Agapius before the Emperor

In the fourth year of the persecution against us, on the twentieth day of the month Dius, November 20 by the Roman reckoning, on the day before the Sabbath, the tyrant Maximin was present in the city of Caesarea, giving magnificent shows in honor of his birthday, and the following event, truly worth recording, took place there. [a] It was an ancient custom, when the emperors were present, to give the spectators more splendid shows than at other times, with new and foreign spectacles in place of the usual amusements, such as animals brought from India or Ethiopia or elsewhere, or men who could astonish onlookers with skilled feats of the body. So at this time, since the emperor himself was giving the show, something more wonderful had to be added. And what was it to be?

A witness to our teaching was brought into the middle and endured the contest for the true and only religion. This was Agapius, who, as we said a little earlier, was the second, with Thecla, to be thrown to the wild beasts as food. Three times and more he had also marched with criminals from the prison to the arena, and each time, after threats from the judge, whether out of pity or in the hope that he would change his mind, he had been kept back for other contests. But now, with the emperor present, he was brought out, as if he had been kept for this very occasion, so that the Savior’s own word might be fulfilled in him, the word he spoke by divine foreknowledge to his disciples, that they would be brought before kings for the sake of their witness to him. [b] He was led into the middle of the arena together with a criminal who, they said, was charged with murdering his master. But this murderer of his master, when he had been thrown to the wild beasts, was thought worthy of pity and kindness, almost like Barabbas in the time of our Savior. The whole theater rang with shouts and cries of approval, because the murderer had been mercifully spared by the emperor and granted honor and freedom.

But the athlete of godliness was first called by the tyrant and promised freedom if he would deny his profession. He declared in a loud voice that it was not for any crime but for the religion of the Creator of the universe that he would readily and gladly endure whatever might be done to him. Having said this, he joined deed to word and ran to meet a bear that had been let loose against him, giving himself up most cheerfully to be devoured by it. After this, since he was still breathing, he was thrown into prison. He lived one more day; then stones were tied to his feet and he was drowned in the depths of the sea. Such was the martyrdom of Agapius.