Silvanus and Blind John

The seventh year of our conflict had been completed, and the hostile measures, which had continued into the eighth year, were gradually and quietly easing. A large number of confessors had been gathered at the copper mines in Palestine, and they were acting with considerable boldness, even to the point of building places of worship. But the governor of the province, a cruel and wicked man, as his actions against the martyrs showed, came there, learned how things stood, and reported it to the emperor, writing whatever accusations he thought best. [a] Then, having been appointed superintendent of the mines, he broke up the band of confessors as though by royal decree. He sent some to live in Cyprus and others in Lebanon, scattered others through different parts of Palestine, and ordered them to labor at various works. He picked out the four who seemed to him to be the leaders and sent them to the commander of the troops in that region. They were Peleus and Nilus, Egyptian bishops, a presbyter as well, and Patermuthius, who was well known to them all for his zeal toward everyone. The commander demanded that they deny their religion, and when he could not get this, he condemned them to death by fire. [b]

There were others there who had been assigned to live in a separate place by themselves: those confessors who had been released from labor because of age, or mutilation, or some other bodily weakness. Silvanus, a bishop from Gaza, presided over them and set a worthy and genuine example of Christianity. [d] From the first day of the persecution and through its whole course he had been eminent for his confessions in every kind of contest, and he had been kept all that time so that he might, so to speak, set the final seal on the whole conflict in Palestine. With him were many from Egypt, among them John, who surpassed everyone in our time in the excellence of his memory. He had lost his sight earlier. Even so, because he stood out in confessing the faith, he had had his foot destroyed by searing with the others. And though his sight was already gone, he was put through the same burning with fire, the executioners striving after everything merciless and pitiless, cruel and inhuman. [e]

Since he was such a man, one would not be so much astonished at his way of life and his philosophy, nor would he seem so wonderful for these, as for the strength of his memory. For he had written whole books of the divine Scriptures, “not on tablets of stone,” as the divine apostle says, nor on the skins of animals, nor on papyrus, which moths and time destroy, but truly “on tablets of flesh, on the heart,” in a clear soul and the most pure eye of the mind. So whenever he wished he could recite, as if from a treasury of words, any passage of Scripture, whether from the law, or the prophets, or the historical books, or the gospels, or the writings of the apostles. [f] I confess that I was astonished when I first saw the man standing in the middle of a large congregation and reciting portions of the divine Scripture. As long as I could only hear his voice, I thought someone was reading, as is the custom in our meetings. But when I came near and saw what was happening, all the others standing around him with sound eyes while he used only the eyes of his mind, and yet spoke as naturally as some prophet and far outdid those who were sound in body, I could not help glorifying God and marveling. In these deeds I seemed to see clear and strong proof that what a person truly is lies not in a fine bodily appearance but in the soul and understanding alone. For he, with his body mutilated, showed the surpassing excellence of the power that was within him. [h]

As for those we have mentioned as living in a separate place and keeping to their customary duties of fasting and prayer and other disciplines, God himself saw fit to give them a saving end, stretching out his right hand in answer to them. The bitter enemy could no longer endure them, armed against him as they zealously were by their prayers to God, and he resolved to kill them and wipe them off the earth because they troubled him. And God let him do it, so that he would not be held back from the wickedness he wanted, and so that at the same time they might receive the prizes for their many contests. So at the command of the utterly accursed Maximin, forty less one were beheaded in a single day. [i]

These martyrdoms were carried out in Palestine over eight full years, and such was the persecution in our time. It began with the demolition of the churches and grew great as the rulers rose up against us from time to time. In these assaults the many and varied contests of those who wrestled for their religion produced a countless multitude of martyrs in every province: in the regions from Libya through all Egypt and Syria, and from the East all the way round to the district of Illyricum. But the countries beyond these, all Italy and Sicily and Gaul, and the regions toward the setting sun, in Spain, Mauretania and Africa, endured the war of persecution for less than two years. They were counted worthy of a speedier divine visitation and peace, heavenly providence sparing the single-mindedness and faith of those people. [j] For something never recorded before in the annals of the Roman government happened first in our day, against all expectation: during the persecution in our time the empire was divided into two parts. The brothers and sisters living in the part I have just described enjoyed peace, while those in the other part endured trials without number. [k] But when the divine grace, in kindness and compassion, showed its care for us too, then indeed our rulers, the very men through whom the wars against us had been waged before, changed their minds in a most wonderful way and published a recantation. By favorable edicts and mild decrees concerning us they put out the fire that had been raging against us. This recantation, too, must be recorded. [l]

Here ends the book of Eusebius Pamphili on those who were martyred in Palestine.