Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Those who suffered Martyrdom at this Time.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter
VI.—Those who suffered Martyrdom at
this Time.
1. Not
long afterward, however, this military commander became his own
murderer and paid the penalty for his wickedness. But we were obliged
again to endure exile and severe persecutions, and the governors in
every province were once more terribly stirred up against us; so that
even some of those illustrious in the Divine Word were seized and had
sentence of death pronounced upon them without mercy. Three of them in
the city of Emesa2734
| 2734 Emesa was an important city in Northern Phœnicia, the
birthplace of the Emperor Elagabalus, and chiefly famous for its great
temple of the Sun. | in
Phœnicia, having confessed that they were Christians, were thrown
as food to the wild beasts. Among them was a bishop Silvanus,2735
| 2735 On Silvanus, bishop of Emesa, see above, Bk. VIII. chap. 13, note
4. | a very old man, who had filled his
office full forty years.
2. At about the same time
Peter2736
| 2736 On Peter, bishop of Alexandria, see above, Bk. VII. chap. 32, note
54. According to that chapter he suffered in the ninth year of the
persecution; that is, at least as early as April, 312. | also, who presided most illustriously
over the parishes in Alexandria, a divine example of a bishop on
account of the excellence of his life and his study of the sacred
Scriptures, being seized for no cause and quite unexpectedly, was, as
if by command of Maximinus, immediately and without explanation,
beheaded. With him also many other bishops of Egypt suffered the same
fate.
3. And Lucian,2737
| 2737 The presbyter Lucian, who is mentioned also in Bk. VIII. chap. 13,
above, was one of the greatest scholars of the early Church, and with
Dorotheus (see above, Bk. VII. chap. 32, note 9) at the head of the
famous theological school at Antioch. He produced a revised version of
the LXX, which enjoyed a wide circulation (see Jerome’s de
vir. ill. 77, and Westcott’s Hist. of the N. T. Canon,
p. 392 sq.); and also wrote some books on Faith (see Jerome,
ibid.), some epistles (see ibid., and Suidas,
s.v.), and a commentary on Job, of which a Latin fragment has
been preserved and is given by Routh, Rel. Sacræ, IV. p.
7–10. His works have perished, with the exception of a brief
fragment of an epistle, the fragment from his commentary on Job just
referred to, and a part of his defense before Maximinus (referred to in
the present chapter) which is preserved by Rufinus, H. E. IX. 6,
and is probably genuine (cf. Westcott, ibid. p. 393). These
extant fragments are given, with annotations, by Routh, ibid. p.
5 sq. Lucian’s chief historical significance lies in his relation
to Arianism. On this subject, see above, p. 11 sq. | a presbyter of the parish at Antioch,
and a most excellent man in every respect, temperate in life and famed
for his learning in sacred things, was brought to the city of
Nicomedia, where at that time the emperor happened to be staying, and
after delivering before the ruler an apology for the doctrine which he
professed, was committed to prison and put to death.
4. Such trials were brought upon
us in a brief time by Maximinus, the enemy of virtue, so that this
persecution which was stirred up against us seemed far more cruel than
the former.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
