Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, Three Brothers

285

It is stated that in the second year of Emperor Diocletian's reign, the year 285, three devout Christians, brothers in spirit as well as by birth, named Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, were accused to the judge of the city of Aegaea, in Cilicia, of being Christians by their stepmother, who, it seems, was a heathen woman.

Two God fearing Christian women, named Donuina and Theonilla, were also accused with them. They were all held in prison until the arrival of Lysias, the Proconsul, who, on his tour through the provinces of Cilicia, also came to Aegaea, and there held criminal court against the Christians.

How Claudius was examined first. Claudius was brought before his judgment seat first, and Lysias asked him his name, and urged him not to throw away the bloom of his youth so rashly, but to sacrifice to the gods, and so obey the command of the Emperor, that he might escape the penalty waiting for him.

Claudius answered: "Our God does not need these sacrifices; He takes more pleasure in works of love and mercy toward our fellow men, and in holiness of life; but your gods are unclean evil spirits, and delight in such sacrifices, by which they bring eternal punishment on those who offer them. You will therefore never be able to persuade me to honor them."

Lysias said: "Bind him, and scourge him with rods; for there is no other way to tame his folly."

Claudius said: "By these harsh tortures you will not harm me, but you will bring eternal punishment down on yourself."

Lysias said: "Our lords, the Emperors, have commanded that the Christians shall sacrifice to the gods. It is their will that the disobedient be punished, while to those who obey their commandment they promise honor and office."

Claudius replied: "These gifts and benefits last only a short time, but the confession of Christ gives eternal glory."

Lysias commanded that they should hang him on the torture stake, put fire under his feet, and cut pieces from his heels.

Claudius said: "Those who fear God with all their hearts cannot be overcome either by fire or by other torments; for they know that even these things serve them toward eternal life."

Lysias commanded: "Let him be tormented with pincers, scraped or cut with potsherds, and burned with torches."

Claudius said: "I say all the same that you do all this for Satan, and that it works to my welfare, but tends to your eternal ruin. Indeed, your fire and all these torments advance my salvation. Such is our condition, that those who suffer this way for the name of Christ obtain eternal life."

Lysias then commanded: "Leave off from him; take him back to prison, and bring out another."

Asterius examined. When Asterius, the second brother, stood before the Proconsul, Lysias said: "Obey me, Asterius! Sacrifice to the gods, and so escape punishment."

Asterius answered: "I will not do it; for I worship the only true God, who created heaven and earth, and who will come to judge the living and the dead.

Lysias said: "Throw him on the rack, tear his flesh from his sides with pincers, and say to him

'Believe now at least, and sacrifice to the gods. "' Asterius replied: " I am a brother of the man who was tormented just now, and we hold the same confession of faith in Christ. Do what you can; my body is in your power, but not my soul."

Lysias commanded: "Bind him hand and foot, stretch him out, and torture him; take the pincers, throw hot coals under his feet, scourge him with rods and thongs."

Asterius said to the Proconsul: "You act foolishly, since you are preparing much harsher torments, not for me, but for yourself. Do your best, for all I care. I can bear it, even if not one part of my body is left untormented."

Lysias said: "Loose him, and keep him in custody with the other; and let the third one be brought out." This was done.

Neon examined. When Neon stood before the judgment seat, Lysias said to him: "Son, listen to me, and sacrifice to the gods, so that you need not suffer all this."

Neon said: "There are no gods, and they have no power. You worship idols, but I honor the God of heaven."

Lysias said: "Take him by the throat and let the crier announce to him that he must stop blaspheming the gods."

Neon answered: "He who speaks does not blaspheme the truth."

Lysias commanded: "Stretch him out on the rack; put coals under him; beat and cut him."

Neon said: "I know what I need. Whatever, then, is profitable to my soul, that I will do; but I cannot be moved from my faith."

Lysias went inside to the other members of the tribunal, and having drawn the cover over the court, he settled with them on the sentence of death for the three brothers. When he came out, he read their sentence from a tablet, and it ran as follows: "Claudius, Asterius, and Neon, brothers, who are Christians, who blaspheme the gods, and refuse to sacrifice, shall be crucified before the forum, and their bodies given to the birds of heaven as food, to be devoured by them; and this shall be carried out by Eulalius, the jailer, and Archelaus, the executioner."

However, before they were led out to death, they were taken back to prison. Then Eulalius, the jailer, brought out Donuina, one of the imprisoned women, and Lysias, the Proconsul, said to her: "See, woman, this fire and these torments are ready for you. If you want to escape them unhurt, sacrifice before the gods."

Donuina replied: "I will not do it, or else I would fall into the everlasting pains of hell. I serve God and His anointed Christ, who created heaven and earth, and all that is in them. Your gods are of wood and stone, and are made by human hands."

Donuina examined on the rack. Lysias said: "Strip her stark naked, stretch her out, and tear all her limbs with rods." While they were beating her she died. Then Archelaus, the executioner, said to the Proconsul: "Your highness, Donuina has died." Lysias commanded: "Let her dead body be thrown into the river."

Eulalius, the jailer, then said: "Here is Theonilla." Lysias said to her: "Woman, you have seen what punishment those who were disobedient have suffered, and how they have been tormented. Honor the gods, therefore, and sacrifice, so that you may be delivered from these punishments."

Theonilla answered: "I fear Him who has power to cast both soul and body into the fire of hell, and who will burn in it all those who depart from God and give honor to Satan."

Lysias said: "Strike her on the cheeks, throw her down, bind her feet, and torment her severely."

Theonilla answered: "Does it seem right and proper to you to mistreat a well born woman like this? You know that you cannot hide from God what you are doing to me."

Lysias commanded: "Hang her up by the braids of her hair, and strike her on the cheeks."

Theonilla severely examined on the rack. After she had been stripped naked, Theonilla said: "Are you not ashamed to uncover my nakedness, seeing that through me you put to the same shame your mother and your wife, who are also women?"

Lysias asked whether she had a husband, or whether she was a widow.

Theonilla replied: "I have been a widow now for more than twenty three years, and have stayed single, in order to serve God more zealously with fasting, watching and praying; this God I did not know until after I had renounced the world and the idols.

To disgrace her the more, Lysias commanded them to shave the hair from her head, put bundles of thorns around her body, and stretch her out between four stakes, then to beat her over her whole body, and put hot coals on her, so that she would be consumed. When Eulalius, the jailer, and Archelaus, the executioner, had done all this, death followed, and they said to Lysias: "Sir, she is dead now." Lysias commanded that her dead body be sewed up in a leather bag and thrown into the water; and this was done. So these holy martyrs suffered, under Lysias, the Proconsul of Cilicia, in Aegaea, on the 23rd of August, in the second year of Diocletian, when he was Burgomaster with Aristobulus, in the year 285. These acts have for the most part been taken from the records of the clerk of the criminal court of the city of Aegaea, and were gathered by the ancient Christians. These court documents were called Acta Proconsularia. Compare this with A. Mell., first book, folio 92, columns 3 and 4, and folio 93, column 1. [n223-1]