them offering sacrifice. He sighed deeply, and uttered a
prayer to the effect that no Christian might be suffered to fall into
similar delusion. He was seized on the spot, and conveyed to the
governor of the province. Many tortures were inflicted on him; and in
the manly endurance of this anguish he received the crown of
martyrdom.
Even if these cruelties were perpetrated contrary to the
will of the emperor, yet they serve to prove that his reign was
signalized by martyrs neither ignoble nor few.
For the sake of clearness, I have related all these
occurrences collectively, although the martyrdoms really occurred at
different periods. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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