Martyred Bishops, Changing Emperors

Of the rulers of the Church who were martyred in the great cities, let the first to be proclaimed on the monuments of the godly, as a martyr of Christ’s kingdom, be the bishop of the city of Nicomedia, Anthimus, who was beheaded. [a] Among the martyrs of Antioch was Lucian, a presbyter of the church there, a man of excellent life from first to last. He too, at Nicomedia, in the emperor’s presence, proclaimed the heavenly kingdom of Christ, first in word by a defense and then by deeds as well. [b] Of the martyrs of Phoenicia the most distinguished would be those shepherds of Christ’s rational flock, dear to God in all things: Tyrannion, bishop of the church at Tyre; Zenobius, a presbyter of the church at Sidon; and Silvanus, bishop of the churches around Emesa. [c] Silvanus, with others, became food for wild beasts at Emesa itself and was taken up into the choirs of the martyrs. The other two glorified the word of God at Antioch by their endurance to the death: the bishop was given to the depths of the sea, and Zenobius, the finest of physicians, died bravely under the tortures applied to his sides.

Of the martyrs of Palestine, Silvanus, bishop of the churches around Gaza, was beheaded at the copper mines at Phaeno with thirty-nine others; and there too the Egyptian bishops Peleus and Nilus, with others, suffered death by fire. [e] Among these let us also remember the great glory of the church of Caesarea, Pamphilus the presbyter, the most wonderful man of our time. [f] The virtue of his brave deeds we will record at the proper time. Of those who were made perfect with distinction at Alexandria and throughout Egypt and the Thebaid, let Peter, bishop of Alexandria itself, a divine marvel among the teachers of godliness in Christ, be recorded first; and with him the presbyters Faustus, Dius and Ammonius, perfect martyrs of Christ; and Phileas, Hesychius, Pachymius and Theodorus, bishops of the churches of Egypt; and besides them countless other notable people who are remembered by the churches of their own country and region. [g]

To write down the contests of those who struggled for godliness toward the divine throughout the whole world, and to tell exactly everything that happened to each of them, is not our task; it would belong to those who saw the events with their own eyes. The events at which I myself was present I will make known to those who come after us in another work. In the present book, however, I will add to what has been said the recantation of those who acted against us, and the events at the beginning of the persecution, which will be most useful to those who read them. [k]

What words could describe the abundance of good things and prosperity the Roman government enjoyed before the war against us, in all the time when the rulers were friendly and peaceable toward us? Then even those who held the highest power over the whole empire completed their tenth and twentieth years of rule and passed their days in festivals and public celebrations, in the brightest banquets and good cheer, in settled peace. While their power was thus growing unhindered and advancing further day by day, they suddenly abandoned their peace with us and stirred up a truceless war. The second year of this movement was not yet complete when something new happened in the whole government and overturned everything. For an ill-omened sickness fell on the foremost of the rulers we have spoken of, by which his mind was driven to derangement; and together with the one who had been honored with the second rank after him, he withdrew to ordinary private life. This was hardly done when the whole empire was split in two, a thing never recorded to have happened before. [l]

Not long afterward the emperor Constantius, who all his life had been most gentle and kind toward his subjects and most friendly toward the divine word, died by the common law of nature, leaving his own true son Constantine as emperor and Augustus in his place. He was the first to be proclaimed among the gods by them, and after his death he was given every honor that could be due to an emperor. [m] He was the kindest and mildest of emperors, and he alone of the rulers of our day spent the whole time of his reign in a manner worthy of his office. In everything else, too, he showed himself most gracious and generous toward all. He took no part whatever in the war against us; he kept the godly under his rule unharmed and unmolested; he neither pulled down the church buildings nor devised anything else new against us. He received a happy and thrice-blessed end to his life, and he alone, while still reigning, died in good favor and with glory, with a true son, wise and devout in every way, to succeed him. [n] His son Constantine, from the very start, was proclaimed supreme emperor and Augustus by the armies, and long before them by God himself, the King of all, and he made himself an emulator of his father’s godliness toward our teaching. Such was he. After this Licinius was declared emperor and Augustus by a common vote of the rulers. [o]

This grieved Maximin terribly, since he alone of them all was still styled only Caesar. Being a tyrant through and through, he snatched the rank for himself and became Augustus, made so by himself. Meanwhile the one who, as we showed, had taken power again after laying it down was caught stitching together a plot for the death of Constantine and died a most shameful death. He was the first whose honorary inscriptions and statues, and whatever else of that kind is customarily set up in dedication, were pulled down as belonging to an unholy and most godless man. [p]