The Flight of Dionysius

As for what befell Dionysius, I will quote it from his letter to Germanus. There, speaking about himself, he tells it this way: “I speak before God, and he knows whether I lie. I did not take flight on my own decision, nor without God. Even earlier, when the persecution under Decius was proclaimed, [a] Sabinus sent a frumentarius that very hour to search for me. I stayed in the house four days, expecting the frumentarius to arrive. [b] But he went around searching everywhere, the roads, the rivers, the fields, wherever he suspected I was hiding or traveling. He was struck with blindness and did not find the house, for he did not believe that I would stay at home while I was being hunted. At last, after the fourth day, God told me to move and made a way for me beyond all expectation, and I, my attendants and many of the brothers went out together. That this was the work of God’s providence what followed made plain, in which perhaps we have been of use to some.” [d]

Then, after saying some things in between, he tells what happened to him after the flight, adding this: “About sunset I and those with me fell into the hands of the soldiers and I was taken to Taposiris. But by God’s providence Timothy happened not to be there and was not caught. Coming later, he found the house deserted, with officers guarding it, and found that we had been carried off as captives.” [f]

And after other things he says: “And what was the manner of God’s marvelous arrangement? For the truth will be told. One of the country people met Timothy as he was fleeing in distress and asked the reason for his haste. He told him the truth, and the man heard it. He was on his way to a wedding feast, for it is their custom to stay up all night at such gatherings, and he went in and told the guests at the table. They all rose up with one impulse, as if at a signal, and came running as fast as they could. They burst in upon us with a shout. At once the soldiers guarding us fled, and the men stood over us as we lay on the bare cots. God knows that at first I took them for robbers come to strip and plunder us. I stayed on my bed, stripped down to my linen garment, and held out to them the rest of my clothing, which was lying beside me. But they told me to get up and leave as fast as I could. Then I understood why they were there, and I cried out, begging and pleading with them to go away and leave us alone. If they wanted to do me a kindness, I asked them to get ahead of the ones carrying me off and cut off my head themselves. While I was shouting like this, as my companions, who shared in everything, know, they made me get up by force. I let myself fall flat on my back on the ground, but they took me by the hands and feet and dragged me out. The witnesses of all this followed me: Gaius, Faustus, Peter and Paul. [j] They took me up and carried me bodily out of the little town, set me on a donkey without a saddle, and led me away.” [k]

This is what Dionysius says about himself.