Date: 2002-06-28

Neocatechumenal Way Recognized as "Post-baptismal Catechumenate"

Ceremony Marks Official Approval of Statute

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 28, 2002 (Zenit.org).- After five years of work, the Vatican approved the statute of the Neocatechumenal Way, a Church entity that began in 1964.

The Neocatechumenal Way is present in 105 countries, spread over 883 dioceses and 4,950 parishes. About 1 million lay people worldwide adhere to the Way, as well as 1,457 seminarians, 63 deacons and 731 priests.

The decree of approval, dated for this Saturday, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, was solemnly handed on today to the founders of the Way, Kiko Argûello and Carmen Hernández, and to Father Mario Pezzi, by Cardinal James Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. John Paul II had designated the pontifical council to oversee the writing of the statute.

The Neocatechumenal Way was approved -- respecting and confirming the intentions of its founders -- as a way of Christian initiation for the rediscovery of baptism, namely, a post-baptismal catechumenate (see today's World Features).

Five Vatican organizations were involved in the approval of the Way's statute: the Council for the Laity, and the congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Clergy, and Catholic Education.

The approval formalizes and specifies the Holy Father's recognition expressed in an Aug. 30, 1990, letter where he stated: "I recognize the Neocatechumenal Way as a valid means of Catholic formation for society and for the present time."

The most difficult aspect of the elaboration of the statute was to find an appropriate juridical formula for the Way, which is neither an association nor a foundation.

In being considered as "Christian initiation," the Way is at the service of dioceses and parish priests without being established as an autonomous entity.

The statute includes 35 articles. Article 1 describes the nature of the Way and the four spiritual goods that constitute it: the neocatechumenate or post-baptismal catechumenate; the catechumenate for the unbaptized; the ongoing education of communities that continue in the parish after finishing the neocatechumenate; and the service of catechesis as, for example, the return to the original method of evangelizing through itinerant teams willing to go throughout the world in virtue of their baptismal mandate.

Article 2 establishes the ways in which this ecclesial reality carries out its service: in the diocese, "under the direction of the Bishop" (Article 2, 1), and "according to the lines proposed by the initiators" (see Article 2, 2).

The bishop is the promoter of Christian initiative (Article 26), the document clarifies, to whom the Way offers an instrument approved by the Holy See and configured according to the suggestions of the statute.

The last articles specify the ways foreseen for the succession of the team of initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Source : http://www.zenit.org

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002

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-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

Date: 2002-06-30

Neocatechumenal Way's Statutes Sized Up by Canon Law Expert

Juan Ignacio Arrieta, Professor at University of the Holy Cross

ROME, JUNE 30, 2002 (Zenit.org) .- The Holy See formally approved the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way last week. Here is an assessment of the statutes by Juan Ignacio Arrieta, professor of canon law in the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Among his other duties, he is a consultor of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts.

* * *

THE STATUTES OF THE NEOCATECHUMENAL WAY

Canonical observations of Professor Juan Ignacio Arrieta

By a decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way were approved on the 29th June. This brings to a close an interesting process of institutional reflection on the reality of the Way, brought to completion with the encouragement and blessing of his Holiness John Paul II, who sometime ago requested that the work be finished so that the Neocatechumenal Way could receive a juridical expression within the law of the Church which conformed to the apostolic reality which this Way represents.

As may be recalled, it was the Pope himself who last year, with his letter of the 5th April, addressed to Cardinal James Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, entrusted to that dicastery of the Roman Curia the work of bringing to a conclusion the process of juridical approval of the statutes of the Way. By doing so he assigned to this dicastery the necessary competence in relation to other interested dicasteries of the Curia.

The drafting of the statutes of the Way was concluded, therefore, in close dialogue and collaboration between the Pontifical Council for the Laity and the leaders of the Way. The final text was approved therefore by this dicastery which in this way was exercising the mandate given by the Holy Father. As well as this, in the above letter, the Holy Father expressed his wish that, once the statutes were approved, even if in this case it was not a question of an international association of the faithful, it would be the role of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, as distinct from other organisms of the Holy See, to continue to accompany the apostolic activity of the Neocatechumenal Way.

The text of the document approved "ad experimentum" for a five-year period -- an elementary prudence normally employed by the Holy See when giving juridical approval to whatever kind of institution -- clearly shows that the principle task accomplished in these years of work on the statutes has been that of reflecting, in an orderly way and in writing, using juridical terminology and with complete faithfulness, that concrete experience of Christian life which is the Neocatechumenal Way, in the manner in which it has developed throughout the five continents from the '60s onward. The statutes are nothing other than the synthetic expression of a reality which already has a life in the Church and they have made present, yet again, the fact -- something inevitable, and indeed often necessary, in the life of the Church -- that life precedes law. This is why the approval of these statutes by the Pontifical Council for the Laity, which acts in the name of the Holy Father, represents above all the confirmation of an apostolic praxis lived and consolidated in recent years.

A PROGRAM OF FORMATION, NOT AN ASSOCIATION !!!

The statutes of the Neocatechumenal Way which have been approved consist of 35 articles divided into six sections, plus a final indication regarding the process of revision of the statutes. The above-mentioned articles basically describe the principle contents of the catecheses of the Way, the means of and the times for their transmission, the organization of these catecheses in various stages and relations with the local Church authorities.

Attached to the normative body of the text are about a hundred notes which refer above all to texts from Scripture, from the Fathers of the Church or from the magisterium; texts which in these years have been of fundamental importance in giving shape to the various aspects of this experience of Christian life. It follows that these notes, taken together with the text, are of particular importance for an adequate interpretation of the meaning of the articles which constitute the main body of the statutes.

In these statutes, the Neocatechumenal Way is considered neither as an association, nor as a movement, or as a grouping of persons who establish among themselves a special formal link for achieving particular objectives in the Church. Those who know the Way are well aware that none of this corresponds to the reality of its apostolic experience.

Indeed, those who are well informed understand that, in this particular case, a canonical option along the lines of an association would have altered the fundamental elements of the Way, compromising essential aspects of its apostolic dynamism. Therefore, rather than describing a juridical entity already codified in the law of the Church, these statutes limit themselves to presenting the juridical expression of the reality lived in the Way, obviously in the context of what is stipulated and required by the Church's structure and canonical order.

If we ask, however, what is the concrete juridical form of the Neocatechumenal Way which emerges from these statutes, after a careful reading of the document we can quite simply reply that what this text contains is nothing other than "a Neocatechumenal Way." This is what the first article of the statutes affirms, using the truly definitive expression of Pope John Paul II in the letter of 30th August 1990, published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis (82 [1990] 1515): "I recognize the Neocatechumenal Way," as the Pope said at the time, and as the first article repeats, "as an itinerary of Catholic formation, valid for our times and society."

In fact, these statutes constitute a kind of catechetical directory which describes a program or, if you wish, a way of integral Christian formation of a liturgical-catechetical nature, given that it is primarily based on a personal liturgical experience and on a catechetical formation incarnated in the life of the Christian. Furthermore, the statutes contain all the fundamental guidelines for organizing, directing and conducting this concrete program of formation.

It is a program of formation which is offered to every diocesan bishop, who, according to canon law (Canon 775 §1), is the competent authority for the coordination of initiatives for catechesis in his diocese. At the same time, as a guarantee of the authenticity of the program and the method of formation, and to maintain the necessary contacts with the authority of the Church at different levels, the Holy See entrusts the leadership and the coordination of the activity of the Way to an international responsible team.

From what we have said it can be seen that the statutes do not attempt to describe formal elements -- new rights and duties, which in reality do not exist -- for those who follow this way of formation, but, rather, simply wish to describe the contents that are to be transmitted and the means by which this formation is to be given.

There is no need to deny that the Neocatechumenal Way in fact clearly consists of a grouping of persons: One has only to think of the small communities formed in parishes which remain substantially stable over time. Nevertheless, we must emphasize that this phenomenon, in the case of the Way, is not of an associative type. The same thing happens, for example, within the formative structure of a language school or any other kind of school. In these situations there certainly appears a system of stable relations among the students who follow the courses over a period of years. However, this does not mean that the students establish relationships of a juridical nature among themselves, however intense these human relations may be.

On the other hand, for example, in this language school, a definite program of teaching has to be followed, and those responsible for carrying it out, the professors and the directors of the school, must keep to a methodology already clearly established, accepting the obligations which follow from the respective positions of formation or of direction which each occupy.

In the same way, in the itinerary of formation represented by the Neocatechumenal Way, no new juridical relationships are established, other than those that each of the faithful already has in virtue of his belonging to the Church. Therefore, in these statutes a list of rights and duties of those who benefit from this activity will not be found. Instead, there is a fairly precise indication of the tasks that the catechists, or those who, in complete freedom, make up the various teams of those in charge, must perform. All of this, as I have said, is a direct consequence of the nature of the Way, which in no way corresponds to the characteristics of an association.

The structure of the statutes

Having said this, we want to describe, in summary form, the content of the statutes which have now been approved. The first title describes the "Nature and Implementation of the Neocatechumenal Way," and is made up of four articles which outline the central organizational aspects of the Way, in keeping with what John Paul II has affirmed on every occasion, regarding the identity of this Christian experience.

The first article informs us that the Neocatechumenal Way is made up of a grouping of spiritual goods -- catechetical itinerary, permanent education, service to the work of catechesis, etc. -- placed at the service of the bishops as a form of implementation in the diocese of Christian initiation and permanent education in the faith, according to the indications of the magisterium of the Church, in a spirit of communion with and service to the local ordinary and the whole Church.

This formation is conducted in the dioceses under the direction of the diocesan bishop, and, obviously, also with the guidance of the international leadership team of the Way, which the Holy See has indicated as the guarantors before the Church of the identity of this formation.

The second section, "The Neocatechumenate or Post-baptismal Catechumenate," with its 17 articles distributed over four chapters, forms the central axis on which the statutes are based and represents a concise and detailed encapsulation of the catechetical content, of the formative elements and of the time frame over which this formation is given.

In this section the fundamental elements of the Neocatechumenate are described -- those for whom it is intended; implementation in the parishes, etc.; the beginning of the formative itinerary; its development by means of Word, liturgy and community; and the general description of the three different phases which compose the itinerary of formation.

Among the articles of the second section, mention must be made of the "Initiation and Formation to Priestly Vocation," where we find reference to the "Redemptoris Mater" diocesan seminaries, which is useful for understanding their essential characteristics and their relation with the Neocatechumenal Way.

Article 18 begins by quoting a passage from the "General Catechetical Directory" (No. 86), where it notes that, like any other catechetical itinerary, the Way is also "a means for awakening vocations to the priesthood and of particular consecration to God in the various forms of religious and apostolic life and for enkindling a special missionary vocation in the hearts of individuals."

This is precisely the apostolic context from which the relationship between the Way and the "Redemptoris Mater" seminaries emerges: seminaries which are erected at the wishes of the respective diocesan bishops, in agreement with the leaders of the Way, and according to the norms approved by the respective diocesan bishop, in conformity with the current "Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis."

We are talking, therefore, of diocesan seminaries for the formation of candidates to the priesthood, who are then incardinated for the service of their respective dioceses. Their only unique characteristic is that a specific element of their formative "iter" is participation in the Neocatechumenal Way. It is clear, therefore, that these seminaries must remain marginal to these present statutes. In every aspect they come under the universal norms regarding the formation of candidates to the priesthood and the incardination of secular clerics.

The third section examines the collaboration in the renewal of the life of the parish offered by the communities which have finished the itinerary proposed by the Way, and which, from that moment, enter a process of permanent education in the faith. The fourth section is particularly dedicated to the baptismal catechumenate and to the special care required by catechumens and neophytes.

The fifth and sixth sections of the statutes go deeper into the organizational aspects and the forms of service for catechesis. The fifth section, "Forms of Service to the Work of Catechesis," deals principally with the subjects who, in the diocese, are to intervene in following the activity of the Way.

It deals, first, with the diocesan bishop, who is the one who authorizes the implementation of the Way in the diocese, who watches over it so that the Way develops in accordance with the requirements of canon law, presides over the more important rites of the Neocatechumenal itinerary, guarantees a reasonable pastoral continuity in the parishes where it is present, etc.

The text then deals with the role of the parish priests and presbyters who exercise the pastoral care of those who follow the Neocatechumenal Way, who normally are not presbyters formed in the "Redemptoris Mater" seminaries. The text then speaks of the catechists and their formation, of the itinerants -- catechists and presbyters -- who offer themselves in response to the call of far-off dioceses, and of the families on mission who, upon request of the bishops, establish themselves in dechristianized areas or in places where it is necessary to achieve the "implantatio ecclesiae."

Finally, the sixth section contains two articles related to the current composition of the "international responsible team of the Way" and to the future substitution of its members by means of election. The leadership team is currently composed of the initiators of the Way, Kiko Argüello, Carmen Hernández and Don Mario Pezzi, presbyter of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. The norm provides that, in future, after the death of the initiators, a reasonably large college of people will proceed to elect those who, following confirmation by the Holy See, will assume this function for a period of seven years.

There is also a norm, Article 4, which considers the economic aspect of this apostolic activity. It affirms the general principle that the Neocatechumenal Way does not have a patrimony to dispose of, and that it operates in the dioceses by means of services performed on a gratuitous basis; in response to various necessities, spontaneous collections are made in the communities. The only exception to this rule arises from situations in which apostolic initiatives of greater scope may have to be sustained. Precisely in order to meet these necessities, the diocesan bishop most directly concerned, upon request of the international leadership team, may consider it opportune to erect an autonomous diocesan foundation, with juridical personality, regulated by its own statutes.

This can serve as a summary of the content of the statutes which have been approved by means of the decree of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The decree and statutes are, however, the documents as now published.

Therefore, what the Pope had already indicated in the letter addressed to Cardinal Stafford, quoted above, is now apparent: namely, that the approval of these statutes establishes a clear and sure rule of life for the Neocatechumenal Way and constitutes for it and for the Christian faithful in general a occasion of profound joy and lively gratitude to God and to the Church. The Pope, making clear reference to No. 30 of the apostolic exhortation "Christifideles Laici," concluded that this text constitutes "a new point of departure, which is the visible sign of a mature ecclesial identity."

Source : http://www.zenit.org

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

Its a real moment of joy to post the above news. I thank the HOLY FATHER POPE JOHN PAUL II for rightly discerning and recognizing this WAY as the WAY of Christian initiation and not categorizing it into any association. Being in the neocatechumenal way for so many years I know and have experience what this joy is. This thread has been started to share my joy with you all. All are invited :-). Really have no words to express this joy which comes from GOD and not from Us.

Very soon the WAY will be started in every parish around the world. All my brethren (present & future) on this forum are invited. :-).

That is why we sing "O, DEATH WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY ? O DEATH WHERE IS YOUR STING ?"

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

THE CHRISTIANS [CATHOLICS] OF THE AGE OF PERSECUTIONS

The " IDENTITY CARD" of the Christians. The Christian religion developed rapidly in Rome and all over the world since the 1st century, owing to its being original and suitable for all mankind; but this was also due to the testimony of fervour, of brotherly love and of charity shown by the Christians towards everybody.

The Roman authorities were at first indifferent to the new religion, yet very soon, incited also by the people showed themselves hostile to it, because the Christians refused to worship the ancient pagan deities of Rome, as well as the emperor. The Christians were accused of disloyalty to their fatherland, of atheism, of hatred towards mankind, of hidden crimes, such as incest, infanticide and ritual cannibalism; likewise they were held responsible for all natural calamities, such as plagues, floods, famines, etc.

The Christian religion was proclaimed "strana et illicita - strange and unlawful" (Senatorial decree of the year 35); "exitialis - deadly"(Tacitus); "prava et immodica - wicked and unbridled" (Plinius); "nova et malefica - new and harmful" (Svetonius); "tenebrosa et lucifuga - mysterious and opposed to light" (from "Octavius" by Minucius); "detestabilis- hateful" (Tacitus); therefore it was outlawed and persecuted, because it was considered the most dangerous enemy of the power of Rome, which was based upon the ancient national religion and on the emperor's worship.

The first three centuries constitute the age of Martyrs, which ended in 313 with the edict of Milan, by which the emperors Constantine and Licinius gave freedom to the Church. The persecution was not always continuous and universal, nor equally cruel and bloody. Periods of persecution were followed by periods of relative peace.

Christians faced persecution with courage, a very large percentage with heroism, but they did not submit to it without opposition. They defended themselves with great strength by confuting the accusations of those crimes as being false and groundless and by producing the contents of their faith ( What we believe) and describing their identity (What we are).

In the catacombs we can check the evidence of the wonderful life of Christians, as it is described by the Apologists. Here are some passages of their defence, which constitute almost an "Identity Card" of early Christians.
 
1. From the Letter to Diognetus (apology by an unknown author of the 2nd C.).
 
They are men like others
"Christians are not different because of their country or the language they speak or the way they dress. They do not isolate themselves in their cities nor use a private language; even the life they lead has nothing strange.

Their doctrine does not originate from the elaborate disquisitions of intellectuals, nor do they follow, as many do, philosophical systems which are the fruit of human thinking. They live in Greek or in barbarian (foreign) cities, as the case may be, and adapt themselves to local traditions in dress, food and all usage. Yet they testify to a way which, in the opinion of the many, has something extraordinary about it".
 
They dwell on earth, but are citizens of heaven  
"They live in their own countries and are strangers. They loyally fulfil their duties as citizens, but are treated as foreigners. Every foreign land is for them a fatherland and every fatherland, foreign.

They marry like everyone, they have children, but they do not abandon their new-born. They have the table in common, but not the bed. They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh (2 Cor 10,3; Rom 8, 12-15). They dwell on earth, but are citizens of heaven.

They obey the laws of the state, but in their lives they go beyond the law. They love everyone, yet are persecuted by everyone. No one really knows them, but all condemn them. They are killed, but go on living. They are poor, but enrich many (2 Cor 6,9-10). They have nothing, but abound in everything. but in that contempt they find glory before God. Their honour is insulted, while their justice is acknowledged.

When they are cursed, they bless. When they are insulted, they answer with kind words

(1 Cor 4,12-13). They do good to others and are punished like evil-doers. When they are punished, they rejoice, as if they were given life. The Jews make war against them as if they were a foreign race. The Greek persecute them, but those who hate them , cannot tell the reason for their hatred".

They are in the world as the soul is in the body
"In the way the Christians are in the world, so the soul is in the body. As the soul is diffused in all parts of the body, so Christians are spread in the various cities of the earth. The soul lives in the body, but is not of the body; so Christians live in the world, but are not of the world. As the invisible soul is imprisoned in a visible body, so Christians are a reality quite visible in the world, while the spiritual worship they give to God is invisible.

As the flesh hates the spirit and fights against it, though not receiving any offence from it, but only because the spirit hinders it in its savouring of harmful joys and pleasures; so the world hates the Christians who have done it no harm, merely because they oppose a way of life based on mere pleasure.

As the soul loves the body and its limbs, which hate it in return, thus Christians love those who hate them. The soul, though it sustains the body, is enclosed in it. So Christians, though they are a support to the world, are confined in the world as a prison. The immortal soul lives in a mortal tent, so Christians live like strangers among corruptible things, awaiting the incorruptibility of heaven.

By mortifying itself in food and drink, the soul is refined and strengthened; so Christians, maltreated and persecuted, grow in number every day. God has assigned them such a high state that they are never to abandon it" (Sources Chrétiennes 33 bis, 62-67).
 
2. From the "Books to Autolicus" of S. Theophilus of Antioch, 2nd C.
 
The Christians pay homage to the emperor and pray for him (I, 2)
 "I shall pay homage to the emperor, but will not adore him; I shall instead pray for him. I adore the true and only God, by whom I know the sovereign was made. Well now, you might ask me: 'Why don't you adore the emperor?'. The emperor, given authority by God, must be honoured with a proper respect, but he must not be adored.

You see, he is not God; he is only a man whom God has placed in that office not to be adored, but in order that he exercise justice on earth. In a way this authority was entrusted to him by God. As the emperor may not tolerate that his title be taken over by those subject to him, so no one may be adored, save God.

The sovereign must therefore be honoured with sentiments of reverence; we must obey him and pray for him: In this way God's will is done".
 
The life of Christians proves the greatness and beauty of their religion (III, 15)
"We find out that Christians have a wise self-control, practice temperance, marry only once, keep chaste, refuse injustice, uproot sin, practice justice, observe the law, have a positive appreciation of piety. God is acknowledged, and truth is regarded as the supreme law.

Grace guards them; peace protects them; the Sacred Word guides them, wisdom teaches them; eternal life directs them. God is their king".
 
3. From the "Apology" by Aristides, 2nd C.
 
Christians observe the divine laws
"Christians bear the divine laws impressed on their hearts and observe them in the hope of a future life. For this reason they do not commit adultery, or fornication; don't bear false witness; don't misappropriate the money they have received on deposit; don't crave for what is not due to them; honour father and mother, do good to their neighbour; and when they are appointed judges, judge rightly.

They don't adore idols in human form; whatever they don't want others do to them, they do not do it to anyone. They don't eat meat offered to the gods, because it is contaminated: Their daughters are pure and keep their virginity and shun prostitution; men abstain from every illegitimate union and from all impurity; likewise their women are chaste, in the hope of the great recompense in the next life...
 
They are kind and charitable
They help those who offend them, making friends of them; do good to their enemies. They don't adore idols; they are kind, good, modest, sincere, they love one another; don't despise widows; protect the orphans; those who have much give without grumbling, to those in need. When they meet strangers, they invite them to their homes with joy, for they recognise them as true brothers, not natural but spiritual.

When a poor man dies, if they become aware, they contribute according to their means for his funeral; if they come to know that some people are persecuted or sent to prison or condemned for the sake of Christ's name, they put their alms together and send them to those in need. If they can do it, they try to obtain their release. When a slave or a beggar is in need of help, they fast two or three days, and give him the food they had prepared for themselves, because they think that he too should be joyful , as he has been called to be joyful like themselves.
 
They live in justice and sanctity
They strictly observe the commandments of the Lord, by living in a saintly and right way, as the Lord God has prescribed to them; they give Him thanks each morning and evening for all food and drink and every other thing.
These are, o emperor, their laws; the goods they have to ask God, they ask Him, and so they pass through this world till the end of time; because God has subjected everything to them. Therefore they are grateful to Him, because the whole universe and all creation have been made for them. Surely these people have found truth".
 
4. From "The Apologeticus" of Tertullian, 2nd - 3rd C.
 
Christians are not useless and unproductive
"We are accused of being unproductive in the various fields of activity. But how can you say this of men who live with you, eat with you, wear the same clothes, follow the same way of life and have the same necessities of life?

We remember to give thanks to God, our Lord and Creator, and do not refuse any fruit of his work. There is no doubt that we make use of things with moderation and not in an evil or unrestrained way. We live together with you and often attend the forum, the market-place, the baths, the shops and workshops, the stables, taking part in all activities.

We also are at sea together with you, we serve in the army, we till the land, we carry on trade, we exchange goods and put on sale, for your benefit, the fruits of our work. I really cannot understand how we may appear useless and unproductive for your affairs, when we live with you and for you.

Surely, there are some people who have good grounds for complaining about Christians, as they cannot do any business with them. They are the masters of prostitutes, the procurers and their accomplices; then there come the criminals, the murderers through poison, the sorcerers, the fortune-tellers, the wizards, the astrologers.

What an unbelievable thing is to be unproductive for such people!... And finally, you will never find any Christian in prison, unless he be there for religious reasons.
We have learnt from God to live honest lives".

Source : http://www.catacombe.roma.it/

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

PERSECUTIONS OF THE CHRISTIANS

A new and malevolent superstition

The first instance of the Roman State taking action against Christians arose in the reign of the Emperor Claudius (41-54 A.D.). The historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius tell us that Claudius had to expel the Jews because they were continually arguing among themselves about a certain Chrestos. "Here we have first mention of the response to the Christian message in the community of Rome," comments Karl Baus.

The historian Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (70- ca.140) was a high-ranking official at the imperial courts of Trajan and of Hadrian. He was a scholar and counsellor of the emperors. He justified this and future actions of the State against Christians defining them as a "new and malicious superstition"; very harsh words.

As a "superstitio", Christianity was linked to "magia". For the Romans it was the same as the irrational practices which magicians and witches of evil character used to deceive the ignorant populace who had no training in philosophy. Magic was against reason and was common knowledge as opposed to philosophical knowledge. The accusation of magia (witchcraft), as well as that of insanity was a weapon with which the Roman State branded and suppressed new and suspect groups in society, such as Christianity.

The word malefica (=bringer of evil) caught the popular and suspicious imagination of the populace which viewed this (and everything new) as intrinsically dangerous. It was therefore the cause of evil and inseparable from plague, flood, famine and invasion by the barbarians.

A group at the same time open yet inward looking and suspicious

The Roman Empire was (as it showed itself especially in its persecution of Christians) a great open body, disposed to absorbing every new people that forsakes its characteristics, but also a closed and suspicious group. By the words etnìa, ethnic group (in Greek éthnos), we mean a social group marked by the same language or culture and one suspicious of every other group. Rome, with its social organisation of free people enjoying all rights and slaves with none, of rich patricians and poor ordinary people (plebs), with the centre exploiting and the outlying areas exploited, considered itself as the realisation of the dream of Alexander the Great: to unify mankind, to make every free person a citizen of the world, and the empire a "universal assembly" (oikuméne) which coincided exactly with "human civilisation".

Those who wished to live outside of this, to maintain their own identity and not to be absorbed with it, cut themselves off from human civilisation. Rome had a great fear of these "strangers" and "dissidents" who might upset its security. Since this "universal accord" had been established by the ferocious efficiency of its legions, Rome intended to maintain it by the strength of the sword, of crucifixions, of condemnations to forced labour and by exile.

In a word, Rome used "ethnic cleansing" as a method of protecting the undisturbed peace of the "civilised world".

Nero and the Christians as seen by the historian Tacitus.

In the year 64 a fire destroyed 10 of the 14 wards of Rome. The emperor Nero, accused by the people of being the instigator of the fire, threw the blame on to the Christians. He began the first great persecution which lasted until 68 and saw perish, among others, the apostles Peter and Paul.

The great historian Tacitus Cornelius (54-120), senator and consul, described these events when, in the reign of Trajan, he wrote his Annals. He accused Nero of having unjustly attacked the Christians, but declared himself convinced that they merited the most severe punishments because of their superstitions from which sprang every nefarious deed. Thus he
Did not even share in the compassion experienced by many people in seeing them tortured .. Here is the famous quotation from Tacitus:

"To cut short the public outcry, Nero had to find someone guilty, and blamed a race of men despised for the perversity of their rites and commonly called Christians. The name comes from Christus (Christ), who was put to death when Pontius Pilate was pro-Consul and Procurator of Judea. Now, this pernicious superstition has broken out anew, not only in Judea, the place of origin of this scourge, but even in Rome, where all that is shameful and abominable comes together and is accepted.

At first were arrested those who openly confessed their belief. Then, after their accusation, a great multitude were imprisoned not just accused of having caused the fire, but because they were regarded as being burning with hatred against the human race.They were put to death with refined cruelty, and Nero added scorn and derision to their sufferings. Some were clad in the skins of wild beasts and thrown to the dogs to be devoured; others were nailed to the cross, others burned alive, and still others covered with inflammable material which was then set on fire to serve as torches after sunset. Nero allowed his gardens (on the Vatican hill) to be used for this spectacle, which also included circus games. As he proclaimed the opening of the circus games, he himself, driving a chariot and dressed as a charioteer, mingled with the crowds."

Although these punishments were against a blameworthy people who merited such original torments, there arose a sense of pity, since they had been sacrificed not for the common good but from the cruelty of the tyrant." (XV,44)

Thus the Christians were believed by Tacitus as well to be a despicable people, capable of horrendous crimes. The worst evil doings attributed to Christians were ritual infanticide (they spoke of the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, as the killing and eating of a child !) and incest (clearly a travesty of the kiss of peace "between brothers and sisters" which occurred in the celebration of the Eucharist). These accusations, based on popular gossip, were thus sanctioned by imperial authority which persecuted and condemned Christians to death.

From this time on (Tacitus maintains) there was added to the burden of Christians, the accusation that they hated the human race. Pliny the Younger, ironically, writes that with a similar accusation anyone could from now on be condemned.

The accusation of atheism

We have scarce references of the persecution which struck the Christians in the year 89 under the emperor Domitian. Of particular importance is the information given by the greek historian Dio Cassius, who became a praetor and consul in Rome. In book 67 of his Roman History, he tells us that under Domitian they were accused and condemned "for atheism" (ateòtes) the consul Flavius Clemens and his wife Domitilla, and with them many others who "had adopted the practices of the Jews".

The accusation of atheism, at this time, was thrown at those who did not consider as supreme deity, the imperial majesty. Domitian, strictest restorer of centralised authority, arrogated to himself the highest worship, as centre and guarantor of "human civilisation".

It is worth noting that an intellectual like Dio Cassius designated as "atheism" the refusal to worship the emperor. It meant that in Rome there was no concept of God separate from that of the imperial majesty. Those who thought differently were regarded as gravely dangerous to "human civilisation".

An Illegal but Harmless Association

In 111 Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia on the Black Sea, was returning from an inspection of his rich and well-populated province when a fire devastated his capital, Nicomedia. Much could have been saved, had there been firemen.Pliny reported to the emperor Trajan (98-117): "It is up to you to decide whether it is necessary to create a 150-strong association of firemen. For my part, I will make sure that such an association will accept only firemen. . ." Trajan replied rejecting the proposal: "Do not forget that your province is prone to societies of this kind. Whatever their name or purpose, I do not wish to have people united in a body, who then, for whatever reason quickly become an eterie. "The fear of the eterie (the greek name for associations) prevailed over the fires.

This was a phenomenon of ancient times. Associations of any type, which transformed themselves into political groups, had pushed Caesar into forbidding all associations in 7 B.C.: "Whoever establishes an association without special authorisation, is liable to the same penalty as those who, with armed forces, attack public places and temples." The laws were still in force, but the associations continued to flourish; the boatmen on the Seine, the doctors of Avenches, the wine merchants of Lyons, the buglers of Lamesi. They all defended the interests of their members putting pressure on the public authorities.

Pliny was not slow to apply the interdict on eterie to a particular case presented to him in 112. Bithynia was full of Christians. "They are a crowd of people of all ages, and conditions, dispersed throughout the cities, in the villages and the countryside," he wrote to the Emperor. He goes on to tell of a complaint received from the makers of religious amulets upset by the Christians who preached about the uselessness of such nicknacks. He had set up a special inquiry and found out that they had "the habit of gathering on a fixed day, before sunrise to sing a hymn to Christ as though to a god. They try to live justly, they oblige themselves by oath not to commit crimes, theft or robbery or adultery or deceit with words. They have the custom of dining together, and in spite of what others may say, the food is ordinary and harmless." The Christians had not ceased having these meetings even after the governor had reissued the interdict against eterie. Continuing the letter (10,96), Pliny assures the Emperor that he saw no malice in what they are doing. However, the refusal to offer incense and wine before the statue of the Emperor seemed to him an act of public sacrilege. The obstinacy of these Christians seemed "unreasonable and foolish".

From the letter of Pliny it appears clear that the accusations of ritual infanticide and incest had been droped out as absurd. There still remained the accusation of refusing to worship the Emperor (i.e. high treason) and of establishing an eteria.

The Emperor replied, "The Christians ought not to be sought out by the authorities. If, however, they are denounced and found guilty, they will have to be condemned." In other words: Trajan encourages turning a blind eye to them: they are a harmless eteria like the boatmen on the Seine or the wine merchants of Lyon. But since Christians are practising an "unreasonable and foolish superstition" (as Pliny and other intellectuals of the time such as Epictetus said) and continued to refuse to do emperor worship (and thus were considered "outcasts" from civic life), Pliny should not pretend as if nothing happened. If they are denounced, they are to be condemned. Thus there continued the policy (even if in less rigid form) of "It is not legal to be Christians". Certainly victim in this period were Simeon, the Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified at the age of 120, and Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, carried to Rome as a roman citizen and executed there. The same policy towards Christians came to be adopted by the emperors Hadrian (117-138) and Antoninus Pius (138- 161).

Marcus Aurelius: Christianity is folly

Marcus Aurelius (161-180), philosopher emperor, spent 17 of the 19 years of his reign fighting. In his Memoirs, which he wrote each night in his military tent, he recorded his thoughts "for himself". He greatly despised Christianity. He considered it folly since it proposed to the common, ignorant people a certain manner of conduct (universal love, forgiveness, sacrifice for others without waiting for reward) which only philosophers such as himself could understand and practise through long meditation and discipline.

His rescript of 176-7 prohibited fanatical sects, and the introduction of new cults so far unknown which might threaten the state religion. The situation for Christians, always grave, became even worse under him.

The flourishing communities of Asia Minor founded by the Apostle Paul were liable day or night to robbery and plunder by the mob. At Rome, Justin and a group of Christian intellectuals were condemned to death. The flourishing Christian community of Lyon was destroyed by accusations of atheism and immorality. (There perished under severe torture the very young Blandina and the fifteen year old Ponticus).

We realise that public opinion was hardening against the Christians. Great public calamities (such as war and plague) had raised the conviction that the gods were angry with Rome. When it became known that the Christians did not take part in the expiatory ceremonies ordered by the Emperor, popular wrath tried to find pretexts for raging against them.

This situation continued even into the first years of the emperor Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius.

THE OFFENSIVE OF THE INTELLECTUALS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

In the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the offensive of the intellectuals of Rome against the Christians reached its peak.

"Frequently and erroneously - writes Fabio Ruggiero - it is believed that the ancient world had combated the new faith with the weapons of law and order, in a word, with the persecutions. If this is true (and only in part) for the first century of the Christian era, it was no longer so in the second half of the second century. Both the gentile (=pagan) world and the Church understood, about the same time, the necessity of discussion and dialogue on the level of philosophical and theological argumentation. Ancient culture, trained for centuries in the subtleties of reasoning, could bring very sophisticated arguments against Christian teaching. Soon enough the Church itself, taking account of the force which classical thought could exert as a brake on the spread of the Gospel, understood the necessity of developing genuinely Christian philosophical and theological thought. At the same time this must be expressed in a language and in cultural categories intelligible to the graeco-roman world in which the Church was becoming more deeply involved."

The lines of argument used by antichristian intellectuals

The arguments of Marcus Aurelius (121-180), Galenus(129-200), Lucian, Pellegrinus Proteus and especially Celsus (all of whom wrote their works in the second half of the second century) can be summarised as follows:-

"Salvation" from the insignificance of life, from disorder of events, from the annihilation of death, from sorrow, can be found only in a "philosophical wisdom" on the part of a highly intelligent elite.

The answer which Christians gave to this "salvation" as "faith" in a man crucified (like a slave) in Palestine (a border province) and declared to be risen, was folly. The fact that Christians believed in the message of this crucified one, adopting a preference for the outcasts and poor (the dregs of humanity) and preaching brotherly love for everyone (in a society tightly built in a pyramid and considered the 'natural order') was another intolerable folly, which everyone rejected. Christians had to be eliminated as the adversaries of human civilisation.

The criticism of antichristian intellectuals was marked by the same idea of "revelation from above", not based on "philosophical wisdom"; on Christian scriptures, which had contradicted history, and logic; on the "irrational" teachings; on the actions of the LOGOS of God that became man (Gospel of John) and submitted himself to death as a slave; on Christian morality (fidelity to marriage, honesty, respect for others, mutual help) which could be accepted by a small number of philosophers, but certainly not by the vast number of ignorant poor.

All of Christian teaching, for these intellectuals, was folly, since the claim of resurrection is folly (i.e. the claim of life after death), the preference God gave to the poor, and universal brotherly love. It.is all irrational.

The greek philosopher Celsus, in his True Discourse, wrote: «Accepting ignorant people, joining the vilest population, the Christians bring down the honourable and the noble, and finally go as far as calling everyone brother and sister without distinction. . .
The object of their veneration is a man on whom the most severe punishment was inflicted, and from the fatal wood of the cross is made an altar, as it is suited for depraved and criminals»

The measured response of Christians

For decades the Christians remained silent. They spread with the quiet force of the forbidden. With love and martyrdom they answered the most infamous accusations. It was in the second century that their first apologists (Justin, Athenagoras, Tatian) refuted with proofs the more outrageous of the charges, and sought to explain their faith (born in the Semitic lands and couched in "stories") in terms culturally acceptable to a world imbued with graeco-roman philosophy. The "bricks" well suited to the message of Jesus Christ began to be organised into an architectural structure which could be regarded as Graeco-roman. It would be Tertullian in the West and Origen in the East (in the third century) who would impose systematic form on "Christian wisdom". With the "building bricks" of the message of Jesus Christ they would attempt to create the harmony of the roman basilica. With the passage of centuries, it would become the daring of the Gothic cathedral, the solid calmness of the romanesque , the pomp of the baroque. . .

THE GRAVE CRISIS OF THE THIRD CENTURY (200-300)

The Third Century saw Rome in very deep crisis. The relationship between Christianity and the roman empire changed (even though not all noticed it).
This great crisis is described by the greek historian Herodian: «In the previous 200 years, there never was such a quick succession of rulers, of civil wars, of wars against tribes on the borders and of great migrations of peoples. There were innumerable attacks on cities within the Empire and in many barbarian countries, earthquakes and pestilence, rulers and usurpers. Some were in charge for a long time, others held power for the briefest of periods. Some were proclaimed emperor and crowned one day and overthrown the next.»

The Roman Empire had been gradually extended by the conquest of new provinces. This continuing expansion allowed the exploitation of ever new and greater territory (Egypt was the granary of Rome, Spain and Gaul were its vineyards and olive groves). Rome had seized ever newer mines (Dacia was conquered for its gold mines). The wars of acquisition produced countless multitudes of slaves (prisoners of war), unpaid manpower.

Towards the middle of the 3rd century (ca 250) the party was over. In the East was formed the mighty Sassanid empire which launched strong attacks on the Romans. In 260, the emperor Valerian and his whole army of 70,000 men were captured and the provinces of the East laid waste. Plague devastated the surviving legions and overflowed the empire. In the North was formed another alliance of strong peoples: the Goths spread over Malaya and Dacia. The Emperor Decius and his army were massacred. The Goths spread devastation from the North as far as Sparta, Athens and Ravenna. The piles of rubble they left were terrible. Most of the people of culture lost their lives or were taken into slavery, and could not be replaced. Life returned to a primitive and savage state. Agriculture and commerce were wiped out.

In this time of great uncertainty, the security guaranteed by the State collapsed. Now were the gentiles (=pagans) to become "irrational", no longer having confidence in the imperial order but in the protection of the strangest and most mysterious gods. On the Quirinal rose a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis. The emperor Elagabulus imposed the worship of the sun-god, the people had recourse to magical rites to drive away plague. Yet even in the Third Century there were terrible persecutions of the Christians. No longer was it because of their "irrationality" (in a sea of people confiding in magical rites, Christianity was the only rational system) but in the name of renewed ethnic cleansing. Many emperors (although barbarians by birth) saw in a return to centralised unity the only hope of salvation. So they decreed the extermination of the ever more numerous Christians so as to expel from the roman ethnic group, this "extraneous body" which was more and more seen as a different ethnic group ready to take over the empire founded on force of arms, robbery and violence and now in decline.

Septimius Severus, Maximin the Thracian, Decius and Gallus.

With Septimius Severus (193-211), founder of the Syriac dynasty there seemed to be announced for Christianity a phase of undisturbed development. Christians occupied influential positions at court. Only in the tenth year of his reign (202) did the emperor radically change his stance. In 202 appeared an edict of Septimius Severus which prescribed grave penalties for those who became converts to Judaism or to Christianity. The emperor's sudden change can only be understood by assuming that he realized that in striving strongly for religious unity for the whole of society throughout the world. They were therefore suspect.

The damage was most obvious in the abolition of the celebrated Christian School of Alexandria and the Christian communities of North Africa.

Maximin the Thracian (235-238) reacted violently and coarsely against the friends of his predecessor Alexander Severus, who had been tolerant towards Christians. He threw the Church of Rome into confusion with the deportation to the mines in Sardinia of the two leaders of the Christian community, bishop Pontian and the presbyter Hippolytus.

The attitude of the mob towards Christians had not changed. There was launched in Cappadocia a true and proper hunt for Christians when they seemed to be to blame for an earthquake. This popular reaction tells us that the Christians were still considered in general as "strangers and malefactors" (cf. K Baus, Le origini, p 282-287).

Under the emperor Decius (249-251) there was let loose the first systematic persecution of the Church, aimed at finally wiping them out. Decius (successor of Philip the Arab who was very favourable to Christians and may even have been one himself), was originally a senator from Pannonia, and was very attached to roman traditions. Being deeply conscious of the pollitical and econbmic break up of the empire, he believed that would restore unity by gathering all the energies of the protectors of the state. All the inhabitants were required to sacrifice to the gods, after which they would receive a certificate. Those who refused this act of submission were arrested, tortured and executed. At Rome at Roòe were executed bishop Fabian and with him many priests and laity. At Alexandria there was a persecution accompanied by plundering. In Asia the martyrs were numerous: the bishops of Pergamum, Antioch and Jerusalem. The great scholar Origen was subjected to inhuman torture and survived the sufferings for four years (reduced to a mere human shell).

Not all Christians endured suffering. Many agreed to sacrifice. Others, by bribes, secretly obtained the famous certificates. Among them, according to letter 67 of Cyprian, there were two Spanish bishops. The persecution which had seemed the death blow for the Church, ended with the demise of Decius in battle against the Goths on the plains of Dobrugia (Romania). (cfr. M Clèvenot, I Cristiani e il potere, p. 179s). The next seven years (250-257) were ones of tranquillity for the Church, disturbed only at Rome by the outbreak of persecution when Trebonianus Gallus (251-253) had the head of the Christian community arrested and exiled to Centum Cellae (Civitavecchia). The conduct of Gallus was probably a giving in to the mood of the people, who blamed the Christians for the outbreak of disease devastating the empire. The Christians were still seen as "superstitious", strange and malicious! (cf. K. Baus, Le Orgini, p 292).

Valerian and the financial state of the empire.

In the fourth year of the reign of Valerian (257) something unforeseen occurred, a severe and bloody persecution of the Christians, However, it was not due to religion but rather to money. Because of the precarious situation of the Empire, the imperial counsellor (and later usurper) Macrianus persuade Valerian to confiscate the goods of wealthy Christians. There were illustrious martyrs (from bishop Cyprian and pope Sixtus II, to the deacon Lawrence). However, it was simply robbery under the pretext of ideological motives, and ended with the tragic death of Valerian. In 259 he and all his army fell prisoners to the Persians. He was reduced to life as a slave and died.

The forty years of peace which followed, favoured the internal and external development of the Church. Several Christians reached high office in the State and proved themselves capable and honest.

Financial disaster falls into the lap of Diocletian

In 271, the emperor Aurelian ordered his soldiers and roman citizens to abandon to the Goths the vast province of Dacia with its gold mines. The defence of this territory would cost by then too much blood.

Since there were no more provinces to conquer and despoil, all attention was focused on the ordinary citizen. On them fell taxes, the ever-more onerous chores (maintenance of aqueducts, canals, sewers, roads, public buildings. . .). They literally did not know how they would manage to survive and pay the taxes. In 284, after a brilliant military career, Diocletian, of Dalmatian origin, was proclaimed emperor. Now the taxes would have to be paid per testa (head)and per jugero i.e. for each individual and for each unit of land under cultivation.

The collection was entrusted to a shrewd and lumbering bureaucracy, which ensured it was impossible to avoid the payment. It punished inhumanly those who tried and was very costly to the state.

The taxes were so heavy that they took away all incentive to work. Remedy: it was forbidden to abandon one's job, the piece of soil one cultivated, the workshop or military service.

This was just the beginning - wrote F. Oertel, professor of ancient history at the University of Bonn - of the oppressive measures of the State which squeezed the last drop from the population. . . Under Diocletian, a complete socialist state was brought into being: terrorism by officials, severe limitation of individual freedom, progressive state interference, heavy taxation.»

Persecution by Galerius in the name of Diocletian.

In the first twenty years of the reign of Diocletian we see no molesting of Christians.

In 303, with a change of scene, the last great persecution of Christians began. «It was the work of Galerius, the "Caesar" of Diocletian - wrote F. Ruggiero - in 303 he put an end to the prudent policies of Diocletian, which were restrained although he held to traditional feelings, and went over to intransigent and intolerant acts.» Four consecutive edicts (February 303 - February 304) imposed on Christians the destruction of their churches, confiscation of their goods, the handing over of sacred books, torture and even death for those who would not sacrifice to the emperor.
As always, it is difficult to determine what motives induced Diocletian to approve a policy of this kind. We suppose it was pressure from the fanatical pagans who supported Galerius. In a situation of "widespread anguish" (as Dodds calls it), only return to the ancient faith of Rome, according to Galerius and his friends, could save the people and persuade them to make such sacrifices. It required a return to the vetera instituta, i.e. to the ancient laws and traditional roman discipline.

The persecution reached its greatest intensity in the Orient, especially in Syria, Egypt and Asia Minor. To Diocletian who abdicated in 305, there succeeded as "Augustus" Galerius and as "Caesar" Maximin Daia who showed himself more fanatical than his leader.

Only in 311, six days before he died of cancer of the throat, did Galerius grudgingly issue a decree ending the persecution. With this document (which finally signalled the freedom to be Christian), Galerius deplored the obstinacy of Christians who mostly refused to turn to the religion of ancient Rome. He declared that to persecute Christians any more was futile, and he exhorted them to pray to their God for the health of the emperor.

Commenting on this decree, F. Ruggiero, wrote: «The Christians had been an extremely anomalous enemy. For more than two centuries, Rome had sought to absorb them into its social fabric. . . Physically within the civitas Romana, but in many ways outside of it» they had finally brought about «a radical transformation of the civitas itself into something Christian».

The Profound Revolution

The final systematic persecutions of the Third and Fourth Centuries were as ineffective as the sporadic ones of the First and Second Centuries. The ethnic cleansing invoked and upheld by the Graeco-roman intellectuals was never achieved. Why not ?

Because the indignant accusations of Celsus («Gathering ignorant people, belomging to the vilest population, the Christians bring down the honourable and the noble, and finally go so far as to call people brother and sister without distinction. ») in the long run became the best eulogy for Christians. It recalled the dignity of each individual, even the lowliest and their equality before God (the most revolutionary point in the Christian message). This had imperceptibly made its way into the consciousness of most individuals and of most peoples whom the Romans had relegated to the positions of born slaves and human garbage.


Source : http://www.catacombe.roma.it/en/ricerche/ricerche.html

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

Eusebius of Caesarea as principal source for the Acts of the Martyrs

    Born at Caesarea in Palestine about the year 265 and educated in the school of the learned Pamphilus, he received solid intellectual formation, above all in history. He was elected bishop of his hometown and became the most learned man of his time. He wrote many works of theology, of exegesis, of apologetics, but his most important were his "Ecclesiastical History", in 10 volumes, which were the fruit of twenty-five years of sustained and careful historical research.

    In the first seven books, he tells the history of the Church from the beginning until 303. Books 8 and 9 refer to the persecution begun by Diocletian in 303 and ended in the East in 306 but continued in the West by Galerius until the Edict of Toleration in 311 and the death of Maximinus (313). Book 10 describes the recovery of the Church up to the victory of Constantine over Licinius and the unification of the Empire (323).

    Before undertaking this work, Eusebius had collected and transcribed a vast amount of documentation (acts of trials of martyrs, passions, apologies, evidence from individuals and groups) and also martyrdoms before the persecution of Diocletian in his work "Collection of Ancient Martyrdoms", which has been lost but parts of which are preserved in his Ecclesiastical History.

    Spared from the persecution of Diocletian (303-311), Eusebius was a witness of exceptional importance, since he himself was present at the destruction of churches, at the burning of books, and the savage scenes of martyrdom in Palestine, in Phoenicia and at a distance from the Thebais in Egypt and has left us a work of great historical value.

    In spite of gaps and errors, his Ecclesiastical History remains "the best known historical work and one worthy of trust and sometimes the only reliable source of information." (Angelo Penna in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Città del Vaticano, 1950, vol. V, pp 842-854).

    We will present a very brief collection of historical events, a short anthology taken from the original texts of these authors and carefully translated. In this way we will come to know how our brothers and sisters in the faith suffered and endured torture and death for Christ.

Martyrdom has been a constant throughout the Church.

    Also the martyrs, remembered in this brief collection belong to different centuries, were different kinds of people, from different nations and social classes; they represented the whole Church. There were men and women, rich and poor; old (Symeon was 120) and young (the 7 "sons" of Symphorosa): clerics (Symeon, Polycarp, Acacius, Carpus, Sagaris were bishops; Pionius, a priest; Euplius and Papylus were deacons) and lay: Apollonius, a senator; Maximus a merchant; Conon a gardener; the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste were legionaries; Marinus a centurion; Symphorosa and Agathonice, mothers of families; of noble birth (like Apollonius) and lowly members of the people (such as Conon, and often christians whose names have been forgotten).

    All have borne witness with the painful sacrifice of their lives in fidelity to Christ. The Acts of the martyrs recall the true history of the early Church.

The Martyrs of Alexandria in Egypt

" From a letter of Phileas to the inhabitants of Tmuis"

Phileas, bishop of the Church of Tmuis, a city to the east of Alexandria, was famous for the public offices he had held and for the outstanding service he had given particularly to culture and philosophy. He was young, noble and very rich with a wife and children and it seems certain that he had been a pagan. From prison he wrote a letter in which he described the slaughter of the Christians he had assisted personally and praised the courage and faith of the martyrs. He suffered martyrdom by decapitation in 306.

"With all these examples and precedents and trustworthy signposts before their eyes in the inspired and holy Scriptures, the blessed martyrs among us did not hesitate, but directing the eye of the soul with all earnestness towards the Almighty, and resolved to die for their faith, they clung firmly to their vocation, aware that Our Lord Jesus Christ became man for our sakes, in order to destroy every kind of sin and make it possible for us to enter into eternal life. for He did not regard it as a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of bondservant, and appearing in human shape submitted humbly to death, and death on a cross.

So, eagerly desiring the greater gifts, the Christ-bearing martyrs endured every kind of suffering and every outrage that iniquity could invent, not once but twice in some cases; and when their armed guards competed not only in making all sorts of threats against them, but also in carrying them out, they never wavered, because perfect love casts out fear. What words would suffice to recount their heroic courage under every trial?

Liberty was given to all who wished to insult them, and some struck them with cudgels, some with sticks, some with whips, others with straps, and yet others with rope-ends. The spectacle of these outrages was constantly changing and abominable through and through. Some, with their hands tied behind them, were hung from the gibbet and their limbs were pulled apart by machines; then the torturers were ordered to get to work on every part of their helpless bodies, not as with murderers applying their instruments of correction to sides alone, but even to belly, legs and cheeks. Others were hung by one hand from the porch and hauled up: no agony could have been so horrible as the stretching of their limbs and joints.

Others were bound to pillars, facing inwards, with their feet off the ground and the weight of the body drawing the ropes tighter and tighter.

This they endured, not while the governor was busy haranguing them, but almost all day long. Whenever he went on to another group, he left subordinate officials to keep an eye on the first, in case anyone should succumb to the tortures and seemed to be giving in. He instructed them to add unsparingly to their bonds, and when they were at their last gasp, to cut them down and drag them away.

They were not to show the least consideration for us but to regard us and treat us as if we no longer existed, this being the second torture devised by our adversaries in addition to the floggings. Some, even after these outrageous sufferings, were put in the stocks with their feet stretched out all four holes apart, so that they were forced to lie on their backs, incapacitated by the open wounds with which the blows had covered their entire bodies.

Others were hurled to the ground and lay helpless, as a result of the concentrated onslaught of the torturers, presenting to the spectators a sight more horrible than the torture itself, as they bore in their bodies marks of the elaborate and unlimited ingenuity of the torturers.

In this state of affairs some died under the tortures, shaming their adversary by their unshakeable determination; others were locked up in prison half dead, and a few days later were overcome by their agonies and so found fulfilment; the rest responded to treatment and time and their stay in prison restored their confidence.

So when the order was given, they were invited to choose between touching the abominable sacrifice (in which case they would go unmolested, receiving from their persecutors the freedom that brought a curse with it) and refusing to sacrifice and so incurring the supreme penalty.

Without hesitating a moment, they went gladly to their death, knowing what Holy Scripture has laid down for us: "He who sacrifices to other gods shall be utterly destroyed"(Ex. xxii. 20) and "You shall have no other gods but Me."(Ex. xx. 3)."

Eusebius concludes: "Such was the message that the martyr, truly both lover of wisdom and lover of God, sent to the Christians of his diocese before the final sentence, while he was still undergoing imprisonment, explaining his own situation and at the same time urging them on to hold firmly, even after his approaching fulfilment, to true religion in Christ." (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I. VIII, c. X).

The Martyrs in the Thebais (Egypt)

"But words cannot describe the outrageous agonies endured by the martyrs in the Thebais. They were torn to bits from head to foot with potsherds like claws till death released them. Women were tied by one foot and hoisted high up in the air, head downwards, their bodies completely naked without a morsel of clothing, presenting thus the most shameful, brutal and inhuman of all spectacles to everyone watching.

Others again were tied to trees and stumps and died horribly; for with the aid of machinery they drew together the very stoutest boughs, fastened one of the martyr's legs to each, and then let the boughs fly back to their normal position; thus they managed to tear apart the limbs of their victims in a moment.

In this way they carried on, not for a few days or weeks, but year after year. Sometimes ten or more, sometimes over twenty were put to death, at other times at least thirty, and at yet others not far short of sixty; and there were occasions when on a single day a hundred men as well as women and little children were killed, condemned to a succession of ever-changing punishments.

We were in these places, and saw many of the executions for ourselves. Some of the victims suffered death by beheading, others punishment by fire. So many were killed on a single day that the axe, blunted and worn out by slaughter, was broken in pieces, while the exhausted executioners had to be periodically relieved.

All the time I observed a most wonderful eagerness and a truly divine power and enthusiasm in those who had put their trust in the Christ, son of God. No sooner had the first batch been sentenced, than others from every side would jump on to the platform in front of the judge and proclaim themselves Christians.

They paid no heed to torture in all its terrifying forms, but undaunted spoke boldly of their devotion to the God of the universe and with joy, laughter, and gaiety received the final sentence of death; they sang and sent up hymns of thanksgiving to the God of the universe till their very last breath.

Wonderful as these were, far, far more wonderful were those who were conspicuous for their wealth, birth, and reputation, and for learning and philosophy, yet put everything second to true religion and faith in our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. . . ." (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History I, VII, c.9).

The Martyrs of Tyre in Phoenicia

But we should feel equal admiration for those of them who were martyred in their own country (Phoenicia), where immense numbers of men, women and children, despising this transient life, faced death in all its forms for the sake of our Saviour's teaching.

Some were scraped, racked, flogged mercilessly, subjected to countless other torments too terrible to describe in endless variety, and finally given to the flames.

Others cheerfully stretched out their necks to the headsman's axe; some died under torture; others were starved to death; others again were crucified, some as criminals usually are, some with still greater cruelty nailed the other way up, head down, and kept alive till they starved to death on the very cross. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I, VIII, 8)

The Martyrs of Pontus (in Asia Minor)

Things that would make the hearer shudder were done to others in Pontus. Pointed reeds were driven into the fingers of both hands under the ends of the nails; in other cases lead was melted over a fire and the boiling, seething mass poured down their backs, roasting the vital parts of the body.

Others endured in their private parts and bowels sufferings shameful, merciless and unmentionable, which the noble judges, upholders of the law, showing off their brutality as proof of their cleverness, most ingeniously devised: by constantly inventing new outrages, as if they were taking part in a prize competition, they tried their hardest to put each other in the shade.

The heightof calamity fell upon the Christians when, worn out at last by their ghastly wickedness, tired of killing, satiated and surfeited with bloodshed, they turned to what seemed to them kindness and humanity: they thought they were no longer doing us any harm. It was not in good taste, they said, to pollute the city with the blood of their own race, or to lay the highest levels of government open to the charge of cruelty, a government mild and gentle to all; rather ought the beneficence of the humane imperial authority to be extended to everybody, no one henceforth being punished with death: they had already ceased to impose this penalty on us, thanks to the emperor's humanity.

Orders were then issued that eyes should be gouged out and one leg maimed. That is what they meant by 'humanity' and 'the lightest of punishments' inflicted on us.

As a result of his 'humanity' shown by God's enemies, it is no longer possible to count the enormous number of people who first had their right eye hacked out with a sword and cauterized with fire, and the left foot rendered useless by branding-irons applied to the joints, and then were condemned to the province's copper mines, not so much to secure their services as to subject them to ill- treatment and physical hardship, to say nothing of the various other ordeals that befell them and were too numerous to list, for the "reckless deeds" committed against us went beyond all reckoning.

In these trials the splendid martyrs of Christ let their light so shine over the whole world that they everywhere astounded the eye-witnesses of their courage - and small wonder: they furnished in themselves unmistakable proof of our Saviour's truly divine and ineffable power. To mention each one by name would be a lengthy task - nay, an impossibility. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, VIII, 12)

Symphorosa and her seven sons

The construction of Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli was completed about 135 and so the martyrdom of Symphorosa must have happened then, since she was considered a propitiatory offering "according to the nefarious pagan rites" of consecration of the imperial dwelling.

The extract which speaks of her martyrdom shows an emperor Hadrian ill-disposed towards Christianity (gone are the times of peaceful advice to the proconsul Minutius Fundanus) and inclined to believe the calumnies of the pagan priests.

The emperor himself and not his functionaries, call for the woman, tries to induce her to renounce her faith and does the same to her children.

 

"The emperor Hadrian had a palace built and wished to consecrate it with nefarious pagan rites. With sacrifices, he had begun to ask the response of the idols and demons who lived there, when he received this reply: "The widow Symphorosa, with her seven sons, torments us daily with invocations to her God. Therefore if you yourself make her and her seven sons sacrifice according to our rites, we promise to give you all you ask."

Therefore Hadrian had her imprisoned with her seven sons hoping thus to encourage her to sacrifice to the gods. But Symphorosa said to him; "My husband Jetulius and his brother Amatius, while serving as tribunes in your army, endured all kinds of torture but did not sacrifice to the idols, and like valiant athletes, overcame the demons with their deaths; preferred to be beheaded than to yield, offering their death which, accepted for the name of Christ, would be deemed ignominy in the world of men bound to earthly interests but in the opinion of the angels, gave them honour and eternal glory. They are now with the angels, raised in the triumph of their passion, enjoying eternal life in heaven with the everlasting king."

The emperor replied to holy Symphorosa: " With your sons, sacrifice to the all-powerful gods, or I shall have you sacrificed with your sons."

Then holy Symphorosa added: "Where from comes to me such a grace to deserve to be offered with my children as a victim to God?"

The emperor responded: "I will make you a sacrifice to my gods."

Blessed Symphorosa answered: "Your gods cannot accept me in sacrifice. But if I shall be sacrificed in the name of Christ, I shall have the power to burn up all your demons."

The emperor went on: "Choose one of these proposals: you can sacrifice to my gods or die a tragic death."

Then Symphorosa responded: "You believe that my view can be changed by such a threat. I want nothing more than to rest in peace with my husband Jetulius whom you put to death for the name of Christ."

The emperor Hadrian had her taken to the temple of Hercules, and there beaten and hung by the hair. Seeing, however, that nothing could in any way shake her resolution, he had her thrown into the river with a stone tied round her neck.

Her brother Eugenius who held a post in the curia of Tivoli, recovered the body and had it buried on the outskirts of the city.

Next day, the emperor Hadrian had all seven sons brought into his presence at the one time. When he saw that neither promises nor threats could induce them to sacrifice to the gods, he had seven stakes driven into the ground around the temple of Hercules and, with machines had the young men fastened up. Then he killed them: Crescentius was pierced through the throat: Julianus through the chest; Nemesius in the heart; Primitivus in the navel; Justinus in the shoulder: Stracteus in the ribs; Eugenius was torn from head to foot.

The emperor Hadrian, came next day to the temple of Hercules and had their bodies taken away and thrown into a deep pit in a place the pontiffs called "of the seven executed".

After this, there was a respite in the persecution for a year and six months: during this time honourable burial was given to the bodies of the martyrs and tombs were set up to those whose names were written in the book of life.

The birthday to heaven of these holy Christian martyrs, Symphorosa and her Seven Sons is celebrated 15 days before the Kalends of August (17th July). Their bodies rest by the Via Tiburtina, about eight miles from Rome, in the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen". (from F. Cardulo, "Acta Symphorosae et sociorum, Rome, 1588).

Martyrdom of Saints Ptolemy, Lucius and another

The following extract is taken from the Second Apology of Justin which was inspired by the trial of three Christians which took place in Rome in 162 or 163 under the prefect Urbicus and written a short time later. The account is simple without elaboration or rhetorical ornament, but allows a vigorous defence of the christian faith.

Why condemn someone whose faith issues in such an austere way of life and who avoids all of nature's weaknesses ? This is the sense of the words of the martyr Lucius and the spirit of Justin, who only a few years later sealed his own faith with his blood.

There was a woman married to a man of evil life, in which she too had formerly participated. But once she had come to know the teachings of Christ she became reformed and tried in turn to persuade her husband to reform his own life, calling to his mind the doctrines of Christ and warning him of the eternal fire prepared for those who live not according to discipline and right reason. But the man persisted in his licentiousness and alienated his wife by his actions. His wife then thought it would be wrong to continue to live with a man who sought his pleasures from any source whatsoever, no matter whether it was against justice or the natural law; and so she wished to have a divorce. Her relatives, however, earnestly entreated her, advising her to remain, on the ground that her husband might one day attain the hope of amendment; and so she forced herself to stay on with him.

Her husband then departed for Alexandria, and word was brought back that he was behaving worse than before. And so his wife , not wanting to become an accomplice in his crimes and injustices by remaining in wedlock with him, sharing his bed and board, gave him what you call a repudium and left him.

Now her excellent spouse should have been happy that his wife had given up the practices she formerly used to indulge in so recklessly with servants and hirelings, taking her pleasure in drunkenness and every sort of vice, and that she had even trieed to get him to stop. Instead he filed a complaint against her on the ground that she had left him without his consent, adding that she was a Christian. She then submitted a petition to you, Emperor, asking that she be allowed first to settle her affairs and then, after she had done so, to defend herself against the charge. And you granted her petition.

Her former husband, no longer being able to sustain the same complaint, turned his attention in the following way to a certain Ptolemais (Ptolemy), the man who had been her instructor in Christian doctrine. These were his tactics: he persuaded a centurion his friend, who had sent Ptolomy to prison, to take him by surprise and ask him merely whether he was a Christian Now Ptolemy, who was a lover of truth, and not deceitful or a liar by disposition, admitted that he was a Christian, and so the centurion had him put in chains and had him punished for a long time in gaol. At length, when he was brought before Urbicus, he was again merely asked whether he was a Christian. And once again, fully aware of the benefits he enjoyed because of Christ's doctrine, he confessed to the instruction in diving virtue. Now a person who disowns something either deliberately denies the fact or else (aware that this is unworthy and alien to him) avoids any admission of it. But such conduct does not befit the true Christian.

Now when Urbicus ordered him to be executed, a man named Lucius, who was also a Christian, seeing how unreasonable the sentence was, cried out to Urbicus: "Why have sentenced to death this man who is not convicted of adultery, nor of fornication, nor of murder, nor of robbery, nor of plunder nor of any crime whatsoever, but only because he confessed himself a Christian? Your way of judging,Urbicus, does not befit the emperor Antoninus Pius; it is unworty of Caesar's son, lover of wisdom,; and finally unworthy of the holy senate.

Urbicus made no further reply, but said to Lucius: 'I think you too are a Christian.'

And because Lucius nodded heartilyThe martyr declared that it was a grace for him, for he knew he was leaving the world of the wicked for the abode of the heavenly Father. A third man, who turned up to declare himself a Christian, was also sentenced to death (from Justin, Apologia, 1,2).

Martyrdom of St. Maximus under the emperor Decius (249-251)

Maximus was a Christian from Asia Minor. He is known only from the account of his martyrdom. He freely proclaimed himself a Christian, with an attitude that the Church would not entirely approve, but he was courageous and passed the test.

"The Emperor Decius, wishing to break and suppress the law of the Christians, issued his edicts throughout the world. In these he ordered Christians to abandon the true and living God and to sacrifice to demons; those who would not obey would undergo punishment.

In those days, Maximus, a man holy and faithful to the Lord, spontaneously declared himself a Christian. He was a commoner and earned his living as a merchant. Arrested, he was taken before the proconsul Optimus in Asia.

The proconsul asked him: "What is your name?"

He answered: "I am called Maximus."

The proconsul continued: "What is your status?"

Maximus replied: "I am freeborn, but the servant of Christ."

The proconsul went on:" How do you earn a living?"

Maximus answered: " I am plebeian and live by my trade."

The proconsul asked: "Are you a Christian?"

Maximus replied: "Although a sinner, I am a Christian."

The proconsul said: "Do you not know the decrees of our most noble sovereigns, promulgated very recently?"

Maximus asked: "What decrees?"

The consul explained: "Those which order that all Christians abandon their vain superstitions, recognize the true sovereign to whom everything is subjected, and adore his gods".

Maximus replied, "I have come to know the iniquitous edicts which have come from the ruler of this world and because of them publicly declare myself a Christian."

The proconsul ordered:" Then sacrifice to the gods!"

Maximus replied:" I will sacrifice only to One God to whom I have been pledged since my youth."

The proconsul insisted: "Sacrifice to save yourself. If you refuse, I will make you faint under every kind of torture."

Maximus responded:"This is the very thing I have always desired: for this, in fact I have declared myself a Christian, finally to obtain eternal life, a welcome change from this miserable existence in time."

Then the proconsul had him beaten with rods, and during this beating, he kept saying to him: "Sacrifice, Maximus, that you may be released from this torment."

Maximus responded: "These are not torments, but anointings which are inflicted to me for love of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If in fact I went away from the precepts of my Lord, in which I have been instructed by his Gospel, then the perpetual torments of eternity would wait for me."

The proconsul then had him put on the rack and, while he was being tortured, repeatedly said to him:" Repent from your craziness, miserable one, and sacrifice to save your life!"

Maximus replied:" Only if I do not sacrifice, will I save my life. If I were to sacrifice, I would certainly lose it. No rods, nor hooks, nor fire can bring me grief, since there lives in me God's grace. This will save me eternally with the prayers of all the saints who, struggling in this sort of strife, have overcome your folly and have given us noble examples of valour."

After these proud words, the proconsul pronounced sentence against him, saying: " The divine mercy has given ordinances that to strike terror into other Christians, should be stoned to death whoever does not willingly assent to the sacred laws which impsed him to sacrifice to the great goddess Diana."

Thus the athlete of Christ was dragged outside by the ministers of the devil, while he gave thanks to God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son, who deemed him worthy to overcome the devil in his struggles.

He was led out of the city, struck with stones and yielded up his spirit.

The servant of God, Maximus, underwent martyrdom in the province of Asia two days before the ides of May, during the rule of Decius and the proconsul Optimus, reigning with our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is given glory through ages without end. Amen."

(from the "Passion" of the martyr, in BHL "Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina", II, p. 852.)

The acts of the Scillitan Martyrs (from Numidia in N. Africa)

The trial of the Christians of Scillium took place in the summer of 180 A.D. It was a few months after Commodus became emperor and he decided to follow up the persecution let loose under his predecessor Marcus Aurelius. The Christian faith had probably spread over a period of fifty years in proconsular Africa and had even reached the small centres of population: Scillium was little more than a hamlet in Numidia.

The latin text given here in translation was probably contemporary with the events. Perhaps it is a verbatim account of the trial, and only the last part was later added by a christian transcriber. It is the first document giving the witness in blood shed by the Christians of Africa for the Church and it is the most ancient known document in the Latin Christian literature.

On July 17th under the consulship of Praesens, for the second time, and of Claudian, - Speratus, Nartzalus and Cittinus, Donata, Secunda and Vestia appeared in the private audience chamber at Carthage.

The proconsul Saturninus said: "You can obtain grace from our master the emperor if you return to a reasonable frame of mind." Speratus answered, "We have never done anything evil nor lent ourselves to any iniquity: we have never said any evil of anybody, rather we have always rendered good for evil, and because of this we obey our emperor".

The proconsul Saturninus said. - "We also are religious and our religion is simple. We swear by the genius of our master the emperor, and we pray for his safety. You should do the same."

Speratus. -" If you truly wish to lend me an attentive ear, I will explain to you the mystery of the true simplicity."

Saturninus. -"I will not lend my ear to your impertinences against my religion. Swear rather by the genius of our master the emperor."

Speratus. - "I do not acknowledge the kingdom of this present age, but I only serve with greater fidelity my God Whom no man has seen and Whom mortal eyes cannot see. I have not committed theft. If I labour at any trade, I pay the taxes, because I know our Lord the King of Kings and of all peoples."

The proconsul Saturninus addressing himself to the other accused persons. -"Give up this vain belief."

Speratus. - "It is a bad policy to threaten to kill if one does not perjure himself".

The proconsul Saturninus. - "Cease to be the accomplices of this folly."

Cittinus. -"We have to fear only our God who is in heaven."

Donata. -"We render to Caesar the honour due to Caesar, but we fear God only."

Vestia. - "I am a Christian".

Secunda. - "I am a Christian and wish to remain so."

Saturninus to Speratus. -"Do you remain a Christian?"

Speratus. - "I am a Christian."

All the accused associated themselves with him.

Saturninus. -"Do you wish for a delay to reflect?

Speratus.- " In so just a cause we have already made up our minds."

Saturninus: - "What do you keep in your box?"

Speratus. - The books of the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul, a holy man."

Saturninus. - You have thirty days' delay to reflect".

Speratus said again. -"I am a Christian.

All the accused associated themselves with him.

Saturninus the proconsul read the decree on the tablet:

"Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Donata, Vestia, Secunda and others have declared that they live in the manner of the Christians; and to the proposal made them to return to the Roman traditions, have persisted in their obstinacy: we condemn them to die by the sword."

Speratus.- "Let us thank God."

Nartzalus. - This very day as martyrs we shall be in heaven. Thanks be to God."

The proconsul Saturninus ordered the herald to read the sentence:

"I order that: Speratus, Nartzalus, Cittinus, Veturius, Felix, Aquilinus, Laetantius, Januaria, Generosa, Vestia, Donata and Secunda have been sentenced to death."

They all said, "Thanks be to God."

Thus all at the same time were crowned with martyrdom for the name of Christ.

(From the "Atti dei Martiri Scillitani"; first published by C. Baronius in his "Annales Ecclesiastici", 1588-1607).

The martyrdom of the Christians of Alexandria during the persecution of Decius (249-251)

In this letter to Bishop Fabius of Antioch, Dionysius gives this account of the ordeals of those who were martyred at Alexandria under Decius. (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, I.VI, c. 40.1-42.6)

It was not the imperial edict that set the persecution in motion against us: rather the persecution was delayed for a whole year, until there arrived in this city a fortune-teller and a plotter of frauds, whoever he was, who stirred up and incited the hidden masses against us, fanning the flames of their congenital superstition. Excited by this fellow and urged by an unbridled licentiousness to commit every kind of empiety. They considered that the only act of devotion and cult to their deities was to murder us.

First they seized an old man named Metras, and ordered him to utter blasphemous words; when he refused, they beat him with cudgels, drove pointed reeds into his face and eyes, took him to the suburbs, and stoned him to death.

Next they took a female convert named Quinta to the idol's temple and tried to make her worship. When she turned her back in disgust they tied her feet and dragged her right through the city over the rough paved road, bumping her on the great stones, till they arrived at the same place where they stoned her to death.

Then they all rushed to the houses of the Christians, charged in by groups on those they knew as neighbours, raided, plundered and looted. The more valuable of their possessions they purloined; the cheaper wooden things they threw about, or they made a bonfire of them in the streets.

This made the city look as if it had been captured by enemies. The Christians retired and gradually withdrew; like those to whom St. Paul paid tribute. They took with cheerfulness the plundering of their belongings (Heb. 10:34 Dionysius evidently accepted the Pauline authorship of Hebrews).

I do not know of anyone, except possibly one man who fell into their clutches, who denied the Lord.

Next they seized the wonderful old lady Apollonia, battered her till they knocked out all her teeth, built a pyre in front of the city, and threatened to burn her alive unless she repeated after them their heathen incantations. She asked for a breathing-space, and when they released her, jumped without hesitation into the fire and was burnt to death.

Serapion they arrested in his own house. They racked him with horrible tortures and broke all his limbs, then threw him down head first from the upper floor.

No road, no highway, no alley was open to us, either by night or by day; always and everywhere, everybody was shouting that anyone who did not join in their blasphemous chants was at once dragged away and burnt.

For a long time the terror remained intense, but the wretched men were suddenly plunged into faction and civil war, which turned the savagery of which we had been the victims against its authors. For a little while we breathed again, as they were too busy to vent their rage on us, but very soon the change from the reign that had been kinder to us became generally known, and the threat to our safety filled us with horrible foreboding.

And the edict indeed arrived, and it was almost the most terrible of all those foretold by our Lord and such as to shock, if possible, also the elect. It is certain that all were upset.Of the most public figures some accepted the orders of the edict through fear, others who were in state employment were induced by professional reasons, others were dragged forward by their relatives.

Summoned by name, some approached white-faced and trembling the unclean, unholy sacrifices, as if they were not going to sacrifice but to be sacrificed themselves as victims to the idols, so that the large crowd of spectators heaped scorn upon them because it was obvious that they were utter cowards, afraid to die and afraid to sacrifice.

Others ran more boldly towards the altars, pertly declaring they were not Christians and that they had not been Christians even in the past. For them it will come true the Lord's prediction they unlikely will be saved.

Of the rest, some followed each of these groups, others tried to get away; some were caught, and of these some withstood prison and chains,(in some cases remaining confined for weeks), and then, even before coming into court, renounced their faith, while others held out for a time under torture but in the end gave up.

Instead other Christians, solid and sturdy pillars of the Lord, strengthened by his grace, drew power and endurance from the faith which inspired them, and became wonderful witnesses of His kingdom.

(from Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History, VI, 40.1-42.6).

Peace & Prayers

-- Xavier (xavier_david24@yahoo.com), July 01, 2002.

Over 105 kilobytes copied here by one person, instead of made available by URLs or links? This is an abuse of the forum owner's limited disk space reserves.

Please revise and re-post thread in a sensible fashion (summarize, use URLs, links). Then, Xavier, ask moderator to delete this one.

-- (Just@My.TwoKopeks), July 01, 2002.