Eutropius, Olympias and Tigrius Suffer for John

Eutropius, a reader, was ordered to name the people who had set fire to the church. He was severely scourged, his sides and cheeks were torn with iron nails, and lighted torches were held to the most sensitive parts of his body. Yet no confession could be forced from him, young and delicate in build as he was. After these tortures he was thrown into a dungeon, where he died soon afterward. [a] A dream that Sisinnius had about Eutropius seems worth including in this history. Sisinnius, the bishop of the Novatians, saw in his sleep a man remarkable for his beauty and his height, standing near the altar of the church the Novatians had built in honor of Stephen, the first martyr. The man complained that good men were rare. He said he had searched through the whole city and had found only one who was good, and that one was Eutropius. Astonished at what he had seen, Sisinnius told the dream to the most faithful of the presbyters of his church and ordered him to look for Eutropius wherever he might be. The presbyter rightly guessed that this Eutropius could be no one but the man the prefect had tortured so savagely, and he went from prison to prison looking for him. At last he found him. As they talked, he told him the bishop’s dream, and with tears he begged him to pray for him. These are the details we have about Eutropius. [b]

Olympias the deaconess showed great courage in the midst of these troubles. She was dragged before the court on this account, and the prefect questioned her about her motives for setting fire to the church. She answered, “My past life ought to put me beyond all suspicion, for I have spent my large fortune on restoring the temples of God.” The prefect claimed that he knew her past way of life very well. She went on, “Then you ought to take the place of the accuser, and let someone else judge us.” The charge against her was not supported by any proof at all, and the prefect found he had no grounds on which he could justly blame her. So he turned to a milder charge, as if he wanted to advise her. He found fault with her and the other women because they refused communion with his bishop, although they could still repent and change their position. All the others, out of fear, gave way to the prefect’s advice. But Olympias said to him, “It is not just that, after being publicly slandered without anything proved against me in court, I should be forced to clear myself of charges that have nothing to do with the accusation in question. Let me rather take counsel about the original accusation that has been brought against me. For even if you resort to unlawful force, I will not hold communion with those from whom I ought to separate, nor agree to anything that is not lawful for the godly.” The prefect, finding that he could not persuade her to hold communion with Arsacius, let her go so that she could consult advocates. On another occasion, however, he sent for her again and sentenced her to pay a heavy fine, imagining that this would force her to change her mind. But she paid no attention at all to the loss of her property, and left Constantinople for Cyzicus. About the same time Tigrius, a presbyter, was stripped of his clothes, scourged on the back, bound hand and foot, and stretched on the rack. He was a barbarian by race, and a eunuch, though not from birth. He had first been a slave in the house of a powerful man, and had won his freedom by his faithful service. Afterward he was ordained a presbyter, and he was known for his moderation and gentleness, and for his kindness to strangers and the poor. These were the events that took place in Constantinople. [c]

Meanwhile Siricius had died, after governing the church of Rome as its bishop for fifteen years. Anastasius held the same bishopric for three years and then died, and Innocent succeeded him. Flavian, who had refused to consent to John’s deposition, had also died. Porphyry was appointed to succeed him in the church of Antioch, and he sided with those who had condemned John. So many in Syria separated from the church in Antioch, and because they held their own assemblies among themselves, they suffered many cruelties. To force people into fellowship with Arsacius, and with this Porphyry, and with Theophilus, the bishop of Alexandria, a law was passed through the zeal of the powerful at court: that the orthodox should not assemble outside the churches, and that those who were not in communion with these bishops should be expelled. [d]