The Persecutors Destroyed

So when Maximin was out of the way—he who alone was still left of the enemies of godliness, and who had shown himself the worst of them all—the renewal of the churches from their foundations was set in motion by the grace of God Almighty, and the word of Christ, shining out to the glory of the God of the universe, gained greater freedom than before; while the impiety of the enemies of godliness was covered with the utmost shame and dishonor. [a] For Maximin himself was the first to be proclaimed by the rulers a common enemy of all, and he was posted up in public proclamations as a most impious, most infamous and most God-hated tyrant. Of the portraits set up in every city in honor of him and his children, some were hurled from their places to the ground and smashed, and others had their faces spoiled by being blacked over with dark paint. The statues too, as many as had been raised in his honor, were thrown down and broken in the same way, and they lay there as a laughingstock and a plaything for any who wished to insult and abuse them.

Then all the honors of the other enemies of godliness were taken away too, and all who sided with Maximin were put to death, especially those whom he had honored with high offices and who, in their flattery of him, had insolently abused our teaching. Such was Peucetius, the most honored and esteemed of all his companions and the most loyal of his friends, consul a second and a third time, whom Maximin had made prefect of the general accounts. Such too was Culcianus, who had likewise risen through every grade of office, and who had also made himself famous by the blood of countless Christians in Egypt. And besides these there were not a few others, through whom above all Maximin’s tyranny had been strengthened and enlarged. [b]

Justice also summoned Theotecnus, by no means letting what he had done against the Christians be forgotten. For after the image had been set up by him at Antioch, he seemed to be prospering, and had already been honored by Maximin with a governorship. [e] But Licinius came down to the city of Antioch and made a search for sorcerers. He tortured the prophets and priests of the newly erected image, asking them on what grounds they had acted out their deception. When under the pressure of torture they could no longer hide it, they declared that the whole mystery was a deception devised by the art of Theotecnus. So he gave them all the punishment they deserved: first he put Theotecnus himself to death, and then his partners in the sorcery, after the most severe tortures.

To all these were added Maximin’s children, whom he had already made sharers in the imperial honor and in the setting up of tablets and paintings. And those who had once boasted of kinship with the tyrant, and in their pride had lorded it over everyone, suffered the same as those already named, with the utmost disgrace. For they did not accept discipline, nor did they know or understand the warning that is given in the sacred words: [f] “Do not put your trust in rulers, in human beings, in whom there is no rescue. His spirit will go out, and he will return to his earth; on that day all their thoughts will perish.” [h]

When the impious had been purged away in this manner, the rule that rightly belonged to them was kept secure and unchallenged for Constantine and Licinius alone. They had first of all cleansed human life of its hatred toward God; and, conscious of the good things God had bestowed on them, they showed their love of virtue and of God, and their piety and gratitude toward the Divine, by their legislation on behalf of the Christians. [i]