Silvanus, Peter and Lucian

Not long afterward that commander died by his own hand and paid the penalty for his wickedness. But for us, banishments began again, and harsh persecutions, and the governors in every province rose up against us once more in dreadful fashion, so that some who were prominent in the divine word were seized and received a sentence of death without mercy. Three of them, at the city of Emesa in Phoenicia, confessed that they were Christians and were given to the wild beasts as food. Among them was a bishop, Silvanus, a very old man who had carried out his ministry for forty full years. [a] At the same time Peter too, who presided most illustriously over the churches of Alexandria, a divine example among bishops for the excellence of his life and his diligent study of the sacred Scriptures, was seized for no reason at all and with no warning, and was beheaded suddenly and without explanation, as though on Maximin’s orders. With him many other bishops of Egypt suffered the same. [b] And Lucian, a man excellent in every way, self-controlled in his life and thoroughly trained in sacred learning, a presbyter of the church at Antioch, was brought to the city of Nicomedia, where the emperor happened to be staying at the time. There he made his defense before the ruler of the teaching he championed, was handed over to prison, and was put to death. [c] So much, in so short a time, was contrived against us by Maximin, the hater of good, that this persecution stirred up against us seemed far harsher than the former one.