The Plot at Antioch Against Euphratas and Vincent

The usual opponents of the truth were so displeased at these proceedings that they planned a notoriously abominable and ungodly crime. [a] The two bishops were staying near the foot of the mountain, while the military commander had taken lodgings in another part of the city.

At this time Stephen held the helm of the church of Antioch, and he had very nearly sunk the ship. For he used a number of tools in his tyrannical doings, and with their help he brought all kinds of calamities on everyone who held orthodox doctrine. The leader of these instruments was a rash and reckless young man who lived a most disgraceful life. He not only dragged men away from the marketplace and treated them with blows and insults, but even dared to enter private houses and carry off men and women of blameless character. But so as not to go on too long about his crimes, I will tell only of his daring conduct toward the bishops, for this alone is enough to give an idea of the lawless violence he committed against the citizens. [b]

He went to one of the lowest women of the town and told her that some strangers had just arrived who wanted to spend the night with her. He took fifteen of his band, hid them among the stone walls at the bottom of the hill, and then went to fetch the prostitute. After giving the agreed signal and learning that those who were in on the plot were in place, he went to the gate of the courtyard of the inn where the bishops were lodging. The doors were opened by one of the household servants, whom he had bribed. He then brought the woman into the house, pointed out to her the door of the room where one of the bishops slept, and told her to go in. Then he went out to call his accomplices.

The door he had pointed out happened to be that of Euphratas, the older bishop, whose room was the outer of the two; Vincent, the other bishop, had the inner room. When the woman entered the room of Euphratas, he heard the sound of her footsteps, and since it was dark by then, he asked who was there. She spoke, and Euphratas was filled with alarm, for he thought it was a demon imitating a woman’s voice, and he called on Christ the Savior for help. Meanwhile Onager had come back with his lawless crew. That was the name of the leader of this wicked band, and it fitted him especially well, since he used not only his hands but also his feet as weapons against the godly. He came denouncing as criminals men who expected to be judges of crime themselves. At the noise all the servants came running in, and Vincent got up. They shut the gate of the courtyard and caught seven of the gang, but Onager and the rest got away. The woman was put under guard with those who had been seized.

At daybreak the bishops woke the officer who had come with them, and all three went together to the palace to complain of the outrageous acts of Stephen, whose evil deeds, they said, were too plain to need either trial or torture to prove them. The general loudly demanded of the emperor that the outrage should not be dealt with by a council of bishops but by the ordinary process of law. He offered to hand over the clergy attached to the bishops to be examined first, and declared that the agents of Stephen must undergo torture too. Stephen insolently objected to this, claiming that clergy ought not to be flogged. The emperor and the chief officials then decided that it would be better to try the case in the palace.

The woman was questioned first and was asked who had brought her to the inn where the bishops were lodging. She answered that a young man had come to her and told her that some strangers had arrived who wanted her company; that in the evening he took her to the inn; that he went to look for his band, and when he had found it, brought her in through the door of the courtyard and told her to go into the room next to the entrance hall. She added that the bishop asked who was there, that he was alarmed, and that he began to pray; and that then others ran to the spot.