Phileas Writes from Prison

Since we have said that Phileas was highly regarded for his learning in secular studies, let him come forward as his own witness. In the following passage he will show us what kind of man he was, and at the same time he will relate, more exactly than we could, the martyrdoms that took place at Alexandria in his time: [a]

“With all these examples and models and noble signs set before us in the divine and holy Scriptures, the blessed martyrs who were with us did not hesitate. They fixed the eye of the soul purely on the God over all, took to heart a death for godliness’ sake, and held fast to their calling. For they had found that our Lord Jesus Christ became man for our sake, to cut away all sin and to lay up for us provisions for entering eternal life. For ‘he did not consider being equal with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave; and being found in appearance as a human being, he brought himself low as far as death, and death of a cross.’ [b] That is why the Christ-bearing martyrs, zealous for the greater gifts, endured every pain and every kind of torment that could be devised, some of them not once only but a second time. And though the guards vied with one another in threatening them in every way, not in words only but in deeds, they did not give up their resolve, because ‘perfect love throws fear out.’ [c]

“What words could suffice to tell their courage and their bravery under each torture? Since anyone who wished was free to abuse them, some beat them with clubs, others with rods, others with whips, others again with leather straps, and others with ropes. The spectacle of the outrages was varied and full of malice. Some, with their hands tied behind them, were hung up on a wooden frame and every limb stretched by machines; then, on orders, the torturers applied their instruments over the whole body, punishing not only the sides, as is done with murderers, but the belly, the shins and the cheeks too. Others were hung by one hand from the colonnade, suffering from the strain on their joints and limbs a pain worse than any other. Others were tied to pillars face to face, their feet not resting on the ground, so that the weight of the body dragged on the bonds and drew them tight. [d] And they endured this not just while the governor was talking with them or had leisure for them, but almost the whole day. For when he passed on to others, he left officers under his authority to watch the first, in case any of them should seem to give way, overcome by the tortures. He ordered them to be unsparing with the bonds as well, and afterward, when the prisoners were at their last gasp, to lay them on the ground and drag them away. [e] For they were to have not the slightest concern for us, but to think and act as though we no longer existed. This was a second torture our enemies had invented in addition to the blows.

“Some, after these outrages, lay in the stocks with both feet stretched out through the four holes, so that they were forced to lie on their backs in the stocks, unable to do otherwise because of the fresh wounds from the blows all over their bodies. Others lay where they had been thrown on the ground under the massed assault of the tortures, offering the onlookers a sight more terrible even than the torturing itself, as they bore on their bodies the varied and different marks of the tortures devised for them. [f] As things stood thus, some died under the tortures, shaming the adversary by their endurance. Others, half dead, were shut up in prison and, overwhelmed by their agonies, died within a few days. The rest, recovering under the care they received, grew bolder with time and with their long stay in prison. So when the order was given and the choice was set before them, either to touch the polluted sacrifice and be left in peace, receiving from them that accursed freedom, or to refuse to sacrifice and accept the sentence of death, they did not hesitate but went gladly to their deaths. For they knew what the holy Scriptures had laid down for us beforehand. For it says, ‘Whoever sacrifices to other gods will be utterly destroyed,’ and ‘You are to have no other gods besides me.’” [g]

Such are the words of this truly philosophic and God-loving martyr. He sent them to the brothers and sisters of his own church before the final sentence, while he was still a prisoner, at once setting out his own circumstances and urging them to hold fast to godliness in Christ even after his own death, which was now so near. But why should we say more, and set out fresh contests upon fresh contests of the godly martyrs throughout the world, especially when they were no longer dealt with by the common law but besieged as in a war?