Глава XI. О Памфиле и других двенадцати мучениках

Now is the time to announce the great and glorious spectacle of the martyrdom of Pamphilus (a coveted name for me) and those around him. There were twelve of them in all; they are honored by the number of some kind of prophetic, or even apostolic. Chief among them, adorned with the rank of Caesarea presbytery, was only one Pamphilus, a man who throughout his entire life was famous for all kinds of virtues - the elimination and contempt of worldly things, the distribution of property to the poor, the neglect of worldly hopes, the life and deeds characteristic of philosophy. Especially and more than all our contemporaries, he became famous for his sincere zeal for the word of God, his unrelenting desire to fulfill his intentions and his readiness to serve everyone who came to him and drew close to him. Information about the other excellent fruits of his virtue, since the story about them would be long, we passed on to posterity even earlier, in a special description of his life, consisting of three books. So, for those who want to know this, referring to those books, we will continue our story about the martyrs. The second in the Pamphyla to enter the field of heroism was the deacon of the Elyan church, Valens, a man adorned with venerable gray hair, an old man who aroused respect for himself at first sight. He had more knowledge of the divine Scriptures than any other man, and had them so firmly imprinted in his memory that he did not need to read a book to remember any of the Scriptures. The third among them was Paul, originally from the city of Yamna, a man with ardent activity and a fiery spirit, even before martyrdom he endured suffering from cauterizers and accomplished the feat of confession. Having been in prison continuously for two years, they all suffered martyrdom on the occasion of the arrival of the Egyptian brethren, who died with him. Having escorted the confessors to Cilicia to the very mines there, these Egyptians returned home. The guards (who happened to be people of a cruel disposition), at the very entrance to Caesarea, also asked them who they were and where they were coming from - and the travelers, who did not hide the truth at all, were tied up, like villains caught in the act of a crime. There were five of them. Having been brought before the tyrant and boldly expressing their confession, they were immediately imprisoned; and on the sixteenth of the month of Pericium, or in Roman, fourteen days before the Kalends of March, an order was received to bring both these and the above-mentioned prisoners with Pamphilus to the judge. The judge first rebelled against the insurmountable firmness of the Egyptians and tortured them with various kinds of torture, inventing all sorts of unusual instruments of execution; then the attention of the one who was called first, occupied by the spectacle of torment, asked him in advance: who is he? and, instead of a proper name, having heard some prophetic (and they had in the custom the names given to themselves by their fathers; sometimes common with idolatrous ones, replace them with others and write them, for example, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Samuel, or Daniel, and thus becoming “in secret Judas” (Rom. 2:29), to reveal in themselves the true and real Israel of God not only by their deeds, but also by their own names), - having heard such a name from the martyr, and not understanding its meaning, Firmilian again asked: where is his fatherland? Agreeing another answer with the first, the martyr said that his fatherland, Jerusalem, meant the one about which Paul speaks: “But the Jerusalem that is on high is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26) also: “Come near Mount Zion and steal the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). He understood this Jerusalem; On the contrary, the judge, chaining his thoughts to the earthly and earthly, began to inquire in detail what kind of Jerusalem it was, in which land of the earth he lay, and in order to find out the truth, he used torture. While the martyr’s hands were pulled behind his back and his legs were broken with some extraordinary weapon, he claimed that he was telling the truth. When they asked him again many times what and where the city he named lay, he answered that this city is the fatherland of only worshipers of God; for only they, and no one else, are among its citizens: it lies towards the very east, where the sun rises. The martyr, again, was wise in accordance with his own concept, not paying any attention to the tormentors who surrounded him with instruments of torture. As if ethereal and disembodied, he did not seem to feel any pain. On the contrary, the judge was tormented by bewilderment, wondering whether the Christians had built themselves a city somewhere hostile and hostile to the Romans, and therefore he asked for a long time about it and tried to determine the country indicated to him in the east. But since, despite neither the many scourges with which they tore the young man’s flesh, nor the difference in the most painful tortures, he saw him unchanged and firm in his previous testimony; then he pronounced a decision to cut off his head. With such a drama the work of this martyr was ended! The judge prescribed the same type of death for the others, surrounding them with similar former spectacles of torment. Finally, tired and seeing that all executions were in vain for these men, he decided to sate his passion and moved on to the martyrs who made up the company of Pamphilus. He was reminded that these prisoners had already been tortured before, but showed their constant readiness to suffer for the faith. Therefore he asked: are they now disposed to obey? - and having heard from each of them one final answer, common to all the martyrs, he sentenced them to the same execution as the previous ones. As soon as this matter was over, one youth, who belonged to the domestic servant of Pamphilus and who received from him a true upbringing and education, having learned about the sentence pronounced on his master, suddenly shouted from the crowd of people and asked permission to bury the dead bodies in the earth. The judge was not a man, but a beast, or something crueler than the beast itself: he did not want to show any leniency even to children, and when he asked and heard that the boy professed himself a Christian, that hour, as if wounded by an arrow, he boiled with anger and ordered the executioners to torture him with all their might. Having also seen that the martyr rejected the command to sacrifice to idols, he ordered his body to be relentlessly tormented, no longer as human flesh, but as wood, stone or other soulless substance - to be tormented to the very bones and innermost entrails. But no matter how long-lasting such torment was, he became convinced of the futility of his labors: the body of the martyr, crushed by torture, remained silent, insensitive, even seemingly completely soulless. Despite this, however, the cruelty and inhumanity of the judge did not weaken; he gave the order to immediately burn the youth with slow fire. Thus, brought out for the feat after everyone else, he had to renounce the body before the death of his master according to the flesh; because the people who were the first to do so were slow in completing their work. And so we saw Porfiry, who had won the crown of sacred Victory. Having endured such torment, he went to his death boldly and with a cheerful spirit. His body was sprinkled with ashes, but his face shone with joy. The martyr was truly filled with the Holy Spirit and, covered with his only clothing, which looked like a cloak, he had the appearance of a philosopher. With a strong mind, he did whatever assignments he wanted, gave signs to his neighbors, and even on the stage he kept a cheerful face. Since the fire was lit around from the outside at a distance from it, he drew the flame from there with his lips, courageously remained silent until his last breath, and only at the moment the fire touched himself, he uttered one word, one prayer for help to the Son of God Jesus. Such was the feat of Porfiry. The news of his death was brought to Pamphilus by Seleucus, a certain confessor from among the soldiers, and as the bearer of such important news, he was immediately awarded the same lot with them; for as soon as he began to talk about the death of Porfiry and kissed one of the martyrs, some soldiers immediately grabbed him and brought him to the prefect, and the prefect, as if hastening to prepare him as a companion for the first to move to heaven, ordered to immediately cut off his head. Seleucus was from the land of Cappadocia, but in the army he belonged to the selected youth and received quite a lot of honor in the Roman service; for in health and physical strength, in height and strength he far surpassed his comrades; so that, at the first glance at him, everyone began to talk about him, everyone admired the height of his height and the slenderness of his body. Having endured the blows of the scourge even when the persecution had just begun, he had already become famous in the field of confession and, having left military service, decided to compete with the ascetics of piety, he became, like a father and guardian, a kind of overseer and guardian of orphans, and helpless widows, people cast into poverty and infirmity, and therefore from God, who accepts this much more pleasantly than incense and sacrificial blood, rightly honored with a wondrous calling to martyrdom. After the mentioned ascetics, Seleucus, on the same day, died tenth - of course, so that Pamphilus, in accordance with the dignity of this man, would open the doors of martyrdom wider, and so that it would be easy for both him and others to enter the kingdom of heaven. Thus, following the footsteps of Seleucus, Theodulus, a venerable and God-fearing old man, who belonged to the family of the prefect and was respected by Firmilian, more than all his household, appeared before the judge, partly because of his old age, partly because he was already the ancestor of three generations, and partly because of his goodwill and faithful devotion to his house. Since the guilt of Theodulus was similar to the guilt of Seleucus; then, following the latter, brought to the master and irritating him more than the previous ones, he was crucified on the cross and accepted the same martyrdom as the Savior. Now another one was missing to complete the number of the above-mentioned twelve martyrs, and Julian appeared as his complement. Having just returned from the road and not yet entering the city, he learned (about the execution of the martyrs) and immediately, in what he was wearing, ran to the spectacle of the torment. Seeing that the bodies of the saints were lying on the ground, Julian was filled with joy and began to hug and kiss each of them. Meanwhile, the servants of murder seized him over this matter and brought him to Firmilian, who, following his rules, ordered him to be thrown into a great fire. After this, jumping with joy and delight, Julian loudly offered thanks to the Lord, who had honored him with such a gift, and adorned himself with the crown of martyrs. By carnal birth he also came from Cappadocia, and by disposition he was very pious, very faithful and sincere in all matters, he was zealous and breathed the Holy Spirit himself. Such a gathering of men came together, worthy to accept martyrdom together with Pamphilus! Their sacred and truly holy bodies, by order of the godless prefect, were assigned as food to carnivorous animals and vomited for four days and nights. But since, beyond all hope, neither beast, nor bird, nor dog touched them; then, according to God's providence, being found unharmed, they were properly prepared and given the usual burial. When the confusion on the occasion of these martyrdoms was still the subject of general conversation, Hadrian and Eubulus, residents of the so-called Manganese country, came to Caesarea to visit other confessors, and at its gates they were met with the same question about the reason for their coming. Having confessed the truth, they were brought to Firmilian, who, without at all changing the rules once adopted, ordered the sides of the martyrs to be repeatedly tortured and then condemned them to be devoured by wild beasts. Thus Adrian was thrown to the lion and died, beheaded by the sword. From the time the verdict was signed, this happened two days later, precisely on the fifth day of the month of Distra, three days before the March Nonnes, on the day of celebration of the genius of Caesar. And Eubulus after that listened to the judge’s more annoying persuasion - to make a sacrifice and receive what they call freedom; but preferring to temporary life a glorious death for piety, he endured the struggle with beasts and then, becoming the same victim as the first, imprinted with himself the exploits of the Caesarea martyrs. His death occurred on the third day after Adrianova, on the very March nonnes, otherwise on the seventh of the distr. It would be worth mentioning here that heavenly providence soon befell these rulers, along with the tyrants: for Firmilian himself, who was so furious against the Christian martyrs, was sentenced with others to death and ended his life by the sword. Such were the martyrdoms in Caesarea throughout the persecution. You might be interested in: